I have just posted what has to be one of the worst written pieces I've ever thrown together: my take on The Treasure of the Sierre Madre.

Unfortunately, I'm about to rush out but hopefully I'll have this howler fixed sometime soon. In the meantime, you can take a look and see what gets written when I have no idea what to say and I'm rushing to get it said.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

This has been a disagreeable week. And a costly one. A person's ignorance can bite them on the ass at almost anytime, as did mine.

Since September began, my cozy little world of condo living has been deconstructing. Yes, there is the usual housekeeping that has lain unattended for a very long time. Balls of cat fur blow through the rooms like rolling tumbleweeds. The cat goes out on the balcony, eats some discarded and brittle leaves, comes back inside and finds a new place to throw them up. Clothes accummulate in several piles awaiting a wash that never comes.

As well ... the strings of the vertical blinds all seem to have frayed and broken in tandem. The toilet has been running ceasely, unbeknowst to me, but certainly know to the utility company which has charged me a mind-numbing sum. And on the subject of plumbing, apparently there is a humidifer somehow attached to my furnace and it has been leaking. Yes, leaking and destroying the condo below me. There is a bill headed my way soon ...

As the expression goes ... who's cornflakes did I shit in anyway?

Finished reading Steve Martin's The Pleasure of My Company and it was very good. I kept expecting certain things. One delight of the book is that they didn't happen; it surprised me by going somewhere else.

Having finished the book, I've now gone back to his earlier novella, Shopgirl. I've barely begun but it seems good as well and I read somewhere they are now making it a movie. It appears it will star Steve Martin (surprise - he also handled the screenplay) and the youthful and attractive Claire Danes.

I am in a happy place right now. Yes. Two reasons: reading and writing. Let's start with the latter:

There is not a lot to say. I began writing yesterday and soon found I was writing a story I had wanted to write for some time. Quite often, the business of simply starting to write - anything, whatever pops into my head - is what kickstarts the engine. Soon I find I am no longer rambling; there is a story emerging and things start to snowball.

This is what happened yesterday when I began. The story I had wanted to write crept into the paragraphs. Of course, I don't know what that story is. I know only vague details. The writing process is what reveals the story. So I won't know the complete story until I am finished.

The other interesting thing is how the story keeps changing as I write. What I thought was the story is not the story at all - the details evolve. They transform. And, the story I thought I wanted to write also appears to be an excuse to write a different story. The original story idea is actually a MacGuffin for another.

Anyway ... It's all very interesting to me. Hopefully this story will be completed soon. If it's any good, perhaps I'll put it online. (It may be a novella as opposed to a short story - don't know yet.)

As for the reading ... I picked up a new book by Steve Martin yesterday. It's called The Pleasure of My Company and it's very good. It's funny ... or perhaps I should say wryly humorous, or something like that. It's not something I've been laughing out loud over. I've simply been smiling a lot while reading it.

I really like the main character (the narrator). It reminds me somewhat of the main character in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (a book I highly recommend). They are similar in tone and there are some vague (and few) similarities in characterization. It's a tone and style I really enjoy - I find it quite funny in a dry way - and have used a similar approach in some of my own shabby stories.

The only downside of the book is it's a short - about 160 pages long - so I'll be finished it very soon. You know, it seems sometimes as if the books you really like are incredibly short whereas books that don't do much for you seem as thick as the New York phone book.

But enough of all that ... Have to get back to writing my own stories now. Toodle-oo!

You know, that Kurt Russell guy is a pretty good actor. I liked him in Tombstone. But last night I watched Dark Blue and this was an even better performance. Surprising movie too ... it kind of looks like it will be another one of those Hollywood cop movies ... yawn. But while it is, it's a really great movie. Who'd have thought?

I visited the Jann Arden site today (jannarden.com). Nice site. Very good design though there are a few artsy kind of aspects to it that make it a bit annoying. (Fonts, icons, images - everything is small. Requires some squinting.)

I think the thing that makes the site interesting is Jann herself. In other words, the content which, in this case, is essentially Jann Arden. So if you don't particularly like her you probably won't like the site. C'est la vie.

Okay ... So I'm not a huge fan of her music. This doesn't mean I dislike it. I like it quite a bit, generally, but I'm not wildly enthusiastic about it. I suppose the lyrics of her songs are what most attract me to them. There is a level of thought there, both in terms of what they are about and how they are constructed, that is largely absent in most popular music. In this sense, she's essentially a folk songwriter since this is one genre of music where people tend to think before writing.

I wonder, too, whether her fan base is attracted by the music or the personality of Jann Arden. My guess is the music, particularly the lyrics, are what first attract people. It's the person behind the music, revealed both in the songs and in the media interviews etc., that holds them. And for me, a large part of the attraction is the humour that flavours everything (though it is by no means the only thing).

Well ... just thought I'd ramble about Jann Arden for no brilliant reason. (Saw her on Bravo! last night and that sent me to the Web site and so on.)

One other thing with the site ... She has a new disc out and tour coming up and so the marketing guys to some extent have gotten their hands on the site. So there are various annoying things (not a lot) to send you to loveistheonlysoldier.com (title of the new disc). On this site, well ... you have to buy the disc in order to get access to most of the material. If I were one of the marketing guys, it's probably what I would have recommeded doing. But since I'm just a schmuck visiting Web sites, it burns my ass a bit.

The corporate bastards are waging Internet war on us and the marketing people are their suicide bombers!

Toodle-oo!!!

