Vatican slams 'brutal' clone claim

I can't really criticize the Vatican for this. If the Raelians' claim is true, then they performed what isn't a perfected process on an innocent life, callously birthing it with no care that it could be killed by the process.

From the Friday Five:

• 1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?

My biggest accomplishment was the move to my current apartment. After 9 years living in the same place, I've now moved on.
• 2. What was your biggest disappointment?

More of a sadness, really: a friend of my family, Rose Greenblatt, was diagnosed with major lung cancer. We have maybe a year more with her at most.
• 3. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions?

Not likely. I've been keeping a resolution from 1999 to find old friends I'd lost touch with however.
• 4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else?

I'll be visiting my Aunt in Burlington, VT. I'll be with my folks, my aunt, my cousins... I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
• 5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year's traditions?

Not really.

Generally when my local TV stations air ads about their CRTC license renewals, I ignore them.

This year my Global network affiliate announced that they wanted to air opinions on getting a new commercial jazz radio station in Montreal That is something I want to speak out for!

Smooth Jazz New Year's Eve at Time Square West (From Smooth Jazz News)

Man... reading this I wish I was a New Yorker.

Smooth Jazz News

A magazine site to read up on the latest happenings in this great artform.

I'm downloading the latest version of the Phoenix Web browser as I type these words... take the Netscape browser, minus the flaws, add tabbed browser views and built-in pop-up blocker and password manager feature, and you have a great product!

I've wanted to use the Mozilla browser for months, but it takes a more powerful PC than I currently have. Phoenix is a side-project version, without the code bloat Mozilla has.

Most of International AIDS Day is now over in my time zone... for 3 years I've been part of the Link and Think. What's really sad: in 3 years, there has been very little if any progress in treatment of the illness. Even though we know more about it than we knew years ago, they still haven't progressed enough towards a cure.

Here are some links for you to research the disease a bit:

JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center

HIV InSite Gateway

United Press International: Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world

Lots of news about things like birthdates of jazz luminaries as well as comings and goings

I'm in Vermont right now for Thanksgiving. Most of the other folks are out walking off all the extra calories they gained. I'm doing what I can instead: surfing the Internet.

CNN.com - Beauty queens flee as toll rises - Nov. 24, 2002.

It seems that religious zealot furvor won out again.

We are offended by the idea of this pageant. Let's kill people to show our displeasure! Yeesh...

In a world where the Muslim faith is trying to separate from the stigma brought by the terrorist bombers, crap like this won't help.

Sometimes, really crappy things happen:

I was thinking of setting up CDNow links from my affiliate links to the jazz records I review here from time to time... problem is, the company sent out an e-mail to all affiliates that due to their merger with Amazon, we all have to remove our links before December 3rd of this year. So much for that idea...

Much More Music is right now airing a film of Queen's concert in Bucharest. I'm taping it to watch tomorrow.

I did see the opening number though: my favorite power tune from the band: One World.

CNN.com - Pee Wee Herman actor charged - Nov. 16, 2002. First actor Jeffrey Jones, now Paul Reubens?

This is the second bout of legal troubles for Paul too... scary.

I've been slowly trying to solve my CSS woes on this blog... I notice in Phoenix that the post text is not only shrinking down the page, but the entries also get more narrow.

I will get this problem fixed - somehow.

Jazz Online

A site to promote a newsletter, but also offering links to some great music downloads, as well as paths to streaming preview clips. This makes me really eager for the day I have broadband, just to hear the clips well.

Time for the Friday Five!:

1. Did you vote in your last elections?

Yes. In the last three at least - both federal and municipal.

2. Do you know who your elected representatives are?

I paid extra care to learning who mine were, especially as they were the candidate that helped to oust a hated mayor from Montreal. Too bad he's a bigger hemorhoid as opposition leader.

3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about?

Haven't contacted them yet.

4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration? More in my younger days. I was part of a protest many years ago to keep my high school open. We didn't succeed, but I got on TV for it.

5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result?

No. I haven't been that civic minded.

City housing policies can be moronic at times:

I first called them about problems with my toilet Friday.

Sunday now, and they still haven't sent a plumber. In fact, I called them for the 6th time now, to be told it's city policy not to call plumbers on weekends. So, I now have to go 7 floors down to the community bathroom whenever I need one.

Good thing that I'm more mobile than most disabled people in this building, otherwise I'd be looking at a mess in this place.

This is incredibly sad: Jam Master Jay, one of the pioneers of rap music with Run DMC was shot dead Wednesday night. He was 37.

Before anyone points to the East-West rap violence: this group well predates gangsta rap. They had no violence in their music, the group that brought Aerosmith back with their remake of Walk this way.

Correction from yesterday: the Quebec Minister who resigned was the Minister of Justice, not security.

The Parti Quebecois (PQ), Quebec's ruling seperatist party, is really on their last legs, in my opinion.

First they decided to bring back Jacques Parizeau - the former PQ leader and premiere who managed to ruin himself in the media every time he opened his mouth.

Now the party Minister of Security made a very public resignation - and essentially said the reason the party is currently in third place in popularity polls is because the party has been straying away from their stated separation goals.

There's a moron ignoring the fact that the majority of people here - myself included - are sick of that particular issue.

