You'll find a new addition to this blog now: a Creative Commons license.

I'm not 100% sold on it's validity, but I saw Leo Laporte talk of it on Call for Help today. I wanted to protect my words.

Note that all copyrights to other people's works revert to them.

There was a drawback to republishing my archives, but a rather small one... the original site designs were lost. Not a big thing: I'll make a new page to show the warts of this blog's genesis in thumbnail images.

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!