Made some Piddleville main page changes (added "new reviews"). Must think of how to put this, the Burble on the home page.

Watched Anger Management last night. Jack Nicholson was okay but the rest of the movie was kind of lame.

Earlier in the week, I watched Destry Rides Again for the second time and it was just as much fun as the first. Great old movie.

Good grief ... It's 8AM and 1 degree outside. ONE. This is Edmonton. In Calgary? Oh, just a heavy snowfall warning is all. And -.2 as the temperature.

Geeezzzzz ... It's September for heaven's sake. Aren't we jumping the gun a bit? Who's in charge of the weather anyway?

The RIAA has few friends: ajc.com | News | Artists blast record companies over lawsuits against downloaders

The links I've been posting are not because I've decided to become one of the those sites that links to everything on the planet. It's mainly me diddling around with the tools to see what they can do, how it works etc. And because I found the links interesting, at least modestly.

I suppose I'm trying to see if there is any value in this for me and, if so, how I might use this.

The end of the need to spell check? Or to pay attention to what you write? Hmmm ... Joi Ito's Web: Ordering of letters don't matter

If you're interested in RSS, this is an interesting page: ExtremeTech RSS Primer Page

Though I've come across it before, I've never paid much attention to RSS. But yesterday I got curious and today I've done a lot of online exploring. I've even downloaded FeedDemon and it is very cool ...

You may be wondering why the movie room main page hasn't been updated since August 31. It's more likely that you don't care, but whatever ...

I am lazy and there has been nothing of particular note recently and, frankly, I have to stop the money drain. Toodles!

I woke from the oddest dream yesterday. That is, if it were a dream. I woke with the sense I usually have just before passing out - the feelings I usually have just before having a seizure, to be more clear. The thing is, I wasn't sure if that sense was the actual preliminary to a real seizure or something my mind had dredged while dreaming.

Either way, it produce some rather high anxiety levels. Seizures are something less than pleasant and I had no desire to experience another one.

As a related aside, I'm going to have to talk to my doctor (ha! like I have one anymore ... but that's another topic) about the possibility of apnea. I think it's possible I have it but for the life of me I don't know how you go about finding out.

It's been a rather uneventful long weekend highlighted by moments of work. Whoop-dee-doo. I managed to find time to do a kind of personal financial review. The conclusion?

I'm fucked royally. Autumn will now be characterized by austerity, panic and impotent rage.

Not a lot to say ... It has been a dull week highlighted by a return to work. Does it get more pathetic than that? On the upside, it has been much more of a stress-free week than pre-vacation. On the downside, it is essentially boring. Kind of stuff I was doing twenty years ago and had thought I'd turned my back on.

Must think of what I want to do with the ass end of my life. Problem is, none of the things I'd like to do pay any money. Life's a bitch that way.

Came back yesterday from a brief jaunt to Canadian cabin country, this being close to Caroline, Alberta. Very dry - no fires allowed (as you can imagine). There was a bear spotting though I didn't see the guy. Grateful for that, thank you very much. Food was generally good, beer and other assorted beverages plentiful, and there was music - guitars around a tea light replication of a camp fire. (It provided some light but not a great deal of warmth.)

All in all, a delightful time - keep an eye out for photos shortly. Toodle-oo!!!

Hell and damnation ... I gotta go back to work today! I weep; I rend my hair. I gnash my teeth! (One day I'm going to have to peek in my dictionary to find out what exactly "rend" and "gnash" mean.) Work use to be a fun, social experience ... despite long hours and low pay. Now it's the noose. Though the money's better.

Oh ... and if you're inclined (highly unlikely) you can take a peek at the second, shorter part of my vacation. A good time was had by all.

Hmm ... I did another Google search, this time on Zyban. Most of the top links that came up were companies selling the stuff - a lot of marketing hoo-hah. I was looking it up because I know of someone who used it to quit smoking (this seems to be its primary function - a stop-smoking medication).

Unfortunately, people who have seizures are cautioned about the drug. It's not recommended for those people and as I am one of them, looks like Zyban is out for me.

I did a Google search for night sweats (sleep hyperhidrosis) and found that, amongst other things, it can be related to head injuries and epilepsy. There was this link and there also was this one. Since I seem to have this condition, at least to a degree, and I take an anti-convulsant for what we think is likely epilepsy (I've had a few seizures), these were particularly interesting for me. I had never made this association before.

And I'm making this entry in the Burble primarily so I don't lose these links.

Got back last night from Ontario. Up at 5:40 AM yesterday morning. Got the bus from Southampton to Pearson Airport (Toronto) at 7:00 AM (Grey Bruce Airbus). Got to the airport around 10:00 AM and the flight back to Edmonton was scheduled for 4:25 PM ... more than 6 freakin' hours in an airport! Anyway ... finally got home around 8:00 PM, Alberta time (which would have been 10:00 Ontario time). So I was in transit yesterday for roughly 15 hours.

That's just not right. I mean, if it involves that much time a person should be going to some tropical place.

I'm totally screwed here ... I think I may have had 4 hours sleep. Even though today is the first day of my vacation, I had some things that had to be done this morning. All last night I kept saying, "I have to go home, I have to go home ..." I finally did get home somewhere close to 3. Woke up around 7 ... and feel like shit. Geez ...

I refer to an excess of rum, beer and merriment yesterday thanks to Elizabeth, world famous bar room wench.

(The preceding was lifted from my post on terri in australia.)

The other day I noticed the mysterious, now and again Scottish 'r' made an appearance in my speech. I hadn't noticed it before; I'm not sure how long it has been peek-a-booing in my words.