The Two Towers Protest seems to be gone, based on the fact that the URL doesn't work.

I guess enough people showed the folks in charge the ignorance of their belief so that they pulled it.

Two Towers Protest. Some people go too far in their PC views... these folks are accusing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers of being so named to cash in on the September 11 tragedy.

Can't be the name of the book, written over 60 years ago or anything...

The news today was flooded about the arrest of two suspects who might be responsible for the sniper attacks in the US. They had the same caliber rifle, had a hole drilled in the back of their car...

Are these the people responsible? Maybe it's the paranoia freak inside of me, but I'm not so sure. It just feels too pat that the perpetrators of these heinous acts would be caught with all the evidence in tow.

Besides, the reports say they were caught in a blue car. The crimes were reported as emanating from a white van.

Far too often, I'm reminded again how life is unfair:

In Burlington, VT one of the closest friends to my family is Rose Greenblatt. I showed her Montreal's Chinatown many years ago, she came to my cousin Ellen's college graduation in Boston a few years ago too. She isn't a spring chicken at 87, but she's one of the closest people to a blood relation for us there.

Last week, she saw a doctor about a compound back fracture. When the results came back, the doctor suggested she come in with family. My aunt and a very close friend Joan Chernoff came with. The reason they were asked to come in: Rose has a major case of cancer.

Her doctor was good enough not to mention the c-word directly to her. Unfortunately, an idiot intern blurted it all out.

Here's a woman who diligently got checkups, pap smears, whatever... but American medical folks don't look for things diligently, so this has been building up for years untreated. Result: what might have been treatable is now terminal.

The doctor won't assign her chemotherapy. She has maybe 6 months left. Chemo would leave her sick and weak for maybe 3 months more.

Thing is, the doctor told this only to my aunt and the friend. Rose saw an Oncologist yesterday, and got the verdict. From what mom told me, after hearing this it was as if all the fight she had left drained away.

This sucks. DAMMIT, THIS SUCKS!! We'll all die some day, but fate can at least be good enough not to give us suffering too... especially this. Rose doesn't deserve it.

Sorry for the messed-up look on this blog the past two days. I've been playing around with the idea of CSS layouts. It's been a lot more challenging than the "easy change" the codes promised. I should have everything fixed up soon though.

I'll be trying a new template for this blog soon... one using CSS absolute positioning instead of [TABLE]s for design.

Hopefully, that will end my problems with journal shrinking text.

Tonight I cleared the final boxes from my living room heater. Just in time for the colder weather and the heat to kick in.

As a result I found my 2-CD edition of Miles Davis Bitches Brew. I'm not a fan of electronic jazz (I think you have to be into major psychadelic drugs to really appreciate it), but it brings me one step closer to gathering my entire collection of CDs.

This week's Friday Five:

1. If you could only choose 1 cd to ever listen to again, what would it be?

This would be a close tie: for sheer instrumental jazz brilliance, Sonny Rollins Global Warming. His musical riffs on this album are fantastic.

For song magic, Billy Joel's Glass Houses. This was the album that really launched him into the musical heavens, with songs like It's Still Rock and Roll to Me and Sometimes a Fantasy.

2. If you could only choose 2 movies to watch ever again, what would they be?

Let me see... my all time favorite film is Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. I'd choose the first Superman film as the second.

3. If you could only choose 3 books to read ever again, what would they be?

Isaac Asimov's I Robot, Robert H. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and the combined Riverworld saga by Philip Jose Farmer. OK, that may be cheating, since that's 5 novels combined.

4. If you could only choose 4 things to eat or drink ever again, what would they be?

Food: tacos and vegiburgers. Drink: Dr. Pepper and chocolate flavored soy milk.

5. If you could only choose 5 people to ever be/talk/associate/whatever with ever again, who would they be?

That is a tough call to reduce the list. I'll stick to folks you may know: my Holy Trinity (Meg Ryan, Michelle Pffeifer and Jennifer Conally), Isaac Asimov and Forrest J. Ackerman.

Cold Fusion Video Reviews: Complete Reviews Listing I used to attend a group activity called the FFIF - Fast Forward International Federation. Essentially, we tried to find films in video stores so bad that you had to fast forward through most of them to avoid brain burn. This site is the largest accumulation of FFIF films I've ever seen!

The idea of the US declaring war on Iraq is becoming a greater possibility by the day now.

It seems that the only 'legacy' of the current Republican regime was shown initially during the party political convention... the entire event was a brag of all the battles they started and won. Social improvement, help for the needy? Screw that - we're all about having bigger guns and blowing things up!

In a few short years, Iraq will be the nucleus of revenge attacks on the US - putting friends and family at risk for me - and yet again they'll be problems brought on, created by the decisions made today.

On the news today, a big deal was made of an audio tape, supposedly by Osama bin Laden, warning about more terrorist attacks.

I don't advocate ignoring the message entirely (ignoring threats was a problem in the cause of the September 11th attack), but right off the bat I had this thought: why would a terrorist give a warning to prevent their attack, as opposed to taking credit after the fact? Warning before possibly gives their attack a high chance of failure.

I suspect this message was more a case of bin Laden scum supporters trying to spread more fear.

All week I've heard nothing from Bubba Bush than a continued plan to attack Iraq.

