Today I gave away a story about me. Once it's gone it's gone, and it's no longer my story. A story is a dissection of any point in the universe, any point from A to B in our existence.

And so it is a dance around a pin point we call the truth.

Why Punctuation and Such Matters

Which is the actual headline?

Doctor who performed abortions shot to death.

Doctor Who performed abortions, shot to death.

Resistance is Futile

Blogging seems so old-fashioned in this hyper-text world of 250 character instant updates straight from the canaries beak. 'Good' bloggin seems almost like a literary endeavour compared to Facebook and tweets. For me the Golden Age of Blogging was probably 2002-2004. Why am I still doing this? Why did I do it then?

Then: Because it was a new medium. A needed outlet that paralleled major life changes and a means to funnel a lot of thought and creativity and also to connect to people.

Now: Habit? Nostalgia? Boredom?

Latest shift: My love for growing things has intensified. Lot's of herbs, flowering plants.

Next Step: Move somewhere with some earth of our own.

And then i created a twitter account

The Real Punk Rock

Getting Older. Getting Better

If an i-Pod plays without earphones...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_a_tree_falls_in_a_forest

Nuclear bomb tests help to identify fake whisky

It's true. That's all I have to say on the matter.

HOME

After I got divorced I would dream about living in tall shaky buildings. I would wind up the staircases until I could see the earth and its curve far away on the horizon. Then the wind would blow and the building would squeak and creak and protest. It's funny that I live in Sandy Hill. In a crooked house. Sometimes the wind blows through the place. And the ghosts waltz and twirl and say "hush".

Watching Spring Do its Thing

Although we officially have 4 seasons we often skip Spring in this part of the world. From snow fall warnings to sun tan lotion comes within a matter of weeks. Yesterday was our first summery day of 2009 with t-shirt and shorts temperatures. from the balcony I literally saw the green buds turn into baby leaves in the matter of a few hours. it was an old-fashioned kind of slow day, reading the newspaper actually printed on paper, drinking beer and enjoying the molasses slow warmth of the sun.

Later in the day a storm warning glow reflected off of the steely clouds massed along the north and swiftly turned into our first summer tempest. It was appropriate as we were watching 'Operazione Paura', an Italian Giallo by Mario Brava. The wind blasted my brushes and canvas along with a lamp off of the table in the front window. It had the strength to also toss two large recycling carts into the street. And so another season of another year begins.

The Story of Yonlu

This never would be with out computers. I wonder what did never happen?

I Got Google Mapped

A few weeks ago there was a mention in the news about the street view, Google mapping of Ottawa and the issue of Canada's privacy laws. As it were I was walking down my street, just a block west of my residence, when the Google camera car drove right past me. I gawked straight at the camera trying to see what the set-up was. I had my sunglasses on but those who know me will know me (if they use the 'footage'. It's not up yet). I wish I had, had my phone on me. I would have called Leslie. She could have gone out on the balcony as they passed by.

Still Alive

Paul Williams Update

Anonymous volunteered the following definitive link on Paul Williams present day Web presence.

Tamil Tigers on the Streets of Ottawa

The Tamils are protesting all along Wellington for the past week and the numbers keep growing. It's not clear what they want from the protest signs. I know there is a civil war in Sri Lanka but that's about it. From the signs I've picked up that they want Canada (the government) to do or not do something.

I don't think I really ever appreciated how terrifying this woman was at the time. i was too young to see the maniacal tension in her body.

Late Night Thoughts

The other night Leslie and I were sitting on the couch watching the cats meander through the living room. Leslie said, "It's funny to think that they are made of cat food." It's true. The aisles are filled with all the raw ingredients that make life. Cats, dogs, me, you.

Paul Williams Special

For Bob

Paul Meets the Bradys



Paul Meets the Hardy Boys



and finally Paul Williams meets the Muppets:

And where is Paul now?

According to whet.net

"Problems with alcohol and drugs drove his proile much lower over the 80's, finally getting clean and sober in 1989, Williams became a licensed drug rehabilitation counselor and got involved with Musician's Assistance Programme, a non-profit organization by and for musicians helping them with their substance abuse issues.

