Yessir! 29 Days Until Spring! Of course, it could snow until May but at least the days are getting longer, it's still daylight out at 5PM.... Spring, then the triumphant return of Summer.... Soon I'll begin to construct my telescope! Stoked for Summer!
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Sunday, January 28, 2018
The Writ
I wish I'd walked before I started to run to you
Just to you
What kind of people do you think we are?
Another joker who's a rock and roll star for you
Just for you
The faithful image of another man
The endless ocean of emotion I swam for you
Yeah for you
The shock troopers laying down on the floor
I wish they’d fallen into my private war with you
Yeah with you
Are you metal, are you man?
You've changed a lot since you began
Yeah began
Ladies digging gold from you
Will they still dig now you're through?
Yeah you're through
You bought and sold me with your lying words
The voices in the dark that you never heard came through
Yeah came through
Your fallen phallic god dismembered and gone
A poisoned father with his poisonous son, that's you
Yeah that's you
I beg you, please don't let it get any worse
The anger I once had has turned to a curse on you
Yeah curse you
All of the promises that never came true
You're gonna get what is coming to you, that's true
Ah, that's true
Are you Satan, are you man?
You've changed in life since it began
It began
Vultures sucking gold from you
Will they still suck now you're through?
(Cats, rats)
The search is on, so you just better run
And find yourself another way
Rob the dead, they don't feel a thing
Leave the living for another day
(Rats, rat)
You are nonentity, you have no destiny
You are a victim of a thing unknown
A mantle picture of a stolen soul
A fornication of your golden throne
A smiling face, it means the world to me
So tired of sadness and of misery
My life, it started some time ago
Where it will end, I don't know
I thought I was so good
I thought I was smart
I feel my world being torn apart
But everything is gonna work out fine
If it don't, I think I'll lose my mind
I know, I know, I know, yeah yeah I know
Listen to me while I sing this song
You might just think the words are wrong
Too many people advising me
But they don't know what my eyes see
But everything is gonna work out fine
If it don't, I feel I'll blow my mind, yeah
Written By: Back Sabbath
Lyrics By: Ozzy Osbourse
Saturday, January 27, 2018
The Super Marvel Flops
The other week, while lamenting about the horrible, horrible trailer I saw for 'Alita - Battle Angel' -See this blog entry, but be sure to return to finish reading this one, it's important: http://dmonix777.blogspot.ca/2018/01/bad-news.html - I had written about a 'Captain America' movie that was made that barely a soul knows about. It was done in 1990 and directed by guys you've never heard of... I mean, i called it a 'flop' because I was going by what I've always read about this 'movie'...
According to Wikipedia in the 'Reception' category it states: "In one of the few contemporaneous reviews, Entertainment Weekly critic Frank Lovece wrote, "The movie isn't merely wrong for kids – it opens in pre-war Italy with a sequence in Italian with subtitles, and a machine-gun slaughter – it's just all wrong", and decried the "shapeless blob of a plot" in grading the film "F""
I mean I didn't know about THAT quote until about 10 minutes ago, but I knew, it was a flop, that's the point. Marvel's had a couple of these. This Cap movie, the first 'Punisher' movie and a made for television FOX TV production of 'Nick Fury' which I actually had a hand in the making of (We got to work with David Hasslehoff, who was a great guy, but man, did that Nick Fury show ever suck, I've actually got a copy of it, I know!)
But I decided to search out this infamous Captain America movie made in 1990 and I found it! AND I'm about to watch it! I dunno, just from this screen capture I found, I think it's going to pretty much say it all:
But be sure to check back and get my review of however this turns out to be.... It should be hysterical if anything!
According to Wikipedia in the 'Reception' category it states: "In one of the few contemporaneous reviews, Entertainment Weekly critic Frank Lovece wrote, "The movie isn't merely wrong for kids – it opens in pre-war Italy with a sequence in Italian with subtitles, and a machine-gun slaughter – it's just all wrong", and decried the "shapeless blob of a plot" in grading the film "F""
I mean I didn't know about THAT quote until about 10 minutes ago, but I knew, it was a flop, that's the point. Marvel's had a couple of these. This Cap movie, the first 'Punisher' movie and a made for television FOX TV production of 'Nick Fury' which I actually had a hand in the making of (We got to work with David Hasslehoff, who was a great guy, but man, did that Nick Fury show ever suck, I've actually got a copy of it, I know!)
But I decided to search out this infamous Captain America movie made in 1990 and I found it! AND I'm about to watch it! I dunno, just from this screen capture I found, I think it's going to pretty much say it all:
Friday, January 26, 2018
What Dreams May Come
What movies really tug at your heartstrings? There's only two movies that really move me. One of them being 'Eight Below', yes, the movie about huskies. owning a husky, losing a husky, I can barely watch the movie, in fact I've only seen it twice. The first time I couldn't and didn't watch it the whole way through. Seeing the dogs in danger, seeing the dogs die, was just too much. Maybe it's akin to having children, whether a man or a woman and I really don't know because I've never had children, but I hear and understand that the process changes you. Creating a being, a huemahn from your own self and mixed with the life of a partner, it changes you. I've spoken to many of my friends who loved gore, violence, that after having children they couldn't handle these movies, some could bare them other's could not.
Of course Alita, my husky wasn't made from me, I had no part in her birth. All I did was bring her from her home, away from her siblings and parents into my home. We had an extremely strong bond, but I'm guessing most if not all pet owners do. Of course there are those, who for whatever reason acquire a pet and they don't care for it, they don't love it... I can't fathom that at all. Every pet I've owned I've cherished deeply, but then again, I have no partner in life, so, my pets mean a lot to me as they've been there through thick and thin.
So yes, 'Eight Below' moves me. I have finished the movie, but I really don't have much desire to watch it again. Not because it's a bad movie, it just makes me feel things I don't want to feel. I lost Alita once. She got out of the yard and was only missing for about an hour or so, but it was THE worst time. Horrible feeling not knowing where she was, if she was ok, was she hit by a car? Did someone scoop her up and take her away? It was very hard and I can't imagine anyone losing their child or partner, having them go missing. Rough stuff.
The other movie that really moves me is 'What Dreams May Come', a 1998 film starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Annabella Sciora. The film is about a couple who's two children are killed in an accident and then years later Robin Williams character 'Chris Nielsen' (odd that he's a 'Chris') is killed in a car accident, he dies, ends up in 'Summerland' (a name for a simplified Heaven in Theosophy, and for Heaven in general in religions such as Wicca).
Now those who know me, know I'm not a christian or religious. I don't know what lies beyond our lives, if anything. I'd like to believe we return to the Universe, we return to the dust and molecules that we're made up of.
But the film is quite sad, but does have a lot of humorous moments, intense and mysterious moments. Why exactly it touches me the way it does I don't know. I saw it well before my Mom passed away. I hadn't even lost any of my closest of friends at that point. But I guess maybe it just releases memories and in the years I've watched it after the passing of family, friends and pets, it of course bring back memories.
'What Dreams May Come' is beautifully shot, and was filmed using Fuji Velvia film. This is a type of film used by landscape photographers that captures vivid color reproduction. It one a few awards for it's effects and filming.
It's 'concept' of heaven and it's surrounding lands is quite brilliant and captivating. Would it be my "ideal" after life? I don't know. Our/my thoughts of what may lay beyond this world is influenced by so many things, years of upbringing in the Anglican church, movies, songs, stories. Maybe that is precisely what fuels our thoughts of the afterlife and who knows, maybe that's what happens when we pass. Our minds reflect on our fears, hopes and joys, maybe if you've had more joy than fear, pain or hurt, then you end up in a happier place... Mind you, I've had a lot of pain, a life time already, physically more than emotionally.
Anyhow, 'What Dreams May Come' isn't a pushy christian film, it's not preaching anything, it's just a story filled with emotion and I think that, over anything else is why it moves me.
