Soundtrack of My Life

Song: La La La (Excuse Me Miss, Again)

Artist: Jay Z

Album: Bad Boys 2 OST (2003)

This one is long overdue.

To have not dropped a Jay-Z track on the soundtrack in the first year was a mistake, since there are very few in the business whose music I enjoy and who I respect and admire as a person more than Jay.

I'll put it to you this way: I have his first album, Reasonable Doubt, on vinyl and still in the wrapping because I think when all is said and done, it will go down as one of the seminal hip hop albums of all-time and Jay will be bestowed with the title of Greatest of All-Time, unlike LL Cool J who just claimed it for himself.

As for this song itself, all I can say is that it's dirty.

The beat, delivered by Pharrell / The Neptunes, is infectious and will stick in your head for hours. It's 4,000 times better than the initial Excuse Me Miss and contains another of my favourite lyrics ever when Jay drops:

This ain't Chris Rock bitch
It's the Roc bitch
And I'm the franchise like a Houston Rocket
Yao Ming (Nawimean)

When you're tossing references to 7'6 Chinesse basketball players out in your tracks and they flow without any hiccup... retarded!

That's not the only set of rhyming cuplets delivered that have me loving this song though, as the whole thing is littered with well put together concepts, quick wit and Pop Culture references, which makes this song kinda like me... HA!

Sick with the pen, nigga
No physician in the world can fix him
No prescription, you could prescribe to subside
His affliction
He's not a sane man, he's more like Rainman, twitchin'

Anyway, as I said off the top - this one is long overdue and there are certainly any number of track by Shawn Carter that could have very easily ended up in this piece. Or I could have just put the entire Black Album...

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Come Back Tomorrow...

Listen - I ain't doin' shit today...

It's my birthday - my champagne birthday at that - so I'm taking the night off to play some poker, hang out with the sleepy little dog and watch some Grey's while Sarah is at work.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new soundtrack song for the One Year Anniversary post.

Until then - have a drink for me!

* * * * * * * * * *

For anyone who is wondering - turning 30 is no different than turning 29... it's just another day folks.

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The Rundown: First Year Favourites

I got no idea where the time has gone, but Friday will mark the 1 Year Anniversary of this blog.

Since beginning last Halloween, there have been 336 post written on this site (including this one) which is a pretty healthy number if I do say so myself. It's been an absolute blast so far and I'd like to think that being here and doing this everyday has not only been a great help to me as a vehicle for improving my writing, but it's also been both educational and entertaining at times.

In fact, that's going to be the new description in the title box: I Blog Because I Can - Quality Canadian Edutainment!

Anyway, I thought I'd use today's Rundown to look back at the five posts I've enjoyed the most over this year. Whether it's because of what it means to me, the number of comments and discussions it got started or just because it was totally retarded and kept me laughing.

Since I'm showing you mine, it means you have to show me your's later... deal?

Top Five First Year Posts

5. Dane Cook: Please God Make It Stop

The second post in the history of iBlog, this one not only kept me laughing for hours after I finished because I'm very much that guy who laughs at his own jokes, but also became fairly topical shortly thereafter because Memorial University was actually trying to bring Douchebag Dane in for a show. Needless to say, I let everyone and anyone know how much I despise the unfunny funny man.

4. Searching for a Porn-ucopia!

I made fun of a lot of customers from my various places of employment over the course of the last year, but this one was easily the funniest. Dude came into Blockbuster out east looking for porn and when told him to go to Jumbo across the road, he scoffed as their selection wasn't up to code. Absolutely hilarious...

3. Anything About Britney or Lindsay or Megan Fox

Not because I get to run a picture of a scantily clad skank to draw in the casual surfers who Stumble Upon site, but because these ridiculous tramps always - and I mean always - provide some kind of material to write about. I mean, I know it's usually them being totally moronic or breathing our precious air. Plus, I would bet that I've written more posts about them combined than anything else. I'm too lazy to actually count, but feel free if you'd like.

