With a kindergarten teacher for a wife, plus kids in JK and Grade One, I’m constantly tidying up photocopied sheets on letter shapes and sounds.
Occasionally, my wife tells me, she has to discard sheets from British primers (aside: I still can’t bring myself to pronounce this word properly, as “primmer”). You see, the English don’t just speak funny by accident. They painstakingly learn it!
Both my parents are English, so I feel justified in making such comments. My mom’s been in Canada for more than 30 years now, but I still enjoy posing questions to her which require the past tense of eat: “Well, Paul, I et it.” Priceless!
Anyhow, last week I discovered this sheet, which purports to teach kids how to make the “Ahh” sound. You can do it three ways:
Yep, that’s “ahh”, as in “Drive your cahhh,” “wish upon a stahh” and wave your “ahhm”.
Action: Open your mouth and say WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TEACHING THESE KIDS?!
I saw this meme over at Culture Kills, and thought I’d give it a try. Easy enough.
Let’s Make a Band:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
(you might have to click new random quotes at the bottom)
3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.
I ended up with a band called Battle of the Alamo, and (happily!) the end of a Lester B. Pearson quote, generating this debut effort:
You may recall (if you haven’t given up on my blogging of late - sorry) that I have a bug in my ear about billboards, particularly the petty little guerre between CTV and CBC in the vicinity of the CBC’s Toronto HQ. CTV had the foresight to buy up all the avails around the Death Star, so we’re constantly staring at the competition.
Well, seems turnabout is fair play. This morning I noticed this airbrushed ad being completed a half block from the CHUM-City building, which with City’s recent purchase has became a cornerstone of CTVglobemedia.
Yes, that’s the nerdy, iconic promo shot for the new CBC series Sophie, which premieres Wednesday on CBC. The large, hand-painted billboard sits just east of the CHUM-City parking lot at Queen & Duncan Streets. Yet another “f*** you” billboard - and if you squint your eyes a little, it sort of looks like Sophie is flipping the bird.
[No idea if this street level ad is legal (unlike the Strombo one) - but I bet our friend Rami would know. I’m guessing it counts as a mural, though technically it’s painted on a flat surface bolted to the wall, so it’s likely kosher. At least there’s an artist involved.]
I can’t vouch for the show, but it’s nice to see our communications folks fighting back, I guess.
Update: According to Rami, the painted sign has no permit and is “totally illegal”.
As the 2008 NBA All-Star game draws near, I’m doing what I can to improve the fortunes of our Eastern Conference. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean voting for all five of the Raptors nominated. With the exception of perennially worthy Chris Bosh (check out his hilarious sales pitch!) I just don’t see the other four worth a nod - Bargnani hasn’t played well, Ford is hurt (badly, I get the feeling), and Kapono and Parker should be there for the 3 point contest only.
The Eastern Conference is already on the rise, with Boston dominating, Detroit powerful as always and Orlando moving on up. So here’s my voting strategy: Screw the Western Conference!
Sure, any chump could cast their ballots for jokers like Kobe, Yao, Duncan and Melo - hell, you don’t have to follow hoops to know those guys. No, I say the best thing to do is to cast a LOT of votes for the people least likely to beat the Eastern Conference players. Basically, their Fords and Kaponos.
How about Argentinian rookie sensation Luis Scola and his 7.4 points a game? Or one-name-wonder Nene, who has missed all but eight games so far this year? Erick Dampier looks good, earning barely 20 minutes a night. At guard, I went with cueball Jarrett Jack and mediocre Monta Ellis, who you wouldn’t have heard of unless you play fantasy basketball and are looking for injury fill-ins. I could’ve pushed for the injured Randy Foye and Mike Bibby, but they might actually get better, and if they don’t they no doubt replace them with someone useful.
Unfortunately, no matter how many times I vote, I can’t take away votes from guys like Kobe and Yao. To surpass them, I need approximately 1 million of you to vote for Scola and Nene. So get voting, and teach the west a lesson!
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