Canadian Women's Hockey Team -- Vancouver 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Champions!

Canadian Women's Hockey Team 2010

Thursday, February 25th, 2010. Canada defeats the U.S.A., 2-0, during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games, making it the third Olympic Gold Medal win in a row for the Canadian Women's hockey team.

- The Temporal Guardian -

TTC Woes

I had originally posted this on my Facebook, but there have been several requests to have me post this outside of Facebook so others can also read it.

Thursday night, January 21st, 2010. I was at Kipling station making my way back home, going east on the Bloor line, then North up the University line to Wilson Subway Station, as I normally do. After all my years of taking the subway, I was never really caught in TTC holdups where I was forced to have to take a shuttle bus to continue down the line. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have gone through that, and I suppose it was only a matter of time until I had to...

So, on my way up North up the University line, we get told to get off at Glencairn because the "train is no longer in service and will be heading back southbound." "Okay. Sure," I thought, "This is quite normal. The next train will come up and take us Northbound." And sure enough, it did.

We all got onto the next subway train that pulled up into the station and continued on North to the next station: Lawrence West. After that, it's just Yorkdale station and then Wilson station, which was where I was to get off.

But lo and behold, the dreaded voice came back onto the speaker system and announced that the train was no longer in service and will be heading back Southbound. "Oooookay," I thought. Everyone on the train got off and onto the Lawrence West subway station platform.

Now, is it just me or whenever an announcement regarding a technical-problem is made on the TTC speaker system, it's never loud enough to hear what the problem is and what the details are about the problem. o___o Tilting my head to get my ear pointed directly up at the speaker as much as possible, I was able to discern that there was a "switch problem" AT Wilson station (where my stop was) and that repair crews have been dispatched. Great.

After waiting on the Lawrence West platform for about 10 minutes, we hear another announcement saying that they do not know how long the problem is going to be, so shuttle buses will be taking commuters from Lawrence West Station up to Wilson Station and then Downsview Station. Now if you noticed that I didn't mention Yorkdale Station in there, good eye. There IS NO shuttle bus to Yorkdale station. What you would have to do is take the shuttle bus to Wilson, then take a bus back down south to Yorkdale. And what's terrible is that the TTC guys there didn't even tell the passengers any of this information. We had to figure this out on our own.

"Lawrence West Station."

A TTC worker confirmed what I thought I heard on the less than quiet announcement on the speaker system and told us to head upstairs to take the shuttle bus. So, the 200 or so of us on the subway platform, shuffled our way up the stairs and onto the bus platform. At this point, I was thinking that of all the years I've taken the subway and heard about shuttle buses helping stranded passengers continue moving along the subway line, I was finally one of them.


So, yet again, we all shuffle ourselves like cattle to a slaughter, back into the subway station, through the turnstiles, down the escalator, and as if on cue the subway train going North arrives on the platform. "Finally," I thought.

I thought too soon.

The all too familiar voice boomed back on the speaker system, "This train is no longer in service. Do not board this train. DO NOT BOARD THIS TRAIN! (Apparently someone went in as the announcement was being made. LoL.) This train is now going Southbound!" At this point, people were already yelling and swearing in frustration. The TTC lady on the subway stuck her head out the window and told us that there are shuttle buses up on the street that will take us up to Wilson and Downsview. "But, they wouldn't let us on the shuttle bus! They told us the subways are now running Northbound and to come down here!" someone exclaimed. The TTC lady told us that they were not told that the way was clear to go North, and promptly went back southbound. The guy who yelled at her in frustration flashed his middle finger at her.

So, we all go back up the stairs to look for the shuttle bus. Yup, it's gone. The guy in the booth told us to back down because the subways should be clearing "shortly". Jeebus.

Back down we go. After about another 15 minutes of waiting, a subway train shows up and we all get on. No announcement over speakers. Train doors close. Train heads Northbound. Sigh of relief. Awesome.

Train arrives at Yorkdale. One stop away from Wilson.

And, yup... You guessed it.

"This train is now out of service. Passengers please leave the train. It is now heading Southbound."

ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME? O__O


At this point, I'm actually laughing to myself. I figure anyone on the outside looking in at this situation would find the ridiculous continuous slew of predicaments rather funny. But as I took notice to the rest of the crowd around me, there was nothing but upset faces and angry chatter. I was afraid someone was going to snap any second.

