The Frozen Geek

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

It is no secret to people who know me that I am very critical of Canadian music. For example, I am the only Canadian who absolutely cannot stand The Tragically Hip. Trust me, I’ve invested hundreds of hours researching this. The result is the same each time - my name is the only one that is returned, on any known record, as a Canadian not liking this band.

This being said, Canada lost an incredibly talented artist yesterday - who I do like by the way. Jeff Healey lost his battle with cancer. While initially gaining worldwide popularity as a “blind guitarist”, Jeff quickly became known as a great artist - period. Perhaps more importantly is what people thought of him as a person. For example, my wife produced a music TV show for years and has interviewed countless musicians; including Jeff Healey several times. She has always referred to him as one of the nicest people she has ever met.

The Wait is Over

After succesfully avoiding all the buzz on the Internet surrounding Cloverfield, the wait is finally over.

Bring it on!!

Aural Workout

For the past few months I haven’t been able to get enough of these 2 bands from North of the 49th:

 Wintersleep - http://www.wintersleep.com/videoplayer.htm

The Weakerthans - http://www.theweakerthans.org/audiovisual/

Treat yourself and have a listen; especially - from my hometown - The Weakerthans. 

A question to cable TV providers - Why?

I love movies. I love HD. I love not having to leave the house from time to time - especially during winter up here in Canada. Why is it that to enjoy a movie in HD in my home, I have to pay over $8.00 to my cable provider (to watch the movie once) while if I go to my local video store I pay about $5.00?

Am I the only being driven crazy by the fact that pay-per-view/streaming technology has been around for over a decade and the cost of using it is still way more than going to a brick and mortar store? Shouldn’t it be cheaper, or at the very least the same price as, renting a DVD where the video store has to worry about rent, utilities, salaries, marketing , etc. and buying the DVDs?

And don’t get me started on the fact that if I use the “online” method I don’t even get access to watch the special features…

And really don’t get me started on the fact that, with my cable provider anyway, I am not getting a true digital HD movie but I am getting it with crappy compression…

Hillary to Hillary

On a sad note…

I rescued a cat from a local shelter about 5 years ago. It took me months to come up with a name for her; nothing seemed to stick. That is, until, something hit me on the head one day - it was the cat swatting at me while laying on top of the cupboards in the kitchen. Over the next 3 - 4 days, I noticed she wasn’t happy unless she climbed up, and was perched on, the highest point in whatever room she was in. Hillary had her new name.

Hillary “tips her 40” to her namesake, Sir Edmund Hillary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=N0WL5BBXG3FVTQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/11/whillary311.xml

Victims of Change

Personally, I haven’t purchased a physical copy of music in about 6 years. This is an article about the effects of change in the delivery of media. Nothing new but interesting as it’s a local story.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2008/01/11/4766916-sun.html

Fear

@ If there’s one thing that scares me more than the dark, it would have to be zombies. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z

www.zombiesarecoming.com