Meowy Catmuss

Penny and Pacey think the cats said it best this year!

Money, Money, Money,

Penny Says:

My favorite virtual gal-pal, Gail Vaz-Oxlade, just released a a product that can help everyone! a budget binder / day planner - If you are still using paper day planners this needs to be the one you get because it keeps you focused on money / savings / and your budget.


I recommend reading Gail's blog - lately she has been writing almost daily - providing lots of topics for everyone to enjoy.

Also I think many people can benefit from checking out her plentiful website - budget worksheets, helpful hints, and stories! Talking about money does not have to be stressful or socially unacceptable!

http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/

Her Reality TV show, Till Debt to Us Part, is usually funny, eye-opening, and allows a little voyeurism into other Canadians lives. It airs on TV on Slice network, Or if you don't subscribe to cable TV - you can go online and watch her shows in 4 part segments (quick loading streaming) at SLICE

Gail is a kind, no-nonsense, practical lady who has revealed every trick people use to fool themselves into spending more money than they make.

I hope you enjoy her as much as we do!

Goin' to the Cup

On CFL week 7, Rider fans were elated at their 6-0 record welcoming the 'lowley' 3-3 Stampeders to do battle in Saskatchewan, laughing up a possible Grey Cup repeat victory in '08 and (maybe) a perfect season. Give me a break. That .500 Stampeders team not only beat you all at home, but went 10 - 2 the rest of the regular season ('Riders went 6-7), hosted the West Final (where were the 'Riders?), and went on to the Grey Cup . Saskatchewan was a terrible team this year, and yet none of their "most intelligent fans in the CFL" realized their team was terrible losing to a factually superior 3-3 team at home.

Fittingly, the 'Stamps go to the Finals the year I earn my Ph. D. Lovely stuff.

Quick props to the Vancouver Canucks, who finally came up with a good logo, albeit one that is regulated to their shoulder:

Happy Pumpkin Day

Penny Says: Boo!


From Ghouls to princesses my favorite thing about Halloween by far is Bright Orange Pumpkins.

According to Wiki 1.5 billion pounds of Pumpkin is grown in the United States (alone) and Pumpkin is a successfully grown crop on all continents but Antarctica.

They are most likely to be jack-o-lanterns today but most days they should really be food. But for today check out You-tube pumpkin carving and I am sure you will find a few great how-to-guides on Carving the best Pumpkin.

What a waste it would be to let the giant buckets of half price Holiday pumpkins turn to mush!
Buy them and eat them! YUM! For recipes Ideas visit sites like http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Pumpkin-Recipes/Detail.aspx

Its a big orange squash - roast it, boil it, mash it, cube it, spice it, sweeten it, or even BBQ it!

Like all Big orange veggies, Pumpkin is loaded in Beta-carotene, and Vits' E, C, A, B's. All the good stuff with tons of flavor. Plus the seeds are loaded in only the Greatest of fats ! To diabetic to eat a tonne of pumpkin - roast up the seeds with your favorite low sodium seasoning and enjoy!

Check out this great looking dish and try it yourself! Roasted Quail and Pumpkin

Gobble Gobble Zzzzzz Zzzzz

Penny Says:
Happy Thanksgiving and Turkey Day !!!!

After all the hard work of gardening and keeping up with the weeds its nice to think that even the busiest of growers get to sit and enjoy a fall feast. The sweetest squash, the freshest veggies and the juiciest turkey are a reward for most! (all but the bird)
For some a cooking a ham sweet and succulent is the best way to encourage the family to drive to Grandma's to visit, chat, laugh and of course eat.













I think the best part of thanksgiving turkey preparation is the giggles that come from the ol' turkey on the head gag!










No people that are not being paid as actors ever do this but if they did I would laugh for days and days.




Happy Thanksgiving!

The perfection of Autumn

Penny Says:
Sometimes with all the stress and bustle that comes with September we forget to look up and watch the perfect colors and shapes. Take a break play in the leaves you just raked!