On CNN today a Republican representative just babbled on about how his party excelled at warfare. To me, that's not something to be proud of.

For the second month in a row, the Blog Meetup in Montreal was cancelled due to a lack of confirmations. I was only one of two who confirmed.

Mind you, one of the hosts for the event says he's in Moncton, New Brunswick. I suspect with such a distance he won't be there, ever.

The West Side is a weekly free newspaper delivered in my building. Although by title you'd think it only covered the West end of Montreal, and for the most part it does (West Island, Montreal West, etc.). However, it also deals with the downtown core.

I picked it up this week because the feature article dealt with my favorite jazz restaurant-bar in the city, Upstairs - which is a basement place. Makes the name catchier, eh?

Anyway, the article is about a logbook the owner started there a few years ago for staff and customers alike. Jazz and Blogging... a combination that'll prove very popular with me. [smile]

I haven't done this in awhile: the Friday Five:

1. What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why?

I've always been a bookworm, so English was my favorite class overall. Once I was in Secondary 5 (Grade 11 for my US readers), I got hooked on Computer Science.

2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why?

I mention my favorite teacher on my personal site: Hope Hoey. She was my teacher in grades 3 and 5. She encouraged me to work with my imagination, and to develop the intellect they found then.

3. What is your favorite memory of school?

That would have to be the opening night of my grad year musical One Born Every Minute. I played one of the male leads. I still have it on videotape... I have to get it digitized very soon. The tape has withstood 17+ years, but I don't want to continue to tempt fate.

4. What was your favorite recess game?

I wasn't much into activity, so I can't say I had one.

5. What did you hate most about school?

Kids can be cruel, and the ones I grew up with were no exception. Racial slurs, pennies thown at me, and worms (because they creeped me out). Hard to narrow it down to one.

A day later, and I just created an online tile at The Yahoo Online Memorial Quilt.

You can too. If you do, you can link it to mine. I'm a85bebb47e.

I've tried to avoid facing this all day, but that's like ignoring the proverbial elephant in the corner...

Today is September 11th. The first anniversary of the horrific events orchestrated by evil men in the Middle East.

I, like most, saw it live on TV when it happened. I'll never forget. Nobody ever will.

OK, this may seem a bit sad to some... but I do anything I can to bring more visitors to this 'blog. I know: I'm such a geek. :) :

This is my new blogchalk:
Canada, Quebec, Montreal, NDG, English, French, Jeff, Male, 31-35, jazz, science fiction. :)

This coming Monday, my parents will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. I've been there for 35 of those years.

Wow.

I watched two parts of the Third Watch season opener on A&E tonight. The opener was set just before the September 11th tragedy and in the aftermath.

I couldn't watch the third part, because I was already an emotional wreck.

The first anniversary this year will be brutal.

I've now gotten Pedigreed... now I can find out what blogs are inspired by this one:

I'm putting this here rather than in the site template; I don't want to make the site design even busier.

CNN.com - Skakel gets 20 years to life for Moxley killing - August 29, 2002

I think this will be the first Kennedy relative to go to prison...

Well, I'm guessing that the folks who run Blogger are at Gnomedex, as I've not yet had an answer on this problem: while this blog looks fine on Internet Explorer, it's messed up on the different flavors of Gecko browsers. Each post gets progressively smaller in font size, until it's practically dots by the end of the page,

I've looked at the source code, and can't figure out why this happens.

If you have an idea how I can fix this, drop me a line at croft[at]bigfoot[dot]com. I'd say to post a comment, but the comment server is down at the moment.

Charles Bronson is the latest star announced as having Alzheimer's disease. He's 80 years old.

Bronson is famous for the Death Wish movie series, and helped contribute to Sergio Leone's Spaghetti western films years ago.

I'm grateful to AOL. Why? Because they provided me with two new drink coasters...

Oh, I know it's part of their non-stop campaign for new users, when they send out their CDs in the mailbox... but I never plan to join them - and since they switched to CDs from diskettes (which I could reformat and reuse), coasters seem the only thing these discs are useful for.

Further stuff on Elvis: I saw a show on Bravo tonight, speaking with friends and former lovers about the King.

First off, Colonel Tom Parker was a cold-hearted bastard. When told of Elvis' death, he said something to the effect of "Nothing has changed. I'll still get my 50 percent.". Nice to know Elvis was managed by such an insensitive turd.

Secondly, his life was really screwed up from the sound of it. Yes, he was a great entertainer, a singer whose music will live on for a long time. Outside of performing though, he was really, really messed up.

This isn't jazz-related, but it does tie in with a musically significant icon:

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.

True, so many impersonators have made him the butt of jokes. True, he's on far too many paintings on velvet, and here in Montreal I've seen way too many pictures of him...

One fact is still true: when he debuted to the public for the very first time, he revolutionized the landscape of popular music. No rock star ever had the impact he's had. The Beatles are a very close second - but if you ask someone to come up with a rock star off the top of their heads, 9 out of 10 times Elvis will be the first name that comes to mind.

Man... I'm currently staying in my air-conditioned bedroom. The heat is unbearable right now!

There's an old joke about Canada: when it's mentioned, people almost automatically ask, "Don't you have to wear your winter coat all the time?"

