1. Elton John - Eldeberry Wine ( I didn't know I had this until now.)
2.Neil Young - Thrasher (One of my favourite songs of all time. When I first heard him singh sings " they were hiding behind hay bales" that's what I was doing on Grandpa's farm. A song of moving along your own path whatever the cost and all the hard goodbyes along the way).
3. Brian Eno & John Cale - Spinning Away (This was on a cassette I bought in 1990 or 1991. I remeber P was mad because I didn;t tell him I bought it. I didn't listen to it for years and then I remembered that "all the stars appeared as the great winds of the planets spiral in" last spring. "Some kind of change, some kind of spinning away..." It was all timing for this song.
4.Pink Floyd - Sheep (This was for a disc I never burned about sheep).
5. Billy Holiday - Autumn in New York ( When my friend Caroline moved from Montreal to NYC I put the Frank version on a tape for her. When she came back to visit in the fall she sang a verse.)
6. Frank Sinatra - It Happened in Monterey (When we were young there was a night in Lisbon when Bob suggested we play this Sinatra tape I had bought in the diner and they did.)
7. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony (The 'riff' is stolen from Andrew Loog Oldham via a Jagger Richards composition. Oldham sued the Verve and sold "his" song to Nike.
8. Jimmy Cliff - I can See Clearly Now (When I first met Sophie she asked me to play the guitar and this was one of the songs I knew and it became a theme throughout our relationship.)
9. Blur - Boys & Girls ( I first saw/heard this on Italian top of the pops equivalent and thought "You ripped of Bowie" and loved it begrudgingly).
10. Dean Martin - Little Old Wine Drinker Me (Excuse me while I kiss this guy. Purple wine haze drunkard music)
12/17/2004
Bleak
Just when I think I've heard it all and am thoroughly jaded something like this happens. A woman in Missouri was murdered and her 8 month old fetus was taken from her body.
Photo Archive
I was going through the old photos on a CD my Dad put together last year and found this one of the beach at the cottage probably taken in the 1940's. That tree on the beach was long gone by the time I was born and if you were to stand on the rock from where the picture was taken your view would be blocked by trees.
My sister and I playing in the snow when we lived in Ottawa.
This is Sam Woodson who may or may not be one of the family members who lived in New Jersey. I'll have to ask my father over the holidays. I don't know the woman's name
Okay I didn't quite play the game right. I see Leslie read the instructions.
The first ten songs that came up on shuffle not repeating artists were:
I Tunes Shuffle=
1. Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon
2. Jackson Browne - Late For the Sky
3. Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
4. U2 - October
5. The Stooges - Search and Destroy
6. Nat King Cole - Autumn Leaves
7. Homer Simpson - I Drank Some Very Good Beer
8. Led Zepplin - In the Evening
9. Earth Wind & Fire - September
10.Big Audio Dynamite - Rush
Instructions -
1. Open up the music player on your computer.
2. Set it to play your entire music collection.
3. Hit the 'shuffle' command.
4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. That’s right, no skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It’s time for total musical honesty. Write it up in your blog or journal and link back to at least a couple of the other sites where you saw this.
5. If you get the same artist twice, you may skip the second (or third, or etc.) occurances. You don’t have to, but since randomness could mean you end up with a list of ten song with five artists, you can if you want to.
The first ten songs that came up on shuffle not repeating artists were:
I Tunes Shuffle=
1. Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon
2. Jackson Browne - Late For the Sky
3. Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
4. U2 - October
5. The Stooges - Search and Destroy
6. Nat King Cole - Autumn Leaves
7. Homer Simpson - I Drank Some Very Good Beer
8. Led Zepplin - In the Evening
9. Earth Wind & Fire - September
10.Big Audio Dynamite - Rush
12/16/2004
I Play Your Game
I Tunes Shuffle=
1. Nina Hagen - African Reggae
2. Led Zepplin - Out on the Tiles
3. Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
4. Sneaker Pimps - Black Sheep
5. Ween - Mister Would You Please Help My Pony
1. Nina Hagen - African Reggae
2. Led Zepplin - Out on the Tiles
3. Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
4. Sneaker Pimps - Black Sheep
5. Ween - Mister Would You Please Help My Pony
Santa Claus is Satan
Just a friendly reminder that Santa Claus (Claws? Clause?) is not your friend.