Pacey recently noted that the months are numbered wrong. The prefixes are not appropriate for their numerical monthly match - you would expect that Sept-ember would be the 7th month, Oct-ober (8th), Nov-ember (9th), Dec-ember the 10th. But most of us use the Gregorian calendar a reformed version of the Julian calendar which is a reformed version of the Roman calender all of which seem to be lunar shifts. The reforms were necessary to keep Easter and celebrations in tune with the actual celestial event they reflected Spring Equinox. It turns out that several days of the year fell under an unnamed months, this was corrected and leap days were added and now we have to remember that September is the 9th month of the year not the Seventh as its name suggests! To read all about it go to Wiki and get your fill.

These days I care less about what its called and more about the pleasure of bonus summer like days with cool evenings and all of those beautiful crispy leaves!


But in our neck of the woods we have to watch where we step as the creatures of fall are often right beneath your feet!!

The other colors of September are pretty great too - but I don't suggest jumping in the river with these Salmon no matter how pretty they are!

Get out there and enjoy the perfection of Autumn!

Stupid people are rational

Pacey says:

I’m beginning to think that stupid people are indeed rational, but what they do is deceive themselves by asking themselves questions so that they can arrive at the answers they want rationally. It is a way of framing the discussion.

For instance, when it comes to belief in deities, a believer will not ask themselves critically what is the best evidence. Moreover, they will ask themselves questions that will land them into a cognitive loophole where there the existence can be rationally believed. Such people may throw the onus onto others to come up with a non-deity universe and play gotcha with any gaps in the presented theory, falsely believing that the deity-filled universe is a default condition. Others will invoke Pascal’s Wager, a risk aversion method contingent on the possibility of a vengeful deity actually existing. Many point to the popular belief in deities as evidence they are onto something, or that belief in deities is persistent over time as a good reason to believe. The commonalities between these is that they stop asking questions once they’ve rationally reached the answer they wanted to get to all along, in this case that their favourite deity exists, but then resist to rationally analyze and criticize their conclusions.

Using reason to support poor decisions is quite pervasive among intelligent people. People who are depressed will explain their depression as a result of a series of equations that all rationally support, say, personal failure, and ignore or discount all personal triumphs because they would rationally detract from the conclusion of the depressed mind.

Commonly, global warming proponents will employ the highest levels of reason, not to criticize, examine, and strengthen their own position, but to weaken vigorous skeptics. Too often, environmentalists will use the very logical fallacies and exploit the same deceptive rhetorical devices that they would reflexively point out in their opponents. In many cases, environmentalists closely resemble rational theists in the argumentative tactics.

One of the most perplexing, yet common, situations where intelligent people deceive themselves is use of their credit card. Sadly, these practices are well known to creditors who allow and encourage their customers to lead themselves to financial destruction. Most people understand how interest works, and that debts accelerate rapidly, and they do so coolly and rationally. However, at the point of purchase, these same rational thinking people will employ self-deceptive techniques to rationalize frivolous spending (“…but, I deserve this”, “so what? I’m already in debt”, “I’ll make up the difference later”, “the kids are worth it”, “the Jones’ need to know that I can do it too”). In fact, many financial planners and accountants (who calculate debits and credits professionally) cannot apply what they do to escape their own financial ruin. Creditors love to know that their customers are fooling themselves (albeit rationally, and often with the best of intentions) into forking over lifetimes of cash, but it is so sad, really. Rarely is the debt actually worth the reward.

In posting this, I asked myself “was this the best way I could make my point in this blog?” So, I looked in the mirror, asked, and the mirror responded “Yes, yes it is, and you look fabulous”. I then rationally deduced that I had satisfied all criteria in posting.

*click*

Random Thoughts from American Idol:

Pacey Says:

Random Thoughts from American Idol:

-Overall, this season showed out of touch AI producers are out of touch with contestants, where the majority of contestants were born in the late-80s / early 90s. Theme nights included 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, (not 1990s or 2000s), two Beatles weeks, Dolly Parton, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Neil Diamond. If you were born in, say, 1990, and your parents were born in 1970, only your great grandparents would have even been alive when the Beatles wrote Sgt. Pepper. Only two weeks were explicitly contemporary (Songs from birth year and …. Mariah Carey), and the kids’ song choices routinely bewildered the judges.

