Most of my energies are concentrated on getting ready to travel this week. The most important items must all be done at the last moment which makes planning paramount but leaves open the possibility of missing something I’ll regret later. Too often one discovers that those contacted earlier have left out important steps you knew nothing about. Good help and advice is hard to find.
I am discovering that most of the books I have read in the last month were purchased around the year 2000 before a computer entered my life and I ceased buying newspapers to read the Sunday Book Section in the Toronto Star, The Sun, Eye, Now. I’ve fallen behind on an entire decade of literary production in Canada. On the other hand, with a backlog of over a thousand books I intend reading I feel no pressure to acquire more. Electronic Books take up no space in my RV and add no weight.
Nor do I feel the need or have the financial means to buy more CD’s. As has oft been remarked CD’s do not wear out and I feel no need to possess multiple copies of the core Classical Repertoire. I already own more popular Canadian CD’s than I have time to audit. I listen to music while I read but cannot concentrate while lyrics are being sung. While I drive in my RV I listen to podcasts in iTunes on my laptop.
This summer I made my customary pilgrimage home to Nova Scotia spending some time along the Acadian Coastline of New Brunswick on the way. Spent a week in Sauble Beach the end of August taking in the Classical Guitar Festival there, an event I’d like to attend again next summer. Aside from those outings I’ve spent the remaining time this past seven months close to home in Oakville, gasoline at $5.00/American Gallon Equivalent making travel rather expensive expecially when you factor in the cost of camping here. The season is short and tourist facilities have a limited time to gouge the public.
I’ve spent a great deal of time rewatching DVD’s from my collection as well as my older VHS tapes. I’ve written reviews of some despite previously published tomes. I find it remarkable how much one can forget over time. Often movies I’ve seen on multiple previous occasions seem brand new and the ones I do remember look fresh again due to the life experience I’ve had since my last viewing. Having actually been to Savannah Georgia and Tybee Island adds an entirely new dimension to viewing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for example.
I still haven’t forgiven Moses for breaking the Fifth Commandment. That is if you count Thou Shalt Not Kill as being number Five. I’m still not clear on whether Thou Shalt Not Make Idols is a separate Commandment or whether one splits Coveting Thy Neighbour’s House from Coveting his wife, servants, and other possessions. If one does neither one is left with nine commandments. Further I’m at a loss to distinguish the difference between committing Adultery and coveting my neighbour’s wife, or these days his gay lover unless you find the later a sin as well. Just in case you’ve missed the allusion Heston who played Moses was latterly president of the NRA.
One advantage VHS tapes had over DVD’s is the fact that they allowed one to fast forward through the warnings, ads, and previews up front that can often extend to nearly 10 minutes. Most DVD’s make it impossible to advance directly to the main menu and many also prevent advancing past piracy warnings or even fast-forwarding through them. Some even force one to watch the preview section. The fact that some break the law should not condemn everyone who buys a legal copy to get so bored to death. Anything that can be displayed on a TV can be copied in any case and if you have no scruples many big budget movies are available for download even before their release date.
A recent CBC program was interested in the public’s reaction to porn and obscene language on prime time TV. Although I may be resistant to the concept of censorship I also believe that the public is not well served by discourse on TV that makes coarse language and swearing seem commonplace and everyday by putting it on display. When it comes to the portrayal of sexual intercourse on screen and ribald jokes about same I believe that those who feel the need for such titillation should satisfy their needs by renting from one of those video parlours usually consigned to industrial malls. I am no fan of situation comedy in general and find no use for the likes of Two and a Half Men with or without its drug-addled ex-actor. If one is to believe what one sees on TV divorce and disfunctional family life is the norm in America and ribald jokes about sexual perversion the common currency of everyday discourse. After years of watching my favourite series on DVD I find the 25 minutes per hour of commercials in America as abhorrent as the majority of the fare on offer. I quit going to movie theatres when they started forcing me to watch 25 minutes of commercials before the show, I don’t understand commercials on so-called pay-TV. Why should one pay to watch commercials?
I was recently reminded of how much I detest the actress Kathy Bates. Her addition detracts for me from Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes as much as her husband’s boorish behaviour. Another actress I despise is the simpering Rosie Perez. Among actors I haven’t much use for Woodie Allan and I feel someone should take Seinfeld and company into a back alley and slap them silly--or sillier than they already are. A show about nothing indeed.
