Boxing Day 2009

Oh, hi....

No my head hardly hurt at all when i woke up this morning. Mind you, when i woke up at 1:30 to go to the toilet i thought i was gonna die, but this morning i was fine....

And i didn't watch any of my usual Christmas films last night. I was going to watch "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" (the Errol Flynn / Olivia de Havilland version) but when i dug out the DVD i realised that i had never seen any of the special features on disc 2... And so i watched a one-hour documentary on the history of Technicolor as i ate my turkey, peas, smashed potatoes, and cherry crumble with ice cream....

I shall explore more of disc 2 tonight....

Today: i was planning to hit the massive Boxing Day sale at Staples this morning, but there was a heavy weather warning in effect. Well, it's still in effect but so far nothing's happened, and i took the risk and wandered up there. I am now the proud owner of a brand-new DVD burner.

Too bad DVD burners weren't on sale. I also bought a 2 GB thumb drive and finally have backed up all of my photos of Carmela (that's her there -- cute, eh?) (not as cute as Jill 'n' Jen, obviously).... $150 later

A Slight Break From Tradition

This has not been a normal Christmas.

For one thing, i have watched no seasonal films at all this year apart from the Father Ted Christmas Special ("A Christmassy Ted."). No, not even "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which i love.

The last film i watched was "Threads" -- a devastating BBC docudrama, hardly festive.

Today, Christmas Day, began normally, with the rum/eggnog/cashews for breakfast but for the first time in umpteen years i did not listen to Handel's "Messiah."

Of course i did listen to "A Christmas Present From The Albion Band" -- the greatest Christmas album ever, IMFFHO, and to The Goons' "A Christmas Carol," and am at this very moment listening to Jethro Tull's Christmas album (called, oddly, "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album").

But, for years i have watched a film every afternoon on this day. Not today -- i'm updating my blog and listening to music instead.

Happy Christmas, dear reader. Now, where's that bottle opener....

Yuletide Lunacy

Quote of the day: Dick Cavett -- Do you enjoy it as much as I do when a moralistic figure of the religious right is caught with descended trousers?

Stop the presses! Google has just announced that it wants to take over Spriggsblog! Negotiations are underway. Their initial offer was $13.48, but i'm holding out for $15.72 -- which will cover two pints at Kelsey's plus tip.

I've been trying to come up with some "best of" lists for 2009, and i was planning to start on a musical note, but the fact is, i really haven't heard a load of great new music this year.

Far and away, though, my favourite two songs of the year have been "Oh Yeah" by Chickenfoot, and "Wheels," by The Foo Fighters. I really enjoyed the new CDs by Colin James and Collective Soul and Chantal Kreviazuk, too

Household Hint #27

When surfing for porn, avoid websites which feature midgets.

You know it makes sense!

Watched this last night. It's a classic for sure. What i didn't know is that it was designed to be the first part of a trilogy. Part two was the subsequent "The Two Jakes." Part three was originally intended to be called "Cloverleaf," but the plan was scrapped ... although large bits of it were incorporated into "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" No, really!

Ding! Ding! Hello!

Quote du jour of the day: Arthur C. Clarke: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Yes, well, this is Canada, a bilingual country. We don't have Stop signs here, we have Stop Arret signs. Nor do we have No Smoking signs, instead we have No Smoking Defense De Fumer signs. So i can have a quote du jour of the day.

Has it really been two weeks since i wrote on this blog? What have i been doing?

Well (as you asked) i've been getting depressed ('tis the season to be grumpy, fa-la-la), drinking too much, hating my job more and more by the day to the point where i have made my first New Year's Resolution for 2010: to paraphrase The Animals, i gotta get out of that place.

In fact i just updated my resume, and even that was depressing: i haven't accomplished anything (career-wise and self-actualisation-wise) in over a year, not since i took my First Aid / CPU refresher course. (Although i am trying to learn HTML, as i may have mentioned.... But finding it rather difficult, like trying to learn Mandarin.)

Anyway, here's a picture of Kate Bush -- brightens up my day even if it does nothing for you

HTML Is Fun!

Hi, kids!

Click on THIS

It's a really very nice free download for you: Bob Dylan singing "Mr Tambourine Man" at the BBC in 1965.

Enjoy!