It's a joke goddammit. A fucking joke. Quit taking things so seriously for christ's sake.....or is it?
It's a joke goddammit. A fucking joke. Quit taking things so seriously for christ's sake.....or is it?
12/14/2004
And Yet More Snow
I had so much to write here while I rode the 16 home and now I don't. I had dinner with Dave and Sayuri and caught the last bus. The driver was strange looking. Like Harry Dean Staton with a beak and eyes like seeds. I'm sure they gave him this lonely late run because he would scare people in the daylight. The bus was an older model with twisted chrome bars which made the taffy coloured vinyl covered seats look like file folders. The lighting was orange instead of white and shone dimly at the front of the bus and with greater intensity over the backdoors. I was the only passenger through the suburbs until we came to downtown. I saw Christmas lights and no other forms out of the sludge splashed windows. That is only a ten minute ride. It's such a small city even if there are a million people here. It never feels that way. Maybe it's the green belt, maybe it's the standard of living, maybe it's the map in my memory of when it was a smaller place.
It's still snowing. I could take that for many more weeks. Calm steady silent layers build up, a comforter, over a blanket, over a sheet, over the earth. It's the perfect place to sleep.
It's still snowing. I could take that for many more weeks. Calm steady silent layers build up, a comforter, over a blanket, over a sheet, over the earth. It's the perfect place to sleep.
12/13/2004
More Snow But Rings No More
It's still snowing. It's getting deeper and deeper. There is no doubt that winter has come to stay. It's kind of nice. The last few years the real snow didn't come until the end of December. The year before last it didn't snow until the 24th when it arrived just on cue. It's a shame that the LOTR trilogy is over. It had become a Christmas tradition for the whole family to go and see these films over the last three years. I almost expected that Peter Jackson would have pulled a film version of "The Hobbit" out of his hat unannounced as a surprise for this Christmas. He really should make that film if anyone does.
12/12/2004
Winter Wonderland
It's been snowing all weekend and powder puffs of white decorate the outdoors.There is a very Christmasy feel this evening listening to the Vince Guaraldi Trio and walking in the quietly tumbling snow. It's interesting to see which embassies put up holiday decor. For the most part all the European ones do and not the rest. The Russian embassy looks even colder than usual with a driveway of trampled ice that separates it's black iron fence from the bunker style main building. The French embassy around the corne, in contrast, looks warm and inviting, more like a large cottage than an embassy. It has large glass windows and when you walk by you can see the orange lights on. It has a peaked roof gabled with snow. The smell of wood fires burning adds a nice touch to the scene as do the Christmas lights glowing in the hedges through their snow covering. There was more tobagganing in the offing this weekend but I pulled a muscle in an ice fall on Friday that almost had me sliding down a hill on my ass.They only cleared the sidewalks this evening after almost a week of icey sidewalks.
12/11/2004
Cassette Recording
There's this old mix on a cassette that Killer Kane AKA Bob made for me years ago that I've been listening to a lot on my walks lately. It's amazing how that takes me back to the time when Nikki and I lived on Edouard-Charles. That was a good year but it was also the year that things started their slow descent. I went to SF that winter and she didn't want to come with me and I think I knew then that things were terribly wrong, but I was not ready to concede, but that's all part of the story all played back in 90 minutes on magnetic tape.
12/10/2004
Rock Star Assassination
Dec.08th 1980 was the day John Lennon was shot down in front of his home but Dec. 09 belongs to Dimebag Darell the former lead guitarist of Pantera. He was shot to death while performing with his new band Damageplan in a club in Ohio. I'm sure the TV is plastered with this but I don't watch much TV so I'm guessing. In any case it's upsetting but there is a part of me that wonders why, with all the celebrity obsession that exists, this type of thing doesn't happen more often. In a way performers are natural targets as all kinds of emotions from adoration to spite are projected towards them.
