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Friday, September 29, 2006

"Do you want cream, sugar, or an enema bag with that?"

Orac has a good one for his Friday Dose of Woo this week, another variation on the good ole coffee enema. I didn't realise that you should only shoot organicly grown coffee up your butt, because the non-organic commercial stuff contains chemicals that could cause you problems. Of course as Orac notes taking too much caffeine into your system at once can give you an irregular heart beat, so perhaps decaffeinated coffee is a better idea if you're considering such an enema. Of course its better to just say no because its nonsense.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Theo-cons.

The religious right doesn't have the same kind of power and influence in Canada as it does in the US. But there is a Canadian religious right. Journalist Marci McDonald has an article in the October issue of The Walrus magazine called "Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons." Its a discussion of the connections between Stephen Harper's government and the religious right in Canada, and well worth reading if you have an interest in that kind of thing.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Goose Egg.

Very weird. Yesterday I received no hits. I can't remember that ever happening before. It's especially odd since I made a post yesterday, which usually generates at least one hit.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Boz Burrell, RIP.

I found out via my brother yesterday that British musician Boz Burrell has died of a heart attack at 60. Burrell got his start in the business as a singer in the '60s, recording both with his group The Boz People and as a solo artist, although none of his releases had any real impact. In late 1970 Burrell became the new vocalist for King Crimson, and soon had his musical abilities expanded when he was pressed into being the group's bassist after bassist Rick Kemp left unexpectedly, being taught by group leader Robert Fripp. Although the lineup produced only one studio album, Islands, before breaking up becoming a bassist would prove a major boon to Burrell when Paul Rogers recruited him as bassist for Bad Company in 1972, playing on the group's major releases, including the hit single "Can't Get Enough." After leaving Bad Company in '86 Burrell played in several groups, including touring with Alvin Lee and a reunited version of Bad Company in 1999.

Friday, September 22, 2006

"The Seance Spectre"

I spent the day at home. Looking at the TV schedule I was rather unimpressed with the offerings. So I eventually decided to sit and watch a Space: 1999 episode, and chose "The Seance Spectre." I'd say this is one of the better year two offerings in concept, although it probably would have been even better with the more subtle handling more often found in year one episodes, as there is probably a little too much emphasis on action. The question of what effect years of being cooped up on the Moon would have is a good one, and its not hard to imagine some of the Alphans, like Sanderson and his exploration team in this episode, might begin to develop some paranoia about the command staff. One element that would definitely have improved this episode would have been at least a brief explaination of what Sanderson and friends are doing with their "astroprediction," and how they started doing it. This also happens to be the last episode in which Zienia Merton plays Sandra Benes. Merton, who appeared in every episode of year one, had not been given a contract for year two but was hired on an episode by episode basis. In frustration she left after the third year two episode, but was eventually convinced to return for several of the later year two episodes by Barbara Bain.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Them Drums!

I was listening to some of Abbey Road tonight, and as always I got a kick out of some of the drum sounds. Presumably they were using a lot of compression, but they just sound great to my ears. As for Ringo I think part of the reason some folks bash him, if you'll pardon the usage, is because he doesn't do a Ginger Baker/Keith Moon and play incredibly flashy. Funnily enough Charlie Watts can be very minimalist as well, yet he seems to get more cred than Ringo. Go figure.

Right now I'm listening to The Honeydripper by Jack McDuff. Recommended if you like '60s organ jazz. One of these days I need to figure out which Jimmy Smith Blue Note to buy.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Here Comes The Sun.

After several days of rain we actually had some sun today. Unfortunately the departure of the rain has lead to clear skies for tonight, and hence the arrival of just at freezing temperatures and frost. The furnace has started running occasionally the past few days, another sign that summer is gone and winter isn't that far off. Time to start thinking about the winter gear I suppose.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

The Warped Minds of Toy Designers.

I've wondered about the minds behind certain toys in the past. Today I had cause again. I saw an ad for a new Barbie doll. This one comes with Tanner the dog. The brain warping part this time is that the doll comes with snacks to feed Tanner. After you feed them you can then pump on the dog's tail and they come out as poop! And better yet this Barbie has a pooper scooper to pick up the plastic pellets. Besides the Barbie version there's also the Teresa doll that comes with a cat that uses its litter box. Hmm, are Beavis and Butthead working for the R&D department at Mattel?

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Don't Believe It.

Today I saw a truck with a plate on the front that read "This truck protected by Smith and Wesson." The owner might just as well have put a plate on his vehicle that read "This truck protected by bullshit." Unless your work justifies it, or you can convince a judge you're in such danger that you need one, you cannot carry a handgun on your person or in a vehicle in this country ready for use. You're not supposed to carry loaded long arms in your vehicle either. So such a statement on your vehicle is a load of nonsense.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Name That Music.

