We got them fancy 24 hour Wal-Marts now...

The Swift Current Wal-Mart, taken during the day

The Wal-Mart store in Swift Current is open 24 hours a day, every day for the 10 days leading up to Christmas Eve. This is day four. I actually got up early this morning and went up there to do some shopping just after 6:00am. I must say it's actually better to shop early in the morning when not many people are in the store with you, rather than during the day, when just about everybody is in the store with you.

The thing is, only the store was open, not the photo centre, the pharmacy, McDonald's in Wal-Mart, the vision centre, or the Tire and Lube Express. Wouldn't there be a few people who would want to go to Wal-Mart and get pictures made, buy drugs, get contacts, get their oil changed and eat a McMuffin, all at four in the morning? But I have nothing but appreciation to the number of staff that volunteered to work such early hours and through the night just before Christmas to make sure everybody gets their shopping done.

I didn't ask, but I think I am the first person in the city to get the Simpsons Movie on DVD, which I purchased at 6:45.32am this morning, unless the Riggers beat me to it.

Do you agree: The 10 worst endings of movies in the last 10 years

According to CTV, in their order.

1. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
2. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
3. Cast Away (2000)
4. Planet of the Apes by Tim Burton (2000)
5. Signs (2002)
6. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)
7. Lost in Translation (2004)
8. The Village (2005)
9. Rocky Balboa (2006)
10. Eastern Promises (2007)

I can't say much about it. Of those 10 movies, I have only seen one. And on that alone, I agree.

Hollywood Headlines: Joe Namath on the big screen

Rogers Sportsnet confirmed last night a biopic about star quarterback Joe Willie Namath will be made.

I wonder if this will be part of the story...

Republished: The Funniest things I've heard, read, and seen this week (August 5-11)...

Heard - Richard Crouse, CTV Canada AM's movie critic, just reviewed Daddy Day Camp. Well, actually he didn't. Instead, he gave a list of things more enjoyable than watching Daddy Day Camp

1. Cutting an apple in half and watching it turn brown.

2. Watching colonoscopy videos.

3. Poking sharp sticks in your eyes.

4. Eating bugs.

5. Latrine duty.

He actually gave it some credit in the fact it's not Rush Hour 3

The review can be found here. If you live in Canada, the video can be found here

Read - The Dating Girl column in the Leader-Post on Friday. I won't reprint it, but you can read it here.

Seen - Conan's reaction to what a duck did on his stage Thursday...



Looks like Quackers needs some Immodium

Well, it's about darn time.

Two weeks after its release, the Simpsons Movie is finally showing at the Cinema Twin theatre in Swift Current tonight.

Too bad I already saw it.




Sorry, local business community, I couldn't resist. I had that Friday afternoon off and decided to drive over to Moose Jaw to see the movie, and shop at Sears. I must say though, it was well worth the 90 minute drive in 31-degree heat, but like I'm going to do that every week. My car doesn't run on tap water, you know.

I wonder what will take Cineplex to open up a Galaxy here. That was a great theatre.

Updated: Do you agree?: The Worst Cover Songs Ever, according to the London Sunday Times

CBC Radio 2, also known as Canada's guilty pleasure, just put a list on their blog of the Twenty Worst Cover Tunes Ever, based on a list by London Sunday Times writer Ron Liddle

They are as follows (original artists in parentheses)...

1. Madonna - American Pie (Don MacLean)
2. Michael Bolton - Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding)
3. Tori Amos - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
4. Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Gladys Knight and the Pips or Marvin Gaye)
5. Duran Duran - 911 Is a Joke (Public Enemy)
6. Ronan Keating - Fairytale of New York (the Pogues)
7. Boney M - Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
8. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
9. The Eagles - Ol’ 55 (Tom Waits)
10. Sting - Little Wing (Hendrix)
11. Gareth Gates* - Spirit in the Sky (Doctor and the Medics)
12. J Geils Band - Where Did Our Love Go? (The Supremes)
13. All Saints - Lady Marmalade (LaBelle)
14. UB40/[Robert Palmer] - I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Unknown)
15. The BBC - Perfect Day (Lou Reed)
16. Will Young - Light My Fire (The Doors)
17. Beck, Bogert and Appice - Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
18. Bruce Springsteen -: Chimes of Freedom (Bob Dylan)
19. Tom Jones - Kiss (Prince and the Revolution)
20. Rod Stewart - I Don’t Want to Talk About It (Crazy Horse)

*Wikipedia sez he's a UK Idol Finalist

I have to say I agree (Boney M covering a Neil Young song? Come On!), but I am surprised at the omissions of any and all covers of Peter Frampton's "Baby I love Your Way". That would make 20-pack list in itself.

