08Jul 2010 by R&O No Comments
When Queen was King

When Queen was King

Events, Music, Of Interest, People
Way back in December of 1979 and again in June of 1980, Doug Bower, a friend and fellow employee, went to see Queen perform at The Pacific Coliseum here in Vancouver. Back in these days of festival seating and lax security, a young aspiring photographer like Doug could bring his camera along to take photos of the band while standing a few rows back from the stage. (Yes, those were the days when we could get close to our rock idols without guard rails and security personnel. We refer to them as the good old days of rock.) Doug mentioned the photos he had taken back then as we discussed our favourite bands from the 70's and I asked him to dig them out and let me have a look.…
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18Jun 2010 by R&O 4 Comments

Resident Evils

Observations, Of Interest, People, Politics, Rants
It's no secret that here's no shortage of scumbags in the lower mainland but the numbers seem to be growing as our useless legal system does little or nothing to slow their reign of terror. Here's a few of the most recent pieces of garbage to grace the pages of our local newspapers: On July 5, 2005 16-year-old Matthew Martins made the mistake of walking by Katherine Quinn's house. Quinn, a 23-year-old greasy-haired, bottom-feeding mother of three decided to jump Matthew and take his necklace. Matthew had other ideas and used a penknife to defend himself and stab Quinn. Matthew was chased to the Surrey Central SkyTrain station and Quinn's low-life boyfriend, 28-year-old Robert Forslund, beat him to death with Quinn instructing him to kill Matthew for what he had…
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25May 2010 by R&O 1 Comment

Two Recommendations

Entertainment, Food, Observations, Of Interest
I'm not big into recommending stuff to people I don't know but I thought some of you may enjoy these two completely unrelated visual and gastronomical items: RECOMMENDATION #1: If you enjoy quirky and inventive movies I sugest you see Kick-Ass. Yes, I know...it sounds like another dopey teen superhero flick and you're partially right. It starts out with the typical socially inept, Peter Parker-type main character that morphes into the film's superhero but it becomes uncharacteristically dark about 30 minutes in. Once you've heard an 11-year old girl use the 'C' word, all bets are off. Obviously, this isn't family or first date fare but it's a refreshing take on the typical Spider Man, Superman and other processed superhero pablum we've all become familiar with. And McLovin is in…
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14May 2010 by R&O No Comments

My New Boss

Business, Of Interest, People
My employer, Canwest Global Communications Corp, has sold it's 46 newspapers to a group of bondholders fronted by Paul Godfrey, president and CEO of the National Post. Canwest has been operating under court supervision since 2009 and has struggled since the death of it's founder Israel Asper, it's purchase of expensive acquisitions and the downward spiral in advertising revenues for newspapers and television during the recent global recession. All combined to force David and Gail Asper, the son and daughter of Canwest Global Communications founder, to resign from the media conglomerate's board of directors and the company to come under control of it's creditors. I can't say I'm unhappy to be free of Canwest and Mr. Godfrey appears to be an astute business man, savvy politician and media manager. Here's…
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