10/31/2006
Rocking Horse Winner
I'm going to watch the Rocking Horse Winner tonight as my Halloween thang. Last Night I stumbled upon the House of 1000 Corpses, the Rob Zombie movie, on a web site and ended up watching the entire thing against my better judgment. What surprised me most was how unscary the whole thing was.
Rocking Horse Winner is based on the D. H. Lawrence short story and was made in 1950. How scary can that be? "There must be more money...."
Rocking Horse Winner is based on the D. H. Lawrence short story and was made in 1950. How scary can that be? "There must be more money...."
Spooky Tunes
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Juju
Butthole Surfers: Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Tangerine Dream: The Sorcerer (Soundtrack)
ahhh I'm too tired to finish this
except for this Bad Music Radio
Includes William Shatner: Rocket Man, Mitch Miller: Give Peace a Chance, Mr T: Treat Your Mother Right, L'l Markie: Jesus Wants to Live in Your Heart, Dean Milan: Do It Like a Dog (sounds like something from CBGB's hey day).
Butthole Surfers: Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Tangerine Dream: The Sorcerer (Soundtrack)
ahhh I'm too tired to finish this
except for this Bad Music Radio
Includes William Shatner: Rocket Man, Mitch Miller: Give Peace a Chance, Mr T: Treat Your Mother Right, L'l Markie: Jesus Wants to Live in Your Heart, Dean Milan: Do It Like a Dog (sounds like something from CBGB's hey day).
10/29/2006
Windy You Say?
It sounds like football players have been body slamming the windows. For how long? For a over 24 hours now. There has been a big storm that started in Tennessee that has whipped the Eastern Seaboard about and we are catching the outer hem of its skirt.
Nasty rattling windows and squealing boards, flagellating trees, fleeing leaves, invisible fists of pounding at the door. The end of the world or just the edge?
Nasty rattling windows and squealing boards, flagellating trees, fleeing leaves, invisible fists of pounding at the door. The end of the world or just the edge?
10/27/2006
10/24/2006
What Browser War?
This week Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla will soon release Firefox 2.0. Windows client marketing manager, David Weeks, denies that there is an ongoing browser war. He states "It's great to have the Firefox people out there keeping us on our toes.We can learn a lot from each other."
The new features being touted for IE 7 are tabbed browsing, improoved web security, rss feed support,mutiple search providers direct from the toolbar. In otherwords they have finally gotten around to copying Firefox.
If you check the statistics on browser usage from the W3C you can see that the use of Firefox over the past few years has risen at the expense of IE's user share. Since its introduction in 2004 (as Mozilla Suite/ Phoenix ) Firefox has gone from 7.3% to over 27% in Sept 2006. IE on the other hand has seen a change of 83.2% to 62.1% over the same period.
The latest version of Firefox has new features including built in spell check, restoration of accidental tab closure, improved support of web feeds, anti-fishing cability, microsummaries for bookmarks , as well as improved general security.
The new features being touted for IE 7 are tabbed browsing, improoved web security, rss feed support,mutiple search providers direct from the toolbar. In otherwords they have finally gotten around to copying Firefox.
If you check the statistics on browser usage from the W3C you can see that the use of Firefox over the past few years has risen at the expense of IE's user share. Since its introduction in 2004 (as Mozilla Suite/ Phoenix ) Firefox has gone from 7.3% to over 27% in Sept 2006. IE on the other hand has seen a change of 83.2% to 62.1% over the same period.
The latest version of Firefox has new features including built in spell check, restoration of accidental tab closure, improved support of web feeds, anti-fishing cability, microsummaries for bookmarks , as well as improved general security.
Saturday Walk
I hadn't gone for a walk along the Rideau for a while. It was a chilly but sunny afternoon last Saturday so i took Luna to the park along the river.
This rock is where I read the first letter that leslie ever sent to me. The riverbank on which it rests is eroding quickly. it won't be long before it slides into the river.
This rock is where I read the first letter that leslie ever sent to me. The riverbank on which it rests is eroding quickly. it won't be long before it slides into the river.
10/21/2006
Goblin Hunt
There are 3 goblins and 6 faeries hidden in the forest. Can you spot them? Try with your eye first. If you're stumped click on the image to uncover them.
10/20/2006
Autumn Road Trip: Part Three
We drove from Algonquin on a Thursday and headed to Parry Sound where three of John's brothers own a cottage.
10/19/2006
Autumn Road Trip: Part Two
On Thursday we drove to the Logging Museum. It's an outdoor Museum that displays and recreates the logging tradition that is a large part of parks history and is ongoing today in a controlled manner.
This Museum was of great interest to me as my grandfather would work in the winter logging camps like many other men of the Ottawa Valley region. It was a hard and in many cases short life. Logging was extremely dangerous and in a given year hundreds would die in the course of felling trees and driving the logs down river. Many of the tools on display are identical to ones we still have at the cottage and were used by my grandfather in logging.
After the logging Museum we hiked on the Hemlock Bluff trail. there were lots of huge pine trees that had been uprooted by summer storms. The smell of pine was incredible.