The cold 'snap' is about to end! Tomorrow, the temperature, it's forecast, to go from -13 in the morning to +3 in the afternoon and Sunday it says +8! I can totally embrace that! Next weeks temps look pretty decent, but I do hear that another cold snap is coming. Spring is rushing towards us and I can't wait for it and Summer to come.
Of course Alita, my husky wasn't made from me, I had no part in her birth. All I did was bring her from her home, away from her siblings and parents into my home. We had an extremely strong bond, but I'm guessing most if not all pet owners do. Of course there are those, who for whatever reason acquire a pet and they don't care for it, they don't love it... I can't fathom that at all. Every pet I've owned I've cherished deeply, but then again, I have no partner in life, so, my pets mean a lot to me as they've been there through thick and thin.
So yes, 'Eight Below' moves me. I have finished the movie, but I really don't have much desire to watch it again. Not because it's a bad movie, it just makes me feel things I don't want to feel. I lost Alita once. She got out of the yard and was only missing for about an hour or so, but it was THE worst time. Horrible feeling not knowing where she was, if she was ok, was she hit by a car? Did someone scoop her up and take her away? It was very hard and I can't imagine anyone losing their child or partner, having them go missing. Rough stuff.
The other movie that really moves me is 'What Dreams May Come', a 1998 film starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Annabella Sciora. The film is about a couple who's two children are killed in an accident and then years later Robin Williams character 'Chris Nielsen' (odd that he's a 'Chris') is killed in a car accident, he dies, ends up in 'Summerland' (a name for a simplified Heaven in Theosophy, and for Heaven in general in religions such as Wicca).
Now those who know me, know I'm not a christian or religious. I don't know what lies beyond our lives, if anything. I'd like to believe we return to the Universe, we return to the dust and molecules that we're made up of.
But the film is quite sad, but does have a lot of humorous moments, intense and mysterious moments. Why exactly it touches me the way it does I don't know. I saw it well before my Mom passed away. I hadn't even lost any of my closest of friends at that point. But I guess maybe it just releases memories and in the years I've watched it after the passing of family, friends and pets, it of course bring back memories.
'What Dreams May Come' is beautifully shot, and was filmed using Fuji Velvia film. This is a type of film used by landscape photographers that captures vivid color reproduction. It one a few awards for it's effects and filming.
It's 'concept' of heaven and it's surrounding lands is quite brilliant and captivating. Would it be my "ideal" after life? I don't know. Our/my thoughts of what may lay beyond this world is influenced by so many things, years of upbringing in the Anglican church, movies, songs, stories. Maybe that is precisely what fuels our thoughts of the afterlife and who knows, maybe that's what happens when we pass. Our minds reflect on our fears, hopes and joys, maybe if you've had more joy than fear, pain or hurt, then you end up in a happier place... Mind you, I've had a lot of pain, a life time already, physically more than emotionally.
Anyhow, 'What Dreams May Come' isn't a pushy christian film, it's not preaching anything, it's just a story filled with emotion and I think that, over anything else is why it moves me.
The cold 'snap' is about to end! Tomorrow, the temperature, it's forecast, to go from -13 in the morning to +3 in the afternoon and Sunday it says +8! I can totally embrace that! Next weeks temps look pretty decent, but I do hear that another cold snap is coming. Spring is rushing towards us and I can't wait for it and Summer to come.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
The Deep Freeze - Slight Return
Yes, it has returned, a brief 48 hours of the polar vortex, Not even sure if it IS the polar vortex, but it's currently -10C but with the windchill and it's some 'chill' it's -19C that's -2F for you 'Muricans.
But, this is day is almost done and we'll have one more day of intense cold (made this intense from my arch Winter enemy, the North wind - It's my theory that Winter would be somewhat bearable if it' were not for that wind from the North!), then on Saturday the temperature will 'jump up' to around +2C and then on Sunday +6! Then we'll have some more rather 'seasonable' temperatures, that is depending on what the North Wind has in store for us.
This morning I got together with a good friend I have not seen in a while. Roger is a great guy that I know from CHSR, he hosts 'Rosie Morning', 'The Top 10' and 'Rosie's Juke Joint'. He's a great guy and we've had some good laughs together. I used to sit in on the Friday morning show on Rosie Morning, but since I've left CHSR, I haven't seen him that much. So it was good to catch up.
I'm actually going to the station next week to turn in my key and have a chat with Erin and Mark (who run the station). While I do feel bad about leaving, I just lost that feeling for the station I had. It's a particularly hard position to be in, the station does and has meant very much to me, but in this day and age I just find it's nigh impossible to get people interested in what's going on there. I tried for 4 years to bring light to the station and when I was gone for just a couple of weeks I was shown that the only real reason it seemed people tuned in was because I asked them to, or reminded them to and without that it didn't see as if anyone gave a rats ass about the station. I was burnt out from letting bands know I was playing them, when I had played them, I had, even though I was a volunteer, ingrained myself in the music director position, I had made 4 years of contacts and when I was pulled under for a few days by my arthritis, I'd start to feel horrible I wasn't getting back to people. Some were relying on me to book things or try to book things, so the stress level went up and my health plummeted. Herein lies the problem with anyone with any type of health issue, 'Stress'. It's a killer, but not only that, it maims, it cuts and slashes you and it's nigh impossible to be rid of.
My disease process, I think, had slowed quite a lot and I had been testing myself to see what i could do, could I 'return to work'? Could I do it part time? The band, the station, but despite some subdued cries for help, none came and I crashed. I know I've written about this before. But it's still fresh for me, those scars are starting to heal and with 36 days left until Spring I feel myself slowly getting back to normal. This does not mean that I'll return to anything I was doing before, but I'll at least have shed the stress off this battered shell.
Over the last decade or so, I've come to appreciate some of the musicians that I 'kinda liked' their material, but exploring further come to love their material. Tom Petty, The Electric Light Orchestra, Roy Wood & Wizzard and Peter Gabriel.
Gabriel's 'Secret World Live' has become a big thing for me, this tour from 1994 was a masterpiece, a sound, light and visual stage spectacle. I've always been a huge fan of stage design, sound and lights. I personally believe even IF the band is outstanding on it's own merit a big stage show or just one that's filled with lighting and brilliant sound brings a whole new dimension to the music. Iron Maiden, of course introduced me to this theatrical world, although to go back further in my life, growing up with my Mom and grandparents music in the house, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Fiddler On The Roof, also played into my schooling.
One thing that I missed when playing with the band in this era was that 'back in the day', we had the money to afford sound and light crews that would travel with us. Dreamkick had a fantastic stage show with sound and lighting done by two of the greatest talents in that field. Today a band playing original can't afford luxuries like lighting. Most clubs have a PA system of some type, sometime's none at all and you have to make due. I had thought at one time of trying to build a great stage show for the Zombies with props of dead bodies and parts, tombstones, smoke machines and lights. The way I see and saw it, you can be the best you can be live, you can sound fantastic even without a great P.A. system, you can have the liveliest wildest musicians on stage with you, but you can always, always give more.
Check out Peter Gabriels 'Secret World Live'
While Youtubing around on Gabriel's legacy, I came across this video of Peter while recording with Canadian uber musician Daniel Lanois. 'Come Talk To Me' is a beautiful song that Gabriel wrote about his estranged relationship with his Daughter. It took me years to get it, but Lanois is a genius, who's collaborated with some of the most amazing musicians on the planet. I'm not a huge fan of his own work, but I am a fan of what he's done, who's he worked with.
I only wish I had, had as much fortitude, ambition and talent as these people. I'm happy, I'm very happy and proud of the music and band's I've been apart of.
When I first moved back to Fredericton from out West, I was at some former 'Dreamkick' members show in outer Oromocto, they had a great cover band called 'Alter Ego'. I was standing in line to get a drink when I was approached by a man and his wife.
The guy says to me, "Are you, are you Chris? Chris Waddell?" and I said, "Yes, I am in the flesh"... Now, I haven't pissed off a lot of people that I know of, but you never know, I didn't recognize this chap or his wife, so I had no idea what was coming, a hug or a slap in the face lol, but what came next was as amazing as a warm embrace and as shocking (to me) as a punch in the face.
