:: I've watched a lot of television since the 60s, which was the time I got hooked on it all. But this year has been a bit different. For the first time in memory, I've not added a new show to the ones I watch in prime time, and in fact, have dropped a few. The only prime time shows still on my radar are the three Law & Orders, and 24, although 24 is rapidly losing my interest. I stopped watching The West Wing, and don't watch any sitcoms, except the original (UK) Coupling, when I remember to dial it up. I watch SNL, having been there since the beginning, and also dial up MAD-TV. I tape Ebert & Roeper, and the occasional Charlie Rose. The Daily Show is also required viewing.
It seems like a lot of tv, but the big difference is that many of my evenings are free because I've dropped most of the prime time stuff. And because I have digital cable, I can see four east code feeds of ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX (three from Detroit, one from Rochester NY, as far as I can tell). As such, I can watch shows on those networks three hours ahead of the same shows I'd normally see three hours later on Spokane cable. For example, rather than wait until 12:30 am to watch SNL on a Sat night, I can watch (or tape it) at 9:30 that evening.
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:: A few days ago I lamented Safeway's decision to stop serving Italian wedding soup as one of their deli products. Last weekend, I went to Staples, wanting to purchase a few Easy Stick double-sided adhesive cartridges, and a couple Staedtler Lumocolor 313 Superfine pens. I could find neither product, and ensuing discussions with a Staples staff member proved fruitless. Short answer: they don't carry these items anymore.
For years I wore the Reebok Newport walking shoe. Simple, straightforward, basic shoe, about $60Cdn, heckuva deal, as they say in Minnesota. A few weeks ago, I visited a shoe store where in the past, I purchased these shoes. I couldn't see any about, so asked a clerk for help. I might as well have been staring into the eyes of a chicken - no such shoe exists, there is no Reebok Newport Classic anymore. Reebok still makes the Classic, but there is no Newport.
For many years, my mother sold nutrimetics. The line of men's products was called Bavarian, and I really, really liked the soap and aftershave. A few years back, nutrimetics stopped producing the Bavarian line, and replaced it with another family of products that in my estimation, didn't come close to its predecessor.
A new word needs to be coined or invented, in the English language, to describe when this happens. The definition of the word would read something like: when a product or service one likes, uses and purchases regularly, is suddenly withdrawn from market and made no longer available, resulting in feelings of anger and frustration for the consumer.
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:: When composing an entry for your blog, remember to try really, really hard, not to accidentally hit CTRL and W keys together, the combination of which closes the page you've been working on, resulting in the loss of everything you've just written.
Like I just did.
Good night.
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:: Opus is in the house. After a ten-year hiatus, Berkeley Breathed has returned Opus to the weekend colour comics page. Life is sweet.
:: E-mails and hackers have become the subject of cartoonists, as have music file swappers.
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:: Snow. Lots of it, everywhere. On the roads, on the grass, on the sidewalk, on your driveway. It snowed here all day, by 5:00 pm the roads were so bad that it took me 65 minutes to drive home (usually a 15 minute drive on a good day.) Thankfully it stopped around 8:00 pm, and it's now clear and cold.
It's a good thing the snow stopped now, because on Saturday, there will be two outdoor hockey games in Edmonton involving the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers. One is an old-timers game featuring the likes of Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur, followed by a regular-season game in the evening, the first outdoor NHL game in league history. The game, designated The Heritage Classic, is a sell-out, and will break the previous NHL attendance record by over 25,000 - expected attendance is 56,159, all of whom will need to dress warmly, as the high that day is predicted to be -7C, and it will be much cooler than that by the evening. A specially designed rink is being prepared for the game. The game coincides with the NHL's 86th anniversary of its founding, and the 25th year of the Oilers in the league. The game is being broadcast in HDTV.
I've lived in Edmonton since 1978, but have always cheered for the Habs, and would love to attend the game, but no such luck. Tickets were awarded to names drawn from entries mailed in months ago, and I never made the time to enter. The outdoor game has already invoked a bit of nostalgia for me. As a kid, I played hockey for five years (not well, mind you!), and spent many a night on an outdoor rink, often helping to shovel snow from the ice surface so a game could happen. I played street hockey for years as well, with whichever kids were available at the time.
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:: As a guitar player of some 37+ years, I was interested to see this news release about the new, Flying V NanoGuitar. It falls under the category of NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical Systems), which is two orders of magnitude smaller than MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems).
The original "nanoguitar", about the size of a blood cell, was developed in 1997.
