No update for a little while, here, and it’s going to continue. I’m basically planning a summer camp here, and while I’m delegating some of the work out, most of the people haven’t done it before, and given the way our one meeting went, I have figured out that meetings aren’t going to be a very effective way of passing on the extant camp structure. That’d be less of a problem if most of the staff were experienced with this camp, or if we were planning it from the ground up. But since we’re not creating it from scratch, and …
Month: May 2005
Sunny Murray Interview
Here’s a fascinating but sad interview with Sunny Murray, which includes a bizarre mention of a conspiracy against avant-garde jazz by no less than the American mafia. Hmmm. I shall have to research that a bit more.
Brother in Japan
Not my brother. I don’t have a brother. I mean a brother in Japan. Want a good laugh? Go have a look at Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I am a Japanese School Teacher. It’s a series of editorials by a huge American black guy living in Japan and teaching little kids. And yes, I mention that he’s huge and black for a reason: it becomes immediately apparent in the way the kids treat him that this does impact on his story. I think some of the comedy in the stories he tells is derived from the image of little …
Kushibo on the Hogwash Corea vs. Korea Debate
You probably know about this article if you’re into Korea stuff at all, but anyway, here’s a link to where Kushibo writes about the ridiculous debate on Korea versus Corea. No, the Japanese did NOT change it to a K to humiliate the colony alphabetically. They did some really bad things, but this was not one of them. It’s one of the more dismissable, insane complaints that people who want to sound political, but don’t know anything, wave around whenever they get a chance. Kushibo demonstrates this devastatingly, and then asks the question, what exactly does Corea hearken back to? …
Regenesis
I don’t know if the 13-episode miniseries ReGenesis got much airplay outside of Canada, but I just finished watching it (downloaded, which is the only format in which it’s accessible to me) and I have to say it was absolutely worthwhile. It was so riveting that one evening I watched three, or was it four, episodes in a row, just to finish the series. I am not sure exactly how believable some of it was, but on the other hand, I nonetheless found the story fascinating. The idea that engineered diseases, planted by some very unusual terrorists and spreading like …
Species I Can Do Without
This week’s long-winded Friday Five is mine: In the depths of a dream, a voice speaks unto you: Little one! Little one! You’re not sure who it is, but it doesn’t occur to you to ask. so you just listen. Listen, I haven’t been to earth in a long time, but I have some good data here that suggests unless five species are made extinct, the whole planet will simply shut down within a week. I haven’t visited in a long time, and you humans seem the closest thing to sentients on Earth. I need your help. Doesn’t matter which …
Festivals, Departments, And Academic Separatism
I walked about the campus this afternoon after my last work-hour, which was a shift in the English cafe. Of course, it’s festival time on campus so all the students were out eating roast pork and drinking booze; that means the English Cafe was almost empty, and I ended up just drinking a tea and watching the last half of the movie of the day, which was Resident Evil. Afterward, wandering among the stalls the different student clubs and department groups had put up, I noticed that the vast majority of them were selling the same thing. It seemed to …
JazzFest Disappointment
I kid you not, I remember the days when people like Joe Lovano, Steve Lacy, John Scofield, Courtney Pine, and their ilk used to play the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. I don’t know if the funding was cut, or the attendance died out, but this year’s schedule seems a little disappointing, considering what I remember. I was hoping for at least one big name show, something American perhaps. I mean, a big show by someone who colors a little outside the lines, that is. Wait, there’s Dave Holland. He’s alright. But Arturo Sandoval? Bonobo? And don’t even get me started about …
But What Would the Brains Doctor Do?
The Culture of Life now has it’s perfect emblem: an armed fetus doll waiting for its turn to invade and kill the enemies of the nation, er, faith, er, whoever. For only $14.95, no less. To use the phrase I heard a student say in class today, “It’s a mental illness. You need to see a brains doctor.” Indeed. via Tedious and Brief?
Fishbone
No, no, not the band, which I only very vaguely remember from an appearance on Saturday Night Live and some music video they put out. No, this is about fishbones, inspired by a recent post by a friend. But it’s not for the sensitive reader.