In the battle between Facebook and MySpace, Facebook has finally surpassed Myspace for users. I’d given up on MySpace ages ago, though still check my account about once a month. I’ve put links for both my Facebook and MySpace below. Friend me! I love that my show has become a two-way connection and always enjoy interacting with you. You can get in touch a whole bunch of ways:

Phone during the show: 403-238-X929 (9929)

Leave a voicemail: 403-670-0210 x 1851

E-mail: josh@x929.ca

Social Networking: Facebook, MySpace (let’s be friends!)

Feel free to take a browse through the past years’ worth of blog archives, and make sure you bookmark my blog!!!

P.S. if you’re Facebooking, make sure you know my rules!!!

The Cirque is in town! Cirque Du Soleil’s travelling show Corteo is in Calgary for a stop until September 7. I was there opening night, and it’s an amazing show. If you haven’t seen a Cirque show before, go see it. And if you have, you already know how engrossing the Cirque experience is. Two of the Corteo performers stopped by my show for a chat about the show, and what the cirque lifestyle is all about. David Figlioli plays the white clown in the show, and Christina Campolongo does some pretty amazing acrobatics and some fun improv as part of her character’s role. Listen:

Corteo Interview

Desiree from The Calgary Humane Society came by today with a dog named Tyler. He’s almost three, and would do best in a home where he’s not left alone for too long, or where there’s another pet to keep him company. He’s a lonely fellow. He’s pretty low-key, so not too busy a home. You can check him, and tons of other sweet pets out at the CHS website.

I’ve always dreamed of flight. And always thought it would be the coolest thing ever to have a jetpack. When I was a kid I recall seeing one on some Saturday morning sci-fi series and was amazed. Well, my dream is now within reach. There’s a company called Jetpack International that sells jetpacks. So, my question is, can someone loan me $200, 000? I’ll let you try my jetpack.

Cheryl Wallach from The Calgary Humane Society dropped by today, for her final visit on behalf of CHS. She’s been with them for over 16 years, but decided she’d like to pursue documentary-making. We wish Cheryl well with her future plans! She was accompanied by a sweet dog on her visit. Chesney is a 2 year old mix, weighing in at 20-25 lbs. She’s very attentive, and affectionate. She’ll need a little help interacting with other dogs. You can see her and all sorts of other great pets at CalgaryHumane.ca

You could say that Jer Wayne Junior and Turleen are Barbie’s embarrassing cousins. Turleen comes barefoot and pregnant with her hair in curlersand a cigarette in her mouth. Squeeze her belly and she’ll tell you “Pour me a double. I’m drinking fer two” and “Bubba Jr. get off yer sister!” Jer Wayne Junior sports all the redneck essentials like a mullet, missing teeth, NASCAR tattoo, cigarette, dirty tanktop and a beer in hand. Press his chest and he’ll fart and whisper sweet nothings like “Fifteen of them beers and yer still ugly” and “Honest, I’m not lying through my tooth.” The dolls sell for $33 and come in a patriotic red, white and blue window display box.

• Dial-up Internet Access: Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008. The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable high speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up Internet access.
• Movie Rental Stores: While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000 left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a quest of Circuit
  City. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood Video brand, closed up shop earlier this year. Countless small video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost already.
• Classified Ads: The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that could signal the end of civilization as we know it. The argument is that if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online listings at sites like Craigslist.org and Google Base, then newspapers are not far behind them.
• Yellow Pages: This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry. Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs), to local search engines and combination search/listing services like ReachLocal and Yodle. Factors like an acceleration of the print “fade rate” and the looming recession will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even reach 10% this year — much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen in past years.
• Answering Machines: The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly tied to the decline of landlines. According to USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped 159% between 2004 and 2007. It has been particularly bad in New York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It’s logical that as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional landlines, that there will be fewer answering machines.
• Cameras That Use Film: It doesn’t require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance of the film camera in America. Just look to companies like Nikon, the professional’s choice for quality camera equipment. In 2006, it announced that it would stop making film cameras, pointing to the shrinking market — only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to 75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.
• Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys: BowlingBalls.US claims there are still 60 million Americans who bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag, go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow miniature golf. Bowling lanes also have been added to many non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and resorts, and gambling casinos.
• Hand-Written Letters: In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion e-mails were sent each day. Two million each second. By November of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones, and 80% of the world’s population had access to cell phone coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant, polite hand-written letter?
• Drive-in Theaters: During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so there isn’t much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.
• Analog TV: According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in the U.S. get their television programming through cable or satellite providers. For the remaining 15% — or 13 million individuals — who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor antenna to get their local stations, change is in the air. If you are one of these people you’ll need to get a new TV or a converter box in order to get the new stations which will only be broadcast in digital.

