Tag: Radio and TV

Tales From The Green Valley

Got a little Christmassy last night watching Tales from the Green Valley on TVO last night, a 2005 BBC production, in which a number of academics with good teeth live in a 1620’s Welsh farm and display how civilized it all would have been without the ignorance, disease, constant use of alcohol and religious fanaticism. But all very good and worth watching. Here is one participant’s website. It were the December episode that drew me back to the deep mid-winter:

To celebrate Christmas 17th-century style the farmers cut a giant yule log, find traditional decorations, brew contemporary tipples, and put all hands to cooking up recipes from the age of Shakespeare, like mince pies with real meat in them. At the same time they must find time to tend the livestock, make some winter clothes, and build a hovel, a period wood store.

But they did butchered a pig and made with it plump sausages and many a pie. ‘Twas the “contemporary tipples” that was of interest, the infusion of herbs in spirit that got me thinking of storing up something of a julglögg, then I reckoned it might be a pyment or metheglin. It reminded me of when at King’s I was in charge of the Gunpowder Punch in 1984 for the Christmas Readings: 7 parts red wine, 2 parts port, 1 part brandy simmered with old apples and spices.

Taking care of this in November leaves time in early December for some careful cheese planning. Oh, and I better buy a snow shovel, too.

Friday Chat, Bad Day Chat

I can hear them even now – whiff, whiff, whiff. The sound of my new back to school cords, junior high late 70s. Crisp now, they would weigh me down in that cold October rain waiting for the bus, absorbing like a new sponge technology. This is the first bad day in the calendar since February. Mellow fruitfulness? HAH!

  • Here’s a bit of what I lost when I was taken to school as a kid. My access to Uncle Bobby and his ilk. I always thought that Bibmo the Birthday clown was freakish and the Mars landing quality picture of him under that link does nothing to help his cause.
  • Remember when Scotland always won at soccer? And by the way, that blown catch at Fenway by Rios the Blue Jay last night was the funniest thing I have seen in months.
  • I now like the Foo Fighters even more because it what you want to listen to when you are down under down under:

    The men were stuck in a Tasmanian mine when it collapsed in May, and passed the time listening to the Foo Fighters on MP3 players handed to them. Grohl said he would meet the two when the band tour Australia in November. “I’m not just having one beer with those dudes – we’re going for it,” he told the country’s ABC radio. “This is going to be a big night.”

    I have always thought that the mining disaster survivior population would be a nautral fit for rock star adoration.

  • Big doings with our forces in Afganistan who are going to take a province, Panjwaii, back soon. It is an example of how the Taliban are not terrorists or really even insurgents if this quote is correct:

    One Afghan leader from the area said NATO is in for a tough fight that won’t end once troops move in. He said the alliance should attempt some form of reconciliation with local militants. Haji Agha Lalai, the chief Panjwaii district elder who was chased out of his village by Taliban, said the insurgents have infiltrated every aspect of life there. “They own shops, they own homes there, they will not retreat,” Mr. Lalai predicted. “There are many types of Taliban, but these are the warriors. They have been told to fight and they will fight.”

    Whatever they are, they are nasty pieces of work and as will be actually capturing a large area from them and holding it. This is the area where Canadian troops killed 72 Taliban soldiers a few weeks ago after they ambushed an ambush.

  • Interesting to note that King for a bit more Ralph admits the Alberta boom was in fact unexpected, unprepared for, caused by a shift in a natural resource and is causing economic problems like local inflation and the inability to get projects off the ground due to shortgages. Interesting given those who say it was through hard work and conservative economic principles even though the same hardwork and conservative economic principles applies and have applied to most of the rest of the country for the last decade and a half.
  • I have been spending an inordinate amount of time at the Cooperstown Ballcap Co. . Their research prowess is phenomenal. Check out the cap for “BANANA WORKERS, 1935”.

So there you are. Enjoy the last real day of summer. A prize to the first person who spots some one else at work and an extra prize if that person is actually conscious.

Friday Chat On The Run

Woke up way too late and had to deal with my friend Manual Spammo. What poor
lives these saps must lead to have to cut and past their way now through the
handy dandy “are you human” quiz before each comment is posted. Looks like it
took longer to post than delete. That is a gain. Anyway:

  • Notice: SayNay must email me at genx40@gmail.com today to answer certain questions today if he/she is not to have every comment deleted upon posting.

