Beautiful Illusion

AVP: Requiem - DVD Review

2009-02-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

While AVP: Requiem isn't going to make the hall of fame of action/horror flicks, I don't think the low ratings others have given it are reasonably accurate (watch Stealth if you really want to feel cheated out of 2 hours you'll never get back)

AVP: Requiem's major flaw is that the lighting is awful. If it was any darker, it could have been a radio show. I mean, I understand the use of low lighting to set a mood. But there's a difference between that and making the audience strain and rub their eyes for two hours trying to see the damn thing.

Also, in fairness to fans of the respective franchises, I can see why they feel cheated out on the storyline. This, in my humble opinion, could have been greatly improved with one simple guideline. And that is, more Predator!!

However, in response to the comment that the human characters were super forgettable, I'd say they were all, in fact, quite memorable. Especially whozit's and whats her face.

Seriously though, for those who are hung up on the lack of plot. I do agree with you, but ulimately we're talking about deathly hostile aliens and predators from outer space. How much story do you need to be able to let this one rip?

On the plus side they don't make you wait half an hour before the beatings begin (in fact, it might be the fastest spearing ever in a film) and it's fun to see all the different places the aliens get around to as they spawn. The soundtrack is good too. Think Terminator 2's slightly less angry little brother.

In closing, if anyone looks at the cover of this DVD and thinks it could possibly be a raging battle between mortal enemies in a fight to the death, but still somehow maintains itself as a riveting drama that pulls at your heart strings, finally taking you to a higher level of consciousness... Well, then you kinda deserve to be disappointed.

I give this film 3 slobbering aliens out of 5.

The Websites of Both Country and Westerns Stars

2008-11-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

So this morning I was checking out the websites of some of the larger country acts in order to get some ideas for a website I'm designing for a friend of mine. Keith Urban's site is quite good in terms of design. The photoshopping on his new DVD is a bit weak, but the concept is there. His fan club is called the Monkeyville Club. It's not clear from the site whether he means 'monkey' in an affectionate way or in a 'poo thrower' sort of way, but either way it's a stupid idea. Unless, of course, I came up with it. In that case it would be cool.

The site for Big & Rich is designed well in the sense that there is a lot of information (not to be confused with worthwhile information) which is all organized quite efficiently. The main header graphic (shown to the right) depicts Big & Rich touching guitars, achieving a not so subtle gay effect. Fellas, put those things away and get back to making your "80's Rock But There's a Fiddle and/or A Mandolin In There Somewhere So It's Country" music."

The website for Rascal Flatts is more than a bit shitty. Guys, you're making some good money now, stop getting your sister's kid to design your site in his basement and hire a pro already. Get the person who photoshops the singer to look less fat in the pictures. That person has a gift.

I could go on, but it's time for my leisurely walk to the library, so if you see any cool sites out there I could get some inspiration from, lemme know.

Movie Review - Sunshine (2007)

2008-07-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

I was waiting to see this movie for some time. I finally received it from Zip.ca and all one can say is... wow (but not in a good way). The phrase breath-takingly shitty come to mind, but even that doesn't do it proper justice.

I'm assuming a lion's share of the positive reviews this film received are for director Danny Boyle, which I can see as I am a fan also. However, every director has his abysmal, flaming disasters and this one truly is Danny Boyle's.

Sunshine fails, and spectacularly so, on every level. I knew the story would necessarily have to stretch what we know about science and technology to insane proportions, so I made a conscious decision before watching the film to prepare for that. Nothing could have prepared me for the glowing disco ball of crap I was about to see.

While the cast itself isn't bad (at least one has to believe the screenplay was that awful) the story is so unbelievable it's laughable. The concept is truly funny and the movie takes itself so seriously it's actually kind of enjoyable in the sense that it's amusing to make fun of it.

I know it's boring to always pick out story holes and flaws in movies, but I defy anyone to get even quarter way through this little gem without uttering something out loud. Topic: a bunch of twenty year old (apparantly seasoned and specialist) astronauts have been put in charge of 'the future of mankind' by flying a space ship towards the sun and shooting off a made in the USA nuclear missle to regenerate it... discuss... xD

Above all that, the film is laboriously slow and takes forever to unravel. Just when you're hoping for the credits to roll, a twist of inane proportions begins. It seems like a 5 hour movie by the time you're done with it.

Considering the big budget, Sunshine is almost as galactically crappy as Stealth. Almost.