This gentleman, went on to tell me how much Dreamkick's music had meant to him, how much he loved the band our shows and hour music. In fact, he said, they still had our music on 3 CDs, one they played in the house, one they played in their car and another at their cottage.
I was floored. I really didn't know what to say. But at that point, I felt IF anything, in a very very small way, I had "made it".
Dreamkick never toured extensively, although we did play over 70 shows in the short time frame we were together, we never had any major hits, airplay on 'mainstream' radio, we did have a video that made it onto MuchMusic, but this guy telling me that even to this day, music we had written some 20 years ago still meant something to him. It swells my heart even now to think about it. Something we wrote had an impact.and that lasted to this day.
Steve Walon a local country musician was talking to me just before New Years and asked, "When are you guys going to do a reunion?" and I said, 'Wasteland Zombies?' and he said, "No no, Dreamkick! You guys were the best band in the province man, there was nothing like you guys, I still rant to people about you guys to this day"....
I was so lucky to have had that moment in my life, I've been very very fortunate. and again, I'm very proud of everything I've done, everything I've been apart of. It's been a great life.
The blog search for Youtube wouldn't bring up our Dreamkick video for 'This Meanz War' but here's a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57NH1p04LXg
But, this is day is almost done and we'll have one more day of intense cold (made this intense from my arch Winter enemy, the North wind - It's my theory that Winter would be somewhat bearable if it' were not for that wind from the North!), then on Saturday the temperature will 'jump up' to around +2C and then on Sunday +6! Then we'll have some more rather 'seasonable' temperatures, that is depending on what the North Wind has in store for us.
This morning I got together with a good friend I have not seen in a while. Roger is a great guy that I know from CHSR, he hosts 'Rosie Morning', 'The Top 10' and 'Rosie's Juke Joint'. He's a great guy and we've had some good laughs together. I used to sit in on the Friday morning show on Rosie Morning, but since I've left CHSR, I haven't seen him that much. So it was good to catch up.
I'm actually going to the station next week to turn in my key and have a chat with Erin and Mark (who run the station). While I do feel bad about leaving, I just lost that feeling for the station I had. It's a particularly hard position to be in, the station does and has meant very much to me, but in this day and age I just find it's nigh impossible to get people interested in what's going on there. I tried for 4 years to bring light to the station and when I was gone for just a couple of weeks I was shown that the only real reason it seemed people tuned in was because I asked them to, or reminded them to and without that it didn't see as if anyone gave a rats ass about the station. I was burnt out from letting bands know I was playing them, when I had played them, I had, even though I was a volunteer, ingrained myself in the music director position, I had made 4 years of contacts and when I was pulled under for a few days by my arthritis, I'd start to feel horrible I wasn't getting back to people. Some were relying on me to book things or try to book things, so the stress level went up and my health plummeted. Herein lies the problem with anyone with any type of health issue, 'Stress'. It's a killer, but not only that, it maims, it cuts and slashes you and it's nigh impossible to be rid of.
My disease process, I think, had slowed quite a lot and I had been testing myself to see what i could do, could I 'return to work'? Could I do it part time? The band, the station, but despite some subdued cries for help, none came and I crashed. I know I've written about this before. But it's still fresh for me, those scars are starting to heal and with 36 days left until Spring I feel myself slowly getting back to normal. This does not mean that I'll return to anything I was doing before, but I'll at least have shed the stress off this battered shell.
Over the last decade or so, I've come to appreciate some of the musicians that I 'kinda liked' their material, but exploring further come to love their material. Tom Petty, The Electric Light Orchestra, Roy Wood & Wizzard and Peter Gabriel.
Gabriel's 'Secret World Live' has become a big thing for me, this tour from 1994 was a masterpiece, a sound, light and visual stage spectacle. I've always been a huge fan of stage design, sound and lights. I personally believe even IF the band is outstanding on it's own merit a big stage show or just one that's filled with lighting and brilliant sound brings a whole new dimension to the music. Iron Maiden, of course introduced me to this theatrical world, although to go back further in my life, growing up with my Mom and grandparents music in the house, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Fiddler On The Roof, also played into my schooling.
One thing that I missed when playing with the band in this era was that 'back in the day', we had the money to afford sound and light crews that would travel with us. Dreamkick had a fantastic stage show with sound and lighting done by two of the greatest talents in that field. Today a band playing original can't afford luxuries like lighting. Most clubs have a PA system of some type, sometime's none at all and you have to make due. I had thought at one time of trying to build a great stage show for the Zombies with props of dead bodies and parts, tombstones, smoke machines and lights. The way I see and saw it, you can be the best you can be live, you can sound fantastic even without a great P.A. system, you can have the liveliest wildest musicians on stage with you, but you can always, always give more.
Check out Peter Gabriels 'Secret World Live'
While Youtubing around on Gabriel's legacy, I came across this video of Peter while recording with Canadian uber musician Daniel Lanois. 'Come Talk To Me' is a beautiful song that Gabriel wrote about his estranged relationship with his Daughter. It took me years to get it, but Lanois is a genius, who's collaborated with some of the most amazing musicians on the planet. I'm not a huge fan of his own work, but I am a fan of what he's done, who's he worked with.
I only wish I had, had as much fortitude, ambition and talent as these people. I'm happy, I'm very happy and proud of the music and band's I've been apart of.
When I first moved back to Fredericton from out West, I was at some former 'Dreamkick' members show in outer Oromocto, they had a great cover band called 'Alter Ego'. I was standing in line to get a drink when I was approached by a man and his wife.
The guy says to me, "Are you, are you Chris? Chris Waddell?" and I said, "Yes, I am in the flesh"... Now, I haven't pissed off a lot of people that I know of, but you never know, I didn't recognize this chap or his wife, so I had no idea what was coming, a hug or a slap in the face lol, but what came next was as amazing as a warm embrace and as shocking (to me) as a punch in the face.
This gentleman, went on to tell me how much Dreamkick's music had meant to him, how much he loved the band our shows and hour music. In fact, he said, they still had our music on 3 CDs, one they played in the house, one they played in their car and another at their cottage.
I was floored. I really didn't know what to say. But at that point, I felt IF anything, in a very very small way, I had "made it".
Dreamkick never toured extensively, although we did play over 70 shows in the short time frame we were together, we never had any major hits, airplay on 'mainstream' radio, we did have a video that made it onto MuchMusic, but this guy telling me that even to this day, music we had written some 20 years ago still meant something to him. It swells my heart even now to think about it. Something we wrote had an impact.and that lasted to this day.
Steve Walon a local country musician was talking to me just before New Years and asked, "When are you guys going to do a reunion?" and I said, 'Wasteland Zombies?' and he said, "No no, Dreamkick! You guys were the best band in the province man, there was nothing like you guys, I still rant to people about you guys to this day"....
I was so lucky to have had that moment in my life, I've been very very fortunate. and again, I'm very proud of everything I've done, everything I've been apart of. It's been a great life.
The blog search for Youtube wouldn't bring up our Dreamkick video for 'This Meanz War' but here's a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57NH1p04LXg
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
After Ice Storm 2018!
Well we didn't get the storm Quebec got, but we did get about 4 hours of ice and pellets and then rain.
I had hoped the mild temps and rain would clear off the sidewalks and streets... No such luck. McLeod drive by me, the sidewalks were sheer ice. I had to shuffle along until I got to a driveway and then walked up the road the rest of the way to Beaverbrook. I even asked a lady on the other side from where I was walking if there was ANY salt or sand down on that side and she just told me to stick to walking on the road, that it was "safer".
I made a bit of a video *actually along the same stretch that I had made after the last ice storm*. I would have taken some footage of the extreme ice on McLeod but well it was really safety over video for that.
Temps are gonna plummet over the next two days, but then we'll get some nice mild temperatures for a few days at least.... I think, jeez, I think this Winter isn't as bad as last as far as storms, This one had the polar vortex invasion but we had at least two encounters with the vortex last Winter.
Only 36 days until Spring!
