Sure B'y

Nuff said

2007-03-08T10:27:00.000-03:30

The Good the Bad and the Ugly 6

2006-11-21T09:43:00.000-03:30

I have been an absent blogger of late. Things have taken my attention away. I decided to return today because I figure if the MHAs have to actually sit in the House of Assembly after over four months away, then we all should decide to do a little work. Poor things. Anyway, I figured a good restart of the blogging life is another installment of The Good the Bad and the Ugly (see sidebar for previous episodes).

The Internet is an amazing thing. It can be used for everything from spewing neo-nazi hatred to searching for a way to end poverty; from making people laugh at cartoons to making people weep with a poignant true story. In a semi-regular feature, here are the good, the bad and the ugly for this week:

The Good

Fodey.com

I know, I know, I usually put something serious, nice or even philanthropic in this place. But everyone needs some fun and the truth is you can find fun. And the fun, my friends, is at fodey.com. Yes, they have those annoying ads on the sides and yes this is silly stuff but think of the hours you can waste there, and really, isn't that what the Internet is about? I mean you can create talking squirrels.

(Okay, the truth is the bad and ugly ones are easy to find for these posts; it's the good ones I have trouble with so mindless fun will have to do).

The Bad

Anti-global warming sites.

I think George Bush believes these guys but he also believes the war in Iraq was justified and is still winnable. These sites ignore the ever-melting polar ice caps and polar bears with suntans and dismiss the truth about global warming. It amazes me what people can twist the facts to make themselves and others believe. People can find ways to prove that AIDS does not exist or that pedophilia is fine as long as it is "consenting" or that Ann Coulter is human. The fact that leaders of countries might be accepting this information means the people who can do something about it, the policy makers who have the power to slow down this process, can go right on believing they don't need to worry about it. These are probably the same people who produced the training videos in the 1950s showing kids how to hide under a desk and cover your head in case of a nuclear explosion. They're there right now, cowering under a desk. You can see them. There's George Bush and Stephen Harper and Rona Ambrose--hands over their heads and the mushroom cloud outside.

The Ugly

Michael Richards' Racist Rant

If you haven't seen it yet (view it at TMZ or at Google Video), you may have read or hear about it. Michael Richards, aka, Seinfeld's Kramer, had a complete meltdown on stage the other night and starting screaming racial epithets at audience members then going off on them again when he was called on it. He then dropped his mike and left the stage, leaving the emcee to come up on stage, stammer and apologize. Patrons were given their money back. Richards went back to perform again the next night at the same place, with the agreement that he would apologize. He did not. Then Monday morning, video of the whole debacle showed up. Oh Michael, this is the age of the video cellphone. Did you think no one would see it? The question is, what will he attribute the tirade to--drug addiction? Alcohol? A nervous breakdown? Me predicts that Michael will do rehab soon then tour the talk show circuit with the "poor me"s about what happened. Hear that faint sound, people? It's the world smallest violin.

No debate over the Turner report

2006-10-12T15:03:00.000-02:30

So my call to arms regarding the Turner report has created zero discussion. Not because people did not read it, they did, or at least they visited the page. I could be disheartened that new logos and car commercials can cause more Internet natter, but I am not. The nature of this beast called blogging is that it gets hot and heavy when there is something to debate. I think the Zachary Turner report needs no debate. Everyone agrees that it is an aborrhent situation and that the system failed him. No need to debate that issue, no banter necessary. I guess the debatable thing is what should happen because of it. The one lone anonymous commenter to my last post suggested that politicians, the ministers of the relevant departments, should resign. That doesn't seem the right answer to me. I think it is the bureaucrats that should go, the higher ups in the department, those that know what is going on--the deputy ministers, managers and supervisors. No one in the department wants to comment because they cannot comment on specific cases, but surely it is not hard to figure out who was there and who knew what, when. I hope some heads roll soon, and I hope the changes needed in the system happen soon enough to save the kids in the system now from winding up like Zachary Turner.

Protecting the kids

2006-10-04T19:12:00.000-02:30

I'm feeling sad for the kids these days. First it was the shootings in the school in Pennsylvania. What could you imagine would be safer than an Amish one-room school house in Pennsylvania? I mean, really? I have been thinking about it a lot. I can't stop, in fact. It keeps me tossing and turning through the night. I just imagine those peaceful people, trying to keep their lives away from the outside world. How can they accept, or anyone accept for that matter, their daughters being lined up in school, handcuffed and executed? I saw a picture of an Amish man looking up at the helicopters that now infiltrated his community, dragged there by grief and unspeakable horror. The look on his face haunts me. This whole thing makes me wonder if we shouldn't all lock our kids away, to somehow try to protect them from what is out there, to hide them from the outside world. Then again, that didn't really work for the Amish, did it? It is an awful, perfect lesson in the fact that we cannot protect them from everything.

Then I read about the report on the death of Zachary Turner. No surprises there, but you can't help but fight back the tears for the little boy who did not have to die and for his grandparents who must be so very frustrated every day at the thought that their son and grandchild are gone and that, at least in the case of young Zachary, it could have, should have, been prevented. There are questions like was it the fault of individuals or the child protection system? Well, yes it was the system. ANyone who knows a social worker who has come out of university in the past few years, knows someone who worked at Child Protection. It is the entry-level, ditch digging job of the social work world. You go there and punch your time until you get enough experience and can move onto something else better. And you complain because the workload is crushing. That is the system: on the job training for social workers overloaded with way too many cases because there are way too few social workers.

Child Advocate Darlene Neville says that, due to fundamental problems in the Child Protection system, there are children under that department's protection that are at risk right now. Well, people, who the hell cares about our new brand for Newfoundland and if it looks like pitcher plants or bakeapples? The blogging community in and from this province has made enough noise to make the news about things like our reaction to MUN's new brand and the Nissan commercial. Well, let's get pissed off and let's get active and do something about this. Let's make some noise. These are our kids and this is beyond ridiculous. I don't have a clue what we can do to change this but let's put our heads together and try.

Brand New

2006-10-03T13:30:00.000-02:30

Fresh on the heels of Hans Rollman's great column on the new brand of Memorial University of Newfoundland in this past weekend's Telegram (not on their website yet, unfortunately), the government of Newfoundland and Labrador has created our new brand. This represents our province to the world. My first reaction was "Really?. That's it?" Well, it doesn't instill any wonder to me. I like the idea of the pitcher plant (although I think foreigners will wonder why those antennae are sticking out of our logo) and all, but the colours, the fancy font, they are just not doing it for me.

I guess I kind of understand the reason behind it, to have one brand to represent the province. But I can't believe all these people (and I'm sure with all this money) could only come up with this. It's not ugly, just doesn't seem to have any oomph. Obviously, I don't understand all this brand stuff because MUN's seemed incomprehensible to me and now this one seems blah. My big beef with it is that now all the government documents, pamphlets, memo pads, Holiday cards, web sites, etc. now have to be redone and reprinted. How much will that set us back, I wonder?

So now we have a brand and I'm not sure how much a difference it will make, except it will give we bloggers something new to write about.

Regional voting on Canadian Idol

2006-09-20T15:52:00.000-02:30

It started with Krista Borden winning Pop Stars (after Newfoundlanders and Labradorians voted en masse, encouraged by local radio stations who even went through the dialing process and told you what you would hear on the other end when you voted), then grew a little with Jenny Gear, more with Jason Greeley, hit a crescendo with Rex Goudie and continued full speed ahead this year with Craig Sharpe. I'm talking about doing your civic duty and voting for the Newfoundlander--not necessarily the best singer or the most charsimatic performer--just the Newfoundlander, no matter what. It was during Rex's contest last year that people figured out you could get through easier on payphones than on your private phone. That was it. Try to get a payphone on a Monday night after Canadian Idol. This year, calls went out in newspapers and on radio and tv for volunteers willing to get to a payphone on Monday nights. It was unpatriotic to have an unused payphone in the province.

And the inevitable complaints came after [insert Newfoundland competitor's name here] did not win Canadian Idol. Telephone companies made sure no one could vote out of here and purposely ensured a Newfoundlander would not win, people alleged. Cooler heads just complained that there was no way a Newfoundlander could win since we do not have as many payphones as western Canada or Quebec. How insulting! Why can't a Newfoundlander win because he/she is brilliant and talented? This regional voting is ridiculous. To say Eva Avila won because Quebecers had more phones is to take away from her amazing talent. Conversely, people from elsewhere could easily say that Craig Sharpe only got to the finals because of the organization of the payphone patrol and not because of his fabulous voice. The point is that we should be voting based on talent. We should assume that other people outside of Newfoundland and Labrador--on private phones, cell phones, and payphones--voted for Craig Sharpe because he has the voice of an angel and not because they came from here. Regional voting is worse than voting for "the cute guy" or "the pretty girl". It is telling the person you are rooting for, that he/she has no chance without "the crowd from home". I don't think this will change. In fact it keeps getting more organized and more prevalent. I just think it is wrong. And I have to wonder what would have happened to Jenny Gear (the most talented of the idols so far, IMHO) if the payphone thing had been figured out when she was competing. If only the people of this island could "get out the vote" this well come time to elect the leaders of this country and this province.

Giller Longlist

2006-09-12T13:15:00.000-02:30

The Giller Longlist has been announced and they are:

David Adams Richards, The Friends of Meager Fortune

Caroline Adderson, Pleased to Meet You

Todd Babiak, The Garneau Block

Randy Boyagoda, Governor of the Northern Province

Douglas Coupland, jPod

Alan Cumyn, The Famished Lover

Rawi Hage, De Niro's Game

Kenneth J. Harvey, Inside

Wayne Johnston, The Custodian of Paradise

Vincent Lam, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

Annette Lapointe, Stolen

Pascale Quiviger, The Perfect Circle

Gaétan Soucy, The Immaculate Conception

Russell Wangersky, The Hour of Bad Decisions

Carol Windley, Home Schooling

Not to say I told you so, but I told you so. Sure b'y, just because I predicted correctly two of the selections for the Giller Longlist, that's no big deal. I missed that Russel Wangersky's The Hour of Bad Decisions would make it. I will go further and predict both Inside and The Custodian of Paradise will make the shortlist. Maybe The Hour of Bad Decisions will too but I can't speak about it since I have not read it and am not familiar with Wangersky's fiction. Congrats to all the nominees.

On political correctness

2006-08-29T12:04:00.000-02:30

A couple of things of late have made me dwell on political correctness. First, the plane crash skit in the Emmy Awards on Sunday night. I love awards shows but this one was duuuuuullllll. The opening skits with Conan O'Brien were the only really entertaining part of the night. But still, when I saw him spoofing Lost by being involved in a plane crash at the beginning of the show, I was a bit surprised--not because it bothered me, but because I knew people would be outraged. I was surprised NBC didn't pull it, considering a plane had crashed in Kentucky and killed 49 people that morning (no, not the plane crash with 170 people killed in the Ukraine last week--that wasn't a consideration). They didn't show a crash and the implication of the crash occurred while in the air (the plane which crashed in Kentucky that morning barely got of the ground), so why did I think NBC would have pulled it? PC-that's right. Political correctness. Don't piss the people off by showing a flood on tv after there's been a big flood (only in the US--if the flood killed hundreds but in a foreign land, well, that's okay because it's not them). That is the rule of PC-TV.

