the blog quebecois

The U.K. might be in terminal decline; but she still produces journalists that put the majority of ours to shame. The iconoclastic webzine spiked takes a realistic look at Alberta's oil sands and the stupid, stupid "documentary" it recently spawned:

While Dirty Oil suggests that we shift to renewable energy sources, it also provides a childish view of the relationship between big business and the rest of society. This is ‘big people picking on little people and assuming that they can get away with it’, says a spokesperson for the green group the Natural Resources Defense Council. The film also suggests that it is somehow our individual greed which, by creating demand for this ‘dirty’ oil, is screwing up the planet. But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be better off; the whole world should enjoy the living standards of the average American. Cheap, reliable energy is absolutely essential for that. Alberta’s oil boom is set to continue for many years to come.

The Times of India:

In what sounds like a chilling script of a Hollywood science fiction, scientists have claimed that an invisible star, five times the size of Jupiter, might be lurking near our solar system, occasionally kicking deadly comets towards the Earth.

According to scientists, the brown dwarf star is up to five times the size of Jupiter and could be responsible for mass extinctions that occur on Earth every 26 million years.

They believe that the star nicknamed Nemesis or 'The Death Star" could be hidden beyond the edge of our solar system and only emits infrared light.

It is believed to orbit our solar system at 25,000 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun, the scientists said.

A "chilling script of a Hollywood science fiction,"` eh? Clearly a job only Hollywood stars are capable of handling -- paging Sean Penn! Yoo-hoo, George Clooney! Pick up the white phone, Susan Sarandon! Your rocket blasts off tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. We`ll radio with instructions once the screenwriters figure out what you should do.

Bon voyage!
`

I was really quite pleased with the turn of phrase I came up with for the end of the first verse. It goes:

A ratty bag of ideas
Bounces behind his eyes
But then the rats do
Chew the fabric through

It's got yer internal rhyme, it's got yer assonance -- we are in heavyweight lyric-writing form here, folks.

Unfortunately, these fine poetic subtleties didn't survive contact with my mouth, which rendered -- nay, interpreted the passage into something like "Wharrgarbl."

It sounds at some points like I'm trying to fight through a cold, but I suspect that rather it was more the way I was recording vocals while playing guitar. Because I had no proper mike stands I had to jerry-rig substitutes which rarely came to the correct height; I usually had to crouch down over my guitar to sing, not exactly the best way to maintain breath control.

FunnyCrave:

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of the world, cat enthusiasts, fat people who look funny doing stuff because you’re fat, hot chicks who dance in their underwear and post video of it to YouTube, racists, conspiracy theorists and all other citizens of the internet:

I know you can’t see me, but I am here. I am here, and I accept this award with the deepest of gratitude, the utmost humility, and maximum pwnage. Selecting me, The Internet, as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize is proof positive that with the help of man, machines can break through the firewall of oppression and negativity to become something more than just a portal for free pornography. Speaking of that, please accept this photo of Megan Fox’s head on someone else’s nude body as a symbol of my gratitude.

I missed it, but Robert Brockway from Cracked had a similar take on it a couple of weeks ago.

Warning: Language in both pieces.

I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but one of those "Rate My Teacher" sites must have something on Michael Ignatieff. And what do you know? He also attracted comments such as:

His friends call him iggie, I call him Provis hater. He spent three lectures on her. Breaking down her argument for Mexican migration to the Canadian North. I heard he had a think against Ukrainians, I think he has a think out against Provanians. His class was suppose to be about Human Rights, not Provis. Who on a side note, I want to marry.

What that's all about is something of a mystery. I googled "Provis" and "Mexican migration" and turned up nothing of interest.

But what's this?

Very sexy. Lets TAs do all the grading. Extremely popular with mid-careers, so classes always oversubscribed. Doesn't particularly care about his students unless they are former political prisoners or attractive coeds

So, a typically grubby horndog. Nothing out of the ordinary there, eh? But think of the possible headlines: "Ignatieff A Flaming Heterosexual -- Has No Plans To Quit; Says He Was 'Born' That Way"

This is not going to play well in certain districts. Let the whispers begin!

Too-low vocals on most of this, which some might consider a plus. I was primarily concerned with the sound of the guitars, which were clipping the red zone of the VU meters throughout. Later on, we re-recorded this with legible vocals and whatever musical skills we could muster. It's not bad, if not the best thing we've done.

The Telegraph:

The Sunday Telegraph revealed last September that the Libyan government had paid for the medical evidence which helped Megrahi, 57, to be released. The Libyans had encouraged doctors to say he had only three months to live.

The life expectancy of Megrahi was crucial because, under Scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have this amount of time, or less, to live.

Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, ruled last August that Megrahi should be freed. Megrahi's release came after Libyan leaders warned that lucrative oil and trade deals with Britain would be cancelled if the bomber died in jail

Gee. Color me surprised.

An installation for the Barbican in London, England. A description:

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates works by drawing on the rhythms of daily life to produce sound in unexpected ways. Boursier-Mougenot’s installation for The Curve, his first solo exhibition in the UK, takes the form of a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a random and captivating soundscape.

Well, whatever. I was taken by the little guy with a twig, doing his best Jimmy Page impression.

The International Olympic Committee announced Monday that it has taken back the gold medal previously awarded to American skier Lindsey Vonn and given it to U.S. President Barack Obama.

More.

So I now had a new instrument to throw into the mix, and this was my first try at writing a song with it. It didn't turn out too badly, and I was pleased with the overall sound, though a bit noisy. The song's a metaphor for struggle -- I wasn't really marching around the basement at the time, though that might have explained my clumsy lead guitar work.