I am discovering that most of the books I have read in the last month were purchased around the year 2000 before a computer entered my life and I ceased buying newspapers to read the Sunday Book Section in the Toronto Star, The Sun, Eye, Now. I’ve fallen behind on an entire decade of literary production in Canada. On the other hand, with a backlog of over a thousand books I intend reading I feel no pressure to acquire more. Electronic Books take up no space in my RV and add no weight.
Nor do I feel the need or have the financial means to buy more CD’s. As has oft been remarked CD’s do not wear out and I feel no need to possess multiple copies of the core Classical Repertoire. I already own more popular Canadian CD’s than I have time to audit. I listen to music while I read but cannot concentrate while lyrics are being sung. While I drive in my RV I listen to podcasts in iTunes on my laptop.
This summer I made my customary pilgrimage home to Nova Scotia spending some time along the Acadian Coastline of New Brunswick on the way. Spent a week in Sauble Beach the end of August taking in the Classical Guitar Festival there, an event I’d like to attend again next summer. Aside from those outings I’ve spent the remaining time this past seven months close to home in Oakville, gasoline at $5.00/American Gallon Equivalent making travel rather expensive expecially when you factor in the cost of camping here. The season is short and tourist facilities have a limited time to gouge the public.
I’ve spent a great deal of time rewatching DVD’s from my collection as well as my older VHS tapes. I’ve written reviews of some despite previously published tomes. I find it remarkable how much one can forget over time. Often movies I’ve seen on multiple previous occasions seem brand new and the ones I do remember look fresh again due to the life experience I’ve had since my last viewing. Having actually been to Savannah Georgia and Tybee Island adds an entirely new dimension to viewing Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for example.
I still haven’t forgiven Moses for breaking the Fifth Commandment. That is if you count Thou Shalt Not Kill as being number Five. I’m still not clear on whether Thou Shalt Not Make Idols is a separate Commandment or whether one splits Coveting Thy Neighbour’s House from Coveting his wife, servants, and other possessions. If one does neither one is left with nine commandments. Further I’m at a loss to distinguish the difference between committing Adultery and coveting my neighbour’s wife, or these days his gay lover unless you find the later a sin as well. Just in case you’ve missed the allusion Heston who played Moses was latterly president of the NRA.
One advantage VHS tapes had over DVD’s is the fact that they allowed one to fast forward through the warnings, ads, and previews up front that can often extend to nearly 10 minutes. Most DVD’s make it impossible to advance directly to the main menu and many also prevent advancing past piracy warnings or even fast-forwarding through them. Some even force one to watch the preview section. The fact that some break the law should not condemn everyone who buys a legal copy to get so bored to death. Anything that can be displayed on a TV can be copied in any case and if you have no scruples many big budget movies are available for download even before their release date.
A recent CBC program was interested in the public’s reaction to porn and obscene language on prime time TV. Although I may be resistant to the concept of censorship I also believe that the public is not well served by discourse on TV that makes coarse language and swearing seem commonplace and everyday by putting it on display. When it comes to the portrayal of sexual intercourse on screen and ribald jokes about same I believe that those who feel the need for such titillation should satisfy their needs by renting from one of those video parlours usually consigned to industrial malls. I am no fan of situation comedy in general and find no use for the likes of Two and a Half Men with or without its drug-addled ex-actor. If one is to believe what one sees on TV divorce and disfunctional family life is the norm in America and ribald jokes about sexual perversion the common currency of everyday discourse. After years of watching my favourite series on DVD I find the 25 minutes per hour of commercials in America as abhorrent as the majority of the fare on offer. I quit going to movie theatres when they started forcing me to watch 25 minutes of commercials before the show, I don’t understand commercials on so-called pay-TV. Why should one pay to watch commercials?
I was recently reminded of how much I detest the actress Kathy Bates. Her addition detracts for me from Fanny Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes as much as her husband’s boorish behaviour. Another actress I despise is the simpering Rosie Perez. Among actors I haven’t much use for Woodie Allan and I feel someone should take Seinfeld and company into a back alley and slap them silly--or sillier than they already are. A show about nothing indeed.
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