The beaver is a proud and noble animal

I had drinks with eniran last night at Hurleys before we went to see Kill Bill vol. 2 with her friend Mel. Whoah, she's hot :) Movie was pretty good. Really different from the first one and the ending left me feeling meh, but it was still a good movie and I'm glad to have seen it (even if the texas funeral scene did give me a nightmare, as I expected).

Today is a pretty slow day. Had lunch with an old coworker from CGI with whom I got along really well, so that was fun. I also got a call from my broker regarding an investment loan for which the paperwork got mangled somewhere along the way, so I had to pay an outstanding balance kind of right now. Bleh. I have the money, but it's not what I'd planned to do with it. Anyway, that's all settled, so things should go smoothly from now on.

I can't wait for the weekend. My plans got changed for various reasons, so now I'm going to my favourite (yet really expensive) bar with eniran, her girl and Michel :) Can't wait, it's going to be fuuuuuuuuuuuuun :D

Ok, I apologize in advance that this recipe doesn't really have any set quantities, but it's uber simple and I've yet to see anybody mangle it.

This sauce is really quick to cook, so prepare your pasta beforehand. I'd recommend a large pasta, like penne or linguine.

Ingredients:

450g Boneless skinless chicken breast
4-5 large mushrooms, cut in slices
2 shallots, sliced
freshly grated parmesan cheese^†
1 cup 15% cooking cream
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

1. cut chicken breast into small cubes and brown in olive oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside (about 4-5 minutes)

2. Add cream, parmesan and shallots. Bring to a simmer and let sauce thicken. (This is where you have to get a bit of a feel for it, but it's hard to really kill this sauce. You want the sauce to be thick enough to coat the noodles, but it shouldn't be clumpy. if the sauce is too runny, add more cheese. If it's too thick, just cut it with a bit of milk)

3. Toss pasta in sauce and serve immediately.

Now a real carbonara sauce uses pancetta (italian bacon), but the mix of bacon, cream and cheese is too much of a heart-attack special for me :) If you want to use bacon, cook it and drain off the grease before adding the mushrooms, but basically proceed normally for the rest.

&dagger: I strongly recommend getting a block of parmesan and grating it when you need it. It'll keep for a long time wrapped in saran wrap and the taste is worth the effort required to grate it. If you feel lazy, you can get the pre-grated stuff in the cheese counter of your grocery store. For god's sake, please don't use kraft or canned stuff you've had lying around forever :)

I was thinking about this in the shower this morning. When the whole Erin thing went sour, I got a big outpouring of good vibes from you, my friends. From offers of kneecapping, to tales of probable flatulence and excessive body hair problems, it really made me feel better, and I wanted to thank you all for it :)

Sleeman Breweries Ltd. of Guelph, Ont., will pay $36.5 million for Chambly-based craft brewer and Quebec competitor Unibroue Inc., the two companies announced yesterday. The price includes $5.5 million in Unibroue debt.

The deal gives Sleeman much-needed brewing capacity, an instant chunk of the Quebec micro-brewery market, and a prospering distribution channel into the U.S. market to add to Sleeman's own efforts there, analysts said. It's also expected to add about $5 million to Sleeman's operating profits next year, consolidating Sleeman's position as Canada's third-largest brewer behind giants Molson and Labatt.

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 Tbl. olive oil 1 Tbl. butter
1/4 cup white wine
1 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers (optional)

Procedure

1. Put chicken breasts between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap; pound to flatten to about 1/4-inch. In a shallow bowl, combine flour, salt and pepper; dredge chicken breasts to coat well.
2. Heat the butter and olive oil in a sautpan over medium-high heat.
3. Sautthe flatten chicken breasts for about 2 minutes each side (until golden). Remove and reserve to a platter and cover with tin foil to keep warm.
4. Deglaze the pan with the wine and lemon juice, loosening all of the browned bits stuck to the pan. Add capers, if using. Bring to a boil and reduce until fairy thick.
5. Plate the chicken breasts along with your sides, sauce and serve immediately.