Update made on August 2: Apparently, another London newspaper, The Guardian, countered with a list of the 50 Best Cover Songs. Radio 2 also posted it.

Straight from the Old School: The New DeLorean?

The LA Times said The DeLorean Motor Company (Texas) is planning on brining back those very cars in limited production.

Photo from Flickr/Creative Commons

(Insert Back to the Future groaner here)

The day has arrived!

Today is the North American release day of the Simpsons Movie. The most hyped, most anticipated movie in the history of cinema. Already, even before I see it, it's my favourite movie of the year...

...and it's not opening in Swift Current!

Time-coded photograph of the only movie theatre in Swift Current

Now, I realize a locally-owned small-town theatre has their commitments and reasons to show certain films, and I apologize in advance if anything I say rubs anybody the wrong way, but honestly, I think 1408 could wait for a couple of weeks or so until we all have the chance to see this movie locally at the same time as everybody else who live in the bigger cities.

If you're unfamiliar with the province of Saskatchewan, the larger city of Moose Jaw is located 90 miles east from Swift Current. The city's only enclosed shopping mall is anchored by Sears, Zellers, and a large chain-supported theatre that is showing the movie tonight, among other first-run films. I hope it doesn't come to this, but I would not be surprised if many people take the trip over to Moose Jaw, or even Regina, just to see that movie. That will probably not be the only thing they'll do, though. There's a football game in Regina tomorrow afternoon, and, well, an enormous moose in Moose Jaw that can be seen anytime, and they could see the movie in their touristy-downtime.

Now, I am planning a trip to Moose Jaw or Regina in the near future (I'd rather buy my clothes and whatnot at a Sears store than through the catalogue), and my plans may include seeing the Simpsons Movie in their theatres, but if anyone from the local theatre is reading this, don't take my plans, or anything else you may have read, as an insult. Once the movie opens here, and I'm sure it will, I will see it here, even if I already have someplace else.

Hollywood Headlines: Donald Duck forced to quit smoking.

The Walt Disney Company will be the first Hollywood movie maker to cut smoking from their family films released by Disney, Touchstone and Miramax.

Which means, simply, no more of this...



Looks like Donald's going cold turkey. I don't know if the gum or patch works for ducks.

Must destroy mankind, and transport freight

Transformers is showing at the two-screen theatre here in town. I've been hearing good things about the film, so I think I might go see it, especially tomorrow since it's tightwad Tuesday and I am not working that night for the first time in a while.

If you don't know what Transformers are (where have you been in the past 25 years?), they are robots disguised as cars, vans, ambulances, semi-trucks, and Rascal scooters?



Must be a new alien Transformer made for the movie. Now I can't wait!

Edit made July 18 at 9:32am: I did see the movie last night, and I most certainly was not disappointed. It was a great movie, everything I wanted and more, and definitely one of the movies of the summer. But the Rascaltron didn't show up. Maybe in the sequel.

Old news, but still relevant...

A couple of Sundays ago (during the May long weekend), CBC ran a documentary celebrating the 24th anniversary of Bob and Doug MacKenzie's Strange Brew, a movie that I own, and have watched and enjoyed multiple times (I also watched it that same evening). Now during that documentary, they showed the press surrounding the film's release, and a movie review from Bill Casselman, who at that time was on The Journal.

The excerpt, posted by CBC, can be seen below. The only thing I can say about is, Bill, Barbara Frum woulda liked it.



By the way, if you missed that documentary, you missed 60 minutes of great television. Hopefully they release it on DVD soon.