I reserve the 1 star rating for the absolute bottom of the barrel films that make me wish I hadn't wasted my time. With the exception of a few visually stunning scenes, Sunshine is in my humble opinion one giant blazing infernal ball of glorious failure.

America's Got Fail

2008-03-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

No Longer Undiscovered

2008-03-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

Guitar 9 Records Profiles Yours Truly

Pabbly Road

2008-02-14T08:05:00.001-08:00

Friday (er, Thursday)

2007-10-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Well it's Friday again (Thursday for those of you who aren't me) and a new weekend dawns! :)

With most of the CD going into the mixing phase, my mind is wandering more and more towards the real meat and potatoes of it all, the marketing! That's right folks, gone are the days when the music and the bands mattered, at least in the technology using parts of the world.

These days most people have 180 gig iPods and put all kinds of music they like on it. They don't give a shit so much about knowing who the band is or anything like that. I can't say as I blame them though. Decades of shitty, plastic music will do that to people. The music industry, methinks, is the only industry that rewards mediocrity.

Fortunately I have been blessed with a vision and a perspective that will restore balance to the universe and bring everlasting peace to the people of planet earth...

Well, that may be a bit grandiose. Maybe. :)

Greatest Hits Update

2007-10-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

Recording for the Greatest Hits album is almost finished!

For the rest of October I'm going to be focusing on the CD artwork and website. I'll be getting back to final recording and mixing in November. We're shooting for a December 1st-ish official launch (emphasis on the ish) so keep your panties in a knot till then. :)

Furious Ming has contributed some drumwork already for the song Believe and is working on a couple other pieces at the moment.

More updates as soon as they are available!

Butthead Fire Drinker

2007-10-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

This guy probably started out thinking he was cool, but how quickly the tide can change....

Fire Drinker (sort of)

Let's Get Physical

2007-09-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a video clip of a new workout routine. I'm not sure what it's called but it's supposed to be a really effective workout. Perhaps they should call it the ass to mouth workout. haha

Ass to Mouth Workout Regimen

Facebook Study

2007-09-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

According to British researchers, it's hard to make close friends on Facebook.

Read the article here.

This study found that social networking sites like Facebook aren't creating many close friendships, but are creating 'plenty of meaningless ones'.

I can see that because personally I don't think an email only interaction qualifies as a relationship, at least not in the sense of a true friendship. To be fair though, what constitutes a meaningful relationship is completely relative and different for many folks.

That being said, the internet is really just a reflection of society in general. If a certain tendency, behaviour, attitude, movement, business, sexual kink, school of thought etc. exists in our society, then it exists on the internet.

This includes relationships. It would make sense to me that if we are seeing an increase of what some might describe as 'meaningless' friendships or relationships, then our society outside of the computer is also conducive to us creating these equally meaningless relationships. If it's not an increase and simply is part of human nature, then we, as people, have a tendency to create frivolous friendships which is magnified through the general anonymity of the internet. Either way it's all good cuz it's just us.

Put another way, social networking tools like Facebook don't create meaningless relationships, people do. :)

You Tube: Pedro Edition

2007-09-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've started a You Tube channel featuring videos of me fuckin' around on the guitar for those of you who want to see that. The permanent link is listed on the left of the screen under Other Webamables. Or you can just click here.

Enjoy! :)

The Demon Inside

2007-09-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of me playing the intro to "The Demon Inside", a song on the upcoming CD. Baby Ibanez practice amp and guitar provided by Super P.

America the beautiful (and stupid)

2007-08-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

* Warning: Watching this video may actually hurt your brain.

This girl is as pretty as can be and that's why she was in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Below is a video of her answer as to why 1/5 Americans can't find the United States on a map. I know she's just a teenager and may have been nervous, but if you can figure what the fuck she's saying, you deserve a cookie. Enjoy!

Superbad is super bad

2007-08-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

I saw the movie Superbad last night with my friend Bicky. I should have known better than to brave this little show, especially when the rest of the audience looked like they were 12 and were carrying skateboards.

The first 5 minutes were kinda funny because I wasn't expecting such low brow, puberty age humour. But 87 boner jokes and 10 minutes into the movie my initial surprise turned to sheer boredom. If there ever was a movie that should come with a mute button. Superbad's painfully unfunniness completely dwarfs it's occassional funniness.

