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The
Big YEAR END Spectacular!
Iv'e
decided to do something a little special considering it's the beginning
of a new year and all that. This is day one of two... Today i'll
present you with some random thoughts on the last twelve months...
hope it interests you fine folk. Be sure and come back on January
1st for part 2! Where i'll present my own thoughts on the best
of 2003, my top ten picks for Music, Movies, DVD releases, and video
games. I gaurantee it won't be the same list you see anywhere else...
Friday should hopefully see my traditional update for the week,
if i can pull it all off. Enjoy!
Steve
Gets New Wheels!
I
bought my first new car in 2000, after years of slugging it with
used hunks of steel i decided, "what the hell, i'm working
full time... time for a reward." So after test driving everything
in the goddamn city in my price range i ended up with a 2000 Pontiac
Sunfire Coupe, a car i had hated pretty much since its inception
in 93 or so. Well the new design introduced in 2000 certainly looked
a hell of a lot nicer, and there were a lot of changes made internally
in '98, so this one felt signifigantly different from the earlier
sunfires and cavs that i'd driven (none of which had been all that
pleasurable).
To the point... My lease was up last February, and i'd planned to
move up to a 2-door Grand Am... until i heard about the new for
2003 Sunfire coupe! 142 horsepower out of an all new all-aluminum
2.2 (the same motor in the Grand Am), damn nice looking redesign
on the front, an all new interior, and new touring suspension. I
took the plunge, and immediately noticed the difference in ponies...
the 2003 definitely throws more power to the wheels, launching much
faster than the old LE and GT models, and rides a hell of a lot
smoother as well (though the stiffer suspension of the old was definitely
better on the curves, our roads are so full of potholes that the
free-floating smoothness of the new model is a welcome change).
The sound system in both is a freaking great six-speaker setup...
very nice sound... but the 2003's CD Player is no where near as
nice as the old 2000 Monsoon deck which had that neat as hell Speed
controlled volume feature, which cranked the volume of the stereo
the faster i drove... (this probably led to some of my many speeding
tickets)
Neither of my J-body's (that's "car guy lingo" for cavalier
or sunfire) has been without its flaws... the 2000 was insanely
tough on brakes, and apparently many mom n pop garages didn't have
a freakin clue how to fix the front brakes (as evidenced when a
garage put my brake pads on upside down and my shoes wore through
my brake-line in about a month). My starting motor blew up less
than 2 years into my lease, which i'm told was a fluke, and my in
dash CD Player died about 6 months before my lease was up... Now
the 2003 hasn't been near so troublesome so far, the trunk takes
a good hard slamming to close, and i've gone through no less than
FIVE freaking Turn signals due to faulty wiring (a real pain in
the ass i can tell you!), but aside from that she's tip top... The
brakes also seem a lot more solid... The CD player, as mentioned
above, was much cooler in the old Sunfire, and the new rear end
is ugly as hell... but other than that i think the car feels better
in every way. A couple of features were excised as well, including
ABS and Traction Control, but i don't really miss either, and the
sticker price was a good 5 thousand cheaper than my old one.
You're
What??
It
happens to everyone eventually i guess, but about a month after
buying a new car, and just when we were recovering from Christmas,
and everything was running smoothly... Sarah announces she's pregnant!
Her best friend was about 5 months along and spending a lot of time
with us, so i figured it was coming sooner rather than later...
My initial reaction, which was shock and disbelief, passed in a
matter of minutes, and i just kinda shrugged my shoulders and moved
on... this was the end of January, 2003 was gonna be one hell of
an interesting year!
The
War in Iraq
I'm
going to try and avoid grandstanding or politiking, suffice it to
say that Jean Chretien made the first real decision of his life
by standing up to the American juggernaut and telling Bush "No!"
to sending Canadians into Iraq. I applaud the decision. This wasn't
a Canadian war. I'm sure Bush has his own reasons, be it oil, the
Arkansas instinct to blow really big holes in stuff, or the fact
he actually believed that Saddam posed a threat in his ruin of a
country, what's done is done... way to go Bush, you wiped out a
crooked dictator's regime, threw a country into turmoil, and turned
3/4ths of the world's population against you... not that i care,
i'm sure you sleep well at night (i would if i were in your shoes).
