Week 354

1. Alarm :: Fire
2. Guest :: Speaker
3. Worm :: Hole
4. Puppies :: Cute
5. Honour :: Roll
6. No! :: Just Say
7. Stomach :: Upset
8. Counter :: Kitchen
9. Waffles :: Brunch
10. Plates :: Dishes

Week 352

1. Redskins : Racism
2. Show : And tell
3. Smoker : Habit
4. Bad movie : Fun
5. Play : Date
6. Jaguar : Endangered
7. Click : Remote
8. Production : Show
9. Sand : Beach
10. Foreign : Concept

An anti-gambling group in Nova Scotia is having a shit fit over a series of ads that have been aired on local TV by an organization called Support 4 Sport, which provides funding to amateur athletes so that they have the money for equipment and training. The group’s problem with this seemingly noble cause? The source of the funding.

GameOverVLTs.com says the gaming corporation has violated its own advertising standards with its Support 4 Sport campaign.

Group director Terry Fulmer says Nova Scotia Gaming “is using underage and youth athletes to promote gambling.”

The gaming corporation has been running a series of television commercials profiling young Nova Scotia athletes who have received funds for training from gaming revenues.

Debbie Langille, a recovering VLT addict, says the campaign is designed to convince Nova Scotians that gambling isn’t harmful and adds that using young people to push gambling is the last straw.

I’m going to throw an idea out there, and I know that it’s going to be radical and a lot of people will think I’m crazy, but it’s just a thought that I’ve had: I’m a grown-up, and I can make my own choices without an anti-whatever group telling me that something is bad for me. I understand that there are people who have problems with addictions, and I understand that it must be terrible for those people to avoid doing something that their brain tells them they should be doing. But does this anti-gambling group honestly think that anyone is going to watch these ads — which have showcased a soccer coach, an Olympic sprinter, and a girls’ snowboarding group — and go running out to buy a scratch ticket because obviously it’s okay to buy one now what with the money going to a good cause? I hate to break it to everyone, but the person that does that was going to buy a ticket anyway and funding sports has absolutely nothing to do with their decision. And I really wish that the person would take responsibility for his own choices, rather than blaming the outcome of his life on a TV commercial.

In addition, I would like to point out that for years anti-gambling advocates have blasted the NS government — and I’m sure that this is the case in other provinces — for not giving back to the community with the revenue raised from gambling activities. So the Nova Scotia Gaming Corp. set up a game that does nothing but give back to the community. And that’s wrong too. Are we ever going to let them win one, just so that they know what it feels like?

Bottom line: We need to give adults credit and let them make their own mistakes, if they choose to make them. A gambling addict is going to gamble, regardless of the temptation. An alcohol is going to drink and it doesn’t matter if you offer them free whiskey with the purchase of beer or close every liquor store in the world. I’m getting tired of being told that I’m not responsible enough to make my own choices. I’ll let you know when I need help with that. In the meantime, how about you spend your time helping the people who have already made bad choices and stop forcing the rest of us to live by crappy rules?

Week 349

1. Yacht ::Club
2. Paula ::Deen
3. Delete ::Erase
4. Auto ::Matic
5. Obsolete ::Ancient
6. Dedicated ::Hardworking
7. Old ::Timer
8. Convince ::Argue
9. Poster ::Art
10. Erase ::Delete

Week 348

1. What pleases you? :: Routine
2. Whatever ::Totally
3. Chime ::Bells
4. Pleading ::Guilty
5. Simulate ::Bacon Bits
6. Flashing ::Neon
7. Directional ::Signs
8. Pink ::Girly
9. Access ::Doorway
10. Ugly ::Duckling

Tomorrow is my thirtieth birthday, and I’m planning on spending the day feeling sorry for myself.

My life could be a lot worse than it currently is. I may not have a permanent job, but I’m still working and bringing in rent money. I don’t have a significant other or kids, but I have cats that love me and I have both my parents and my sister and an extended family and friends that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I live in one of the least-desirable neighbourhoods in HRM, but I still have a roof over my head and food in my fridge and a slightly-battered-but-still-pretty car in my parking spot. I have intelligence and an opinion and a way to express both, even if I sometimes chose not to. I have creativity and a several outlets for it. I have opportunities and options that many people don’t have, and I try to appreciate that even though I sometimes take it for granted.

I know people who have had truly horrific birthdays. My mother’s father died a week before her thirtieth. The worst thing that I can say about my birthday is that I’m spending it alone, but even that is mostly by choice and not requirement. I don’t feel like I would be very good company though. I feel the need to wallow. I can’t seem to remember the good things about my life. Instead I’m stuck on the fact that I’m now a thirty-something and I have nothing that society at large deems to be “important”. I’m just existing, and I’m not even doing a good job of it. I want to cry and scream and think about all of the bad and none of the good. I’m depressed. And I’m also smart enough to know that I have no earthly reason to be.

So, here’s the plan. I’m going to get through tomorrow, and then I’m going to stop paying attention to things as stupid as my age and what society expects of me, and I’m going to start focusing on making improvements. If I’m unhappy with my life — and if I’m being honest, I’ll admit that this is not the life that I pictured for myself — then it’s time for me to get off the fucking soapbox and do something about it. I’m about to be 30 years old, and I have yet to make my mark on the world. It’s time to change that.

