Saturday, January 21, 2006

ridertech VIDEO: Big Snow, Little Movie. We apologize for the delay in video releases, but Mother Nature has been pounding the Cascade Mountains with wind and rain for weeks. The good news is that the wait is over and we were rewarded with an epic powder day. With over 2 feet of new snow in 48 hours, Crystal Mountain offers terrain that rivals any resort in the world. We got fresh lines all day long by making laps around the upper mountain, and it was snowing so much that our tracks were filling in every hour. The best run was by far Exterminator, a double-black diamond back to the frontside that is accessible via a small hike up from Iceberg's Ridge. Stay tuned for upcoming videos from Vail/Breckenridge, SIA.06 SnowSports Trade Show in Vegas, Winter X Games in Aspen and The Legendary Mt. Baker Banked Slalom. By Ridertech.com. [Ridertech - Ski/Snowboard Video Blog] 9:58:20 PM

A Punk Legend Returns (Part 2) (Now Podcasting Franz Bielmeier, Ente + Sally MP3) A Punk Legend Returns. Franz Bielmeier, also known as Mary Lou Monroe, was the founding member of Düsseldorf's great punk band Charley's Girls, who then evolved into Mittagspause. Remember the Ratinger Hof? Later, he set up the famous Rondo record label and wrote and recorded beautiful songs for his new band, Aqua Velva. After some private trouble he vanished, only to resurface again for the interviews published in Jürgen Teipel's book about the history of German punk rock, Verschwende deine Jugend; then he disappeared again. And now he's back. Franz has started recording again, and it's FAB. He gave permission to publish four of his new songs exclusively right here at The Cartoonist. With the exception of Dub, all those songs are part of his Schwester Strahl (Sister Ray) project. Be prepared for some fabulous noise: Baby Yo [MP3, 2.7MB] Ente + Sally [MP3, 4.3MB] Dub [MP3, 3.7MB] Unfall [MP3, 8.4MB] Franz Bielmeier is now looking for a record label. Any ideas are welcome, so please leave a comment. And here are the lyrics: Höre. Staune. Gute Laune. Enjoy. [The Cartoonist] 6:10:58 PM

Canada's General Election Canada's 39'th General Election - a case for Proportional Representaion?. Canada is about to head into its 39th general election. Current Polls have the Bloc Quebecois at 8-12% of the national vote. Because it is concentrated in Quebec, this translates to 53 seats. The NDP, on the other hand, with 17-21% national support, is projected at only 23 seats as its support is spread across the entire country. With the main race between the Conservative and Liberal Parties, we've heard little about proportional representation. Even the NDP, which stands to gain most from throwing out the current plurality First Past the Post system, has been oddly silent about this plank in its platform. The question is, why? [MetaFilter] 5:49:46 PM

Tokyo Snow Day, Highly Recommended Snow day. We had a good dusting of snow in Tokyo last night and it continued snowing throughout the day. Wonderful! [Posted to: Photographs] [Antipixel - Excerpts] 4:06:30 PM

China and Phoenix, Article by Angela Cara Pancrazio Row over Chinatown landmark stirs memories. During the past couple of months, the fate of the Sun Mercantile building, the last remnant of Chinatown, became the object of a tug of war between development and history. When the Asian-American community rallied to save the building or at least a portion of it, it wasn't just trying to save the last remnant of Chinatown, it was trying to save the Asian-American heritage of the city and Arizona. Asian American pioneers in the Valley [azcentral.com | Arizona Republic Front Page] 9:23:11 AM