I get this from my father who presumably got it from his (or his mother). So he never said things like, "I'm going to wash the car." No, he said, "I'm going to warsh the car."

I've never understood that 'r' and never really cared for it. I fully intend to expunge it from my speech. Now how's that for burbling drivel? In a world of political unrest, wars in foreign lands, economic anxiety, I'm wasting bandwidth rambling about an insignificant 'r' that appears in my speech.

Well ... Today, on another subject altogether, is a bit gray, a tad breezy. But not cool breezy; it is sultry, tumescent breezy. They say we have a 60% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and I can only hope they get this one right. Boom-boom-boom ... love a thunderstorm.

Despite an ever-tightening squeeze on my finances, I'm thinking of setting up another site - getting another hosting service. If so, I think the Burble will be moved to it. If I do, I'll probably also put terri in australia there.

But this is just musing for now.

Well, if you've been to the Piddleville home page you've seen I've finally implemented the design change there. All that's left is all those pages in the Movie Room (and there's alot of 'em).

Actually, there are quite a few Piddleville pages that need updating. Why the hell did I start this?

As you can see, Piddleville is slowing transforming itself into a new look, as attested to by the DVD list.

Still, there is some way to go. But eventually the Piddleville you know will become ... well, a lot like this, the Burble.

Why, you ask?

Why not?

A frustrating morning as I battled with cached pages and some oddly behaving code. And that's bad news since I haven't a clue what I'm doing. Oh well ...

It was all about some minor updating to the about page.

For some reason, I have had headaches for about the last month. Where the hell are they coming from? My only guess is the age old, "Stress."

Whatever the reason, I wish to hell it would stop.

Just got back from a couple of days in Vancouver - mostly Granville Island. Mostly work, but we did spend an afternoon playing the Amazing Race. Managed to see more of Vancouver than I ever had before - including an extended bike ride through Stanley Park. Yes, I was pedalling along this ...

Must find a way to move back to the vicinity of big water. Vancouver? Possibly ... but it seems so cluttered. A few too many boats; a few too many high rises. But maybe you get used to it ...

It continues to rain. Forecast reads "...60% chance of morning showers." At this point, I'd bump that up to 100%.

Thus far, July has been a slough of despond, as a French symbolist might say. Physically, psychically and emotionally it has been porridge, at least in terms of colour and consistency.

Last night, I watched Adaptation. I think I've been avoiding it because I'm not a big Nicolas Cage fan. But ... it's a great movie!

It's a very clever script; very cleverly constructed. And the performances are excellent all around. It's probably the best thing I've seen Cage do.

While the movie is good simply as a movie, it's especially fun for people who write since it satirizes writers (in a good way). The character(s) played by Cage are very recognizeable. It felt as if I was watching a movie about me.

Is that a good thing?

Who knows? But I recommend the movie. Look for another great performance from Chris Cooper. (I believe he got an Oscar for it.)

I've created a new blog for Terri to use on her travels. It's called, appropriately, terri in australia.

I don't know where this week came from but it certainly came unexpectedly. Headaches ... everyday. Usually, I don't get headaches, and they certainly are not welcome when they do show up. I still haven't figured out whether or not I had a nocturnal seizure the other day. I think so, but I can't be sure.

Whatever ... nice barbecue last night. It was a kind of a farewell thing for Terri, who leaves Sunday on an Australian adventure. Me, I'm off to Vancouver on Monday for a less adventurous, work related thing. Not too enthused at the moment.

Duh ... I'm not too swift today. It finally occurred to me that I may have had a seizure last night - a nocturnal seizure, which we believe I've had before. Why?

There's the chewed up mouth and the aches in the muscles and bones that could be explained by thrashing around spasmodically. And then there's the fact that it's been weeks since I've taken dilantin, the anti-convulsant medication.

So ... don't know that it was a seizure, but it would certainly explain today.

Yesterday ... The wind wind began in the southwest. It migrated to northwest. By the end of the day, it was southeast. During this restless moving around, it managed to go from hot and humid to cool and dry. In northern Alberta, it managed to drop a tornado off in Grimshaw, trashing the town.

For myself, the result was a restless night ... I woke several times then, come morning, I couldn't wake up. When I finally did, I had a sore throat ... what feels like the beginning of a cold/flu. As well, every bone and muscle in my body aches. I feel as if I've been beaten with sticks. What do they call that? Bastinadoed?

Anyway ... I feel like crap today. This hasn't happened overly often, but it does recur. For example, from a year ago there is this.

On the upside, today is beautifully sunny and not too hot and not too cool. Just nice.

On another note ... I'm currently reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Great main character (narrator) with a very singular view of the world (a 15-year old autistic young man with a passion for order). (The book is also available in Adobe format, for those electronically inclined.)

Though I've barely begun reading the book, the earlier verdict is: highly recommended.

Oh ... and by the way, have a happy Canada Day. (And don't be a whoo hoo!)

I just reset my archive and saved it all to a disc. While doing so, I noticed that this year has been pretty lame (as far as effort goes). I think there is maybe one entry for February and March and May of 2003 have no entries at all.

What happened during those periods?

Not sure ... but a lot of it has to do with work (the paying kind). More reason for letting it go ...

No whoo-hoos last night - but no sleep either. (As you can see, I've yet to determine who to spell whoo-hoos. Capitalized? Hyphenated? There are so many decisions a writer must make ...

fyi ... For interesting sites on informed marketing, particularly Web related, try traffick.com and seth's blog (Seth Godin - the Permission Marketing guy).

