Photo of the day - February 28, 2010

Gold Canada Gold!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "Gold Canada Gold!", as a tribute to Team Canada mens hockey team (who just won gold medal!)

Photo of the day - February 27, 2010

If this doesn't scare you, then I don't know what will, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Ahoy hoy, today's photo of the day is "If this doesn't scare you, then I don't know what will". Check it out!

Photo of the day - February 26, 2010

Rue Petit-Champain, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

The photo of the day for February 26, 2010 is "Rue Petit-Champlain" which is a very beautiful historical part of Quebec City. I miss that city.

Photo of the day - February 25, 2010

Patriotic Canadian Farmer, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

The photo of the day for February 25, 2010 is "Patriotic Canadian Farmer." On the prairies many farmers are now hanging miniature Canadian flags on their tractors/farm implements to show their pride in being a Canadian.

Photo of the day - February 24, 2010

Hershey Bears win the 2009 Calder Cup against the Manitoba Moose, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day, in tribute to tonight's hockey game of Canada vs Russia, the photo is of "Hershey Bears win the 2009 Calder Cup against the Manitoba Moose" last June in Winnipeg. See Bouque on the right? He's Ray's son.

Photo of the day - February 23, 2010

Hawksley Workman - Brandon, Manitoba February 24, 2009, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

One year ago tomorrow night, Hawksley Workman performed a show in blizzarding Brandon, Manitoba. Most of the crowd came from Winnipeg for the show, and one person I talked to was actually from near Thunder Bay! Photo du jour.

Photo of the day - February 22, 2010

Large icicle "spears" and a hint of moon, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Phew, just in the nick of time! Here's the photo of the day for February 22, 2010! Large icicle spears!

Photo of the day - February 21, 2010

Stag Beer, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Salutations! Time again for Photo of the Day! Today is February 21, and today's photo is "Stag Beer" from Grenada.

Photo of the day - February 20, 2010

Bouquet of flowers, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Hey again! The photo of the day for February 20, 2010 is "Bouquet of flowers." I took this on my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens, didn't turn out that bad!

Photo of the day - February 19, 2010

Newfoundland 10 cents from 1917 and Jell-o hockey card, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

The photo of the day for February 19 is "Newfoundland 10 cents from 1917 and Jell-o hockey card". It appears I still have an awesome collection of hockey cards and currency lying around!

Photo of the day - February 18, 2010

Snow banks, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Everything moves real slow when it's 40 below, when it's 40 below!
The photo of the day for February 18th is "Snow Banks"

Photo of the day - February 17, 2010

Back of tractor 1 - real or toy?, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "Back of tractor 1 - real or toy?"

Enjoy!

Photo of the day - February 16, 2010

As a kid... harvest season with toys, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "As a kid... harvest season with toys". How I miss being a kid playing with old tractor toys. Those were the days.. ah!

Why I love being French, and speaking French!

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Mon héro!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Well Journée Louis Riel is now officially over here in Manitoba, which is the Manitoba equivalent of "Family Day" in other Canadian provinces. Thinking back, Louis Riel is probably my biggest political hero in my life, not only for having the courage for standing up to the Canadian government, but also as him being a Francophone/bilingual person.

I love speaking French, and every day of my life I'm proud to be a French Canadian. My French isn't perfect by any means, but when I get to speak French, I get excited and all nostalgic.

Whenever I go to a local shop or a restaurant and hear someone speaking French, my ears start tuning into the French conversations. Whenever French musicians come to Brandon, Manitoba, I always have a chat with them after the concert.. they always are ecstatic when they realize that there's another person who speaks French in the room, which is rare in this part of the country.

Yeah, of course it gives me a reason to trash talk about someone without most people knowing what the eff I'm saying, but I don't trash talk anyways. But I do love to Franglais it up, which is a mixture of French and English.

Living in Quebec City, people would automatically notice my obviously anglo accent, but they never hated me for it, they would ask me questions like where I was from, what I think about the community, "have you gone to... yet?", stuff like that. In any other city in Canada, particularly anglophone communities, I have never had this happen. Not once has anyone ever said this while in Ottawa or Edmonton, or even Winnipeg.

Also, I consider myself a bit of an expert on Franco-Canadien music, I'm not a professional at it or anything, but thanks to taking a "Popular French music" course back in university, it gave me a grasp of Québecois musical history and what to look for. Now I have dozens of different Francophone musicians on my iPhone. I probably know more about French music than most listener friends of mine on Radio 3, but I don't hold it against them, they're just anglos, they don't know any better! ;)
While musicians like coeur de pirate and malajube are great and all, they're are in NO WAY the best that the province has. Give me Jean Leloup, Marie-Pierre Arthur and Radio Radio instead!