I'm looking forward to the first CD release of nanoguitar music!
:: I watched The Passionate Eye tonight, which featured the fake documentary, "Dark Side Of The Moon", written and directed by William Karel. It's a brilliant mock-umentary, not unlike Peter (LOTR) Jackson's Forgotten Silver. I'm sure more than a few people watching it across Canada actually believed it, even with opening and closing remarks from the host, Michaelle Jean, who made it rather clear that the film is a hoax. The film tells the story of how Richard Nixon, fearing that no live pictures could be sent from the moon after the landing in July, 1969, asked Stanley Kubrick to film the moonwalk on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey In return, five years later, Kubrick borrows a special NASA-developed lens, to film Barry Lyndon.
Uh huh.
The film, originally titled Opération Lune, is made more realistic by the appearances of Kubrick's widow, Christiane, her brother (and Kubrick's exec producer of his last five films), Jan Harlan, and - get this - Donald Rumsfeld, Alexander Haig, Richard Helms, Lawrence Eagleburger, and - yes - Henry Kissinger, all playing "themselves" in the movie.
The film is a treat, adding layers to the conspiracy theories that Apollo flights never happened, but goes one better, by appearing to validate said theories while showing just how absurd they are in the first place. That Karel was able to get Nixon's advisors, as well as Kubrick's wife and brother-in-law to participate gives the film it's gritty realism.
The film was made for television and is only 52 minutes in length. The only problem with it appearing on The Passionate Eye is that TPE is a 90-minute show, so the film is interrupted with not only commercials, but breaks for national news and the like, thus disrupting the continuity. Well worth the watch, however.
:: I am bored with the look of my site, and want to change it.
:: I learned from my father today that my cousin, Donny Carriere, passed away last Thursday, after a fight with cancer. The last time I saw Donny was at my maternal grandmother's funeral, which I believe was in 1985 or 1986. Like his father, my uncle Stanley, Donny fought alcoholism most of his adult life. I know now that he is finally at peace.
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:: Geoff and I gave a presentation on Thursday afternoon called biblioBLOGS: Building Blogs and Sharing Information. During the session, we were asked about the difference between blogs and online forums. This is something I've thought about in the past, and the one difference that comes to mind first is this: forums seem to exist in a "question and answer" environment. Two days ago, I asked a question in the Moveable Type Support Forum about a style sheet problem. I checked back a day later, and a kind soul provided me with the solution, which worked nicely! I've posted "I need help" types of questions and received help, in other support forums such as Dell Community Forum and Blogomania. Forums need not be restricted to Q&A, mind you; many forums bring together those who share similar interests, such as music. Check out the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, featuring discussions on a wide range of music and hardware topics.
Blogs are more personal and of an individual nature. Posts tend not to be moderated, there isn't an FAQ to read, and you don't need to register and login to participate. One theme I see running through some of the discussion I've read is that blogs tend to reduce the signal to noise ratio - there is more content of substance and less waste of space in blog posts and related discussions. And consider that if you find information on a blog site that you want or need to know, why would you bother going anywhere else, subsquently, if your need has been filled? It doesn't matter, necessarily, if the route to that particular blog was serendipitous. There is no way on the planet anyone anywhere, anymore, can get a handle on all that's happening out there. Who are we kidding? (Well, Triumph likes to kid, "I keeed!!.")
In any event, here are a few interesting entries that discuss blogs, forums, online discussion, and the like:
See also: Castledine, Steve. Let's blog together. Castledine began a discussion of blogs vs forums (or fora) that took place in the OpenNTF.org Main Bar forum. Follow the thread below Casteldine's first posting.
:: Hmm. I was on this for some time between 1998 and 2002, and now Health Canada has decided to pull it from the market. Some people are unhappy with the product, like this guy, for example. The USA won't follow suit.
| TrackBack (0):: Jenny, my favorite NYC blogger, reflects on modern music as she turns 23, and then celebrates three days later when she sees her all-time fave band, Duran Duran, perform in Atlantic City. Her musical observations are worth the read.
:: How Much Information? 2003:
:: Congrats to Jena and Colin, because they love CKUA, and now CKUA loves them too.
:: I would like to use this space to give thanks for the gift of good friends, i.e., people who care about you.
:: I wanted to see a few films while off work this past week, and see as few is what I did: The Station Agent, Wonderland, In The Cut, The Matrix Revolutions, Love Actually, The Hard Word, and Down With Love.
