BuddyRich

Two suggestions for drinks and 1 for a hotel... My favourite pub in Old Quebec/Old Port (especially in the winter as it has a wood burning fireplace) is called Pub de L'Oncle Antoine (also known as La Troubadour)... Think the Manx in feel, but the entire pub is carved out of stone as its set in the cellar of an old furrier built in the 1700s... In the summer they have a small terrace outside with a few tables... http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/canada/quebec-city/entertainment/1000215104?list=true Second is a cafe located outside the walls of Old Quebec but walkable, called Le Hobbit... locals working in Old Quebec recommended it as a local hangout over the more touristy places of Old Quebec and it was good to get away from the tourists... and for a Hotel I'd recommend Hotel 71. http://www.hotel71.ca Old building but modern style... very nice. I also have no complaints with Le Priori, and we are trying Port Royal Suites at the end of the month, but Hotel 71 was my favourite...

We got there a bit late, expecting to miss Unexpect and Ms. Harris, and only caught the end of Lauren's set. She was more hard rock than metal if you ask me, but as someone mentioned she has the look and the right dad so... We got good and close for Overkill, who I really liked, sounded a bit like early Metallica (thrash metal) and if I am not mistaken are of the same vintage (early to mid 80's start?)... The crowds were obviously smaller earlier in the day but rowdy. Caught 3 inches of Blood next. Didn't do much for me, my friend liked them. Took a break for overpriced food and chilled on the hill in the back... Then got to the front for Hammerfall, who my friend was also a big fan of. I liked their stuff more. It sucks their set was cut, though I didn't like that their lead singer made a point of it. Despite the cut set they gave it their all for 30 mins. I think they were having sound issues on that stage, all the bands seem to take longer to setup on it. After that a beer run and then standing up front waiting for Maiden and caught the last of Mastodon. They weren't too bad. In hindsight this was probably a mistake but more on that later. Because of that we only got a side view of Type-O. I didn't mind Type-O, but I thought their set was kinda rough. Granted I only ever listened to Bloody Kisses in the day, and had never seen them live, but the lead singer looked like shit, and I think he was reading his lyrics (he played sitting turning some pages) all the while downing a few beers (which may have contributed to the roughness of the set...)... Still it was good to hear Christian Woman and Black No. 1 after all these years... I actually liked Dethklok. The animation was graphic and the music dour but the guitar work was good, just don't listen to the lyrics! Exactly what death metal is supposed to be... And it provided something to listen to while waiting for Maiden. I want to check out the show they are from itself now. There is no way its aimed at kids. And Maiden... What a show. Only played the classics, and the crowd was insane. We were about 10 to 20 ft from the stage and it was killer. As soon as the opening number started there was a big surge from behind, it was tough to stand your ground. I threw more than my share of elbows to moshers but without a doubt Montreal is the metal capital of North America. It was absolutely packed up front, no room until the moshing started and of course more than a few crowd surfers. Given the turbulence it made enjoying the show difficult at times but it was fun. Definitely no lawn chairs here! Not to mention the stage show, you'd never know they were over 50 with the amount of energy they displayed... Bruce was all over (and up!) the stage all night! Costume changes aside the Powerslave tour stage recreation was awesome, mummy and cyborg eddie's, the giant devil for Number of the Beast and some great pyro throughout. Maiden knows how to put on a show. We only had tickets for the 1st day, the 2nd didn't so much for us, but I hope this is the start of a permanent metal festival... Ive always wanted to go to one of the big European ones and I am not sure if this was the same feel or not but I enjoyed it.

I think this is a dumb idea, but the term nature trail is a bit misleading, its actually to be painted on paved (bike?) trails with removable paint. Paved nature trails are an oxymoron in and of themselves... My guess is they are like the NCC trails here in Ottawa... and not dirt single track trails that go into the middle of nowhere... http://news.therecord.com/article/356475 Ottawa was considering selling the naming rights to its bus stops... Will capitalism stop at nothing? Thank you for the Starbucks Express 95, You are now entering the Bell Canada Station at Hurdman!