Also, what I love is that my absolute closest friends, most of them are French speakers, I don't know how I ended up with amazing friends who all speak French, but it happens!

But on the bad side of things.. here in Western Manitoba, Francophones/"Frenchies" are constantly discriminated on a regular basis. On a local message board, every single time the word "French" is mentioned, there's a heated debate (well one sided debate) about how Francophones need to STFU and how this should be a unilingual country, it's no wonder why said same people vote Blue each and every election like clock-work. It's embarassing to be in a community that is so discriminatory(?) against any cultural groups. I even got made fun of, in public for wearing French tshirts, although THAT'S rare. Usually it's just glares, rude looks if they see me speaking French, it sucks, but that's life. Also, while there are a few thousand French speaking people in the region, it seems like all of them are hiding, I never can find them, so I never get to really speak French in the first place!

Anywho, I'm proud of being French Canadian and proud of speaking French, I've had the pleasure of spending St-Jean Baptiste Day on the Plains of Abraham before, and felt like I belonged there with the other 250,000 attendees, it was a night to remember! Drinking with random strangers, singing en Français and having a great time! Ah.. those were the days!

Vive les Francophones!

Photo of the day - February 15, 2010

Bonne Journée Louis Riel! Un peu tôt though, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

The photo of the day today is titled "Bonne Journée Louis Riel! Un peu tôt though." Today is Louis Riel Day here in Manitoba and I felt that it was only fitting to have today's photo of the day as a photo of Louis Riel himself!

Also check out Rue Louis-Riel in Quebec City.

Photo of the day! February 14, 2010

...turned it into a parking lot!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

I'm sitting here in the car waiting for my sister to pick up Chinese food for my parents for Valentines Day. Here's today's photo of the day titled "...turned it into a parking lot!"

Photo of the day - February 13, 2010

, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Photo of the day for February 13, 2010 is "Sans Titre".

It looks more miserable than this outside right now

Photo of the day - February 12, 2010

End of the road street sign and Elevator, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Photo of the day for February 12, 2010. Titled "End of the road street sign and Elevator."

Photo of the day - February 11, 2010

4 generations of technology, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is 4 Generations of technology.

Photo of the day - February 10, 2010

Hey.. didn't this used to be an adult video store?!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "Hey.. didn't this used to be an adult video store?!"

It seems as if most buildings in downtown Brandon are abandoned, and this is no exception.

Photo of the day - February 9, 2010

Grain Elevator, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is titled "Grain Elevator"

Photo of the day - February 8, 2010

Volcanoless in Canada - Brandon Folk Fest - Brandon, Manitoba - July 26, 2009, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is of Sask acoustic rock band Volcanoless in Canada, with their newest member!

Stuff Cody Likes - February 8, 2010

Bienvenue au/Welcome to Slurpeetoba!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

It's been a while since I did a "Stuff Cody Likes" blog entry, so I thought it was time to update it!

• First off, Slurpees! Being a Manitoban, I'm obsessed with Slurpees, preferably Pepsi or Orange slurpees! It can be the hottest day of the year or the coldest most miserable day of the year, if I have a Slurpee craving, I MUST fill that craving with slurpee goodness.. speaking of which, I should go for one now!
• Vacation gifts. My parents got back from Grenada today after two weeks, they brought back a few gifts, a BUNCH of beer (Carib and Stag?), as well as a few tshirts, a beer poster and a 2L bottle of Coca Cola from Grenada, with actual sugar! I love vacation gifts.
• All inclusive vacations. It's been two years since I went on my last "vacation", but I love all inclusive vacations, you can eat and drink as much as you want and you don't have to pay for it! It's awesome, its weird though walking up to a bar and not needing to fish for change each time.
• Undercover Boss. There's a new show on CBS called Undercover Boss where a boss of a large company goes undercover as an entry level employee to see how the company is doing in terms of employees (morale and whatnot), It's crazy to see the head honcho of a big company realizing his policy decisions have had so much negative affect on his employees. I doubt that anything really changes after airing the TV show, they just want the company to look like they care.

Photo of the day - February 7, 2010

Feet!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "Feet!"

Photo of the day - February 6, 2010

Un mauvais moment pour notre histoire / Depressing end to a piece of history, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "un mauvais moment pour notre histoire". A sad look of the destruction of one of the many historically significant buildings in Quebec City.

Photo of the Day - February 5, 2010

L'homme étrange, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Continuing on the theme of Strangers, today's photo of the day is tiled "L'homme étrange" (The Strange Man).

