ronnie hawkins day

So yesterday was Ronnie Hawkins Day in Toronto. I didn't realize this until I wandered down to the Royal Alex at lunchtime to check out what was going on (I could see the crowd from my home office window). Turns out Ronnie Hawkins was being inducted into the Walk of Fame, which is basically Toronto's imitation of Graumann's Chinese Theater.

Here's the Toronto Star story about the event, and here's one from Canoe.

Lots of media were out, including CBC:





And various people made speeches and presentations in honour of Ronnie Hawkins, like The Tragically Hip:





Kris Kristofferson (sure, he makes bad movies, but did you know he used to hang out with Janis Joplin?):





Andy Donato (Toronto newspaper editorial cartoonist) did a caricature of Hawkins:





The deputy mayor of Toronto gave him the keys to our city:





And he got crooned to by Amy Sky ("Love Me Tender"):





and Michael Burgess ("It's A Wonderful World"):





Links/News:

I've updated both Waiting For Frodo and My Life In A Nutshell.

Only two days left of Allison's and Jodi's Virtual Birthday Party!

One year ago, I received a fan letter from Weta Digital about my Waiting For Frodo comic strip.

Three years ago, Annie told me she had bones and skin.

Four years ago, I dropped my marketing company.

Five years ago, I was invited to attend Infinet's Cool Site Of The Year awards ceremony in San Francisco.

spirited away

Jeff and I went to see "Spirited Away" last night. I won't be giving away any major spoilers, but I will be discussing the movie later on in this Blathering, just to warn those who don't like hearing anything about movies they're looking forward to seeing.

Yesterday I went to local Running Room and picked up my run kit for this weekend's Run For The Cure. Since I've never been part of an event like this, I didn't know what a "run kit" was supposed to be. My run kit contained the follow: a Run For The Cure t-shirt, two paper signs, two safety pins. Both signs have the name of the event and the sponsors around the border. One sign has my participant number with a form on the back where I have to write my next, phone number, next of kin (it actually says "NEXT OF KIN"), other basic info to be assumedly used if I collapse in the middle of the event. The other sign has "I'M RUNNING FOR" across the top, and I've filled this in with "MY AUNT AGNES".

Jeff has registered and picked up his run kit, too! He's going to be walking fast with his long legs and I'll be running slowly with my short legs; ideally we'll be able to stick together the entire 5k route. Yes, I know 5k is nothing for you experienced runners out there, but is plenty for me. :-)

So Jeff and I went to see Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (or Sen to Chihiro) last night, and both of us enjoyed it, though we weren't blown away. I liked it more than Princess Mononoke, which I wasn't that crazy about. Spirited Away is more obviously geared toward children and left out much of the "preachiness" and dark violence I disliked in Mononoke.

The animation in Spirited Away was amazing, better than (IMHO) Mononoke or Totoro. The entire film was wonderful to watch. At times, though, I felt that as gorgeous as the animation was, some scenes tended to drag on a bit long, as if Miyazaki wanted to make sure everyone appreciated them fully. Or maybe I'm too used to Western animated films, where the plot moves fairly quickly.

I really liked the main character, Chihiro, the 10-year-old little girl. Miyazaki has always been great at animating human gestures and emotional subtleties, especially those of children. I got teary-eyed several times during the film, mainly because of how her character was reacting in certain scenes.

Though I enjoyed the movie, I still have to say that I enjoyed Totoro more, mainly because I found Totoro more consistent and integrated throughout. Neither Totoro nor Spirited away have complicated plotlines, but I thought Totoro pulled it off way better. I also found Totoro much more emotionally resonant, with characters I could really care about. Of course I sympathized with Chihiro, but there was something about the characters in Totoro that struck me as much more honest. I also didn't like some of the heavy-handed "this is an emotionally triumphant scene" music.

My favourite characters in Spirited Away:

-- the four-armed guy

-- "No-Face"

-- the Radish guy

-- the Stinky guy (before he got a bath)

-- the little sootball guys that reminded me a lot of the little sootball guys in Totoro

-- the mouse baby and the bird

This is not a movie for those who are looking for singing teapots or who don't particularly care about animation quality (there was a trailer for a new Pokemon movie whose animation looked incredibly crude when contrasted with Miyazaki's film). I think I'll go see this film again just for the atmosphere and animation as well as Miyazaki's incredible imagination. And then order the new Totoro DVD that is being released in December, woohoo!

Links/News:

Please consider sponsoring me for the CIBC Run For The Cure this Sunday, thanks.

One year ago, I talked about being interviewed by Canoe Jam!Showbiz. The article is still online, if you're curious.

Two years ago, I found out that my book was going to the printer's.

Three years ago, Patrick Stewart was filming "X-Men" across the street from our condo building.

