I finally succeeded in republishing my archives so that they were readable!

About time. 3 years worth of material to re-code would have been exhausting work.

Once again, a Friday Five (a day late), that interested me:

1. If your life were a movie, what would the title be?
Hmm... the filmmaker in me comes out... I'd say I Get Up Again.

2. What songs would be on the soundtrack?
Obviously Tubthumper by Chumbawumba, the title track... also Destiny's Child Survivor, Kate Bush / Peter Gabriel Don't Give Up, Queen Show Must Go On... I have to think of the others a bit. I'd dream of a musical score by John Williams, but he generally does bigger epic film scores.

3. Would it be a live-action film or animated? Why?
Live-action. This would be a story requiring real feelings, real emotional depth... animation would distance viewers from that a bit.

4. Casting: who would play you, members of your family, friends, etc?
Let me see... I'd cast Johnny Depp in my role, because he's proven to be fantastic in such complex roles. As the parents... if Annette O'Toole were a little more mature, I'd cast her as mom... maybe Diane Wiest as mom, Tommy Lee Jones as dad, Winona Ryder and Brittany Murphy as my sisters.

(I'm basing that by fitting cast to their age ranges, nothing else.)

As my best friends, I'd say Sean Astin to play Pat, Michael Rosenbaum (with hair grown in) as Mike.

5. Describe the movie preview/trailer.
(Show my character, getting a University degree)

VOICE OVER: He had the brains.

(Cut to me performing voices in a sound lab for cartoons, mixed with stage performances singing.)

VOICE OVER: He had the talent.

(Cut to a doctor's office. Mom and dad are seated with me. My right arm appears "off". The doctor is speaking to us.)

V.O.: Then, life tossed in a roadblock.

DOCTOR: You have Multiple Sclerosis.

(Cut to a montage of scenes from the film: me going through a range of emotions, learning of the suicide of a high school friend who also had MS, shots of me reading and writing, heated talks with Pat and Mike on the road in a car.)

V.O.: Follow an emotional journey of a man forced to redefine his life, to come to grips with the worst, finding the strength to go on and live.

(Close with a scene of me walking on with Canada Crutches for support. My face shows both determination and peace. The title appears on screen. The title song by Chumbawamba is playing. The announcer says the title.)

V.O.: I Get Up Again.

This week's Friday Five:

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it?
That's a tough question... I was only 7 when we moved from Chomedy. I remember being friends with twin brothers, but I don't remember their names.

2. Are you still in touch with this person?
As my lack of name memory shows, no.

3. Do you have a current close friend?
There's a guy I still consider my closest friend, but I haven't seen him a lot in the past few years. Only once every few months or so.

4. How did you become friends with this person?
We met through Comicopia, the fanzine I founded 13 years ago. We learned we were born the same day, the same year, just hours apart and on different sides of Montreal. We've often referred to ourselves (and been called such by others) as Astral Twins.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why?
Actually it's three people - my friends from High School that were my clique (actually, I think we were four). I saw them all briefly once or twice years ago, but we never really kept in touch. I'd like to catch up with them.

Damn. I heard on the radio today that the Iranian co-joined by the head twins who'd tried surgery to separate them died.

They had stated they'd rather die than continue life so joined, but it's still sad news.

Well, it's official: thanks to the high heat and planning, I've missed my 3^rd Montreal Jazz Festival in a row. Bah.

I spent it all listening to jazz radio on a TV satellite station instead.

No doubt about it: come hell or high water, I won't miss it next year. It will be the 25^th anniversary festival. Such an historic event I have to be a part of.

Buddy Ebsen, who played Jed on The Beverly Hillbillies died during last evening.

On the 26^th I posted about him going into hospital, and hoped he'd pull through. Looks like my hopes were for nought. sigh.

I'm such a long-standing (and proud) comic-book nut... I just read the latest issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Spidey gains a huge sum of money from a slimy mobster he was a bodyguard for (really, just there to stop the story's villain from killing the mobster's daughter, an innocent).

At the end of the issue we learn what he spent the money on: he puts up a plaque that reads "Future site of the Gwen Stacy memorial library".

This is really a note for those of us who were readers in the 1970s. We know the significance of Gwen - and were moved by it.