In fairness I did get a good laugh a few times, mostly at the subtle humour of Cern's character and the cops were for the most part amusing. But boy did Superbad ever make me pay dearly for those laughs. In retrospect, it wasn't worth it. I'm just glad that Bicky had free tickets.

I read the critic reviews and the critics all love it, assuring me that they must be on a payroll somewhere. And so I am bestowing upon Superbad the very first zero out of 5 stars I've ever handed out. That in itself is impressive.

The Return

2007-08-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been so long since I posted on my blog. When I logged back in this morning the landlord was beginning to put up some 'Condemned' signs and there were squatters and heroin addicts living in it.

I've whisked them all away (except the heroin people, it must be hard to find a place to relax when you're all strung out on the mighty horse).

Just wanted to announce that the Greatest Band In The Universe project is about halfway done. So far we have three songs completely finished, two more in the vocal recording stage, and two more that need lyrics and a melody. More about this project later as even I don't know what the fuck I'm gonna do with it yet.

Peace out. Next time I'll share with you how to find your life's purpose in about 10 minutes, as well as scare up some funny pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I'll take 'with' makeup for $500 Alex

2007-06-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here's Katherine Heigl with and without the benefit of makeup, lighting and apparantly hundreds of photoshop people.

Best...Self-Piledriver...Ever.

2007-06-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

Toby Keith (The Asshole American)

2007-06-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

That is all.

Ok, not quite all. :)

Here's Toby rockin' out a big G chord
with a capo, apparently brought to you by Ford

Toby Keith is another one of these country singer dickheads with no personality of his own, so his people tried to give him a street tough image. So lame. Toby basically makes lots of loot writing drinking jingles for the right wing redneck crowd. He could write a song called I'm a Big American Asshole, and his fans would not only buy it with pride, but somehow think it was a way of supporting the troops.

Here's Toby sporting a mullet before his marketing people
gave him that fake tough guy Skynyrd reject image

I like the song As Good As I Once Was, I must say. Even though the title is a direct rip off of the famous Ronnie Hawkins saying. The biggest reason I dislike Toby Keith is because of his hypocrisy as a recording artist. He wrote a song about the Dixie Chicks when they were in all that hot water over that comment they made about George Bush. At his concerts, Toby used to have a big banner that showed the Dixie Chicks with Saddam Hussein and shit like that. For all the 'America the Free' horseshit he claims to be so proud of, he really yellow bellied out when a fellow artist spoke her mind.

For this, Toby is not a real artist and he can eat shit and die, courtesy of the red, white and yours truly.

Bitchfight: MTV Edtition

2007-05-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

Apparantly, MTV is doing everything it can to try to avoid a confrontation between Cameron Diaz and Jessica Biel at the upcoming MTV Movie Awards. Cameron and Jessica are the former and current girlfriends of N'sync shithead Justin Timberlake, the douchebag who seriously thinks he "brought sexy back".

MTV is worried that if the two ~~losers~~ ladies meet on the red carpet, there could be an eye scratching, hair pulling, "he's my man" style bitchfight.

In my humble opinion, MTV should use this lame drama to bring even more attention to their stupid awards show and arrange it so that these two ditz's end up on stage together "by accident". MTV staff could be planted to egg both of them on, and before you know it we would be sitting back enjoying a pathetic, but wild and super funny girlfight. Not only would this send the Godzilla vs. Cross-eyed Bambi (Rosie O'Donnell vs. Hasselback) feud to the back of the news line, it would become the youtube event of the year (well, the week. Ok, the day).

Oh while they're fighting, MTV should flash this picture on the big screen.

Oopsy Daisy

2007-05-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

Miss USA does her best version of the self atomic drop at the Miss Universe Pageant in Mexico.

Humour, H20 style

2007-05-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

This one from my friend H20. Enjoy!

Jim was in BIG trouble.

He forgot his 20th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, his wife was really angry and threw him out. She told him "tomorrow morning, I expect to see something in the driveway that goes from 0-250 in 6 seconds and IT BETTER BE THERE if you want to be allowed back!!"

The next morning when his wife woke up, she looked out the window. Sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway and brought the box back in the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Jim has been missing since Friday.

Mary Kate Olsen Scares Me

2007-05-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Mary Kate Olsen took time out from ~~scaring the children~~ signing autographs for her Full House fan base to promote her addition to the cast of Showtime's popular dark comedy, Weeds.

Now, I'm not saying that Mary Kate isn't a great actress (actually I am) but the real magic here will be in the editing department, where editors will have to somehow manage to split-second splice the footage between when she gets the 'munchies', and when she runs off right afterwards to puke.