Five years ago, I had breakfast with Andrea and Rand.

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Today's Blatherpic:

The Unknown Guitarist. This guy is a standard feature around here during warm summer evenings, and plays lounge lizard type music on a badly amplified electric guitar. It wouldn't be the same around here without him. Here he is last November (it looks like he's even wearing the same shoes). I took this photo as he was straightening his tie after he saw my camera. :-)

POLL: birthdays?

Happy Birthday, Allison!

Last night, Allison and Jodi and I went to Swiss Chalet for dinner. We had planned to go see The Banger Sisters, but I was later than I expected, so rather than rush dinner, we decided to skip the movie.

Our waitress discovered that we were celebrating Allison's and Jodi's birthday, and told A&J they could have free pie for dessert. In fact, all the waitstaff gathered around the table and sang Happy Birthday while A&J's pie pieces were delivered to them, decorated with lit candles. Allison and Jodi were embarrassed, and I was highly amused.

In case some of you wish you could have been there to witness the event, you're in luck! You can still come to Allison's and Jodi's Virtual Birthday Party, which runs until the end of this weekend.

Poll: How do you like celebrating your birthday?

Do you like a fuss being made over your birthday? Do you prefer ignoring the event? Going out to a movie with friends? Spending it quietly at home with your partner? Have you ever had a surprise party? What was your favourite birthday ever and why?

Answer in Blatherchat





Had a fairly full aunt day yesterday. Picked Annie up from school, had lunch, played with her until it was time to pick up Sara from school. Annie had a bit of a cold, so wasn't up for outdoor adventuring. She played the piano for me, we read, we drew pictures.

Annie was obviously delighted to have my undivided attention for so long; usually she shares it with Sara, or with the rest of the family at dinnertime on Sundays. Sometimes she'd still test to see if she had my attention by going through her "guess what" ritual, in which she'd say, "Guess what, Auntie Debbie?" and then quickly try to think of something to tell me or show me.

Example from yesterday, while we were walking home from buying some groceries:

ANNIE: "Guess what, Auntie Debbie?"

ME: "What, Annie?"

ANNIE: "I know out how the world got started."

ME: "And how did it get started?"

ANNIE: "God got married, and then he had kids!"





Links/News:

Dialtones is a large-scale concert performance whose sounds are wholly produced through the carefully choreographed dialing and ringing of the audienceís own mobile phones. Photos and audio samples available on the site.

Please consider sponsoring me for the CIBC Run For The Cure this Sunday, thanks. Jeff says he might come run with me!

One year ago, I rediscovered the library.

Two years ago, Puzzlebox was invited to be GoHs at FilkContinental.

Three years ago, Jeff quit his job to come work for Inkspot.

Four years ago, my mother-in-law's restaurant (Oasis) opened.

Five years ago, I pleaded for people to send Allison obnoxious birthday messages.





Today's Blatherpics:

The top and bottom photos are of Allison, of course.

The middle two were taken at Swiss Chalet last night.

babysitting

My sister has bronchitis right now :-( so I'm helping out with Sara and Annie. Yesterday I picked Sara up from school, for instance. I was nervous about getting there too late, so ended up arriving about fifteen minutes early instead. I caught up on news and played Scrabble on my Palm, studiously avoiding all eye contact with the mothers gathering on the front lawn area, also waiting for their girls. Last time I picked Sara up, two mothers started chatting with me, thinking I was Ruth. Awkward for them, awkward for me.

As I sat on the front steps of the school concentrating on my Palm, I realized that if the other mothers DID think I was Ruth, they'd likely think she was being unusually antisocial. Heck, I thought brightly, who cares. She'll have to deal with the aftermath, not me!

"Hi, Auntie Debbie!" It was Sara, but as I looked up I also noticed that the mother waiting just beside me looked familiar. It was my friend Christine, from grade school, the same Christine who had seven roses on her desk on Valentine's day when I had none; she was still tall, blonde, blue-eyed, gorgeous.

"Hi!" I said, caught by surprise.

"Ruth!" she said with a smile.

"Um, I'm Ruth's sister."

"Debbie?!"

I felt like an awkward adolescent again, the class nerd. She was dressed fashionably; I had on a t-shirt and comfortable but somewhat frumpy pants, in preparation for playing outside with Sara and Annie, loose bits coming out of my ponytail.

But then I saw Sara put on her helmet, grab the scooter I had brought from her house, and give me a big grin of excitement. And suddenly I didn't care about anything except the fact that I was there for Sara, and she was bursting-happy to see me. Christine and I chatted very briefly, but I told her I had to go, would probably see her again next time I picked Sara up.