I suppose me chuckling at the situation I was finding myself in also hit a few others, because I managed to crack a smile out of a few of them. Ten minutes go by and another subway pulls in going Northbound. An announcement states that the problem at Wilson station has been cleared and all subway trains have resumed back to normal operation. Thank goodness. It was already 12:30am and I just wanted to get home.

On the bus platform, when my bus pulled in and everyone there piled on, one of the commuters started ranting at the bus driver as the bus pulled out of the station. He was complaining about the bad TTC service and how no one was telling the passengers what was going on. The bus driver then slammed on the brakes and asked him, "Do you want to take another bus? ... Then sit down!" LoL, dry. o__o

I finally get home, and my plans to get some work done before getting picked up by my dad to take me to Brampton, were foiled. What should have been a mere 10-minute subway ride from Glencairn to Wilson, became an over 2 hour ordeal of shuffling around. =P


With all the confusion going on, no TTC worker was able to tell us exactly what was going on and what to do. No one really directed us exactly where to go and where to stand/wait for the shuttle bus. It also seemed that the lack of communication between the bus drivers and the subway operators were just as terrible -- the bus operators were saying that the subways were clear, and the subway operators were saying that they were not. And for crying out loud, if you're going to make an announcement about a problem with the subway line, make it loud enough for us to hear! Gosh Dangit! We're on a noisy subway train!

Well, after experiencing all of that, and with the above statement I had just made, it has occurred to me that the TTC raised their prices and yet their service has not improved at all.

Just my two cents.


/end rant


=======


UPDATE:
After posting this on Facebook, the same day I saw the front page of the Toronto Sun newspaper. On the front cover was this:

"The face of the TTC."

Wow... And in light of the fare hike too.

But that's not all -- Apparently after this photo surfaced on the internet, a second photo (apparently taken in January as well) also came forward.


And who here is tired of Yonge Station looking the way it is right now? Like HOW LONG have the walls of some of the columns looked like that? Seriously, where are all the commuters' money going?? When is the TTC going to own up to their problems and fix them??



- The Temporal Guardian -

James Cameron's "Avatar"

Hello everyone (well, my ten or so followers). I know I haven't been creating blog posts like I thought I would. Even with many different reasons to post, I still wasn't finding myself posting anything here.

But that all changed with this one thing, that has gotten me so pumped up and excited for, that there was no way I was not going to post this up -- The latest trailer for James Cameron's movie, "Avatar"! You can sign up to be notified the moment it hits DVD here or on Blu-ray here.

James Cameron is one of my favourite directors. He has made some of my favourite movies like Terminator 2 and True Lies. I remember watching T2 over and over again as I grew up. I'm not sure why, but I just loved everything about that movie. I felt as if it was one of the few movies that has influenced my methods of creating action and suspenseful scenes. I sure hope that influence reflects especially within my upcoming big project, "Temporal Guardian".

After making the highest-grossing movie of all time, "Titanic", Cameron went on a 12-year hiatus developing this movie and the new 3D technology to go with it. He even said he was waiting for "technology to improve" before making this movie, and through years of determination and extreme patience, he has attained a new 3D technology which was invented especially to make this movie a reality. The problem is that this new 3D technology requires new projection equipment in theatres to be installed. Right now, they're on a blitz to have as many theatres ready for the Avatar release date on December 18th, 2009.

Cameron also hopes that other film-makers will eventually adopt his new 3D-technology in creating future films. I can't wait to experience it, and I hope D-Box will be quick to jump on this movie as well, to complete the immersive experience!

After seeing the first Avatar teaser, I was a bit unsure of Cameron's return to film-making.. but with this new and latest trailer, all doubts have been eliminated. This trailer has really gotten me pumped for his new movie. If I can sum up the following trailer in two words, it would be this:

"Absolutely BREATHTAKING!"

Written and Directed by James Cameron, Avatar has me incredibly stoked! Enjoy!




