mike browne's old blog

It's a living. ~ Bela Lugosi

Tsunami deathtoll update

Dec 30, 2004 by Mike Browne in Downers | 1 Comment
CBC News: Tsunami's toll leaps above 114,000
I don't know what to say about this. It's too awful to even try to get my head around.
Reuters is saying more than 120,000. Thanks to Still Shady for that link.

Tsunami relief: links

Phuket Tsunami

Dec 27, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Phuket Tsunami Photo Gallery by hellmut issels at pbase.com and the aftermath.

It's worse than they first though

Dec 27, 2004 by Mike Browne in Downers | Add comment
CBC News: Death toll from killer waves tops 22,000
This is horrible. So many people dead and thousands more homeless.

Largest quake in 40 years

Dec 26, 2004 by Mike Browne in Downers | 1 Comment
An earthquake, being called the largest on Earth in 40 years, registering 8.9 on the Richter scale happened overnight off the west coast of Northern Sumatra. Tsunamis have killed an estimated 8000 people in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and surrounding areas.

Written by...

Dec 26, 2004 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | Add comment
Check out this list from Written by: The Magazine of America's Storytellers, of unproduced teleplays and screenplays with links to the actual scripts themselves.

Merry Christmas!

Dec 25, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
I didn't get any of TV Cream's Top 100 Toys, but I did get some cool stuff. I'll blog a list later. I have to get ready to go to Holly and Stu's (Carol's aunt and uncle) for Christmas dinner. One thing I got and ate right away was some sweet beef jerky from carol's sister. Yummy. There's only one problem. No I have really bad gas. P-U!

Zeitgeist

Dec 24, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Google Press Center: Zeitgeist ... It's the end of the year time for those best and worst of lists.

Chris Christmas Rodriguez

Dec 24, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Check out Chris Christmas Rodriguez. I don't speak Swedish or whatever the hell language is on that page, but I figured out if you click the text beside each of the thumbnails you can watch some quicktime movies of this cheesy dude.

PlanetChristmas

Dec 24, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Thanks to Ric and Vik in Mexico for the link to PlanetChristmas

Santa Santa Santa

Dec 24, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Santa Santa Santa Badger Style - Flash Animation

Tramp O Claus

Dec 24, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
I knew Santa was a hobo! Kellie sent me the link to Tramp O Claus. Not at all for kids ears and eyes. Use headphones and blindfold te little monkeys. It's scary to think that it's this guy coming down the chimney and creeping around the house tonight. Yikes!

Gingerbread Kama Sutra

Dec 22, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Gingerbread Kama Sutra is not for the kiddies, but it's funny as hell. Thanks to James for this one.

Censored Snack

Dec 22, 2004 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | Add comment

It's my last day of work before I take some days off for Christmas. I won't be back here until January 4th! I'll be sure to post throughout the holidays though so don't fret. Carol made up some *censored snack* for me to share with my co-workers. Here's a little video I whipped up to show you what it was like. Enjoy!:


Pump Up The Movie

Dec 22, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Check out the movie clip of the weird cheerleader toss at Pump Up The Movie. Oli says the game is fun too.

The Beastles

Dec 21, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
dj BC presents The Beastles - A mix of the Beatles and the Beastie Boys.

Books We Like

Dec 21, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
I'm often struggling to find the next great read. Now I can see what some other folks recommend at BETA- Books We Like. Cool concept.

Ching-a tee-ching!

Dec 21, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
An Italian Christmas donkey named Dominic? That's weird. Graham and Jackson were all over this first thing this morning. Thanks for the tune guys. Now I can't get it out of my fricken head It's like the Sopranos meets It's a Wonderful Life meets Weird Al. Argh!:
xmas-donkey.mp3 (2.37 mb)

Got your shopping done?

Dec 20, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
I have pretty much. Just one or two more little things to buy. However, if I were to need one more thing for my favourite Newfie (I'm not sure who that is) I would buy him/her this handy dandy DVD rewinder sent to me by Big Al Mac:

Nova Scotia History

Dec 20, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
This time of year especially makes me a little homesick. Pete sent me this Nova Scotia History page. Cool. Thanks Pete.