  • Update on great radio: NCPR played an interview this
    morning of one WWII vet     including reflections on the misappropriation of
    patriotism and heroism. To my mind it is no different than the appropriation of
    the word “Christian” by the ecumenically-resistent North American protestant
    evangelical right.

  • Consider these considerations: blogging is like bottled water, the web is
    another mass medium, most people had niche based lives before web 2.0, blogging
    derives from early 90s cocooning, there may be way more than 57 channels but
    there is still nothing on.

  • It would appear that the
    Government is not amused     by the suggestion in the Globe yesterday
    that the PMO was trying to keep 40,000 in the war zone of Lebanon under
    wraps    .

  • Municipal wi-fi
    for Toronto     – who knew? Is this good?

  • The Red Sox have recovered from their all-star week jitters, relying
    yesterday on a 87 year old Grampy Curt Schilling if the photo on this
    article     is anything to go by. Nice to see the
    Jays imploding    …yet beating the Yankees and the
    blame     going to last year’s player of the year. Am I dreaming?

Gotta
run.

Last Friday Chat of The First Half

Tomorrow is closer to 2007 than 2005. We have already passed the solstice. Funny how it all just trips away. No nevermind, however, as there are do-ins to do and a long weekend before us. And we’ll see how far we get with today’s bullets as high-speed from Sympatico is chugging like a tramp steamer. No doubt all the new GX40 surveillance technology. Don’t be holding your breath waiting for spelling corrections today, all you grade-five ruler-tappers you.

  • Update3 : Rick Moranis – almost as Canadian as Paddle to the Sea.
  • Update 2: Michael and Aaaarold. I have a white shirt, too, by the way. Wore it today. I like white shirts. They are coming back. You never see ska band members in patterns or stripes. No way.
  • Update: YouTube is good because you can watch the Morton score amazingly anytime you want. It is bad because it does not have the NFB’s film Paddle to the Sea, the one thing that both expresses the soul of the nation and brings it together and brings us all together. Tommorrow, on Canada Day, children all over the land ought to be brought into elementary school gyms to watch Paddle to the Sea and eat creamsicles.
  • The Red Sox. I have not been talking about them and they go on a twelve game winning streak during June’s interleague play. Last night was apparently Coco-riffic with even Steve Somers of the Mets home station, WFAN in New York, going gaa-gaa about his “diving into a swimming pool” catch last night in the eighth to save the game. The view shown here with his head aimed at the green monster in mid-flight should give you some sense of the moment. A video of the catch is available at this page. Easier to watch on TooYube.
  • Two ailments I have which are exceedingly minor but which bug the heck out of me. First, rogue eyelashes. They stick in my eye. It only happened once I hit 40 and it drives me mental. Second, a comb-over sideburn. I have a bald patch 1/4 the size of a stamp. It changes everything. There. I have written something about myself. That is it. No more.
  • Today’s two World Cup games are a gem and a dud. If Italy wins, it should have won but if it loses it should have won. Germany v. Argentina, however, could be the game of the tournament. It is still early enough that the fear will not lock the knees of players gripped with the angst that they might make the play that loses the Cup. Luncheon table booked for second half.
  • Never one to see a high ground he won’t avoid, Junior is going to keep on holding on to the good things that got him all his success:

    President Bush told reporters he promised to take the findings of the court “very seriously”. But he signalled he might seek congressional approval to resurrect the tribunals. “To the extent that there is latitude to work with the Congress to determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue in which to give people their day in court, we will do so,” he said. “The American people need to know that this ruling, as I understand it, won’t cause killers to be put out on the street.”

    You can trust that the good politicians who need to get elected in the fall will ensure there is a sprinkling of natural justice throughout the process so that while the ding-bats will say the tribunals continue the kangaroo will no longer be in the room.

  • Did I mention coffee is good? Kicking Horse Sumatra this morning.
  • TVO is getting redone. I have enjoyed the now-axed Studio 2 but the format may have gotten tired and, yes, there is no doubt that half an hour a week of actual discussion of actual provincial politics would make any government tired of sending cheques. Too bad we do not have the benevolent giving class of our neighbours to the south where benefactors ensure that institutions like National Public Radio are becoming more and more independent of government support and influence and more and more able to address the needs of the community. Sadly, there are few other voices attending to the current affairs and life of Ontario as opposed to Canada. Good to see that Steve Paikin continues in a new news show called The Agenda that may make all my fears for naught.

That is it. It was like doing it on dial up and, while doing it on dial-up is what made the Internet what it is today, I do not like doing it on dial-up.

Mansbridge Is Not The One

Last time I checked I did not care what was on CBC TV. Not because it is a hot bed of socialism, as some famous bores might go one about, but because it is simply pretty bad. That being said, I am almost moved by this stunned decision:

CBC programming executives scrambled to do damage control yesterday in the wake of a firestorm that erupted after fans of The National learned that the flagship newscast would be bumped eight nights this summer for an American Idol knockoff reality show. After announcing The National’s schedule shift yesterday, The Globe and Mail received 50 e-mail messages from readers enraged that the Peter Mansbridge-led news hour would be pushed back to 11 p.m. on Tuesdays, starting July 18 and ending the first week of September. The program, The One: Making a Music Star, is based on an international format that has been a hit in several territories around the world…

Why so stunned? Why run a show that is available on another channel? Even if it isn’t why run one that is at least fourth in line for the summer reality show market? The dumbest and therefore best of the summer talent shows is the new America Has Talent which brings David Hasselhoff back to North America after three decades thrilling central Europe in a format which is basically The Gong Show. Canadian hearts and minds are already caught up by Canadian Idol and the issue of what new goofball shirt Ben Mulroney will wear this time. The best of the best has surprisingly shown itself to be So You Think You Can Dance in which people with actual artisitic skill display their actual artistic skills. I know it is proof that I am entering the years of my dotage that I like the show and think, short of sports, it is the best thing on TV. But it is. So there.

That all being the case, why is the CBC buying a likely dud and disrupting its base in the blue rinse and corduroy vest crowds…does anyone else watch CBC TV?…oh, yes…the members of the Canadian Senate.

Wednesday…Thursday…Chatday…

Tra la! It’s May, the lusty month of May!
That lovely month when ev’ryone goes blissfully astray
Tra la! It’s here, that shocking time of year!
When tons of wicked little thoughts merrily appear.

It’s May! It’s May, that gorgeous holiday
When ev’ry maiden prays that her lad will be a cad!
It’s mad! It’s gay, a libelous display
Those dreary vows that ev’ryone takes, ev’ryone breaks
Ev’ryone makes divine mistakes
The lusty month of May!

A little something for the Broadway set amongst you.

Time is flying, is it not? A few short moments ago I was in winter’s grip and now the weather is all July in Halifax – mid-20s and sunshine. Fabulous. You know all those people who say October is the best time of year? They are nuts. May is. Pre-bug, pre-smog, pre-heat, pre-kids-at-home-every-day-with-nothing-to-do. It’s been a busy week following on a couple of busy weeks but at least it is May:

  • I have been contacted by the Asparagus Growers of America to remind you to eat asparagus. Asparagus is one of the two foods that kids won’t want to eat until they find out that it makes your pee change colour and then they can’t get enough. My trick? A little orange juice in the steamer.
  • In other public service news, send your kind thoughts for portland who is waylayed by a unshakable nasty bug these days. And one for the Junk Store Cowgirl, Linda, who has been in radio silence for almost a month now. You will recall her good lad received a shipment of Marmite from the office workers here.
  • Nice to see that radio is confirming the lack of practical support for podcasting:

    Commercial FM radio has reached the billion-dollar revenue milestone in Canada, at a time when they are also preparing to sing the blues in Ottawa this month. Industry data released Thursday show Canada’s commercial FM stations collectively pulled in $1.03-billion in revenue last year, with pretax profits of $247-million. Those numbers are up substantially from 2004, and when combined with earnings from AM stations, helped drive commercial radio to an unprecedented $1.33-billion in revenue. Pretax profits also soared 24 per cent to more than $255-million.

    Radio really is the miracle medium, providing all your wireless needs for a wee $7.99 transistor rig from Radio Shack. If I were you , I’d think about a career in radio.

