Tuesday, January 31, 2023

One thing Angus Young taught me:

"It's not the size of dog in the in the fight, it's the size of fight in the dog. "

"I've also taught a lot of lads to play guitar."

In fact someone said that about Angus Young (Vince Neal, Mötley Crüe? Can't recall.) Dementia must be pretty scrappy because his older brother Malcolm taught Angus how to fight — and play guitar. 

Monday, January 30, 2023

Vintage Whisky 2021

 2021 is the year Larry McMurtry died, and I was promptly felled by a hemorrhagic stroke. I disappeared,but not without blogging first (it was "a Pandemic Year," after all). 

Books

  • The Year Of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism In An Age Of Crisis by Alan Jacobs reviewed here
  • The Index Of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher Behareviewed here
  • Note to self -- read this book on Hannah Arendt.
  • Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years by Michael Posner reviewed 

Movies

  • Prime Cut -- that is one bonkers movie.
  • My wife now subscribes to Disney+ and I have seen all of The Mandalorian. It is not as good as Star Wars: Rebels and I much prefer the LEGO Star Wars video games. But Gina Carano gave me something to talk about

Music 

  • The concert meme
  • I still listen to Songs For The Apocalypse by Jason Bieler. 
  • Treasure of the Broken Land: The Songs of Mark Heard reviewed

Mennonites 

  • Kristoff-fa-Pluma-moos and the quilte explained

Miscellaneous 

  • Remembering a balcony. 
  • "In which JEH Smith TOTALLY OWNS Peter Thiel and his Girardian frat-boys — possibly not my final word on Rene Girard but probably my final word on Jordan Peterson
  • Fitness: my pre-stroke routine. If I have any regrets I wish I'd done more with the curl-bar. Light weights of course. There came a day when I was punctured for blood, and I simply did not have the veins for it. 
  • Late-night radio: CFNY and my buddy's tapes explained
The last thing I remember from this blog.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Too high?

PSA: 

Drink lots of good, clean water. Nibble on some peppercorns. And talk to a trusted friend. I cannot stress this last point too much. 

Friday, January 27, 2023

Don's Photo/Independent Photography

A good friend once worked at Don's Photo. He later worked at Independent Photography which shared floorspace with the Mennonite jeweler's. He took me to the "Trophy Room" upstairs once. I saw one endangered species after the next stuffed and mounted. Apparently the Old Man introduced a young reporter to the room, figuring it would be a conversation starter. Little did he know! He simply could not understand the horrified look on her face. Another era had passed into the next, to be sure.

"Ya wouldn't shoot me -- would ya?"

Links:  Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler is now streaming. I recommend it. 

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Medical cannabis — it’s “high” time I practice what I preach

Cannabis — I used to water and harvest the stuff.

The plants looked nothing like this. 

Today I would rather get needles to my forearm, my neck, and my face to manage the pain than take cannabis at all.

I suspect those of us who have enjoyed marijuana recreationally might fall into the exact same trap as those who have avoided cannabis their whole lives. We think we’re so cool, but rather than see the cannabis state as an alternative (and very temporary) state of being we do not see it as helpful in any way at all. My mother must be spinning.

Stay tuned! Plus: here's the Wiki for Billy Sunday, a man quite literally after my own heart. 

He looked like this -- ALL the time. 

Saturday, January 21, 2023

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES



You will get weary of the opening. 

I am watching Batman: The Animated Series (BTAS) — the one that Bruce Timm and Mark Hammil cut their teeth on. 

You say you only recognize one of those names? I know Bruce Timm has been around but Mark Hammil is, in fact, an accomplished actor (and director and producer). 

BTAS is family-friendly, so the bad guys never die but land on bushes or in the water. But BTAS is also grown-up entertainment. There is a lot of punching — most of it off-screen, but still. And the animation is reminiscent of WW2-era Disney or Tom and Jerry which adults will, uh, remember.

I found and ripped the Complete BTAS DVDs when the set was a screaming deal and I actually started watching the video files before I got sick and disappeared. But I started over again, and now I am almost done Season 2. I fully expect I will watch the whole show, including the two movies, which I had to get (but the movies were cheap. Maybe Blu-Ray and the current scene are different — I don't know). 

Other links: over at the Roger Ebert website Matt Sigur remembers when the animated Batman was the only Batman that mattered. And I am a big fan of The LEGO Batman Movie — I shilled for Spider-Verse, I should have squawked about LEGO Batman. too. Hey, better late than never!

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Words to live by

 

“I’m paying you — you’re not paying me!” BD said that and I try to live it every day.

"Just remember who's paying whom, little buddy!"

Thursday, January 12, 2023

Guitar!

I'm a beginner now — if my talking is bad (and it is) my guitar playing is worse.  "Neuroplasticity" you say? Oh, I am all about neuroplasticity!

Jeff Beck died. I don't recall who said it, but it was somebody British. The reason why Jimi Hendrix was such a breath of fresh air on the British Isles was people were actually concerned with who was the “best guitarist.” Then Hendrix arrived, and there was no question — nobody else played guitar like that. British guitarists started breathing again. 