Well, this summer we've seen record-breaking heat of over 30 degrees Celsius (that's over 90 Fahrenheit). Today's high was 35 degrees, and with the humidity felt more like 42 - which would be around 108 Fahrenheit.

Winter my asp.

I mentioned my re-attempt to enjoy a Diana Kraal CD here awhile ago... thinking of it reminds me how much I wish Holly Cole was releasing a new album soon.

Between me and my friend Pat, we have pretty much everything that she ever released on CD or (*gasp!* low tech here) cassette tape.

I think it's safe to say we're fans. :)

This seems to be the week for sad celebrity news... first Josh Ryan Evans (the supposed youngest trial lawyer on Ally McBeal and the silly character Timmy on the sillier Passions) died at the way too young age of 20... now Charlton Heston announced that he has a neurological condition similar to Alzheimer's Disease.

I don't like the beliefs he's often preached... I'm very strongly against the NRA - but I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

No "Friday Five" answers from me today... the questions all center around a car. I don't drive - don't even have a license - so what answers I could give for that set would be pretty dull.

I was struck this morning by a fact: I think I've absorbed some tendencies of seniors in this seniors residence by osmosis.

Regardless of the time I go to bed, I've been awake for 7-ish in the morning most days since I've moved here. I'm a guy who rarely got out of bed for years before 9-something in the morning, usually even later. This with my radio alarm starting at 8:30 AM!

I'm getting geared up to look for a pod.

I just finished customizing my new blog location at Fateback. The webrings are likely broken, but most of them are offline for the moment anyways. When they send me the standard note of broken link, I'll fix them again.

You'll see a preview here of how this blog will look once I move it. I was intending to do it this evening, but the file paths on Fateback are a bit complex, and I need to figure them out first. So for now, the front page is how I plan to make things look.

I'll be moving this blog soon... I took poster Danielle's suggestion and set-up an account on Fateback.

As I said before, I've been happy at Angelfire. This has been my server for about a year since Freeservers started charging for FTP use (thus making the 'free' in their name a lie). I just feel the need to go to a popup-free site, and I can't really afford a domain and hosting right now.

I'm using this as reason to redesign this site again. I'm hoping I'll be satisfied with the results.

This week's questions interested me. From Friday Five:

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
   The short answer is: I'm multi-generation Canadian.
   The long answer: Eastern Europe. Poland, Russia and Romania. Ironically, folks always think my origins are Mediterranean.


2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
   Definitely Romania. Possibly Russia too. I'd just like to see the border area where my grandparents came from, Bysarabia.


3. Which would you least like to visit? Why?
   Paradoxically, the answer would be Russia as well. Mainly because of the religious persecution and the pogroms.


4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?
   Not really, because I don't really know much about the cultures.


5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)?
   My grandparents on both sides. My dad's parents came from the Russian and Polish areas, my mom's parents from Romania.

25 %

My weblog owns 25 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

I'm not as obssessed with blogging as I thought. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing...

I'm getting restless about this Webhost again... maybe it's due to all the blog designs that I've been seeing through NextBlog lately, maybe I'm just hankering for a new design...

Angelfire has been a solid host - the popup banner is a bit annoying obviously - but maybe I should move to Blogspot? Or, maybe I should just redesign my template top to bottom... reader opinions?

Life During Wartime

Nothing like a good bit of political thrashing to interest the soul.

I updated my Spinner radio program today to version 4.0. Since I'm still on dial-up internet, it isn't advantageous to stay connected all the time... but the sound quality was still good, with no buffering slow downs.

I started on the All Jazz channel. I tried one or two others briefly, but came back to the jazz quickly. :=]

The download URL is here.

I just updated the template file for this blog again. That's the second or third time today.

I just wanted to say something as well. I can't stand a blog with tons of cosmetic changes during a day but no additions of real content.

Following a link from another blog to Colorgenics.com, I took a test to determine my personality color.

As Blue, I'm one of the more creative and sensitive people, but also one who's faced a lot of adversity and am leery of more.

This test amazingly reflected me to a 'T'.

Save Internet Radio! -- Encourage the U.S. Copyright Office to reject the CARP recommendations.

Considering that I often listen to internet jazz stations (when I have access to a high speed connection), it's a given that I'd highlight this.

"If his presence does nothing for you, you're not human!"

That statement of sheer ignorance I just heard on the news uttered about the Pope's visit to Toronto.

Funny... I'm Jewish, so that doesn't make me human? As a person with MS, one who may be helped by embrotic stem cell research - a line of research this Pope has condemed - I'm not human?

Moron.

This is the last weekend of this year's Just for Laughs festival.

I'll miss it all - again - but at least there'll be a larger chance that I can make the next Blog Meetup. Maybe the street won't be blocked off this time!

Well, the first Blog Meetup has come and gone. I tried to attend, but the choice of venue made it impossible.

I'm guessing that a majority of people chose a downtown Second Cup location because it was in the middle of the street festival for Montreal's summer Just for Laughs.

Problem is, that means the street access was blocked. As a person with a physical disability, I took Adapted Transport, and they couldn't get through. They could leave me outside the blocked off area, but a) I'd be tired out just footing it to the place and b)I'd have needed to leave early just to maybe be at the right place to get picked up for home.

Result: I went there only to have to come straight home. Bah.