After we got back, I fixed the girls a snack then listened to piano practising and helped them with their homework. Annie didn't really have homework, but liked to pretend to since Sara did. I was surprised by how much homework Sara had; I don't remember having much when I was in grade three. She had math exercises, French, two types of spelling exercises, an alphabetical ordering exercise, times tables to practice for 15 minutes, and an oral presentation to prepare for. I ended up forgetting about the presentation practice, oops.

After homework was done, the girls had a choice between tv time or playing outside.

"Badminton!" they both yelled, so that's what we did. We played in the alleyway between their house and their neighbours. Sara and Annie took turns volleying with me.

Normally after this, my sister also makes supper (we ordered in Swiss Chalet). After supper, she works on her illustration projects. I don't see where she gets the energy!

Going over again today, this time for most of the day, including taking Annie to her piano lesson after school.





Links/News:

Please consider sponsoring me for the CIBC Run For The Cure.

You're all invited to Allison's and Jodi's Virtual Birthday Party!

One year ago, I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the first time.

Two years ago, I was having a hard time in Philadelphia.

Three years ago, I got a fun phone message from Dandelion Wine.

Four years ago, I had a Powerbook 7500.

Five years ago, Andrea did a Guest Blather.

Remember the Infocom text adventure version of "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy"? You can play it on Douglas Adam's site.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Annie's drawing of a warrior elf-princess. I know I'm her aunt, but I think this is pretty darned good for a 5-year-old. She did not copy anything; this is her own creation.
	Annie practising piano.
	Sara and Annie do homework.

POLL: Web mail services?

Happy birthday, Jodi! Don't forget to drop by and visit Allison's and Jodi's Virtual Birthday Party.

My sister's sick, so I'm going to be helping out with Sara and Annie the next few days: picking them up from school, doing homework with them, taking them to piano lessons, etc. A micro-mini-dose of motherhood. :-)

Does anyone know Barb Riedel's e-mail address? She and I have been playing phone tag for a while (she left a message asking me to call her with my snailmail address), and she doesn't have an answering machine on her phone. Or if you do have regular contact with Barb, could you please give my e-mail address to her (or snailmail, if you know it)? I don't tend to answer the phone during the day while I'm working, and I'm not going to be home much in the evenings over the next while. Thanks for any assistance.

Yay, my two new Chris Conway CDs arrived! I ordered My Mind's Island on his Web site, and Chris sent Alien Salad Abduction gratis since Allison, Jodi and helped out on vocals and instrumentals in his "Alien Jellyfish Song".

I'm thoroughly enjoying both CDs and was especially amused to see one of Andrea Dale's phone messages turned into a very cool-sounding track called "Deep Space Phone". :-D

For more information about Chris and his recording projects, please see Chris's Web site.





When I'm travelling or am having trouble with my own server mail, I use Yahoo mail as an alternative. I've liked Yahoo because I can set the Reply-To: field to my regular e-mail address, I can pick up my POP mail if I want to, it has an address book, folder organization, lets me use nicknames, has a spam-filtering option. I also use the Yahoo!Calendar feature to share an online calendar with Jeff.

However, I've noticed that my Yahoo mail account has started to accumulate more and more spam despite the filtering option (though maybe recently launched anti-spam lawsuits will help stem the growing tide). I also suspect that Yahoo is going to start charging for its services eventually. While I don't mind paying for a good, alternate e-mail method, I don't want the payment part sneaking up on me after I've come to rely on the address.

So this brings us to today's poll question...

POLL: What Web mail service do you use, if any?

Yahoo? Hotmail? PObox? Bigfoot? I've been considering Mac.com, which is a paid service, mainly because of the nice interface, lack of Yahoo-type ads, and other service offerings (15 MB e-mail storage instead of Yahoo's 6 MB, 100 MB hard disk online storage). No mention of a spam filter, though, plus I'm ticked off that the cool-looking desktop calendar feature is available only to those who use OS X. Plus the $49.50 annual fee (U.S.) seems pretty hefty to me.

Does anyone know of any good Web mail services out there? I'm willing to pay a fee, but I want good spam filtering, no obnoxious pop-ads, at least 10 MB e-mail storage, address book, .signature, reliable service. Bonus features: reply-to options, POP account access, autoreply/vacation message options.

Answer in Blatherchat

Links/News:

Please consider sponsoring me for the CIBC Run For The Cure (event to support cancer research).

I updated Waiting For Frodo after seeing the new trailer. If dying for a frame by frame detailed analysis of the trailer, see TheOneRing.net (warning: many spoilers).

I'm re-reading Chapter 13 of "Fellowship of the Ring".

One year ago, Jodi was highlighted in Billboard magazine.

Three years ago, I was having trouble to find someone to insure Inkspot.

Four years ago and five years ago, I invited people to join Jodi's and Allison's virtual birthday party.

Roberto Benigni as Pinocchio? Scary thought.