Then there is the Survivor debate. Survivor has decided to fly in the face of political correctness and is starting their next season by separating teams along racial lines with Caucasians, Asian-Americans, Latino-Americans, and African-Americans competing against each other. Hubby and I discussed this and he sees no biggie with it. Normally, I would agree because I think this PC stuff goes way too far. But this is the US, people. A place where African-Americans had to fight (and die) for the right not to be segregated. It is kind of like having a German version of Survivor and having Jews as their own separate tribe. It just feels wrong. Anyway, CBS and Survivor producer Mark Burnett know what they are doing: the publicity has been nearly constant and here I am blogging about Survivor before it even starts. And isn't publicity what it's all about?

Rockstar Supernova

2006-08-22T14:04:00.000-02:30

Oh Lord, I don't want this blog to turn into a reality/talent contest show site but I have been watching this all summer and now the latest in-the-house episode (shown tonight on Global and also available at rockstar's website) shows what I fear may end up happening:

I think if Dilana and Lukas keep this up, Storm (who I like) or (uck, dare I think it) Ryan could come up the middle. So, Dilana, ignore sookyboy-Lukas, shut up talking nasty about the others, and kick some ass.

Sharpe performance

2006-08-22T13:46:00.000-02:30

Now, that's what I'm taking about! God love him, Craig Sharpe did a great job last night singing Always on my Mind. Finally, after weeks of people telling him he has to feel the song, not just sing it, the brilliant Martina McBride got through to him and Craig blew us away. His hair also seems to have finally found its way and the colour suits him better. I really hope he gets through this week and then I hope he picks songs that mean something to him. The guy can sing. There's no question about that but he needs to show us feeling with it and I know he's had enough in his young life to find songs which can really make him sing from his heart.

This Close

2006-08-16T13:50:00.000-02:30

Craig Sharpe managed to stay in and ironically, Ashley Coulter, the person I said picked the right song...well, I guess I won't be an official advisor for the Canadian Idol contestants any time soon. But, just in case Craig is reading this (sure b'y, that's gonna happen), just be you. In the beginning you seemed to be having fun and just being yourself but as you've gone along, it seems you are trying to listen to all those "coaches" on there and are trying to be something they want to create. Just be you. Enjoy, relax and sing, Craig. We love it when you sing and when you seem to be enjoying it just as much as we are.

Not so Sharpe song selection

2006-08-15T17:07:00.000-02:30

I haven't posted about Canadian Idol before. But today I fear we might lose our own CI contestant. He hasn't been in the bottom three before and his singing is always flawless with an amazing voice (especially for a 16 year old) so maybe I am way off, but Craig Sharpe's song selection the past couple of weeks has not highlighted his talents. Take last night. The theme for this week was Unplugged as in acoustic, no electric instruments. This is the kind of opportunity you use to choose a song heavy on voice and light on music. There are loads of songs Sharpe could have done that with. But he sang what is a rocking, bass-pounding, song loaded with electric hooks in Bon Jovi's It's My Life. Listening to the piano clinking away in places where big bass punctuations should have been was hard and the song did absolutely nothing to highlight Craig's awesome voice. Ashley Coulter picked brilliantly and did Roy Orbison's Crying. The rest of the Idols picked well also and my concern is that Craig was the least of them all. I think the guy is probably trying to show a different side but last night was not the time to rock. I just hope he gets another chance.

Judge finds Parsons guilty

2006-08-05T11:16:00.000-02:30

Now I am just speculating but I'm thinking that Robert Parsons and his lawyer thought it would be an easier sell to try to persuade a judge that Parsons had a diabetic blackout after consuming a lot of pepsi (with the rum he drank) than a jury. I'm guessing they figured a jury would be swayed by the pain of the parents of Matthew Churchill, who lost their only son, or the pain of his friend who tried in vain to help Matthew after Parsons drove off and left them alone on the side of the road. But the judge, God love his heart, saw through this whole defence and found him guilty of leaving the scene of the accident. He did not believe that Parsons managed to somehow ignore the huge smashed area of his windshield where Matthew had left his mark and drove onto a legion then home and to bed, not actually contacting the police about this until after he had contacted said lawyer. I've never smashed a teenager with my car but I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that if I had done so, I would be a screaming, bawling mass of remorse and shame, running to throw myself on the mercy of the police and the child's family, not stopping for a second to contact a lawyer. But hey, that's just me.

For more about Matthew, read the website his parents created in his memory. The Life Without Matt entries, especially from his mother, will rip your heart out. I just hope and pray these people can find some modicum of closure now and can try to begin the rest of their lives, with this huge hole left behind.

Peter Whitmore and the failed justice system

2006-08-01T20:07:00.000-02:30

The ten year old allegedly abducted by Peter Whitmore, has been found alive. That is the good news. 14-year-old Jordan Bruyere is not yet safe and Whitmore, as of this time, is not in police custody. That is part of the bad news. The other bad news is the fact that our justice system is doing sweet FA to help protect the kids in this country against people like Whitmore. Here's a little rundown of Peter's past offenses:

In 1993: convicted of abduction and five sexual offences involving four young boys in Toronto --16 months in custody.

Nine days after his release: takes an 8-year-old girl from Guelph to Toronto--sentenced to more than 4 1/2 years in jail.

Less than a month after release: found in a downtown Toronto motel with a 13-year-old boy--sentenced to one year in jail.

In 2002: found guilty of probation violations including being found with a five year old boy and carrying a "rape kit" that included latex gloves, pictures of young children, tubes of jelly lubricant, duct tape, a sleeping bag and plastic zipper ties that can be used as handcuffs--sentenced to three years in jail.

And somewhere between there and this new disaster, he managed to spend some time in a quiet neighbourhood in Newfoundland and Labrador where no one had a clue what kind of monster was living on their street.

Does anyone in their right minds, or even with half a brain, honestly think that this guy is going to be rehabilitated? Seems to me that the laws are protecting the rapists and not the children out there who are being raped. When are the lawmakers in this country going to realize that sexual predators do not change? A recividism rate of 77% of those with previous sexual offenses, who selected extrafamilial boy victims, and who were never married, does not bode well for anyone who is a sexual offender. And to be honest, I don't care if the rights of the other 23% are trod on. Tough. Maybe you shouldn't have committed a sexual offense against a child!

I don't care if they have to build new jails in every province to house them, get these people off the street and protect the innocent kids who are their prey.

The One is cancelled

2006-07-28T15:40:00.000-02:30

The shocks keep coming. First Lance Bass from 'Nsync announced he was gay and now ABC has cancelled reality show The One.

I do feel kind of bad for the kids on the show. To get this far and then not get to the end. I also kind of feel a teeny, tiny bit sorry for George Stroumboulopoulos but I am sure he will continue on, ego merely dented.

CBC News reports that: "As of Friday morning, there was no word from CBC-TV about whether ABC's move would affect plans for the Canadian version of the show". Nice to know they have their fingers on the pulse, what with the inside track and all.

Capote Redux

2006-07-28T13:11:00.000-02:30

I see there is a new movie with Oscar buzz around it. It sounds interesting. It is about Truman Capote, his friendship with Harper Lee, and his research into two killers for his famous book In Cold Blood...

Woah, that was some major deja vu there. I bet you thought blogger shagged up somehow and had popped in an old post of mine. Nope. It is true. A new movie called Infamous will be released later this year, with Toby Jones as Capote and Sandra Bullock as Lee. The question is: Why? It seems to be a very similar story about similar subjects. Oh, people have redone things before but so close together? And after the first movie was so successful as to get multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture and to win for Best Actor. I guess this new movie had already been shot before the other one came out or something. That is the only reason I could see for recreating what was already a great movie with fabulous performances. It will be interesting to compare the performances, if nothing else. I can't see Ms. Bullock doing any better than Catherine Keener who was so understated and wonderful in her role as Harper Lee.

Toronto Star Hits Rock Bottom

2006-07-21T18:04:00.000-02:30

Well, they've been down there for a while, I guess, but now they put this BS in their paper, putting Newfoundland and Labrador down for having two literary festivals. I could throw up at crap lines like:

...the Woody Point festival is dedicated to the proposition that ``I's the by that writes the book, and youse the bys that reads 'er,'' while the Eastport festival theme is ``I's the by that writes the book, and youse the bys that reads 'er.

and

Anybody with a word processor can turn out a Newfoundland novel.

along with:

...every word they have written will be unintelligible to local ticket-holders...

I suppose this is supposed to be humourous. I think if the writer of this garbage (and the editor of the paper) thinks it is funny, then I'll always take Newfoundland and Labrador writing over anything in the Star, thank you very much.

The One Stinks

2006-07-19T13:40:00.001-02:30

Pooh, get the stink off me. I couldn't help myself! As a quote from the new movie Clerks II says, I was disgusted and repulsed but I couldn't look away. Okay, I did look away: frequently. I kept flicking back and forth to The One in between watching Rockstar Supernova. I like the Rockstar shows because I enjoy the singers. I think Supernova, the new band is pretty lame, especially Tommy Lee but the singers rock and the house band makes the whole thing feel like I am watching a bunch of concerts in one hour. I will admit that this year's crop is not as good as last year's but hey, they are still pretty damned good.

But I digress. I have to say that anyone on Canadian Idol, actually anyone who has already been kicked off Canadian Idol, is better than anyone I saw on The One. My dear honourable Jesus, that was bad. I did not see the whole thing and I may have missed some talented people or maybe even the reason for the show. I kept thinking this new show might be like a spoof reality show that was on a couple years back where really awful singers were cruelly encouraged and told they were great and they thought they were being judged on how great they were when all along it was about finding the worst singer. That is what kept going through my mind when watching The One and seeing awful performances critiqued by judges I'd never heard of as they called the performances wonderful. I mean I laughed out loud at some of them and hubby announced that Paula Abdul couldn't even find something good to say about certain singers (but the judges on The One did).

I said I wouldn't watch the show but I kept turning back to it, during commercials in Supernova, trying to figure out if it was a spoof or not. The judges, the contestants, the set, the whole filming of the show, it was amateurish and, although I've said before here that I don't like him, George Stroumboulopoulos, was one of the better parts of the show (notwithstanding his constant nervous pulling on his jacket lapel evey time he spoke). At least now I know why George was tapped for the hosting gig so soon before the show was set to air--all the other hosts must have backed out when they saw it. I kept waiting for George to explode and go on one of his rants. His tongue must have been bleeding from biting it so hard 'cause, say what you want, the guy is not stupid and he had to know how awful the whole fiasco was. Now, if someone could just explain why CBC is simulcasting it (and bumping around the National for it), that would be good.

Rehatching, Matching and Dispatching

2006-07-18T14:56:00.000-02:30

Hatching, Matching and Dispatching will air again for the next six weeks. If you missed it the first time around or liked it enough to watch it again, then check it out at 8:30pm (9pm NL) .

Vote for Nikki Payne

2006-07-17T20:49:00.000-02:30

Two time winner of the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-up, Nikki Payne, is one of the finalists for the online Last Comic Standing contest. Her father is from Newfoundland and as she says in her blog, she spent all of her summers growing up here. I wouldn't ask you to vote for her only for that reason (yeah, I would) but because she is so damned funny. I have been a fan of hers for a long time so click here and if you agree, vote for Nikki. Vote now and vote often.