Question: why does binary have three syllables?

Tormented by Whoo Hoos

They were out last night - the Whoo Hoos. They always come out on warm weekend nights and last night being particularly warm, and the weekend being a long one, they were out in full force. By the time they left, the sun was coming up.

The Whoo Hoos are, of course, those people who yell out, "Whoooo Hoooooooo!!!!!!" They generally do this late at night after disarranging themselves physically with alcohol ... or any number of other people-altering substances.

So ... I've had about two hours sleep. Today will be a long, drag-ass day. Yawn ...

(Are you a Whoo Hoo? I hope not ...)

Finally ... I've reorganized my DVDs (and in the process discovered about 6 that hadn't been catalogued). So now they're all online in the Movie Room. The reorganization was also physical - they're all on the shelves now. However, I need to find a better shelving system.

All that remains is to clean up the rest of the mess - like the displaced books, the wasteland of dust and so on.

It's a rainy, cool day and I've no desire to go outside. After yet another period of long silence, I think I should probably update the Burble. But I think I'll do that offline, on the laptop, then paste it in later. So much to tell ... And so little of it worth paying attention to. As per usual. ;-)

As you can see, I have been changing the look of the Burble. More to follow ... yes ...

Grief and woe in Piddleville. My computer crashed. Died. Went kaput! Hard drive fried, data lost ... woe, woe, woe. My access is limited now, and I've no idea when I'll be able to update the site.

But I'm working on it ...

The most fundamental problem with Piddleville is the home page where, despite having nothing to write, I have to put up text (if only to give the appearance that there is life somewhere in the congenial Web site). And the problem with this is ... well, I'm one of those vacuous people with little to say.

This is Piddleville's tragedy.

But you know ... There was a time when I had lots to say. What happened? It may relate to the aging process. (I could attempt to grant myself some dignity by calling it the "maturing process" but who's kidding who?) The older I get the more aware I am that I haven't a clue. And the less inclined I am to let other people become aware of that fact.

(As if they can't figure it out for themselves.)

I've just changed the look ... got rid of that dark blue background to try and make this page look at least a little more in keeping with the rest of Piddleville. We'll see what happens now ... stilling struggling ...

I just closed my browser on Wired (wired.com). There was an interesting item I started to read but then something splotched itself on the screen and monstrous words started raining down from the upper part of the window in some pinhead's idea of an interesting and innovative way to communicate the benefits of whatever shit they were hawking. I closed the browser for the same reason I stopped watching TV, for the same reason I am drifting further and further from the Web, watching my disinterest grow.

It's not that I object to someone trying to sell something. It's that they are so indifferent or, worse, disrespectful of the people they would sell to. It's how they honestly believe there is nothing wrong with being rude and interrupting or intruding on someone to sell crap. I closed the browser because, like TV, the value of the page (like the value of the TV programs) was not sufficient for me to tolerate being abused.

And yes, this is how I think of Web advertising: abuse.

It’s defies the powers of the mind to comprehend but, yes, I have made updates to Piddleville. Can such things be? You betcha!

Not that the updates are anything earth-shattering. But the mere fact there is an update indicates life still exists. It also prompts a question …

What kind of self-absorbed dolt puts pictures of himself on his Web site? I’ll tell you … the sort of dolt who doesn’t have any other models for his pictures. It’s not that easy to finagle a friend into posing for an image you’ll be placing online for the world to see. (Well … it seemed like a good answer.)

By the way ... MUST update that stupid About section. It's embarrassing ...

Toodle-oo!

Yes, yes, yes ... it's been AGES since I've added anything. Too freakin' busy. In fact, I only dropped in here long enough to say I've just about had it with winter. We've had enough now, thank you very much. You can turn it off anytime. Please.

Just got home from Vancouver. Only a 30 degree difference in temperature. Testicles now about a tenth of the size they were before boarding the flight.

Fog overnight (and temperatures below zero) have turned into a morning frost on everything. The branches of every tree look as if they were run through the Sugar Frosted Flakes frosting machine. It's a very smart look.

Snazzy, as my mother would say.

Meanwhile ... January blahs have dug in for a long stay, or so it appears. Very discouraging. But that's the point I suppose.

Take Note: The January Blahs have officially arrived. Today. Ain't it a treat?

And what did the ruling monarch of indecisiveness (sp?) conclude? With various options available, what did I choose to do New Year's Eve? Why, I stayed home. As you might imagine, it was dull.

Duller still was New Year's Day. Heaven's, that was a long haul through the tedium of a commerce free city. No wonder the social experiment of the Soviets went in the crapper.

I did manage to do some updating on Piddleville. Man, this life is just too extreme ...

As usual, I'm the King of Indecision. I could go out to a New Year's Eve blow out with big crowds and lots of VERY loud music, spend it more quietly with some friends, or stay home. I'm leaning to the home idea ... The Big Bash idea, while nice, seems just too many people, too much music I'm not overly keen on, and just too damn long. However ... we'll know by next year my decision.

What a weenie ...

And here we are, the other side of the Christmas divide ... It's now Boxing Day and I appear to have the beginnings of a cold or flu. This is very discouraging. I am not liking it at all. Ah well ... the price of excessive festive spirit(s).

Hmm ... This post certainly was a waste of everyone's time.

And away we GO!!!!!

It's Christmas Eve day. Now, the shit really hits the fan. How many hours left to do all the crap I was supposed to do but haven't done yet? Why can't I get my skinny arse in gear?