I own one Diana Krall CD, Love Scenes. I tried to listen to it again yesterday; I wasn't terribly impressed with this performance many years ago. Frankly, it still doesn't grab me.

Tomorrow evening is the first ever , and it's raining heavy.

I hope it isn't raining like this tomorrow! Unless my Transport cab is close to the door, I'll have trouble getting there.

Blogathon 2002 is coming soon. There's really no point in my taking part though... not having an always on connection, I can't leave my net feed on for 24 hours straight; that would tie up my phone line.

At least I'm taking part in the Blog Meetups, so I'll be getting to socialize a bit more.

Enetation is down again, so my comment system is offline. Not that anyone has used it yet... still, this is the drawback of free services I guess.

I just made a few more modifications to this blog, including adding code for my affiliation to Ebay.ca.

It won't cost you anything to become a member there, but they'll pay me a small amount for anyone who joins from here.

It's no secret that I intend to go to Worldcon 2003. I'm saving up for it, but the World Science Fiction convention will cost a lot for me. Every person who signs up to Ebay through me will help me to afford this event.

I already have an account myself. As soon as I can get my scanner installed again here, I have a box of Dragon magazines to sell through there.

Another Hollywood legend has died: Rod Steiger.

He won an Academy Award for his role as a bigotted sherrif in the film In the Heat of the Night. He also acted in over 80 films total.

He was 77 years old.

I haven't spoken about the music industry and MP3s lately, but this latest bit of news shows the industry's blindness showing yet again:

The industry has again had a record loss in sales. The reason bigwigs give for it: song piracy online.

Uhm... morons? The record sales year you had in 2000? That was before you attacked Napster and MP3s!

David Bowie in interview has spoken in a more intelligent form: he said essentially that in 10 years, copyright for music will be obsolete. The music industry has to accept that and find a new way to do things, or it'll be extinct too.

Rosemary Clooney a classic singer dating back to the Swing era, one of the last surviving stars of the movie White Christmas, has died. The announcement was made on the air tonight.

She will be greatly missed. By me as well.

Unfortunately, because of the weather, I may again miss the Montreal Jazz Fest.

As I mentioned in my last post, high heat makes me feel sluggish... and that's the case right now. I can't stay awake more than an hour at a clip.

This really stinks.

It's now officially summer. Hip-hip... bleh.

Like many MS'ers, heat makes me sluggish - actually, it makes me need to go back to sleep multiple times per day. That's throwing my writing off-kilter too.

My folks bought me an air conditioner. I'll hopefully have it soon.

I've added another comment system to this blog. What I like about the LiveJournal concept is the ability to grow communities via commentary. The last comment system I tried went out of business (rather, they became a pay system) so I guess this is take two. :)

I'll be tweaking the color and design settings over time, and publishing it to the whole site.

I finally got to reading about the line-up at this year's Montreal Jazz Fest. About time, since the newspaper was dated May 8th!

The concerts listed were the pay ones, and the shows are probably sold out by now (the festival starts on the 27th) but they make for an interesting view of where the organizers are going:

They open with Herbie Hancock and a tribute to John Coltrane and Miles Davis, two jazz legends in their own right. Jack DeJohnette (his son was a member of the band Me, Mom and Morgantaler) also has a show, and there'll be a celebration of Dave Brubeck's 80th birthday too.

Then we get the "Huh?" stuff: a show with Grammy Hip Hop winner Lauren Hill, and another show with Peter Gabriel - artists with nothing whatsoever to do with the jazz field.

In other words, the line-up is par for the course.

Site Officiel - Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.- Official Site

The festival starts earlier this year... and it's the 25th anniversary too.

I don't know if I'll get to take advantage of it - even if I'll be able to attend this year! - but I'll definitely buy my "Friend of the Festival" card/CD. I missed it entirely last year; don't want that to happen 2 years in a row.

Blog by Night

I linked to the old version of this site, before it got its own domain.

The language can be harsh, but this is from a fellow Canadian, and a fellow former Atari computer user. Those two facts make it link-worthy.

Bob Hope's 99th birthday was this week. Wow.

When I think of how his contemporaries in the comedy field are no more, it makes the fact that he's still with us all the more precious.

Today is the day after my move... almost everything's here, I still have to get a few smaller items at the old place, and I have weeks of unpacking to do... but I'm here.

I just got rid of my old computer desk. One more day of packing here, and I'll be moving.

It's a little weird adjusting to a "new" desk (I've had it for years, just never used it), but this is the same space saver I'll be using at the new place, so I'll gladly live with it.

I saw a tremendous basketball game tonight, in this year's Playoffs, with the Boston Celtics vs. the New Jersey Nets.

The Celtics used to be the franchise of basketball. They won a tremendous number of championships - but since Larry Bird retired, I don't think they've even been in the running. Longer-time fans than I can correct me if I'm wrong.

It didn't seem any better by the third quarter of this game... they were trailing by an embarassing 26 points at one time - on their home turf (the Fleet Center) yet.

Fourth quarter, they really turned things around, going from a 26 point deficit to a win by four points.

That's the kind of determination I like in the Playoffs.

This was almost an inevitability, but the remains of Chandra Levy were found yesterday.

While over a year has passed, making finding the murderer difficult, I think many have an idea where blame can lie, at least as the man who ordered it: Gary Condit.