courtesy of Consumerist

What appears to be the tracklisting for Guitar Hero IV: World Tour has leaked online. The game is expected out this winter. Here’s the list:

‘Dope Nose’ - Weezer
‘The Middle’ - Jimmy Eat World
‘Today’ - Smashing Pumpkins
‘Roland’ - Interpol
‘Santeria’ - Sublime
‘Mr Brightside’ - The Killers
‘Take It On The Run’ - REO Speedwagon
‘Hold The Line’ - Toto
‘Rebel Yell’ - Billy Idol
‘Heartbreaker’ - Pat Benatar
‘All Around Me’ - Flyleaf
‘Misery Business’ - Paramore
‘Stinkfist’ - Tool
‘Lateralus’ - Tool
‘Schism’ - Tool
‘Every Breath You Take’ - The Police
‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ - The Offspring
‘The Good Left Undone’ - Rise Agaisnt
‘Bleed It Out’ - Linkin Park
‘Face Down’ - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
‘The Kill’ - 30 Seconds to Mars
‘Thank You For The Venom’ - My Chemical Romance
‘Dammit’ - Blink 182
‘When You Heat Stops Beating’ - +44
‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ - The Rolling Stones
‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ - Blue Öyster Cult
‘Light My Fire’ - The Doors
‘Give It Away’ - Red Hot Chili Peppers
‘Renegades Of Funk’ - Rage Against The Machines
‘No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn’ - The Beastie Boys
‘Are You Gonna Go My Way?’ - Lenny Kravitz
‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ - Aerosmith
‘Man In The Box’ - Alice In Chains
‘Kickstart My Heart’ - Mötley Crüe
‘Spin The Black Circle’ - Pearl Jam
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ - Nirvana
‘Car Chase City’ - Tenacious D
‘Everlong’ - Foo Fighters
‘Animal’ - Def Leppard
‘Runaway’ - Bon Jovi
‘Paradise City’ - Guns N’ Roses
‘Song For The Dead’ - Queens of the Stone Age
‘Vasoline’ - Stone Temple Pilots
‘Assassin’ - Muse
‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ - Thin Lizzy
‘Life in the Fast Lane’ - The Eagles
‘Sweet Home Alabama’ - Lynyrd Skynyrd
‘Here to Stay’ - KoRn
‘Dragula’ - Rob Zombie
‘Bat Country’ - Avenged Sevenfold
‘10,000 Fists’ - Disturbed
‘Duality’ - Slipknot
‘Toxicity’ - System of a Down
‘Demise of Sanity’ - Black Label Society
‘Don’t Talk to Strangers’ - Dio
‘Heaven and Hell’ - Black Sabbath
‘Crazy Train’ - Ozzy Osbourne
‘The Spirit Of Radio’ - Rush
‘Comfortably Numb’ - Pink Floyd
‘Pull Me Under’ - Dream Theater
‘Beat It’ - Micheal Jackson Feat. Eddie Van Halen
‘Hot For Teacher’ - Van Halen
‘Stranglehold’ - Ted Nugent
‘Warriors Of Time’ - Black Tide
‘Leather Rebel’ - Judas Priest
‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ - Iron Maiden
‘Angel Of Death’ - Slayer
‘Tornado Of Souls’ - Megadeth
‘Master Of Puppets’ - Metallica
‘Johnny B Goode’ - Chuck Berry
‘The Wind Cries Mary’ - Jimi Hendrix
‘Purple Haze (Live)’ - Jimi Hendrix
‘45′ - Shinedown
‘96 Quite Bitter Beings’ - CKY
‘Bombshell’ - Powerman 5000
‘Clavado en un Bar’ - Maná
‘Enjoy the Silence’ - Lacuna Coil
‘Feuer Frei’ - Rammstein
‘Fury Of The Storm’ - Dragonforce
‘Never Too Late’ - The Answer
‘Nottingham Lace’ - Buckethead
‘One Armed Scissor’ - At The Drive-In
‘Satch Boogie’ - Joe Satriani
‘Schrei’ - Tokio Hotel
‘Soul Doubt’ - NOFX

For a mere $100,000, you could own awhopping 40-foot long and 12 foot high (at the hips) museum-grade T-Rex replica. They’ll pose him for you, too. Each skeleton is constructed according to your creative needs, allowing you to fashion a more dynamic exhibit. Whether you want your skeleton walking, stalking, attacking, running, jumping or looking your visitors right in the eye. Go to Black Hills Institute for more details.

This is pretty awesome: