Need A Kitty Fix?

Go check out James Nicoll's new companion.  What a charming shade of orange he is.

I like cats, but I can't imagine owning one.  I'm too lazy to do the necessary cleaning up after them.

Exit Music.

Another familiar face from my '70s childhood has left.  Sherman Hemsley has died at 74.  He came to widespread fame as George Jefferson, the cantankerous neighbour, and African American reflection, of Archie Bunker on All in the Family.  The character proved sufficiently popular that a spinoff was created, the highly successful The Jeffersons, which ran for 10 seasons from 1975 to 1985.  Interestingly Isabel Sanford, who played George's wife Louise, was  20 some years older than Hemsley, although there was no acknowledgement of any  noticeable age difference between the characters they played onscreen.

If you've read  the obituaries today you've probably learned that Hemsley was a fan of British progressive rockers Yes.  He was also a fan of other bands in the genre, such as Gentle Giant and Gong.  He even did an album with Jon Anderson of Yes in 1999, which has not been released.  His favourite Yes song is said to have been "Roundabout."  Not a huge surprise, since it's lots of people's favourite Yes song.  So, here's some exit music for him.

They're Here.

A post I made back in April about the Hells Angels holding their convention in Saskatoon has generated a lot of hits.  It's being held this week, and here's the latest report from the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.  The police expect some 400 Angels and associates to show up.  However Saskatoon police say they expect little if any trouble, as the Angels have better things to do than draw heat to themselves.  Not that they won't be watching, and they'll be joined by officers from other jurisdictions.  The Saskatoon chapter of the Angels apparently has 20 members, but police say they're looking to expand their numberrs.

You're Discriminating Against Me!

I can't believe how many of you out there are running contests and such forth that require going to some Facebook page to enter.  Some of us aren't on Facebook, you evil people.  So please stop your disriminatory ways!

Of course the reality is that if not being able to participate in something because you don't have a Facebook account is the worst problem in your life, you really don't have any problems. (And I'm not one to discuss my problems online.)  

It will be interesting to see if Facebook is still so prominent a few years ago.  After all a few years ago everyone and their brother seemed to have a Myspace page, and now it's pretty moribund.

Saw A King.

This being Thursday I went on my regular annoy the guys at Long and McQuade trip.  As I was looking at the Gibson/Epiphone side of the main room a couple of guys caught my eye, and I quickly recognised I was in the presence of a king.  Well, okay, the man sometimes refered to as King Buzzo, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, along with drummer Dale Crover.  They played a gig as Melvins Lite last night in Saskatoon and must have decided to take a quick peak at L&M before heading out of town.  I left them alone as they took a quick look at the guitars, and they soon left.  I suspect I might have been the only one who knew who they were, as none of the staff seemed to give them any special attention.

Sorry, Peter.

Famed British actor Peter O'Toole has announced he is retiring from acting at 80.  I must admit my slight surprise reading that this morning, as I had kind of thought he'd passed away.  I guess I should keep better track of such things.

Oh No!

I just found one of the bills in my pocket has a serial number that ends in 666!  Whatever shall I do?

Spend it like I normally would.  Seroiusly, did you think there would be any other answer?  People who worry about the number 666 should stop being so paranoid.  Besides, I hear there's some dispute whether 666 is the correct number anyway.

She's Still Here.

Hard to imagine that it's been 35 years already since this hit the air.  And it's still the same monarch on the throne.  I wonder what John Lydon thinks of the actual content of the song these days.

Happy Canada Day!

Have fun, everyone.

And by that I mean everyone.  All you foreign types have to celebrate Canada Day too.  That's an order.

A Few More Innings.

Jamie Moyer pitched his first inning in the majors before some of you reading this were born.  Specifically Moyer's debut was with the Chicago Cubs on June 14, 1986.  As I write this Moyer is at the Toronto Blue Jays AAA affiliate, the Las Vegas 51s, hoping to be called up by the Jays.  Moyer started the year with the Colorado Rockies, who let him go June 1st.  While there he became the oldest pitcher in Major League history to earn a win, and the oldest player to hit an RBI, at age 49.

So, why does he keep going?  What makes him want to keep pitching, to spend months away from his wife and family, after 26 years of the same thing?  Makes him want to so much he's willing to spend time in the  minor leagues?  But you could ask the same about many other players.  Omar Vizquel is still playing at 45.  And many players go on to work as coaches, scouts, or broadcasters after their playing careers end, continuing a similar lifestyle.  It seems like an interesting area of research, finding out what it is that keeps them at it, and what effect it has on the lives of their families.

It would also be interesting to know what leads so many of the sons of these players to follow in their footsteps, having seen from the other side what such a career will be like.  This includes Moyer's son Dillon, who was drafted in 2010 by the Minnesota Twins, and currently plays baseball at the University of California Irvine.  Somehow I doubt he'll have as long of a career as his father if he makes it to the bigs.

Menace Of The Endless Campaign.

I was not amused.  I just saw an anti-NDP attack ad, courtesy of the Conservative Party.  If you're not a Canadian you aren't likely to know that we aren't in the middle of an election campaign.  In fact the next election, barring some major surprise, won't be until October of 2015.  So why the hell are we seeing this stuff now?  Do we face a neverending election campaign, where the parties never stop harrassing us?  The party hacks who support such activities may wish to read the story of the boy who cried wolf. Bash the other guys too much and the voters may come to ignore your claims.

Overwatch.

It's a late night for me.  Sitting here playing a Pokerstars 25 cent sit and go I can hear what sounds like a plane overhead.  Sounds like Eagle 1, the Saskatoon Police Service airplane, might be busy tonight.

Odd Choice.

