Meet Karl Pilkington
As of late I've found myself listening again to the musings of Karl Pilkington.
Who is/was, if you don't know, voted the funniest man in Britain. Except that he wasn't joking. Formerly the producer at XFM, his views and opinions were found so amusing that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (co-writers of the hit BBC series "The Office", which spawned the US, German, French, etc... remakes) brought him into the studio to share them with the public. Completely raucous, with frequent baiting and swearing by Ricky and Stephen playing the straight man, egging him on, they make for strangely compelling listening. Look for those clips with "Monkey News" in the title, which focus on Karl's interpretation of archived stories, facts and miscellany about Monkeys. Chances are you didn't know any of it.
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On the closing of the Cecil Hotel
So the city finally announced that it's closing the Cecil Hotel. Which is surprising both in that it's taken them so long to do so, and that they ever summoned the will to proceed.
If you're from Calgary you've probably noticed the Cecil, rolled up your windows and locked your doors as you drove by it, it's been a blight on the city for several years. But the increasing violence in the area, drugs, homelessness and crime, and the new East Village project all have finally escalated to the point where the city said enough is enough.
"What is enough?", you ask? Well, for starters the article states that police made an average of 5 visits per day there in 2007 and 2008. These were visits paid for by the residents of Calgary through their taxes. No other business in Calgary gets free policing, bars and nightclubs are expected to keep their premises violence and drug free, bouncers and security are provided by the establishment.
Not so the Cecil.
One wonders what took them so long. And why there was no attempt by the City to recoup some of the costs associated with "keeping the problem under control".
But the next twist is even more interesting. The City announced that it has purchased the Cecil hotel. While one article states that the property has an assessed value of 8.8 million dollars, the City in it's largess with the taxpayers funds agrees upon 10.9 million dollars. This on the brink of a major recession, possibilities for the property include a parkade.
It's good we are so well looked after.
Moral of the story? I'll let you draw your own conclusions....
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Having Survived Christmas...
...and caught up on my work it's time to clean up the aftermath of christmas. Not that there's a huge mess, as Christmas was outsourced to friends and relatives this year, but I begin by trying to vacuum up the living room, and moving things around, picking things up, litter, toys, cards, it comes to me. I need a rake.
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New Years Resolutions
So a very busy Christmas and New Years, with the last minute deadlines, visits to family, social commitments, etc. But I found time to make a list of New Years Resolutions. Actually, not really make a list, rather update the same list that's been kicking around for the past 20 odd years....
Pretty much the same, only I've scratched out lots of the places where it used to say "more", now it looks something like this:
Exercise More.
Eat More.
Make More Money.
Have more sex.
I've also added the Blog More to the list this year, a tack on as it's something new....
It looks like this:
Blog More
I didn't scratch the More off because I've never blogged before.
And so hopefully I'll find time over the next few days to catch up on this blog. Mostly rants and such, a few ideas, lots of dreams (sadly none recorded...). This in-between the despairing assessment of last years finances and achieved goals....
There's of course the standard list of things to give up, as there are every New Years. Like smoking, fast food, housekeeping. I always throw the last one on so I don't feel like a complete failure....
Anyways, a Happy New Years to all and hopefully you have better luck with your resolutions than I have....
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