2010

  • Golden Globes 2011 Predictions

    Edit: Bold predictions were correct. 8 of 25 (32%)

    Best Motion Picture – Drama
    The King’s Speech

    Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
    Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone

    Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
    Colin Firth – The King’s Speech

    Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
    Tied: Alice in Wonderland or The Kids Are All Right

    Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
    Emma Stone – Easy A

    Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
    Jake Gyllenhaal – Love And Other Drugs

    Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
    Amy Adams – The Fighter

    Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
    Michael Douglas – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

    Best Animated Feature Film
    Toy Story 3

    Best Foreign Language Film
    I Am Love (Italy)

    Best Director – Motion Picture
    David O. Russell – The Fighter

    Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
    Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko – The Kids Are All Right

    Best Original Score – Motion Picture
    Danny Elfman – Alice in Wonderland

    Best Original Song – Motion Picture
    “There’s A Place For Us” – Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader

    Best Television Series – Drama
    Dexter (SHOWTIME)

    Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
    Katey Sagal – Sons Of Anarchy

    Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
    Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)

    Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
    Tie: 30 Rock (NBC) or The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

    Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
    Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)

    Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
    Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

    Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
    The Pacific (HBO)

    Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
    Romola Garai – Emma

    Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
    Al Pacino – You Don’t Know Jack (HBO)

    Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
    Jane Lynch – Glee (FOX)

    Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
    Chris Colfer – Glee (FOX)

  • Santa as Blackmail

    In the sprit of the holiday season I would like to make this rant about the blatant misuse of Father Christmas by millions of parents world wide.

    Throughout this highly commercialized world of Christmas. The sweet jolly old man has gone from the symbol of joy and happiness, to be the evil judge of goodness that has in recent years has never cut any kid off that I know of. Face it people you don’t really need it! Hasn’t our generation learned yet from Disney’s The Little Mermaid that things don’t matter as much as experiences.

    Then again, experiences are the reason that every parent will get most kids anything they want. You may deny it but for the same reason that you all use Santa to blackmail the kids in the first place you buy them anything. You are self-centered! Using Santa as an incentive to behave provided you benefit. As much so a joy on their faces Christmas morning.

    So in closing, happy holidays, and get over yourself. Stop being self-centered you are not as important as me.

  • LED vs. LCD

    This week I was looking into buying a new TV. I know for sure that I’m not looking at a plasma. When the sales representative was explaining the different TVs she started describing LED TVs as better TVs. This led to the question, isn’t a LED TV a LCD display. The answer I got was no it is better than a LCD, that it worked like a LED stop light that the LEDs change colour.

    This is wrong! All LED TVs are LCD TVs but all LCD TVs are not LED TVs.

    What is LCD? It is basically like the old fashion calculators, as an electric current hits a liquid crystal (the LC in LCD) it rotates the crystal changing the wave lengths to make a RGBK {Red, Green, Blue, and Black} (or in a few RGBYK {adds Yellow})  to the back light.

    Then what’s the diff?

    The difference is in the back-light. A TV referred to by the store as a LCD TV is in-fact a lit in the back by a fluorescent back-light. This back-light will last a ;long time but will eventually burn out.  This is similar to the monitor that you are likely reading this on, like a laptop or cell phone screen (most anyways).

    The LED (Light Emitting Diode) is the light bulb used to light the LCD panel. Seems to simple eh? While it is, there are two main types of LED TVs edge lit and local dimming. With edge lit the LED Bulbs are around the edge of the display and light the display. Where local dimming has lots of smaller regions that can be dimmed on and off to give a better black.

    A really good website that for further reading is LCD TV Buying Guide.

  • IG: Europe Trip 2010
    ,

    IG: Europe Trip 2010

    • Fun fact I’ve only been in Saint John on this date 26 of the last 35 years. The ones in YFC, LHR, FCO, and AMS are the ones I remember best.
    • Oktoberfest be like Where’s Waldo/Where’s Wally? #noregrets
    • One of my favourite Contiki memories. #drinkupstatue #eurotrip2010 #contiki #noregrets
    • This photo was from September 16, 2010. The 1st time I ever seen this legendary wall. As of today February 5, 2017 this wall has been down as long as it was up. #bringdownthewall #berlinwall

  • Day 2: London to Amsterdan

    So today has been freaking crazy. I woke up this morning pumped and excited to start the journey. I had a shower. The only reason I mention it was the fact that the hot water was broken and would not turn off, leaving me with a steam room.

    Then I caught the bus to the ferry in Dover. The three most notable thing about Dover was the castle on the hill, that I missed a good 35sec window to get a picture of. Second was the famous White Cliffs.

    I always thought of the white cliffs as a tourist trap like the reversing falls but it was actually unbelievably amazing like seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

    The third amazing thing was this is where I learn that people actually pay for packets of ketchup. Later on I came to a McDonalds in Belgium or the Netherlands (it was near the boarder) that had a guy taking payment for the public washroom. Now I am in Amsterdam. This city is awesome just walked down the street drinking a Heineken. Beer is actually cheeper here than water.