New Laws: Cat Fight Edition

2007-05-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Tv show The View has to change its name to "Rosie O'Donnell Makes Elisabeth Hasselbeck Cry"

Click here for their latest on air scrap

Also, Barbara Walters must punch Elisabeth in the face with her frail old lady fist every time she utters the words 'support our troops' and Jesus in the same sentence.

* * *

Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff have to start a girl band called Bitchfight.

Wherever they play, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton show up drunk and start hitting on Avril's and Hilary's boyfriends in plain view of the band during the concert. It could be called the "Oh No You Di'int Tour" and aired live on pay per view for $75 per show. Somebody get Don King on the line, I think we have a winner here... :)

Correction - THIS is the craziest headline ever

2007-05-23T13:50:00.001-07:00

Man sleeps through gunshot to the head

Craziest News Headline Ever

2007-05-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Cyclist OK after delivery truck runs over head

New Laws (Hollywood Edition)

2007-05-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

1. Elijah Wood has to be a hobbit in every movie he makes for the rest of his life.

2. Keannu Reeves has to do at least one scene per movie as Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

3. Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek have to appear together in a new movie at least once per month, where they make out for at least 5 minutes.

4. Samuel L. Jackson must star in every movie from here on in until he retires.

5. Ben Affleck must die within the first 5 minutes of every movie he ever makes. In every third movie, this death must come from a devastating boot to the groin area.

6. Steven Speilberg has to direct a Jurassic Park sequel every 2 years, minimum, and like it.

7. Superman must accidentally eat a bowl of Kryptonite soup and either develop an extreme case of irritable bowel syndrome, or grow massive breasts.

8. Hugh Jackman must legally change his name to Huge "Ass" Ackman, and also have plastic surgery to give him Wolverine sideburns forever.

9. Britney Spears must name her baby Shithead (the redneck equivalent of Apple) - credit to Bill Maher for this one

10. Morgan Freeman must always play God, or the President, or the President of the God.

11. Tom Hanks must act every movie like he's Forrest Gump, and must name his next child Lieutenant Dan.

12. No more commercials at the theatre. This will be replaced a 5 minute clip of Carmen Electra playfully running (in slow motion) in a gentle rain, wearing only white undergarments.

13. Zakk Wylde must be featured on every movie soundtrack from here to the end of time.

14. No more rappers in movies.

15. Bruce Willis must change the name of his final Die Hard film to "Die Hard: Die Already".

That's all for now. If you have any new laws you'd like to see in the movies, please let me know and I'll post 'em for ya.

2007-05-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Dental Hero

2007-04-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

A West Palm Beach man, Roger Bean, was arrested for practicing dentistry out of his house without a license.

Regardless, neighbors and clients praised Bean for saving them thousands of dollars.

Ron St. Mary, 73, head of the neighborhood crime watch, said Bean is no criminal. "He's helping the old people who don't have a few dollars," he said. "I think the world of him."

Source

This must be embarrassing for 'licensed' dentists. Really exposes the high priced tooth mason nature of their profession, even though they like to think of themselves as doctors. I hope Mr. Bean isn't punished too severely for helping people but I'm sure the ego wounded dental community would like to see him made an example of.

Is Rock & Roll Dead?

2007-04-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Aging redneck-anthem singer Toby Keith announced in a somber voice at his press conference recently that Rock & Roll is dead, but that country remains what it was. He is, sadly, part right. The truth is that mainstream Rock & Roll has been murdered.

Murdered primarily by the corporations (who took over the lion's share of the record labels around the time the CD format came out) and by the broadcasting lobby (who got Washington to pass laws that increased the number of radio stations any one entity could own).

A genuine, authentic rock & roll band is the Black Label Society. They, of course, would never had gotten the exposure they currently enjoy if it wasn't for the fact that Zakk Wylde, leader of the Black Label Society, is Ozzy Osbourne's guitar player.

Very occasionally, a band like the BLS slips through the cracks. But for the most part, the new 'rockers' are wimpy, contrived and watered down versions of real rock bands of the past. I'm sorry, but Fall Out Boy is to AC-DC as a gecko is to a T-Rex.

That being said, ol' Toby is more brain damaged from all that Alabama swish that I thought if he really thinks that country hasn't morphed into something beyond all recognition also (see image below).

