Personal

Building Christmas Music Playlists That Don’t Suck

JettLeave a comment

I used to vehemently hate Christmas music.

That animosity came from my time in retail. For nine holiday seasons, my store played the exact same set of Christmas songs. They didn’t even have enough tracks to fill out the full day. Many of the tracks were different renditions of the same handful of songs. I was sick of them after my first week. By year nine, I had ground my teeth down to the gums as the abomination that is “Wonderful Christmas Time” by Paul McCartney assaulted my ears far too many times to count. I’m sure if I went back to that store now, they’re still playing those same songs from that woefully-inadequate setlist.

A few years ago, with the help of my wife Steff, I found an activity that makes Christmas music more enjoyable. It’s grown into a holiday tradition for us. Maybe it would be something you would enjoy too!

Continue reading →

10 Years of In Third Person: Games That Made an Impact on My Life

JettLeave a comment

Over the past decade, I’ve played hundreds of games. Some of them were really bad. Some of them were huge disappointments. Most of them were at least good or great. But there are few games that really made their mark on my mind and heart. In this penultimate installment of the 10-year anniversary series of posts, I put the spotlight on a few games that truly had an impact on me during my time running this site!

Continue reading →

REWIND: What I’m Thankful For During Thanksgiving

JettLeave a comment

Wishing all of my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

To celebrate, I thought I’d share a clip from a previous stream that happened around the time of Canadian Thanksgiving last month. Still thankful for all of the same things! What are you thankful for today?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Lost Let’s Play

JettLeave a comment

It was a random afternoon weekend in the early 90s. I was a kid at the time, playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game on the NES for the umpteenth time. Out of the blue, I had an idea.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if I had video of me playing this game right now?” I thought to myself.

Continue reading →

My Favourite Halloween Candy

Jett2 Comments

I care very little about Halloween. Always did the bare minimum for dressing up as a kid and bailed on the costumes as soon as I could. Never cared for the children’s stories or grown-up horror movies. If it weren’t for me being married to someone whose favourite holiday is Halloween, I would probably excise the entire thing out of my life.

Well, almost all of it.

The candy can stay. Now that I have a house, handing out candy to the kids that come by in their costumes is a highlight. But more importantly, it’s an excuse to eat candy and junk food! Not that I needed an excuse, but there’s a lot more around this time of year and someone has to eat it. Here’s a list with a few of my faves!

Continue reading →

Spray Paint Art Starter Kit

JettLeave a comment

Spray paint art is my new obsession. Despite being someone with little background in visual arts, newbies like me can make some really cool stuff right away. If you have the means and the slightest urge to pursue this art form, go for it! Here’s a list of supplies that will get you going!

Continue reading →

Par-Tee Putt Review

JettLeave a comment

Located in the theatre district of Toronto, Par-Tee Putt combines the joy of mini golf with pop culture and alcohol. With holes based on Pokemon, Game of Thrones and The Price is Right among many others, this attraction has created a lot of buzz in the city. With a few hours to spare before the Lizzo concert, my wife Steff and hit the back nine for a few hols of geeky mini putt.

Continue reading →

10 Years of In Third Person: Some of My Favourite Posts

JettLeave a comment

Having created almost 3,000 posts (!) in the last decade, there’s probably way more content here that I’ve forgotten than I’ve remembered. Though I highly recommend going back to the very beginning and reading everything in chronological order, you could also use this handy list of a few of my favourites!

Continue reading →

Adventures into Spray Paint Art: Much to Learn

Jett3 Comments

Attempting spray paint art for the first time unlocked a sense of unbridled freedom from within. Coming from a place where my expectations were non-existent and I was partaking in this activity strictly for fun, I had a great time just making what felt good in the moment. That early win was enough to inspire another go around, but it also created a new level of expectations that changed the vibe around this latest session.

Continue reading →

10 Years of In Third Person – Impact

Jett2 Comments

Every now and then, I think about this one hip-hop site I used to visit in the late 90s. It was run by one guy who updated his site almost daily with album reviews, news, editorials, and stories of his personal life. After a few years, he put up a post saying that he was pulling down the site. In an age long before social media, he essentially erased himself from the internet, never to be seen again.

He may have just been one person running a hip-hop site from his bedroom without an audience other than me, but he made an impact on my life through his work. He opened my ears to music that I wouldn’t have listened to otherwise. I cared about his well-being when he lost his job and was concerned when he got suspended for performing a rap song at a school talent show that was apparently a bit too heavy on the coarse language. It was one of the first times I felt a connection to someone through their online work.

Having done this now for a decade, it makes me wonder if I’ve had that kind of impact on those who read this.

Continue reading →