He also starred as Truman Capote in the one-man show on Broadway Tru and released Back to Love Again his studio return in 1997.

He also secured a recurring role on daytime television's The Bold and the Beautiful in 1998 and returned to songwriting. "

So it's ten to twenty year old information. I guess they didn't have spell check back then. You could always check wikipedia if you wanted to bother.

Nerd Test Results: Cool High Nerd

Home of Sapien

I've been thinking today about moving. Five years in the same place makes me itchy and that's the number on the horizon. And so I wonder, what kind of place can I call home?

There are contradictions here, or at least apparent contradictions. I like the must and clutter of a lived in room. A room brimming with years and prickly with history. A room that creaks and aches and effuses the facts of life. But I also like the white empty echo and light of a fresh untouched space. A room that is a blank canvas.

I like the sky on a plain open field. I crave the shelter of a wood framed cabin. I desire the gummy resin on an old pine tree. I need the clarity of morning breeze.

So what I want is all of this.

Is it just me or is this add from the Dairy Farmer's of Canada really creepy? Well I know it's not just me as Leslie pointed it out to me first.



I mean Grandpa tells the little girl to use her imagination and then what does he do? Why he just hacks up her little cheese suitor into bits and dumps the remains of his hacked corpse all over her dinner. What kind of lesson is that? And he's smiling while he does it!

Friday the 13th

I am superstitious but I do not believe in superstition. It's what you would call a conflict between the rational mind and the emotional. I don't think that there is anything particularly foreboding about the con fluence of an arbitrary system of numbering and of naming time periods. And yet there always lingers in the background the notion that maybe bad things are bound to happen because it is Friday the 13th. Like an ostracized boy at the prom who stands to the side never taking to the floor, it is there if I choose to look. But I try to avoid it. I don't want to see what might be there.

Meanwhile I've decided to do some spring cleaning of my life. I put 200 vinyl recordings on sale last night. I got two responses almost immediately. I decided owning 800 records of which I rarely ever touch was undesirable. I have 400 more set aside for eventual dispersal and 200 core records I want to hang on too because I just simply like having them around.

It was like going through an old photo album last night sorting through the stacks of sleeves. Memories from 1980-2004 at which point I stopped buying and was sucked into the world of mp3s. I stopped buying new lps sometime in the early 1990s when the industry moved to the CD as the standard format. There was a transition period for year or two when I didn't own a CD player and I purchased cassettes.

Here is the plan: I made three piles: 1. Keepers, 2) dumpers, 3) Transfers.

Keepers are discs that have sentimental value as objects themselves.
Dumpers are discs I never really listened to more than once and have little to no attachment to. Transfers are discs with content that isn't readily available in digital format but that I want to transfer to such. Maybe even just one song. When I'm done discs in this categpry will also be sold.

Gotta have a hobby.

Obama's in Town

It snowed all night. The mire and grunge has been freshly painted with a coat of pristine white just in time for Barrack Obama's first Presidential visit to Ottawa. All of the down town core is closed off to the general public, just as it was when Bush visited in 2004.

This visit is being met by the public with a much greater enthusiasm than last time, however there is a lot of commentary about whether our Prime Minister is as enthusiastic. The tides have changed and America now has the more liberal minded leader, while we have a bush era ideologue, mind you a largely neutered one, thanks to our Parliamentary system.

It's amazing the machinery that is involved in a Presidential visit. The flying in of a fleet of armoured limousines, the closing off of traffic, the removal of trash bins and mail boxes along the motorcade path, the gating off of the busiest part of the city and the positioning of tactical units atop the buildings, not to mention the helicopters that constantly sweep the air like overgrown prehistoric insects.

Sign by Danasoft - Get Your Free Sign

Sign by Danasoft - Get Your Free Sign

Bale Out:

Disseminating things like this is the reason for the internet:
RevoLucian's mix of Christian Bale's outburst on the Terminator set.
WARNING: Plenty of sailor talk.