-I believe this season was Simon Cowell’s first exposure to a Mormon. When David A. picked a seemingly obscure song (“You’re The Voice”), he seemed to accuse David of having been coached to pick such an odd song. That song is actually used prominently in Mormon dances, and I’m certain David A. knows all the words by heart.

-Mormons again learned another hard lesson in the finale: prayer doesn’t work.

-David C. thinks he has the best taste in music that the show has ever seen, and you know he believes it when you see the smug smirk he puts on when he unveils a Whitesnake cover song or a song by Switchfoot. The veil that covers his insufferable snobbishness is a thin one.

-People seem pleased that Cook won as a sign that American Idol can approach ‘artistic integrity’. I’m not going to lie to you: I listen to a lot of modern music. That said, I have found the genre Post-Grunge to be the one with the least redeeming qualities. If someone thinks artistic integrity is found in someone who sings Collective Soul and Switchfoot (who?) songs competitively and sincerely thinks Our Lady Peace is their favourite band of all time, they need to give their head a shake.

-The addition of Andrew Lloyd Webber this season was fantastic.

-There was definitely something wrong this season when Jason’s phoned-in performances saw him outlasting Carly or Michael Johns.

-Amanda wants to get as far away from Idol as possible, and her performance last night proved that she didn’t want to be there.

-Maybe I’m being too hard on the winner, but I can’t get past the irksome smugness, the post-grunge (awful music), and the fact that he was the inferior singer of the final two.

Deep Thoughts

Pacey and Penny list our favourite Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy:

Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.

If you ever drop your keys in a river of molten lava, let them go because man they're gone.

If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy.

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad.

When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is, "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, "Probably because of something you did."

Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says "You." After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done.

It takes a big man to cry, but it takes an even bigger man to laugh at that man.

Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

If you're in the war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at some guys, throw one of those little baby-type pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think of how crazy war is, and while they're thinking, you can throw a real grenade.

When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges.

If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope he likes enchiladas, because that's what he's getting.

I remember as a boy watching my grandfather get up early every Saturday morning, put on his fishing gear and go down to the river to fish. He'd come home in the afternoon and we'd all laugh at him. However we weren't laughing when he came back one day with a hooker he picked up in town.

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

One good thing about hell, at least, is that you can probably pee wherever you want to.

As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.

If I ever get real rich, I hope I'm not real mean to poor people, like I am now.

The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.

Fantasy Sports

Pacey Says:

Managing a Fantasy Sports team is a great time-killer. It just so happens that I am actually quite good at these things, particularly hockey and baseball. Currently, my hockey team is in the Championship Bracket of a league of 14 teams. With two days to go, I am leading my opponent 6 categories to 5, and looking for my 4th championship in 6 seasons. While my opponent has completely structured his team around waiver acquisitions, my team largely resembles the team I drafted in September.

I have a knack for drafting well. I know that scoring would be at a premium and that regular (not necessarily spectacular) goaltending would keep me near the top of the league. I also know that guys like Modano would be outscored by guys like Ribeiro, and that Prospal would play most of the season between two scoring champions in Tampa Bay. While an outstanding season by Ovechkin has no doubt made my team a consistent threat to win, I think late round selections like Ribeiro and Prospal (both nearly a-point-a-game players) have actually put me over the top with scoring depth. Also, the consistent starts by goalies on mediocre teams (Khabibulin and Ward) proved to have better fantasy value than good goalies on good teams (like Gerber/Emery). With these players, and others, I maintained 1st place every single week of the season and now find myself with a chance to take the Championship.

I also draft well in baseball, but this season was weird for me because I didn't play last year, so I didn't have a particularly good feel about who to draft and what positions would be crucial. I took an hour (that's all I need) before the draft to essentially figure out what happened in baseball last season. My first pick was a player I'd never heard of before draft day (Hanley Ramirez) because he was the consensus 'best player' after A-Rod. One thing I made clear was that drafting the only good catcher in baseball was going to be key. So, after the first two rounds, where I would simply draft the best player available, I reached for Victor Martinez with my third pick (27th overall). I appears that 30th was the average draft position for V-Mart, so it was reassuring that I didn't reach too far to land the only impact player at the shallowest position in the game, catcher. In previous leagues, I've always put a priority on catcher because I hated seeing that position waste away in my fantasy lineup, and now that I have the guy I want it affords me a tremendous advantage over other fantasy teams.