- The Temporal Guardian -

Mikey TV - Episode One: "The Memories of A Superhero"

Well, the first episode of Mikey TV is out!!! =) It's the first episode following the life of my cousin, singer and song writer, Mikey Bustos. =) Well, the episode has been out for almost a week now, actually. =P

This episode took a while for me to make because it was such a long interview and I had to cut it down to 10 minutes to fit on YouTube, and also had to include pictures and video clips to keep it interesting to watch (and to prove that what he claims was true). I showed it to my family today, and they freaked out at how many famous people he's actually met in the Philippines (I didn't realize just how famous until my family watched the episode). I guess they now know who's famous in the Philippines because they recently bought the Philippine Channel on Rogers cable TV. LoL. =)

This logo I spent quite a bit of time designing. It may look simple, but I've applied the "Golden Ratio" (1.618) to the design in so many ways (from the height between the "M" and the "ikey", to the distance between the "Mikey" and "TV", to the ratio of white to blue, etc.). If you don't know what the Golden Ratio is, look it up. =) You'll find something very interesting with that ratio. =)

But yeah, this is the first installment of Mikey TV. The episode name is a play on words, as it plays on the title of his latest album "Memoirs of A Superhero". You can download his album here. My family thought the title of the episode was a mistake. Haha. It's because the episode is a look back at the last 6 years (hence, "Memories") of what my cousin has accomplished so far. =)

I'm glad to be a part of all of this, and so happy to see my cousin achieving all of his dreams. =) We grew up together and I've always known him to be such a creative and intellectual individual. I'm very proud of him! =)

The video is also embedded on a website, which is still under construction -- www.MikeyTV.com.

Oh, and for some reason, on YouTube the counter is stuck at 301 views. Very strange. Apparently a common glitch. I hope they find a workaround soon...

Anyway, now for the episode of Mikey TV. Don't forget to rate, comment, favourite, subscribe, etc... (if you want to) =) Thanks, and enjoy! =]



- The Temporal Guardian -

Chris Brown's Apology

Hey folks,

Looks like Chris Brown finally publicly apologized about the incident with Rihanna... 5 months later. Don't know what to say about this one. I guess it's up to you to decide whether or not he means it, and/or if he deserves to be forgiven. Heck, he's even READING his apology. Who knows, maybe he didn't even write it...



- The Temporal Guardian -

ReBoot

Hey everyone,

I'd like to post a link my friend Mike Derick has shown me.

Him and I used to be really big fans of this show called ReBoot. It holds the title for being the FIRST completely computer-generated TV show in the world; and best of all - it's Canadian. It was created by a company called Mainframe Entertainment (now called Rainmaker Animation) back in 1994.

Sadly the show ended only after 4 seasons, with the fourth being somewhat of a letdown, as it seemed their budget was limited as the season was only 8 episodes (technically two movies, each split up into 4 episodes).

Mainframe Entertainment went on to create other shows (Shadow Raiders / War Planets and Beasties / Beast Wars: Transformers to name a couple), but none were to make such an impact on me as ReBoot had. Although I must admit, Beast Wars was still an entertaining show to watch; and the reason for the double-naming is because YTV deemed it too "violent" to have "wars" in the title of the show. So, Beast Wars was called Beasties, and War Planets was called Shadow Raiders.

ReBoot was by far the most creative and original series I have ever seen as a kid (until I came across the show Firefly, which sadly also got cancelled after only half a season. A movie called, Serenity, was made to finish the series due to the amazing DVD sales of the half season! It's also now available on Blu-ray.). ReBoot had great character development, creative concepts, original ideas, and witty humour by the likes I've never seen as a kid.

This was the first picture of ReBoot I've ever seen. It was on the front cover of TVGuide back in 1994. I remember tearing off that front cover and counting down the days to episode one of this show. I wonder if I still have that picture...

But enough delay... I present to you the link -- http://reboot.com

With an ominous countdown timer (8 days, 18 hours, 8 minutes, and counting, as of this post) , the single web page comes with nothing but a simple warning - "Incoming Game." I almost shat my pants when I saw the page! Hahaha!

I can tell you now, I haven't been this excited since the countdown to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. Man, oh man. I counted down each day by labelling my school pencil case with a countdown. Haha.

Anyway, the only thing that's keeping me grounded with this is the fact that at Anime North 2009 in Toronto, I met one of the original animators of the show. He was there promoting his book called "The Art of ReBoot". I didn't have any cash on me at the time so I couldn't purachse a copy. I wanted to buy it and have him sign it. It's available online now. You can purchase the book here.

I asked him what he thought about the new revamp of ReBoot. He said that him and the original creators of the show weren't too happy with the direction the revamp of ReBoot was going, because they themselves had their own "vision" as to what the show was going to turn out to be. That was somewhat disappointing to hear. I wish the original Mainframe Entertainment had the creative freedom to do whatever they wanted with the show. Sadly, it was never meant to be.