Well ... I will now make an effort to get the whirlwind day this is about to become underway. Wish me luck. And happy merry jolly Christmas. Toodles!

Hmm ... I just posted something and now it has vanished. Was it me ...? Perhaps ...

I came across a brilliant idea on the Internet today. Mind you, it appears it's been up for some time, but better a Johnny-come-lately than a Johnn-not-come-at-all. Anyway ... The great idea is this:

A petition to have Peter Jackson write and direct the next Star Wars movie (that would be number III) and thus save it (and us) from the dismal fate that met the first two of this series. Great idea ... Not sure we can get Lucas to go for it ...

Joy in Piddleville. Shipment has finally arrived from Amazon. It includes: The Thin Man, Sunset Boulevard, and How to Murder Your Wife. (And last night, I watched The Bells of St. Mary's with Bing and Ingrid. Good, but I prefer Going My Way.)

Since most of the DVDs of contemporary Hollywood movies seem pretty dull and uninspired, I am taking refuge in older movies for the time being. Yippee!

I spend the larger part of my active, productive day doing shit I don't give a rat's ass about. My "career" has been about working for things I'm indifferent to. So ... when do I get to work on something I actually care about?

Ah ... there's the question we're waiting for the thin guy to answer.

This is me showing Alma how to create a blog entry.

So who's the moron now? At least George still has a job.

Due to Grey Cuo entertaining, there was no time to update Piddleville. Heavens! There was no time to take in any new DVDs! Not that anything interesting came out this week. At least, not anything I gave a rat's ass about. But later this week? Who knows ...

Okay, I like this design fine except ... 1) it doesn't look like the rest of Piddleville and, 2) why would you put the dates in a column on the right, which is the last place anyone would look for them? Cute but dumb.

And everytime I post something I have to republish the entire archive! Damn!

Blah blah blah ... This is me trying to fix this damn blog.

Would someone please tell me where the eensie-teenie images I uploaded for The Burble went to? Ooooo ... This Internet thing is such a fickle so-and-so! I wish I'd stuck with pens and stamps!

Pens and stamps! That may be the name of my next enterprise ...

Once again, I am trying another template. Frankly, I don't like any of them.

I have made a template change. But this will be temporary, I think. I don't really like the available templates (teeny fonts, for one thing), but I lack the mental capacity or inclination to create my own (except for the simple one that was here before). But ... what the hell. I wanted a change.

It's a cold and snowy weekend. Therefore ... loads of movies on DVD. I'm about to head out to pick up a few ...

From my position of lofty ignorance beyond the U.S. borders:

Why do Republicans now control both houses? As with elections in other democratic countries, the parties that win tend to be the ones who talk the talk we want to hear. And it’s not just a question of what is talked about. It’s also how it’s talked about.

To use an extreme analogy, when someone’s house is on fire it’s difficult to get them to discuss the condition of their lawn.

“Would you cut your grass, please?”

“You idiot! My damn house is on fire!”

He’s right. The other guy’s an idiot. It’s not that the U.S. is in such a dire situation, such as their house being on fire. But there is definitely a perception that something akin to this is their situation. Republicans spoke to this perception; Democrats did not. And so we have the results of the recent election.

It’s also a leadership question. Bush is perceived to be a strong leader, thanks largely to world terrorism. The Democrats have … have … well, I’m not sure who the hell they have. But it’s a bad hand to have going into an election.

When the political landscape in any country adjusts to favour any one party to a great extent (such as the U.S. now, Canada with the Liberal party, the province of Alberta with it’s provincial Conservatives), it often says more for the lack of credible alternatives than it does for the heavily preferred party. Not all the time, but it does more often than not.

The Democrats have quite a bit of building to do now. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope they get their heads out of their bums, get a sense for where the world’s population, and especially the U.S. population, is and begin to speak to them as a credible alternative and not simply as the cranky guys who lost.

Without balance, we all tend to go overboard and this is the risk now with such a dominant Republican party in power.

Improvements behind the scene ... Sort of. I've added a couple of chips of memory as well as Windows XP over the weekend. Yes, the system works much better now - faster, fewer crashes. And this is good. The downside is my Outlook is screwed up (and God knows where the disc is to restore it), Zone Alarm works only occasionally and there are several other issues ... like little Microsoft pop up screens I could do without. Grrr ...

Anyway ... there was also time to add more reviews to the Movie Room. Have a gander.

It snowed last night as we slept. And that's about all I have to say about that.

(Good Lord, how bad is it when you start quoting movies? Talk about a barren imagination.)

The angst of October continues ... Waking in the early AM hours I found myself lost in the dark of an existential despair. I went to sleep, woke again later and discovered I had confused the gibberish of Sarte and Camus with snow.

Yes, it snowed in the night. A greybeard whiteness covers the lawns and trees. But it's not the stick-around kind. No, this is just the briefest of flirtations. A tease.

Let me tell you ... October in this part of the world gives new meaning to the word drab. So the snow can't come too soon, as far as I'm concerned. White is infinitely better than all this bland, boring grey and brown.

Dreams ... Go figure! For me, last night's dreaming was particularly stupid. Example: my neighbours seek my okay for laying sod. Not unusual except there is nowhere to lay sod where we live. Our domiciles open onto a brick covered courtyard. So the neighbours are putting in two 3 foot by 3 foot wooden boxes, like those buildings use for plants or small trees. But in this case, the earth is covered over with strips of sod.