It's still early in baseball, and my team isn't off to the greatest start (and V-Mart got a minor injury keeping him out of my lineup for a few days), but I think I will win my first head-to-head matchup. I'm confident I drafted well enough to be competitive this year, and I'm sure I'll have a ton of fun playing fantasy baseball all summer.

Oh hey, the Canucks are going to have a new logo! Check it out, I think it suits them:

Equinox

Penny Says: YIPPEE SPRING IS HERE !!!!

No time to blog must go out and smell the flowers!!

I just wanted to congratulate all of you brave folks on surviving another Canadian winter!

Now get outside and soak up some vitamin D! Oh and enjoy some Easter Candy -

I think the purple peeps are umm loaded in anti-oxidants - they must be good for you they are purple - what purple food is not good for you!

Documentary Obsessions

Pacey says:

It doesn't take much energy to find some of the most acclaimed documentaries in the history of film by simply Googling. Between Google and the library, I am able to track down nearly everything my curiosity craves. Over the past number of weeks I have watched a number of these great films. Below is a sample of what is out there:

Grizzly Man - A young man thinks he can live with and 'protect' grizzly bears in the wild, until things turn tragic. Using his own camera, the man films some of the most surreal (non-CGI) of a man interacting with bears ever captured, as he offers his insights and philosophies. A movie worthy of Herzog.

Little Deiter Needs to Fly* - Another harrowing Herzog doc about a POW who escapes and lives in the jungles of SE Asia until his rescue.

Fog Of War - Perhaps the best documentary I've ever seen. A movie about a former US Secretary of Defense may not sound fascinating, but Robert McNamara insights are completely compelling as he outlines his 11 lessons of war. Issues covering WWII, Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam are covered extensively. Skillfully directed by Errol Morris.

Burden of Dreams * - BoD documents the making of Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, revealing the hardships of a near-Herculean effort to pull a steamship over a mountain on location in the Amazon and film it. Herzog's monologue about the obscenity of the jungle is captivating stuff.

Jesus Camp - An unflinching view if indoctrination of children to be soldiers for The Great Ceiling Cat Baby Jesus in Colorado. This one could also be classified as a horror movie, as the events shown could possibly be categorized as child abuse.

Crumb - Robert Crumb is a counterculture cartoonist that rose to near-prominence in 60's San Fransisco. The documentary unveils Crumb's somewhat disturbing psychology and the psychology of his comparatively more disturbed family. Crumb is a true talent and a compelling figure.

Dark Days - Underground film making in it's most literal sense, Dark Days documents the lives and philosophies of people who live in the subway tunnels of New York. They're not homeless in the traditional sense because they've developed an actual community with electricity, water, and infrastructure, but this is truly a bizarre way of life among the rats.

Atomic Cafe - A great non-narrated compilation of propaganda produced and distributed in the USA during the Cold War 50's. Head scratching at times, but more often than not this movie is hilarious. "Dad Knows Best", "bomb them before they bomb us" rhetoric, and Duck and Cover scenes can induce belly-laughs, but can be shocking if you imagine yourself a 50's Russian watching this and thinking that their enemy is obviously crazy.

Baadassss!* - Great flick about the making of what is arguably the first blaxploitation movie Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song in a cultural and business climate that resists images of black power. Insightful and funny dramatizations of the events surrounding the events are portrayed by the original film's director's son.

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. - This is not a movie about Holocaust denial as much as it is to the examination of the psyche of outsider, and general weirdo, Fred A. Leuchter Jr, a self-made execution expert. The protagonist misinterprets the results of a study and finds himself an extremely polarizing figure.

Sicko - Like him or not, Michael Moore seems incapable of making a picture that isn't interesting to watch all the way through. In this movie, though his cherry-picking and stunting tactics are in full-effect, I must admit he won me over to a large degree in making his case for universal health care. Moore's visual style are always great to watch, as well as highly influential if one compares his documentaries to those of previous decades.




