Cantina Charlies is the Worst Place in Toronto

The Hills is one of those things that if you're not in the demographic age, you may not realize how big it really is.

The Hills is a show on MTV. If you're between the ages of 14-19 or somewhere around there, you know what The Hills is, and even if you don't watch it, you know that everyone else your age does. If you're 24 like me, it takes someone telling you that it's the hottest show on television to realize its popularity. More people watch The Hills than floss. I bet.

Now, even though I'm not a regular viewer of The Hills, I did know that it was big. How big, I did not know, but I can say I knew what it was and had heard of Lauren Conrad before the sex tape-that-never-was.

I can't say I had heard much or anything about High School Musical before I found out it was IT -- IT! That is what the kids are into. The age demo was a bit under The Hills, but it was the highest selling CD of last year. (And it's a movie, by the way, which makes that fact all the more impressive.) So I will plead ignorance when it comes to High School Musical.

All this means is it doesn't matter if you're a household name anymore. All that matters is you conquer your demographic like The Hills and High School Musical have successfully done.

Finally, Cantina Charlies is the worst place in Toronto. Stay away or prepare for disappointment. I rarely use this blog for personal gain, but I gain pleasure in voicing my displeasure to the people who read this blog.

Waiting for John Mayer to change

Well, the reviews have been almost as bad as could be, but Avril Lavigne's latest, The Best Damn Thing, will, not surprisingly, debut atop the Billboard chart next week, with the official sales figures due to come out Tuesday.

According to early numbers, she's on pace to sell about 250,000 copies, about 130,000 fewer than she sold about three years ago in the debut week for her last album, but still impressive, especially considering how much digital music has changed the way we go about purchasing music.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the album yet (it's sitting quietly in "the pile") but I have admitted that the first single, Girlfriend, is a guilty pleasure (although I think I've had enough of it now).

I did listen to John Mayer's six-song EP, The Village Sessions, and it's another guilty pleasure. Well, only the first two songs.

Track one is Waiting on the World to Change, featuring Ben Harper. This version stays fairly true to the original (it's stripped down) but Harper adds an element to it that makes it listenable. I wasn't a big fan of the original version but I like this one.

The second track is Belief, also from Continuum. The riffs are amazing.

If I listen to the CD again, I'll take it out after the second track.

And if you're interested in my favourite song of the moment: Naive, by the Kooks. Thanks, Lily Allen.

Overheard at the Jays game

No joke, this is a real conversation I overheard today at the Blue Jays game. These people - two 20-something males - were sitting right behind me and David Major.

Guy 1: Kirby Puckett was one of my favourite players.
Guy 2: Yeah, Kirby Puckett's blind now, eh?
Guy 1: Kirby Puckett's actually dead now.