I hope this doesn't remain an unsolved mystery. We have enough of those.

I showed my new apartment to a friend tonight. He came over to help me pack, and after we were done, we went there.

The bus to get there didn't go close enough. We had a two block walk from the bus stop that left me exausted. On the way back though, bus connections were easier.

He definitely feels the new place will be a major step up for me, with the neighborhood much better. I still see the place as much smaller; something I'll really have to get used to.

In exactly one week, I'll be in my new apartment.

I still have a lot of packing to do, and even with friends coming here to help me, the speed-up in packing seems negligible.

Oy.

Four days since my last post here. Since my birthday. Oy.

A large part of it is the fact that I've been devoting a lot of time to the Live Journal I started months ago.

Considering how I already post on three blogs, adding another one may seem crazy... but Live Journals have a level of community involvement that I find lacking in other blogs right now. You can use a separate utility like Blog This, but that costs extra. A shame.

Today marks my 35th birthday. To mark it, I use my favorite song from Xena:

For he's another year older,
Yes he's another year older.
Oh he's another year o-older...
- and that's a cryin' shame!

WIL WHEATON DOT NET

OK. I was one of the millions who despised him as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: the Next Generation. Still, he puts together a fascinating weblog.

Besides, how could I hate a member of Andre the Giant's posse?

Katherine Hepburn turns 95 this week. With her and Bob Hope in their mid- to late-nineties, that's pretty amazing.

How sad that Milton Berle isn't with us anymore too, to join them in a trio.

When I got home from my usual Friday get-together (man, the wind made it feel cold!) I had an answering machine message from my mom. She's back home for the weekend, but will be going back to my aunt in Vermont early next week.

My 35th birthday is this coming Tuesday - but it doesn't matter.

By the end of this month, I'll be moved to a new apartment. I'm still nowhere near done packing, I still don't know when we'll do the move - but that too doesn't matter.

What matters is that my uncle is in ICU there, with about 10% heart function, his best hope right now being a heart transplant -- and with the long wait on the waiting lists, that is a faint hope right now.

I've heard stories of miracles before, and I hope there's one here too...

Web Junkie -- canada.com

Mark is the sysop of a local science fiction-themed BBS I've been a member of for many years now. That guaranteed him a link.

I'm less than a month away from my move now... a few weeks, really.

I'm nervous about the fact that I still have a ton of stuff to pack, though.

With the sad news of my uncle's situation, and all the uncertainty from it, it really doesn't help.

I've been having trouble focussing this evening: one of my uncles, just shy of his 60th birthday, is in a hospital unconcious from two heart attacks. From what I've been told, we may be facing the worst.

In part, I'm feeling angry. For years now my aunt and others have been trying to get him to see a doctor about his wide girth, to make a healthier diet, but he stubbornly ignored all attempts to help him get healthier. He wouldn't see a doctor out of either fear or ignorance... and now that has led to what could be a sad loss for us at a far too early age.

I'm worried more for my aunt and cousins. I know my aunt has had heart troubles of her own, and high cholesterol - but she's been taking more care of herself. My cousins are in their early 20s too.

The Infinite Matrix | Bruce Sterling | Schism Matrix Current Day. A blog by author Bruce Stirling, ome of the fathers of cyberpunk.

April showers bring May flowers. So, what do showers in May bring, other than aggrivation?

It was raining most of today... and it was also cold enough that my breath was freezing in the air. Since I had a meeting to go to in the afternoon, and an eye doctor appointment early evening, I was stuck "enjoying" the lousy weather.

Stuff like this makes it less likely I'll miss this apartment. As a basement place, humidity always leaves it feeling chilly until mid-August. Then it becomes a sauna.

I'm less than a month away from my move, and I'm still trying to get my packing finished.

Today I finally stored away a part of my comic collection that hadn't been put in acid free boxes for years. I found issues of DC Comics classic Watchman series, as well as issues of Camelot 3000 (great series. Too bad it was over 2 years between the publication of issues 11 and 12). Also early issues of Miracle Man, a series currently in litigation on rights.

In over 20 years, I've really gathered some classic stuff.

I just changed the Website tracker for this Blog. While Site Tracker makes a larger graphic, at least I'll no longer see how the site was discovered by pervs looking for skin or for gruesome images (though these words are sure to get more of them).

Besides: Extreme Tracker still really belongs to the old site on Freeservers... it was time to get a new code.

So Robert Blake was finally arrested for the murder of wife Bonnie-Lee Begley... a year after the murder.

She sounded like a twisted woman - but that didn't in any way make it acceptable to kill her. The guilty party must pay.

I'm just amazed they waited so long to try for a conviction. Everything Blake has said in the last year pointed to a messed-up individual, one seemingly obsessed with guns.

Some are comparing this to the O J Simpson trial, for a celebrity being on trial. I'm hoping this one doesn't get away with the crime.

Independent News.

I'm not only a lover of Jazz. I'm also a writer, and lover of science fiction. Damon Knight had a major place in the field as an editor, a critic, a writer and member of the Futurians along with my idol Isaac Asimov and many others.

This eulegy speaks volumes about a great man.

It's official: David E. Kelly has announced that Ally McBeal will end with this season's final episode.

