Jim Cuddy and O Sussana - You Were On My Mind

Paolo Nutini - Autumn

Paolo Nutini is a young singer/songwriter from Paisley, Scotland. His only song to receive airplay, at least in Canada was "New Shoes", however, his album "These Streets" has a remarkable number of solid hits. This video is a live studio version of one of his best. It was written for his Grandfather who had passed away. The song is simple, soulful and moving, and the rest of the album is certainly worth a listen.

Irv Rosenfeld - medical marijuana user

Brief article and video about Irv Rosenfeld, the American stock broker who also happens to be a longtime medical marijuana recipient. In video he explains his condition and his eleven ounce/month usage. Eleven ounces per month. That's right...ounces.

Irv Rosenfeld

PopUrls

Well designed and useful web page that lists hundreds of interesting pages. Makes a great start page so you can read and learn about a wide variety of things first thing when you boot up, log on or whatever method you use and feel comfortable with.

Popurls

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3918/

Link to article regarding marijuana use and arrests for possession and the consequences of arrest. To say the history of oppressing a valuable crop with multiple benefits is striking would be a understatement. The bottom line is medicinal use of marijuana would likely cost pharmaceutical companies bigtime.

Free games for Windows

101 free games

Nice selection of games for all tastes and all free.

Leo Kottke - Arms of Mary

I have only started listening to this artist in the last year or so, but he never ceases to amaze me with his sensitive playing and depth of feeling. His slide guitar is outstanding and his voice is warm and homey but never sinks to campy, country twang. One song of his, "Bumblebee", showcases his voice and playing in equal measure but I cannot yet find it online as video. In the meantime, enjoy Leo Kottke playing "The Arms of Mary".

If you would like a study in contrast check out Sutherland Brothers and Quiver version with vocals. 1976 is not far away in time enough for me.

Video Download-a-pa-looza

Nice collection of websites and applications to find and download videos off websites such as youtube. I personally use tubedownload to download flash videos (.flv format) and do no conversion as I use VLC to view them on the computer which suits my needs. I have not used the newest version of tubedownload so I cannot comment on the conversion capabilities of the program, nor have I used the video player that is presented on the site.

If you download some videos that you would now like to burn to dvd for playback I would suggest Dvdflick . Again, it is the program I use but your mileage may vary.

Video sites and applications page

What should I read next?

Simply enter book title or author you read last and receive suggestions for next book you should try. There are beta searches for music and film as well.

What Should I Read Next

Richard Wright R.I.P. 1943-2008

Rory Gallagher - Off The Handle

nice.

A "GOOD" site

This site has a very nice mix of interesting and entertaining articles. The layout is nicely done and the content very professionally presented. The main page is :

GOOD

However the article which first introduced me to the site is :

Wanderlust which traces journeys that people have taken throughout history and the routes they have taken and things they have seen or experienced. It is a very interesting piece and, as I said, the presentation is top notch.

Using the search feature on the page will, undoubtedly, give you more to read and learn.

Long time, no see

I have not posted anything in quite some time. This was due to a move and general lack of time to find anything new and noteworthy. So I will post about something that maybe well known to some but a little sketchy for others - bittorrents. I told a friend about mininova .

This site hosts torrent files which you can download and then use to download files which are being hosted by many people online. The general idea is that many people have the same file and the torrents allow people to retrieve parts of the file from different users until they have the entire file. This makes it easier on individual bandwidth and ensures that, if one individual goes offline, your download can still proceed due to the number of users offering the same file. It's a simple explanation but I am a simple guy.

So, how do you download these files using these "torrents"? You need a client program. I use utorrent which is very light on resources and is a small download to boot. It is not complicated and works. After you download and install utorrent, visit mininova and peruse their selection. The list shows you recent information regarding each torrent file. It is best to chose files that have a high number of "seeders" and less "leechers". Seeders are people who have the entire file and continue to allow others to download from them to lighten the overall load. Leechers are, like the name implies, simply there to suck bandwidth.

Please note that sites which list torrents do not actually host the files and, therefore, have no ability to verify the usability and quality of the files. Please be smart and scan any files you download with an upto date virus scanner.

The Specials - Gangster

This band represents the best of British ska. Their songs were well-crafted and rhythmically catchy and upbeat. Of course, they also had a message in many of their songs, politically and socially, and were not afraid to voice their concerns and objections. I had several albums which have been lost in the intervening years and must now settle for a live compilation cd of the Best of British ska and the Best of singles cd collection which has an excellent live version of "Guns of Navarone". The cd cover for the singles collection also had an alternate design which featured the band in a car or taxi...I prefer the brighter colours and the expressions on the faces of the band.

Oil On Water

This movie follows an artist who begins experiencing "voices" and other strange phenomenon that he cannot understand or explain to his girlfriend. A visually stunning film that traces a creative life spiraling out of control due to schizophrenia, "Oil On Water" has been compared to "A Beautiful Mind" and "Trauma" by one reviewer. Check out the site with synopsis and trailer.

Where the hell is Matt

Cool video of guy visiting over 40 countries and dancing in various locations with people joining him. Pretty cool.

Beverley Knight - No Man's Land (Acoustic)

This lovely lady, Beverley Knight, has a sweet, smoky and vibrant voice that comes from over a decade in the industry. Her last album, "Music City Soul" was recorded in Nashville and brims with sass and an awful lot of soul.

