the pod bay door

:: 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.

:: As someone who wants to be able to subscribe to HBO, I almost fell off the couch reading this article, which appeared in many Canadian newspapers this morning:

Making it illegal for Canadians to subscribe to television programming via foreign satellite systems infringes on their freedom of expression, a long-awaited judgment concluded yesterday.

Quebec Court Judge Danielle Côté handed down a 153-page ruling that found two sections of the federal Radiocommunication Act violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Those sections deal with so-called grey-market satellite systems for decoding an encrypted programming signal.

In 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that it was a federal offense to sell technology which allowed consumers to get access to encrypted signals from US-based satellite systems. Côté’s ruling could eventually lead to the end of the CRTC dictating to Canadians what they can and cannot watch on their televisions. Côté is allowing a one-year grace period before her ruling comes into effect. Consider that appeals will probably be made as well, meaning that change could take a while. But it’s a move in the right direction.

The court order was sought by Jacques D’Argy of Drummondville, after years of legal battles:

D’Argy, representing himself throughout all the court proceedings, said yesterday he always wondered “why can I import the New York Times but not (the U.S. television network) Fox.”

Well, DUH! The Red Sox win the World Series, and a ruling in favour of allowing access in Canada to US cable networks. What a great week.

Marvelous, totally brilliant. The curse is over, the 86-year drought is finished, and the Yankee fans can no longer scream, “1918”. Instead, they can put a sock in it. Johnny Pesky, Bill Buckner, Bob Stanley, Calvin Schiraldi – all is forgiven.

Sweet.

:: Man, what a fall classic we have on our hands. With the Red Sox Nation ahead 3-0 in the World Series, everyone, and I mean everyone knows better than to assume the Sox will win it all tomorrow, or on Thursday, or on the weekend, breaking their 86-year drought. We’ve seen it not happen too many times before. But migod – you could taste it tonight. You could taste it in the late innings of the game, when it became apparent St Louis wouldn’t mount a comeback, and you knew the Sox would win Game 3. The Cardinals are almost an afterthought tonight. I want the Sox to win, badly. Do I think they’ll do it? Maybe. Y’see, when you pull for the Sox, or the Cubs, or White Sox for that matter, you assume nothing, and follow the Berra rule: it ain’t over ’till it’s over.

The sheer, crystalline beauty of what the Sox accomplished against the Yankees last week can’t be celebrated and savored enough. Yes, the Yankees have 26 WS titles, and no other MLB team has more than 9 – St Louis, oddly enough, is that team. If the Red Sox win, they will move into third place, with 6 WS titles. In 1986, the Sox were within one strike of the title, with a 2-run lead, and found ways to lose. It wasn’t Buckner’s fault, his was the last in a series of mistakes made by the team. In the ALCS last week, the Sox turned the tables on themselves – down to three outs away from being swept, they tied the game against arguably the best relief pitcher in baseball, clawing back in extra innings to win Games 4 and 5 at home, anchored by their own version of flawless relief pitching. Game 6 saw Schilling’s miraculous turn, and in Game 7, the icing on the cake: a 6-0 lead after two innings, allowing baseball fans across Planet Earth to watch both teams set records: one for the greatest comeback, and one for the greatest choke in 100 years of baseball playoffs. The overpriced Yankees were absolutely humiliated in their home park while hundreds of millions of fans watched worldwide. It was a stunner.

The first WS was held in 1903. Boston beat Pittsburgh. There was no WS in 1904, and in 1994, it was cancelled. Thus, 2004 is the 100th WS. How fitting it would be for the Sox to bookend 100 years of World Series play with victories at both ends of the playoff century.

Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, but the temperature is approaching sub-zero.

Also posted to Blogcritics.

:: And God smiled on Boston. Yeehaw!

:: It started snowing on Friday night in Edmonton, and continued throughout Saturday. When it snows this early, not even one month into autumn, the only word that comes to mind for me is: offensive. It’s too early!! All we can do is hope that it melts before it gets too cold for that to happen.

:: Jon Stewart, currently the co-author of the #1 best selling non-fiction book in the USA, was on Crossfire last week, and was brutal in his assault on the show itself. Rather than appear on the show in his role as a comedian, as Tucker Carlson apparently expected, he tore into both Carlson and co-host Paul Begala for the show’s lack of journalism ethics. The video of the segment is available on iFilm – if you are running Norton Internet Security 2003, you’ll need to disable it in order to get the film to play.

Read “Jon Stewart Bitchslaps CNN’s ‘Crossfire’ Show“, on the MTV web site. Stewart leveled into Crossfire, accusing the co-hosts of being “partisan hacks”. But Stewart saved the best for last, when Carlson said to him: “I do think you’re more fun on your show“, to which Stewart replied, “You know what’s interesting, though: you’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.” From the MTV article:

“What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery,” Stewart said. “You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

“I watch your show every day, and it kills me. It’s so painful to watch,” Stewart added as it became apparent that the comedian was not joking. He went on to hammer the network, and the media in general, for its coverage of the presidential debates. Stewart said it was a disservice to viewers to immediately seek reaction from campaign insiders and presidential cheerleaders following the debates, noting that the debates’ famed “Spin Alley” should be called “Deception Lane.”

“The thing is, we need your help,” Stewart said. “Right now, you’re helping the politicians and the corporations and we’re left out there to mow our lawns.”

While the audience seemed to be behind Stewart, Begala and Carlson were both taken aback. The hosts tried to feed Stewart set-up lines hoping to draw him into a more light-hearted shtick, but Stewart stayed on point and hammered away at the show, the hosts, and the state of political journalism. Carlson grew increasingly frustrated, at first noting that the segment wasn’t “funny,” and later verbally sparring with the comedian.

“You’re not very much fun,” Carlson said. “Do you like lecture people like this, or do you come over to their house and sit and lecture them; they’re not doing the right thing, that they’re missing their opportunities, evading their responsibilities?”

“If I think they are,” Stewart retorted.

The conversation reached its most heated moment when Carlson said to Stewart, “I do think you’re more fun on your show,” to which Stewart replied, “You’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.”

The transcript of the show is available, as is Carlson’s reaction.

God bless Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. It is simultaneously funny and sad that at least 21% of people under 30 in the USA consider The Daily Show and SNL as sources for presidential campaign news.

:: I’ve been volunteering at the EIFF since Wednesday, working in the “Industry Centre”, and picking up a few delegates at the airport. I’ve seen two pictures so far, P.S. and Primer.