This really isn't too much of a surprise. I've been a fan of the show since the very beginning - but a few episodes into this season, I gave up on it. The magic just felt gone, the new characters and situations just not gripping.

A few things have happened in the world the past few days. I'll cover them in different posts; it'd be a tragic mistake to even compare them slightly in import.

Last night, US forces killed 4 Canadian troops, in a "friendly fire" incident: an American fighter pilot fired on Canadians performing a drill by accident.

This marked the second time in a week that such an accident happened. It's almost as if bored soldiers, not achieving high kill numbers, decided to take themselves out.

This was very, very sad.

CNN.com - Actor Robert Urich, dead at 55 - April 16, 2002. He was a television icon for my generation, and I'm a fan of detective fiction - so Dan Tanna and Spencer will always hold a place in my heart.

When he was first diagnosed with cancer, I'm sure that many of us rooted for him to beat it. He did for a time... but in the end, lost.

Goodbye Mr. Urich.

Time for some Web-geeking again: I'm testing out a 32-bit Windows utility to blog without logging into Blogger first.

The program is called Bloggar. I know; not an original derivation...

I can tell we've started to hype the Montreal Jazz Fest for this coming year: our local CTV station aired Jazz: A Century of Music today.

It was nice to see some of the legends of the business again, people not with us anymore, like Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and more... we were lucky to hear such greats in the 20th Century.

I just learned of two more sad passings. Not that anyone passing away isn't sad, but these two, while an inevitable part of our lives, still meant a lot:

Billy Wilder: Last of the legendary Old Hollywood directors, the man who directed Sunset Boulevard (from which we have the famous line "I'm ready for my close-up now Mr. DeMille!"), Some Like it Hot (my all-time favorite screwball comedy) and many, many others. He died of pneumonia at 95.

Elizabeth, the "Queen Mum": at 101, she died in her sleep.

At such a phenomenal age, her loss isn't at all sudden. This was a former commoner who supported Edward VIII in 1936 when he abdicated the throne, and who rallied the people of London during the Blitz.

The fact that she essentially lived the entire 20th Century is phenomenal.

Goodbye, Billy and Elizabeth. You'll be missed.

Part of the 'blogging experience: I just changed the code for one of my Webrings yet again.

Most of the snow in Montreal melted again today. With my strong belief in Murphy's Law, I'm expecting it to snow again soon.

Milton Berle dead at 93

A sad loss of Dudley Moore is followed by even sadder news. "Uncle Miltie" is a classic we'll miss horribly.

What a bittersweet day: I was going to Vermont for Passover, but plans changed when a(n ultimately bad) doctor said she had a hernia. My folks were worried, and came to stay at my sister's so that my dad could bring sis to a hospital, where they were stuck waiting for most of the day.

Turns out it wasn't a hernia, so we all got together for dinner at her home.

I get home, relieved and enjoying the company of my nephew and nieces -- then heard on TV that Dudley Moore died of pneumonia, a complication caused by the terrible illness he had.

He had a wry British wit, and was part of more memories than I can count. I'll miss him.

I always have fun visiting my friend Pat's Live Journal: he tries out different "Which character are you?" quizzes, and I then try them for myself...

The latest was "Which Calvin character are you?". I'm closest to Hobbes, the coolest stuffed tiger in the universe.

Montreal continues with unconditional weather patterns: having no snow on the ground since early January, we had a major enough snowfall yesterday, so now there are a few inches of snow on the ground...

CNN.com - Bush talks of threats, concerns and U.S. judges - March 14, 2002

Nuclear weapons are an option to protect American soil? Bush talks of Saddam Hussein using "weapons of mass destruction" and he'd consider using such a weapon as OK if he pushes the button!?

This is why Republicans in office is scary. A party that believes "might makes right" should be nowhere near power... it was scary enough when Regan was near the missile launch button. Now we have to worry about a man who may destroy the world without a second thought.

I hope his advisors convince him to forget these thoughts.

Yesterday marked 6 months to the day the worst event in our recent memory: the 9-11 tragedy.

Have no doubt about it - this tragedy will be fresh in this generation's minds for many years to come.

I forgot to mention last time: Diana Krall is also the musician featured in a car ad here in Canada. Makes sense, since she's a Canadian herself...

Wow... I haven't posted here in a week! Sorry about that... it's been a hectic week of phone tag for me, trying to get everything ready for my apartment move at the end of May...

I heard on the radio today that Diana Krall is going to have another show in Montreal this month... at last year's Jazz Fest, she was touted as the next big thing in Jazz crooners.

I have her next to last CD. Frankly, I'm not that impressed. Mind you, as a fan of Holly Cole, it takes a lot to impress me over her song stylings.

So, it's official now: Rosie O'Donell has come out of the closet, confirmed that she's gay.

So what? Really, is this important to anyone? Does it change the fact of her show being entertaining?

If you really think that, I have to quote one of her often used lines: "Are you smoking crack?"

Fact: this is a woman who gives away a ton of goodies to anyone who sits in on her show. Fact: this is a woman who's given guests trips (like newly married people, the Survivors), or needed supplies (people who just had multiple births).

Fact: when a young boy came on her show with an original piece of Titanic history, hoping to raise money with for a cause, Rosie right away bought it - for 20 thousand dollars.