Scared of Santa photo gallery

Dec 18, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 2 Comments
I'm not the only one who's hard a hard time with Santa. Check out Scared of Santa photo gallery

gingerbread motherboard

Dec 17, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Check out this cool gingerbread CPU from mediatinker.com. Nosmawiches aka wifey sent it. Martha Stewart nerd-o-rama.

Evil Nine Crooked Video

Dec 16, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Denis the Bosnian sent the Evil Nine Crooked Video... kinda cool.

It's a Wonderful Life

Dec 16, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
_It's a Wonderful Life_ in 30 seconds with bunnies. Of course!

Beatles Christmas Records

Dec 16, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Check out the Beatles Christmas Records from Sci-Fi Hi-Fi. There are MP3's of the Christams records received by Beatles fan club members from 1963 to 1969. Being a Beatles fan this is quite a cool find.

Real Lovers 2005

Dec 16, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Check out D & G Real Lovers 2005. You know you're cut out for one another when you can do this together. Thank Jackson for this one. He nearly just killed us all with one of his own due to a ravioli feast last night.

lap pillow

Dec 15, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Tyler sent this: MSNBC - Japanese 'lap pillow' offers solace to lonely men

Creepy, but I want one.

Why Santa?

Dec 15, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 2 Comments

Santa and I aren't on good terms as of late. Carol and I met him at the Riptown.com Christmas party we sat on his lap and told him what we wanted for the big day. Carol's requests entailed crochet items and other Martha Stewart-y crap, so as you can see, it was a good experience for her. My request for $1million US dollars and a green card was laughed at however. I guess I should have 'requested it sooner' as Santa didn't receive enough 'notice' to set the wheels in motion. To heck with that I sent him the letter quite some time ago. Perhaps it ended up on the pile from this video sent to me by Pauly radio-ad-guy: santaneedspaper.wmv (1mb)

ipod gag ad...

Dec 14, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Check out this ipod gag ad. Kind of amusing.

Ugly Christmas Lights

Dec 14, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Check out Ugly Christmas Lights.com! Sent by nosamwiches of course. She's a fiend for all things Christmas.

Story/Scene ideas

Dec 13, 2004 by Mike Browne in Filmmaking | 2 Comments
I've been writing all day trying to come up with a logline for a series we're working on here. What's a logline?

Don't ask me any more right now please. I'll let you guys in on things when I can.

Anyway, in my travels researching others' loglines I stumbled across the Random Logline Generator @ Story/Scene ideas. Some of the ones I generated just for shits and giggle are:

Four bed-ridden hackers ponder a difficult moral situation.

A cameraman, an advertising executive, and a football coach plan a wedding in a cave.

A suave fire fighter, a toxicologist, and a cannibalistic insurance salesman hide from their oppressors.

You can also create your own using variables you've plugged into formulas. Trés cool.

Come back hockey

Dec 12, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hockey Rocks | Add comment
Hull talks hockey on Saturday Night Live

Yep. That about says it all. I saw it last night on SNL, but Tyler pointed out the link. Yes, I'm at work on a Sunday.

Giant shark caught off NS coast

Dec 12, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 4 Comments
I found this photo and story below while surfing newsgroups:



This Mako was hooked in the mouth, only fought slightly for 15 minutes, came up along side of the boat to have a look, long enough for one of the crew to put a rope around its tail !!!

That's when the s**t hit the fan!!

The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS. The boat was taking on water, the Shark would jump completely out of the water at times.

This went on for an hour before the Shark actually drowned.

He weighed in at 1035 LBS ... here's another photo

story here

Here's a link about shark derbies.

Here's a surprise...

Dec 12, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment

My life is rated NC-17.
What is your life rated?

DOGJUDO

Dec 11, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Check out DOGJUDO. Now that's some weird shite!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Dec 10, 2004 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 1 Comment
Here's the trailer in Quicktime format. This movie is going to rock. With Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Tim Burton directing this one can't miss. I love how the film is actually named after Dahl's book rather than Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. No it isn't a remake, it's a whole new film. Nice!

Thanks to Graham for pointing this out on Anticlown.com.

Help the drunk home...

Dec 09, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
It's that time of year again. Practice walking home pie eyed with Home Run. Me? Just remembering the good ol' days. Thanks to everyone who sent this. It was Bart today. Dave, on the other hand sent Speedy Santa... So I guess you can drive home too. I got 10.984, Dave, who is not Australian, got 7.906.