When Pink Floyd's “Dark Side Of The Moon” finally fell off of Billboard's Hot 200 Album list in October 1988, it had set a record of 741 weeks on the chart. (Rc: I was actually wrong, the CD came out in October 1990)

Don Mclean's “American Pie” is the longest #1 hit in Rock history at 8 minutes and 32 seconds.

The first group to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were The Coasters.

The first record to sell a million copies was “Chattanooga Cho-Cho” by The Glen Miller Orchestra in 1942.

Despite all of the hits that they've had, The Who have never had a number one record in the UK or the US.

More than 2,500 cover versions of The Beatles' “Yesterday” exist, making it the most recorded song in history.

“In August 1983, a marathon celebrating the song “Louie, Louie” was held at KFJC Radio in Los Altos Hills, California. For 63 hours, the station played every known version of the song. At the time of the marathon, there were over 800 documented recordings of the tune. Since that point in time, the number of known recordings has at least doubled, with the last count somewhere around the 1,600 range.”

Shock Rocker, Alice Cooper was once elected Homecoming Queen for the University Of Houston.

The first CD pressed in the United States for commercial release was Bruce Springsteen's “Born In The USA.”

Elvis Presley made only one television commercial, an ad for “Southern Maid Doughnuts” that ran in 1954.

In 1996, Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce, which coincidentally is what “Ringo” means in Japanese.

“Happy Birthday” was the first song to be performed in outer space, sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969.

Bing Crosby's single of “White Christmas” has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide since it was released in December, 1942 and was recognized as the best-selling single in any music category for more than 50 years until 1998 when Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind”, overtook it in a matter of months.

When The Beach Boys “Kokomo” went to number one in the U.S. in 1988, it had been 22 years since their last chart topper, “Good Vibrations”.

The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine in 1967, included a free roach clip.

The Swedish rock group, ABBA is generally thought of as being made up of two married couples, but this was only true for a short time. Three months after Benny Anderson married his long time live-in girl friend, Anni-Frid Lyngstad in 1978, Bj Ulvaeus and Agnetha F separated and divorced soon after. Benny and Anni-Frid also divorced in 1981.

Before he was convicted of murder, Charles Manson befriended Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson, who convinced the rest of the band to record a Manson composition called “Cease To Exist”. The title was changed to “Never Learn Not To Love” and was released as the “B” side of the single “Bluebirds Over The Mountain”, which eventually climbed to number 61 in early 1969, giving Manson a hit record on Billboard's Hot 100.

Elton John is Sean Lennon's godfather.

When Tina Turner left her husband and former bandmate, Ike Turner in 1975, she was carrying nothing more than thirty-six cents in change and a gas station credit card. In August, 1984, she was awarded a gold record for “What's Love Got To Do With It”.

During the last years that Elvis Presley performed live, he always opened his shows with “The Theme From 2001”. When asked about it, Presley said that he felt the number 2001 had a special significance in his life that he couldn't explain. Elvis died August, 16, 1977, which numerically is 8-16-1977. When these numbers are added up, they equal 2001.

Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) reported that on August 17th, the day after the death of Elvis Presley, the number of orders for flowers to be delivered to Graceland had surpassed the number for any other event in the company's history.

In 1958, the Esso Research Center reported that “tuning in rock & roll music on a car radio can cost a motorist money, because the rhythm can cause a driver to unconsciously jiggle the gas pedal, thus wasting fuel.”

Elton John played piano on the Hollies hit, “He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother”.

Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson once had a giant sandbox built around his piano, so he could feel the sand beneath his feet for song writing inspiration.

On June 7, 1979, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service charged Chuck Berry with 3 counts of tax evasion. Just hours later, he performed at a concert for President Jimmy Carter on the front lawn of the White House.

James Brown's wife tried to get her traffic tickets dismissed because of “diplomatic immunity” in June of 1988. She claimed her husband is the official “ambassador of soul”. She lost the case

In 1975, The Rolling Stones became the first rock group ever to receive royalties from record sales in Russia.