    Also avoid the Greek Mac at McDonalds it is really crap.

  • It all starts here

    On the Contilki website it lists the travel from Canada day as day 1. As such I will start my travel log with today.

    So this morning I started packing and then when fitting stuff in the suitcase I realized 2 things. 1. I have never packed myself for a 3 week trip before. 2. There is no way this is all going to fit. (possible 3. I should not have procrastinated it to 1 hour before having to call a taxi to the airport.)

    Well then next, I called a taxi to the airport. As the taxi arrived I realized I was missing my shirt and belt and did not have everything 100% packed. It was a quick ride to the airport except we hit a piece of firewood on Loch Lomond Rd. near Lakewood. (I wonder if it is still there?)

    Then I flew to Toronto, I love the seseme seed dessert things that Air Canada Jazz serves. Then I headed downtown for a bit. I ran into 2 types of crowds the September 11th “educators” and movie fans. (I love movies)

    Then after hanging around 10 Dundas East and the Eaton Center , I headed back on the TTC to Pearson where I am typing this now waiting for the boarding call that is now 17 minutes late. TTYL.

  • Ah! Montreal

    After twelve and a half long hours on a bus I have arrived in Montreal for WordCamp Montreal. This is my 5th WordCamp which I will do a post about sometime later.

    I took a walk earlier today and walked through the historic McGill University campus. One sweet sign that the orientation for the new students coming to university this year will have a better orientation than the three I’ve go to is the size of the beer tent. There must have been thousands of bottles of Boreale Beer and lots of kegs too. Anyone who has been to Montreal knows that is good beer.

  • BarbBarbBarb

    Like most of you my readers are aware I am a huge WordPress enthusiast. I also like to write about local Saint John affairs too. While I would like to promote a site that is local and very interesting. It is (update as of 2020 this link no longer functions). I came across this website as a suggested person to follow. (@barbbarbbarb)

    This site is focused on fashion and is very well written. To tie it back to WordPress this site is running on an older version of WordPress 2.8.3 and is using a modified version of Kuuler I theme made by stratus, a well-known WordPress developer.

    Give the site a good read I’m sure you will enjoy it. Also, next weekend is WordCamp Montreal 2010. It is going to be a blast.

  • Exchanging links with CEFM.ca

    Quite often lately I get comments that get always mark as spam and e-mails asking permission to exchange links. Generally, the best approach is to write great content and you will get linked to. If you like content from CEFM.ca than link to it. Just remember all my content is protected by the Creative Commons license, except the portfolio which is not creative commons.

    I do approve and show all trackbacks to good articles that link me. I also generally check the sources in the logs of sites that refer traffic to me. Currently wordpress.org and saintjohnshawn.com are the biggest referrers. My most popular posts are my 2008 Saint John Idol photos and the NB Sports Sites List.

  • Walk to the Res

    Walk to the Res

  • Paramount Theatre Doughnuts

    Paramount Theatre Doughnuts

    Here are some pictures that I took Saturday night, except for the clouds picture from Friday morning. There are pictures of the Paramount Theatre and Doughnuts.

  • Community Tags

    One of the best things about my website and what WordPress is capable of is the Gallery and the tagging. I used to use Gallery2 which was like fighting for the limited benefit. WordPress allows it to be so much cleaner. Since a lot is not documented well I am going to post my experiences here. The most important part of the was the plug-in Matt’s Community Tags plugin. However, I had to make extensive changes to some of the code to make it do what I want. In the interest of GPL and community here is a copy of my modified plug-in.

    Plug-in Info

    Description: Very beta, in this version the intention is for this to allow a moderated community to aid in tagging primarily photographic content, image attachments and such. This is a GPL derivative of Matt’s Community Tags version 0.3. Admin menus enhanced and the custom taxonomy improved.
    Version: 0.3.1
    Requires: WordPress Version 3.0 or above
    Download now

    Note that I no longer use this plugin and my images are now strictly using built in WordPress functions with a few minor theme tweeks to display native information and I no longer tag people in the photos.

  • CBC News – NB – Review Anglo Society flag motion: language chief

    CBC News – New Brunswick – Review Anglo Society flag motion: language chief.

    This has to be one of the most overhyped stories of the month. It would be common practice for the City of Bathurst to fly this flag. I firmly believe that every group or person has the freedom to speak their thoughts. Just as much as it is everybody elses to consider to merits, then decide if it should be accepted or driven out-of-town with pitch-forks. In this case I think the City of Bathurst is committing censorship but the few deciding without the Anglo-Society having a chance to give the Anglo-Society their moment on the soap box.

    Personally from the time I was in Fredericton I think the Anglo-Society should be driven out with pitch-forks but everyone should be given a chance to hear their points.