Many country bands, including Toby himself, have no real image so they try to have this Skynyrd reject redneck image. It's very lame and part of the reason new country music is so uninspired these past couple of years. If it wasn't for Keith Urban, I don't know what 'new country' cover acts all over North America would be playing at their gigs these days.

At any rate, next time I'll look at whether rock is really dead. Have a great day.

Short 'n sweet

2007-04-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

The first online sales of Beautiful Illusion came by way of Florida, U.S.A. You know, all that dangling chad bullshit aside, I'm really starting to love Florida. :)

Mike Keneally, Black Label Society (Zakk Wylde's band) and Pablo are my latest Myspace friends.

CD Baby and Beautiful E-llusion

2007-03-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

My first full length studio release Beautiful Illusion is available on CD Baby. We're working on making it available on iTunes as well.

The Official Beautiful E-llusion Newsletter also went out this week. If you'd like to sign up for this always free, always amusing, very occasional email, visit my website and click on the newsletter link in the top right hand menu.

Below is the Creative Advisory I legally had to place on the CD due to it's muchly oozing of the creative geniusness. :)

Japanese IQ Test

2006-11-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

This test is mostly annoying, but quite satisfying if you can figure it out.

Take the test!

Turtle Love

2006-11-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Near the end of this short clip of Turtle Love, listen to the sound the male turtle is making. Funny stuff! :)

Click Here For Turtle Love

Sand as Art

2006-11-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

Sand sculptures for your viewing pleasure.

The Unveiling

2006-09-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

While the site itself is still under construction, the redesign of pedrofernandez.org version 2 is now online! Go see it!

This used to be the home of The Second Coming project. That site (and other tasty treats) will be available from the new site as well. Pedrofernandez.org is going to be the main portfolio site for all my projects, creative and otherwise.

No Skinny Chicks

2006-09-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

Spain has done it again.

In the past year or so, Spain has legalized gay marriage, made husbands responsible for 50% of the housework under the civil marriage contract, and now...underweight models are banned from the catwalk!

Read the CBC Article here

Third Album Announced

2006-09-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

Writing for my third studio release (currently untitled...well, it's actually got a working title but I'm keeping it a secret for now) has begun. In a few weeks I'll be going to J-Rock Studios in Kitchener to lay down some initial rhythm tracks. The mighty Jerome Hummel will be playing drums on these first few tracks which I appreciate greatly.

This is the third and final album in the "Guitar Served Up on a Silver Platter" Series. Those of you waiting for lyrics will have to just keep on waiting for a while. :)

Completely off the top of my head, I'd like to see a December-ish release date for this thing but as of this moment there is no actual set release date. The songs are being written as I go instead of all at once like in the past, so it remains to be seen how this process works out in terms of "gittin' er done and into your hot little hands". Creatively speaking, I'm really enjoying focusing and fleshing out each song one at a time.

Work continues on the newest incarnation of pedrofernandez.org, and that is my main focus for September.

Funny Flash Intro

2006-09-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

Came across this site today. It has the coolest flash intro/menu display I've seen in some time. Enjoy!

radicalmedia.com

Funny Logo

2006-08-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is the funniest logo I've seen in a while. It's from a company in The Netherlands.

Joke

2006-08-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

A man goes to the doctor and complains of stomach pains. The doctor gives the man an examination and prescribes suppositories for the man to take.

A week later, the man returns and says, "Doc, these things aren't working at all. I don't feel even a little better..." The doctor looks at the prescription and says, "Well, the prescription is correct. Are you sure you're taking them properly?"

The man replies, "Of course. What am I supposed to do? Shove 'em up my ass!??"

* * *

If you have a minute and want to help Marillac Place out (Marillac Place is located in Kitchener and provides housing and support services for young pregnant mothers and their children), go to Bell Online, click Kitchener > Vote > Marillac Place (Project #3) and fill out the tiny form. You could win some cool prizes while helping somebody else out.

Random

2006-08-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

My sister Rosie produces several podcast shows at CBC Radio (CBC - Words At Large) and was listed as a "Hot Show" by Collectik, a popular podcast website.

A friend of mine forwarded this website to me, as an example of super crappy web design. I must say, I quite agree with him! :)

Houston, we have an Error

2006-08-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

Error has released it's first official CD entitled Vile Religion, featuring yours truly on the lead guitar. The music of Error is quite different than anything in my mp3 collection, but it was a lot of fun doing the recordings and hearing the final version. For information on how to get your own copy, send an email to El Luce Studio.