Kind of dumb, but it gets odder still ... with several of my women friends, plus my sister, I go to a university to see a movie - probably some foreign thing. Naturally, I try to put my pants back on. (Yes, for some reason I'm not wearing pants - don't ask.) Someone hands the pants back to me but they're corduroy and therefore not my pants. I ask my neighbours, "Where are my pants?" but they're to busy laying sod to answer. (Yes, laying sod in small boxes outside our doors ... at a university where we're trying to watch foreign movies!)

The audience wants to see the movie. My friends go in search of my pants except they don't. They get caught up in conversations about everything except my pants, and I start getting pissed off. I'm in an impotent rage, "Where are my pants? Where the hell are my pants?"

Then I wake up. And of course, I'm not wearing any pants.

What a dumbass dream. (Aren't you glad I shared?)

If life is not a yo-yo, surely the weather is. I wake to a temperature of -1 Celcius. Expected high? 2. I'll repeat that: 2 (two). Yet in a few days, it's expected to be around the 15 degree mark. (Could be worse, I suppose. At least it's not Calgary, where it snowed yesterday.)

The past few days have been windy and chilly. From my window, I see at least one tree completely denuded. It shivers like a dog left tied to a pole on a winter night while some self-obsessed bonehead sits inside a restaurant eating. It is time; early though it may be. Bring on the snow! Send us something to drape the barren, lonely landscape and relieve this sense of apocalyptic desolation.

(Was that a little over-the-top, ya think?)

Here it is, several days later, and not only have I not corrected the numerous text mistakes I mentioned below, I've discovered there are even more. Yes, ding-dang-it ... I can't write to save my damn life, damn!

Oops. I've posted three new reviews in the Movie Room. Unfortunately, I neglected to proof them. Wow! Talk about your typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes. They look like they've been transcribed by a monkey. Hopefully I'll be able to correct them tonight. We'll see.

Day 3 of the Great Moan. Cold/flu things continues. Mood: generally bitchy. Activity: generally sleep and nose blowing. Ugh ... I'm too freakin' irritable to write this now ... Make it stop! Make it stop!

Well, the Cocktail page certainly needs some cleaning up. I haven't linked to it for a while. Today, I linked from a home page blurb and discovered a very old look to the page. Numerous apologies for it's appearance. When time allows, I'll fix it. And speaking of fixing things ...

I swear, I'm never adding new programs to my computer ever again. (I've said this before.) I tried Yahoo Messenger 5 and nothing but frozen screens, crashes and heaven knows what all else. I think it's a problem of the firewall really disliking it intensely. Whatever it is, it seems anytime I add something new it buggers up everything else.

By the way, re: my moans and groans about fall on the home page, I was in Vancouver yesterday and it was warm and sunny and damn 'em all for it! It's cold and crappy here!

A Little Something About Basic Web Effectiveness

Not that anyone cares a lot about this, but ... I went to a site and, waiting for it to load, I see it's also loading a popup ad. Tiresome, annoying but not unusual these days. But here's the thing: Suddenly a window pops up and asks if I want to run Flash 6. Apparently I don't have the latest version. But here's the question ... why would I update just so I can see an ad?

I said no and now I had a popup window (the ad itself) which, except for a blank yellow box in the centre, was empty. It didn't even have text saying who the company was or the name of the product. Nothing.

So ... why did these guys spend money creating and running this ad? Yes, there are loads of people on the Web with more recent versions of Flash and capable of running the popup. But there are many more who don't. Why run an ad when half the audience can't see it? It's not that it's in Flash; it's that it's in a version of Flash that isn't ubiquitous on the Web yet. It's like making a television ad and then running it in only some markets. Why exclude half your potential audience when you don't need to?

And this doesn't even touch on the question of how effective a popup is to begin with. Yes, there are all sorts of marketing guys who will throw numbers at you about the effectiveness of popup ads but very rarely do they have numbers that show a relationship between how many people click on an ad and how many actually ending up buying a product or service. Return On Investment (ROI) is the only stat that matters and this is the one they can't show.

Anyway ... it seems a huge waste of everyone's time and money. This popup was similar to grabbing someone, harrassing them by yelling, "Listen to me! Listen to me!" and when they, irritated, finally say, "What on earth do you want?" the answer is, "Uh ... I don't know."

What a world. I saw a news item today about a report concerning kids, tv and behaviour problems. The report recommended parents encourage their children to, "...participate in active peer relationships." Huh? Does that mean something like make a few friends? When I was younger, I don't recall ever having active peer relationships. All I had was friends.

Maybe the behaviour problems have more to do with the behavior of adults who can't communicate like real people. What kind of bonehead talks about active peer relationships? Whoever these clowns are, I'll bet they're the life of the party. I'll bet they have loads of active peer relationships.

On this day, one year after, I am most struck by the gap between what the media would have us feel and what people I meet really feel. This bears some scrutiny, but not tonight. It's too late and I'm too tired. But I'm thinking it may be time to finally talk about this business since what others are saying, more and more, simply pisses me off by the self-serving nature of the sentiments.

Yes, I'm slow with the updates. Except for some images. I have been watching new movies, though. None particularly overwhelming, but not awful either. The reason for the lack up updates is the addition of a cd-rewriter to my set up here. As usual, all kinds of issues due to the fact I'm stuck with a Microsoft O/S and not nearly enough RAM. I've been meaning to get more RAM since time began but, frankly, tooling with and tweaking my computer is a pain in the ass. I'm not a techno-guy. I just want someone to, "Make it go." Problem is, I'm the someone.

