the pod bay door

:: 1. What was the last tv show you watched: L&O: SVU.
2. What was the last thing you complained about: making errors transposing chords on a music chart
3. What was the last person you complimented, and what did you say? My musical colleague, Amelia (fiddler); I told her that her new glasses looked very good on her and suited her face quite well.
4. What was the last thing you threw away? A pizza box.
5. What was the last website (besides this one) you visited? Tonya’s.

:: As I type this, the rink announcer in Dallas just announced, “Last minute of play, in the 7th period.” The game between the Dallas Stars and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim is now the fourth longest in NHL history.

:: What the hey? All this stuff was found in Uday’s Pleasure Palace?

:: Interested in RSS? Read’s Geoff’s piece, then check out this list of RSS Readers.

:: Many of the states in the USA are in deep financial trouble. In Missouri, the governor ordered every third lightbulb unscrewed to save money. (May require registration.)

:: “Is this the dawning of the age of hysteria?” You be the judge.

:: From the Sunday 20 April 2003 NYTimes: “THE RETURN OF SEATTLE Out of the ashes of grunge, Seattle rock has risen again, with bands like the Chromatics, Blood Brothers, Akimbo, Minus the Bear and Pretty Girls Make Graves. Most make a post-punk fracas of harcore, metal-indie-rock, occasional dashes of electronica and T-shirts that are two sizes too small.” (Neil Strauss, Section 2, p24.)

:: In the 8th period (5th overtime), Anaheim won the game.

¦¦ Those who know me know that I physically warm up easily. That is to say, my body needs to be around cooler air to feel comfortable at the best of times. I hate long sleeve shirts, I always feel too warm in them. Two weeks ago it was still cold in Edmonton – tonight, at 12:20 am MDT, it’s 15C (60F) outside, and I’m in my home, feeling too warm already, and it’s only April. This seems to be getting worse every year. The bedroom fan is back in business.

¦¦ Geoff sent this link about the tourism industry in Toronto getting hammered because of the SARS scare. The World Health Organization has advised travellers to postpone all but essential travel to Toronto. This warning does not bode well for the forthcoming joint Canadian Library Association/American Library Association Conference, to be held in Toronto, 19th-25th of June, 2003. 20,000 attendees are expected. The City of Toronto is working hard to assure visitors that the risk of contracting SARS when visiting is extremely low.

¦¦ PLEASE go to this entry on Tonya’s site, and look at EVERY photograph of these properties in Santa Fe NM. I want to go there now. I want the one with the porch light at dusk. I like this bedroom, and want this or this in my backyard, and this in my bathroom, and this for a workspace.

¦¦ I’m getting bored with the layout of my website again. Don’t know what to do to change it, but I don’t have the energy to do much at this time. Hell, I should be asleep now as it is.

¦¦ Moveable Type has announced the forthcoming launch of TypePad. More details are here.

¦¦ I saw someone today who made my world a better place for a little while.

From Blogcritics.org: Ian Thomas is one of my favorite Canadian songwriters, ever. He burst onto the Canadian scene in 1973 with the tune, “Painted Ladies“, and has remained a fixture ever since, albeit somewhat quietly at times. Thomas’s regional hit single, “I’ll Do You Right“, from his 1984 album Riders on Dark Horses, is my favorite singalong-in-the-car song, and a brilliant love song as well.
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I know…in my dreams, flyboy. But for a fleeting moment in time recently, I was able to spend five minutes with the amazing Molly Parker. *sigh* How did this happen?

Well, it took place at the recent Edmonton International Film Festival, and you can read all about it here, in case you missed the entry last month. Suffice it to say, I attended a gala screening of a film in which she is the star, and arrived knowing full well that the chances of her appearing were slim to none. While waiting for the film to start, I asked an usher which actor would be in attendance, and he said, “Molly Parker”, and I went, like, “Oh really?”, and he said, “Yep”, to which I replied, “Cool.”

Please try to see her new movie, Marion Bridge, it’s worth the effort. Also watch for her supporting role in Max, the disturbing new movie starring John Cusack and Noah Taylor.

¦¦ I just finished a workout, 30 minutes on the cross-trainer, and it felt excrutiating. But upon returning home, the sun has just appeared, and that feels so nice.

¦¦ Here’s a fascinating proposal: A barn-raising for civilization.

¦¦ I’ve never played a round of golf, but like millions of Canadians last weekend, I was thrilled when Mike Weir won the Masters. It was a nice diversion from the rest of the world’s woes, and a morale boost for the country. Nice to also hear that he’s made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

¦¦ This is interesting: QuickTopic, a service which allows users to create their own one-topic bulleting boards/group discussion space. Also offered is a service called Quick Doc Review, to allow collaborative review of HTML or Word documents.

¦¦ What Liberal Media?, sez Eric Alterman.

¦¦ Another Canadian band worth supporting: The Boomers, led by Ian Thomas, brother of Dave (SCTV) Thomas, and a Canadian music icon in his own right. Here is a good, concise “omni” of their musical output to date. Their newest album is called Midway. Thomas’s lyrics focus on love, life, and getting older, and the music is laid-back but intricate and multi-layered.