And the changing will start on Monday. I would start on my actual birthday, but I’m going to be too busy eating ice cream cake in my pj’s while watching a Kevin Smith marathon.

It didn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but that doesn’t make the news any less sad: Patrick Swayze has died.

Patrick Swayze personified a particular kind of masculine grace both on and off screen, from his roles in films like “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” to the way he carried himself in his long fight with pancreatic cancer.

Swayze died from the illness on Monday in Los Angeles, his publicist said. He was 57.

[...]Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from an especially deadly form of cancer. He continued working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting “The Beast,” an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot.

Swayze said he chose not to use painkillers while making “The Beast” because they would have taken the edge off his performance. The show drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran this year, but A&E said it reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.

When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was “considerably more optimistic” than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.

“I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking,” Swayze told ABC’s Barbara Walters in early 2009. “Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”

I have a funny feeling that I wasn’t the only young girl who wore out my videotape of Dirty Dancing! Here’s the final iconic scene. Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Another awards show, another example of what a huge asshole Kanye West is.

The night was supposed to belong to Janet Michael Jackson. The MTV Video Music Awards certainly started out that way.

But after Madonna’s heartfelt speech about the fallen star and Janet’s stunning performance, a new feud was born, dominated the evening and then petered out just as quickly.

Yes, we’re talking about Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

Sweet Swift won the award for Best Female Video, besting Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry. Hooray!

Shortly after she began her acceptance speech, West jumped onstage and pulled the microphone from her hand, saying, “I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”

Jaws dropped, confusion took over, and Tay-Tay left the stage with nary another heard word.

“I was standing onstage and I was really excited because I had just won an award, and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on the stage,” Taylor told E! News in the press room. “And then, um, I wasn’t so excited anymore after that.”

The next time West’s name came up during the telecast, all of Radio City Music Hall booed.

And then Beyoncé saved the day.

When Queen B won for Video of the Year, she recalled her first Video Music Awards and invited Taylor “to come out and have her moment.”

So here’s the final award tally: Taylor Swift wins the Huge Hug award because even though I’m not a huge fan of hers she totally did not deserve to have that happen to her; Beyoncé gets the Kick-Ass Bitch award for being having major class and grace; and Kayne West gets my boot up his skinny ass.

Question: When you look at the image below, what do you see?

Personally, I see a backpack with various travel items and a tattered Canadian flag sewn on it. And according to Hedy Fry, that’s what I’m supposed to see. The purpose of the postcard, which was mailed out by the Liberal party, was to slam Stephen Harper’s record on foreign policy and to impress upon people that the Canadian flag no longer has the same power that it used to have.

Apparently, <a target="blank" href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090913/fry_soldiers_090913/20090913?hub=TopStoriesI'm the only one who actually sees that in the postcard.

Tracy Marcotullio of Oromocto, N.B. says that she finds the message troubling. Her husband, Dave, is on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan.

“I don’t know what their intention was, I don’t know what they were trying to portray with that image and those words . . . but what it says to me and a lot of other people is that our soldiers should not be proud to wear the Canadian flag and in turn their uniform,” she told CTV Atlantic.

Marcotullio has demanded an apology.

“There needs to be an explanation… there needs to be an apology to our soldiers,” she said.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay also weighed in on the issue over the weekend.

“The families, in particular, of soldiers who are deployed, hearing that kind of comment, that’s a stick in the eye to soldiers, service men and women and their families,” he said in Antigonish, N.S.

When I was living in Europe — on a Canadian military base — I knew a lot of Americans and Germans and Italians who would actually buy Canadian flags and sew them onto their backpacks when they were going to be doing any travelling. The Canadian flag was considered to be a symbol of safety and people felt better about having it on their bags. It worked too. When I was in London we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and there was a group of teenagers sitting at the table next to us. The waitstaff was treating them like total crap…until the waitress looked down and saw the Canadian flag sewn onto one of the backpacks. The manager of the restaurant came over, apologized and explained that they thought the group was American, and comped their drinks for the evening.

Nowadays, the flag simply no longer means the same thing that it used to mean. Even having a Canadian passport is no longer a guarantee that you will be treated with a certain amount of respect. We’ve completely lost the respect of a lot of countries and it has nothing to do with our military. It’s because we’ve become content to stand back and let the rest of the world participate and make changes, while we just sit back and wait for the dust to settle before we get involved. God forbid we get our hands dirty.

To the people who are going out of their way to stir up controversy and make people think that this ad is about something that it’s not: shame on you! You are causing hurt feelings and pain just because you can. Jackasses.

To the people who are buying into the hype and freaking out about the Liberal party’s supposed disrespect, I urge you to stop and look at the ad and think before you let the hysteria sweep you away.

Week 346

1. Omelette :: Egg-whites
2. Classic :: Rock
3. Thrifty :: Bargain
4. Search :: Engine
5. Fan :: Club
6. Fussy :: Eater
7. I am not :: a boy
8. Indulge :: Chocolate
9. Poor :: Substitute
10. Manicure :: French