* - library only.
All of these movies are available online except for those marked by a '*'.

Good book spree

Penny Says: Sharing is the best way to celebrate a good book spree

--Fiction that has been eating up all my time as of late--

Douglas Coupland - his latest - The Gum Thief - was a great before-Christmas-break book that reminded me of how a complex life is actually simple and that everyone needs to share their creative fantasy with someone. All of his books are great and worth at least 2 full read-throughs (best read 3 years apart). Miss Wyoming is the one I have to yet read (but I was kindly given it this Christmas) I have been saving it like a precious jewel to provide cheer on a rainy day. My favorite to date is Coupland's Life after God - an tale of how semi-regular people get by in our secular society.

For those in your life that are hard-to-buy-for or have everything consider, coffee table books like Coupland's Souvenir from Canada (1 and 2) or The life of a Canadian Terry Fox. Coupland and Fox were children together in North Vancouver and Coupland is currently working on a tribute park in Toronto in Terry's honor. Of course, the tv Series JPod is a must see on my list. The book JPod was stimulating tech-y and leaves you with a slight case of Attention Deficit Disorder, but truly a entertaining experience for all readers. The series JPod is true to its roots in plot and character development and yet I am always wondering what will happen next (again the book is so fast paced that another read-through or watching the series will reveal plot twists you mist the first time). If you want to watch the series on the internet and you are currently in Canada - go to JPod on CBC and wait patiently as the page loads then click watch full episodes start from the beginning or just click on the ones you have missed, sit back and enjoy commercial free viewing.

A while back I stumbled on to a couple of authors that seem to really understand what it is like to be a 20-something in the 2000's. Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus have teamed up to write 3 novels that are a must read for all born in the late seventies or early eighties (ok the rest of you can read them too). These girls take life by the horns but remember to smell the flowers along the way. The Nanny Diaries (2002), Citizen Girl (2004), and Dedication(2007) are all fast paced, life experiences that provide a little insight and perspective to the unkind world of the adult. These writers are truly great examples of how a chance meeting in university can create a successful duo that makes a living doing what they love. I'm kinda jealous that I have not yet found such success - but as these girls would tell you - there is still time!

Here is a clip from Citizen Girl to stimulate the appetite.
on the front cover there is a news-clipping type image reading as follows.
" *Seeking* Qualified applicants looking to build their careers on sand. Requirements: a bachelor's degree worth a fraction of the debt you incurred. One to two years of clerical experience working for a deranged harridan who has sucked your very life force. Fluency in at least two major jargons. Must be resourceful, flexible, action oriented, stress tolerant, enthusiastic, and desperate. Primary responsibilities include: figuring out just what we've hired you to do; working closely with no one for clients we'll never identify, and a practice we'll never commit to. All interested email your integrity to www.mycompany.com"
From Citizen Girl 2004

Perhaps you can now see why this book gave me a giggle.
After a full year of job hunting I have finally found something that might lead to a position that I will enjoy..... Who knew being a grown-up would be so hard!!! It doesn't surprise me that no one talks about when they were getting started - they have blocked out the dreadful parts of their life history.

Spring has sprung its bulbs from the ground here on the west coast and we are all enjoying the splash of color in all the gardens.... A few hours of sunshine does wonders for a bad day, month, or year. A walk on the beach might even be able to prevent a future bad day - especially when coupled with a good book!

Who are your favorite authors - leave a comment and let me know I am always on the look for another great book!

Art Film: Bergman and Herzog

Pacey says:

I haven't seen all of the movies by these two directors, but I've seen a good selection of their reputable classic films. These two artists appear to approach film from two very different angles, and it may in some way reflect each one's ability to dream. Ingmar Bergman, reportedly, gets many of the ideas for filmography from his rich dreaming habits, whereas Werner Herzog self reports that he is incapable of dreaming. An insight can be reached in each directors state of mind while understanding their films.

