Cheers to the New Year

Every once in a while, I'll find myself asking the question "What are tenterhooks, anyway?" Then I remember that I have access to Ye Olde Interweb, where all the answers are.

I'm so fucking happy to be alive at this time in human history, I really am. Epecially living in Canada, where life is easy street every single day. I do my forty hours per in an air-conditioned office, and for that meager sacrifice I live a better life than the wealthiest royalty from two hundred years ago could ever dream of. I eat food that is delicious and relatively bacteria free. I live in a solidly build house that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The city I live in has low instances of crime and poverty. When night comes I flick a switch and the lights come on. When I need exercise I go to the local gym, which is clean and has well-maintained equipment. I have a lot of leisure time, and a lot of ways to spend it. And when I have a question, I ask all of humanity, to which I am connected through a small glowing box. To my eyes, the future of the world has never looked better, despite what all of the doomsayers have to say.

One of my goals in the coming year is to post more about the positive aspects of the world we live in, from a decidely conservative/libertarian viewpoint. I hope that those who read this blog come away sharing my sense of optimism. I'll still do the occasional fisking, and I'll probably carp and moan about this or that insignificant political development. But my overall aim is to provide a view of the world. Because life is good.

Thanks in advance for your continued reading.

PS - tenterhooks are the hook-y parts of a tenter. Go figure.

PPS - Just so you know, a tenter is a device used to hold up and stretch out a drying piece of material. Used in a metaphorical context, saying someone is "on tenterhooks" means that they are being held up and exposed in a slightly undignified way.

Christmas Cheer

Hope your respective Christmasi (or whatever the plural of Christmas is) were magnificent. I received approximately three times as much as I deserved in gifts, which surely is some sort of inverted measurement of how good I’ve been this year. Gifts of note: two DVDs that I’ve wanted for a few years, being “James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre” and “Jaco Pastorius: Modern Electric Bass”.

A couple of notes: even if you despise James Taylor, this video is a must-see. The opening tune, “You Can Close Your Eyes” is worth the price of the entire DVD. Opening a concert with an acapella number (yeah, I know, calling four part harmony with guitar “acapella” is technically wrong) is risky, but in this case it really comes off perfectly. Surely one of the best concerts ever put on, anywhere. James looks like he’s really having a great time, and he should be, if he can hear half of what the recorded sound is like in his headset.



Jaco, on the other hand, looks like he’s forgotten to take his morning dose of smack. He’s shaky, pale, disjointed in what he’s saying, obsessively scratching his cheek…all the classic cold turkey symptoms. He has trouble playing some older passages. But despite all of that, he’s still incredible. I mean, he’s fucking Jaco Pastorius, right? The video comes with a booklet filled with exercises that Jaco performs in the video, many of which are not song-specific. I wish I’d had this video when I started playing bass. I’d still suck, but I’d have a better idea of why.

Roger Gallaway

I've learned two things by reading this article in the National Post:

1) There are in fact circumstances under which I'd vote for a Liberal MP
2) Warren Kinsella is a total asshole. Ass. Hole.

Democratic deficit? What dat?

If anyone sitting in Parliament today needs the support of the right side of the Canadian virtual geographic region of the blogosphere, it's Roger Gallaway. If anyone knows where I can contribute to his defense fund, please add it to the comments section. Thanks.

Fine Art

Bob at Let It Bleed had a link to an interesting article about the modern lack of appreciation for Raphael. Read it all.

More Shout Outs

I'd just like to say "Hey" to Kelly and Igor. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the blarney.

English Canada's Self-Identity

Kate has and excellent post over at Small Dead Animals that links to and quotes from an article from The American Thinker that examines English Canada's concept of self. I think it serves nicely as a premise for a larger discussion not only of where we are today, but where we're going. Any takers?