:: I put up my outside Christmas lights Saturday afternoon. Usually I do this before the end of October, but got lazy this year. It's cold here already, so I didn't want to wait for it to get colder.
:: Also this week, I've been cleaning and purging. It's been successful so far - I clurged (cleaned and purged) my spare bedroom, and filled four large green plastic bags wth clothes and shoes, which were taken to Goodwill yesterday. My computer room needs much work, as does the upstairs bathroom. To do this realistically, I need to set goals, so the plan is to get the upstairs completed first, then the main floor, then the basement. The vacuum has yet to be passed, that's to happen later.
Part of the purge process involves losing stuff in drawers, cabinets and closets. Right now, I'm in a paper shred mode, as I work through my filing cabinet. I can't believe the crap I'm finding in there, outdated receipts and paper trails and expired memberships and so on. I've filled up two blue bags with shredded paper, and I'm set to start a third.
| TrackBack (0):: Last June, the Canadian Cable Television Association applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for permission to broadcast some of the most popular US cable networks on digital cable, including HBO, ESPN, Fox News, Nickelodeon Kids, Showtime, and more. Yesterday the CRTC turned down the request, citing among othe things, potential revenue loss, which would result in a decrease in the production and broadcast of Canadian programming.
Bluntly, I want my HBO. I don't want to have to bob and weave through any number of Canadian cable stations to search for the shows I want to see, like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Real Time With Bill Maher, and others, and futhermore, I want to see them when they are broadcast - not years later, in some cases, or never, in others. Regarding the latter two shows, they are typical examples of how sad the situation is in Canada. CYE is broadcast 1-2 years after it appears in the USA, and the Bill Maher show isn't available in Canada. We've yet to see the third season of Curb. Pathetic. Naturally, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is thrilled with the decision, thus preventing them from losing money they get from licencing these shows, scattered over a number of cable networks in Canada, and allowing them to continue to decide which US cable shows they will and will not broadcast here. A handful of suits deciding for me what they think is worth watching, as long as they can make a buck. It's The Man, I tell you, THE MAN!
Here is the letter from the CRTC to the CCTA, denying them permission to proceed with their application. Read the CAB's press release here. Learn why it thinks that broadcasting HBO in Canada would have caused "serious material harm." Learn that CAB believes Canada has the "best broadcasting system in the world."
The CRTC, which normally allows for public participation of applications, didn't permit public comment on this one.
As a Canadian, the CRTC and the CBA want me to feel proud. They are protecting my culture by preventing me from subscribing to evil US cable networks. They have the power to decide which cable programs produced by my American cousins I will see. Sadly, most Canadian cable networks are scaled down, limp versions of their US counterparts. The Comedy Network, the sad-sack Canadian equivalent of Comedy Central, broadcasts The Daily Show, but bleeps out the "bad words." When this network ran Dennis Miller Live, rather than broadcast the entire show, they removed sections of it to allow for commercials, thus killing the continuity.
The chief executive of the CAB, Glenn O'Farrell, was quoted as saying, "This proposal was so far out in left field ... they weren't even prepared to consider having a discussion." Michael Hennessy, the acting president of the CCTA, said, "We believe that supplying consumers what they want, when they want it, is critical to the future success of the Canadian broadcasting system." I believe Hennessy has it right, and O'Farrell is living in a dream world. In the Canadian Press release of this story. O'Farrell noted that "Canadian viewers already get the bulk of the U.S. programming that would have been imported if the application had been upheld." Er, duh? We do? Really, Glenn? I think I need to study the definition of the word, "bulk", cause on my tv set, it ain't happening, dude.
I subscribe to digital cable via Shaw, which included information on this application on their site. For a few months, they ran a poll, asking viewers if they supported this application. 93% said yes. The CRTC asks for "evidence of demand for this service in Canada." Well, duh - again.
Another argument that I am bone-weary of hearing, is the constant need to encourage and foster and nurture the development of Canadian content, in this case, in television and broadcasting. Well, GO FOR IT, I saw! Let the bells ring out and the banners fly! Who is stopping anyone in Canada from doing this? Why should this concern trump consumers' wishes to watch HBO in Canada?
There is NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING the CAB or any Canadian cable network can offer to convince me not to want a direct feed to HBO in my home. There is no substitute for HBO, ESPN, Showtime. In Canada, unless you get digital cable, shows like The Sopranos appear at least a year after US broadcast. That's life up here in
My response to the CRTC and the CAB: ttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhppppppppp!