2. Soundtrack of My Life

These pieces have been special to me not only because I love writing about music and they help shed a little light on my inspirations to all of you who read this site, but because I've helped turn some people onto new bands and songs and music and that is awesome. Newt loves Mark Ronson and out East my girl E used to have a Spencer Playlist on her iPod consisting of all the Soundtrack songs. That's the ultimate right there as far as I'm concerned.

1. The Three Posts About My Grandfather

These three posts are my favourites because of everything surrounding them. The sudden illness and passing of my grandfather back in May made me reassess some things in my life and take stock of what is really important. Sadly, it took his passing for me to realize just how important and influential he is in my life. I also really enjoyed getting the opportunity to introduce all of you an incredible man.

There. You've seen mine... show me your's in the comments section!

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Dishonour Roll: Britney Spears

Congratulations Brit - you're the first person to ever end up in the Dishonour Roll twice!

Originally making an appearance alongside the other members of her freakish family back when the world first learned young Jamie Lynn was all knocked up, the former Mrs. Federline make a return on the heels of me spending the afternoon on the couch feeling like a sack of garbage.

See, if I was well and not - I'll spare you the graphic imagery - I wouldn't have been watching the MuchMoreMusic Top 10 where her latest "Womanizer" landed at #3.

Now, I could very much make an argument for her place on this list because of how annoying the song itself is and how Britney sounds more and more like a robot / computer with each passing album, but I won't. Besides, if people got on the Dishonour Roll through crappy music, I would have to resurrect the DR on a permanent basis and it's a lot more fun surprising Smashly with random posts like this.

Anyway...

Brit-Brit lands on the list because of the video.

After a handful of years where no one would touch her with a ten foot pole and she looked like she was on the verge of one of the greatest celebrity meltdowns of all-time, she has somehow made like Lazarus and gotten another opportunity at a career and the spotlight.

What is her opening move?

Getting bare ass naked throughout half of the video!

I mean, a round of applause for dropping the extra lbs you were packing back in the Trailer Park Trainwreck days, but couldn't you have gone another way with this?

I'm not saying skirts to the ankles and fully buttoned shirts are in order, but you've got kids of your own who are look at you as a role model now and your opening salvo is laying on a bench butt naked?

Put some clothes on woman and do something meaningful for once. Take a page out of the Angelina Jolie Handbook.

Remember when Angie was totally crazy, looking like a vampire super model and passionately kissing her brother at the Oscars? She too married a total loser at one point - Hiya Billy Bob!

Then, she realized no one would ever take her seriously in her career or in general if she was a freak show her entire life. She made Beyond Borders, found something she was passionate about, dove in head first and now look at her...

She's great! That could be you Britney, but no, you'd rather dance around like a skank continuing to offer an unfortunate image for your children and others to look up to.

And for the record - we all get an assist on this one for actually paying attention to this freak show... way to go us!

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Journalism Job Hunting

Sarah started work today and being the supportive future spouse that I am, I got my lazy ass out of bed at 5:45 with her and drove her to work. I know - I'm such a great guy!

This also means that I have to take myself back out to the booming metropolis of Cranbook to pick her up and while it infringes on my Monday Night Football viewing, it also gives me an opprotunity to once again try to make it as a real life writer.

One of the stops I will be making this afternoon - along with one to the RCMP (nothing to worry about), Starbucks (coffee and WiFi) and Staples (makin' copies) - is to the Cranbrook Daily Townsman.

A friend of mine in the newspaper business once told me that starting at a small daily is the way to break into the business and they don't get much smaller than this - payed subscribers total 3800 according to the very modest website.

Hopefully, I'll be able to do more than just drop off a resume. Ideally, I'll get a little face time with someone and be able to explain my background and my ideas and what I think I could bring to the operation.

Most likely though, I'll be dropping off a resume and my clippings and waiting on a phone call or email, which I guess is better than nothing.

The Townsman isn't the only avenue I'm exploring either.

I've been trying to break into the online MMA arena in the last couple weeks and have had some contact with the people at 5 Ounces of Pain, one of the best MMA sites around.

No guarantees, but they've answered my emails and seem genuinely interested in adding more writers. For now, The Love of Sports remains my personal MMA outlet but that might have to change in the future.

As with absolutely everything around this joint, I'll keep you posted as we go.

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