Hall Of Shame (cliche I know)

Yesterday the news reported the death of Pat Burns. This time unfortunately they were right. I grew up a Leafs fan and unfortunately I remember particularly the 92 season on. Pat Burns was their coach he would always be yelling at players, refs and on a few occasions going over to fight the other team's coach. This past year it became clear that Pat Burns would be leaving us to, it also was clear that this 3-time Jack Adams award winner and Stanley Cup winner would be in the Hall of Fame but for one reason or another, they decided to exclude him off this years list. This is a true shame, it is abundantly clear he will be in it one day, and the fact he could have been alive to see it and the NHL chose not to let that happen is a damn shame.
When he finally does get admitted to the Hall Of Fame, and he will. I can't help but think this moment will forever be tainted, they could have done right by him, and chose not to.

RIP Pat Burns, your fire and passion as a coach is yet to be matched.

Making Dreams Come True part 2

Again this year I auditioned for the Amman Comedy Festival and although I was close (so I was told) I didn't make the finals...Darn.

It's quite alright the first two goals I ever had when I started comedy was to perform in NYC and perform in front of my friends in Canada, I accomplished both this summer so for me, my comedy bucket list is complete everything now is just icing on this beautiful cake.

At the show in NYC I got to see the Very Funny Mohamed Mohamed. He was super nice and super funny all around a great guy. Mohamed(x2) got into the FINALS! So I will gladly lend out my support and hope you do to, SO PLEASE! Take 5 seconds to just cast your vote HERE you will be sent a confirmation email. Put it this way it will take you like a minute but it really could make all the difference in a guys life and frankly everyone needs a hand every once and a while.

Mohamed Mohamed to Amman, to quote Diddy LET'S GO!

Art vs Artist vs People on the Internet

I love the sound of my own voice, this is further supported by the fact I went into comedy. I think that sometimes I say things and do things that may piss off someone but in reality it's just me being me. This is how I choose to live my life, and most importantly this is how I will continue* to live my life. Similarly so does Kanye West, apparently.

Lately it seems that anytime Kanye West does anything, everyone feels the need to have an opinion, and 9 times out of 10 it's "he's an idiot"**. Kanye West is outspoken, yes. Kanye West has done, said things that were dumb, again yes. Neither of these two fact have anything to do with his music. This is a fact I struggle with when talking to people about Kanye West. I had an argument with someone who said "How can you like Kanye West's music, did you see what he did to Taylor Swift." This sentence causes me to have a near aneurysm every time.

There needs to be a line drawn between the Artist and the Art. I am not the biggest fan of Coke Heads but Robert Munsch wrote some damn good children Book. I am not a fan of Pedophiles but Roman Polanski's Chinatown is brilliant. I am not a fan of guys hitting on children*** but Alice in Wonderland was a fantastic book.

When Michael Jackson died in June 2009 everyone recalled how great a musician he was. People didn't really comment on the child sex scandals because that no longer mattered, what mattered was that the artist can no longer create art that we loved. Sure there were a lot of fucked up things said about Michael Jackson, and yes some people will still feel the need to bring it up, but when all is said and done, we will never get to see Michael Jackson perform again, and that is the real shame.

Kanye West might piss you off, he might upset you but there is no way in hell you can listen to "The College Dropout" or "Late Registration" and call his music bad, I'm sorry his production work is absolutely phenomenal. To constantly judge someone not by the merits of their work but by their actions and statements is just foolish just like you wouldn't want your job review to be based on 'if you are Team Edward or Jacob****.' I really hope readers of the internet***** that do nothing but trash Kanye on blogs find this one and realize, there always needs to be separation from the artist and the art create. You can hate the artist, but at least be smart enough to appreciate the art, or at least give it a chance.


*(god willing)
**the other person usually makes a "he's a gay fish" which never gets old, much like those Wassssuuuuuuuuuuuuuup commercials, go back to high fiving your buddy while totally playing mad Beer Pong and Listening to "College" by Asher Roth.
*** apparently a lot of good artists like children...hmmm
****Totally Edward.
*****I kid you not I saw a guy post a comment on a Kanye Article saying "I asked my son who this Conway West guy is and he said 'Dad, he's a big zero'." I mean seriously how many things can be wrong in one statement.

Comedy: Post Show

The Show went well, I will start with that.

I had my flaws, but then again, I am yet to see a comedian have a flawless set, it's pretty damn hard. I started off coming out to "Night By Night" by Chromeo. I have to say this is one of the best calls I have made for intro music, since "Roc Boys.." By Jay-Z. This pumped me up and led to some dancing. The sound people refused to cut the song when I asked them to so it led to more dancing, which led to bigger dancing revolving around the idea of "TURN THE FUCKING SONG OFF!" none the less I had a blast dancing and making the crowd love it, so frankly it worked out for the best...note to self MORE DANCING!

I made a fatal flaw, I arranged my jokes wrong, I did the grape leaves joke as my kick off and I think it's too fast a joke to get the crowd into it, I should have done Aladdin first. Aladdin killed as usual and Wizeer/Wizard was a great ender. Right there, Right there is where I should have said good night and walk off, instead I did the joke on the guitar.

This joke was taken out the night before, but as I got there, they informed me they fixed all the kinks and I was going to do it. I wasn't prepared, the sound was awful and the lights were intimidating, the joke didn't really hit. It's fine tho, 3/4 isn't too bad, right? Right!