Today is Canada Day, my country's birthday...

Considering that I don't drink and I'm already pretty much off all the time, another day off doesn't really matter to me.

Tomorrow will potentially be a tense day in Montreal: the artificially created moving day in the city. I managed to avoid it last year, and I'm glad I don't have to worry about it this year either!

CNN.com - Legendary actress Katharine Hepburn dies - Jun. 30, 2003

She was one of the last remaining people from "old Hollywood", a classic and classy actress. She was in many of the most memorable films I saw in film school.

She'll be deeply missed - by many people, but by me especially.

CNN.com - Country singer turns to jazz - Jun. 29, 2003

The new Blogger works for the BlogThis! link!

This doesn't sound like the gag from Spinal Tap fortunately... (the group calls their latest ramblings jazz)

Finally. FINALLY!

I fixed up the template for this blog last night. All it took was moving the style sheet code a line, and my problem with posts shrinking each time was solved.

Now to see if I can fix the archives as well.

Buddy Ebsen the actor who played Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, just went into hospital from an illness.

To be honest, I didn't even realize he was still alive. It turns out that he's the incredible age of 95.

We can hope that like Bob Hope, he makes it to 100.

How's this for hypocrisy:

"Comical Ali", the enthusiastic media rep for Saddam Hussein who always denied the regime was in trouble, was captured.

He was found watching sattelite TV, something Saddam had banned.

Dumb Warnings

Some of these attempts at "covering your backside against lawsuits" are just too funny for words. Mine, at least. You have to see them yourself.

No More AOL CDs!

I've gotten about 8 of them in my mail the past year alone...

I don't need that many drink coasters, so I'm mailing them here.

The Montreal Jazz Festival starts June 26^th this year. That's next Thursday.

I'm hoping to try a trip or two to it this year. In a way, this will be a trial run for using my wheelchair at WorldCon...

"He was the John Lennon of newsmen."

These words by Pat O'Brien on tonight's Access Hollywood may have been a very apt way to describe legendary David Brinkley's role in life. He was 82 years old, and next to Walter Cronkite a national treasure I'll sorely miss.

I also leaned today that another legend, Gregory Peck, died in his sleep yesterday at 87. Only a few days after his lawyer role in the film To Kill a Mockingbird was voted number one in the AFI Top Heroes of Cinema.

The NBA Finals are actually interesting this year; it isn't a case of the overpowering Lakers (the Bulls before them) and the team they dominate. This makes the second year that the New Jersey Nets are there, but we get to see them against the San Jose Spurs this time.

I'm looking forward to an actual challenging series this year!

How out of it do I feel about this:

Justin Hansen, the drummer from the group behind the annoying song M'bop, has not only been married now for a year, but is also the father to a 7-month old child. Oy...

This didn't seem appropriate to print yesterday, but I feel I have to speak out:

All of this supposed patriotic zeal in the US, booing the Dixie Chicks just because lead singer Nathalie Mayne spoke out on "president" Bush? Grow up people!

Last I heard, Freedom of Speech was a right in America. Now people are giving them grief because they actually used it. To me, that's really pathetic.

37th Montreux Jazz Festival

Seems like the Montreal Jazz Festival isn't the only one to deviate to other musical styles. Jamiroquai?

Diana Krall Already At Work On Next CD

Personally, I'm not a fan of hers, but she has won many accolades of late (Grammy, Juno), and General Motors has really pushed a series of ads with her... I guess I have to grudgingly accept her as one of ours.

We had hot water again this evening. The city turned it off since Tuesday.

That meant my first shower in 3 days. Words can't adequately express how good it felt!

It's been far too long that I haven't been updating this blog. Time to change that.

I think that in trying to post mostly jazz-related content here, I may have limited it a bit. I mixed in many other things before, and it resulted in more frequent postings. So, I'm returning to that.

This week's Friday Five:

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not?
I try to be, but there's always room for improvement.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly?
I used to go with a manual paper organizer, but as writing by hand became more difficult I migrated to using Outlook on my PC.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now?
Far from it! My desk is a mess.

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter?
The most I've done here is to group CDs by the same artist together.