Metallica
Releases new album: Shitstorm ensues.
Anyone
else notice that whenever these old timey folk metal bands release
a new album, the internet music communtity suddenly turns into a
bunch of cynical 85 year old bastards? I saw that much anger surrounding
"St. Anger" that i just completely gave up on the whole
"internet scene" as far as music was concerned. Where
the hell did these little punks come from? They all insist that
they're "old fans who've been listening since Kill Em All!".
Well the number of these idiots floating around, Metallica would
have sold more copies of Kill em All in the 80's than Led Zeppelin
IV, The White Album, Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell, Trooper's Hot Shots,
and Alanis' Jagged Little Pill COMBINED! Why the hell can't these
morons just be honest instead of trying to show their bogus "street
cred" to a bunch of anonymous losers hanging out on some rock
band's message board?!!! About the only place i haven't seen this
kind of bullshit has been on Pearl Jam's Synergy board... maybe
i shoulda kept my mouth shut! You didn't like St. Anger??? Fine...
deal with it you little jackanipe son of a bitch... why hop online
and tear down the band and those who did happen to enjoy it... it's
only your opinion, which doesn't make it right or wrong... Me? I
liked St. Anger well enough, didn't have a whole hell of a lot of
staying power though, which i attribute to my waning taste in all
things Metal... save Iron Maiden...
Movie
Stuff:
-
Paul W.S. Anderson directing Alien Vs. Predator??? Hell Yes!!! This
one threw the internet community into an uproar as rabid fanboys
rose to bash the living hell out of Mr. A, but i loved Event Horizon,
i loved Resident Evil, and hell, i enjoyed Mortal Kombat... Paul
is a big fan of the Alien and Predator franchises, he can handle
a good scare, bring it on i say... it's something to look forward
to come August.
-
Man there were a lot of Sequels this past summer... many of which
were films i'm sure no one really needed, did we really need another
Terminator? Charlie's Angles? Tomb Raider? Dumb and Dumber? Hell
Matrix for that matter? And notice that many of these films did
less than stellar buisness at the box office? hmmmm... something
to think about... The exception was Michael Bay's action explode-a-thon
Bad Boys II, which, much to my amazement, was actually a pretty
damn good flick.
Steve
Gets a Website!
July
14th, The Adventures of Eldorado Steve went live! Woo! On my Mother's
Birthday no less!
Steve
Becomes a Daddy
September
11th, 2003, Abigail Chelsea Power entered this world of ours, making
yours truely a Daddy! Do i feel different? Nah not really, i'm having
a bit more fun with life these days, but other than that life hasn't
changed all THAT much. The 24 plus hour hospital visit i could have
done without, and not sleeping for 36 hours was a fun experiment
i'd like not to repeat... but the rest of the experience was fantastic.
In the end i've got a great little gal who loves her daddy. In 15
years i'm gonna be one of those Dads who terrifies every boy she
brings 'round the house... that's gonna be fun. As for the signifigance
of the date, well i'm Canadian, so it don't mean too much on my
end... It was however the birthdate of my Grandfather, who passed
on about 20 years back, so that's really kinda cool. As for the
terrorisim angle, next person who says to me, "Well something
good had to come from Sept. 11th." gets a goddamn punch in
the snotbox!
Canadian
Rock n Roll conquers Steve's CD player.
Man
i've been listening to a lot of Canadian stuff the last 12 months...
i've rediscovered my I Mother Earth collection, including their
great new album, The Tea Party always feature prominantly in my
listening, and have taken the top spot from Pearl Jam on my "favourite
bands of all time" list. Newcomer Sam Roberts has all but dominated
my cd player, and local boys like my homie Jeff Greene have been
in constant rotation... My interest in Sloan has also skyrocketed,
while it's always kind of been there, their two most recent efforts
have really put them on my map if no one elses... There's still
a bit of a foriegn presence to be certain, but the lion's share
of my listening goes to Canuck bands these days...
The
Tea Party - The best goddamn band in the world...
Brilliant,
the only word i can use to describe these rockers from Ontario.