  • Buskers on the Boardwalk

    Buskers on the Boardwalk

    Photos of the Rob Roy Collins act. http://www.robroycollins.com/

  • Apologies

    Isn’t this a nice rainy day that we woke up to today. This morning like usual I went to Tim Horton’s and ordered a bagel. That is the pivotal moment of the day that is inspiring today’s rant.

    Their toaster was broken! Now you may think that was what inspired this but you would be wrong she had apologised for it. I mean come on now unless you took the hammer to it and caused it to break you should not be apologizing, it only diminishes you credibility when it was your fault. Just tell me it is broken and ask if I still want the item don’t apologize for it, it’s not your fault.

  • Lack of Comments

    I have been trying to post a lot more lately. But one thing that greatly concerns me us the lack of good comments lately.

    Practically everything on this site is open to commenting even the photos and the albums. What’s better is that if you see someone in a photo that you recognize you can even tag them, and they get a custom album automatically about them.

    I’m working on integrating twitter feeds at the moment with these custom albums. Also I have run into a big hiccup with a problem in WordPress 3 that breaks the paging of an album. It is almost as if they did something that taxonomy pages only work for a post type rather than an attachment.

    I have also decided that I will be going to WordCamp Montreal again this year. I was thinking that I could show off how I was able to pull of my photo album in an advanced theming tutorial.

    That is one thing that I found dry about technical lectures at past WordCamps where they show off code but not put it together, to demonstrate something new. I think I would call it “Media and your Theme… Where can you take it!”

  • Weird food requests

    This past week I went to the Saint John Ale House and ordered one of the most unusual things I have ever eaten. Mozza Sticks with Chocolate Sauce. You would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to place an item like this on their menu but in typical Ale House style it was one of the best drinking treats you could try.

    To have the punch of the bitterness of the dark chocolate sauce whack all your taste buds to attention, then to fade off to the warm salty creamy cheese. The cheese just hugs the flavor and is soothing like a corking mother after the attacking bullies stole your lunch money. Have a great week.

  • Does council not care about protocol

    Does council not care about protocol

    This week I went to the council to see the debate and decision on Peel Plaza/North of Union project. That particular topic is so revolting in so many ways that it needs not mention here.

    But what is even more inexcusable is the state of the decorations in the Council chamber. I have attached a photo that demonstrates the three worst violations.

    1. The Queen’s Photo

    This item really bugged me most of the night it is not noticeable on TV or the web feed but the photos are crooked. In the chamber, it was the Philip photo that looked wrong but upon review in PhotoShop , it is actually the Queen’s photo that is eleven degrees clockwise crooked.

    2. The New Brunswick Flag

    This one is not as noticeable as the others but the flag is a good decimeter down the shaft from the top making it lower than the other flags.

    3. The Acadian Banner/Flag

    In this case , you don’t even see it because it has no base and is leaning against the Canadian flag.

    Bonus: Flag Order

    The flags are positioned incorrectly. They are positioned left to right: Union Jack, New Brunswick, Canada, Acadian. By official precedence with 4 flags the Canadian flag should be on the left, followed by the flag of a sovereign state (Union Jack), Provincial Flag in order of confederation (NB), then historical flags (Acadian). Then an optional second Canadian flag could be on the right.

  • Saint John Tweetup

    Last night I got to meet some really cool people at the first Saint John Tweetup. This had to be one of the most geekiest events I have been to in the Saint John area. Well as a qualifier the IT Works 2003 was more geeky than last night but last night was pretty cool. Everyone that showed up to the even seemed to have an iPhone with the exception of 2 with iPod Touches.

    I had a really good meal too and 2 amazing Hoegaarden. The meal consisted of a cheeseburger like no other and the famous kettle chips. The Saint John Ale House is definitely one of my favourite venues. In addition, everybody left with a door prize. My door prize was a Tri-Star Mercedes-Benz wine glass set donated by Tim Clark (@e55fan).

    Thanks to everyone else for being there too: @RothesayShawn (left twitter) @chris_london @madelejm @MarkPridham @e55fan @koisspots @GrantTotten @shawnrouse @typeter and the must follow @horsetrough.

  • Haddock and Potato Dinner

    Haddock and Potato Dinner

    Haddock and Potato Dinner
    Haddock and Potato Dinner

    I thought I would take this opportunity since I have not posted anything lately to post a food success story. Unlike the horror stories of the past. The potatoes are my typical mashed potatoes. The was partly derived from my sisters variant.

    2 Yukon Gold Potatoes
    1/4 cup 2% Partly Skimmed Milk
    1 Tbsp. Margarine
    Several dashes of Curry Powder
    Freshly Ground Peppercorn Medley

    The fish is Highliner frozen Haddock but any fish could work. The fish is then coated and rubbed in Honey Mustard, fresh lime juice, canola oil, salt, and fresh ground peppercorn medley.

    Then finished off siding the plate with canned cream corn and Sweet Pickles (with cauliflower.)

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