I had hoped the mild temps and rain would clear off the sidewalks and streets... No such luck. McLeod drive by me, the sidewalks were sheer ice. I had to shuffle along until I got to a driveway and then walked up the road the rest of the way to Beaverbrook. I even asked a lady on the other side from where I was walking if there was ANY salt or sand down on that side and she just told me to stick to walking on the road, that it was "safer".
I made a bit of a video *actually along the same stretch that I had made after the last ice storm*. I would have taken some footage of the extreme ice on McLeod but well it was really safety over video for that.
Only 36 days until Spring!
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Baseball Bat To The Ribs
What's ailing me this evening are my ribs. Old breaks, sprains even just some place that you might hit real hard, will come back to haunt you later as osteoarthritis. I broke my ribs in 1998, sometimes when it rains it comes back to haunt me and it's haunting me. Hell it's possessing me.
When I was up early this morning to pop my Naproxen (anti-inflammatory), I saw that I'd received an email and when I saw that it was a 8.0 had struck, at first I'm kinda, hmm used to seeing those numbers and it being somewhere in the middle of the ocean or something like that, so my eyes bugged out when I saw it was the Gulf of Alaska. Of course in 1964 there was a massive quake that caused a sizeable tidal wave that smashed Anchorage and other cities along the coast, so an 8.0 is pretty good, a tusnami alert was issued for almost the entire West coast. What I guess we didn't know/take into account was that this was a 'strike-slip' quake, which is a horizontal quake so unlike a subduction quake, it's not displacing as much water. Subduction quakes can have the ocean floor 'snap' up and it can displace mass amounts of water, like in Japan, that will send tsunami's barreling towards the coastlines. So, give the size of the quake, which was over the day downgraded to a 7.9 didn't cause much if any real damage. Now there's been some real sizeable aftershocks, some almost as large as the original quake. I'm seeing in news reports that with this quake people are extremely happy with the time given from the time the quake happened to the sirens going off, emergency texts and calls sent out, a lot of people managed to get away from the coast. Sad thing is, people can become complacent, sometimes quakes and major natural disasters can not send death hurtling to populated areas, so when they happen again, people will think, "Ohh nothing to worry about", always react! Always follow emergency instructions and damn it! Always have an emergency kit! I've got one! You should have one, it should be able to help you and your family for at the least 48 hours at the most a week or more. have batteries, flashlights, first aid kits, some food, some clothing, some blankets, stuff for your kids, an emergency radio, some cash. A natural disaster won't be as goofy as you see in the movies, but it'll be real and frightening. I'm glad everyone is safe and sound on the West Coast.
That graphic at the begining of this blog is a great piece of art by 'Pushead', one of, if not my favorite artist. He's been known to do a lot of artwork for Metallica, Rush, a lot of Japanese bands. I have some great pieces by him, a few shirts, even sneakers with his work on them. What is crazy is that the Japanese have made these toy lines out some of his works and those tiny figures, like less than 3inches tall are over $2-300!! lol Makes me mad, because there's some cool stuff by him.
One piece I've always wanted was the 'Jar Of Pus' kit :
There's variations of this sculpture, some are glow in the dark, some are metal... But all of them are expensive...
I do have a 3D sculpture of 'The Wave'
Dude is amazing!
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Something Snowy This Way Comes
Well just as I had finished writing an email to a friend in California, I had said, 'Well looks like the next snowstorm is passing us by unscathed'... Then I went to my hotmail and there's weather warnings for Sussex, Edmunston and Fredericton... Possibly 15+cm But the temperatures are still bearable, so like I've said, 'it can snow to the rafters, just as long as it ain't below -10°C.
Was out for a nice walk today, been trying to get out everyday that the weather isn't being a jerkface. I've gained weight as I'm not walking up to the University most days, also I need to get out so I'm not sitting here with the heat on too high.. Who knows what my heating bill will be like this year, I had been trying to keep it as low as possible, the last two bills have been below $200, so I'm happy about that... I am a little worried about this next bill because it has those near two weeks of crazy ass ridiculous cold weather. I have been using my oil heaters, so hopefully that'll help, that was my plan for this Winter.
Was out for a nice walk today, been trying to get out everyday that the weather isn't being a jerkface. I've gained weight as I'm not walking up to the University most days, also I need to get out so I'm not sitting here with the heat on too high.. Who knows what my heating bill will be like this year, I had been trying to keep it as low as possible, the last two bills have been below $200, so I'm happy about that... I am a little worried about this next bill because it has those near two weeks of crazy ass ridiculous cold weather. I have been using my oil heaters, so hopefully that'll help, that was my plan for this Winter.
Spring is 44 days away, but that date/day doesn't mean Winter is over, heck it could snow until freakin May!
Last night I had a great laugh. I need to thank my Brother Scott and Sister-in-law for the string that was wrapped around my Christmas present... I have to play with Elsa each night before bedtime or it's scratches to the face for me... I had been toying around with this string and she was really fighting with it. I had gone into the kitchen and then came back in to find her playing with the string like mad, I hadn't seen her play by herself in a while and she batted, scratched, rolled, jumped around with that string like a mad woman! Then when she turned and saw me watching, she arches her back, puffs up her hair and jumps up in the air and takes off under the desk. It was so funny. She's been doing that enraged fluffy body thing since she was a kitten. She's just hilarious and that's what I love about cats, they are all mad in the head.
Evil Elsa seen here about to slap a painting
Monday, January 15, 2018
Were New Brunswick's First Loyalist Settlers Killed By A Volcanic Eruption? Well, Kind Of....
A few years ago, after I had moved back from Vancouver, I had become interested in the story of the Loyalists who had settled in Fredericton (before it was called Fredericton). Growing up with our house adjacent to a Loyalist cemetery, we had always been told that only Three to four people were buried there. The cemetery which has two tombstones and a Loyalist memorial. The story we knew was that two persons were buried by these older tombstones and one person or possibly two were buried beneath the memorial. The memorial told just part of the story of Loyalists who had passed away during their first Winter and that's about all we knew.
It turns out the story was much different.
Loyalist memorial located adjacent to Elmcroft place, Fredericton, NB
Late in the Summer of 1783 Loyalists to Britain were driven out of New York and took ships to the safety of Saint John known then as Fort Sainte Marie. As we know many of these Loyalist settlers after landing in Saint John once again boarded ships that took them up the Saint John river to a settlement that at the time was called 'Saint Anne's point' (A couple years later renamed 'Frederic's town or Fredericton)
As the story goes, the Loyalists had arrived at Saint Anne's point and due to an extremely early and intense Winter, over 30 men, women and children perished that Winter more than likely because of inadequate shelter and ruined crops brought on by the onset of the 'early and extremely intense' weather.
Now living in New Brunswick or even Atlantic Canada we're familiar with how brutal our Winter's can be. But was there something that made the Winter of 1783 particularly more intense and extreme than 'normal'? It appears that this just may be the case.
While watching a documentary on unraveling the mystery of mass graves in the UK, graves and deaths that would indicate that these people had died a particularly mysterious end, it was noted that in the Summer of 1783 volcanic activity in Iceland had been pretty intense and prolonged.
It was said in this documentary that the eruption of the Laki or LakagÃgar volcano put out more lava in 3 months than the current eruptions in Hawaii have in 30 years. This eruption by the Fall of 1783 had spread so much debris into the atmosphere that all over the globe that it created somewhat of a ice age, from 1683 until around 1689 Winter's were quite harsh. In fact in 1685, it's said that the Mississippi river had ice in it. This abrupt change in climate had effects all over the Northern hemisphere. Much of history around this time talks about the "Summer's that never came" or "year long Winters".... So it can be now easily seen how when these Loyalists landed in Fredericton, that because of the change in the Northern atmospheric climate, which caused this early and extreme Winter which ended up being a virtual death sentence for these poor settlers that had already gone through so much.
Before I began to work as the music director at CHSR-FM and before the band had got back together, I had been working on kind of an investigation into the Loyalist cemetery on Waterloo Row, although it's more adjacent to Elmcroft place (off Waterloo Row) and is accessed via a dirt road that runs down along the Saint John river at the Morell baseball field.
