the pod bay door

Risking a name drop, Derryl sent me notice that William Gibson has a blog. I’ve added it to my list to the right. It’s fascinating reading from a complex individual who is credited with inventing cyberspace. Read his first entry. And the name drop? Derryl and I know Gibson as Bill, not William. I’ve known him since the early 80s, before he published anything. I haven’t seen him since his tour for Virtual Light brought him through Edmonton. So, forgive me this moment of self-indulgence, but check out his writing.

My brother Chris finally made it onto Big Sandy’s photo page (check the bottom of the page). Big Sandy and His Fly Rite Boys were a huge hit at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in August 2002, and Big Sandy himself is a consumate gentleman and all-around nice guy!

I am a little more upbeat of late, despite the cold and the dark of January, and the insanity of university this time of year. I delivered two well-received research skills/library resources lectures to two materials engineering design classes this week, with more to come next week in civil and environmental, and another materials class. I feel much satisfaction when I know I’ve reached at least one student and helped them to understand and develop information literacy skills.

My friend Jen has the ability to write bits for her blog and then solict comments up the wazoo. Check her site and read the entries Love Circles and SUV Redux. (Jen, when are you going to add Permalinks!?)

There’s a lot going on right now, and a lot about which to write, but I’ve been busy. Lots of teaching and mentoring this week at work. Tonight five of us went for beers at the Power Plant, and laughed ourselves silly for four hours. My ribs are still hurting, but it felt so good to laugh (when I wasn’t choking).

Here’s an interesting story, however: 500 original Beatles tapes, stolen in the 1970s, and containing music and tracks that have never been heard, have been recovered in Holland. Now we’ll wonder if and when some of these songs might be released. I’m trying to imagine how fascinating it would be to hear complete, original Beatles tunes we’ve never heard, recorded in 1969 and remastered to match today’s quality. It would be absolutely fascinating.

When I consider my top ten movies of the year, it’s a list of my ten favorite movies, not the ten best per se. I saw 91 movies last year, but that’s hardly enough to qualify me to consider which might be the ten best. I would have had to have seen about 150 more movies, as well as films that are released in NY and LA only at the end of December. For example, The Hours, and Adaptation have not played here yet, and About Schmidt opened here on January 3rd. The alphabetical list below is the ten films I saw in 2002 for the first time that moved me the most in any number of ways, and brought me the most enjoyment I experienced going to the movies.

Bloody Sunday
Far From Heaven
Gangs of New York
The Grey Zone
In The Bedroom (2001 film released in 2002 in Edmonton)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Minority Report
Max
No Man’s Land
Rabbit-Proof Fence

Honorable mentions: Gosford Park, The Royal Tenebaums, Apocalypse Now Redux, Kissing Jessica Stein, Monsoon Wedding, Insomnia, Lovely and Amazing, Tadpole, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Good Girl, One Hour Photo, startup.com, Bowling for Columbine, Secretary, Tully, Igby Goes Down, Auto Focus, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Catch Me If You Can.

David Suzuki will be on campus at the U of Alberta on Thursday, Jan 9. His talk is part of The Revolutionary Speakers Series. Last year in September, Ralph Nader spoke to a packed house about the environment, government, and citizens’ civic responsibilities to get involved. My guess is that Suzuki will be addressing the Kyoto Accord, which our provincial government has done everything it can to discredit and slam. It fascinates me one of our premier’s favorite sayings is “short term pain for long term gain”, yet when such pain might affect his oil baron buddies, it doesn’t apply. I’m looking forward to Suzuki’s lecture. I have seen him speak twice before, once in the late 60s when I skipped high school to watch him at the U of Manitoba.

School begins tomorrow, and I have lectures to deliver in various engineering design and report writing courses. January is always our heaviest month on campus.

Happy New Year to everyone! Begin your 2003 by reading the “28th annual ‘extreme’ List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness, which the world needs ‘now, more than ever.’” The 2002 list is still applicable and relevant, especially the note on “9-11” “9-1-1”, the use of which I’ve railed against since September 11, 2001. All the lists are here.

2003 is the year I turn 50. I can’t believe it. I’m still wrapping my small mind around it. It feels very, very strange, and at the same time, it feels like nothing. But it’s a benchmark year in a person’s life, and already I’m wasting time going the motions of evaluating all I’ve done up the now. *sigh* I know, age is just a number.

Anyway, my best to all who read this little blog. Thanks for visiting my site, and the very best to you in 2003.