Archive for February, 2008

Weekly column: the civil war

Published February 29, 2008 in slack woman. 8 Comments

Go here for live column.

There are two sides in this war: me vs. me

On one side is the noble cause of me needing to earn a living. As you know, I’m a typist. My troops are my fingers, and by extension, arms, shoulders, upper back. My artillery consists of a keyboard, a mouse and a flat-screen computer.

On the other side are the rebel forces who have attacked and occupied certain muscle groups in my upper back, neck and shoulders. They are causing tension and pain.

It’s ugly, this war, and I’ve had to call in reinforcements - the lumbar support cushion. I’ve also called up the reserves - the massage therapist, Epsom salts and various heating pads.

There are new tactics too: 15 minute computer breaks and regular yoga stretches.

My troops are growing tired and weary but we soldier on. Because that is what typists do. They keeping going.

Surfer dudes take to waves

Published February 28, 2008 in photos. 14 Comments

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I live near a beach that is considered to be a surfer’s paradise. The dudes and dudettes come by the droves with their wet suits and surfer boards. Temperature is not an issue with these people.
Last Sunday was no exception. It was sunny and warm for February, and I happened to be there with a camera and a long lens. Here is one short journey of one such surfer dude.

Favourite pregnancy quote

Published February 28, 2008 in quotes. 1 Comment

My best mate’s girlfriend is six months pregnant. She said to me “Do you want to feel the baby?” On reflection, I think she meant on the outside.

Jimmy Carr, British comedian.

What’s overrated? Um, White Stripes?

Published February 26, 2008 in Uncategorized and music. 20 Comments

Awhile ago a survey found that Nirvana’s Nevermind album was the most overrated of all time. Here is the list. It comes from BBC Radio 6.

1. Nirvana - Nevermind

2. Coldplay - X&Y

3. The Libertines - The Libertines

4. Oasis - Definitely Maybe

5. U2 - The Joshua Tree

6. Radiohead - OK Computer

7. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

8. Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

9. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks

10. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

Other than Oasis, I don’t really agree, but that’s the beauty of lists. You don’t have to agree. They’re opinions.

So in that spirit here is my vote for most overrated band of 2007: White Stripes.

It’s not that I dislike their music. I like it. In fact, when I saw them live this summer I admired Jack’s multi-pronged musicianship and Meg’s sledgehammer percussion. Their music is good. The show was good. It was great fun.

But it’s the cult-like status I don’t understand. Is it the alt-indie thing? Is it their eccentricity? The fact that they go on money-losing tours and make surprise appearances in public? Or the fact that an ex-husband and wife can tour together?

Maybe there is a self-fulfilling prophecy in the their album “I think I smell a hype.” Maybe this is a big experiment in hype and everyone’s fallen for it? And Jack and Meg are getting the last laugh.

I don’t know but they just don’t live up to the hype halo that surrounds them.

Is it just me? Why don’t I get the White Stripes hype?

Can someone - anyone - please explain Ben Mulroney?

Published February 24, 2008 in Canada. 21 Comments

Ben is Canada’s answer to Ryan Seacrest. Ryan hosts American Idol. Ben hosts Canadian Idol.

But there is a difference: Ryan is funny, witty and genuine. Ben is shallow, sycophantic and slippery.

His insincere delivery was an embarrassment on the pre-Oscar red carpet. In response to some stupidism that fell out of his mouth, Oscar nominee Ellen Page replied with an ice-cold and withering: “Ben Mulroney, you are one smart guy.” She could have won the Oscar for that.

Someone else - a man wearing glasses (I’m sorry I didn’t catch his name) - accused Ben of spouting cliche, which of course he was.

OK, he can’t help who his father is. But even without that, Ben Mulroney is toe-curlingly embarrassing, especially when he leaves our country and starts waving the Maple Leaf flag as he did on the Oscar red carpet.

Imagine if people thought all Canadians were like Ben Mulroney? Luckily no one outside of Canada knows who he is, but the flag-waving does scream “Canadian” so the rest of us end up wearing him.

So please, someone, explain the appeal of this man, Ben Mulroney. Because I’m at a loss and my toes are hurting from curling under with embarrassment.

G-spotting

Published February 23, 2008 in culture. 8 Comments

Back in the 50s a man called Gräfenberg said he discovered the Holy Grail of female sexual pleasure. He modestly named that spot after himself: G-spot.

Then in the 1980s another man called Stewart said he proved the G-spot was a myth: G-spot not.

In 2008, yet another man called Jannini said that some women have a G-spot and some women don’t.

To G-spot or not to G-spot?

Hmmmm.

And what do you suppose that this all proves?

That men, bless ‘em,  just can’t make up their minds.

I’ve updated my blogroll

Published February 23, 2008 in blogs. 13 Comments

There’s some interesting, amusing, goofy and funny stuff here.
Have a visit.
And if there’s somewhere else I should be visiting, let me know.

Weekly columun: So I get the BlackBerry….