I was shocked to learn that what we had learned growing up, with this Loyalist cemetery literally in our backyard (At one time, property plans showed it was part of the property, but was later sold to the city who intermittently provided grounds care of the place) had not 3 but close to 30 souls buried within. What else shocked me was that there is no record of WHO these people are, what names their families had. According to the story, they had been buried with haste and only wooden grave markers were put in place that eventually rotted away over the years. I've had the thought, that possibly some or all of these people may have been moved to whats 'formerly' known as the 'Loyalist cemetery' which is located between Brunswick and George streets in Fredericton. Through some investigation and study at the Fredericton archives, located at the University of New Brunswick, I had found out that the two gravestones at the cemetery were in fact two persons and possibly a dog buried at a later date, but only a few years after the original burials after the Winter of 1783. Now with more free time and with this new possible 'motive' to how these people perished, I may restart my investigation. I'd like, if it could happen to do a documentary, this would entail asking the University of New Brunswick archaeology dept and Geology dept to help out. I'd like to have ground penetrating radar scan the grounds to find out where these bodies lay, then, once I've hopefully found out the names of as many people buried there as I can, have the graves dug up and then see if some DNA could be extracted, that combined with my other studies to find the names of these people interred there, we could then find the living relatives to these people and possibly give them proper burials instead of being buried en masse.
It's an idea.
Here's a link to the source of my information and will give you, should you wish to explore further why I believe this eruption had an impact on the Loyalist settlers of 1783. These eruptions had a major impact on the global environment, and again, reading the provided link information will give you an idea.
https://www.wired.com/2013/06/local-and-global-impacts-1793-laki-eruption-iceland/
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Storm III A Bust - A Song, Time And Origins
So, yeah, we were supposed to get quite a wallop of a storm, I'm hearing other parts of the Atlantic provinces did. Man, feel bad for parts of Nova Scotia, they've been hit by every single storm so far and it's been knocking out power after power... They seem to be getting people hooked up and then the next storm tramples through like a child running through another child's building blocks.
The forecast yesterday for this storm looked and sounded pretty crazy.... We had the temps climb up around +11 and then winds were to pick up, heavy rainfall, which we did get, but then this morning (Jan 13) the temp was to plummet to -2 in the order of just about an hour or so giving rise to an alert I've never even seen or heard before. The "Flash Freeze" never came to fruition.
"Flash freeze" sounds like what happened during the end of the last ice age, where years ago now, they found woolly mammoths frozen to death with food still in their mouths and throats, it's also vaguely similar to a couple of scenes in the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' where there's like some kind of 'polar vortex' mixed with this massive downdraft that freezes any life solid in seconds!
So I was up earlier this morning, all the ice had been cleared from the driveway with the warm temps and rain through the night, which was a bonus, but then I thought since it'd be changing to this flash freeze and freezing rain into tonight, well what point in being awake! So i slept most of the day away and woke up a few times to eat and see the lay of the land, then I checked the weather warnings and they'd all been rescinded! Hey, sometimes it happens. Any of ya's that know me know I'm a storm buff, I love storms, so it was a let down... Not a let down of course for those now without power... So no the forecast is just for some spotty rain/freezing rain/snow... But nothing to get out the emergency kit for! Oh well, some storms are good, some ain't so good... At least the ton of snow and ice that was on the roof is gone!
Need an 'Edit' here:
So, was just reading the CBC's news for New Brunswick and it would seem that Fredericton escaped quite a weather missile. While we didn't lose power (at least my area), many customers did AND at least 6 roads and highways are closed because they were washed out. Above normal temperatures with the rain and frozen ground has caused flooding and roads and highways to be demolished by rising waters! Shesh, we did dodge 'the bullet'!
'I Feel Love' -
Now don't get all excited and think, "Ohhhh Chris has met a woman!!!".... Nope, no woman, but a cool discovery for me.
I woke up for my meds early this morning and usually when I'm up for that, I end up staying up and watching some documentary or finding some old music vids to watch... I woke up and for some reason I had the 'Bee Gee's' in my head... So I brought up on Youtube 'Night Fever' - While watching this video, as we all know, Youtube has all kinds of 'suggestion' and 'related' videos to the side and one of those videos was a song called, 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer. I'm not a huge or even small Donna Summer's fan, but for some reason I clicked on the video and was wowed by the ear candy I received.
Now let me sidetrack for a bit... As I'm prone to say, 'Those that know me', know I love music... All kinds, all genres, '70's, '80's, '90's to current, right across the board.... So in 1994, when I had moved to Vancouver, the first job I secured was with 'Paradise Entertainment' - I always thought that sounded like some kind of stripper outfit lol - But no, they were a massive lighting and sound production house that had the contract for the the 'Plaza Of Nations', which was built in the mid '80's' for Expo '86' (which my Brothers, Dad and I attended, our first excursion by car out West)... So being back at the Plaza was a bit of a head trip, so much deja vu feeling. So, Paradise Entertainment, they didn't just have the contract for events at the plaza, but also did dances, weddings, parties, karaoke, you name it.
Since I'd done some DJing at CHSR before I left and had MC'd some Fredericton events, the powers that be at Paradise asked me if I'd go out and do some DJing for them and since it was a job, since it was money, since it was getting out and getting experience, getting out in all parts of the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, I jumped at the chance.
I had some great times, super huge parties, crazy weddings at some of the richest venues in town, eating foods I'd never even heard of, meeting all kinds of great people.
I did and do hate karaoke, I think it's like the Antichrist of music, I know my Brother and his girlfriend are quite fond of getting up havin some drinks and partying the night away at karaoke bars, but I just don't dig it and hell, I'm a singer!
Anyhow, so DJing exposed me to all kinds of great music, in all kinds of great genres, Paradise had this huge room full of vinyl and CDs, so I'd spend what downtime I had checking out some great beats and making mixed tapes to listen to.
On one of these mixed tapes, there was a song, and for quite a long time, because I had not written down who was on that mixed tape, I had NO clue who this artist was or even the name of the song, though I had guessed from the chorus and most prominent spoken lines of the song was 'Sunshine After The Rain'.
That song actually got me through one of the most trying, hardest, grueling times of my life and I had no clue who it was performed by.
Years later, around the late 1990's, early 2000's, with the advent of the computer, I searched out this song and found that the version I had on this mixed tape was performed by 'New Atlantic featuring 'Berri', so now I finally had the answer to who did this song, but that's only part of the history of that song.
'Sunshine after the Rain' was originally written and performed by Ellie Greenwich in 1968 and then was re-recorded and performed by Elkie Brooks in 1977, it was a kinda a sad slow song and the chorus was extracted and use in the 'New Atlantic' version in the 1990's as a monster club hit.
So the tracks been a long time favorite or mine. But what I didn't know was the connection between 'Sunshine After the Rain' and 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer's. Because of Wikipedia many times when I run across a movie or song, I'll check out the info on it at Wikipedia.
'I Feel Love' was was written by Donna Summers with production by Georgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte during the Disco age. A lot of disco songs featured live orchestrations, but Moroder wanted to do something different with this track and instead of an acoustic orchestrated session he wrote the song purely digitally. It's said that David Bowie was recording an album at the same time and his producer having heard 'I Feel Love' rushed in on Bowie and said "This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years." Which was more or less right."
The song is said to be the advent of many genres of music today, including: Dance, Techno, Post Punk and New Wave.
So this is where things get crazy. Well maybe 'crazy' is a bit too big a word, but neat, cool.... When New Atlantic was writing their 1994 album that featured 'Sunshine After the Rain', 'I Feel Love' was 'interpolated' for the song. So this may be why the song hit me so hard when I heard it because essentially the music that underlies 'Sunshine After The Rain' is 'I Feel love'.... So cool!
Perusing around on Youtube I found that there is a live version of 'I Feel Love' done by Blondie as well as the innovative art trio the 'Blueman Group'.
