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.

This week's Friday Five touches on several themes I've covered in this blog for a long time:

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why?
Overall, my favorite is Billy Joel. His songs have always told stories that resonate with me.

I still remember listening to the Glass Houses album over and over on a car trip to Florida when I was younger.

In Jazz, I've been a huge fan of Holly Cole. Her haunting song styling hypnotized me years ago. Ironic, since one of the songs she's well-known for is a cover of Trust in Me from the Disney film The Jungle Book - a song sung by the snake character as it tries to use its hypnotic powers.

2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why?
I've never been able to get into Diana Krall. Maybe because I'm a fan of Holly, granted - but I listened to one of Diana's albums and was bored out of my mind.

Outside of Jazz, I can't stand Eminem. He comes across as a jerk, and his voice is one that gets on my nerves the moment he performs.

3. If your favorite singer wasn't in the music business, do you think you would still like him/her as a person?
Billy seems in interviews to be a cool guy. I'd still like him if I had the chance to meet him.

4. Have you been to any concerts? If yes, who put on the best show?
Let me see:

Cindy Lauper put on a very fun show. This was in the 1980s, during the height of her popularity.
Julian Lennon I saw a few months later. MAJOR snore fest.
The Jackson Family I can't remember ever wishing such hurt to Michael. The show was great, but he was still a freak back then.
Huey Lewis and the News was another fun show.
U2 during their Joshua Tree tour. That was a very high energy concert.
Whitney Houston was fantastic musically, but she came close to topping Diana Ross in insincerity. The difference was that Whitney did sound bored.
ZZ Top was fun for all the trademark spots we knew, but their show just felt lacking in many ways.

The best concert to me: Styx a summer earlier. They had a huge library of songs, and I'm a huge mark for harmonies. Plus, when they praised Montreal, said it was special to them we knew they meant it; ours was the city where they first got their big break.

5. What are your thoughts on downloading free music online vs. purchasing albums? Do you feel the RIAA is right in its pursuit to stop people from dowloading free music?
Why stuff like Kazaa and the P2P era became so popular was that 20 years after the introduction of the CD the cost of one still didn't go down. It's near 20 bucks to buy a disc where you may like 2-3 songs. Listeners got fed up with that expense, and record industry greed.

I think the RIAA has gone too far in their moves. Like David Bowie said: "You don't sue your customers." With over 63 million potential buyers, the music industry will take a huge hit if a large enough number of them get angry enough to stop buying anything - and all the RIAA is doing is turning these folks against them.

The Apple I-Tunes store has proven what should be done. Not lawsuits, just having people pay for what they want.

look! cute little kittens! blogjam random kitten generator

Since I'm such a cat lover, this site had me cooing over photos repeatedly.

This week's Friday Five:

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?
It remains the same, although my full name of Jeffrey I usually shorten to Jeff.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
I would take my original middle name of Alan, as I'm the only person in my group of siblings not to have one.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
I'm named Jeffrey from my zeide's name Jack. In our Jewish traditions, childrens' names come from those of deceased family or friends, to honor their memory.

My non-existent middle name has a story:

I was supposed to have Alan initially. I have a nasty aunt who made a big stink that it was the name she intended for her son. I've come to the conclusion that this aunt is bi-polar. It's the only reason that makes sense for her always being so antagonistic to me. That, and she's always been competitive; I was the firstborn, and not to her, so she always treated me and anything about me badly.

Long story short, she ended up giving her son the middle name Ian. I think she just wanted that extra small victory.

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
I've always been partial to the names Amanda for a girl (also the name of one of my nieces), and Jake for a boy.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn't it?
My analysis at kabalarians was fairly on the mark. It gives the image of a warm, caring and artistic person.

Triggur is way off the mark. Mind you, it aims at a very dark, negative description anyway.

Astroexpert was hard to get through to an answer, but this part fits me to a 'T':

The native will be of intellectual kind and his mind will be ever active and sharp. He will be restless, versatile and inclined to have changes often. He will be much interested in reading and writing and may develop special interest in a few subjects.

The native will be known for his wit, logic and intelligence. The native will quickly learn new things. He has the ability to do a task with great skill and grace. The native will prefer company of learned and wise persons.

Well, 9-11 wasn't as difficult to get through this year - although the fact that it was dealt with so off-the-cuff by many, only two years past, disturbs me.

- Oh: I had the casualty numbers much higher than they really were... there were nearly 3100 lives lost, not 8000. Still, anything over 0 is still too much to me.

It's now the eve of the 2^nd anniversary of 9-11... I suspect it will be a very emotional day for me.

I couldn't help but find it "convenient" that a new tape of Osama bin Laden was "discovered" just on the eve of that horrible day.

Regardless of my feelings about G.W. Bush (you'd have to be hiding under a rock to miss them), the fact remains: this is a mmnan who orchestrated the murder of nearly 8000 innocent lives, under a foolish belief that this was a choice that a higher power wanted. To him, these weren't people, just means to an end.

I don't know if he's actually alive, or if his image is being used by other jackals. Regardless, these are evil men, and they have to be found and brought to a justice they deserve.

CNN.com - Bush to ask billions more for Iraq - Sep. 7, 2003

When 'Dubya' was named President (I don't say elected; the popular vote was won by Gore) my words in this blog were:

I hope we live through this mistake. - or words to that effect.

Now, while the American economy is in the dumps, what does he do? Ask for more money than what was originally figured.

The country will ultimately be one of the worst off economically in the world... but hey, we'll have a pretense of terrorism squashed, huh? Neither Osama bin Laden or Saddaam Hussein have been caught yet (nearly 2 years since 9-11 too), but let's not mention those things...

Sad. Very sad.