International Human Rights Day
Today is International Human Rights Day. Amnesty International is holding a write-athon.
12/09/2004
Dragons Dragons Everywhere
I did some Christmas shopping this evening and it wasn't unpleasant. I walked down to Chapters and actually had fun with the saleswoman who entertained me with puppets. We talked about books and Storyland where we had both went as kids. It was an actual human experience. Then when I was in line I met Paula from my Amnesty group so it felt like I was in a village instead of a city.
Dragons were the order of the evening and I got this 3-headed beasty for Joe
Jack got a book called "Dragon-Rider" and for the two to share I bought "How to Train a Dragon".
The puppets were really well crafted. I like this Border Collie
and this Chameleon
All images are from www.folkmanis.com
Dragons were the order of the evening and I got this 3-headed beasty for Joe
Jack got a book called "Dragon-Rider" and for the two to share I bought "How to Train a Dragon".
The puppets were really well crafted. I like this Border Collie
and this Chameleon
All images are from www.folkmanis.com
Old Time Radio
This site has a lot of sample MP3's from old radio dramas. They are kind of cheezy but also kind of fun to listen to with headphones on while your going to sleep.They often include the ads of the original broadcast. Of course I have a preference for the old Horror and Mystery shows like "Lights Out!" and "The Inner Sanctum". They used to play these on CHUM FM on Sunday nights back in the 1980's which is where I first learned about them.
12 year old Miriam Wolfe from the Witch's Tale
12 year old Miriam Wolfe from the Witch's Tale
Virtual Surreality
I had a nasty head cold over the past two days. yesterday I slept for 13 hours straight and then went to bed at 9:30. So now I can't sleep. One of the few things I did yesterday was to look for Flash games on the internet as that's about all my brain could handle. I found this site with all sorts of free on-line games and some of them were strange to say the least. In one you are a baby seal and you club people and collect their skins. In a Japanese game you are a cartoon photographer who has to take nude pictures of Japanese Manga women to send to aliens. Some of the women demand that you supply them with cocaine before they will pose "a day without drugs on Sexy Island burdens my heart" says one wayward lass. Another poor waif asks you to raise her cat from the dead before she will shed her clothes. I only lasted until I found the town dealer who is a naked Betty Rubble with pendulous breasts who stands on the street corner. I'm not making this up.
All the music is Japanese pop and you can buy different songs in the CD shop in the game, each worse than the previous. And if you don't like the game your playing you can enter the town arcade and play a game where you have to run people off of the road and shoot at cop cars.
I' wouldn't be sure that I didn't hallucinate the whole thing except that you can find it in google.It's called Frank's Adventure 3 and it's weird in that way that only the Japanese seem to have perfected. This is a site that kids would easily be attracted to so I guess they will learn a few things.
All the music is Japanese pop and you can buy different songs in the CD shop in the game, each worse than the previous. And if you don't like the game your playing you can enter the town arcade and play a game where you have to run people off of the road and shoot at cop cars.
I' wouldn't be sure that I didn't hallucinate the whole thing except that you can find it in google.It's called Frank's Adventure 3 and it's weird in that way that only the Japanese seem to have perfected. This is a site that kids would easily be attracted to so I guess they will learn a few things.
12/08/2004
Twenty Years Ago
If you haven't seen it yet you should check out the opening of Jonnie's time capsule from 1984.
12/07/2004
Red Ears
Years ago when I first moved to Quebec one of the things I noticed is that in cold weather everyone wore hats. This seems like the obvious thing to do in cold weather but I had previously been living in southern Ontario where for some reason wearing a hat or toque was not a given. I'm not certain where that practice comes from but I had forgotten about it until moving to Ottawa. Today it is -17 C (1.39 F) with the wind chill. My glasses felt like they were frozen to my face. Even at this temperature I counted five men out of nine without any head coverage. They all had short to medium length hair and their ears were red. I don't remember seeing that in Montreal. It's a small sample but that's more than 50% of men I encountered. In contrast, of the five women I counted, only one had no head coverage and she had long thick hair; three of the five women had hoods in addition to hats. I'll have to do a broader survey but not today, it's too cold outside.
