TRACKS ON REPEAT

Azure Ray - Displaced
video

TRACKS ON REPEAT

Bruce Springsteen - Drive All Night



see video here

BLAH

if you don't feel like you're in the know - you are probably not.

-Douglas Coupland

LOSER

"Sometimes failure isn't an opportunity in disguise; it's just you."

-Douglas Coupland

SYSTEM OF A LEGO

see video here

IT'S LEGO AND IT'S RAMMSTEIN - WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?!

see video here

TRACKS ON REPEAT

it's the long awaited return of Econoline Crush!

7 years in the making the new album Ignite has finally been released

the new single - DIRTY:


and my all time favorite Econoline Crush track - YOU DON'T KNOW:

KNIGHT RIDER 2008 - SEXY AS EVER!

did anyone else curl up with up with their inner geek last sunday to make an event of this?

it was a little slow but K.I.T.T. was sexy as ever! and the opening theme still rules - now even more so!

just in case you missed out:

PILOT EPISODE HERE

the actual episode was a bit slow - like they had to set up the story all over again and it was a little predictable and it managed a bit of camp when it was obviously trying to avoid just that but it was nostalgic and geekily wonderful.

i have high hopes for this project.

TRAILER - STREET FIGHTER:THE LATER YEARS

"it seems as tho your haduken is more like a hadu-can't, a ha-don't-ken, a no-can-do-ken"
-Ryu

see episodes 1-7 at Collegehumor.com

FILTHY AXIUM PIGS ROLLIN' IN IT WHILE FEEDING US THE SHIT END OF THE STICK!

horrifying new allegations brought to the table by Golden Tree in an appeal to bring the co-owners of Axium to court. the LA Times reports.

having looked at the actual complaints filed (which were somehow anonymously leaked to ex-employees and apparently the LA Times) i've been stunned into another stupor.

over the last week, every time i thought i was getting a handle on the situation and finding my way towards acceptance i feel like i get slapped silly again with something more ugly and even harder to believe.

like jerry said to me tonight, "ugh, this is so ugly and bizzare. my best friend got Enron'd!"

i'm going back to taking deep breaths...

***i don't know why the stupid link to the aricle isn't working, here's a copy of the article:

Suit accuses 2 ex-owners of payroll firm
The biggest creditor of Axium International alleges massive fraud and theft at the Hollywood company.

By Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

January 16, 2008

The largest creditor of Axium International Inc. sued the company's former principal owners on Tuesday, alleging massive fraud and theft a week after the Hollywood payroll service provider filed for liquidation bankruptcy.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, investment firm GoldenTree Asset Management said Axium's former principals, John Visconti and Ron Garber, treated the company "as their own personal piggy bank to finance their extravagant lifestyles."

Visconti and Garber, according to the suit, used Axium funds to lease private jets and ultra-luxury cars, including Rolls-Royces and Aston Martins, for personal use; paid for personal gifts and vacations using corporate credit cards; made personal political contributions with Axium money; maintained secret bank accounts; and spent the money "without any apparent business purpose."

GoldenTree said it extended $130 million in financing from 2004 to 2007. Last week, GoldenTree swept $22 million from company accounts that had secured the loan on which Axium defaulted, said Howard Ehrenberg, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee who oversees Axium's finances.

New York-based GoldenTree said it was unable to determine the precise amount of monetary damages but believed them to top $87.5 million.

The suit also names Visconti's and Garber's ex-wives, Maha Visconti and Susan Cruz, alleging that they benefited "directly and indirectly," including access to luxury cars paid for by Axium funds.

GoldenTree declined to comment Tuesday.

Visconti and Garber, through a spokesman, also declined to comment. On Monday, before the suit was filed, they issued a joint statement denouncing "false claims" made about them and pledging to "take steps to make sure that the facts regarding this situation will come out."

"First of all, we are not responsible for 'pulling the plug' on the company," they said. "We have always had our employees' best interests at heart and we know they are hurting. However, this situation was totally beyond our control."

Axium closed its offices in Los Angeles, Burbank, New York, London, Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, on Jan. 7. An e-mail from an Axium executive in New York that day told stunned employees to leave and not come back.

Fallout from the company's abrupt closing stung entertainment industry workers suddenly holding worthless paychecks, production companies with thousands of dollars frozen in payroll accounts, and about 400 Axium employees who were fired.

On Monday, about 25 former Axium workers gathered outside the company's Burbank office to air their frustrations. They said they had not received their last paychecks, severance pay or vacation cash-outs. Many said they lived paycheck to paycheck, so losing their jobs left them scraping to pay mortgages and make car payments.

"I took out a chunk of money yesterday because I have overdraft protection, and that's what I'm living off," said Miescha Montoya, a former payroll coordinator from Lancaster, as colleagues consoled each other nearby. "Once that's gone, there's nothing else."

Also on Tuesday, Ehrenberg, the bankruptcy trustee, said he had identified potential buyers for the assets of Axium and one of its subsidiary companies: Ensemble Chimes Global, or ECG, a provider of contract workers and other personnel services.

ECG's assets will be auctioned in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles on Jan. 23, Ehrenberg said. The opening bid for the company is $7.5 million. Last year, Axium paid $80 million in cash to acquire Chimes Inc., which was combined with another Axium subsidiary to form ECG.

Axium's assets are expected to be auctioned the next week but no sale date has been set, Ehrenberg said. The opening bid for the company is likely to be about $2.5 million, he said.

