The Friday Five has closed up shop! So much for padding out this blog with its memes...

CoolTV is playing in the background right now... with my PC now back from repair, I've been using it as much as possible. It's strange to use TV as a radio... but until we get a decent Jazz station in Montreal, that's the best I can do.

Videotron has given us over a month of free viewing on a lot of channels. They have a lot of new ones added to their selection, so they're hoping many of us will be tempted to sign up.

One of the new channels is one I mentioned here last year: CoolTV. Jazz-themed movies, biographies of current and former jazz performers, and extended video events.

It's pretty much a given I'll get this one, probably to replace Showcase, which I never watch.

Here in Canada we must now be the RIAA's worst nightmare: song downloads have been judged not copyright infringement.

From the latest Friday Five:

If you...

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
Most likely my favorite cuisine, Mexican.

2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
Predominantly, it would be a book store, with a large section devoted to roleplaying games.

3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
That would be the genre that I currently try, science fiction.

4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
That would be what I excelled in in high school, drama. I would also fill my geek quotient though, teaching computer classes, especially Web design.

5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
Considering my intended focus for this blog, saying the music would be jazz should come as no surprise. :)

Has it been over a month since updated this blog? Ouch!

Sorry about that. A lot of bad things have been happening in my life of late, including my apartment being robbed. This sapped me of a lot of energy to do anything else. Still, a month is a long time...

Slashdot | Adrian Lamo Pleads Guilty

Ultimately, his sentence will be 6-12 months... but that's not the point.

FACT: he never was a malicious hacker. He always turned i8n all results of his actions to the folks in charge, so they could improve things.

FACT: he turned himself in.

If he'd just let the company in question be, let malicious folks cause damage to customers, or even just forgot to ever mention his actions... he'd be scot free. Instead, he did everything for good reasons, turned himself in, and he gets punished.

How is this a good message?

I haven't really spoken of this since I put it up for 9-11, but with the earthquake tragedy in Iran, donating to the Red Cross is now even more important.

Through the Red Cross donations will actually get to the people. instead of to the corrupt governments.

I can empathize with people who lost over 100 relatives. Most Jews with family who survived the Holocaust can.

From Friday Five (appropriate for this time of year:

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
I'd say that would be making the winner's circle for NaNoWriMo: I wrote the first draft of a 50,000 word novel in 30 days in Novenber.

2. What was your biggest disappointment?
That would be my two rejected short stories from anthology contests. Not the rejection letters themselves... they were friendly enough that I'm hopefully getting closer to an acceptance. I'm just disappointed that I didn't get published in a book this year.

3. What do you hope the new year brings?
Obviously that I get one of my attempts published this year.

4. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions? If yes, what will they be?
I haven't really made any since 1999, as I'm still keeping that resolution to track down high school contacts.

5. What are your plans for New Year's Eve?
I'll be going to my aunt in Vermont. This will be the last time before they start to fingerprint everyone at the border...

CNN.com - Freedom Tower to rise 1,776 feet from ashes - Dec. 19, 2003

Proof yet again of how people never learn from the past. This is a good way to deal with the destruction of a tall building and all the deaths: build another one as a target.

(Yes, I'm being fascetious.)

NotePAD Entry - 12/15/2003: "Julius Schwartz in hospital"

Julie is a legend in both the worlds of comics and science fiction.

I have a copy of his autobiography. I was hoping to get it signed soon. I hope he lives for me to get it.

A new meme, via Friday Five:

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?
I don't enjoy cold weather at any time of the year actually.

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?
For the past several years I've had the chance to celebrate various holidays at my aunt (mom's sister)'s home in Vermont. She's disappointed if she has less than 20 guests; I'm just happy when she gets to actually sit to enjoy the meal herself.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?
Every 'Hanemas' (Hanukkah/X-Mas) I spend the holiday eve/day at my sister's home, to watch my nephew and nieces open their gifts.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?
I visit the Charity USA Website daily, to help add to its daily donations.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?
A new printer. My current one is pretty disappointing.

Entertainment Story - canada.com network Diana Krall and Elvis Costello have possibly wed.

A few weeks ago, I heard Elvis on NPR playing jazz standards on piano. He was no slouch in that area either.

I think they make a good match.

Today marked the 23^rd anniversary of the murder of John Lennon.

One of my jazz radio streams plays a set of Beatles songs in jazz form.

John is gone, and George Harrison. 1/2 of the known Beatles. Add former members Stu Stucliffe and Pete Best, and really 2/3^rds of them have left this world. That's extremely sad.

While writing my NaNo, I've been listening to Jazz radio streams through iTunes, as I mentioned in my last post.

(If you'd like to know about my progress in the project, I've often spoken about it here.)

One of the stations, World Jazz Federation Radio is actually my first opportunity to hear sattelite radio.

If this is an example of the medium, I'm not impressed on 3 separate days, I heard the exact same program broadcast - and multiple times in a row!

Yes, we need better alternatives to commercial radio - but this doesn't fit my definition of "better".

I've been using the one feature of iTunes that we can use here in Canada (the MP3 jukebox feature also works, but in this I mean the one different from my other audio apps): streaming radio (OK, Radio Free Virgin does that too... but here I can actually choose radio stations; RFV offers channels that overtime repeat themselves frequently). Mostly I've been listening to the Jazz ones. I know: big surprise.

One thing that bothers me though, is how many of them have fund drives like the PBS stations. It bugs me in that you end up hearing more pledge-begs than the actual music they hope you'll support.

I've spoken here before - MANY times - about my views on the whole MP3 and song-swapping thing.

Well, I now have two programs on my PC, both that allow the 99-cent song downloads. I'm eager to do the right thing and help artists to make some lucre back on their works...

Only problem: neither program (iTunes and MusicMatch Jukebox) are available for Canadian users.

So much for doing the right thing...

I've been seeing ads for a new digital TV channel called Cool TV. Classic musicals, with legendary jazz musicians to close the night.

The channel isn't yet offered on my digital service, but once it is, I'll probably change one of my other choices to get it.

Modern Pulp.com

As a pulp fiction and comic fan, I found this site worth mentioning.

Kansas Public Radio

I've been meaning to track down NPR streams for a while now. This one offers some fantastic jazz programs on weeknights. I learned tonight that they also have an excellent one for Broadway music too.

KCLU Public Radio

Jazz and NPR. A great combo.