When I first heard 'I Feel Love' this morning, my brain was on fire, 'How could I have not heard of this song? How did this manage to slip by me, especially since it is the bones of 'Sunshine After the Rain'?'
I really like how I've just stumbled across mind blowing music over the years, how one video leads to another and can open up sonic doorways...
So let's check out these versions!
Donna Summer - 'I Feel Love' (Extended Mix)
Don'tcha just love music?
The forecast yesterday for this storm looked and sounded pretty crazy.... We had the temps climb up around +11 and then winds were to pick up, heavy rainfall, which we did get, but then this morning (Jan 13) the temp was to plummet to -2 in the order of just about an hour or so giving rise to an alert I've never even seen or heard before. The "Flash Freeze" never came to fruition.
"Flash freeze" sounds like what happened during the end of the last ice age, where years ago now, they found woolly mammoths frozen to death with food still in their mouths and throats, it's also vaguely similar to a couple of scenes in the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' where there's like some kind of 'polar vortex' mixed with this massive downdraft that freezes any life solid in seconds!
So I was up earlier this morning, all the ice had been cleared from the driveway with the warm temps and rain through the night, which was a bonus, but then I thought since it'd be changing to this flash freeze and freezing rain into tonight, well what point in being awake! So i slept most of the day away and woke up a few times to eat and see the lay of the land, then I checked the weather warnings and they'd all been rescinded! Hey, sometimes it happens. Any of ya's that know me know I'm a storm buff, I love storms, so it was a let down... Not a let down of course for those now without power... So no the forecast is just for some spotty rain/freezing rain/snow... But nothing to get out the emergency kit for! Oh well, some storms are good, some ain't so good... At least the ton of snow and ice that was on the roof is gone!
Need an 'Edit' here:
So, was just reading the CBC's news for New Brunswick and it would seem that Fredericton escaped quite a weather missile. While we didn't lose power (at least my area), many customers did AND at least 6 roads and highways are closed because they were washed out. Above normal temperatures with the rain and frozen ground has caused flooding and roads and highways to be demolished by rising waters! Shesh, we did dodge 'the bullet'!
'I Feel Love' -
Now don't get all excited and think, "Ohhhh Chris has met a woman!!!".... Nope, no woman, but a cool discovery for me.
I woke up for my meds early this morning and usually when I'm up for that, I end up staying up and watching some documentary or finding some old music vids to watch... I woke up and for some reason I had the 'Bee Gee's' in my head... So I brought up on Youtube 'Night Fever' - While watching this video, as we all know, Youtube has all kinds of 'suggestion' and 'related' videos to the side and one of those videos was a song called, 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer. I'm not a huge or even small Donna Summer's fan, but for some reason I clicked on the video and was wowed by the ear candy I received.
Now let me sidetrack for a bit... As I'm prone to say, 'Those that know me', know I love music... All kinds, all genres, '70's, '80's, '90's to current, right across the board.... So in 1994, when I had moved to Vancouver, the first job I secured was with 'Paradise Entertainment' - I always thought that sounded like some kind of stripper outfit lol - But no, they were a massive lighting and sound production house that had the contract for the the 'Plaza Of Nations', which was built in the mid '80's' for Expo '86' (which my Brothers, Dad and I attended, our first excursion by car out West)... So being back at the Plaza was a bit of a head trip, so much deja vu feeling. So, Paradise Entertainment, they didn't just have the contract for events at the plaza, but also did dances, weddings, parties, karaoke, you name it.
Since I'd done some DJing at CHSR before I left and had MC'd some Fredericton events, the powers that be at Paradise asked me if I'd go out and do some DJing for them and since it was a job, since it was money, since it was getting out and getting experience, getting out in all parts of the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, I jumped at the chance.
I had some great times, super huge parties, crazy weddings at some of the richest venues in town, eating foods I'd never even heard of, meeting all kinds of great people.
I did and do hate karaoke, I think it's like the Antichrist of music, I know my Brother and his girlfriend are quite fond of getting up havin some drinks and partying the night away at karaoke bars, but I just don't dig it and hell, I'm a singer!
Anyhow, so DJing exposed me to all kinds of great music, in all kinds of great genres, Paradise had this huge room full of vinyl and CDs, so I'd spend what downtime I had checking out some great beats and making mixed tapes to listen to.
On one of these mixed tapes, there was a song, and for quite a long time, because I had not written down who was on that mixed tape, I had NO clue who this artist was or even the name of the song, though I had guessed from the chorus and most prominent spoken lines of the song was 'Sunshine After The Rain'.
That song actually got me through one of the most trying, hardest, grueling times of my life and I had no clue who it was performed by.
Years later, around the late 1990's, early 2000's, with the advent of the computer, I searched out this song and found that the version I had on this mixed tape was performed by 'New Atlantic featuring 'Berri', so now I finally had the answer to who did this song, but that's only part of the history of that song.
'Sunshine after the Rain' was originally written and performed by Ellie Greenwich in 1968 and then was re-recorded and performed by Elkie Brooks in 1977, it was a kinda a sad slow song and the chorus was extracted and use in the 'New Atlantic' version in the 1990's as a monster club hit.
So the tracks been a long time favorite or mine. But what I didn't know was the connection between 'Sunshine After the Rain' and 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer's. Because of Wikipedia many times when I run across a movie or song, I'll check out the info on it at Wikipedia.
'I Feel Love' was was written by Donna Summers with production by Georgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte during the Disco age. A lot of disco songs featured live orchestrations, but Moroder wanted to do something different with this track and instead of an acoustic orchestrated session he wrote the song purely digitally. It's said that David Bowie was recording an album at the same time and his producer having heard 'I Feel Love' rushed in on Bowie and said "This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years." Which was more or less right."
The song is said to be the advent of many genres of music today, including: Dance, Techno, Post Punk and New Wave.
So this is where things get crazy. Well maybe 'crazy' is a bit too big a word, but neat, cool.... When New Atlantic was writing their 1994 album that featured 'Sunshine After the Rain', 'I Feel Love' was 'interpolated' for the song. So this may be why the song hit me so hard when I heard it because essentially the music that underlies 'Sunshine After The Rain' is 'I Feel love'.... So cool!
Perusing around on Youtube I found that there is a live version of 'I Feel Love' done by Blondie as well as the innovative art trio the 'Blueman Group'.
When I first heard 'I Feel Love' this morning, my brain was on fire, 'How could I have not heard of this song? How did this manage to slip by me, especially since it is the bones of 'Sunshine After the Rain'?'
I really like how I've just stumbled across mind blowing music over the years, how one video leads to another and can open up sonic doorways...
So let's check out these versions!
Donna Summer - 'I Feel Love' (Extended Mix)
Sunshine After the Rain - New Atlantic feat. Berri
The Blueman Group Feat: Venus Hum
Don'tcha just love music?
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
This Ain't Good
So I don't know who's reading this blog, but for those of you who don't know. In 2000, pretty much out of nowhere I was struck down with psoriatic arthritis - From Wikipedia:
"Psoriatic arthritis is a form of arthritis that affects some people who have psoriasis — a condition that features red patches of skin topped with silvery scales. Most people develop psoriasis first and are later diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, but the joint problems can sometimes begin before skin lesions appear."
Now, my psoriasis didn't set in for years into my disease process. Some people who have psoriasis never have the arthritis and some with the arthritis never develop the skin lesions... My arthritis began in my feet, my toes, ankles are riddled with it, so much so that I had four toes on my left foot reconstructed because they were so twisted by the disease. My right foot is a bit better but someday I'll need the reconstruction on those toes. The arthritis spread to my knees, lower back, spine, a couple ribs that I broke in 1997, it's in my elbows and has effected my fingers and even my jaw.
Since I moved back from Vancouver to my hometown in New Brunswick, I've fared quite well...Usually each year there seemed to be some joint somewhere that flared up to the point of agony and very visible inflammation. Since around 2013, I've just weathered the wear and tear already done by the arthritis. My rheumatologist in Vancouver had told me, "Even if they 'cure' your arthritis, you'll always live with the pain from the damage done"... Not the greatest outlook...
