Although I am far from the world’s best writer, I am a little bit of a grammar fiend. I get terribly annoyed by signs, especially highly polished advertisements, which have spelling or grammar errors. And I’m not alone; there is at least one organization that sends “no-no” letters to editors and writers when they spot an error. (If only I could remember who they are!)

I have a special place in my heart, though, for guerrilla grammarians. They are so passionate about proper grammar that they will correct signs with a black Sharpie and a few terse words. Take, for example, an ad I saw on the subway today. A debt refinancing company promised to help you “rejoin the have’s”. A cheeky guerrilla grammarian had taken his trusty maker and crossed out the offending possessive apostrophe, adding the comment “wrong” just in case someone misunderstood his defiant editing.

(Keep reading to see pictures.)

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I’ve always believed that one shouldn’t buy a new video game console until it has been about at least a year.  That way, there is plenty of time for the bugs to be worked out, and for good games to be released!

I have to admit, though, that I have been lusting after Nintendo’s new console, the Wii.  (Wii jokes abound in our house, and most aren’t appropriate for this blog.)  quanta, being the frugal man he is, has held off on buying it for me.  And I will, sadly, admit that I am not glad that he has.  Apparently the isolated reports of broken Wii wrist straps aren’t that isolated, and Nintendo will be replacing them all!  Wow!

So, my purchase of a Wii will be held off a little while longer… Well, at least until the summer, when Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers comes out.

On Wednesday evening, quanta and I saw the Toronto version of the Blue Man Group show as part of our office Christmas party.  The show was very different than anything I have ever seen before, and I’m not really sure that I enjoyed it.  The music was exceptionally loud, and the strobe lights were uncomfortable.  But, there were sections of the show that were amazing.

I really liked the themes of information overload and pollution that played a role in some parts of the show.  It was interesting to me to see how I reacted to sections were you had time to only read one of three posters.  When the posters I read said that the other posters could be read at www.wordsontheleft.com, I felt a strange sense of relief.  But, being me, I still tried to read all of the posters.  I’m glad I did, because the website doesn’t show what’s on the posters!  But, by trying to read all the posters, I think I proved one of the points they were trying to make–that we fill ourselves with much more information then we need.

I was really disappointed by obvious product placements in the show.  Food is used in several sections, and the logos associated with the food are always clearly visible.  This seems to be in conflict with the show’s theme of information overload.

Overall, I’m pretty sure I would not go see the show again, but in an odd way I’m glad I did see.  If only for that small insight into myself that it gave me.

If you do go to a Blue Man Group show, be aware that people who sit in the front may get hit with food.  (Plastic ponchos are supplied.)  And also be aware that at the end of the show strobe lights are used excessively, and you will get buried in paper.

Lately I’ve been working on a Top Secret project that has required me to spend a lot of time looking at the websites for provincial and territorial ministries of education. (Okay, the project isn’t exactly top secret, but that makes it sound cooler and infinitely less boring then it actually is…)

Anyway, while exploring the government site for the relatively new territory of Nunavut, I noticed something odd–Nunavut ripped off Nelvana’s logo!

(Hopefully using these logos is acceptable under copyright fair use exceptions…)

The logo’s aren’t identical, but it sure seems like Nunavut’s (est. April 1, 1999) polar bear was inspired by Nelvana’s (est. 1971).

I wonder if any other countries/provinces/states have logos (or flags, or crests) that look similar to ones used by a company.

And since I am writing about governmental oddities, check out this site that rates and critiques national flags: The world’s flags given letter grades. Canada got an A-.