Anyway, Jeff Beck was British and as a guitarist was the full meal deal. Music changed with Jeff Beck, and he always played LOUD. I own Truth on CD — you can, and should, do better. Your supper time assignment: start with Truth, move to Blow By Blow, then try Live at Ronnie Scott's — I will!

"You will learn how to play guitar!"

Sunday, January 08, 2023

Condos!

Apparently condos are finally going up where the old bookstore once stood. “The coffee chain that took over the building has finally locked the doors, but the condos will keep the bookstore facade. Isn't that good news?”

The facade: "Um... are the bookstore vouchers still good?"

I was a mess when the Bible College got bulldozed. But the bookstore? Frankly, if neither of my kids is living there the condo-builders can go ahead and tear the place down. I don't care what gets done with it. 

When I was a child we'd make fun of Sarto Beach every time we drove past. My father had learned to swim at Sarto Beach;  now it had been grated into nonexistence. “Sarto Beach” was just a ditch with a sign in it. “Yeah, Dad — 'Sarto Beach' is looking kinda dry today.”

I'm told the intersection where the condos are now going up used to be a First Nation burial site. We were born to die — I'm not the first to say it and I'll hardly be the last. So it goes. Hey, I love Sarto Beach! For now I still have my dreams. I'm sure my father and the First Nations people do, too. 

Saturday, January 07, 2023

Sammy Davis Jr., rediscovered

Back at the bookstore we had a portable stereo that quietly played CDs, four to a tray. I am only now listening to these CDs as I upload them, one at a time, to YouTube Music. So Eee-o 11: The Best Of The Rat Pack is quite a revelation, particularly Sammy Davis Jr. 

When he recorded "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs" I suspect Kelsey Grammer was singing along — a lot —with Sammy Davis Jr. There can only be one Sammy Davis Jr. and thank God for that — he was quite the performer. If you want to see Sammy Davis Jr. singing and dancing and playing trombone, xylophone then the drums skip straight to 10:45,

Oh, this isn't half the story.   

Other links: They may have been a bunch of hams but the Rat Pack ruled the world once. I like The Rat Pack movie, (looks like it is currently on YouTube Canada) but I am a sucker for anything with Ray Liotta and Don Cheadle in it (wiki). Here is "Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs." And here is the original (cheap!) TV ad for Eee-o 11: The Best Of The Rat Pack. I don't know what they mean by 2 CDs. If I remember right I bought a single CD at Costco for a couple of bucks during a diaper run. ("They'll never notice this!" Little did I know...) You can probably do better with a quick streaming session. 

Friday, January 06, 2023

What I learned from my hemorrhagic stroke, part 4

I used to play video games. And I always felt badly . 

"The treasure's around here... somewhere!"

The Outer Worlds. Fallout:  New Vegas and Fallout  3 and and Skyrim — I spent so much time meditating on worlds stitched together by computer engineers I actually wished I played video games MORE. 

Other WP Links: I yack a bit about Horizon: Zero Dawn here, I yack about The Simpsons video game here. Virtual reality? Too much is not enough. It's been 20 years and I haven't changed my tune. That's why I'm still blogging, baby! I'm out to change THE WORLD!

Part 1

Tuesday, January 03, 2023

"How I learned to start worrying..." What I learned from my hemorrhagic stroke, part 3

 Nothing/Everything, cont. 

Prior to my hemorrhagic stroke I couldn't see what was so funny about Peter Sellers' performance of the titular Dr. Strangelove. I'd just laugh when the audience laughed. 

"What could go wrong?"

After the stroke I know: the hand has a mind of its own. That doesn't explain away Strangelove's "Sieg heils." If that bothers you take it up with Stanley Kubrick. In the meantime just laugh along with the audience. Nothing will go wrong — promise. 

Links: part 1, part 2

Monday, January 02, 2023

What I learned during my hemorrhagic stroke, part 2

Nothing/Everything, cont. 

During my coma, man, would I dream! I dreamed I was in the Eaton Centre. When I woke up I had a bad feeling about one nurse ("I watched 2 A Half Men and realized it was all true," he said in real life) and a good feeling about another (she would do anything for this guy — the other nurses, not so much). 

In real life I started listening to everything by Led Zeppelin and Jump Back by the Rolling Stones. Life is too short to bear a musical grudge and Jimmy Page and Keith Richards are too good. But I loved reading this

I also began to pray alot ('cos what else was I gonna do with that time?) and I read Nick Cave The Red Hand Files and I watched Toyah and Robert's Sunday lunch

Honestly -- I am not at all sure who is more heroic.

Links: part 1, part 3

Sunday, January 01, 2023

2023

 This is my themesong for 2023 — and I like it here!

I'm remembering a young woman from Bible College who was struggling with MD. I recall her being quite cute, but she became a Bible College fixture. I don't mean to compare myself to a person with MD (it's a different thing) but I also do not want to become a fixture ANYWHERE. 'cept maybe blogspot — it's much too late to change the tune here.