This show was more than a do well show, this show was one to make me comfortable again. I had a blast, I think the lighting was awful as well as the sound. The audience was fully lit, so it was really really hard to get in the groove when you can see EVERY SINGLE PERSON, the sound was a constant battle, but frankly I think the show was a hit. Mo' Love Did well, Shaheen got a bit screwed over due to some argument between security and three ladies*. Peter Zarief Is hands down one of my favourite arabic Comedians, he truly is a great stage presence, Ali Quandil is someone I love to see, what I love most is how quiet and to himself he is. He just sits backstage by himself, goes up kills, and walks back to his spot, respect. Mike Beteyah was beyond nice. He made us all feel like super stars, he was supportive, nice and constantly cracking us up a Great guy. Ronnie Khalil's nickname is "The Real Deal Khalil" this is no coincidence. He writes like a beast, is constantly doing new jokes and frankly just a work horse. He is a very serious person about his comedy and that I respect, His work ethic makes my head hurt. Lastly K.Mansour, just a funny guy, really annoying fact, You will be like "check out my Homer Simpson impression" And he responds with a bang on perfect one...ya kind of annoying, damn his voice abilities!

Great Time, I am happy people gave me a second chance to make them laugh and liking what I did.

Rams

*These three ladies felt that they deserve to sit in the 125LE level when they only paid 100LE. When they got caught instead of politely going to their seat they felt the need to yell scream and be absolutely horribly inconsiderate people. I've gone from the 300 level at sens games to 100 Level, but if I got caught, ya I'd go back. They really made it hard for Shaheen and really robbed a lot of people of some great comedy, Please people stay in your seats, and be nice to those around you!

Comedy: I really need Thicker Skin.

Tomorrow, or today...Is gonna be my first time on stage since my only real sub-par set. I had a confrontation with an audience member over her heckling my performance and my returning said heckling. I walked off stage, half the crowd was on my side, the other wasn't. In my head though it felt like everyone hated me. I couldn't look anyone in the face, I simply left, got in my car and drove home. That drive was one of the few times i didn't play any music. I just sat in the car and thought about what went wrong. How did something I felt so good about go sour.

Anyone that knows me, knows I really am a nice guy and truly hate offending or upsetting anyone. I tried to explain to the audience member, how hard it is to perform, and if I did something to offended her, feel free to tell me after. Due to it being in the heat of the moment it probably came out a lot worse than it should. I haven't seen the audience member since, I hold no resentment, and frankly am sorry it ended how it did. I should have just let it go, but unfortunately I love working a crowd, it's been one of my favourite things to do while performing.

Today I am hitting the stage since that show. My ego is severely bruised, my mojo feels empty. I just am really scared she will be in the audience with her friends and boo...It's a nightmare of mine really. I'll go on tomorrow, do my best and hopefully things will go alright.
As I go to sleep I hope to wake up with thicker skin though, cause if one person got me this bad, how will I handle Bloggers.

Night.
Rams

Fail Warning: Glee

I am pretty sure the title of this blog will probably get peoples attention, that is ultimately the purpose of a title. Before I even begin writing on this topic, I will start saying I have actually been watching Glee from episode 1. Yes, in May 2009 (I believe). Jane Lynch's opening line "You think that's hard? Try being water-boarded" had me sold. The song performances were amazing, I have been a fan of a-capella performances for a while, the Ben Folds university Glee club record made me fall in love with the art.

Glee was created by Ryan Murphy of Nip/Tuck fame and he promised it wouldn't be anything like High School Musical. IF you watched the first half of season 1 it had the dark sense of humour fans of Nip/Tuck loved, unfortunately each episode seemed more and more water downed then the last. By the start of the second half season 1 I was almost ready to throw in the towel, I felt that everything I enjoyed about the show was pretty much being killed. As soon as they announced they were making a Madonna episode, I started tuning out. I hate gimmicks, as you saw in the HIMYM blog, you can see I think guest stars and show ideas like "the musical" episode are horrible attempts to build interest. This is called in the industry as "Jumping the Shark."

The Madonna episode wasn't horrible, it was a bit redundant at times, but overall it was actually somewhat enjoyable. Then they announced a Gaga-esque episode, this was hands down one of the most over the top episodes of anything I have ever seen. Yes, we get it Kurt is gay, I personally never use the F** word, but I don't give speeches every time I hear it. The speech given by Kurt's dad was the most laughable attempt to deliver a power speech, but unfortunately the speech was shitty and the acting matched the writing. I pretty much now couldn't give a crap about this show, sure I will watch it, but frankly I couldn't care about the characters anymore. I really just watched it because it was something my Fiancee and I would do together, and I love ruining shows for her.

What made me really gain interest in the show again was Matthew Morrison announcing no Britney episode would ever happen and that the finale was actually REALLY good.

This brings us to Season 2...I know a bit of a read just to get to the main point but hey, my blog, my rules.

Season 2 started with somewhat a decent episode, it kinda had the feeling of old glee, but then episode 2 happened. Britney Spears's Manager started a Twitter and Facebook campaign to get her an episode. I will admit that Britney Spears, like it or not, is somewhat one of the artist that has had the most significance on our generation. The episode felt like nails on a chalkboard. I hated every second of it, in fact I knew it sucked when my fiancee turned and looked at me and said "Wow, this sucks." The only people I know who enjoyed it, are Britney Fans, in fact I am pretty sure I could have taken a dump, put a tape recorder in it and have it sing 'Hit Me One More Time.." And Britney Spears fans would love it, matter of fact...I think I would watch that Youtube clip 30 times before I watch that episode again. The episode made no logical sense, a fact they admit in the episode itself. The Curly Hair guy needs to fucking go, that guy just annoyed me. The performance that was probably the best ("..One More Time") got ruined due to that kid.

Glee will probably go on for a while, but I feel the people who it originally targeted are more alienated than there new found fame amongst high schoolers, the people they originally said this show wasn't for. Ryan Murphy may feel the show is unstoppable but remember The O.C. was once seen as invincible.

Thanks for reading. Stop Sucking Glee.