12/05/2004
Lucky Guess or Astute?
Make of it what you will, but this is certainly a timely quote
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken in the Baltimore Sun, 1920
The Veri-Chip
In October the FDA approved the use of the Verichip a micro-chip that is implanted under the skin and contains identification keys to unlock medical records. The Verichip company is also researching and marketing the chip as a security and financial identification tool. At present the chip can only be scanned at close range. This technology has been used in animals for a number of years. The potential for misuse is great. It's probably an identification technology that will become standard in light of identity theft issues and "the war on terror". Have you ever seen those crackpot religious comics that warn about the government forcing people to be branded with UPC codes. They call these the "mark of the beast". The Veri-chip feeds right into there world view. You don't need an implant to be tracked in the information age. Nor does it guarentee against identity theft for those who can replicate info from one implant to another but the whole idea is certainly creepy when you think of the worst case scenarios.
Foosball Fool
Suze and Sue came up tonight. They have a show on Monday here. We met at a Canadian/Indian restaurant that served vindaloo and nachos. It was a neighbourhood joint and upstairs was a small dance floor and a foosball game. Suze had never played before and Dave and I dragged him up. Sayuri and Sue took one side and Dave and I played the other while Suze watched. He decided to give it a go. He wiped us up. We forgot that he is an Indonesion shadow-puppet master. The foos men where just another set of puppets to him.
12/04/2004
The Opposite of Steep
The city is covered with snow and the Christmas lights are up. Tonight I took the 16 thhrough the city centre to Westboro. I couldn't see where I was going because the windows were splattered with mud. I had to peek between the grit and 'feel' my way. As the passengers thinned out I could tell I had reached Churchill and waited for a zig, a zag and a final zig. Dave put a new gate up for Darius with the "gatepounder". There is a tool for everything.
It was fun sliding down the hill but they posted a "No Sliding" sign which was not there last year, says Dave. Even so at the bottom of the hill they had stacked bales of hay because it really is a perfect sliding hill in the middle of the city without much other use in the winter, and they know it will be used for sliding. Sayuri was scared and dug her heels into the snow as she bore downhill. Dave went down with Darius on the leash in one hand. He lept back and forth in Dave's path like the shepherd he is. I rocketed down, 10 years old again, kissing the snow in a bombastic tumble. Here's a diagram of my favourite sliding techniques.
Afterward we headed home and could see the Orion constellation frozen in the dark stratosphere. Once home, I threw my icey pants in the dryer and drank some plum & chili tea that Sayuri had brought back from Japan. It's a strange flavour but one I instantly liked. Winter is here.
It was fun sliding down the hill but they posted a "No Sliding" sign which was not there last year, says Dave. Even so at the bottom of the hill they had stacked bales of hay because it really is a perfect sliding hill in the middle of the city without much other use in the winter, and they know it will be used for sliding. Sayuri was scared and dug her heels into the snow as she bore downhill. Dave went down with Darius on the leash in one hand. He lept back and forth in Dave's path like the shepherd he is. I rocketed down, 10 years old again, kissing the snow in a bombastic tumble. Here's a diagram of my favourite sliding techniques.
Afterward we headed home and could see the Orion constellation frozen in the dark stratosphere. Once home, I threw my icey pants in the dryer and drank some plum & chili tea that Sayuri had brought back from Japan. It's a strange flavour but one I instantly liked. Winter is here.