Pepsi is back (maybe)

2006-07-14T16:05:00.000-02:30

Well, at least it looks like it. Carol Furlong says Browning Harvey, bottlers of Pepsi products in the province, have a tentative agreement with NAPE members who have been on strike for the last six weeks or so. Thank God, the boycott is over and we will be able to drink Pepsi products again.

Well, they can have him

2006-07-11T09:59:00.000-02:30

George Stroumboulopoulos is going to be the new host of ABC's new reality show The One. I made fun of that show when I heard it was going to be on CBC. Now, any modicum of interest I had in watching it is gone. Stroumboulopoulos gets on my nerves to the point I just cannot watch him. He always seems to be trying to play the role of really cool guy rather than really being one. I give you his description of how he found out he got the gig:

Stroumboulopoulos said he was on vacation when he got the offer to host the talent search show, less than a week ago.

"I was riding my motorbike outside Chicago and I felt the vibration of the call in my leather jacket, but I didn't answer it," he said.

When he picked up the message, Stroumboulopoulos said he rode back to Chicago and got on the plane to Los Angeles.

Yes, George, you're so cool. You wear a leather jacket. I bet he wouldn't have been so specific if he had made some different decisions that morning:

"I was driving my Hyundai and I felt the vibration of the call in my nylon shell jacket, but I didn't answer it".

The Good the Bad and the Ugly 5

2006-07-10T09:33:00.000-02:30

The Internet is an amazing thing. It can be used for everything from spewing neo-nazi hatred to searching for a way to end poverty; from making people laugh at cartoons to making people weep with a poignant true story. In a semi-regular feature, here are the good, the bad and the ugly for this week:

The Good

Scandoo.com

You know how you do a web search and come up with a million hits and even though you've searched something boring like pudding, suddenly you are clicking into weird sites where they do strange things with pudding? Well, scandoo.com says they can help you with that. I've been testing it and it seems to work amazingly well. It doesn't block the sites you might not want to see, just warns you about them by putting a big red x next to the questionable ones and a big green checkmark next to the seemingly okay ones.

The Bad

AIDS Myth sites.

I swear to God I am not making this up. There are sites out there that say AIDS is not associated with HIV, there is no such virus, and that it is therefore not sexually transmitted. They say people who have died from this disease have been poisoned by the medications to treat this non-existent illness. Oh and all those people in Africa dying with AIDS--turns out, they say, this is not true. They are dying from other things and the media is just making this epidemic up. Why is this myth happening? From what I read, and I'll be honest, it is pretty hard to wade through so I mostly skimmed, it is either because the doctors are too stupid to find the truth or because AIDS is a money-making scheme. Ugh.

The Ugly

David Hasselhoff Videos (link leads to a list of youtube search results--results may vary)

Okay, this is double the ugly. It is both ugly to look and ugly to hear. Check out any one of them and I dare say you will agree. Can you say fromage??? It's Kind of like slowing down to see an awful traffic accident. I just can't figure out which one I think is funniest. I mean Secret Agent Man kind of hypnotized me and then there's Rhinestone Cowboy and...oh, Jesus, look, it's Hooked on A Feeling, that might be my favourite. Did he get those backup singers from a 1970s variety show? I just can't choose. (You could kind of get a kick out of them since he seems to be parodying himself but then in the live performances he is really acting like he thinks he is the sexiest man alive and the screaming German audiences should really be screaming--and not with pain.)

To inquire publicly or not, that is the question

2006-07-06T13:53:00.000-02:30

Peeking my head out here to see if anyone is looking. I know I could get angry, gnashing of teeth from others for my opinion, but I am not sure that the answer to the political scandal of late is a public inquiry. I really, really want to know all the details and I want to go back to 1989 and find out who else might have been fiddling with the books but I don't think pouring millions more into this is the answer. I heard Jim Bennett this morning saying on the radio something to the effect that the government wanted to cover it all up with a police investigation. Huh? So a police investigation is covering it up?

It is in the hands of the justice department and the police and I'm sure Danny would go along with going back further if they wanted. But an inquiry will cost millions of dollars, most of it going in the pockets of the lawyers who will be working for the people called to testify. Yes, folks, the taxpayers have to pay for the lawyers of these people. We paid the legal fees of the inquiry for Chuck Guite and Chretian and all the rest of them during the Gomery inquiry. Those are the rules, to my knowledge. I think we are a public-inquiry-happy people around here and I think the only people that will come out any better after such an inquiry will be the lawyers. Sure, people may go to jail but I think the police investigation and justice department could manage that on their own if it is provable fraud. Didn't we just finish a public inquiry into the police and justice department so we could make sure they do their jobs better? Now that they've implemented much of the changes we asked them to make, we are not going to trust them to look after this?

The other thing I have to say about this is that the whole online petition thing does not seem to be working. Not for controversial things like this. In the petition calling for a public inquiry online (Jim Bennett said he has an online one too but I can't find it), there are 117 "signatures". 36 of them are signed "anonymous" and there are others signed more than once with the same name (no doubt, someone just pressed the submit button more than once by mistake). The same thing happened with the Don't Change the name of MUN petition--lots of anonymous which can't really count. I think the paper petition in the corner store is more the way to go for anything which might make people nervous to have the whole world know they signed their name to it.

Sure b'y, it's just what I think. Feel free to disagree but let's be nice about it.

Of Political Scandals and Chips

2006-06-30T09:31:00.000-02:30

Hmmm, that tasted interesting. Kind of sweet but really, really sour too. I can't decide if I like it or not. On the one hand, I'm a news junkie so I like when scandals hit the news, but on the other hand, I don't like that this scandal involves loads of money going out of the province's coffers.

But, it is kind of like Lays potato chips: you just can't stop. I want more! More info about all of this and the strange thing is the media ain't giving it. I want lots of deep, investigative reporting but it's like all the reporters are sitting back, twiddling thumbs, and waiting for John Noseworthy to throw them their next bone. Find out more yourselves, people. Let us know stuff. I know more from chatting around to a few people than you have reported on. There are lots of dots but no one seems to be connecting them unless it is in an AG report. The skeptic in me wonders if some of them know but this thing is so big even they are scared of it. They're like vulcanologists too scared to go near the volcano. Hey! It's your job.

Then part of me puts together little pieces like Tom Rideout telling a media scrum that if his name is on an invoice for MHA rings, it is a forgery. Then Jim Walsh says he doesn't know anything about the questionable companies or the payments to them and I wonder: is it possible that one bureaucrat inside the Confed Building forged documents and just used certain names of MHAs who, in fact, had nothing to do with it? Maybe that is why the reporters are backing off, because they know that and are waiting for more revelations. Still should be doing more digging, I think.

Tell us something. I don't care about where John Noseworthy comes from. Stop doing stories on him. He is not the story, he is only the instrument of its revelation and it's time you reporters stopped waiting for him to tell you stuff and went out and found it yourselves. I want to know about the people who took the money and what they spent it on and what their pasts are and how an accounting firm that was supposed to be auditing the government books could have missed all this. And I want to know when they're going to pay us back. Please, pretty please, tell us more. I know you may must have your reasons, dear reporters, but give me another chip, hey? And some more of those sour, sour candies.

Codco DVD petition interview online

2006-06-29T13:57:00.000-02:30

While perusing the CBC Radio website (I'm a peruser, ya know), I came upon some audio of the interview that local blogger, RJ, did on the Weekend Arts Magazine with Mack Furlong as well as Furlong's follow up interview with Greg Malone. The petition is here.

She is outta there!!

2006-06-28T00:01:00.000-02:30

Forgive me for a dancing emoticon but yahooooooooo

Stonehenge at Summer Solstice

2006-06-21T16:10:00.000-02:30

This, I have decided, is now on my big life's to-do list. I think stonehenge is a phenomenal mystery and this seems cool. So, it is right there on the list right after cruise the Nile and see the Pyramids (which will be done on the same trip someday).

Stats results

2006-06-21T09:27:00.000-02:30

Well, I've learned a couple of things with my blogger stats test. One is that it seems like Ms. Simpson is not popular at all, or at least no one made it to my blog looking for her. Same with the other words used except for the ones about the blouses and the skirts. Still people coming here looking for that. I couldn't figure out why all the hoopla about that so I checked one of the searches that was used to find my site and found something else out. It seems that the shots down women's blouses and up their skirts are a big blogger thing. Bloggers take them then put them up on their sites. I thought it was just on web pages but apparently there is a lot of it going on in the so called blogosphere. That's why so many people are specifically searching blogs rather than just web pages for them. Who knew? Anwyay, enough of that.

It is weird because the "bad" things I have put in my the Good, the Bad and the Ugly posts (see sidebar for them), always have searchers coming here in droves to look for stuff about it. Never the good. I'm not trying to attract these people, just find it interesting that people tend to look for these negative or seedy things on the Internet. I guess it's the anonymity of it. Guess that is why I started the Good, the Bad and the Ugly posts, because the Internet can be used for so many things. Speaking of that, I think it's time for another G, B, and U post. Must get on that.

Stats are not always boring

2006-06-19T13:29:00.000-02:30

Ah , statcounter, I love you much. I like to think of my blog as something that might entertain or enlighten someone. If nothing else, it gives me a place to rant about things. But to the world, faithful readers, my blog is a place of smut and strangeness. In the last three days alone, I have had 15 people find my blog from searching "downblouse" and "upskirt" from places such as the US, France, Iran, and the UK. I wonder how these people feel when they come here and see that I have called them "pathetic" and "perverts" (if you're here now after googling "downblouse" and "upskirt" , I reiterate my opinion of you). Several people, over the months, have found my blog through googling "bleeding tongue". I worry about them at night before I go to sleep. Are their tongues still bleeding? Why were they bleeding in the first place?

These visitors are not even close to all the visitors from MUN's Marcomm Department. They are really interested in my blog. I still even get a few hits a week from people finding my posts on Danny Williams (some searching for "Danny Williams on Larry King" but the past couple of weeks it was all about finding something on Heather Mills--I wonder why the sudden interest in her?) No doubt, my traffic will increase now having retyped these words in this post. It's the statcounter cycle.

So, I am going to do a test. I am going to occasionally type a word or phrase in a post that I would not normally write about but which could be searched by people and see how many people come looking for it. Sorry if you have been hooked by this test but just know you are advancing the science of blogs (not really, but I thank you for coming by). So, here goes:

Ashlee Simpson. Okay, I had "golden shower" here but chickened out because I did not want to drag all the Internet porn pervs ( but if that kind of thing floats your boat, whatever) to my site. Of course, now I have Ashlee and the shower and even the word "porn" in my post. Alright I will leave them in but that's it. (To tell you the truth, I feel a little more disgusted with myself about typing Ashlee's name than the shower.)

I shall keep you apprised.

Namibia baby boom

2006-06-16T14:52:00.000-02:30

Oh my God! Britney Spears is considering a Namibian birth for her youngster too. Why doesn't she just move there so we won't have to hear about her crap all the time?

Really, I can hardly catch my breath for laughing. I thought this story was a joke.