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize?
Just organizing unpacking in a new apartment. Almost a year later now, and I still have a lot to do.

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted here!

Musically, I've been following this year's American Idol, just like last year. It's obssession enough that I've been missing the final episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for it. Those I'll likely be able to see in re-runs.

This is a few days late, but here's this week's Friday Five:

1. Who is your favorite celebrity?
Since I mentioned him in the last quiz, this should come as no surprise: Billy Joel.

2. Who is your least favorite?
Least favorite would either be Tom Green or Geraldo Riviera. Green because he's possibly the least funny comedian, Geraldo because he always does dumb things, often that put others at risk, and tries to claim they're for the public good.

3. Have you ever met or seen any celebrities in real life?
I met Doctor Demento and "Weird" Al Yankovitch when they came to the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal in the late 1980s. I even have autographs from them.

4. Would you want to be famous? Why or why not?
Not really. With the lack of privacy that comes with fame, I'd probably go crazy.

5. If you had to trade places with a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why?
If I had to, I'd love to have been Charlton Heston, just to meet some of the other great figures he's known.

From the Friday Five:

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?
The first solo act I saw in concert was Cindy Lauper. I think the first group I saw was Huey Lewis and the News.

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?
That's a mix. In jazz, the Marsallis Family have really been capturing my interest. In other genres, Moxy Fruvous are a perennial favorite for me. Billy Joel is my favorite solo performer.

3. What's your favorite song?
Holly Cole's version of I can see clearly now. Actually, pretty much anything she sings.

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
That would be the saxaphone.

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?
No-brainer here! Billy Joel again. Every interview of his that I've heard he sounds like a fun person to talk with.

I realized the date... it's only two months away from the Montreal International Jazz Festival! I'm hoping to actually attend it this year. The high heat and lack of courteousness in attendees to folks with canes or what-not has kept me away... but a fellow physio participant has been going for years even with such problems. That encourages me to try.

Legal MP3 Downloads

This site offers a good selection of jazz MP3s.

Fateback was down for a while... so even though I've been updating since the 5th, nobody got to see it. Sorry.

Cindy Lauper's 2-part "Goonies" video (from i-mockery.com).

Very sarcastic, but any reminiscence about some of what I loved in the 1980s is cool to me.

I haven't posted anything here in over a month? Ack! I'll try to get back on track. Maybe trying to limit my subject matter here is part of the cause...

Nora Jones was announced as a headliner at the 2003 Montreal Jazz Fest. She apparently played at last year's shows; after winning all those Grammys, getting her to perform now is a real coup, apparently.

Outside of her one hit song though, I don't know anything of her music. Years ago, I suffered through a Julian Lennon concert in town for the same reasons. Not a situation I want to repeat!

The vigil is over. Charlie Biddle died last night.

I was never really a fan of his music - but then again, jazz bass doesn't tend to be showy - however we can't in the least discount his contributions to the jazz scene in Montreal.

Cloned Baby Case Ends up in Court

And the undeserved attention continues...

It just came to me: it has been a month since Eve, the supposed first cloned child, was born. If other scientists were provided with data on her, we never heard about it.

Can you say hoax? I guess it was after all.

A Montreal jazz legend is really in bad shape: Charlie Biddle has cancer.

Charlie is a jazz basist, but his contribution to the Montreal jazz scene is much more: he's the owner of Biddles, a rib restaurant downtown that often has live jam sessions. He was also a pioneer of the Montreal Jazz Festival. He opened the first one 25 years ago, and he's always been a major supporter.

The latest Friday Five:

1. Where do you currently work?

At home. I'm a freelancer.

2. How many other jobs have you had and where?

Let's see... if I count a summer job each time, I've had 10 altogether.

3. What do you like best about your job?

I set my own hours and I don't have to worry about dress codes.

4. What do you like least about your job?

No regular paycheques.

5. What is your dream job?

Having a freelance writing gig become a full-time position.

The Return of the King Protest

This site states clearly that it's a parody of the Two Towers Protest one... it did crack me up.

Dutch lesbian 'has clone baby 2'

With this, there are now two unproven claims, and with this one it seems more a circus act the Raelians are making. Why should the fact the woman is a lesbian even matter?

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.