Some of the main characters from season one and two. Ah, the memories...

I am probably one of the biggest fans of ReBoot, next to Mike Dedrick. I was even one of the people who wrote the information you now see on the Wikipedia page for the show. And when YTV used to air ReBoot, I had to email them once to make corrections to their website information on the show. LoL.

But yes, Mike and I are probably two of the biggest ReBoot fans on the planet. Mike does freelance 3D animation, and I can tell you that ReBoot was probably one of the reasons why he got into 3D animation in the first place.

Me? ReBoot was probably one of the reasons why I got so involved in computers, everything from software programming to hardware peripherals to building my own computers. As I grew up, I've become known as the guy who can fix your computer and bring it back from death. LoL.

When we were first introduced to the grown up Enzo Matrix and AndrAIa, I was so taken aback at how cool and badass Matrix had become I could hardly contain myself. XD LoL!

ReBoot was also one of the reasons why I got into film-making, as I just loved the character development and interaction, as well as the witty humour. An online series I'm working on, called "Temporal Guardian", has a lot of influences and little "easter egg tributes" to ReBoot within it. And now you know why I call my blog "The Temporal Guardian", and also why the word "Guardian" was used in my online series - Because the show ReBoot had Guardians in it, who were protectors over the systems.

I really wish the entire ReBoot series was out on DVD/Blu-ray. It's such a shame that Seasons One and Two were never released on DVD. Only Season III became available on DVD. You can purchase them via these links:

Reboot - Season III, Vol. 1
ReBoot - Season III, Vol. 2 - The Net
Reboot - Season III, Vol. 3: The Web
Reboot - Season III, Vol. 4: The Viral Wars

On a side-note, a couple of years ago, I made friends with another big ReBoot fan, Lester Calleja, who also shares another interest with me - 'film-making'. I showed him the link and he's equally as excited as I am.

I can't wait to see what happens in 8 days. Whatever it is, I sure hope it's good news...

"Stay Frosty!"

- The Temporal Guardian -

The Happy Drinking Bird

Hey folks, just a quick post about this nifty little novelty item I bought a few months ago and only decided to try it out today. LoL. I saw the box and instantly had the urge to try it out, and so I did. Over 14 hours later it's still going! It will keep going as long as there is water in the glass for it to tip into.

And there it goes!

The perpetual-motion of the Drinking Bird is a combination of the water evaporating from the bird's head (effectively cooling it down), pressure inside the tube due to the temperature change, and the use of gravity. Pretty cool. =) The birds with the red fluid are more traditional, but fade in sunlight easily. The blue (being my favourite colour and the actual reason why I chose it) is less prone to fading.

Many of you have probably seen it first on an episode of The Simpsons, when Homer used it to continually press the "Y" key (for "Yes") on his work-at-home computer. The computer controlled the necessary venting of toxic fumes for the Springfield nuclear power plant. Homer used the Drinking Bird so that he no longer had to stay seated at the computer to monitor the pressure, since all he had to do was keep pressing "Y" to vent the gas when the pressure became too high. He then neglects to check on the bird and it eventually falls over, creating a dangerous critical-pressure state at the nuclear power plant. LoL.

Personally, the first time I remember seeing it was long before The Simpsons, on an episode of Loony Tunes. Tweety Bird sees it drinking water and, thinking it's a real bird, joins it in the "water drinking". Tweety also took the nodding movements of the Drinking Bird as conversational nodding. Haha. I found that hilarious as a kid. =]

I don't know what I find fascinating about such a simple little thing, but I sometimes find myself mesmerized by it's hypnotic back-and-forth rocking motion and it's endless thirst for water, and catch myself watching it for a couple of minutes or so. LOL.

Well, it's best that you all know that most of the Drinking Birds contain Methylene Chloride (also known as Dichloromethane). This is a chemical used in paint stripper liquid and will badly damage paintwork and most plastics. So be wary of where you place it, and be careful not to let young children or pets play near it!

You can get your very own magical Drinking Bird at this website.

The drinking bird was invented by Miles V. Sullivan in 1945 and patented in 1946. He was a Ph.D. inventor-scientist at Bell labs in Murray Hill, NJ, USA.

Until Next Time,
- The Temporal Guardian -