I recieved spam today with the subject line: Discover Why Printing May Be Obsolete.

Really? It seems to me people have been saying this for about the last 20 years or so. From roughly the beginning of the personal computer, the death of print has been heralded. However, rather than less print there has been more. Of course the implication in that subject line, and what people concluded once the PC appeared, was that everyone would read, create documents etc. electronically. It didn't happen, hasn't happened, and likely won't happen any time soon despite the efforts of those anxious for a world of e-publishing. (God, I hate putting an "e" in front of a word.)

A more attention getting subject line would have been: Discover Why Printing Won't Go Away. Now that would have been an e-mail I might have opened.

I seem to be on a movie review writing roll. A passle o' new entries in the Movie Room. They may be full of shit, but that's okay. It's interesting that the very act of making yourself write something down, of forcing yourself to find something to say about the film, forces you to think about what you've seen in a way you wouldn't have otherwise. I mean, there are loads of things I see that pass in and pass out of my consciousness because, once done, I move on to the business of living again. But making yourself write about them makes you think about them and then, quite often, you discover a good deal more in a movie than you initially thought. You start to understand what it is you like about the movies you like, what you dislike in the ones you dislike and, once you've starting discovering these things, you start to become aware of a few things about yourself. And that has to be good, doesn't it?

Hats off to the Canadian branch of Amazon. I ordered two movies around 11AM yesterday from Amazon.ca and they arrived today, one day later, at about 11AM. Now that's fast.

I appear to be experiencing a noir phase. Arriving today were Kiss Me Deadly from 1955 and, from 1990, Dennis Hopper's unjustly overlooked The Hot Spot with Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly. Thanks to the Lileks site for reminding me of this one.

Tonight ... some DVD watching, to be sure.

Yes, I am full o' crap. Not so long ago I said I was going home to watch John Sayles Passion Fish ... but I didn't. Yesterday I said I was going to watch Howard Hawk's Ball of Fire ... but I didn't. And tonight ... well, I'm saying I'm going to watch Fritz Lang's 1953 noir classic The Big Heat. Third time the charm? You bet. I haven't seen this one in years and I just picked up the DVD. There's the exciting quality of something new here, even if it's old.

I registered another domain today. I have no idea what I will do with it; no idea what to do with any of the domains I have. (There are 10 in all.) Each would be its own site but I can't afford that many. Hmm. Must give this more thought.

Tonight I believe I shall watch 1941's Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. I'm in the mood for a screwball comedy.

Note to self: Take more care with after work imbibing. Not feeling well today at all, at all. And I left my briefcase somewhere. Could be halfway to Guam now for all I know.

Good grief! I just took a look at how my mutual funds are doing. Take my advice: do NOT familarize yourself with the current status of your holdings without adequate medical supervision. And a change of pants.

I remember the Great Drought of Twenty Ought-Two because it was followed almost immediately by the Great Rain of Twenty Ought-Two or, as it's sometimes known, The Grieving. Having been so long clear and blue, easily earning its nickname of Big Sky, the heaven above Alberta has now turned grim and implaccable and very, very wet.

I don't wish any farmers ill, but since the drought conditions of June and most of July pretty much nixed any hope for this year's crop, I really don't see a need for all this water. Actually, farmers must feel as if they shat in the wrong person's breakfast cereal since now, having had crops wasted by lack of rain, what few stragglers remain alive find themselves now threatened by frost at night. Yes, frost. They have issued frost warnings. In early August.

If this isn't the result of global warning I suggest someone get off their ass and figure out what it is the result of because, frankly, it's fucked. And we're fucked along with it.

It feels like December. Really. It's another gray day. This has lasted longer than is decent. How can you go from 34 degree weather in one month (July) to single digits the next (August)? Only in Alberta. High country is not all it's cracked up to be. Living on the great central plain of North America means you're on a meteorological yo-yo. When the sun is out, it's hot as a griddle and you're the flapjack. When the sun ducks behind the clouds, the temperature plummets and you're the toe that needs amputating because it's so damn cold!

Actually, it's not so much the temperature that gets to you as the dull skies - a December ceiling with a wintry feeling. Of course, it's not nearly that bad out there. Not even close. But gazing at it from inside, looking out at a dreary street that seems to have been abandoned by humanity, it feels like December, the seasonal dung hole of every year.

Look ... someone just rode by on a bike, weeping and tearing at their hair. Okey ... maybe they didn't. But they might have! And who would have blamed them?

Could this day be more gloomy? Grey-brain skies lowering overhead. Endless weepy, drizzling water bulged clouds trundle by in a mass like an army of fatties and then there are the single digit temperatures (which perhaps sound more alarming than they are for those not using the Celsius measurement) … It all conspires to make the hapless worker wonder, “Why in the name of all that’s holy did I get out of bed today?”

It’s a question that admits no comforting answer.

Seeking refuge, I return home and immediately seek the cold comfort of beer and the Waterboys, Fisherman’s Blues to be precise. Meanwhile the freakin’ cat keeps running to the patio doors as if desperate to escape the confines of a warm domicile, yet as soon as the door is opened she sits back, considers the merits of outdoor activities, then flees as if from some unnameable horror.

It’s called a crappy day, cat. That’s all it is. And it, like haemorrhoids, will pass (though not before imposing a degree of discomfort to its luckless victim).

By the way, why does my word processor want to insert an “a” in haemorrhoids as if vowels, too, could be discomfiting inflammations?