Among other things, they are close friends of British legends Jimmie
Page and Roy Harper (to the point that they are always welcome guests
at Page's cabin). They can play more instruments each than the majority
of people even know exist! They've had three albums certified platinum
in Canada... They've toured with a symphony orchestra, their guitarist
TAUGHT Jimmie Page how to use the high strings on his guitar while
playing with a bow. In their infancy, CREED opened for these guys,
and claimed to have learned quite a lot from them. These guys are
about as talented as it gets, which makes it all that much more
tragic that they have yet to get the worldwide recognition they
deserve (Australia has gotten the hint though). They're currently
recording their latest with uberproducer Bob Rock, and i expect
this one to be the monster that breaks them out. Bob Rock has said
himself that if this album doesn't land them an American deal he'll
fly to LA himself and get them one. High praise indeed! If you ain't
listening to these guys now... i strongly recommend tracking down
either The Edges of Twighlight, their magnificant sophmore effort,
or Illuminations, their beautifully packaged video collection (these
guys are incredible in 5.1!)
The
best DVD year... Ever!
I
usually have a list of ten or so DVD's which i call my "Holy
Grail" list, a list of films i desperately want to see on DVD!
Well 2003 was the clincher... all but one of the ten or so films
on my list saw the light of day this past year... all but ONE! The
Indiana Jones Trilogy? You got it! Miller's Crossing? Check! And
there's just tons of stuff we saw in the last 12 months that i was
screaming for in the months previous... it's been one hell of an
expensive year... but well worth it. There's a lot being said about
the Original Star Wars trilogy hitting DVD sometime in 2004, And
Schindler's List due in March of 04, it's looking like there's another
good year ahead.
Getting
a bit pre-mature, 2004 is gonna be awesome for gaming!
Metal
Gear Solid 3, Gran Turismo 4, Grand Theft Auto whatever the hell
they call it, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, Fallout: Brotherhood
of Steel, Robotech: Invasion, Halo 2, Fable, Metal Gear Solid: Twin
Snakes, and Killzone... 2004 is gonna be insane for video games...
and that's just console output... There's the likes of Half-Life
2 and Doom 3 coming for the pc!
Link Highlight of the
week!
Every week i'll be highlighting one of the links to my right and
giving you a little background...
This weeks choice cut:
Tactical
Action Hero - the art of Jonny Zero!
A
good friend of mine named Jon has recently set up his own little
home on the web! Rather tha ablog or waste of space like my own
site Jon has chosen to focus on his art. The guy is a talented fella,
currently studying Animation here in Sin Jawn's... I have to give
him credit for putting himself out there like that... i stand in
fucking awe :)
found
a cute little quiz online, answer a few questions and they tell
you which Finding Nemo character you are. Turns out i'm Dory, which
is cool enough i guess, she had me laughing my ass off in the movie...
kind of sucks that i'm a blue female fish though... the lesbian
part is kinda cool i guess...
props
to Kev over at Notanywhereland
for digging this up.
Last updated December 31st, 2003
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Or just view
it if you like...
TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR:
-Part
2 of my Year end blowout! Top Ten Lists! Woo! TOP TEN LISTS!
-The
character spotlight is still coming soon.
Got an issue? Got a comment? Wanna shoot the breeze? then..
TALK TO ME
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STEVE'S
DVD COLLECTION DVD
VERDICT
IMDB.COM
JEFF GREENE
ALLMUSIC
YOJOE.COM
NOTANYWHERELAND_3
IRON
MAIDEN
LONELY GUY IN
NY
MONDO
MISCELLANEA
BMWRACER'S
RAMBLINGS
DREW'S
SCRIPT-O-RAMA
GREEN
IMP
PENNY ARCADE
ANIME ON DVD
WING KONG EXCHANGE
INDIANA JONES
LONELY GUY IN NEW YORK INDYFAN.COM
CASTLEVANIA
DUNGEON
BRUCE
CAMPBELL
THE SHEAVY FAN
PAGE
PEARL JAM
SAM ROBERTS
DAILY
REVIEWS
I LIVE IN A GIANT BUCKET
THE TEA PARTY
GNARLY CUE BALL
TACTICAL ACTION HERO
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