Overlooking Jack Lake. You don't get a sense of the height of the bluff overlooking the lake from the photo but thats a very good drop.
Whiskey Rapids. Last year John and Sharon saw a canoe jammed in the rocks here.
Autumn Colours
Sharon noticed the patterns and colours of the oil in the Algonquin Visitor's Centre parking lot. It made an interesting contrast after seeing the natural landscape.
10/18/2006
Autumn Road Trip: Part One
Sharon, John, Victor and I left Ottawa on a rainy Wednesday afternoon and drove east towards Algonquin park. We listened to some great Texan music on the way to Whitby Ontario where our cabin awaited us.
It was much colder out here at the Eastern Gate of Algonquin than it had been in Ottawa. Rather than hike we decided to drop by the visitors centre and take in some history, geography and natural science associated with the region. It turned even colder overnight. We stayed in and played cards. In the morning we rose to a world that had turned frosty overnight.
There are an abundance of moose in the area but these two proved to be the only ones we would see. I did learn all about brain worms, although I wished perhaps I hadn't. Brain worms actually live benignly on the surface of deer brain matter and spinal cords. For the moose however they are devistating, leading to all kinds of complications and death.
There is a panoramic view that can be taken in from behind the Visitor's Centre. You can see a lake to the left and a river that runs through a swampy spruce bog which you can see if you click the image above.
Ottawa valley
Click on the image above to see a view of the Ottawa Valley from the Gatineau Hills in Quebec.
10/02/2006
Fiddler and the Goof
John and Sharon came up last night. They are staying at a B&B in Wakefield and last night we went to see Natalie McMaster perform at the Black Sheep Inn. By gum she can play that fiddle, but she also has a natural talent for showmanship which was a nice surprise. The inn was packed and this was the fourth show there in two days so I guess she has a lot of fans.
We all purchased our tickets from Ticketweb and then recieved an e-mail the next day that the show had been cancelled. I was suspicious and called the Black Sheep. Paul assured me that the show was not cancelled so I called up Ticketweb and was bruskly told that if it said it was cancelled then it was cancelled case closed.Five minutes after that conversation i recieved a meek apology stating that I had in fact been correct. the show was not cancelled. it was an error in Ticketwebs system. It's a good thing I called.
It was a great drive up to wakefield through the blazing leaves of autumn hills. The cold nights have really brought us a spectacular fall. I can't wait for the Drive with John and Sharon on Wednesday. We are going to a cabin in Alqonquin park for a night and then on to Owen Sound on Thursday. Should be some spectacular scenery. I only wish my redheaded love was here to enjoy it as I know she would.
We all purchased our tickets from Ticketweb and then recieved an e-mail the next day that the show had been cancelled. I was suspicious and called the Black Sheep. Paul assured me that the show was not cancelled so I called up Ticketweb and was bruskly told that if it said it was cancelled then it was cancelled case closed.Five minutes after that conversation i recieved a meek apology stating that I had in fact been correct. the show was not cancelled. it was an error in Ticketwebs system. It's a good thing I called.
It was a great drive up to wakefield through the blazing leaves of autumn hills. The cold nights have really brought us a spectacular fall. I can't wait for the Drive with John and Sharon on Wednesday. We are going to a cabin in Alqonquin park for a night and then on to Owen Sound on Thursday. Should be some spectacular scenery. I only wish my redheaded love was here to enjoy it as I know she would.
10/01/2006
I first encountered the Boomtown Rats from a German student at Daharan Academy. He was the first person i knew who was into 'punk' music. He lent me the cassette of their first lp with this cover of some skinny dude in gauze I didn't get the music then as I was into bands like Styx and Kiss at the time like most 70's preteens. A year later I heard the Sex Pistols and the Clash and Elvis Costello and the spark lit the flame. It's kind of fun to look back now and see Bob Geldof all punked out circa 1979.No Borders Here
There is an article in the Saturday Globe and Mail about Torontonian recording artist Jane Siberry. For a good number of years Jane has been running here own record label but it seems that she has grown tired of how the business end of things has taken away from the creative process. As a result she has been giving away her music online since last November. It's all there for the taking although you are welcome to make a contribution. The Globe and Mail article notes that most downloaders do pay for the music, but Jane admits that this model may not work for all artists in that she probably attracts a particular type of fan.
The article goes on to explain that she has taken the further step of giving away most of her material possessions including her house and in June 2006 changed her name to Issa. I don''t get the feeling she's trying to be some holy aesetic who seeks the divine through suffering, so much as she wants to live a simpler life. She's still clearly has money but uses it in a different way. It's easy to ridicule her choices since she is 'different' but I kind of admire people who can live this way.
The article goes on to explain that she has taken the further step of giving away most of her material possessions including her house and in June 2006 changed her name to Issa. I don''t get the feeling she's trying to be some holy aesetic who seeks the divine through suffering, so much as she wants to live a simpler life. She's still clearly has money but uses it in a different way. It's easy to ridicule her choices since she is 'different' but I kind of admire people who can live this way.