Why can't we do this? Hey, Danny Williams! Why don't you call up all the pregnant celebs (and the ones that are washed up, just back from rehab, trying to get some attention, trying to hide from a recent arrest) and ask them to come here. Tell them we can guarantee privacy and send them to somewhere like Fogo or Long island or Bell Island that you can only reach by boat or chopper then restrict access to that island by anyone but the celebs and the island residents. Frig the oil and gas, man, birthing celebrity babies is where the money and fame is at. Gotta think outside the box, Danny. Think outside the box.

Reality TV for Dummies

2006-06-15T15:07:00.000-02:30

Rather than ride the wave of popular televion genres, CBC TV decided it would wait until the wave crashed onto the shore before hopping on. Thump! Ow, that must hurt, CBC. All that sand in your face. Ah well. Put a band-aid on that or maybe just hemorrhage some more of our money instead. Yes, people, CBC is bringing this new fangled thing called Reality TV to Canada. Yup. It's true. CBC's new "reality-based" shows include:

The Canadian One will be a search for the country's greatest unsigned musical talent. Hey, I bet something new like that will work. You know what would be really funny? Oh, this is a great idea so listen up, CBC: why not tape the auditions and, okay, this is the crazy part, don't just show the good auditions but show the really bad ones too. I know! Great idea, hey? I have a million of them. (Email me and I'll tell you a new idea I have for a show about a bunch of people who live on an island and one by one they get voted off or leave voluntarily--I was thinking of calling it Newfoundland.)

Test the Nation: National IQ Test: a live quiz show that tests participants' analytical skills. Oh my God! I hope it's not on Tuesday nights because I wouldn't want to be forced to choose between House and this show.

Underdogs: Wendy Mesley is to host a five-part series about consumers fighting back against business. Okay, I might watch this one (if it's on early in the evening when nothing else is on) but couldn't they call it something kick ass like, I don't know, Fear Factor, the Consumer Edition .

Dragon's Den: which will ask entrepreneurs to negotiate the world of business financing. Again, not familiar at all. Where do the CBC brain trust in their new "factual entertainment division" get these uber-creative, think-outside-the-box kind of ideas?

Snarky? No, I'm not feeling snarky today? Why do you ask?

MUN crest symbolism

2006-06-12T15:20:00.000-02:30

Mark mentioned in comments on my earlier post about the new MUN brand, that he didn't see how the crest represented the war dead. I see his point but I still think we should stay true to what the idea of Memorial University was created as, even if it is symbolic as the crest is . I don't expect to see pictures of dead soldiers in the logo or anything literal, just some kind of remembrance of the Memorial in Memorial University of Newfoundland, no matter how minor.

Of MUN visits and logos

2006-06-12T14:19:00.000-02:30

Well, here I was thinking that the downblouse/upskirt googlers were the ones who were coming to my site (and oh, they still are) but they are nothing in comparison to the others from MUN finding this blog after searching MUN branding and MUN logo. Seems they are very interested in what the blogosphere is having to say about the new brand. All that money spent on an advertising campaign and a Department of Marketing and Communications, it's nice to know that they still care what the little people think.

Also, Skylard has a link to a petition against the new logo and one to the new University calendar with the ugly "branding" all over it.

Words to live by

2006-06-12T13:27:00.000-02:30

Via Liam, (I could not resist--although his is much better than mine):

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

MUN Branding

2006-06-07T12:58:00.000-02:30

Ah, shag it, I'm going to weigh in on it. I'm talking about the new MUN (excuse me, MU logo). Others like Skylarkd, Cove Blogger, Owen's Mom, Townie Bastard to mention a few, (Skylard has a regularly updated list on her site) have been saying their piece so I'm not sure what difference my little voice will make but you never know. I mean, maybe some of those people who arrive here via googling "upskirt" and "downblouse" (there are lots of them) are MUN alumni or MUN profs or MUN administrators or MUN marketers, so I'll give you my 1.5 cents.

I don't like the new logo. I'm a traditional kind of person and I think the Memorial part is one of the most important parts of the University--you know, the fact that it was supposed to be a memorial to fallen soldiers. This logo does not relay any of that but its not about that anymore, forget about the people who died in the war, now its all about selling MUN and with that comes new logos and "branding", the new buzz word. MUN needs to sell itself to international and national students and rather than make it about programming and academic excellence, they figured a sparse new logo and pictures of people's sillhouettes filled with words or chemical symbols is the way to go. The lamest part of the "branding" is the use of the one word, "become." (with the period on the end) under the logo. I saw it recently in a promotional piece for something or another and I could not believe this sad logo with the word "become." underneath. Become what? Nauseated perhaps.

I don't like any of this. I went to MUN, not MU or Memorial University. I went to a university in Newfoundland (okay, Newfoundland and Labrador but when I went in it was still just simply Newfoundland). My university had the name of my province in it and I'm proud of that. To remove the name of our province from its logo is inane. And to think that some student in China or India or the U.S. who is considering attending the university will ignore its recognition in the international community and academic programs because there is a red rock/ cliff/ iceberg/ brick, a locationless name and "become." on the information they read about the university, doesn't say much for the level of student they are trying to attract. I'm told by people in the know that MUN (I'm calling it that, no matter what) is putting loads of resources into its Marketing and Communications Department. That department might be better off trying to spend some time and money repairing the damage done in the past year with things like the Wanda Young and Chandra cases than drawing cool pictures to represent it, all while trying to figure out how to not let people know where the university is.

My seduction style

2006-06-06T13:23:00.000-02:30

With thanks to Jilly, here is my seduction style (and let's face it, you all wanted to know)

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker

Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm"
You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone...
Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-)

You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear.
Partially, because you're a great reflective listener and good at complementing.
The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person.

Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life.
You can finess your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face.
Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

Nancy, oh Nancy. Come on, we haven't done one of these silly things in a while.

3:30 and all's well

2006-06-05T09:33:00.000-02:30

Well, John Gushue seems to have started something with his meme about songs on your computer that are 3:30 in duration. It's been interesting to see the lists of others, especially Heather's because we have a few songs in common. Not really a fair comparison of songs really because ripped songs can have different lengths based on different factors so one that I have that is 3:30 is 3:31 on your computer. Still, it is a little snapshot of a person, their music, maybe the music of their family members who you make CDs of old music for or music your kids like. I like it.

Oh, here's mine:

Weird Al Yancovich-Men in Brown
Barenaked Ladies-This Old Apartment
Fleetwood Mac-Tusk
Weezer-Island in the Sun
Smokie-Living Next Door to Alice
Pink-Don't Let Me Get to Me
Sarah Mclachlan- Shelter (Violin Mix)
Ron Hynes-No Kathleen
Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown-The Shadow of Your Smile
Kris Kristofferson-Why Me, Lord
Charlie Pride--You're My Jamaica
Van Morrison-Into the Mystic
Doug Stone-I Thought it Was You
Vince Gill and Trisha Yearwood--An Angel Gets Its Wings
Nat King Cole-The Very thought of You
Elvis Presley-Just a Closer Walk With Thee
Avril lavigne-Don't Tell Me

ReLit Shortlist announced

2006-06-02T16:47:00.000-02:30

The ReLit Awards have announced their Shortlists.

SHORT FICTION
Bloodknots, Ami Sands Brodoff (Arsenal Pulp)
Yesterday's People, Goran Simic (Biblioasis)
13 Ways of Listening to a Stranger, Keath Fraser (Thomas Allen)
The Sound of All Flesh, Barry Webster (Porcupine's Quill)

POETRY
The Unsaid Passing, B. W. Powe (Guernica Editions)
Hot Poppies, Leon Rooke (Porcupine’s Quill)
Ligatures, Donato Mancini (New Star)
In the Scaffolding, Eric Miller (Goose Lane)

NOVEL
The Redemption of Anna Dupree, Jim Christy (Ekstasis)
Alligator, Lisa Moore (Anansi)
A Perfect Night to Go to China, David Gilmour (Thomas Allen)
The Immaculate Conception, Gaetan Soucy (Anansi)

I find it ironic that the awards, founded as an alternative to the big-money prizes, include Lisa Moore's book on its list since Moore's book has been nominated for and/or won almost every big money prize around. I guess good is good and you can't punish her for being successful. Same for Gilmour's Gov Gen Award winning book. Still, I'd kind of like to look at this list (the Novel list in particular) and see more works that are less recognized (and recognizable).

Codco DVD Petition

2006-06-01T15:14:00.000-02:30

Just in case there is someone out there who reads this and does not read RJ's blog (and you really should read RJ's blog),

RJ on Freestyle??

2006-05-31T09:21:00.000-02:30

If not, who? I just heard a promo for this afternoon's CBC Freestyle and they said that the guy who is petitioning for a Codco DVD will be on this afternoon. Isn't that RJ? Is it you??? You have nothing about it on your blog. Everyone listen at 2:30 to 4:00 (Newfoundland time) on CBC One and if you can't, I am going to make a copy on my computer. Go, RJ!

Two leaders and a loss

2006-05-29T13:46:00.000-02:30

A few things to blog about today. First of all, two of the province's political parties have new leaders. First Lorraine Michael was swept up in a humongous victory of 107-5 over Nina Patey. Ouch! Only five votes. Congrats to Ms. Michael and please, this is your chance to do it. Grab it and run with it. Get the rural vote out and get your districts set up and strengthened now, not when an election is called. This is it! If ever the NDP was in a position to become the official opposition in this province, it is now when we have the Liberals floundering around.

And speaking of the Liberals, they have a new leader. Gerry Reid, the interim leader pre- and post-Jim Bennett, has agreed to step up to the helm. Well, stay at the helm. I imagine it was all the Liberals giving him a poke and saying "come on, b'y, do it. Stay with it. Sure, you're the leader now anyway. Come on. Pleeeaaasssse. Pleeeaaasssse. Come on." Anyway, it worked. I'd say congrats but, you know, not really. More like, good for you for taking up the task.

And lastly, a sad loss for our province. Doris Saunders, the longtime editor of Them Days magazine, has passed away. Them Days was an invaluable recorder of Labrador history. Ms. Saunders had been struggling with the terrible Alzheimers Disease for a few years. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family. Their loss is truly Newfoundland and Labrador's loss.

The good, the bad and the ugly 4

2006-05-26T11:24:00.000-02:30

The Internet is an amazing thing. It can be used for everything from spewing neo-nazi hatred to searching for a way to end poverty; from making people laugh at cartoons to making people weep with a poignant true story. In a semi-regular feature, here are the good, the bad and the ugly for this week:

The Good

GetNetWise

I've already admitted that I intend to be a very nosy mother when my child gets old enough to get on the Internet. There are too many reasons out there in the world for me not to do this. There are a variety of websites out there about this but GetNetWise seems to have lots of good stuff there and also includes info about other things like spam, security for your computer and online privacy. Check it out but if you are a parent with a kid who goes online, definitely check it out.

The Bad

The Heather Crowe File

This week I posted about the death of Heather Crowe, the anti-smoking advocate. In an effort to find out exactly when she died, I googled her name and there, as the number one hit, was a page called the Heather Crowe File. I started to read it and was horrified, knowing that this page could make the Bad and the Ugly sections of this posting. I was shocked. I'm not going to post the links to any of the "bad" sites I put up and this one is no different. Unfortunately, you can google this one but I don't recommend it. It basically picks apart Heather Crowe's anti-smoking campaign, her disease and the reasons for her disease.It gives myths about her and reasons why she was "the perfect victim" for the anti-smoking campaign. It even picks apart her kind of tumour and the fact that Heather Crowe never made biopsy results and medical reports public. WTF? Why should she have to do that? Who the hell thinks she made this stuff up? This seems to be some kind of anti-anti-smoking site and the fact that it is still up after her death makes it even more disgusting.