Although recently there was a science story that said that rain did not have any effect on arthritis or joints (some people believe that it does), it's not the rain that effects me, and what is still true, is not that rain is the problem, it's the rain that's the problem, it's the changes in barometric pressure. These are the changes that cause me grief and have caused me the most grief since my arthritis process seemed to have settled down.
Well last month my 'ring' finger began to ache, more precisely, the 'main' knuckle... I dug out my orthotic rings that I had made back in BC and hoped that might help. The orthotic rings, made of sterling silver help to keep the fingers from deforming. My 'index' finger is still somewhat deformed, but nothing compared to the 'S' shape it used to be. But not that 'ring' finger, well I can't even straighten it out, which is a bad sign and it's hot and swollen.
"Psoriatic arthritis is a form of arthritis that affects some people who have psoriasis — a condition that features red patches of skin topped with silvery scales. Most people develop psoriasis first and are later diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, but the joint problems can sometimes begin before skin lesions appear."
Now, my psoriasis didn't set in for years into my disease process. Some people who have psoriasis never have the arthritis and some with the arthritis never develop the skin lesions... My arthritis began in my feet, my toes, ankles are riddled with it, so much so that I had four toes on my left foot reconstructed because they were so twisted by the disease. My right foot is a bit better but someday I'll need the reconstruction on those toes. The arthritis spread to my knees, lower back, spine, a couple ribs that I broke in 1997, it's in my elbows and has effected my fingers and even my jaw.
Since I moved back from Vancouver to my hometown in New Brunswick, I've fared quite well...Usually each year there seemed to be some joint somewhere that flared up to the point of agony and very visible inflammation. Since around 2013, I've just weathered the wear and tear already done by the arthritis. My rheumatologist in Vancouver had told me, "Even if they 'cure' your arthritis, you'll always live with the pain from the damage done"... Not the greatest outlook...
Although recently there was a science story that said that rain did not have any effect on arthritis or joints (some people believe that it does), it's not the rain that effects me, and what is still true, is not that rain is the problem, it's the rain that's the problem, it's the changes in barometric pressure. These are the changes that cause me grief and have caused me the most grief since my arthritis process seemed to have settled down.
Well last month my 'ring' finger began to ache, more precisely, the 'main' knuckle... I dug out my orthotic rings that I had made back in BC and hoped that might help. The orthotic rings, made of sterling silver help to keep the fingers from deforming. My 'index' finger is still somewhat deformed, but nothing compared to the 'S' shape it used to be. But not that 'ring' finger, well I can't even straighten it out, which is a bad sign and it's hot and swollen.
If you know what to look for you can see it in this photo:
The rheumatologist that I was seeing, well we had a falling out. I wont go into why, but let's just leave it at that other doctors and specialists, patients all agree the guy is an asshole. So, my 'nurse/practitioner' sent two referrals to him and he won't see me, the other rheumatologists in the city are full up. So I'll see what my 'nurse/practitioner' can do/recommend. The province of New Brunswick is in desperate need of general practitioners, so much so, that after 5 years on the doctor/patient waiting list, and thousands of other New Brunswickers in the same boat, the government decided that the best thing to do was to let these nurse / practitioners see patients, as essentially they are 'doctors', but just short of being so. They can prescribe meds, take care of basic needs, make referrals. It's the best they can do and I'm grateful to at least have her. I have a 'finger splint', so I'll see what kind of relief I can get from that, along with putting ice on the swollen joint. I hope it's not a sign that my disease process is firing back up, 2016 was probably the worse year I've had health wise and a lot of the extra-curricular activities I was apart of, the radio station/music director job, the Crazy Train radio show and the band I had to let go of because of my health.
In other news, good actually, the music video that was shot by 'Creeker Films' last January is just about finished its editing process. So I'm stoked to see that once it's released. As it's part of a movie, the band has little say on when it'll be released or where. The director, Jared Carney had told me last year that the video would be the trailer for the film 'Kill Scene' which is a full length horror movie made up of several stories, the music video, 'Kill Scene - Zombie Nation' will be like an interlude in the film. Which is pretty dang cool if ya asks me!
So stay tuned for news on that.
The weather's gotten nicer, today we hit +1, we did have a snow squall, but I made it home before then. This Thursday and Friday the temps will reach +6 and +8 and Saturday it'll be mild, but we'll have a snow storm, dumping an estimated 20 some cm of snow, we'll have a couple colder days after that, but then until Jan 23 the daytime highs are all above -6 so I can live with that!
Stay frosty folks!
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Bad News
OK, you all will roll your eyes after I type out the 'bad news'. But it's just disheartening to have something you've been a fan of most of your life turned to crap before your and the World's eyes.
Growing up, like most kids, I liked comics. I got into Marvel comics, in fact, actually, the first comics that I started reading were Conan The Barbarian. My Father and his then girlfriend and I had gone to see the movie in the theater in 1982, so I was, wow, 10 years old?? I thought I would have been a little older... Anyhow, within the first minutes of the movie, Dad's girlfriend got up and walked out (Guess she wasn't impressed by the first couple of decapitations), minutes later my Dad followed her, probably more on not wanting to hear what would come with not following her out. So I watched the movie alone and it left a huge mark on me.
Like most kids, I grew up with Spiderman and the Super Friend's cartoon... I collected some Spiderman comics, but in truth, I was more of a fan of the artwork than the stories. Later i would ditch Marvel and DC comics for more violent and obscure comics (No, none of 'Image's' characters)... Todd Macfarlane's Spiderman was a huge advancement in comic art and though I had collected a few of those comics, again it was the art that was more interesting to me. But I'll come back to Spidey in a bit.
One comic from Marvel that did reel me in was 'The Punisher', he was a more violent and real 'hero' than most of the other heroes that all had mutant or gifted powers. Frank Castle was just a man hellbent on revenge. The Punisher War Journal was the first series that i was seriously interested in collecting... At one Summer camp, when I fell ill, I actually lost all my Conan and I think my first Punisher comics when they rushed me out at night and I forgot my comics that I'd stashed under my mattress on my bunkbed.... When it came time for my first tattoo, this is about the closest image to the tattoo on my arm:
I chose the Punisher, at the time, I stood behind his anti-drug message. I mean, I wasn't thinking about going and killing drug dealers, but after smoking some hash laced with angel dust, I stopped smoking drugs altogether, I had a very bad trip and it swore me off trying ANYTHING, other than drinking beer. Still, to this day, I've never done anything harder than pain meds and marijuana/hash. So the Punisher tattoo meant something to me... And it was a kick to the stomach when the first 'Punisher' film came out in 1989, with .... *sigh* Dolph Lundgren.... I mean, c'mon, he didn't even have the 'skull' emblem on his chest like the comic version, so I felt that most people who would see my tattoo would associate it with that stupid movie.... My next tattoo was Spiderman, based off of MacFarlane artwork... The Spiderman movies were never quite as awful as the first Punisher and I will admit that the next versions of the 'Punisher' movies which were the 2004 and 2008 being much better than that first one... But then again, there's a Captain America movie that was made in the 1990's that most people don't even know about
So in the early 1990's I came across a Japanese comic book, part of a Manga series called 'Alita - Battle Angel', created by Yukito Kishiro. I fell in love with the story and Alita and collected the comics and graphic novels. Mike Fields and I named a cat we adopted 'Alita', but had to give her up and then when I got my Siberian husky, I decided to call her 'Alita'...
Then around 2003/04, Fields and I went to a tattoo convention in Vancouver and on me I carried two designs that I hoped someone could pull off, one was a Pushead design and the other was this 'Alita' image:
Rumors of an 'Alita' movie, live action movie started to circulate around the late 1990's. Rumor had it that James Cameron was a huge fan and was waiting for the right technology to come along to really do the film justice. So for years, rumors came and went. Some "test" pieces of 'Alita' were leaked online.... Then a couple of years ago, the movie world announced that finally the time would come and the 'Alita' movie would be made.... Now I've seen many a great comic or novel ruined by film, we all have. Some of our favorite authors creations have been slaughtered by films.