She's one hell of a person. Anyone who thinks her sexuality changes that fact needs their head examined.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with jazz, but I have to say it:

Way to go Team Canada!!

I'm not a hockey fan in the least - but a) the game was invented in Canada, b) I am Canadian, and c) finally, we've regained the top spot in our own game.

For those facts alone, I'm proud.

Chuck Jones, animator, dies at 89

I saw Chuck at a special gala at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival in the late 1980s.

As an animator by schooling - hell, just as a guy who loved his work - this is sad news.

We have a radio station here in Montreal called CHOM. This station has been known for over 3 decades as the home of rock and roll in Monreal.

They just made a format change though: now, they're a classic rock station. they have about 977 tunes from the past of music history, and that's what they'll play.

Problem is, music grows and evolves. Instead of continuing to celebrate this, make us all aware of it, now they're just looking back.

I think the next ratings period will show a huge drop in listeners for them.

I may have some success at clearing up this apartment without selling off my memories... one of my friends has offered to store my comic collection of over 20 years.

He lives in Maryland - at least a day away and in another country from me. Regardless, it'll mean that when someday I move again to a larger place, I won't have to mourn the loss of irreplacable things, books I'll never see again.

I just learned that Princess Margaret passed away. Mere days after Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee (50 years as queen), her sister is now gone.

Yeah, we all go someday; this is just one more of my lifetime's royals we have to say goodbye to.

Man, I haven't posted in a week. Bad Andy - er, me!

Life changes are coming fast and furious right now: tomorrow I see an Adapted apartment, possibly where I'll be moving in the next few months.

I've been at the current place for almost 9 years now. I'll be a little sentimental on leaving it, but the new one'll have many, MANY plusses to it.

I just took another cool "Who are you?" quiz, this time "Which Super Mario character are you?" As a cild of the 80s, I could relate.

My vote results were tied between 2 characters:

I am a celebrity, a natural born leader, and a mascot. When old people think of video games, they oftentimes get a mental image of me. Countless times I've been called into battle to save Peach from various baddies, even back in the days of Atari, and I have never faltered. Others may be jealous, but who cares? I'm Mario!

What Super Mario Bros character are you?

and

I am a hip critter. I showed up fasionably late with Super Mario World and have started launching your own career since then. In maybe 10-15 years, my popularity will rival Mario's. Not that I'm competing with him. He's my bud. I'm good at getting and keeping friends, and they value me for that. After all, who else would carry them on their back through ice, fire, and rain? Sometimes I think I'm taken for granted, but I know that my friends have my back. Of course they do. Who would screw over Yoshi?

What Super Mario Bros character are you?

2 hours.

That's how long it was from the end of work today and the time I got home.

Transport may pick up the phone line faster, but in terms of getting folks around, it still stinks.

Adding to the deaths due to illnesses caused by smoking: Peter Gzowski, a broadcasting legend here in Canada, just died from emphesyma, at 67. He too was a smoker until 2 years ago.

This message may come off as a PSA - but I really don't care.

This weekend, Carol Burnett's daughter Carrie Hamilton died of lung cancer. She was 38 years old, and a smoker.

38. I turn 35 this coming May. She was a mere 3 years older.

Will smokers get the message now? Will you blind twits stop? 38 years old is too damn young to die. My aunt was too young when lung cancer claimed her last year at 53 - but the tragedy there was the fact she didn't even smoke. Here, it was the case - and she was too fucking young.

Maybe folks think "Oh, that won't happen to me!" WAKE THE HELL UP!! Every cigarette you take, every single puff... it's nothing better than playing a game of Russian Roulette with your health. Graveyards are full of the remains of folks who thought it wouldn't happen to them!

Montreal finally had winter snow catch up... a mini-blizzard Wednesday and Thursday finally hit.

At least we can keep Greece and Buffalo, NY company.

Today, Canada mourns the passing of another of our idols: Frank Shuster died from pneumonia at 85.

Along with his partner Johnny Wayne (who died in 1990 at the age of 72) Wayne and Shuster were a fantastic comedy team, loved by Ed Sullivan in the USA but still stayed to make their fame here in Canada.

Now the team only exists on archived footage. Goodbye, Frank.

Sometimes, I just can't win...

Winter in Montreal has so far been pretty mild, but I thought one of my winter mitts was missing. Then, I found it yesterday - and lost it again in a cab home from work. Blah.

I went downtown to have lunch at Wendy's. It just seemed right to honor Dave that way.

Another sad day, as we lost another well-known celebrity:

Not as great a significance as George Harrison - but then, any loss in the world is sad. Regardless of how you touch lives, it still matters, even if you only touched the lives of loved ones.

Dave Thomas, the owner and head creator for Wendy's restaurants, was someone who touched us all in some way. I've always enjoyed the food at his restaurant chain, but also felt reassured by his presence on TV.

He was only 69 years old, claimed by liver cancer. Cancer has claimed far too many people around me of late, both loved ones and stars.

Take the Which Beatle Are You? Quiz.

The test answers are a bit mean at times, and with George now gone too, it's a bit sad... but it was still interesting to read whom I rate as.

So far, either the counter is still reading visits to the old site, or people have begun to visit this new one... either way, Jazzlife is still getting a decent stream of visitors... and not just visits from me, either!

Happy New Year!