Published February 22, 2008 in Uncategorized and slack woman. 22 Comments

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I get the holster and the hook to attach it to my belt.

I get the fancy email address and the special passwords. I get the “cool” of behind a BlackBerry hipster.

And then I get something really funny.

A call.

I hadn’t been anticipating this. What do I do? There’s so many buttons and they are so small. My finger’s so big.

My finger needs to go on a diet in order to work this thing.

Don’t forget the lunar eclipse tonight

Published February 20, 2008 in Uncategorized. 18 Comments

Update: In the left margin are some shots of the red moon taken from my back yard around 11:30. Click on any shot and it will take you to my flickr page.

It starts at 8:43 pm Eastern Time. That’s 9:43 pm where I am. The skies are clear and my camera is set up on the tripod. Have fun. This is the last one till 2010.

Here is the deal from this website

The easy-to-watch event will play out in several stages as Earth’s shadow blocks sunlight from shining on the moon. Weather permitting, the eclipse will be visible from all locations in the United States, according to NASA. Along the Oregon and northern California coasts, the moon will rise during the early stages of the eclipse, however.

When to watch

Eclipses occur only at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are in a perfect line. Because the moon’s orbit around Earth is not perfectly aligned with the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun, eclipses do not occur at every full moon.

The moon will enter Earth’s umbral shadow (the full shadow) at 8:43 p.m. ET (that’s 7:43 p.m. Central, 6:43 p.m. Mountain and 5:43 p.m. Pacific) on Wednesday, Feb. 20. It will appear as though an ever-larger bite is being taken out of the moon.

Some 78 minutes later, the moon will slip into full eclipse. About 51 minutes later, a bright scallop will appear as the moon starts emerging. It will be completely out of the umbral shadow at 9:09 p.m. Pacific time, which is 12:09 a.m. ET on Thursday morning.

I have seen the future of music….

Published February 19, 2008 in music. 10 Comments

… and it is Sonos.

I’ve had this wireless multi-room digital music system for a couple of years now. A handset and zone player give wireless access to the music stored on your computer.

You can make playlists, listen to local radio and access 300 free internet radio stations. You can also play different music in different rooms of your house.

But the real show-stopper is this: Sonos now gives you access to a library of millions of songs, new, old, indie, jazz, blues, classical, opera, comic monologues, obscure - whatever.

The Sonos system is now integrated with subscription music services like Napster and Rhapsody. For less than ten bucks a month, you can access pretty well anything your heart desires.

Bye bye ripping, downloading, tagging, burning and hand-wringing over the ethics of peer-shared digital music.

If Jacy or Bad Tempered Zombie or Beth or TagBagger mentions some great new music, I can just listen to it instantly. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to listen again. If I love it, I can store it on a playlist and listen over and over.

This has changed everything for me. It is, in the parlance of modern economics, a disruptive technology. It has made new music easy, fast and cheap.

I don’t normally do product endorsements on GT, but this is more than just a product.

For the music lover, this is the future.

Favourite wife-on-husband quote

Published February 17, 2008 in quotes. 18 Comments

No wife has ever shot her husband while he was doing the vacuuming

Kathy Lette, Australian wit, author and comedienne

The flower’s lost a few petals

Published February 16, 2008 in blogs. 6 Comments

Update: got the bling back

Did an update on my Wordpress yesterday, but I seem to have lost some of the bling in the sidebars. Most importantly, my blogroll.

I’m working on this and will have everything restored ASAP

Like the late Princess Diana once said:

Published February 15, 2008 in slack woman. 9 Comments

“There were three of us in this relationship….”

Me, him and his BlackBerry.

Go here for live column

Back up again….

Published February 15, 2008 in Uncategorized. 7 Comments

I shut GT down last night to investigate a problem.

It was a cloaked injected iframe inserted into a post from December. It’s not a huge problem, but if these things are cloaked they are hard to spot. And when your eye is not entirely code-friendly, even harder. My excellent host Zipium helped me out.

The cloaked iframe been removed and we are in business again.

Now I just have to get Google off my back.

A tonic for VD sufferers

Published February 12, 2008 in Uncategorized and odd things. 23 Comments

Are you choking on a diet of force-fed Valentines Day sentimentality?

Are you drowning in a tsunami of witless schmaltz that crashes over you every February 14th?

Are your teeth hurting from saccharine commercial pitches that fail to tug your heart strings?

Are you having disturbingly vivid fantasies about bludgeoning Hallmark cupids?

Do you scan dictionaries searching for a Bah Humbug! equivalent word for this time of year?

Do you want to set fire to people who wish you “Happy Valentines Day.”

If you have one or more of these symptoms, then I’m afraid that you have VD.

It strikes down many good a person at this time of year. You can spot a sufferer by guilt-laden postures and eyes that are glazed over with sheer boredom. You may also see them running about buying things at the last minute for fear of what will happen if they don’t.

My heart goes out to fellow VD suffers. I don’t have the cure, but here is a temporary tonic to get you through the next few days.

Good luck and stay well. It’ll all be over on Friday.