One of the Canadian Bravo channel's weekday offerings is Flashpoint, a series about members of a Toronto Police emergency response unit.  I caught part of yesterday's episode, and was a bit surprised it was aired.  In the episode "Attention Shoppers" a bullied teenage girl shoots one of the girls assaulting her in a crowded shopping mall, leading to a lockdown of the mall and further violence from the injured girl's fellow gang members. 

It's less than a month since the June 2nd shooting at Toronto's Eaton Centre shopping complex.  Two people died as a result, and several others were injured.  The shooter and the two dead men were all alledgedly connected to the Sir Thugs gang.  So it seems a bit odd to me that Bravo would air an episode with obvious parallels to a real life tragedy so close to the event.  The central characters in the TV episode may have been all women, and the reason for the shooting different, but it still revolved around a shooting in a mall.  You'd think Bravo would be worried about offending or triggering viewers.  On the other hand Bravo airs the series five days a week, so it may be hard to skip an episode without causing problems for your schedule.

Incidentally if you're a fan of Fresh TV's Total Drama and Stoked! cartoons you may want to catch this episode when it airs again in a few weeks.  The leader of the gang girls is played by Kristen Fairlie, the voice of Bridgette and Emma in the two series respectively. 

Here Comes The Sun.

Finally.  It loos like Saskatoon is going to see dry skies until at least Monday.  So get out and enjoy it.  Or get that outdoor work done you need to do.

They Love You J.R. Maybe.

Wednesday saw the premiere of a new version of the classic nighttime soap Dallas on the US cable network TNT.(It also debuted in Canada on Bravo.)  The ratings have come in, and TNT is calling it a success.  It drew almost 7 million viewers, which TNT is claiming is the number one series premiere for a scripted series on cable this year.  But if you were suspecting a lot of folks tuned in to see what a 21st Century version of an old favourite looks like, you may be right.  Only 1.9 million of those viewers came from the coveted 18-49 demographic, the rest skewing largely older, with the 25-54 grouping accounting for 2.5 million viewers, and the rest older viewers.

So, will Dallas keep up these ratings?  Or will it quickly slump as, curiosity satisfied, viewers go elsewhere?  I won't be surprised at all if it's 13 episodes(or less) and out for the series.  And as the L.A. Times article notes these ratings are tiny compared to what even the final episode of the show generated, demonstrating how much the TV market has changed.

The original was hugely influential, spawning various imitators of varying quality and success.  "Who shot J.R?" was a major pop culture concern for many when the series ended its 1979-80 season on that cliffhanger.  The series also became the butt of jokes for its notorious return from the dead of Bobby Ewing. He had been killed in a car accident at the end of the 1984-85 season when actor Patrick Duffy wanted to do other things.  But when there was general discontent with the following season Larry Hagman convinced Duffy to come back,   The season ended with his wife Pam, played by Victoria Principal, finding him taking a shower.  The opening episode of the next season explained that the events of the previous season were all a bad dream, and that Bobby had never died.

Larry Hagman reprising his role as J.R. Ewing in the new series could be considered a minor miracle.  He had a long term alcohol problem, and as a result in 1995 had a liver transplant.  Yet here he is, at 80, still with us, and still acting.  But it's pretty obvious that, whatever happens, this is likely his last hurrah.

I'm A White Guy.

I don't have a picture of me that goes with this blog.  I have what to many people is an odd last name.  So I figured it would be worth pointing out, in case anyone cares, that I'm a white guy.  Gueguen is a Breton name.  My ancestors were French, English, Scottish, and German.  So if for some reason you thought I was something else, I'm not.   In the past I've had a couple of people make comments elsewhere that indicated they thought I was Chinese or Vietnamese, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's happened again.

A Small Sound.

A heads up for anyone who has been reading the webcomic Blip.  Sage Leaves has finally managed to make an update.  Sage's health problems have been slowing things down, but we finally have a new panel.  So go show your support if you're a fan.

Flip The Flip Programs.

A thought for TLC and A&E:  Retire your old house flipping programs.  Flip This House and Property Ladder both date from before the big real estate collapse in the US.  Flipping a house is a different and much more iffy proposition in 2012 than it was in 2007.  So some of the stuff in those shows is kind of out of date.  At the very least anyone who is interest4ed in them has probably seen them all multiple times.  But I suppose that they must still get the right ratings or you wouldn't play them.

Here Come The Kookies.

If you're a night owl and like kooks you're in luck if you live in Saskatoon.  I just heard an ad on CKOM for Coast To Coast AM, the talk show formerly hosted by Art Bell.  It apparently will be debuting Tuesday at 1 AM. Given the local air time I assume you won't be hearing it live.  I'm pretty sure it aired in the past in Saskatoon, but I can't remember what station it was on.  Presumably CKOM figures that the listeners it attracts will be worth the cost of buying the show, instead of playing repeats of their own programming.  I personally won't be tuning in, as I can get my weirdo fix from other sources.

I Won't Read Them.

If you haven't heard already Toronto's Eaton Centre was the scene of a shooting today.  One person is dead, several others were wounded.  The thought came to mind of how long it took the idiot squad to start going on about how if only someone had been carrying a gun they could have stopped the gunman.  I would imagine it happened in fairly short order.  You'll excuse me if I don't go look, as their claims will just make me annoyed.  I can think of few things that would make things worse when someone is shooting up a mall than some amateur tying to play the hero by shooting back at him.

Interestingly one of the earliest online reports of the shooting may have been from a celebrity.  Brett Lawrie, the Toronto Blue Jays young Canadian third baseman, was in the mall when the shooting broke out.  He Tweeted about what he heard and saw after fleeing the mall with other patrons.  As you can imagine Lawrie has a lot of followers on Twitter, some 125 thousand according to the Toronto Star, so word got around very quickly.