The best place to live if you can find a place is the Golden Triangle area... the convenience of Centretown but nicer. A bit more happenin' than the Glebe as well if thats important. Mind you I lived in the Glebe 3 years ago and loved it, the GF currently lives on McLeod and Elgin and if I had to compare I like her 'hood better (mind you I now live Barrhaven so practically anything central would be better so I might be overinflating the Triangle)... We are moving to West Wellington Feb. 1. That stretch of Wellington between Island Park and Parkdale has developed so much. We were looking the Glebe or GT, but the perfect place came up, just in a different neighbourhood, so we took it. Hintonburg, though really only western parts of Hintonburg close to Parkdale would also be okay as well. I don't really think its all that sketchy anymore (5 years ago, no question), its slowly transforming itself a la Westboro or the Glebe...

No need to go that far afield for unlimited speed limits there was a period of three years (96 through 99) that Montana didn't have a speed limit, it was actually printed on signs as: "Reasonable and prudent" (They had a set limit of 65MPH for transport trucks and for all vehicles at night)... Of course once someone actually got a ticket for being unreasonable and/or not prudent and fought the ticket (which was thrown out for being too vague) they changed the speed limit to 75MPH... a few interstates in Texas actually have an 80MPH speed limit and a new class of highway in the US can have up to an 85MPH limit but none have been built yet... I'd like to see the stats on Montana's experiment and even the other states that went from the national 55 pre-95 limit to a state-set 75 or 80MPH to see if there was an increase in accidents. I'd be more apt to compare our driving habits to American's than to German's, not to mention their population density (alright Montana excluded, I suppose it could compare to Alberta...), cars and interstates are more comparable to ours than Germany as well... I personally feel 100KM/H is too slow a limit for our 4 lane highways myself... especially considering the going speed through the GTA seems to be between 130 and 140KM/H anyway.

So much protein in Quinoa, its great for vegetarians and their ilk... and not as gassy as beans

I watched a French Canadian NFB documentary on the Organics movement and GMOs: Pas de pays sans paysans (The Fight for True Farming) and it touched on Percy's story. In my mind, if science can make a "better" tomato, one that is pest and drought resistant, etc. then thats fine (as long as its fruit is studied for side effects, etc) I tried to grow a couple of heirloom varieties that turned out pretty bad compared to my modern store bought ones this summer (though the store boughts were traditionally cross-bred not genetically modified). I mean we will have to start to make better use of our land to grow food as our population ballons in the next 50 years, and if technology will help us in that regard, then all the better. However, "terminator" technology should be outlawed... just to much potential for disaster and it provides no benefit to anyone, other than the companies themselves. Also, if we allow agribusiness to patent a seed and then charge farmers a fee to use the improved seed, as well as not allowing them to reuse it, something they’ve done traditionally, it just propagates a cycle of paying and more paying to these big multi-nationals. Basically the farmers are “renting†the seed for a year. They don’t own it. Its this model of business that alot of content providers are going to, and it really scares me. Imagine not being able to “buy†a book, instead having to pay a fee every time you read it. Think its outrageous? Think again. Ever here of DRM on music files? How about an old format called DIVX that came out around the same time as DVDs? Software is already so restricted if you actually follow the EULA...

Just watched "Death Proof" which is out on DVD now... I guess they are releasing both "Grindhouse" features separately... Not as good as the second feature, "Planet Terror", its your basic Quentin flick... which would normally be good, but imagine the SuperCool dialog between Travolta and Uma in Pulp Fiction, which is like 3 mins... but expanded to 40 mins between a bunch of teenage girls and it gets a little long... 11 out of 10 for the premise and the visual and technical aspects of creating a modern film feel like an old drive-in/exploitation flick... sadly you don't get fake trailers either... so no Werewolf Women of the SS, unless they are easter eggs on the DVD. If you like Tarantino you'll love it... if not stay away...