the pod bay door

:: Rolling Stone is back with another list, this time The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. RS chose a “jury of singers, musicians, producers, industry figures, critics and, of course, songwriters”, 172 in all. For the list, “the word song refers to both a composition and its definitive recorded performance, as a single or an album track.”

As with all lists of favorites, the results are based on subjective judgement. Reading through the list, I expected to see at least one song by The Guess Who, Steely Dan, The Dave Clark Five, Dave Matthews Band, The Moody Blues, the Doobie Brothers, The Pretenders, The Fixx, Genesis or Peter Gabriel, but by the time I reached 400, I sensed none of these bands would have an entry. No “American Woman”, no “Do It Again”, no “Anyway You Want It”, no “In Your Eyes” – astonishing, in my view.

Regardless of what you think of any of these artists, and probably countless others who belong here, there were individual gems among their collective output. Each of these bands might have placed two, three, or more tunes on a list of this size. However, “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” by Rod Stewart checked in at #301.

What’s wrong with this picture? Also, from my POV as a Canadian, there are some great national artists missing from the list as well. Did I mention The Guess Who?

:: And how much worse can it get in America? The right in the US detests my liberal country, but that doesn’t discourage T-Shirtking.com from selling their new “Going Canadian” kit:

Americans Traveling Overseas – Consider Going Canadian!

Rather travel overseas or in Canada without having to discuss your politics with everyone you meet? Consider Going Canadian!

For $24.95 you get a complete disguise. A t-shirt with the Canadian flag and the saying “O Canada! (National Anthem), a patch for your luggage or backpack, a window sticker and a lapel pin. Plus – Free Report – How to Speak Canadian, Eh?!

Now when someone asks you about American politics, you can say, “I’m on vacation, I don’t want to talk aboot it.”

Aboot it? How about a boot to the head? How bad has it become in the USA when its own citizens want to disguise their identity when leaving the country? Marketed as a gag gift after the Nov 2 US election, sales have skyrocketed since the item was picked up on newsfeeds. From an article in the Edmonton Journal:

The company’s website also suggests the Go Canadian kit makes “a great gag gift for that friend that wants to move to Canada” — a much-debated urge among many left-leaning Americans in the wake of President George W. Bush’s re-election.

“It’s not meant as a slight against the United States or Canada,” Bill Broadbent told The Associated Press. “It was meant as something Republicans could give their Democrat friends to say ‘C’est la vie.’ …But maybe not ‘c’est la vie’ because that’s a French word.”

The guide teaches buyers that “Cowtown” is a nickname for Calgary and “Hogtown” is Toronto. The words “hoser” and “Mountie” are among those defined in a Great White North glossary and phrases such as “deke out of a meeting” are explained for non-hockeyists.

“If your vacation is to be stress-free,” says the company’s website pitch, “leave those heavy politics behind and travel with a light heart and quick wit, Canadian style.”

:: Tbe Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys Dec 14 gig at the Sidetrack has been, well, sidetracked for now. James (bassist) is having problems with a sciatic nerve in his leg, and is unable to perform. So my debut with HDNB is postponed for now, but hopefully another gig will materialze shortly.

The book chapter is essentially done. A few minor revisions are left, nothing more. What’s it about? It’s a guide to the literature of petroleum engineering and refining, for a book called “Using the Engineering Literature”, to be published in 2005 by Dekker. Now I’m plowing through 170 e-mails at work, trying to catch up on them before breaking for Christmas. I’m off work from Dec 18-Jan 3. There is a lot to do in the next eight working days, including the dreaded annual report.

:: Been on a bit of a DVD tear of late, which for those of you who know me, is uncharacteristic behaviour. But it was hard to pass up a few deals at Best Buy, including: Local Hero, To Live and Die In L.A., Minority Report, Altered States, A Little Princess, and This Is Spinal Tap. I watched TLADILA last night, and it still holds up well after 20 years. I still love listening to the Wang Chung soundtrack. I wish they’d get back together for a reunion album. Jack Hues, founding member of Wang Chung, formed a band called Illuminated, in 2003. Listening to bits of three cuts on the web site suggests that Illuminated is an instrumental jazz band. What’s interesting is a line in Jach Hues’ biography on the web site, which reads, “new Wang Chung and ILLUMINATED albums in progress (2004).” Cool.