Well, I just saw the trailer for 'Alita - Battle Angel' earlier this evening and was so sadly, unimpressed. My good friend Mike who works in the film industry blames it on the poor choice of the director... I don't know who to blame, but I wont sully my blog page with a photo or video from this atrocity. Why? Why couldn't they just make the movie like the Manga series? People over here would get it, they didn't need to "American-ize" it... They didn't need to make a girl with HUGE eyeballs just to make it look like the Japanese style character's the Japanese are famous for.... Sad, sad, sad... Another one of my 'Hero's' gets ruined and everyone who will ever see my tattoo after they see the movie and asks, "What's the tattoo of?" and I'll reply, 'Alita, Battle Angel'... and they'll first think of the horrible movie over having ANY knowledge of the amazing past that's inked in comics and graphic novels.
If Kishiro were dead, he'd be rolling in his grave. I almost can't imagine Jame Cameron being satisfied with this sham.... At least my other tattoo is an original creation that will never be tarnished by a bad movie.
Growing up, like most kids, I liked comics. I got into Marvel comics, in fact, actually, the first comics that I started reading were Conan The Barbarian. My Father and his then girlfriend and I had gone to see the movie in the theater in 1982, so I was, wow, 10 years old?? I thought I would have been a little older... Anyhow, within the first minutes of the movie, Dad's girlfriend got up and walked out (Guess she wasn't impressed by the first couple of decapitations), minutes later my Dad followed her, probably more on not wanting to hear what would come with not following her out. So I watched the movie alone and it left a huge mark on me.
Like most kids, I grew up with Spiderman and the Super Friend's cartoon... I collected some Spiderman comics, but in truth, I was more of a fan of the artwork than the stories. Later i would ditch Marvel and DC comics for more violent and obscure comics (No, none of 'Image's' characters)... Todd Macfarlane's Spiderman was a huge advancement in comic art and though I had collected a few of those comics, again it was the art that was more interesting to me. But I'll come back to Spidey in a bit.
One comic from Marvel that did reel me in was 'The Punisher', he was a more violent and real 'hero' than most of the other heroes that all had mutant or gifted powers. Frank Castle was just a man hellbent on revenge. The Punisher War Journal was the first series that i was seriously interested in collecting... At one Summer camp, when I fell ill, I actually lost all my Conan and I think my first Punisher comics when they rushed me out at night and I forgot my comics that I'd stashed under my mattress on my bunkbed.... When it came time for my first tattoo, this is about the closest image to the tattoo on my arm:
I chose the Punisher, at the time, I stood behind his anti-drug message. I mean, I wasn't thinking about going and killing drug dealers, but after smoking some hash laced with angel dust, I stopped smoking drugs altogether, I had a very bad trip and it swore me off trying ANYTHING, other than drinking beer. Still, to this day, I've never done anything harder than pain meds and marijuana/hash. So the Punisher tattoo meant something to me... And it was a kick to the stomach when the first 'Punisher' film came out in 1989, with .... *sigh* Dolph Lundgren.... I mean, c'mon, he didn't even have the 'skull' emblem on his chest like the comic version, so I felt that most people who would see my tattoo would associate it with that stupid movie.... My next tattoo was Spiderman, based off of MacFarlane artwork... The Spiderman movies were never quite as awful as the first Punisher and I will admit that the next versions of the 'Punisher' movies which were the 2004 and 2008 being much better than that first one... But then again, there's a Captain America movie that was made in the 1990's that most people don't even know about
So in the early 1990's I came across a Japanese comic book, part of a Manga series called 'Alita - Battle Angel', created by Yukito Kishiro. I fell in love with the story and Alita and collected the comics and graphic novels. Mike Fields and I named a cat we adopted 'Alita', but had to give her up and then when I got my Siberian husky, I decided to call her 'Alita'...
Then around 2003/04, Fields and I went to a tattoo convention in Vancouver and on me I carried two designs that I hoped someone could pull off, one was a Pushead design and the other was this 'Alita' image:
Sadly, I forget the artist I stumbled upon as I was perusing different artist's work. I saw he'd done an 'Alita' tattoo in his portfolio and immediately knew this was the guy to pull it off. It's of course still on my upper right arm to this day, right below Spidey.
Rumors of an 'Alita' movie, live action movie started to circulate around the late 1990's. Rumor had it that James Cameron was a huge fan and was waiting for the right technology to come along to really do the film justice. So for years, rumors came and went. Some "test" pieces of 'Alita' were leaked online.... Then a couple of years ago, the movie world announced that finally the time would come and the 'Alita' movie would be made.... Now I've seen many a great comic or novel ruined by film, we all have. Some of our favorite authors creations have been slaughtered by films.
Well, I just saw the trailer for 'Alita - Battle Angel' earlier this evening and was so sadly, unimpressed. My good friend Mike who works in the film industry blames it on the poor choice of the director... I don't know who to blame, but I wont sully my blog page with a photo or video from this atrocity. Why? Why couldn't they just make the movie like the Manga series? People over here would get it, they didn't need to "American-ize" it... They didn't need to make a girl with HUGE eyeballs just to make it look like the Japanese style character's the Japanese are famous for.... Sad, sad, sad... Another one of my 'Hero's' gets ruined and everyone who will ever see my tattoo after they see the movie and asks, "What's the tattoo of?" and I'll reply, 'Alita, Battle Angel'... and they'll first think of the horrible movie over having ANY knowledge of the amazing past that's inked in comics and graphic novels.
If Kishiro were dead, he'd be rolling in his grave. I almost can't imagine Jame Cameron being satisfied with this sham.... At least my other tattoo is an original creation that will never be tarnished by a bad movie.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
The Deep Freeze!
A relentless Winter. Since two days before Christmas, when we had our first 'ice storm', then the storm Christmas day, then the polar vortex for almost two weeks... Then another storm, followed by more from the polar vortex.... It would appear, the polar vortex will dissipate in the next couple of days giving us some warmer, more seasonal temperatures. Although I'm hearing of a potential storm this Tuesday and one next weekend... I don't care if it snows to the rafters, just hate the dang cold. This 'polar vortex', which when i read a story on CBC about it, claimed that usually and in years and decades past, it was very rare for the mass of cold air usually "trapped" in the North, was escaping it's icy tomb and wandering across much of Canada and the Northern USA. Hate it! It's enough to make Canadians rally together (not only for warmth) and march South and take over the US! But with our luck the polar vortex would just follow us.
Not much new, just been hunkering down away from this cold air. I have been trying to piece together the bits and pieces of my autobiography. I've talked about it for some time now. Writing a book on my life. Do I think I'm special? Or more important than everyone else? No, not at all, I just think I've been lucky to have had some very amazing experiences. Sure loads of people have done more than I have, but having worked on the X-Files, Millennium and piece-meal work for other shows and films, plus the work I did at Electronic Arts Canada, the band years, the travelling, it's been an exciting life and I think people would be interested in reading about it and some of the stories that have come from these 45 years on Earth.
For some reason I'm super lethargic today... SO that's it for now.. Have the rest of my 'Indiana Jones' marathon to watch and hibernate for a few more days until this cold weather stint has passed us....
Not much new, just been hunkering down away from this cold air. I have been trying to piece together the bits and pieces of my autobiography. I've talked about it for some time now. Writing a book on my life. Do I think I'm special? Or more important than everyone else? No, not at all, I just think I've been lucky to have had some very amazing experiences. Sure loads of people have done more than I have, but having worked on the X-Files, Millennium and piece-meal work for other shows and films, plus the work I did at Electronic Arts Canada, the band years, the travelling, it's been an exciting life and I think people would be interested in reading about it and some of the stories that have come from these 45 years on Earth.
For some reason I'm super lethargic today... SO that's it for now.. Have the rest of my 'Indiana Jones' marathon to watch and hibernate for a few more days until this cold weather stint has passed us....
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