Shown here is the band's logo:

Grim sby

2006-08-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

Pissy weather aside, the gig in Grimsby this past weekend went over really well. It was fun to spend some time with the Co, the Broadband Broadcast and the Grand Potato again.

Bead brought me back this amazingly evil-funny T-shirt from the Sturgis biker rally two weeks ago. I'll have to scan it in so you can all see. Below is an artist's rendition of me at Bead's pool party last Friday.

Summer update

2006-08-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings all,

Long time no write. I hope everyone's having as great a summer as I am! :)

I've spent way too much time looking for a new apartment but it was worth it. The place I'm moving into is amazing. Can't wait to move in finally. The next couple of weeks will see me organizing my stuff (throwing tons of crap out).

Doing a gig with Les this weekend. It's a street party out Brampton way so with any luck we'll get some nice weather.

Some graphic design gigs on the go are a business card for a friend of mine, and we're going to be doing a website for my buddy Jesse, who recently started his own general contracting business (HumzzConstruction.com.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Peace out.

mmmmm perty colours...

2006-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Make with the clicky here

iTunes

2006-06-20T10:01:00.000-07:00

The Second Coming is now available on iTunes!

The top 40 country gig with Blair this weekend has been cancelled. Other gigs will be forthcoming this year and all dates will be noted on the blog.

Spain is onto the second round of the World Cup! :)

The Contest Endeth

2006-06-13T07:19:00.000-07:00

The Second Coming CD & T-shirt at docreno.com has ended. The winner will be randomly drawn by the good people at Docreno.com. I will post the name of the winner here on the blog when I find out who won!

The Blue Album

2006-05-30T06:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I got the idea to record a blues jam with as many people as possible. Given the short time frame, I was only able to round up the usual suspects, with the exception of Jesse Hummel, who makes his drumming debut.

I haven't yet decided whether these jams will be available to the public. If they are, it will be as digital downloads only. The artwork, crafted carefully by Pablo and ruthlessly manhandled by yours truly, would also be downloadable if we go that route. Should I decide to make these musical gems available to everyone, you may be able to get your hands on a printed version. The price is profuse and heartfelt begging, as well as a financial contribution. The other loophole is that you would have had to have given birth to me.

Lots of work ahead in these next couple of weeks recording and mixing. Better get to it...

And the winner is...

2006-05-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hans Christoffer!

Hans won the autographed CD contest recently held at swagster.com. Below is his review of The Second Coming:

I recieved the CD from www.swagster.com autographed by Pedro. Each track is masterfully original, well put together, and each track flows along with the next. I'm a classical guitarist taught by a student of Christopher Parkening and David Brandon. I rate this CD as A+ or 5/5. Keep the tracks coming and keep watch on Pedro. He's sure to do well.

Thanks to all those who entered the contest, Chad Smith for organizing it and Hoover for setting it up on swagster.com.

Colour Me This

2006-05-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Take this fun and short personality test.

Lego my guitar!

2006-05-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Art as near death experience

2006-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

I got the following email this morning from a dear friend of mine and fellow shredder. It's funny, but only cuz he survived! :)

"So, I got your CD in the mail, and thought I'd listen to it in the car while going to the train one day last week. I was listening to the first track Fuggah Wgga Mah and it made me go right through a stop sign at 100km/hr. I kid you not. I'm lucky I'm not DEAD.

Anyway, really good work. I've spun it a couple of times, and its very enjoyable."

Does this mean I have to come up with a "Do not operate fast moving heavy machinery while listening" warning label? :)

Garth Tribute Date

2006-05-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, May the 13th, the Garth Tribute will be playing at Club Denim (I think it's now called Cowboys something or other). While none of us are 'cowboys' in any sense of the word (except maybe Elton), this is one of the few opportunities I've had to play with this band this close to home. Directions and venue details for Club Denim can be found here.

Be forewarned that if you show up, I may be putting you temporarily to work (from the comfort of your chosen table or whatever) taking a few pictures of us (and by us I mean me) while we perform. :)

Great Thinkers of Our Time

2006-05-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the thoughts of some of the greatest thinkers of our time... (said with dripping sarcasm) :)

Back by popular demand

2006-05-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Due to an unrelenting demand from my public, I've decided to re-open a blog! Most of this will centre around my music career but I'm sure some other funnies will pop up every now again.

See you next time.