Bergman movies -- (I've seen include Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona, Passion of Anna, and Cries and Whispers). In some of these movies, the protagonist often drift into dreams where they sort out internal conflicts, where characters have blurred roles in the film's reality and the scenery becomes oddly structured. Flashbacks are often used in the plots, and some movies even create scenes of seemingly uncorrelated nonsense. One who dreams can somewhat appreciate the episodic impressionism of the dreamlike movies of Bergman.

Herzog movies -- (I've seen Aguirre, The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, Stroszek and have Heart of Glass and Fitzcarraldo signed out from the library). Herzog movies tend to be extraordinarily realistic, where the actors themselves become characters in the movie in a personal way. Consider Aguirre, where the movie was shot in chronological order while the actors actually built and carried boats on location in Peru and sailed the Amazon. And consider Kasper Hauser, where Herzog actually located someone who can (in some ways) be considered a feral child (Bruno S.) to play a feral child Kasper Hauser. In Heart of Glass, in order to have the actors appear disoriented, Herzog had the cast hypnotized before acting each scene. In perhaps the most daring movie ever made, the actors of Fitzarraldo physically carried a 320 ton steamboat over a mountain from one river to another. In these movies, acting and reality are often one in the same.



Perhaps one can consider that Bergman uses his dreamstate as a crutch, although he does use that crutch with impeccable skill. Conversely, the lack of dream perhaps drives Herzog to create an ultra-reality. In both cases, however, these movies are not for your average Hollywood moviegoer, and I think these directors have made these movies as self-conscious personal artistic documents without much regard for profitability (although many of these films have become part of the canon of classic cinema).


Take your Valentine to experience the movie aesthetic, Hollywood or otherwise.

Trust the DJ

Pacey says:

Increasingly, I have become enamored by mix albums over complete albums by a singular artists/groups. To this end, I have been listening more and more to DJ compilation albums, such as Gilles Peterson's releases, Carl Cox, and King Britt, in addition to mix album series such as the Back to Mine, Latenighttales, DJ Kicks, and Fabric series. I think this is a result of my being a dabbler by nature, and since most music is terrible, I enjoy having the cream of the crop compiled into easy to access units by respectable ears.

Being one who is fond of making mixes myself, I fully realize how much time and effort is required to wading through albums and artist catalogs to discover and extract prime cuts for assembly. Also, being somewhat removed from the music taste-making community, I am not aware of the totality of releases from overlooked or otherwise obscure sources. DJs have access to scores of music I've never heard of, and it is their job to sift through them to discover crucial music. So, when I discover a DJ whose taste I trust, I make an effort to track down their compilations because they are vastly rewarding.

Another source of found sound come from the artists whom I respect. With regard to this, a relatively new trend emerging is that artists are now releasing compilation mixes of songs they enjoy or that otherwise inspire them. Such compilations are goldmines of tasteful music. The first such compilation mix series of this kind I came across is the Back to Mine series when I found contributers included such respectable artists like Orbital, Underworld, and New Order. Since then, I've been a devotee of such releases, and taken together with DJ mixes, has expanded my musical pallet considerably.

Also, for entertaining house-guests, these compilation mixes make for splendid casual listening much more than a regular album by one artist/group. Not only is the diversity often better, but the albums are also better regarding track-for-track comparisons. Good compilation albums are what the radio should be, ideally.

A taste of summer during a blast of winter

Penny Says: What would our beaches be like without seagulls?

Like them or not there are thousands of seagulls on Canadian beaches. These squabbling birds seem to spend all of their time befouling the sea, sand, docks, children and every possible surface you might try to eat on or sit upon. Most people tolerated them as pests much like rodent’s shooing them away and steering clear of their contaminated fecal matter. But when a seagull proudly displays a starfish as its catch of the day crowds of people will stand and watch in awe as this mighty hunter stuffs the ridged, calcified, five armed starfish into its narrow bird beak.

What is the trick the gull is using to get the starfish down its throat? Digestive juices! The gulls will put one arm of the star into the back of their throats and the digestive enzymes in the gut are brought up into contact with the starfish’s arm, theses acidic juices act to slowly but surely soften the hard exterior. Once soft the gull maneuvers the next arm to its throat to soften. The bad news for the starfish is that is not necessarily dead while all this digesting is taking place. Once all 5 arms are nice and limp the gull will fold the starfish in half exposing the centre of the star to its digestive juices!