:: I was at Tim Hortons Donuts an hour ago, the mega-ginormous donut empire of Canada, to buy a gift card for someone for a Christmas present. I was surprised and annoyed to learn that 1) they only sell gift certificates, in packs of $5 or $10, in which one finds five $2 gift certificates, and 2) they don’t accept credit cards, only debit. WTF? Isn’t this the 21st Century?

Is there a major chain store/restaurant/whatever NOT selling gift cards, in whatever denomination you desire, save for McDonald’s, of course, which continues to use the paper gift certificates as well? Well, yes, Tim Hortons Donuts! Insanity, I tell you. Plus, I detest using debit cards – it’s a personal thing with me (I like credit cards which let me run up Air Miles…)

:: For the past few weeks, I’ve been feeling like the Bill Murray character in Groundhog Day. The days seem to be repeating themselves. I’ve been working on the book chapter, redesigning the STLQ web site (based on Icy Blue, a Neil Turner template), and falling as far behind as I have ever been in answering or processing work and personal e-mail. I’ve spent significant time (by choice, of course) learning the original tunes of Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys, who will be performing at the Sidetrack Cafe on Dec 14 (show starts at 8:00 pm, should be over by 8:45 pm). So to those who are patiently waiting to hear from me, thank you for being patient.

I wanted to complete the book chapter this week, and tomorrow I hope to do so. The STLQ site is working, and I can live with that. It needs further tweaking, but that can come later. I needed to clean up the presentation because it wasn’t working in Firefox. I haven’t been getting to my Y workouts, either, which is my fault, and no one else’s.

I’ve been hitting the sack after 12:30 am almost every night, and realize that I can’t keep this pace. Fortunately, I will be off work from Dec 18-Jan 3, and plan to spend a lot of quiet time in that period (despite it being Christmas season).

It doesn’t feel like Christmas, for any number of reasons. We have no snow, which suits me fine. The weather has been mild for a few weeks – the high in Edmonton tomorrow is 6C. This will change very shortly, however, as temperatures start to drop, reaching the -20s by mid-week. I don’t feel that I am being bombarded with Christmas commercials either – could be because I’m not watching much prime time tv, other than Lost and the 3 L&O’s.

It has been an interesting experience playing with the members of Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys. Consider that my electric guitar, in a virtual kind of way, has been in its case since 1991, with the exception of a few weeks in 1999 when I worked with Capt. Nemo (gone, but never forgotten.) Ironically, the last “electric” gig I played was with the Nemos at – you guessed it – the Sidetrack. My Telecaster is running through a Line 6 Flextone amp, a very generous gift from an old friend, Paul Anderson, of Ontario, who send it many moons ago. Now, finally, it is getting some use. Certainly I hadn’t planned on playing live electric music again, but I’ve never been closed to the idea, either. This music is very different from anything I’ve played before, and not immediately accessible to the listener who is looking for melody and basic song structure. It is, however, very original, and quite challenging to perform.

I am intrigued that the decade is less than a month from being half-over, and still doesn’t have a name or identity. The Aughts, The Zeros, The Tens? What has defined this decade so far? What do you think?

This bumper sticker made me laugh today. Bed time.

:: There is little time to eat or sleep these days. I may be joining a rock band – yes, you read that correctly. I sat in on a couple of rehearsals with a local group known as Hardy Drew and The Nancy Boys this month, and there are two more rehearsals this week. The band has a gig at The Sidetrack on December 14, opening for two other bands. The music is different, written by David, the drummer, and features time signature changes such as 7/8 to 4/4 to 5/4, with one song featuring a 11/4 break (as best I can determine, if there is such a thing.) Is 51 too old to rock?

:: I’m continuing work on a new stylesheet for STLQ. The first draft, as it were, is near completion. The book chapter I’m writing on the literature of petroleum engineering and refining is also near completion, but continues to drag on. I’m desparate to finish it this week, as I am working until December 17, and won’t return until Jan 4th.

:: The problem detailed previously with Outlook 2003 not working on my home computer has been solved for now. In Norton Internet Security 2005, I turned off the AntiSpam function, and e-mail began to flow into my Outlook 2003 inbox.

I’m now working with a template designed by Neil Turner in the UK, with the goal of moving it to STLQ when it’s ready. You can see my progress with it at http://stlq.info/open, if yer bored…

:: I have a couple hundred e-mails to process (here and at work.) Please be patient with me. I’m also nearing the end of the book chapter I am writing. I estimate I’ve spent anywhere from 60-80 hours on it in the past four weeks. I underestimated how long it would take to finish it.