The CCTA says they will continue the good fight. They have my support.
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:: I saw The Matrix Revolutions today. It is fun to watch and confusing as hell. The effects are at times overpowering, and the dialogue as offbeat and odd as in the other two movies. There is not as much martial arts this time around, and yes, the story does resolve itself. At least twice in the movie I wanted the reel to stop, rewind, and play again so I could try to understand what just happened. I did notice that most of the people in the audience were guys in baseball caps, and when they were in groups of two or more, all sat with an empty seat between each of them.
:: A report and review of The Beatles' forthcoming, Let It Be...Naked, from the Globe and Mail's James Adams.
:: I was not surprised to learn that NBC canned Coupling after four episodes (although the website says it's returning in December.) Despite the fact that the scripts were almost word-for-word equal to the originals used in the British series, the Americans couldn't seem to capture the Brits' sensibilities, timing and delivery.
:: Microsoft has created a $5 million US fund to help track and convict virus creators.
:: Napster announced a deal on Thursday with Penn State University, in which students are given access to music funded by student fees, thereby reducing the number of illegal downloads. However, some of the students are criticizing the deal, saying it is an inappropriate use of their student fees.
:: In an October 2003 issue of the Sierra College student newspaper, Outlook, a student named Nicholas Louis wrote a column called “Sierra girls aren’t really all that ‘Hot’”. Apparently he wrote it in response to a rumour that Playboy was planning to rank his campus among the top five for "hot girls", and he disagreed.
:: I'm off work this week, taking some holiday time. The weather has been cold, snowy and dull. I want to clean up my house, a task of major proportions at best. I started cleaning one room last night, so can report some progress. I've worked out in the morning the last two days, and it's been a major struggle to get the body to accept this change, even for a few days. Normally I exercise after work. I don't know how the morning people do it.
:: Derryl sent along this gem: examples of some of the worst album covers of all time.
:: You might think it odd to get upset over soup, but...Safeway sells hot soup every day, two varieties. All the soups sold are made by Campbell's. My favorite is Italian-Style Wedding soup. I had never heard of it until Safeway started selling it in their deli. I haven't been able to find it lately, so I spoke to someone there, who told me that a "new soup program" is imminent, so the other choices have been removed, permanently. The manager of my local store verified this, saying that it's happening in all Safeway stores in Canada and the USA.
Italian-Style Wedding soup was one of Safeway's most popular hot soups; the deli worker with whom I spoke confirmed this, noting that other customers have expressed their dismay as well. Why mess with success? It's a decision made by suits in an office in a Big City somewhere far from here. Idiots.
:: If you are interested in the recent solar flare activity, check out the SOHO site: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. There are some great pics and mpegs of what the sun has been doing (blasting the Earth with ionizing radiation as a result of exploding superflares.) Here in the Great White North, we've been missing the spectacular aurora activity because it's been cloudy for days.
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:: A lot of snow has fallen in Edmonton since Wednesday. Last Sunday, it was 17C in town; it's -13C at the moment. The drastic, almost overnight change in the weather is a hard slap in the face from the nature gods; it is beyond offensive for this time of year. Life goes from a relaxed, gentle autumn, to a full-blown, angry, bitter winter in less than three days. What I've never understood is how the weather can change so quickly, without any period for a gradual change. It is not fair, but short of pounding sand, there is little to be done. But embrace it, I will not do, I refuse. I've done the minimum necessary to deal with the elements, such as shovelling my driveway. I heard today that cross-country skiers were already spotted in the city. I won't give in that easiy, admitting and accepting that winter conditions are here to stay. Not yet, anyway; I'm still flipping the bird at the weather.
:: Last week, I searched my name on Google, and was shocked to see that the first entry in the list of results featured one word from a comment posted to an entry from a few months ago. The word was the "F" word. It was the only occurrence of the word on my site. How Google would come to use the word in its search algorithm is a mystery. Anyway, I removed the word from the comment, and a Google search on my name will no longer feature said "F" word.
:: I saw The Station Agent today, one of the best films of the year. Check it out if you can. It's the story of a dwarf named Fin, who works in a model train station. Upon the death of the owner, Fin inherits an abandoned train station in Newfoundland NJ, and moves there to live, and to watch trains. Despite his best efforts to be left alone, he is drawn into relationships with some of the locals, played by Bobby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson, and Michelle Williams. Fin is played by Peter Dinklage, in a career breaking performance that is very memorable, and worthy of award considerations in 2004.
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