You know what? Forget this Blog. Check out my Livejournal. I have no use for two online journals.

My Livejournal

New Blog Theme

I have been thinking long and hard about a use for this blog.

I already have a livejournal, which serves as the #1 source of Rachelle Goguen news. What good is this blog?

I knew it needed a theme, but what?

I have decided that, henceforth, it will be my place to praise local bands that I see. There's too much negative in the Halifax music scene. If you want negative, you can go to halifaxlocals. If you want positive, come here.

Last night I went to see B.A. Johnston and The Sweet Tenders at Gus's Pub. The Stolen Minks were asked to play this show as well, but we're focusing on recording right now. Plus, we had a heavy weekend last week, and it was nice to just go watch a couple of great acts.

I wanted to see the official Sweet Tenders CD release show on Friday at the Pavilion (I just learned that Pavilion is spelled with only one L...why is that?). Anyway, I didn't because we were recording that night. Plus I was tired from a long, hard work week.

Last night's show was advertised as Drunk Fest '05. The poster alone made me sorry I wasn't playing the show.



Hilarious. Are there any more of them? I want one.

I had no chance of winning the Drunk Fest competition for drunkness. There were too many heavyweights. Plus, I had my car. So I drank one bottle of Coke (the thing that rules about Gus's is that they serve Coke in those old-fashioned little glass bottles).

I could see B.A. Johnston a hundred times and still laugh at every joke. It doesn't matter if I've heard them all before. Last night I was thinking about how lucky Halifax is to have him here. His CD almost hit the top of the national charts in Exclaim recently. I like him for two main reasons: a) He's really funny, and b) There is absolutely nothing pretentious about his music. The music doesn't even matter. It's all about the lyrics. And the performance. I love watching people see his act for the first time. The same way I like watching The Jerk with someone who has never seen it.

The Sweet Tenders have been getting better and better every time I see them. I love that all of their songs sound like covers, but they are all originals. They totally got that classic 60s sound nailed. And Lyle can play the hell out of the guitar. They were pretty drunk last night, but so was everyone else. I liked it when Joel lost his guitar strap but kept on playing while awkwardly holding the bass.

Matt and I now own their new CD. I love the song Skeleton Key so much. I'm always singing it. Every time I unlock my door.

So last night was a party. I am looking forward to playing with all those guys (plus The Maynards AND Windom Earle!) on June 11. It will kick off a run of Stolen Minks shows (June 11th, 16th, 21st, 24th and 25th).

Gladius!

It's clear that I have nothing to write about. So I will let you know what's going on in the epic video game I have been playing lately.

The game is Gladius"and it focusses on a young gladiator, Valens (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum), who is going to travel all over the place to different towns and fighting in gladiator battles until he gets to the grand championship. Why? Something to do with his father's death. And something about a war of the gods.

Anyway, he's got his trusty and loyal asshole friend (read: lover), Ludo, with him. Ludo is voiced by the great voice actor Jason Marsden. You may know him as the guy that played the young Burt Ward in the 2003 CBS movie, "Return to the Batcave." I certainly do.

Ludo is a straight up asshole. He is basically racist against all people who aren't from Imperia (where they are from). He's a little sexist too. Ludo only looks out for one guy: Ludo. I don't know why Valens keeps him around. He must be a good kisser.

Anyway, so you fight in various towns against a wide array of humans, animals, demon beasts, yetis, witches, monsters, minotaurs, giants, ogres, and undead skeletons (because the game is true to history). Along the way you recruit other fighters into your school. My favourite recruit is one of my earliest recruits. She's a bandit named Angelisca (or something) and she is a wicked good fighter. I have turned her into a level 11 fighter from a level 4. That is because I am amazing.

So I win all the battles and championships in Imperia, so I move on to the next land, which is in the North and is called Nordagh. I kind of get the impression that Nordaghians are mocking Canadians.

I should stop here and mention that Gladius is a game that was created by George Lucas, so you get those awesome ethnic stereotypes that you get in the Star Wars movies.

So in Nordagh you get to add a new recruit to your school, much to the annoyance of Ludo. It's a princess of the North named Ursula. (You can actually choose to play the game as her or Valens, with a different story line for each. I guess that no matter which you choose, you end up joining forces with the other eventually). Ursula has a really annoying voice. I also think that all of the voice acting was pretty phoned in. I am going to say only one take.

