Return To Forever...

Saw reunited 70's jazz fusion greats Return To Forever last night. Last time the band played together was 25 years ago. You'd never know it. They played phenomenally. 2+ hours of instrumental music performed by four incredibly great musicians. The band seemed like they were really having fun on stage - lots of smiles and the crowd was 100% into the music. There must have been 5 spontaneous standing ovations during the show. Superhuman is all I can say about the chops of Misters Corea, Clarke, Di Meola & White. Rumours of a possible new album to come as well. What an all around fun night.

Best quote of the night from drummer Lenny White. When talking to the crowd about the importance of instrumental music in our disposable music industry times:

"In an era of boy bands, we're a man band."

George Carlin RIP...

I saw George Carlin live when I was 16 or 17 at what was then named the O'Keefe Centre in downtown Toronto. Very, very funny show. I remember the outcry from his 70's Class Clown comedy LP featuring the 7 Words You Can't Say On TV. My mother was one of the outraged.... A wonderful quote from him:

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating …and you finish off as an orgasm."

May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008 R.I.P.

Hurry up and wait...

Been a while since I posted here even though I initially wanted to post at least one item daily.... Oh well c'est la vie. Haven't been in the right/write frame of mind lately....

Been having some health issues the last few weeks that finally came to a head with me going to see our family doctor. I hate going to the doctor with a passion so for me to voluntarily make an appointment (actually three appointments now) you know I'm feeling shitty. I'm waiting for the results from the first two appointments of being poked, prodded and scanned to the tune of 2 urine samples, 10 vials of blood and 2 upper body x-rays. Apparently my blood pressure was also through the roof. Still have to go for an ultrasound and a couple of more appointments in the coming weeks as well. In the meantime I'm on antibiotics and Lorazepam (the latter for insomnia). My Doctor, who I must acknowledge is an amazing human being, is not sure what the actual problem is yet - other than the physical signs of swollen, painful lymph nodes under my right arm and general discomfort/abdominal pain. And me? I'm in that hurry up and wait stage. Seems there are several diagnostic possibilities ranging from medium concern to, well, let's not go there just yet....

In sunnier news, yesterday I spent a nice Saturday afternoon with my family and mother to celebrate my daughter's 17th birthday. I can't believe the little tiny pink bundle I drove home from the hospital is now 17. I remember her birth and childhood like it was yesterday.... I made a chocolate cheesecake for her - seems my cheesecake has become a family favourite for birthdays. It was a good, relaxing time. What an amazingly beautiful, smart, funny young woman she has become - brings tears of joy to my eyes....

Haven't been doing much photography lately as I haven't been out for any walks in the last week or so. Hopefully get out sometime this week and take some more shots. Speaking of photography - I found the most amazing photo-blog; The Big Picture, run by The Boston Globe. Click on any picture to load several images related to the main image with lots of descriptive text. I've become addicted to this site - the images are no less than spectacular.... I should also point out that I found the site through John Gruber's always engaging Daring Fireball blog.

Information wants to be free...

The Harper government introduced Bill C-61 today. It's the long threatened copyright amendments Bill. CBC news has coverage here.

Money quote:

"People caught downloading music or video files illegally could also be sued for a maximum of $500, but uploading a file to a peer-to-peer network or YouTube could result in lawsuits of $20,000 per file."

Michael Geist, University of Ottawa prof, and noted critic of the government's Bill C-61, has a good analysis of the Bill here. According to Mr. Geist looking at the controversial American DMCA copyright law versus Canadian Bill C-61 he says that 

"The digital lock provisions are worse than the DMCA. Yes - worse."

There is a full version of BIll C-61 available here.

Burning steeple...

Amazing image from the BBC Day in Pictures of 700 year old Evangelist church in the Romanian city of Bistrita burning.

More Apocalypse Culture Tarot...

Garfield minus Garfield...

Online Garfield minus Garfield comic strip with Garfield removed leaving his owner alone in the comic strips with original dialogue left intact. Very entertaining in a disjointed, distopian way.... To quote the website: 

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

Who wouldn't like a comic about " schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?" Nothing like laughing at the misfortune of others.... Well worth the read....

How to hide an iPhone purchase...

Amusing post from Cult of Mac blog blending tech toys & spousal navigation tricks.... The reader comments are worth reading as well. 

Country road and water bird...

Photos taken by me on a walk by the lake.

Church rooftop...

Photo taken by me on a walk by the lake.

Tower and trees...

Photo taken by me on a walk by the lake.

Waves...

Photos taken by me on a walk by the lake.

Apocalypse Culture Tarot...

Some images from the Apocalypse Culture Tarot deck I'm working on. Been a multi-year, therapeutic endeavor. Still not complete, don't know if it ever will be, but it's a fun distraction.... From my notes about the origins of this deck (circa Dec. 1998):

Inspiration for the Apocalypse Culture Tarot deck comes from living in North American culture at a time when, approaching the new millennium, we seem more than ever obsessed with death. 

This, combined with my affinity towards things of the dark nature or unknown, and my curiosity with the Tarot in general, I thought why not set about learning Adobe Photoshop by creating my own personalized Tarot deck. 

For the artwork I either created an image from scratch or simply appropriated one what I needed from public sources and combined those images into collages or an individual image. The Apocalypse Culture Tarot deck was brought to life on December 11, 1998 with the creation of the first card, which was Death of course.

Key 13 Death - the image used here is titled Stickman & Amiryllus by Toronto artist Mark Adair. This is part of a larger coffin piece of Mark's titled Chaise Longue. The beautifully rendered repulsiveness of a brutal skeletal rape / death scene presented itself as the only logical philosophical / aesthetic choice for this, the most misunderstood card of the Tarot deck.

Key 6 The Lovers - The main image used was of a painting found on the Internet. A man, a woman and a skeleton. There is an embrace, dependence, need and helplessness in the figures. Much like the experience of real lovers. The sense of helplessness seemed to fit the overall mood or theme of the deck.

More to come later....

For the Geeks....from 1998 to present all digital work done with the following:

Apple 300Mhz G3 iBook (clamshell)

Apple 700Mhz G3 iBook (white)

Apple 12" 867Mhz G4 Powerbook

Apple 12" 1.5Ghz G4 Powerbook

Apple dual 2Ghz G5 desktop

Adobe Photoshop 6 thru CS3

Canon A85 4.0 megapixel digital camera

Strong silent type...

Very interesting article on the CBC website about a study to be published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology that states "People who bottle up may fare better after trauma..." I've long thought this was true....

Money quote:

"They found those who didn't express their feelings were better off than the subjects who articulated their thoughts and expressed emotions."

To Do List
-forward article to S.O. .... Check