Jazzlife - because all of life is jazz

I saw an episode of the Canadian Popstars yesterday, and the first concert for group Sugar Jones

The group are… bland. Their music seems bland. They look bland. Even the concert venue was bland, and the recording looked cheap to me.

Why is it that everything made here in Canada has to look and feel like poor seconds to American fare? Even shows like Silk Stockings and Sweating Bullets suffered from that, going for the Miami Vice pastel look - but nearly a decade later.

We could do good products here. Only time we produce better work is when an American company work out of Canada.

Yahoo shares went above $20 USD today! Let’s see if they remain there.

An addendum to the last post: I visited ABCgo.com, and learned the network is postponing Making the Band 2 until May 25th; I believe that’s after the current ratings sweep time.

Since the ratings for the show return have been quite low, it would make sense for ABC to try airing something that does gain ratings instead.

Time for some TV thoughts!

I noticed last night that Making the Band 2 wasn’t on ABC at all last night; both episodes were pre-empted for the American version of Who’s Line is it Anyways?

Could it already have been cancelled by its third week? Could it be that as I said, the boys of O-Town come across as too shallow for television viewers? We’ll see.

Meanwhile, this was the first time in ages that I’ve watched entire episodes of the American Who’s Line…; the original British show airs regularly on our Comedy network, but the American one usually conflicts with other shows for me.

Many of the improv-ers are the same for both countries, but one of the Americans really stands out to me: Wayne Brady.

He really has amazing improv talent. I think the producers go out of their way to have him do most of the song improvs… without any hesitation, he picks up the song thread and goes with it. Incredible.

My cats are a bit annoyed with me… for the past few days I’ve been cutting back on the amount of tin food I feed them daily. I’ve been giving them tin food for both of the day’s meals for a long time; that’s not only over-feeding, but that much soft stuff is bad for their teeth.

So, I’ve begun to do what I should’ve to start with: giving them dry food in the morning only.

Not surprisingly, they aren’t yet accepting it. They haven’t yet made a dent in their dry food bowls, and beg me for the food they aren’t getting all day.

How do I really know that Spring is finally here? Because yesterday I closed most of my apartment heaters, and opened windows for cross-drafts. A few minutes ago, I closed the final one, in my washroom.

The nights tend to still be a little crisp, but we’ve been mostly having daily weather like late Spring. More importantly, most of the cursed snow and ice is gone.

The warmer weather has started my creative mojo a bit more; I started a few project proposals today. I’m not as prolific as I’ve been (yet), but I’m getting there!

Protesters Of Free Trade Meet in Canada

This news is already changed, as I understand now that protesters did initiate violence.

This upsets me on several levels: as a Canadian, I’m embarassed for my country.

As a native of Quebec too, I’m ashamed that my province has now made a fool of itself in the world’s eyes.

Hey! Ho! Let’s Go! Remembering Joey Ramone, Saviour of Rock and Roll. I just listened to an MP3 of “I Wanna be Sedated”. A great high energy song.

On a newsgroup I’m part of, someone made a good point: you don’t expect hard rockers to succumb to cancer…

(This article has some strong language; if you don’t want to read it, don’t go here.)

I just read that Tim McVeigh’s execution has now been scheduled for May 16th. For those who don’t recognize the name, he was the man responsible for the Oklahoma bombing a few years ago.

Usually, I’m against the death penalty. Killing a killer won’t bring their victims back. I can’t really see any of the survivors feeling any less empty because of this.

On the other hand… it’s almost a cliché, but life is a gift. It can be difficult at times (I know this intimately), but just being here to experience it is a blessing.

Tim McVeigh took that gift away from over 100 people - many of them children, young people who didn’t get the chance to see where their lives’ journeys would take them. Worse, he has no remorse for what he’s done; in fact, I’ve heard that he thinks he did America a favor by killing these innocents.

Someone like that doesn’t deserve to live, in my books.

I’ve been trying to post this since yesterday, but Blogger keeps crashing on me… so this is take 3:

I got a ‘get-well’ card from my former co-workers in the mail yesterday. Glad to know they’re still thinking of me.

(That is so crucial as far as stuff to post.)