By the time I left Nordagh I had a pretty big school, which included the Ursula and Ursula's brother, who is also kind of a dick. Ludo doesn't like him. Valens just wants everyone to get along. He is also clearly falling for Ursula, and that is making me gag. The school also has a Yeti (or at least it did. I got rid of the Yeti. I don't need no damn Yetis in my school), a wolf, and an undead skeleton (as Ludo said, he doesn't eat, so he doesn't cost the school anything, so why not bring him along?).

Now I am in a land called Windward Steppes, which is a weird name. It is obviously supposed to be Asian because all the people there speak with vague Japanese accents. In this land a new chick joins your team and she is really useful. She is a wicked good archer. And she knows it. Oh, that plucky archer. Always seducing boys and then shooting poison arrows into their hearts. Ludo isn't impressed, but Valens is clearly smitten. Ursula might get jealous.

Speaking of jealous, after one battle a ridiculous-looking porno Cleopatra-style character slinked over to Ludo and oozed praise all over him, trying to entice him into quitting his quest with Valens and to join her in her... palace? Or something. He looked pretty tempted, but refused. Valens didn't like her. I didn't like her. Ludo stood by his friend, but when Valens told him that she was bad news, Ludo got angry. I think we'll be seeing more of evil porno Cleopatra.

The best part of Windward Steppes is that Valens has changed his outfit to one that has him shirtless. I approve.

The game has a geeky sense of humour to it. And it is as addictive as crack. I will give updates on what happens to this motley crew.

Hmmmm...

This hockey and video games thing isn't going to work out.

I feel that I should go back to my original plan and make the blog for local news, and the livejournal for broader, global fan rants.

But the Blades of Steel thing looks cool, so I'm gonna keep it.

Wow. I can write in different colours without entering code?! Sweet!

Hockey and Video Games

Ok, I have decided that from now on my Blog will be a place to discuss two things:

1. Hockey

2. Video Games

All other items will be discussed in my livejournal.

A girl just needs a little place to talk about hockey and video games.

Time for a change.

In case you can't tell, I don't like my Blog as much as my Livejournal.

There are several reasons. One is that Livejournal (LJ) is far more social, with features such as a Friends List. And you get to use icons and moods and other silly stuff.

But the LJ can't really be customized unless you buy an account. And you can't have a list of links.

Well, you probably can. If you buy an account.

It is much easier to change the Blog template, not that I do it that often.

My Blog is all but obsolete. I have decided that my blog needs to have a specific theme to make it worthwhile. Any ideas?

It should be something with lots of pictures. People love pictures.

Maybe it should be a hockey-related Blog. It certainly shouldn't have anything to do with comics and superheros because lord knows I yammer on enough about that shit in my livejournal.

Maybe a girl's guide to videogames and hockey?

Mailing Lists and Sunday Shopping

Sa-weet. They are playing Papa Was A Rolling Stone on the radio. Killer.

It was the third of September. A day I'll always remember.

I have been seriously neglecting my Blog. And my teeth. I should make a dentist appointment soon. Most of my daily ramblings have taken place in my livejournal.

Listen up Mink fans! There is a new Yahoo Mailing Goup for the band, which was started by our number one supporter, StolenDave. You can go to http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/StolenMinks/ to sign up.

In other news, I got my hair cut at Thumpers last night. Nice place. Hair looks pretty good. Maybe not as drastic as I was hoping, but it looks fine. I enjoyed the Bumble and Bumble hair products they use there.

I don't have a digital camera and that makes my blog boring.

I am going to put forth my argument for Sunday shopping here and I will let everyone make their own decision tomorrow.

Sunday shopping will help more people than it hurts and that is all that matters. In fact, I doubt it will really hurt anyone. The people it will affect the most are part-time workers, and they will benefit. I always worked on Sunday when I worked in retail or restaurants. Matt works on Sundays now in a store. Voting is always about doing things for the greater common good. Sunday shopping is beneficial to most people, including families. It's completely about choice. I am not using that as a campaign slogan, I mean it seriously. The right-wing people are against Sunday shopping because of religious and imaginary family reasons. The left-wing people are against shopping in general. This leaves only the people in the middle (aka - the sensible people) who are in favour. I hope there are enough of us.

I mean, come one, it's not like I want to shop all the time and don't know what to do with myself when the malls are closed. I just want to be able to run to Canadian Tire or Sobey's if I need to. I'm a busy person and I would rather do my errands on Sunday than cram them in after work. I can't even tell you how many times I've wanted to get my hair cut on a Sunday.

For those of you who don't also read my livejournal, I am posting this awesome artwork I made here as well. I had some time to kill at work, so I made an 80s heartthrob-style poster of Montreal Canadiens goalie/superbabe Jose Theodore. Awesome!