Major Beer Tragedy

Dec 09, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment

The horror! The horror! It looks like a highway somewhere in Europe. You can see the truck off in the distance. No story... no links ... just sad thoughts. Thanks Pauly.

Athens Monitors

Dec 09, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
Check out this monitor ... holy snappin' crap. Thanks to Still Shady for the link.

Dimebag Darrell dead in club shooting

Dec 09, 2004 by Mike Browne in Downers | Add comment
Former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and four others killed in Ohio concert shooting. Sad. However, with a nickname like Dimebag, not a surprise.

Thanks to Graham for the heads up on this bit of news. I saw the story yesterday but didn't really pay it any heed. Yikes.

Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special

Dec 09, 2004 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 1 Comment

Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special a.k.a. "Dear Santa Claus, Go F**k Yourself" is scheduled to air on the following dates:

Premieres on Showcase
Sunday, December 12
at 9 pm et/pt

Also airing:
Tuesday, December 14
at midnight et/pt

Thursday, December 16
at 9 pm et/pt

Monday, December 20
at 10 pm et/pt

Wednesday, December 22
at 9 pm et/pt

Saturday, December 25
at 9 pm et/pt

Tuesday, December 28th
at 12:10 am et/pt

Sunday, January 2nd
at 9 pm et/pt

Showcase Action
December 18th at 10 pm et
December 23rd at 12 am et
December 29th at 12:15 am et

IFC
December 13th at 9 pm et
December 16th at 11 pm et

BBC Canada
December 21st at 11 pm et
December 25th at 11 pm et


Will I be watching? You're damned straight ol' Skippy!

Ben Johnson = Still stupid

Dec 08, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Ben Johnson: 'Anybody that wins gold medals is not clean:'

Lists of Bests

Dec 08, 2004 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | 2 Comments
Lists of Bests : The Online Film Critics Society's 'Top 100 Overlooked Films of the 1990s'. Check out the other lists too. Worth a peek.

A story with a message

Dec 08, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a
brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver,
a young man in a Prada suit, Gucci shoes, Dior sunglasses and D+G
tie, leans out the window and asks the shepherd: "If I tell you
exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you let me take
one home for my dinner?"

The shepherd looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his
peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers: "Sure. Why not?"
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer,
connects it to his AT&T cell phone, surfs to a NASA page on the
internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get
an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA
satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and
exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the
image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a
MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with
hundreds of complex formulae.

He uploads all of this data via an email on his Blackberry and,
after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out a
full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturised HP
LaserJet printer, turns to the shepherd and says: "You have exactly
1,586 sheep".

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my sheep," says the
shepherd.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on
amused as the young man stuffs it into the boot of his car. Then the
shepherd says to the young man: "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what
your business is, will you give me back my sheep?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says: "Okay, why
not?".
"You're a consultant," says the shepherd.
"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie. "But how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required," answers the shepherd. "You showed up here
even though nobody called you, you want to get paid for an answer I
already knew to a question I never asked, and you know nothing about
my business.

"Now give me back my dog."

Thanks to oily Oli, the drunk Scotsman in dual thongs for this little gem. Check out his photgraphy. Great stuff.

Anticlown Daily

Dec 08, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Ninjas Killed My Family. Thanks Jackson. I know you're still drunk and all, but it hasn't affected your funny.

drunken shoutouts

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Listen to drunken shoutouts... 'nuff said. Ahh Christmas time.

Ignorance?

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Im not sure how to react to these commentators' [wmv] ( take on Canada. Bu was I a little offended? You betcha... I understand the message behind what they're saying, but how about saying it with a little more compassion and tolerance. This attitude is a big part of the reason why people in other parts of the world dislike the US. Not nice Ann. Pretty mean spirited Tucker. Clearly trying to be funny... yet somehow missing just slightly. Grown men in bowties? Now that's funny.

Lost frog

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Tons of other blogs and sites have posted it so why shouldn't I? here it is: ps. i'll find my frog
Gawd. I'm such a follower.

First night of Channukah

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Wow. I almost forgot to post this for Schlemiel. Happy first night of Channukah. Here's a hit of the Dreidel song for you.

Cat gets MBA

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment

Check out this story about a kitty getting an MBA from an online college. I think Moosh needs a PHD in Philosophy.