Photo of the day - February 4, 2010

Alouette, gentille alouette!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is "Alouette, gentille alouette!" takin on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City! It's almost been 4 years.. yeesh!

Photo of the day - February 3, 2010

Mexican shot, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

It's crazy to think that two years has passed since I was in México. Lying on the beach, drinking mucho cervezas and relaxing as much as I possibly can!

Today's photo of the day is "Mexican shot", it's a photo of a red/clear/green shot made from different liqueurs to resemble the flag of Mexico. My dad, who is a rye and Coke man actually took this shot, and the thing is.. he doesn't do shots! So it was hilarious to see him do it!

Rant du jour - Thievery

Who you looking at?, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

So I'm pretty effing pissed off. I know that people don't even read this blog. Heck, I don't even bother to proof-read it or anything because I know it's not worth it. But I don't care, I just like to bitch or post about stuff I like since it feels like I don't get a voice in life as it is.

Well on topic, well I'm pretty pissed off. Well I live in this building that "could" be considered kind of like a dorm, we share a kitchen, living room and bathrooms, but get separate bedrooms. Well, once in a while things go missing.

This time, the person has gone too far. I share a fridge with this girl who is not an alcoholic, we keep the fridge fairly neat. Well, someone had been stealing my beer and other stuff from my fridge lately. Whoever that asshat is, stop it already.

It's not that it's beer, but it's that they don't even bother to tell me or go "oh I'm sorry!" Nope. Beer can always be replenished. What bothers me though is that they drank a SPECIFIC BEER. I have a bottle of Half Pints Burly Wine (2008). This beer is one of the most sought after beers in all of Canada year after year. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one last December ('08). It cost me $5 just for that one 341 bottle.

If it had been a bottle of Moosehead, Stella or even something more fancy, I wouldn't have cared, but this one beer was something I was going to keep until a very special occasion, as it's a beer that ages well.

Well Mister Asshat, because you drank that SPECIFIC beer, now I can no longer enjoy it for the special occasion. As well, the local liquor store is not stocking up this year (well 2009) version of the beer so I'm out of luck.

Next time, if I catch you touching my beer, I may just break it over your head. Also, it was NOT cool of you to drink my glass bottle of Coca Cola that I got while I was in Mexico! VERY not cool.

If I had a job, I wouldn't be living here, but nobody will hire me so I'm stuck in this dump, sharing a fridge that anyone can mooch from (and landlord does not allow mini fridges).

Introducing: Middle Names!

Novillero Soul Revue - Winnipeg, Manitoba - July 2, 2007, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

For many years, I've been a big fan of Winnipeg Soul/Indie Rockers Novillero. I discovered them through a free iTunes song of the week, right when iTunes first launched in Canada. I immediately dug(ged) their awesome upbeatness, with a hint of soul, a bit of 70s and just plain awesomeness. Since first becoming a fan of them many many years ago, they've released a new album or two, toured thousands of kilometres, and I've seen them who knows how many times!

Novillero members Rod Slaughter (lead singer/keyboards/bass), Jack Jonasson (Moog/Tambourine/Awesomeness) and Sean Stevens (guitar) have formed a new band along with Jory Hasselman of Winnipeg rock band Haunter called "Middle Names!"

Just checking out their Facebook page, they have one song uploaded for fans to hear titled "Big Plans". It sounds like the awesomeness upbeatness that I know and love with Novillero, but even rockier. Just like Novillero, I'm instantly "wowed" by them. I have this gut feeling that they're going to make alot of new fans, as well as their Novillero fans.

Unlike in Novillero, Slaughter will be getting away from the ol' keyboards and switch it up as the band's bassist, and Jonasson will be the band's drummer. Slaughter was bassist of the Winnipeg duo Duotang that rocked Winnipeg and Canada a decade back, and Jonasson used to drum with the Paperbacks until a few years ago.

I hope you all check out Middle Names, and I hope they release their debut album shortly, and hopefully a cross Canada tour sometime!

Check out their Facebook page HERE!
Or their MySpace!

Also, check out my "Beer Pick of the Week - July 17, 2007", which is my band pick of the week on my old blog.

Photo of the Day - February 2, 2010

Bienvenue/Welcome to Slurpeetoba!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo is "Bienvenue/Welcome to Slurpeetoba!"

I've been obsessed with Slurpees for quite a while now.. oh how I love Slurpees, and no wonder why Manitoba is the Slurpee Capital of the World!

Photo of the day - February 1, 2010

Just Dance!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

The photo of the day for February 1, 2010 is titled "Just Dance!"