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Saturday, September 29, 2018

A Hint Of Winter.

It's going to be a cold one here tonight.  The forecast calls for a low of -9.  Environment Canada put out a frost advisory, and noted that the low temperatures are the result of an "unseasonably cold airmass."  Fortunately for me I don't have to go anywhere tonight.

Guess it's time to break out the winter jacket.

Monday, September 24, 2018

Magnum Redux.

Tonight was the debut of the 21st Century version of Magnum PI  As someone who watched the original when it was new I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand they definitely had some hints of the old show that people who saw it will recognise, including TC's Hughes 500D(as it was in those days) helicopter in its familiar striped paint job, the Ferrari 308 GTS Magnum drives in part of the episode, and Zeus and Apollo.  On the other hand there have been changes given the contemporary setting, such as that Magnum and his buddies are now vets of Iraq instead of Vietnam, and that Higgins is a woman this time around.  The latter is sure to upset some old fans, but it doesn't bug me much.  But it looks like they might be setting up a romance between Higgins and Magnum, which would be pretty cliché.

I'm not quite convinced about Jay Hernandez, the new Magnum, just yet.  To me he doesn't seem to have the charisma that Tom Selleck did pretty much from the start of the original series.  It will be interesting to see if that changes as the series progresses and we get more familiar with the new version.  Perdita Weeks will probably have an easier time of things as Higgins, since she won't face the kind of direct comparisons any male actor would to John Hillerman from the original.  But it remains to be seen how their versions of Magnum and Higgins  will play off against each other. 

One critique I have is the obvious use of CGI in some places.  They probably didn't want to boost their budget by doing certain scenes with practical effects, but they just didn't seem right for this show. 

Will the series succeed?  The revived Hawaii Five-0 has had a successful run, so it's possible.  But revived series have also flopped, like the new version of Ironside a few years back. 

Friday, September 21, 2018

Gas In Saskatoon, September 21, 2018.

Back up we go.  Gas in Saskatoon has risen to 125.9 cents a litre at most locations.  I heard Trump complaining about the Saudis pushing up oil prices, but I doubt they'll cut them just because he says so.

Quarter To Five Popcorn.

I had to get up before 4 AM this morning to drive my parents to the airport.(They're off to Ottawa for a vacation.)  So I decided that after I dropped them off I'd go buy some popcorn at 7/11.  As I've noted before Saskatoon is still not really a 24 hour a day city, but you can still find stuff open this early.  And I imagine things are about to get busier as people head off for shifts that start at 6 or 7 AM.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Calling Europe.

It's weird, but I haven't been getting any hits from Europe of late.  I wondered if it had something to do with changes in EU regulations regarding things like advertising, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Maybe it's just because I'm not posting enough.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Were You There?

It's something I sometimes wonder when I see comments on old music on YouTube.  I just saw that sort of comment on a posting of Deep Purple performing "Highway Star" in 1972 on German TV.  It was the common "Oh, music is so horrible today compared to back then!" type of comment you see on all sorts of things.  But before you get too gushy about early '70s popular music(or any other period of pop music) consider the following:


"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" was a big hit in 1970, with versions by three different artists getting chart action.  Middle of the Road's version was the most successful, making the top fifteen or better in 13 countries, and number one in 6.  Check out the charts for any year and you find stuff you're likely to think of as dross. 

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Hey, Tom And Jennifer.

I appreciate the sentiment.  We do need young people to vote.  But seriously, you bring back 6teen for a US voting PSA, when you didn't even give us a 10th anniversary surprise back in 2014.  And you have Jonesy wearing a MAGA hat?  I can't say I'm too happy.

For any other 6teen fans who missed it, here it is.


Friday, September 14, 2018

Gas In Saskatoon, September 15, 2018.

Things have gone down just a little bit more.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most stations.  However at least a couple of stations on 8th Street  were at 117.2 cents a litre, so the others may follow.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Unhappy Breakaway Day 2018.

Once again September 13th has come.  This is the 19th anniversary of the Moon being blown out of Earth orbit in at least one universe.  It's hard to imagine that it will be 20 years since 1999 next year.  I'm thinking that I'll sit down one of these days and binge watch the whole of the first season.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

The Big 69.

No, sex obsessed visitors, I'm not talking about that sort of 69.

Today I did something I don't normally do, buy a 591 milliliter bottle of Pepsi.  And it's a good thing I normally buy diet soft drinks if I want to drink one.  Reading the nutrition information on it was interesting.  That serving of Pepsi contains 69 grams of sugar.  In other words the sugar weighs more than a lot of chocolate bars do.  That's almost a quarter of your recommended carb intake for a single day.  So it's not hard to see how drinking the stuff a lot will keep your weight up.

Incidentally Coke's 500 milliliter bottle contains 55 grams of sugar.  Somehow I doubt the extra 91 milliliters in a Pepsi bottle contains an extra 14 grams of sugar.  It seems Coke's formula is less sweet than Pepsi's.

Friday, September 07, 2018

Gas In Saskatoon, September 7, 2018.

It's back to school week, and so you might be driving more.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 122.0 cents a litre at most locations, a bit down from last week.  Hopefully it will go a bit lower as September continues.

Monday, September 03, 2018

Warning, May Be Addictive.

If you're into guitars and other stringed instruments check out Jake Wildwood's blog.  He does instrument repair in Rochester, Vermont, and works on everything from 21st Century electric guitars to late 19th Century banjos.  Lots of cool instruments with lots of good pictures are featured.  But be warned, you might spend hours slowly going through the entries, because there is so much to look at.