While playing in front of a large lake at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London in 1970, Pink Floyd played so loud, a number of fish were killed.

Dick Clark's wife suggested that Ernest Evans change his name to “Chubby Checker” as a parody of “Fats Domino”.

Eric Clapton was born to an unwed mother and to shield him from the shame, Eric grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister.

“Alice Cooper” was originally the name of the entire band, before lead singer Vince Furnier assumed the name for himself.

Chuck Berry holds a degree in cosmetology.

Jimi Hendrix was thrown out of high school for holding the hand of a white girl in class.

On December 12, 1957, 22 year old Jerry Lee Lewis married 14 year old Myra Gale Brown, his second cousin.

Gene Simmons of KISS is a former elementary school teacher .

Even though he has recorded some of the most memorable rock and roll classics, the only gold record that Chuck Berry ever received was for the novelty song “My Ding-a-ling”.

Sonny and Cher were initially known as Caesar and Cleo.

The name, “Three Dog Night” was inspired by a magazine article about Australian aborigines, who on cold nights, would sleep beside their dogs for warmth. The very coldest weather was called a “three dog night”.

Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist of his time, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

The Yardbirds are noted for giving rise to three of Britain's greatest guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top sport two of the longest beards in all of show business, while drummer Frank Beard is clean shaven.

Frank Zappa named his daughter, Moon Unit Zappa. (Rc: and his son is named Dweezil. To this day, Zappa contends that his kids would get more flack from their surname “Zappa”)

In 1978, ABBA was Sweden's most profitable export. Car maker Volvo was number two.

Throughout their career, Ringo received far more fan mail than any of the other Beatles.

An album called “The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan” was released by Stiff Records. The entire disc contained 40 minutes of silence.

In 1972, Led Zeppelin was forced to cancel a concert in Singapore when officials wouldn't let them off the plane because of their long hair.

Chuck Berry spent some time in prison on two different occasions. First, he served a two year sentence between 1962 and 1964 for violation of the Mann Act, (transporting a minor across State lines) then a four month term in 1979 for income tax evasion.

The cover of the Eagles' “Hotel California” was taken at The Beverly Hills Hotel.

Billy Joel wrote “Just the Way You Are” for his first wife, Elizabeth.

Gene Simmons of Kiss has a tongue that is seven inches long, two inches longer than most men.

Originally found here: http://www.classicbands.com/trivia2.html

Well, just to continue the trend of my going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket week, I just found out that I will most probably not be able to get the siberian cat I wanted, as the litter of kittens is not faring well and she might lose the lot.

On top of that, i was also reminded this morning that someone thinks I'm an annoying bastard, which is also always good for morale.

Just think, we're only wednesday. There's still room for this week to actually get worse…

Found this while surfing.

http://www.lukechueh.com

He recently had a gallery show called Sad paintings for happy people. All of his pieces are on his website, but I really like these ones:

http://www.lukechueh.com/paintings/dark-thoughts.html
http://www.lukechueh.com/paintings/i-asked-for-scrambled.html
http://www.lukechueh.com/paintings/hope-extinguished.html
http://www.lukechueh.com/paintings/hollow.html

Especially the first two. The second one is… poignant, funny, minimalistic… in its message that you're never happy with what you have. The other three, well, they just get to me, for various reasons.

Just wanted to share that with y'all.

[…]
I've been walking forty miles of bad road
If the bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can't win with a losing hand

Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Putting her in a wheel barrow and wheeling her down the street
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me

In case you can't read what the shirt says, the text is:

Christian
American
Heterosexual
Pro-Gun
Conservative
Any Questions?

Now I don't really mind that the kid is affirming who he is, he's quite entitled to. It's more the medium and the tone of it, the in-your-face aspect of it that I dislike. It's also the tone of “if you disagree, well fuck you, you're wrong”.

God bless america, or something like that.