I had thought I would redeem the day by picking up a DVD to help pass the evening hours but there was nothing to find that was interesting or, if interesting, not stupidly overpriced. So I’ll have to retreat to the collection. What will it be? Some contemporary flash and boom thingamabob like … I dunno. I forget the titles almost as soon as I see them. Maybe something classic, like a return to My Man Godfrey. Or, as I was thinking earlier today, perhaps something relatively recent yet, remarkably, with a story, like Passion Fish?

That’s where I’m leaning. Passion Fish. Have I mentioned I’m in love with Mary McDonnell? I am. But it’s a secret love. I haven’t told her. Thus, it’s an unrequited love. A tragedy of classic design. Ah me …

Life. Whacha gonna do?

Toodles.

Once again, a lengthy delay between jottings and precious little jotted when I do get around to it. However ... The weekend promises to be dull (as opposed to last weekend) and this may allow me to update, tweak, and generally make Piddleville less of hodge podge.

Of course, I'm said that MANY times before and accomplished sweet bugger all. But you never know ... Like they say, 117th time the charm.

Must go. Should be doing work now. Toodles!

Note: Looks like Blogger is back to proper functioning. The archive even updated properly.

I slept in today till about 10:15 or 10:30 for the first time in ages. Normally I wake up between 6 and 7 in the morning. So how did I manage it this morning? Easy ... I went to bed around 4AM.

Good heavens, I feel like crap today. It's been awhile since I felt this hungover. Did I at least enjoy myself?

I let you know as soon as I remember.

Although there isn't a great deal of activity here in the Burble, I have been adding bits and pieces to the Movie Room. And I'm still not sure what the story is with Blogger. Those 503 messages keep showing up yet, although slow, the posts do mysteriously appear. Wha's up? Hmm?

I just wrote a whole load of "stuff" about the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road movies. Sadly, there are fistfuls of typos, grammar howlers and spelling mistakes. However, they won't be corrected till tomorrow because, well, I gotta eat!!! So if you plow through this material before it's fixed, try to pretend the goofs aren't there. Toodles!

I had a brilliant idea for Piddleville last night. Unfortunately, I can't write about it until I know if it's possible. Sorry. I guess I'm wasting everyone's time. Although the real reason for this entry is to see if the problems with blogger have corrected themselves. Toodles!

A Rash of Rain

This has a poor title. For one, it lacks any meaning since there has been little rain here (except for some sporadic trickling in the night and mumbling thunder). For another, the concepts of rash and rain fit together poorly; they don’t even have the merit of lame irony. Finally, it’s a weak stab at cuteness, one that falls upon the tiresome crutch of alliteration.

Clearly, my writing abilities have crapped out. Still, on we plod …

It seems I may not have a job soon. I won’t know for a month or so but uncertainty is in the air once again. This occurs every few years or so. It is cyclical, similar to (and tied in with) economic performance. When the economy tanks often the first pronouncement from companies is, “Get rid of the writers!”

Well, perhaps it’s not that overt. But it is true in the sense that few companies see any benefit in having writers despite the fact that everyone in a company is desperate for one, every company suffers from poor communications internally and externally, and writers are paid peanuts compared to upper management personnel.

I think writers are sometimes on the outs because they aren’t usually part of the golf crowd. That’s just a guess, however.

The effect of it all, for me, is a sense of irritable dismay. I’ll be honest, it terms of personal finances my ducks are definitely not in a row. Rather, they seem to be scattered like playing cards. So …

My trip back east is cancelled. (As a contractor, I don’t get paid when I take time off – this cost is compounded by the wildly high prices of Canadian domestic flights; going home is priced beyond me.) My debt load is higher than it should be (though not as bad as some). It has to come down – more funds must be funnelled in this direction.)

End result … a hot, grim summer worrying about money. How tedious.

(Why are so many blogs just so much moan and groan. Note to self: must change this. Who wants to hear someone bitch?)

I never knew who John Pilger was until I started reading blogs that ranted about what an idiot he was. Similarly, the little I knew about Noam Chomsky was restricted to ... well, whatever field of science or sociology he's in. (Or is it linguistics? ... can't remember.) The point is, these guys have far greater currency for their political views now due to the people who want them to shuttup and go away. It seems a bit self-defeating.

Anyway ... while both may have the odd point, from the little I've seen they're extremely tedious and have political positions that essentially amount to: we hate the United States and think it's evil. Not the most astute politcos, these boys. I mean, do they really think they'll sway American public opinion by crapping all over the U.S.?

As usual, it all boils down to a small group of noisy left leaning navel gazers ranting at an similarly small group of noisy right leaning navel gazers and putting the rest of us to sleep. There are far too many people out there who went to university in the 70's and never left. God help us.

Biometeorology and the Brain ... it's a small start. But who knows what it will turn into? Perhaps when I'm through I'll know more about why I get wonky. (That's the scientific term for the symptoms ... wonky.)

Son of a gun ... it's Canada Day!

While others engage in family outings as they enjoy the national holiday, I have gone DVD crazy. No less than 6 new reviews in the Piddleville's Movie Room this weekend. While not the most insightful or informed, they do have the quality of ... well, I'm not sure what. But who else is giving you reviews of The Quiet Man and Gosford Park?

Not sure what that means.

Adam Sandlar Update:

An unconfirmed report asserts Sandlar is taking diction lessons so he can learn to speak without mumbling. Insiders go on to say his agent is furious believing his career will tank if audiences can make out what he is saying.