The Ugly

Awful Plastic Surgery

Okay, I'll confess. I thoroughly enjoy this site. But there are some pretty ugly things on there.

Outmigration

2006-05-25T11:04:00.000-02:30

I'm a weeper and I love Newfoundland and Labrador. Love the place. So when I watch/listen/read the daily cavalcade of stories about people leaving here to go away, I usually end up bawling because to me, it would hurt so much to leave and I can't imagine having to do it if I really didn't want to, if I was financially forced to go. My husband though is annoyingly logical and he just says "well, he had to leave our home town to come in here to St. John's". Yeah, still Newfoundland is my response to such coldness .

But then the other day, when I was lamenting more guys we know leaving their families to go to Alberta to work, he said something that really hit home to me. He said how it was not that different than the way it's always been. The first settlers here were men who left their families to come over here and fish for a season. Years ago, men went to sea, either fishing or on supply boats, and left their families for long stretches. Men went to war and left their families for years. They went to lumber camps and worked on construction projects all over the island and Labrador and left their families. It was a part of life. I know more women are leaving now to and maybe that is different but in these days of equality for women we have to expect that. So, I wonder if it is really that different than it has always been or if the media are just playing this over and over, making a way of life into a story to pull at our heart strings, to make weepers like me bawl and to make us all think that rural Newfoundland is going the way of the dodo bird. What do you think?

Heather Crowe Dead at 61

2006-05-23T15:34:00.000-02:30

Remember back a couple of years ago when there was an ad on TV telling of the dangers of second-hand smoke? Waitress Heather Crowe told her story of getting lung cancer despite never having smoked. Crowe succumbed to the disease over the weekend. Forty years of serving smokers and second-hand smoke, doctors said, was probably to blame for Crowe's diagnosis. Now Newfoundland and Labrador has cut out smoking in public places. I don't think the hospitality industry is too happy about that move but, as a reformed smoker, I am always pleased when I go into a restaurant or pub and there is no smoke there, no reason for watery eyes and my clothes don't stink when I leave.

I'm not sure how much Heather Crowe had to do with that but I remember how her story touched me in that ad. I know that she tried to take this rotten thing that happened to her and turn it around to something positive, to try and stop it from happening to others. She said,

"When you're done with your chemotherapy and (you're) on your knees at the toilet...this is when I made my decision I can never let this happen to someone else."

We should all be grateful to her for that and remember her for a moment.

Who's in charge of this joint?

2006-05-17T14:13:00.000-02:30

One joint. One single marijuana cigarette and a young girl is facing trafficking charges and a criminal record. Now, I don't know the details of this case so I am only talking about the one thing I know and that is that it was one joint. I have never used marijuana, honestly, not even to smoke it and not inhale. Just not my scene and I've seen enough people do enough crazy things while under the influence of the stuff that I never wanted to do it. Besides, it's not regulated so you don't know what kind of crap you're getting. And also, it stinks, to me.

I am for the decriminalizing of it. That is another issue, of course, because here we are talking about trafficking, not possession. If it was possession, then what could you say about it? You possess it, you can under the current laws, get charged with the offence. But trafficking? I mean, come on. Apparently trafficking means moving drugs from one person to another, be it selling, trading or even giving it. Lock us all up. I've sat in the crowd and had one passed to me but just passed it on since I don't partake. I bet most of you reading have done the same or more. Trafficking? That's not zero tolerance, that's crazy. This is a young girl with a possible future, who could have counselling and some education about drugs instead of a criminal record.

Seems to me that zero tolerance in the schools means that school administrations don't need to make decisions, don't have to decide who gets what punishment for what. Aren't decision making and deciding what to do in specific circumstances, the very things we should be teaching young kids about so they can do it when they get out into the real world (where, by the way, this girl would have probably just gotten a warning)? So, if the school has a no tolerance policy and that's the reason the RCMP charged her with trafficking, then who's in charge of this joint? The school or the cops? Seems like I'm not the only one passing things along.

Sloganizer

2006-05-16T11:03:00.000-02:30

Been down with a bad cold. But I found a new toy called the sloganizer. It updates my slogan every thirty seconds so every time you return (presuming there are thirty seconds between visits), you'll see a new slogan. You can get one too.

Writing Challenge Generator

2006-05-12T15:34:00.000-02:30

I figure RJ, king of all writing challenges, will like this website where you can tell the Writing Challenge Generator how many challenges you want as well as how many elements should be required. Then you just click the generate button and...instant challenge. I went easy on you all (come on, NL (and any other) bloggers, step up and place your stories here) and only asked for one required element. My writing challenge is :

The story must involve some plumbing pipes in it.

My rules say it can be as long or as short as you want (preferably short though because you know how we blog readers get bored when you go beyond a paragraph or two). Now, write. Please.

Funny stuff from McSweeney's

2006-05-12T14:12:00.000-02:30

Warning, if you despise David Caruso's lame overacting in anything but especially his CSI:Miami (a show I would probably like if not for him), then you could pee your pants laughing at this one. I love McSweeney's.

Things I am not caring about

2006-05-10T09:49:00.000-02:30

I usually love celebrity gossip but every now and then (usually around the time a new Tom Cruise movie comes out and I get pelted with having to look at him every minute) I get to really not caring about it all. I mean really:

Britney is pregnant again.
Don't care in a really, really big way.

David Blaine nearly dies after staying underwater for a week then holding his breath for seven minutes.
So do not care. What an idiotic and inane thing to do. What did it prove to anyone? That with an oxygen tank and a dream anyone can be a goldfish?

Tom Cruise's new movie only takes in a paltry $48 million.
Awww, poor Tom. Now, why should I care about this?

Keith Richards has surgeries and may have brain damage.
I believe that ship has sailed years ago, people.

Angelina Jolie is World's Most Beautiful according to People Magazine.
Yawn. Yes, she's beautiful. Most beautiful in the world? I have a few billion more people to look at first.

And what I am truly caring the least about: Amy Fisher, Mary-Jo Buttafuco and Joey Buttafuoco on Entertainment Tonight every single night for the past two freaking weeks until I want to throw up.
Who cares?? I don't think they even care at this point.

Big News Day

2006-05-08T13:18:00.000-02:30

So, I'm listening to CBC radio and they have clips of Danny Williams' press conference announcing that we/us/the province will be developing the Lower Churchill. Not someone else for us. We're going to do it ourselves. Dear Jesus, thank you for Danny Williams. Now I don't know anything about hydro development, but I think it is amazing that someone finally says we can do this, we don't need anyone else. Add therefore, folks, we get the money from it. Yes, we have to put it in too but that has to happen with any investment. We're ready for this, Danny. Bring it forward, we're ready.

Then I surf over to the VOCM news website and there I read that Jim Bennett is quitting as leader of the Liberal party. Now, I''ve poked a bit of fun here about him before but I do feel bad for him. Either he really felt that he could make a difference for our province or maybe he felt he could be like his wife and become a powerful political figure, but either way he didn't do it. I feel bad because at least he tried and that was more than any of the other cowards in the provincial Liberal party did. A well-established Liberal could have run and probably would have beaten Mr. Bennett but none of them did and so they left him dangling out there for the media (and his fellow Liberals) to take smacks at him from time to time. So, good luck, Mr. Bennett and I will try to remember your political career as one in which at least you gave it a shot and that is more than can be said of some others around you.

Atlantic Journalism Awards

2006-05-08T13:02:00.000-02:30

The Atlantic Journalism Awards were given out this weekend and along with a load of Honourable Mentions for journalists from Newfoundland and Labrador, the winners from our province were:

Spot News - Radio - The gold award winner was VOCM Radio, St. John's, NL, for September Fire.

Enterprise Reporting - Radio - The gold award winners were Kathy Porter and Terry LeDrew, CBC Radio, St. John's, NL, for The Teen Age

Continuing Coverage - Print - The gold award winners were Stephanie Porter and Alisha Morrissey, The Independent, St. John's, NL, for Melina and Keith II Coverage.

Feature Writing - Television - The gold award winner was Fred Greening, CBC TV, St. John's, NL, for I Arose From The Woodlands.

Commentary - The gold award winner was Russell Wangersky, The Telegram, St. John's, NL, for Left With A Feeling Of Emptiness.

And the winners are

2006-05-07T13:08:00.000-02:30

The Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council handed out their Arts Awards last night and some of the winners were:

Giller nominated writer, Lisa Moore, received the Artist of the Year award ($2000 cash prize) ; Duane Andrews got the Emerging Artist award($2000 cash prize) and Actor/Artistic Director Beni Malone picked up the Arts in Education award ($2000 cash prize) . Congratulations to all.

The good, the bad and the ugly 3

2006-05-04T16:19:00.000-02:30

The Good:

Snopes.com

Do you recive those annoying emails each and every friggin' day, telling you that some email petition needs to be signed (email petetions are the equivalent to spitting into the wind since none of them ever end up anywhere except back in my bloody inbox), or that a certain product will cause your head explode if you microwave it immediately after you wash your hair with some specific shampoo, or something equally idiotic? Well, snopes.com is for you. Just go there, take a moment to insert a few keywords from your annoying email du jour and press search. Before you know it, Snopes will tell you whether the story is true or false (99.9% of the time it will be false) and probably tell you some legitimate information about the topic. If you take a few moments to browse around Snopes, you will find many familiar sounding emails. Stop the insanity now, bookmark Snopes and check it out before you press forward on your email.

The Bad

Upskirt sites

There are sites out there where you can find hidden camera shots called "upskirts" (or if that doesn't turn your crank, how about "downblouse" sites). Either way it is some pervert sneaking a camera in the toe of his shoe or bottom of a cane (or baseball cap in a downblouse) and taking shots up someone's skirt. These blurry, fuzzy, invasions of privacy are then uploaded to the Internet where people can browse them, often for money. I think this should be a pathetic test. If you need to see a woman's vagina so badly that this is where you look, then you are pathetic.

The Ugly

Uglydress.com

Remember all those hideous bridesmaids dresses you've seen? Maybe you have one hanging in your closet now, reminding you of the time you were forced to wear blue satin and a humongous bow. Well check out uglydress.com and maybe you will feel a little better knowing there are even uglier dresses out there than you wore. (And guys, there are ugly tuxes there for you.)

Coming soon: more pathetic tests. Suggestions are welcome.

Newfoundlanders clean up at Atlantic Book Awards

2006-04-29T09:38:00.000-02:30

Newfoundlanders did pretty well last night at the Atlantic Book Awards. Congratulations to Donna Morrissey who won both the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize (up against Lisa Moore's Alligator) and the Booksellers’ Choice Award (up against Michael Crummey's The Wreckage) for her novel Sylvanus Now.

Congratulations to Kevin Major who won the Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Prize for Aunt Olga’s Christmas Postcards.

