Our basement situation is rare in that because we have a lawn which slopes down towards the lake, said cellar has 4 windows overlooking… a lake. A lake view is not normally something you hear associated with cellars, is my point. It screamed out to be “finished”. Now that the garage loft renovation is pretty much completed, my attention has settled on my rec room. My man room. My rectacular basement man place thingy. My bomb cellar for nerds. Yes, kids – Operation: Basement has officially begun.
Spencer reminds me very much of a young Jack Nicholson.
“I’m the kinda guy likes to know who’s buying his stain, Lloyd.”
Even as I type this I hear my project lead, Spencer, sanding away on the glued together slats of raw pine which will eventually be stained and used to cover the beams, posts and create molding/wainscotting. There are two tall stacks of boxes in the center of the 600 square foot room. One is full of ceiling tile and one is full of dark oak style laminate flooring. The floor has been taped off to mark where the lake rock bar will be so that we can safely install the flooring around it. And there are other elements already procured that will complete the dream lair I have fantisized about creating since I first walked into the then dingy space four years ago.
Pool Table: Our neighbor gave us a pretty serious slate pool table which sits completely disassembled in our furnace room. I found a guy on a local classified ads site (think Canadian Craigs List) that will drive out here from Brockville to put it together, replace the bumpers, level and re-felt it. We also have a Budweiser pool table light that my Dad somehow talked a Florida bartender into giving him about 5 years ago that we’ve held onto ever since.
Da Bar: The base of the bar will be made out of either brick or plywood but I plan to cover it with rocks out of the adjascent lake to kind of “bring the outdoors in” or something.
Bigscreen TV: A purchase from a neighbor who’s interior decorator told him it took up too much room, the cabinet color was stifling and most likely that he also wanted to give him a handjob. I got this 3-year-old 60+ inch rear projection monster for a song and it will have a sound-surrounded place of leather couch honor in the new room.
Arcade Game: I will be discussing the “nerd box” in a separate article, but the short version is that while looking for an old, beat up, classic stand up arcade game (complete with numerous cigarette burns no doubt) I found something much, much better. Stay tuned for exceptional fucking nerdery on this one, folks. Your jaws will drop.
Dart Board: I found a company online who makes replica vintage Guiness dartboard cabinets and ships them to Canada complete with a top-quality bristle dartboard. Done and done. I also recently found the small velcro wallet containing my Dad’s old darts and the naked lady flights I remember so well from childhood. And no, I have never wanked to a dart flight. As far as you know.
As if I didn’t hate spirit orbs enough – One of them is Bob Vila.
Spencer is now brushing conditioner onto the sanded wood, to ensure it stains evenly, and the smell is so strong that I am quite positively more buzzed than a huffer under a bridge in Smiths Falls. I must retreat for the evening, but I hope you’ve enjoyed my tales of renovation and you can see the full gallery as it progresses here.
DVD.
fans there are in existence – and there are many – we don’t go to the movies as much as our younger pop culture consumers. Everyone’s favorite British Secret agent was getting a little long in the tooth and falling further and further off the radar of today’s popcorn munching demographic. I thought Brosnan did an excellent job as James Bond, but when he told the Broccoli’s he wasn’t coming back for another round after Die Another Day – I expect Barb saw the handwriting on the wall and knew that more drastic measures were called for if the franchise were to continue into a fifth decade.
It’s important to remember a few things before daring to mouth the word “ripoff“. The 
was a very tough act to follow but Solace was also required to be a very different movie. It’s the first Bond film to ever continue the plot of the previous one, and that plot is easily summed up in one word: revenge. The Bond we already understand to be the most ruthless, thuggish and brutal since Connery rocked the tux wants the asses of those responsible for the death of Vesper.
was a group of monumental importance to music in general (I am deadly serious) and probably my very favorite crew from what many now refer to as the 
and 
during hours spent digging through ancient record crates were replaced by modern rap production that sounds like a challenged 4-year-old banging away on a rundown Yamaha Port-a-Sound.
on Wadio today – it’s comprehensively the best rap long play to rear its head in a very, very long time. I’m always asking myself: does rap suck now or am I just old? I’ll never know the real answer (Yes I will. I’m 35 as opposed to 19), but am still so delighted it has come down the pike when it did. I’d given up on the musical genre I once loved.
which you can click to download or listen to below. It features amazing delivery, sharp lyrics and a beat which samples real drums (gasp!) while lifting a catchy snippet from “
” sees him rapping acapella for a full minute before a snare drum finally busts in and reminds you that you were listening to… acapella. That’s the power of the man’s voice and delivery which is as strong on 
” features two completely different sounding halves which are both amazing nods back in the direction of the golden age, even borrowing Black Sheep’s “here we come yo, here we come” chant from 1991’s 
on CD or 