The opening bidder for ECG's assets is Barry Olson, former president of Chimes, Ehrenberg said. He declined to disclose the potential opening bidder for Axium's assets.

After the assets are sold, it's likely that most of the companies' former employees will be rehired, Ehrenberg said.

"Hopefully the buyers will be able to stop the bleeding of customers and be able to maintain and recapture business that may have been lost," he said. "It's only been one week since the company shut down, so hopefully it hasn't been irreparable."

andrea.chang@latimes.com

AXIUM ON FOX 11 NEWS

10 O'clock news on Fox 11

THE AXE IN AXIUM

The LA Times have redeemed themselves from that previous article riddled with misinformation.

it's day 3 and it seems that i'm just beginning to pick my jaw up off the ground. i'm still a ways from having it all really sink in but i'm slowly finding my way. it's still difficult to wrap my head around the enormity of the situation but more and more i am beginning to think that the Canadian side of the company has gotten off pretty easy.

it sucks what happened to us. Axium was run by a bunch of bastards trying to prove how big their balls were. they hung us out to dry but at least our unemployed asses landed in a healthy economy with a healthy job market. our American counterparts aren't so lucky. the numbers are daunting. it's bleak in a way that i'm not sure we Canadians could understand - not now any way.

maybe i'm being naive, maybe just overly patriotic. whatever the case, i for one am going to consider my able-bodied self lucky. don't get me wrong, i'm not quite ready to charge back out there guns a blazin' but i will be and when i do it will be bigger and better cuz let's face it - Axium sucked. it'd be hard to do any worse.

thank you to everyone in the Vancouver office. i will take with me many fond memories (and a handful of incriminating pictures). we were an island of sanctuary amidst an ocean of sharks in designer suits. it was nice when we managed to keep them at bay.

AXIUM BANKRUPT - BOTH MORALLY AND FINANCIALLY

"Yesterday, dozens of shell-shocked employees in the New York office carted away their belongings. Some huddled together to cry, while others passed around a bottle of whiskey."

-from the New York Post

now why didn't we think about the whiskey?

i don't care what they say - i still don't believe it was the strike.

COMPANY GOES BELLY UP, TUNABELLY LEFT IN THE LURCH

Axium is indeed bankrupt. see story here i am so very sorry if you are holding an uncashed Axium Entertainment cheque!

for everyone wondering if this has anything to do with the writer's strike - the simple answer is: no. a company of this stature should be able to weather a strike like this. there are other evils at play for a company to collapse this abruptly.

the BS version of the story found here. this article reeks of lies - at least from my seat here in Vancouver. first of all, the article failed to notice that there was a Vancouver office at all! secondly, we were NEVER told we were going out of business. lastly, the transition was NOT seamless. they provided no means for a "seamless transition" to anyone involved.

interestingly enough, comments on a Defamer article led me to a list of Republican campaign contributions affiliated with the company. i am so truly sick to my stomach!

other fair assessments include the the Hollywood Reporter and Variety (except that the Vancouver office was never instructed to tell our clients anything, we did this of our own accord)

to my friends in the entertainment industry that are holding Axium cheques, a heartfelt apology. there were no warning signs from the powers that be. all i can say is - i feel ya and we could get together for a stiff drink but beyond that there is not much i can do for you.

to my friends at Axium - it's been a pleasure working with you. best of luck to you in all of your endeavors.

SPREAD THE WORD

my thoughts and prayers are with Hady and his family.

"Dominican Today placed repeated calls to local units of the tourist police and navy but was unable to obtain any new information about the search. Ordinary Seaman Familia Recio with the Dominican naval post at El Cortacito in Punta Cana said the staff had no knowledge of the incident."

the lack of assistance to this matter needs to be addressed. Hady's friends and family are financing the search and rescue on their own coin.

to voice any concerns the resort they were staying at can be reached at PuntaCana@excellence-resorts.com , the Canadian Embassy in Santo Domingo can be reached at sdmgo@international.gc.ca or you can help by petitioning to your local MP.

there is also a Facebook group and a video on youtube. comments and a show of support are appreciated.

RESOLUTIONS

i believe that the betterment of you and yours is an ongoing, yearlong process so i've never been big on the new year's resolution.

i am always trying to be better - a better person, a better friend, a better daughter,a better dancer and now a better teacher.

this year i thought i'd try something different. it's the beginning of the new year and for some reason, the older i get the more this seems to matter. it no longer feels like any other day but an opportunity for change.

however, to focus only on the changes that need to be made seems rather self-deprecating - doesn't it? i don't think my life is so wrong that i need to create a whole list of changes that need to be made every year. i live my life as i see fit - for the most part - and am generally pretty gung-ho over how my life's turned out.

i do have one change for 2008. i will work less this year. this isn't so much a product of me needing a new year's resolution - it's just a timing issue. i've been on vacation and the other handful of schools and organizations i work for have been shut down for the holidays. it's time to make some serious decisions about what NOT to pick up again. i will decide this in the coming weeks.

this year i will also resolve to NOT change some things in my life. who says your new years resolutions have to be about change?!

so here it is - my 2008 new year's resolutions:

1) will work less
2) continue to not smoke
3) continue dancing
4) continue blogging about fun, random, nonsensical items
5) continue to be fun, random and nonsensical
6) continue perfecting the art of the momentary crush
7) continue perfecting the art of mass consumerism
8) continue feeding my facebook addiction/stalking
9) continue to love
10) continue to be loved