And congratulations to Breakwater Books and editor Ronald Rompkey who won the Best Atlantic Published Book Award for Reginald Shepherd and Helen Parson Shepherd: A Life Composed.

Other Newfoundlanders nominated were, as mentioned, Lisa Moore and Michael Crummey as well as Robin McGrath for her wonderful book of poetry Covenant of Salt which was nominated for the Atlantic Poetry Prize. Congratulations to them as well.

More nominations for NL artists

2006-04-28T13:04:00.000-02:30

Nominations, nominations everywhere.

Jennifer Kennedy of Hr. Grace, is nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. You can find out tonight on ABC if she wins or not.

The nominees for the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Arts Awards are:

The Artist of the Year award ($2000 cash prize) :

· Duo Concertante(Nancy Dahn and Timothy Steeves), Musicians
· Lisa Moore, Writer
· Anne Troake, Filmmaker/Dancer

Emerging Artist award($2000 cash prize) :

· Duane Andrews, Musician
· Tina Dolter, Visual Artist
· Alison Pick, Writer

Arts in Education award ($2000 cash prize) :

· Beni Malone, Actor/Artistic Director
· Louise Moyes, Dancer
· Derek Norman, Filmmaker

And congratulations to Michael Coyne and Ken Livingstone, co-founders of the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Division of Fine Arts who will be the latest inductees to the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Hall of Honour.

Nice work if you can get it

2006-04-27T12:25:00.000-02:30

Let's say you have a job and you're not doing so well with it. Let's say your company, with you at the helm, lost 5.1 million bucks in three months. Let's say you then decide it is time to leave that company, time for someone "with fresh eyes" to take over the company. You say so as you announce your resignation. So, you've resigned, after a bad loss and basically said someone else could do a better job. You should get, at best a pat on the back with a "nice knowing you". But if you are Derrick Rowe, former CEO of FPI, you get three quarters of a million dollars in a severance package. If you didn't already know the difference between the rich and the rest of us, now you do. Regular folk would have been fired for doing that kind of job and given a boot on the way out. Wonder if Rowe qualified for Employment Insurance after he left? Well, probably after he gets his monthly cheque of $10,417 for 36 months (on top of his lump payment of $375,000). I just want to know how I can get that kind of pay for not working. Any ideas?

World Pinhole Photography Day approaches

2006-04-26T14:37:00.000-02:30

Four days left photographers, to get your pinhole pictures in.

Flags and coffins

2006-04-26T09:48:00.000-02:30

It started with the cease and desist on half-masting the flag in the government buildings, now we're not allowed to see coffins. Is Harper getting defence advice from Donald Rumsfield and the gang? It all doesn't bode well. When I first heard about not putting the flags at half mast, I was concerned. I figured it meant that the higher ups in the military knew the awful truth, that there would be a lot more deaths in Afghanistan and that if we lowered the flag every time it happened, the flag would be at half-mast a lot. Then I heard that it was against protocol to put the flags at half-mast and had only been a recent development. Even last year, when a soldier died in a noncombat related incident, they didn't lower the flag. Well, I disagree with that. Every single time a Candian soldier dies in the line of duty, be it from "friendly fire" or a land mine or suicide bomber or a tank rollover or anything else, those flags should be lowered. If the government can send them off to war, they can bloody well lower their flags when those people give the ultimate sacrifice for us.

As for the coffins, I am torn about that (I am a Gemini so being torn is part of my nature). On the one hand, I think it is a very Bush-like thing to do so automatically I don't like it. On the other hand, I know the families may want privacy and they should not have to decide, as was suggested by one family member of a soldier, whether or not cameras should be permitted in the awful homecoming of their loved ones. I think we should be able to see the coffins, see their entry into the country but the families should be off limits. I don't need live footage of a tear stained face to know they are sad. I know that already so just keep the footage off of them. If we don't record it, people will forget and that is not right. We should remember, we should be vigilant.

Bad blogger again

2006-04-25T12:08:00.000-02:30

I've been bad but have been working furiously on an important deadline so I just haven't had time to post. A few quick thoughts about things for now:

The price of gas is getting nauseating. I hear rumblings about $1.50 per litre by the summer. I am torn because on the one hand, the price of crude oil going up is good for the province's coffers but my coffers are taking the hit. Plus, it will probably hurt tourism and we need to keep capitalizing on that.

Thanks to those who added their fibs here and thanks to Nancy for plugging it. I think it is fun so keep going.

I was so sad to hear of the death of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. My thoughts and prayers go out to their families and to all the brave soldiers serving "over there". I'll have more in the days to come about my thoughts on Afghanistan and our role there.

I should be back to blogging normally in a day or two. Almost there, almost there.

Gotta Fib

2006-04-19T10:40:00.000-02:30

If you don't know what the Fibonacci sequence is, don't feel bad. It's a geeky thing. If it sounds familiar you're either a geek or read the DaVinci Code and the part where the Fibonacci sequence was used as a clue, stuck in your brain. Now, Gregory K from the GottaBook blog has created a new kind of writing, called "the fib", based on it. As in the Fibonacci sequence, he started with 0 and 1, added them together and got the next number, then kept adding the last two numbers together for the next number. He ended up with a six line, 20 syllable poem with a syllable count by line of

1
1
2
3
5
8

I
think
fibbing
is pretty
damn cool. Do you think?
Are you a wordy geek like me?

So, fibs anyone? Come on, I throw down the fib gauntlet to you all.

WANL Announces Finalists for the 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards

2006-04-18T10:04:00.000-02:30

The Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador has announced the short lists for the 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards. Every year they honour different categories with last year being Non-fiction and Poetry while this year it's for Fiction and Children’s Literature.

The short-listed writers and their books are:
The Bruneau Family Children’s Literature Award:
Ed Kavanagh for Amanda Greenleaf: the complete adventures, Flanker Press, 2005
Kevin Major for Aunt Olga’s Christmas Postcards, House of Anansi Press, 2005
Janet McNaughton for Brave Jack and the Unicorn, Tundra Books, 2005

Bennington Gate Fiction Award:
Joan Clark for An Audience of Chairs, Knopf Canada, 2005
Michael Crummey for The Wreckage, Doubleday Canada, 2005
Lisa Moore for Alligator, House of Anansi Press, 2005

Congrats to everyone nominated.

The Good, the bad and the ugly 2

2006-04-13T10:45:00.000-02:30

I am leaving in a couple of hours, for a 4.5 hour drive to go "out home" for Easter. I hope everyone has a safe and good weekend (and a blessed one if you are so inclined). I leave you with another installment of the good the bad and the ugly.

The good, the bad and the ugly

The Internet is an amazing thing. It can be used for everything from spewing neo-nazi hatred to searching for a way to end poverty; from making people laugh at cartoons to making people weep with a poignant true story. In a semi-regular feature, here are the good, the bad and the ugly for this week:

The good:

Freecycle

You know the old saying, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Well, whether you're looking to get rid of trash or find some hidden treasure, here is the place for you. Freecycle allows people to post information about things they want to give away. Individuals or groups can get the things that are posted. They get what they want, you get rid of the trash and everyone is happy. And, it can only be given away for free. There are four chapters in Newfoundland and Labrador: Burin Peninsula, Clarenvillle, Goose Bay, and St. John's.

The Bad:

Pro anorexia web sites.

There are web sites out there, called Pro-Ana sites, where anorexia is touted as a positive alternative to being fat and where anyone so inclined can get tidbits about how to distract yourself from wanting to eat. diet tips, calorie advice, and "thinspiration", or pictures of celebs and others who look emaciated and are supposed to be inspiring to those with this disease. So these websites are helping those with a fatal disease, kill themselves. Do I have to say that this is bad? Of course, no links to any such sites from me folks. Just want to let you know that they are out there and yet another reason to make sure your family computer is in a communal area of your house.

The Ugly:

Roadkill Rugs

There are some ideas, probably thought up under the influence of heavy duty medications, which should not be followed through on. Nuff said.

And a bonus!
The bizarre:

Missing Digits

You know, I'd say that at least once a week, I hear someone saying "I wonder which famous people have lost a finger or a toe?" Okay, maybe just once a month. Alright, so I've never heard anyone ask that but that doesn't stop anyone from finding out. Now that you're just dying to know, check it out. As you stand at the water cooler to tell people your interesting tidbit about a famous missing dactyl, you'll quickly become the one the people in the office whisper about and are afraid to work after hours with. Try it, you'll see.

Godd*&m Potholes

2006-04-12T13:53:00.000-02:30

Spring brings great joy. Sunshine, lawns revealed by melting snow, temperatures above zero. But it brings other things as well. The melting snow has also revealed a winter of dog doo-doo on my lawn. Also, there are the potholes. Large, gaping, car-swallowing, strut-crushing caverns in the road which hide until you are on top of them only to jump out in the second before your tire becomes enveloped by them. I struck one the other day. It broke things in the bottom of my car like springs and struts. It took lots of money to repair it. So I am pissed off with potholes but I saw my first Robin of the year yesterday and this day is sunny and relatively warm so I have to move on and look forward to the summer. Be careful of the dreaded hiding potholes, readers, they are waiting for your car.

Body Shop Sell Out

2006-04-11T17:09:00.000-02:30

So, the Body Shop is getting some bad press for its sale to L'oreal. The Body Shop built its reputation on being an ethical company and using only products that test on animals. Then they sell to a company who has refused to stop its animal testing on cosmetics. Now, I'm not going to get into the whole larger animal-testing-for-medical-purposes debate here. I just know that I have only used "cruelty-free" cosmetics for years now. So, here's the thing. I have been going to Caring Consumer (from PETA) to find my lists of such products. I won't buy cosmetics on their "Tests on Animals" list and do buy from their "Don't Test on Animals" list. Been that way for several years now. I usually pick the Body Shop and Revlon to buy from and, as much as I'd love to try some of their products, shun Cover Girl cosmetics. I do not intend to change that. I think testing on animals so I can have mascara that gives me thicker lashes or lipstick that lasts longer is inane. But, looking at Caring Consumer's main web page and seeing Heather Mills McCartney's mug staring back at me, has made me question some of the information I've been getting. I'm fine with buying from the "Don't Test" crowd. If PETA says you're alright then you must be, but I am now questioning my boycott of other companies like the aforementioned Cover Girl and Olay (I need something for these rapidly appearing wrinkles, for God's sake!). After all, this is the same group that says the seal hunt is cruel and still uses white coats (illegal to kill for years) as its anti-sealing mascot. I'm going to stick to my boycott for now, but will definitely look more carefully into who my information about cosmetic testing on animals is coming from and how they get it. So, for me, for now, the Body Shop is off my shopping list.

World Pinhole Photography Day

2006-04-10T09:46:00.000-02:30

With all the technology around these days, maybe you would like to do something a little retro. Well, here is your chance. April 30 is World Pinhole Photography Day so that means you have just enough time to make your pinhole camera and take your pictures. The site also gives you links to pages that will tell you how to make the cameras. Here are a couple of others. I know nothing about pinhole cameras so I can't vouch for how helpful these pages are:

From Kodak
From ehow

I hear that there are usually only one or two Newfoundlanders and Labradorians that partake in this event (you can search for Newfoundland pictures on the gallery page at pinholeday.org and see their pics) so come on, you photogs out there. Step up and take a pinhole picture.