God is (a googlependium)
Part I
a killer
a verb
a drug
a very important person
a liberal
a mathematician
a Dj
a virus
a theory in crisis
a lie
a psychopath
a girl
a useless and costly hypothesis
Part II
a magnificent figure to emulate
a customer
a lot like my Granny
a perfect father
a Trinity
a neutral spectator
a phenomenon of the mind
a narcoleptic
a bullet
a masturbator
a welcome guest
a cause of sin
a film with high intentions
Part III
a comedian
a thought
a platypus
a crazy woman
a warrior
a bad salesman
a cat
a dancefloor
a machine
a negro
a scientist
a chubby chaser
a creation of Walt Disney Studios
a killer
a verb
a drug
a very important person
a liberal
a mathematician
a Dj
a virus
a theory in crisis
a lie
a psychopath
a girl
a useless and costly hypothesis
Part II
a magnificent figure to emulate
a customer
a lot like my Granny
a perfect father
a Trinity
a neutral spectator
a phenomenon of the mind
a narcoleptic
a bullet
a masturbator
a welcome guest
a cause of sin
a film with high intentions
Part III
a comedian
a thought
a platypus
a crazy woman
a warrior
a bad salesman
a cat
a dancefloor
a machine
a negro
a scientist
a chubby chaser
a creation of Walt Disney Studios
12/03/2004
A Quick One Before I GO
I received an interesting dispatch today on the response to Val's new direction with her latest show "SUPERSIZE".The subject matterleaps into consumer/pop culture. The Melster and company will all be there tomorrow and I wish I could have made it too, alas I find myself tobogganing this evening instead. (Uhm that's not why I couldn't make it by the way). It's been snowing all day, just a light snow but it's building up. I think it will be a rough ride down the slopes however. Pray for me!
Satan is... ( a googlependium)
Part I
a mathematician
a fallen angel
a concept
a role model
a force of evil
a creature
a defeated foe
a defineable (if vaguely) external force
a UNIX based tool
a put down
a spirit being
a 12-minute featurette
a symbol
Part II
a master deceiver
a real turn-off
a real being
a fabricated entity
a Murderer
a shoe salesman
a word
a nerd
a false god
a pickle
a liar
a Woman
a loser
Part III
a fictional character
a Christian creation
a lawyer
A suicide soul bomber
a wrong or slanderous label for a legitimate Egyptian God
a flashier dresser than Jesus
a cosmic force
a lame duck ruler
a bad Jerry Springer episode
a hero
a necessity
a lot more subtle than most
a nice surprise
a mathematician
a fallen angel
a concept
a role model
a force of evil
a creature
a defeated foe
a defineable (if vaguely) external force
a UNIX based tool
a put down
a spirit being
a 12-minute featurette
a symbol
Part II
a master deceiver
a real turn-off
a real being
a fabricated entity
a Murderer
a shoe salesman
a word
a nerd
a false god
a pickle
a liar
a Woman
a loser
Part III
a fictional character
a Christian creation
a lawyer
A suicide soul bomber
a wrong or slanderous label for a legitimate Egyptian God
a flashier dresser than Jesus
a cosmic force
a lame duck ruler
a bad Jerry Springer episode
a hero
a necessity
a lot more subtle than most
a nice surprise
What the Hell?
Hey that Satan was a Lesbian picture vanished! I just reposted it and it showed up in the preview. Okay one more time:
12/02/2004
Theory Shmeory
K-AT directed me to this web page that satirizes the Cobb County Georgia anti-evolution textbook stickers.
Leslie points out this attempt to ban books that have any gay reference from libraries in Alabama.
And I'll add a piece on censorship of children's literature in Canada
Leslie points out this attempt to ban books that have any gay reference from libraries in Alabama.
And I'll add a piece on censorship of children's literature in Canada
12/01/2004
Vanishing Post
That's weird! I had posted these two old bookcovers and now the post has vanished! Funny thing is the books were called "Satan Was a Man" and "Satan Was a Lesbian". Did anyone see that yesterday? I think that blogger cached an earlier verson of the posts page perhaps. In any case I have to sleep but I just thought that was weird that the post vanished. This time it's not a joke.
Web Libel
Here's another current case of an individual being sued for alleged slanderous comments posted on the internet. In this case a woman from Leominster Mass. who was upset with a local car dealership. The case was settled out of court.