  • It has been a week when I have re-evaluated Mr. Harper to a degree. His budget was not a bad budget, keeping in mind that I disagree with both the Tory child bonus voter attraction scheme and the murky Grit shadow plan that really never was. If I was a booster of the military more than I am I might be a little offended by something of a gap between word and deed but otherwise it was pretty middle of the road and is not going to undermine the tidy little boom we are enjoying. The most troublesome part of it is the continued de-Federalization of the nation that really has been tripping along since Joe Clark fist uttered “community of communities” back in ’79. Where will it all end? Who gets the “D” in Canada when it is utterly disassembled?
  • BLork is a wizard but more so a person of intestinal fortitude as I have had such jars but dipped into said jars.
  • This bit from a memo obtained under access to information is a tad odd:

    The percentage of Canadians who hold a valid passport has steadily risen — to 36 per cent in 2004-05 from less than 28 per cent in 2000-01 — in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. The passport office expects the figure to reach 48 per cent of Canadians by 2008-09. “Since 9/11, passports are being seen as secure identity documents rather than just travel documents,” the notes say. “Passport Canada is now as much a security agency as a service agency, in keeping with the new international norm.”

    Does my government think I need a secure identity document other than for travel? I certainly do not. My me-ness is mine wherever I am and I don’t need no state papers to prove that. Sounds more like Passport Canada just bigging itself up. Silly puffery as I’d like to think, generally, that I am much more in keeping with the new international norm.

  • Update: Why the heck is a company in PEI importing workers from Russia? Even with a 1.5% unemployment drop from March to April, there is still 10.5% unemployed in the province.

Rollerball

You know how good, how useful TV is when it gives you the chance to see a movie you were not allowed to see in grade seven. It was like a glimpse into the future when the Flea rules the planet and treats us all like pawns on a chessboard. Best of all – it’s Canadian content with Norman Jewison in the director’s chair. Dig the font. Robots will demand the use of that font when they rule us. They will also make us wear tight beige slacks.

Hell In Canada

I must say “hell” about 37 times a day. If I stub my toe or realize I failed to lock the car once I’m inside. It is a pretty low level sweary-mary around our house. So odd it is to read this:

If it’s not the bloody, it’s the hell.

When British censors banned a controversial Tourism Australia ad campaign this month, they did so because it used the word “bloody” in the question: “So where the bloody hell are you?” Now the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says it won’t run the ad during family programming because of the word “hell.”

“It just shows you the different taste levels of audiences in various cultures,” said CBC spokeswoman Ruth Ellen Soles. ” ‘Hell’ is a problem for us in terms of kids and family viewing. It comes under the category of ‘taste’ and in these situations we listen to what our audience tells us.”

Cultural barrier to the hellish? What the hell is that? You want religious cultural sensitivity? This is religious cultural sensitivity. Seeing as the kids see a great Canadian beer called Maudit around from time to time, I think they would have a hell of a time finding fault. Hasn’t Satan largely been neutered in Canada anyway, relegated to the image on a sports team’s jersey? If I were to describe someone as Old Nick, hell, they’d likely think I was referencing Santa, not Satan. Even – with all due respect – the holy rollers have long since moved from the fear of hell to the fantastic welcome at the pearly gates that they (and they alone) deserve and shall receive. It’s all about upside these days.

Soon No More Home And Garden TV

As the new ditigal TV world starts to nudge above the horizon, it is good to see the CTRC do something useful short of the dream of its own extinguishment. As some point before I leave this mortal coil, I may be able to buy cable TV without the 34 channels I never never never watch:

As the industry shifts from analog to digital transmission, which provides a high-definition TV signal through a set-top box, cable companies have sought to sell channels individually. However, in a show of support for analog cable networks concerned that their audiences may plunge, the CRTC said the tiered system must be kept in place on digital cable until 2013. If cable providers have transferred more than 85 per cent of their subscribers to digital after 2010, that system can be dropped. The tiers have often frustrated consumers who would like certain stations but do not want to be pay for those they don’t want…While Canadian regulators are making the shift from analog to digital cable over a broader period of time, the U.S. government has more aggressive plans, setting a Feb. 17, 2009, deadline to end analog TV broadcasts.

The next step of course is allowing any channel broadcast anywhere in the world to be available to me. All I want is the right to watch TV from India or Fiji as I have been able to listen to their radio through the miracle of the international broadcast bands of shortwave radio. You can tell by my internationalist style around these parts.