Because I have no time to think new thoughts

2006-04-07T10:01:00.000-02:30

I must steal them. This time from Laurie

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (excluding the year). List three neat facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year.

May 25
Three facts:

1521 - The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.

1935 - Babe Ruth hits his 714th and last home run at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, setting a baseball record that will stand for 39 years.

1979 - The movie Alien opens in theaters.

Two births:

1803 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and philosopher (d. 1882)

1963 - Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian

One death:

1085 - Pope Gregory VII

Giller Longlist

2006-04-05T10:26:00.000-02:30

Looks like the Scotiabank Giller Prize will have a longlist, starting this year. Somewhere between 10 and 15 titles will be announced in September with a shortlist announced in October. I think it will make it all much more interesting and will provide more authors the chance to paste the Giller nominated stickers on their books, thereby increasing sales.

baby seals, newfoundland, larry king, danny wiliams, larry king, sea sheperd society, pamela anderson

2006-04-04T13:10:00.000-02:30

There, I think that title may get a few people here through google searches and the like so now that I've got you here, if you have any interest in the sealing controversy/debate/industry/whatever, you MUST watch CBC Newsworld's The Lens (10pm ET/PT, 11:30 in Newfoundland) tonight for a documentary entitled My Ancestors were Rogues and Murderers. This explains the seal fishery and the people behind it, the people Paul Watson says (as he does of all Newfoundlanders) are like the members of the Third Reich. Surely such inflammatory, racist, nonsense as likening me to a Nazi because of where I was born and live, is reason enough to look at this issue with a level head and to watch a little something to tell you about this issue-the good, bad and the ugly of it. That's all I ask. Watch the show, listen to what it tells you, and try to understand. That's all.

Too True, Too True

2006-04-03T09:45:00.000-02:30

Because it's Monday, it's been a very hard weekend, and it's not over yet, --damn it-- it's time for a little fun:

Sure B'y

Benevolent to a fault

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Your hidden talent is writing

Your hidden talent is writing. You have a unique way of viewing the world and are able to express your thoughts eloquently on the page. Some people might think that you are weird, but you are just the next Pulitzer prize winner.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Your walk is:
Possibly Influenced by Narcotics

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Can't win for winning

2006-03-31T10:20:00.000-03:30

I have to wonder how government can make anyone happy. A budget eliminating school fees, putting more than $100 million into education, money to hire nine new RCMP officers and eight new RNC officers, and allowing 97,000 more low income earners to qualify for the provincial drug plan. This means that people on social assistance can go to work and still be covered by the drug plan. Even better, people on social assistance who get a job will still get transitional income support for the first month after they get a job, to help with their expenses until the first paycheques come in. I say bravo. There were many other positive things in the budget. You can read about them here.

But listening to the radio this morning and watching the television news last night, I'd swear there had been slashing in the budget other than the slashing of school fees. With few exceptions everyone seems to be complaining. People are saying that this wasn't done or that wasn't done or that there was not enough spent in the budget or that it was not fiscally conservative (too much spent). The resounding reply to this first positive budget in years seems to be "where is mine?". Then the Liberals like Gerry Reid and Anna Thistle come out saying that the budget has done nothing for the regular guy on the street. No, only if you make under $30,000 a year and suddenly have a drug card, are going to get your roads fixed, have at least one child in shcool, are one of the 25,000 people who are affected by Alzheimer's disease in a family member and now can have the drugs to treat this, want more police on the streets, or are just happy that our books are not bleeding red ink anymore.

Then on CBC's the Morning Show, I hear the response from Jim Bennett, the newly annoited leader of the opposition. Now, Jim wasn't in the House to hear the budget since he does not have a seat there. As a matter of fact, he wasn't in the province. He was in Ontario in a court of law working on a case while the budget was coming down. He phoned in his response from Windsor, Ontario this morning. His response? Making fun of the fact that the government cut out small game licenses and what paltry fee cuts there were. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Then again it must be hard to see the forest from so far away.

I've said before here that I am not of one party stripe or the other. I've voted for them all at one time or another. Right now, I like the Conservatives provincially but not the federal Conservatives. Right now, I am thinking this is a pretty good budget and I am pleased. I also think that the opposition Liberals had better get their act together and get someone who spends more time here in the province to lead their party. Maybe even someone in the house of assembly. Until then, I'll take Danny and Loyola and say "good job". I just wish others could take this money being spent and say the same and not "but, what about 'fill in the blank here'".

The Independent no more?

2006-03-30T19:01:00.000-03:30

CBC television is reporting that The Independent newspaper is no more. Apparently there will be one more issue and that's it. I liked that paper in many ways. My Sunday routine was to buy the Telegram and The Independent, Tim Hortons for me and hubby and read away. Sundays won't be the same. It all begs the question: what is happening to Newfoundland and Labrador papers? First the Humber Log a couple of weeks ago and now this. We need different voices around here. I'm starting to fear we'll soon be a one paper province and that won't be good for anyone.

Similarities between me and Brian from Family Guy

2006-03-30T16:33:00.000-03:30

While I am not a dog (well, not literally anyway), I have been Brian before.

Budget day today

2006-03-30T09:19:00.000-03:30

I am a bit of a political fan (more provincial than federal) so today is interesting because the provincial budget comes down. I like the scattered surprise and even though the government seems to have released a lot of the big announcements in advance, I think Danny and the crowd have a few more surprises up their sleeves. My sources (David Cochrane on CBC's The Morning Show) tell me (okay, tells everyone who was listening to the radio at the time) that some more budget tidbits are:

A 70 million dollar surplus from last year's budget.

School fees will be eliminated.

Two new ferries.

That Alzheimers drug people have been trying to get added to the province's drug plan will be added.

The income level of those who qualify for the province's drug card program will increase meaning more low income earners will qualify. (I think this is a great move since people who don't work can qualify but someone who is busting his/her ass trying to make ends meet on a minimum wage job, cannot get drug coverage. The system is almost set up to encourage people to choose social assistance if they or their children have a medical problem requiring prescription drugs).

Fifty million in road work (That sounds like a lot but this problem needs more put in it. The province's roads are deteriorating and if we don't get them fixed up it will lead to more long-term problems. Actually, maybe that's what the government wants. After all, road repair means more jobs that are not officially 'make work').

Bloody Writing

2006-03-29T14:25:00.000-03:30

Maybe you've heard the quote, from American journalist Gene Fowler, that "Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” I rarely feel like that. I love writing although I do spend an inordinate amount of time avoiding it. Still, today, because of deadlines, both real and self-imposed, I am trying to edit my next book, edit a short story, and write the new novel as well. It is getting a bit much. Just an off day but I do kind of feel like this poor guy at the moment:

Think I'll procrastinate some more. No one wants to clean up all that bloody mess.

Michael Winter on Giller Jury

2006-03-28T16:31:00.000-03:30

So, Newfoundland writer Michael Winter, is part of the jury for the Giller Prize. Other members are Alice Munro and former gov-gen Adrienne Clarkson. Interesting and diverse bunch there.

Very, very early predictions for possible contenders (from Newfoundland and Labrador):

Kenneth J. Harvey's Inside (to be launched at Chapter's St. John's on April 10)
Wayne Johnston's The Custodian of Paradise (to be launched at the Woody Point Writer's Festival)

Danny Williams coughs up for the arts

2006-03-28T13:15:00.000-03:30

Well, not yet but today, in front of a packed audience at the LSPU Hall, Premier Danny Williams and Tourism Minister Tom Hedderson announced the launch of a new cultural plan called 'Creative Newfoundland and Labrador'. A three year plan, it involves some exciting details including a half million bucks to renovate the wonderful LSPU Hall. Other details include providing "$675,000 under Budget 2006 in support of professional artists and the creative process through various programs, including an additional $300,000 in 2006 for the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. " Yay, more grant money! Find out more here and here.

I want to say "thank you" to Danny and "yahoo" for all the artists in the province and all those who enjoy our art, be it written, performed or sung.

Brokeback controversy en"sues"

2006-03-26T14:12:00.000-03:30

Oooh, bad pun but the pun fairy bit me. Bad pun fairy, bad. Anyway, Seems that the heretofore completely uncontroversial movie Brokeback Mountain... What? Really? Controversial? Gay cowboys? Scathing, vengeful, Oscar sookiness from the author? Producer sues the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences? Really?

Oh, well, it seems that in yet another Brokeback controversy, actor Randy Quaid is suing the producers of Brokeback Mountain for a cool ten million for intentional and negligent misrepresentation. Ouch. Seems that Quaid was convinced to take a pay cut when he was told the project was a low-budget feature "with no prospect of making any money." Yes, Brokeback might have gotten a lot of notice but I think with a budget of $14,000,000, it was still pretty low budget in Hollywood terms and the $10,000,000 to Randy in the production of the movie would have meant the rest of the actors would have been stick figures acting against a claymation background. Do they give Academy Awards for that?

Anyway, if I was Randy Quaid and I had been in movies like The Day the World Ended, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure, Not Another Teen Movie and, well, I could go on and on giving examples of schluck he's been in (full filmography at IMBD), I would just take my money, the great film credit and shut the hell up.

The good, the bad and the ugly

2006-03-25T12:11:00.000-03:30

Chef is dead

2006-03-24T14:03:00.000-03:30

After Isaac Hayes quit as the voice of Chef on South Park, over a Scientology parody, South Park creators have killed the character off after he is brainwashed by a cult and turned into a child molestor. Causes of death included falling off a bridge onto rocks, burning, impaling, and being mauled by a mountain lion and a grizzly bear. Ouch, what a way to go. I love it.

Pandemic hits

2006-03-24T09:58:00.000-03:30

I heard the other day that the "Bird Flu" has now taken 100 human lives. In a population closing in at 7 billion, those are some good odds for not getting it. Nevertheless, we are bombarded daily with stories about it, speculation on when it will kill us all, and millions of dollars are being poured into preparing for the eventual pandemic that could possibly ensue. Still, some 50,000 people die every day because of hunger and related illnesses. Every three to four seconds, depending on which sources you read, someone starves to death in this world. Now that, my friends, is a pandemic. That is reason for everyone to stand up and scream all day long, reason for newscasters to talk about it 24/7 on their news shows but no one does. Nope, we'd rather talk about the 100 deaths from a disease known only to be transmitted from close contact with birds.

The reason is simple. We can't get it. Starvation won't spread over here; it will stay over there in other countries far away from us. I'm pretty sure if we were certain that the Bird Flu would stay over there, away from our own rich continent, we'd stop telling stories of the Bird Flu deaths. Would our evening news report the latest death in Turkey or Asia from an obscure and rare disease if we weren't worried it could affect us? I can say with 100% certainty that the answer is no. No, as long as it stays "over there" they can starve and die of diseases easily treated by our medicine and we won't even notice. It's when it might get in our backyard that we'll notice. Then we'll report about it and speculate how many cans of beans and bottles of water we need to stockpile in case it hits us and we're quarantined. Gives 'not in my backyear' new meaning, don't ya think?

Clark Wins Winterset Award

2006-03-24T09:53:00.000-03:30

Okay, I was wrong and they went with Joan Clark's An Audience of Chairs. Clark previously won the Winterset in 2002 for The Word for Home. A hearty congratulations to Joan Clark for winning this year's Winterset Award.