Other than their clearly entertaining value it is not obvious what seagulls provide as far as helping to maintain balance in the ecosystem. After some digging I found a few reports that suggest the parasites are spread by the gulls act to control snail populations. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug06/ShoalsResearch.kr.html this group is spending hard earned research dollars to determine how gulls impact snails among other things. Eating the things that eat vegetation helps protect against loss of vegetation. But Gulls go one step further, by limiting the reproductive capacity of the critters they were too full to eat protecting the vegetation in their habitat.

These territorial birds are opportunistic eaters that will eat anything they get their beaks on - but once they find a reliable food source in their territory and establish a way to get it down they eat it almost exclusively. Apparently once they become a starfish eater they are always a starfish eater. They will of course still be open to an easy meal of unfinished fries or even a ketchup package!

Spring is just around the corner!

Curtis Joseph is still overrated

Pacey says:

After a decade-or-so of my personal campaign against the merits of Joseph as a goaltender, I am now faced with the fact that he is now on my team. It was much easier to highlight his talent for avoiding pucks when he was a member of the Oilers, Leafs, and Red Wings, but now I have to come to terms with actually cheering for him as a member of the Calgary Flames.

However, this kind of dilemma is not something I'm unfamiliar with. I cheered for Joseph when he lost Canada the World Cup in '96 to the Americans, and I cheered for him as he failed to stop a puck in his only game at the Salt Lake Olympics (sensibly, Martin Brodeur played the rest of the tournament to secure the gold).

Another thing to consider is that I also believe that Raymond Bourque is the most overrated defenseman to ever play hockey. After declaring that he would never win the Cup because he was an instinctive, habitual loser, Bourque did win a championship as a Colorado Avalanche. I still believe it took a superhuman effort by Sakic, Roy, Blake, Tanguay (current Flame), etc. to overcome Bourque's natural gift for failure, but the fact remains that even players such as Bourque can still win in the right situation.

Thus, I must suck it up and support this loser. History has shown that it is not fatal to your Cup aspirations to carry losers in your lineup, so I remain optimistic.

Joseph, just don't screw this one up, okay?

A Perfect Comic Stip

Pacey says:

Hands down, the best comic strip of all time is Calvin and Hobbes.

On December 31, 1995, comic writer Bill Watterson retired this fantastic comic strip. Of course, all good things come to an end, but this world is just a little less wonderful with the passing of Spaceman Spiff et al.

What I think truly separates Calvin and Hobbes from the pack is the seamless interweaving of high concepts of high academic/philosophic culture through the gleefully visceral imagination of Calvin in a manner that is not only hilarious, but also immediate, and with a good heart. It is also universal; boundless in time. Reading these comics over again, I am left in awe of the explosive imagination of Calvin, who not only sets the plot, but is also the very source of his superego, Hobbes.

The real source of this comic is the mind of Bill Watterson, who's satire attacks both sides of commercialism. Sometimes, I've found the comic to insightful to the mind of its creator on this subject. In one comic, Calvin states:

"The hard part for us avant-garde post-modern artists is deciding whether or not to embrace commercialism. Do we allow our work to be hyped and exploited by a market that's simply hungry for the next new thing? Do we participate in a system that turns high art into low art so it's better suited for mass consumption? Of course, when an artist goes commercial, he makes a mockery of his status as an outsider and free thinker. He buys into the crass and shallow values art should transcend. He trades the integrity of his art for riches and fame."

In real life, Watterson was staunch in his defense of the comic's integrity, and refused to allow his creations to be made part of the merchandising meat-grinder that would compromise the spirit of his creations. Watterson should be commended for not diluting the impact of Calvin and Hobbes in the face of, likely substantial, financial reward. Some things are great for merchandising, and merchandising has its place, but every time I see an sticker of Calvin urinating on a Ford symbol on the back of a truck, it turns my stomach (Watterson did not draw nor endorse the image). Watterson, to me, is the real deal when it comes to integrity.

There are great sources online to get your fill of Calvin and Hobbes, but allow me to indulge in a few of my favourite episodes (click to enlarge):