UPDATE: Online university sued as a result... thanks Ross

Riptown.com Xmas party tonight

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
It's that time of year again. We're running odds (as we are wont to do) on who will pass out this fine evening after overindulgence at the open bar at our annual staff Xmas party taking place at the fully rented Ginger62. There's always one... Last year our PR man who was humiliated when the year prior's Marketing type turned "drinkin' overdoin' it champ", our Brutally Honest1, Nic, wrote "L.A. Times this" on the poor sap's forehead in mascara. There is photography of his relatively deep coma and the results of Nic's artistic endeavours, yet I hesitate to publish as the gentleman in question is a hockey player and would most likely jersey me and have me pay dearly. Not worth the price of a giggle at his expense. Adding insult to injury he was later rolled for his watch and given a sound thumping by a pair of ruffians. Yikes. There were other goings on but, I'll leave those up to your imagination. It's what you might expect with an Internet gambling related company's holiday antics... and then some.

Who will it be this year? Not a clue. I don't drink so I am, thankfully out of the running, although I could have been a contender in a past life. Hmmmm...

Perhaps we'll see a tree built much like this one sent to me by Big Al Mac before the night is over:

Tease Titus

Dec 07, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Tease Titus - Dog Simulator. How lame is that?

Curry

Dec 06, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Remember Curry? Too much!

Michael Paulus :: Skeletal Systems

Dec 06, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 1 Comment
Ever wonder what the skeletal systems of cartoon characters look like? Michael Paulus has. Here's his take on Skeletal Systems of cartoon characters through the years. I never tought of Shmoo as having a skeleton though. I always tought of him as more of a jellyfish-like blob.

Hoax of the day

Dec 05, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Bush arrested in Canada for war crimes (fake article)
Not a badly done farce. It looks so much like a real CNN page (right down to the url) that I bet many actually fell for it.

Spotting psychopaths at work

Dec 03, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Spotting psychopaths at work How do you spot the psychopath among your work colleagues?

Who me? Don't look over there look over here.

Thanks for the link Yezi!

I can see my house from here

Dec 02, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 4 Comments

Yup! It's a satellite photo of our place thanks to the 7 day free trial at Keyhole.com. This link came about as a result of a discussion bonkura j :| had when our company took a field trip to see the Massive Change exhibit yesterday at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I thought the exhibit was okay, but there wasn't any really new information. A lot were things like myfootprint.org that we've chatted about here on my blog before. It was interesting to see these things all in one place. And for someone who hasn't been paying attention to the state of the world and how things have changed over the last 50 years Massive Change is worth a peek. Go to the gallery on a 'by donation' day. :)

Heavy.com : Ad Guy

Dec 02, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 5 Comments
Check out Heavy.com's Ad Guy. It's a toy that I can relate to. Feel free to hook me up this Christmas. Thanks to Pauly for the link. Pauly works as an ad guy at Radio NL in Kamloops. Here's an MP3 of him doing an irritating Santa Claus for Ruckers: ruckers.mp3 (684kb mp3)

Nice work Pauly, but what's this about your little pony and the dude with the square pants?

ATM starts dispensing Canadian Tire money

Dec 02, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | 3 Comments
CIBC ATM starts dispensing Canadian Tire money | CBC
It must be Pauly's bank machine. He gives Crappy Tire money with birthday cards etc. Thanks to Steve X for the link.

Rudolph on CBC

Dec 01, 2004 by Mike Browne in Movies and TV | Add comment
CBC.ca - Program Guide - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer... It's on tonight for all you Canadian Rudolph fans. By the way, Jacksonian, who sits next to me here at Riptown looks a hell of a lot like Yukon Cornelius with a trimmed beard. He's quite miffed at me now saying, "The good thing about Yukon Cornelius is that he has a knife." I don't know what that means, but here's photographic proof:

Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Confirmed

Dec 01, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
Slashdot | Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Confirmed
Thank you God. I was a little concerned there for a moment. Thanks to Chuff for the link.

World AIDS Day

Dec 01, 2004 by Mike Browne in Hmmmmmm | Add comment
World AIDS Day - 1 December 2004
Yes AIDS and HIV are still around and still killing people. My cousin the world class figure skater Rob Mccall died of AIDS in 1991. It's a horrible disease. Awareness is a good thing.