Winterset Award to be announced

2006-03-23T12:50:00.000-03:30

The Winterset Award for exellence in Newfoundland and Labrador writing will be announced today at Government House at 4:00 PM. Nominees are are Roberta Buchanan, Anne Hart and Bryan Greene for The Woman Who Mapped Labrador: the Life and Expedition Diary of Mina Hubbard, Joan Clark for An Audience of Chairs, and Enos Watts for Spaces Between the Trees. I am torn between Clark or Watts because I am not sure how judges look at collaborative works so I think maybe that puts the other nominees out of contention. I'm thinking Clark since she is so obvious and such a popular and great writer but I am going to go out on a limb and say Enos Watts will win for Spaces Between the Trees.

I'll report back on the winner and if my prediciton was right or wrong.

I'm a Mai Tai

2006-03-22T17:24:00.000-03:30

Ah, I had this really serious post ready to put up but then I realized I hadn't done a silly blog personality test in a while (and I know Nancy and Scotty miss them) so I'll save the serious stuff for tomorrow (maybe). This one is surprisingly true. Don't make me tell you about the time I stopped a taxi on George Street by pulling down my... ah, maybe for another day too.

You Are a Mai Tai

You aren't a big drinker, but you'll drink if the atmosphere is festive.
And when you're drunk, watch out! You're easily carried away.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Tapping to the Music

2006-03-21T15:02:00.000-03:30

Think you know your music? Ever tap along to it? Check out the Song Tapper where you can tap a song on your space bar and it will attempt to identify it. If it doesn't know your song you can enter it yourself.

Rabbittown Loses Out

2006-03-21T10:11:00.000-03:30

So it seems that Rabbittown the series is not to be*, at least not through CBC's attempt at Canadian Series Idol from this past January. Rabbittown was one of three pilots vying for a shot at a series on CBC. This Space for Rent won the prize. Now, I was not a fan of Rabbittown and I did like This Space for Rent more but you have to be fair about this don't you? Rabbittown got the highest ratings (251,000 compared to This Space for Rent's 188,000). Surely in any other television universe this would mean something but not for CBC (I adore CBC Radio and CBC news but their television programming sucks. They got rid of This is Wonderland, for God's sake). No, the CBC says that This Space for Rent is "an example of the kind of show the network is looking for". Is the network looking for lower ratings? Does it get more money from the government if it haemorrhages more? I don't get it and I'm not sure CBC does either.

* This information was garnered through the Globe and Mail. The article is now for subscribers only so I did not post a link.

Paralympians do us proud

2006-03-19T13:13:00.000-03:30

The unfairly unnoticed Canadian Paralympic athletes are amazing. The closing cermonies of the Paralympics are today and our athletes have done us proud, coming in sixth in the medal standings and winning gold in curling, slege hockey, giant slalom, and others. Five gold medals in all. It is too bad that we don't put the kind of attention on the Paralympics that we do for the Olympics. Such great, dedicated athletes deserve to be touted all over the place and have lots of kudos going to them but they hardly get noticed by the mainstream media. Well, I say congratulations to all our paralympians. You do Canada most proud.

SuperSad-assNova

2006-03-18T17:05:00.000-03:30

Shhh, I have a secret. A dirty little secret. Last summer I watched J.D. Fortune win Rock Star INXS. Worse, still, I watched pretty much every episode of the show. So, I was interested in who might be the band this year. I made guesses, like lots of others did, but there was no way I could have guessed correctly which band would be looking for a new frontperson. The reason? The band doesn't actually exist yet. It is a composite of rejects and leftovers from other bands and they call this new group Supernova. The "celebrity" of the group is none other than media whore Tommy Lee. After going to college for reality TV and keeping certain people entertained with the homemade porn he made with his wife, Pamela Lee Anderson, or whatever her name is now, Tommy Lee is trying again to make it in the world of TV. Ah well, that's good news for me. It frees up more of my evenings this coming summer.

Unless, that is, our own Damian Follett who is in the quarterfinals for being a Rockstar contestant, gets to the show. Then I'll have to watch and root him on.

The Great Canadian Conspiracy

2006-03-17T12:48:00.000-03:30

First of all, let me say that last night I won. Yes, dear reader, you may be envious but I have won a prize in the great Tim Hortons Roll Up the Rim contest. This after the approximately hundred coffees my husband and I have purchased since the contest started this year. Before last night, none of these coffees had amounted to anything except a delicious java taste and Please Play Agains. Despite the fact that my local Tims has given away over 2500 winners and others in the surrounding areas we frequent have given away hundreds of others. But last night my trembling hands rolled up the rim to reveal a free coffee. Now in other, perhaps more lucky years, we have had little pieces of coffee cups with free cookies, coffees, muffins, and donuts, piled up all around but this year seems to be a bad batch for us. However, I am told I am not alone. None of my friends have won anything either. Neither have their friends. What is happening? Could Tim Hortons be fibbing about the hundreds of winners? Could there be a conspiracy theory in all of this? I ask you (and not just because everyone flocks to talk about conspiracy theories and people searching for such things may find my blog).

So here is my idea. I think, in an effort to bump up coffee sales in their US market, Tims has shifted most of the winning cups south of the border. The age old Canadian tradition of rolling our rims (not to mention our Rs) is being exported to the big ol' US of A. I for one am disgusted and vow to not let this happen. Although I have absolutely no proof, I will spread the word of this controversy far and wide (or at least to the half dozen people who regularly read my blog and those who use search engines to find any blog posts about controversies, Danny Williams, Paul McCartney, seals, sealing videos, the Golden Globes, the Oscars, curling and bleeding tongues). It is one thing to take our softwood and ban our beef but damn it, we're Canadians, you Yankees, and don't screw with our Tims!

Sinking like a rock

2006-03-16T09:36:00.000-03:30

While the small community I originally come from, along with many other communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, watches its population get decimated by people leaving in droves for work in Alberta, on the other end they have to find places for all these people to live. With massive FPI layoffs recently announced on the Burin Peninsula, the closure of the mill in Stephenville, and the lack of any kind of increase in the cod stocks off our shores, this outmigration will continue. It's been going on for years, I know, but until recently my community hasn't been too affected and now it's becoming a near ghost town populated by mostly elderly citizens. Even Air Canada added express flights for those leaving The Rock for The Oil Sands.

Everyone keeps looking to the government for some kind of saving grace, some way to stop this haemorrhaging of our population but I have to wonder how much they can do about it. Make-work programs are more of a bandage than anything, and forcing FPI to lose money in small towns in Newfoundland is a futile thing. Tourism is a good moneymaker but we can only kowtow to our stereotypes for mainlanders for so long and only have so many such enterprises. How many old time kitchen parties and quaint B&Bs can one tourism industry support? The only answer is for individuals to come up with innovative, entrepreneurial ideas and start businesses which can create employment. Since the numbers of our population don’t support such businesses, we have to think of business ideas that can translate to exports, sales on the web, and the like. Unfortunately, many of the people leaving the fish plants and mills are not trained in these high-tech areas and probably are not interested in such training. We saw how the retraining worked (or didn't) when the cod moratorium was first announced.

I don't know what the answers to these problems are. I fear there is not much that can be done at this point and that makes me so goddamn sad. The next generation of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have to become innovative and find ways to make Newfoundland like Ireland (as we all thought was going to happen a few years ago), to make it a vibrant, cutting-edge, technologically savvy province where the only limits on what we can do are our imaginations and our bandwidth. I only hope there’s enough of the next generation left around to pick up the pieces.

Kenneth J. Harvey blog

2006-03-14T14:35:00.000-03:30

Kenneth J. Harvey, Newfoundland and Labrador writer and founder of the ReLit Awards, now has a blog. He will be launching his latest novel, Inside, at Chapter's in St. John's on April 10th at 7:00 PM. The book sounds interesting, even though the description at Amazon seems a little cryptic. I still have to read The Town That Forgot How to Breathe

Commonwealth Prize doesn't go to Moore

2006-03-14T14:17:00.000-03:30

Well, Lisa Moore's Alligator, which won the Canadian/Caribbean regional Commonwealth Prize, unfortunately didn't snag the main Commonwealth Prize. Neither did the much touted On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Kate Grenville won for her novel The Secret River, about settlers in 19th century Australia.

Another hearty congratulations to Lisa Moore for winning the regional prize.

My snapshirt

2006-03-13T16:24:00.000-03:30

My blog's snapshirt:

Get your's here (can take a while to get it).

I'm not even half evil

2006-03-10T12:53:00.000-03:30

Okay, Scotty, I'm not quite as evil as you. Still, when I was answering all the questions I felt really evil. Those questions will sure make you look at yourself.

You Are 42% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.
Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

Da Mudder Tung

2006-03-09T16:58:00.000-03:30

A book about the "unique dialect" of Cape Breton, entitled Da Mudder Tung sounds very familiar to me.

Which Desperate Housewife are you?

2006-03-08T13:24:00.000-03:30

These are all melding together and I get the feeling I've done them before but I searched my blog and found only one instance of desperate housewives so here goes.

I am so much more like Lynette than Susan (except the clumsy, I am clumsy). And I am the anti-Bree.

Congratulations! You are Susan Mayer, the divorcee
and single mom who will go to extraordinary
lengths for love.

Which Desperate Housewife are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Nancy, flicking this your way, now.

Weather watch

2006-03-08T13:14:00.000-03:30

I know I may be beating a dead horse since I've already talked about this but there is another "tricky system" moving in and they are calling for 10-15 cms of snow, high winds, and blowing snow. Now, this system may go one way and cause less snow or may go another way and we could get a shitload of it. Perhaps, it could pass us altogether and rainbows could cover the island. The point is that it is after 1:00 PM on Wednesday and a storm that is due to start overnight tonight is still making the weather people scratch their heads (and asses). The weather network has been putting up a graphic of the weather for the next few days and for thursday they have a blank section with -2 temperature. I have come to realize that the big difference between now and years past is that the forecasters are just plain scared to make a prediction and be wrong. That may be as stupid as not predicting anything since we've never had much faith in the weather people anyway. We'll see. I predict a weather warning by this evening but we'll see what it is. Maybe a blizzard warning, maybe a wind warning, but probably that wonderful and easy cop-out, the "snow warning".

Common Errors in English

2006-03-07T15:30:00.000-03:30

Just discovered a site that lists many common errors people make in English. I found it googling a word (which I often do to double check either its meaning or popular usage) and it saved me an embarrasing mistake. I had written that someone "furled" his brow but found out that would have been a faux pas. Since this is a pretty important piece of writing I am working on, may I say "phew". Might want to bookmark this one if you're picky about this kind of thing.

Dana Reeve dead at 44

2006-03-07T11:37:00.000-03:30

Dana Reeve, the widow of actor and spinal cord research advocate Christopher Reeve, has died of lung cancer at 44. She and her husband created the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. My thoughts and prayers go out to her son, Will, who at 13 has already known far too much pain.

Atwood's Longpen

2006-03-06T15:33:00.000-03:30

Unless she's had a catastrophic neurological event or has the world's worst handwriting, Margaret Atwood's invention to help her avoid dealing with the public in person, has failed. The video I saw last night made such high-tech signings laughable. And would you line up for a robot to sign your book? Ugh.