Sunday, March 26, 2006

Cell Phones

I am playing with a Sony Ericsson w600i.

It isn't bad.

It has flaws but …

I don't know whether it is worth buying.

It is chalk full of features. It has lots of memory, plays MP3s, has a decent screen and buttons.

However, it also has some pathetic failings. If someone calls you, the caller ID will let you know that someone called. However, you won't know what the phone number of that person is because it won't fit in a single line. That's right, the display uses a font that is so big that it can't display a phone number on a single line.

Even though I don't own the phone, I almost feel compelled to write to S-E to inform them that this is a dismal failing.

The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is on TV. I've never seen this movie. It's not that I haven't wanted to, it's just that I've never been driven to. As my cable is out I have few options as to what I watch live.

The movie has Christopher Walken, Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep in it.

Walken looks like a boy. I looked up his Bio on IMDB and he was 35 when he made this movie, being born in 1943.

It's kind of funny, his second show, back in 1954, was, "The Motorola Television Hour". After that, he did a stint on, "The Guiding Light".

More funny, in 1977, he appeared on Kojak. Then, all of a sudden, over the next few years, "Annie Hall", "The Deer Hunter", "Heaven's Gate", "The Dogs of War" — where I first heard of him, being a big Frederick Forsythe fan at the time — and then, "Pennies From Heaven".

I'm not sure that he's made many great movies since then. He did have a small role in Pulp Fiction. I didn't notice anything else that was noticeable.

Day of Carnage

Shortly after the carnage on the mile track, there was carnage on the relay.

I don't know any of the details except the Canadians won bronze medals.

It amuses me that there is some sort of consensus about what constitutes carnage. It's about running.

Carnage on the Track

I am now watching the 1500m race.

It's over. A Kiwi won. A Canuck took silver.

After two laps, there was a collision in which two runners went down and caused the pack to break up.

The New Zealander, favoured, ignored it all and just pushed himself to the fore.

The Canuck, trailing the pack, used the opportunity to push forward. An African runner threw a shoe.

I exclaimed, "CARNAGE!"

The announcer exclaimed, "CARNAGE!"

Commonwealth Games - Melbourne

The Commonwealth Games are currently showing on the CBC. It's late here, so early there; I don't know how 'live' this broadcast is.

The female divers are currently on screen. A Canadian, Blythe Hartley won with a graceful dive.

What I find peculiar now about the divers is that the sport is degenerating into a display of hyper-muscularity. Some of the women divers don't have necks. None of the women on screen have breasts. I'm having that 'almost like deja vu' feeling as I recall the Soviet and East German athletes of the seventies and eighties.

Curiously, the male divers don't have the same 'stockiness' that the women divers do.

Peculiar.

Canucks v. Oilers

The Oilers just beat the Canucks by a score of 3-2.

I only watched the last few minutes.

They were exciting. We don't see much of that in Toronto.

The Oilers were winning and trying to hold on. The Canucks were fighting to make something happen. The Oilers took a penalty with about 1:20 left. The pressure was intense. The Oilers played brilliant defence, keeping Vancouver off balance. They cleared the puck down the ice only to hit the post.

It was a treat to watch some intense hockey for a change.

The Leafs don't deserve to be in the playoffs.

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Les Habs, Les Glorieux?

The Canadiens are pulling the arms off of the Maple Leafs.

There are minutes left in the third and the score is 6-2.

The Leaf's have given up trying to win. The teams are fighting.

The Habs are feisty. Tucker just took a nasty elbow to the face and then proceeded to start a fight.

The Leafs lost last night and and with tonight's loss in Montreal, they are pushing themselves to the edge of playoff extinction. They are six points back of Atlanta who earlier tonight was reported to be losing.

There is a scrum now behind the net. There have been two multiplayer fights already.

The crowd has been loud and ecstatic as their Habs are not merely beating the Leafs in goals but they are fighting tooth and nail as they win.

As I understand it, this was back-to-back games in Montreal. The Habs just beat the Leafs twice at home while trying to get into the playoffs ahead of the Leafs. Does it get any better if you're a Montreal fan? I think I'll pour myself another drink.

Update: The New York Islanders defeated the Atlanta Thrashers

It's over. The Leafs lost.

Update number two: The win put the Habs in 8th place ahead of the Thrashers.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Queen of the North

The Queen of the North ferry has sunk.

Off the coast of B.C., one of the big ferries has gone down.

I think that this is the boat that I rode on when I visited the Charlotte's in 2001. I was going the other way of course, north from Port Hardy to Rupert. Our run was an express, there were no stops and it took about 23 hours.

I don't know why the boat went down.

They were certainly used to rough seas — while these boats generally stick to the coast, they do travel in the open ocean.

The latest news implies that two may have died. They are unaccounted for.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Dr. Andrew Weil

I finally heard something from a doctor that mirrors my own beliefs.

Dr. Andrew Weil is currently being interviewed by Allan Greg as he has just written a new book on aging.

When discussing exercising, particularly as you leave your youth behind, he states that he believes that walking is the best exercise. He believes that 45 minutes of walking, five times a week, is probably the best form of exercise. Walk faster or uphill if you wish for increased effect.

I believe that the primary key is to elevate the heart rate. Walking at a pace that requires an elevated heart rate for a period in excess of 45 minutes makes a major difference. Every other thing is a detail.

Sunday, March 05, 2006

The Patriot

Apparently, there are only two possibilities in the minds of the Act's Republican backers: a powerful police state, or mass extinction at the hands of terrorists. As US Senator James Bunning (Republican, Kentucky) explained, "civil liberties do not mean much when you are dead."

Were braver words ever spoken?