If you're familiar with the old Spider Man cartoon from the '60s you may remember the organ music used in certain places. I'd love to know who did that stuff. Anyone got a clue?

Monday, September 11, 2006

If I Post, Will They Come?

I hope so. Traffic here the last couple of days has been pretty abysmal. Not that I'm giving the big blogs a run for their money even when I'm getting lots of action.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Poor Donna.

In the early 1980s, back when I was a young comic fan, DC Comics revived the Teen Titans, a superhero team that when created back in the mid '60s was comprised of several teen sidekicks of popular heroes. The New Titans, as they were frequently refered to, carried over several members of the old team including Wonder Girl, the teen sidekick of Wonder Woman. I was a fan of the series for several years, reading the series regularly until just after Wonder Girl, in her civilian guise of Donna Troy, got married. So when I saw the collection Who Is Donna Troy? in the library today I thumbed through it. The title story, which dealt with Robin's efforts to find out the truth of Donna's personal history, and the story detailing her marriage I was quite familiar with. I may even still have those issues stored away in a box. But having stopped reading the series after that point I was unfamiliar with the other material reprinted within.

The details are too complicated to relate here. But I have to say, poor girl! In 1985 DC had a megacrossover amongst its titles called Crisis On Infinite Earths. It was intended to simplify the continuity of the DC "universe," as considerable baggage had built up over the years. Unfortunately this retcon resulted in a bunch of problems replacing the old problems. This included Wonder Girl's connection with Wonder Woman being at odds with the new continuity that had Wonder Woman as a recent arrival on the scene. So Titans creative team Marv Wolfman and George Perez came up with a new origin story for Donna Troy, who also took on a new superhero name, Troia. This story line is reprinted in Who Is Donna Troy? and frankly its rather a mess. Big surprise, as its an attempt to reconcile a character's old continuity with a comic universe's new continuity.

Bad as this was, the folks at DC couldn't leave well enough alone. As time went on they screwed around with the new continuity, trying to patch over holes they made with the 1985 changes. And now they've changed a lot back to the way it was with the series/crossover event Infinite Crisis. No doubt current comics fans will be debating the effects of the new changes for years to come, and wondering how long it will take for the powers that be at DC to decide its time to screw around with things again.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Nono.

Congratulations to pitcher Anibal Sanchez of the Florida Marlins. Tonight he pitched a no-hitter against the Arizona Diamondbacks in what was only his 14th start in the majors. He's 22 years old, so he's got lots of time to get another one. Most starters never get one. This no hitter is also the first no hitter since May 18th, 2004 when Randy Johnson threw a perfect game, that is a game where no runners were allowed on base, for, ironically, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although Sanchez gave up no hits he did have four walks in tonight's game. Fortunately for him none of these base runners went on to score. It is in fact possible to have a no hitter yet lose if runs are scored via walking a batter with the bases loaded or having runners on base reach home via an error. In 1990 Andy Hawkins of the New York Yankees pitched what was a no-hitter by the rules in place at the time, but lost the game 4-0 when a combination of two walks and 3 errors allowed the Chicago White Sox to score 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Sad But Not Surprising.

Australian outdoorsman Steve Irwin, who became famous via the TV series Crocodile Hunter, has died of a stingray sting while diving off Australia. He was 44. Irwin's death may not be that surprising to many. The perception has existed, rightly or wrongly, that Irwin took unneccessary risks in his dealings with animals. The most notorious example of this occured in 2004, when Irwin had his one year old son under his arm while feeding meat to crocodiles in a pen during a wildlife show. The idea was widespread enough that it was used as part of various comedy sketches involving actors pretending to be Irwin, or thinly veiled parodies of Irwin, getting hurt in humourous ways by mishandling animals. There are likely to be many mutterings of "I told you so" regarding Irwin over the next few days.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

MuchLessMusic

Last night I decided to see what was on MuchMoreMusic, since I hadn't tuned in to the channel in at least a couple of weeks. Imagine my surprise when A Different World appeared on my TV screen, a sitcom that has nothing to do with music. It was followed by Fame, which makes somewhat more sense since its a show about a performing arts high school. Both shows are now regular weeknight fare on the channel. As anyone who has paid attention to MuchMoreMusic knows the channel has played less and less direct music content as the years have gone by, and more and more gossip/Entertainment Tonite/reality programs with celebs content. And now they're getting even more away from their original purpose by playing a sitcom. Given the changes perhaps it's time for some "truth in advertising" by having the station change it's name. Of course the station is just following the path of VH1, its American equivalent.