The Royce Files

The U.S. tried and tried but the mad hockey nation of the great white north upended our dreams to take home the gold medal in men's ice hockey. Thankfully that team didn't come out and smoke cigars and drink alcohol after they received their medals. And I might add theie national anthem is actually quite good. In honor of the victory, I give you this Canandian catchet of an Ice Hockey stamp which was released prior to the last year that Canada hosted the games (Calgary). I was near those grounds in 2001. In fact I was just a stones throw from the downhill skiing area when I heard rumors about 9-11. I was camping at a KOA adjacent to the facility. It really was surreal. Anyways, congrats Canada on getting a bunch of gold to add to your GDP. That gold should stimulate your economy quite a bit.

I suppose it is a bit late to write about the winter olympic- they are nearly over -- but the olympics and noteably the winter version has some significance in my life. When my grandmother died at our Ironwood home, I remember watching the 1988 winter games in Calgary that evening. Then in 2002, when on furlough from the Go, I was back at Lehigh with my mother watching the Salt Lake City games. I remember purchasing one of those Roots beret that the US Team wore at the opening and closing ceremonies for my mother's birthday. That was the longest amount of time I spent with my mother prior to her death about a year and a half later. Anyways, I have watched a little of the Vancouver games thus far. I viewed the opening ceremonies on playback at my girlfriend's family's home. Unfortunately we never did get to see the torch lit due to technical difficulties in Vancouver so the ceremonies over ran their predetermined scheduled time. Oh well...

The coney dog- beef hot dog, all meat chili, yellow onions, yellow mustard. I also included some yellow relish but you can really see it. The coney dog did not originate on New York's Coney Island. It in fact had its humble begins in Detroit, Michigan. I have eaten the coneys That were on the counter And which you were most definitely  saving for lunch Leave it to me For they were so delicious So juicy and so filling (much thanks to W.C.W )

I've ranted on here before on inconsistent snow removal in my town. Of which Lileks says in an indirect manner:"Rant on." The Twin Towns have it a bit worse than Go. More traffic brings those things on. I couldn't imagine biking in winter in the Twin Towns unless I lived at the very least 3 miles from work. A near impossibility there with the expanse of space that exists to put up buildings clear out to the edges of St. Cloud and still call it the Twin Cities. Here, things don't get much more than 5 miles out and then you are on the tundra, alone, drifting. I've been on 4 wheels for most of the last 2 weeks. This is mostly due to trying to ward off a cold and arctic temps. But it is also due to the dumpage of great amounts of snow which typically takes 2 days to adequately move. Yet it snowed for a few days in a row. That's when shovels and plows relax a little. Traffic compacts the snow but it also creates this light ...

I am doing a little make-up design for a short Zombie film to be shot by a co-worker. To the left is one of the tests I worked up with latex, tissue, bloody scab, clown white, and green, blue, and black creams. Probably could use a little more white. I am pretty impressed with my design. I might work in a zombie in one of my next films. Want to be a make up model?

New feature I am launching- Retro Times. Now imagine the "Good Times" theme playing and J.J. saying "Dyn-o-mite." Let's take a trip back to the dyn-o-mite times of the 1970s. A time when style was on a collision course and people wore cool threads. Those threads more than likely were made of corduroy or polyester. Well, here we have clip from an cigarette advert from Jet magazine. This appears to be the epitome of cool. In fact it is so cool that I think it had made a comeback as of late - the clothing, not the smoking. If this doesn't suggest that you look cool smoking while sporting a chain with your hand on your hip- then cool has left the building and is making its way to the bottom of the ocean. This picture certainly has a tale to tell.  

The first of course is cash in an envelope slid under the door. But I am not alone in giving some critique to the ugly odd online ads. Looks like former Fargoan and blogger J. Lileks has caught on to the oddities of some of the online ads I have been providing commentary. His work is found here towards the bottom. J. catches onto 3 I have blogged and also opens another can of worms in online ads- those marketed to the male demographic. I've fallen prey to the "Get Ripped" ad occurances. Now I bemoan the fact I am not entirely ripped like those disembowled torsoes which appear in the ads although I do some lifting of weights. I don't have an example but you know what I am talking about. Too bad they didn't put in a little Obama magic such as-"Obama wants men to get ripped using this one simple rule." Now I am wondering if acai berries were a political conspiracy. A new one made an appearance recently. Wrinkly old man who seems a bit surprised (or fea...

More commentary on online ads that seem to be on every website. You can't use the internets for any amount of time and not come across these ads. Our first ad at the left has been around for a while. The moving hamster image must be a huge draw to homeowners. Not sure "9/10" means anything to readers. Most likely it is to suggest that 9 out of 10 homeowners fail etc. Not very effective program apparently. I suppose the organization who put this one out thought "Hey, nobody is using the government's program let's try and draw them to our services with a hamster like animal?" To which his or her superiors responded- "Brilliant!" They then all clanked bottles of PBR together and texted the intern to make a viral video of a hamster. I think the intern then probably just looked for a copy of screensaver which makes it appear you have a hamster in the monitor and captured the video. Our next advert uses a man again but this time breaks the traditio...