Another good video search site

http://www.truveo.com/

Has many channels and excellent selection direct from the start page. Some video streams, such as Hulu, may be restricted to viewing in the United States, which is a shame since viewing a full episode of Family Guy on my computer screen is a dream for me and my optometrist.

However, you can find some interesting and complete shows, for example, this show about Douglas Adams that originally aired on ZDTV(Later TechTV). This particular interview occurred eight days before Adams passed away.

Douglas Adams clip (22:26)

Related videos will also show to the right of the video description.

Video search engine

Blinkx is a site that allows you to search for videos from all over the web. It is a publicly traded company in UK and has several patents related to its technology. This is the first time I have heard of this site but it looks quite interesting. Claims to have 26 million hours of video to search through...that's a lot of covert cubicle viewing. Check out the faq and about pages for the lowdown.

Blinkx

Uncyclopedia

A spoof of Wikipedia that has a sense of humour. You can contribute articles yourself to hone your silly and satirical side.

Uncyclopedia

Flash Games

This site has simple yet addictive flash games to play and waste some time.

http://www.k2xl.com/

Cool site for musical discoveries

This site allows you to set what mood you are in and it will then select music from the decade that you decide. A great way to discover music you never knew was out there. There is a free and a premium version. Free is lower quality audio and you cannot mark your favs or ban songs you do not want to see. Excellent resource to find artists and then download through peer to peer clients. You can click on the genres to fine-tune the music you are presented as well. If you click the album covers, you will be be taken to Amazon site (assuming you allow pop-ups...if not try disabling pop-up blocker for the musicovery site) and you can get info on album/cd and the cover art.

Musicovery

Dylan Thomas - Poem in October

Read by Richard Burton, a fellow Welshman, "Poem in October" is one of my favourite of his poems. I love his description of rising early and slowly gaining height from which he sees the harbour town and the gardens and fields. His memory of walking with his mother comes as "the weather turns round" and the sunlight brings colour from under clouds filled with flying larks and he revisits his memory with such clarity that the child he was is reawakened wholly, heartbeat and tears on cheeks.

It was his 30th year to heaven and he had nine years remaining.

http://www.dylanthomas.com/

Oh Sussana - "Pretty Face"

I had not known of this singer/songwriter until I saw her do a duet with Blue Rodeo singer Jim Cuddy. This song is, like most good country tinged songs, simple and direct. She has a wonderful voice and writes songs that are personal and true.

Great Big Sea - Lukey's Boat (With the Chieftains)

Yes...two great bands for the price of one...GBS is from my home province of Newfoundland and the Chieftains are from Ireland. Great song and video.

The Tea Party - The Messenger

This is the first song I heard this band do...actually see as well because it was in a video. The song is a cover of Daniel Lanois' song from his album "For The Beauty of Winona" and here it is performed in 2004 on Musique Plus. I like Daniel's version better but the lead singer here does an excellent job as well.

"...the door that closes tightly is the door that can swing wide..."

The Tea Party wiki

Daniel Lanois wiki

The Tragically Hip - At The Hundreth Meridian

The Tragically Hip - At The Hundreth Meridian

Greatest Canadian

Greatest Canadian listing. This website lets you explore the lives of people who made Canada great. The television show itself is a few years old but the stories are as interesting and important as always for a country that often does not seem to know, or even consider, the impact of the citizens who have shaped it.

Joni Mitchell - Cactus Tree BBC 1970

This song is on "Miles of Aisles" as well. Great song.

Canada Day is aboot here, eh.

Since we are so close to Canada Day, the next few posts will be Canadian content. At least artist wise...don't wanna hear from any trade unions...

We will start with Leonard Cohen and "Dance Me To The End of Love" from his album "Various Positions"

Neil Young - Heart of Gold (BBC 1971)

Neil Young debuts one of his "new" songs in BBC taping. Funny banter with audience and great song. He mentions that he is just starting to learn the harmonica and gets his thumb caught in the thing-a-ma-bob that hold the instrument. Really strange to see him so young and his posture and general appearance just screams grunge and Kurt Cobain. Highly recommended viewing for afficinadoes of classic rock/pop music. Something tells me Neil is slightly impaired, botanically speaking, as well.

Hafdis Elf Watching

This girl is funny and love the accent. Hafdis Huld goes elf watching.

I hope I didn't p*ss off the elves...

Katie Melua - I Cried For You

Great video...well done and interesting concept.

George Carlin R.I.P. (1937-2008)

This man was a hero. He said what he thought and tried to bring others into his world by treating them to absurd, biting, observant and clever wit. Sure he used foul language but who has not? He may have rubbed some people the wrong way but that is how life goes with us all isn't it? My first experience with George Carlin was from an LP a friend lent to me. It was "Toledo Window box" and it was funny, outrageous and daring. I think the legacy of George Carlin will be not only the wealth of funny stories and ribald humour, but the way he made you think as well.

Catherine Manoukian interview pt 2

A gifted and interesting young woman.

STWALLSKULL - Blog

The blog itself is about old comics and other old and vintage paper/printed material. I have not fully explored the site but it has a large number of links to other sites that deal with and display interesting pieces from days gone by.

STWALLSKULL <-- here is link to the "about" page for site and you can navigate through pages from there.

I have a feeling this place can turn into a time-sink very quickly. Not that that is a bad thing.

Catherine Manoukian interview pt 1

Catherine Manoukian is a Canadian violinist from Toronto. Her parents were both musicians and she began learning violin at age 3. My first taste of her music was when I bought her CD "Lyricism" (I admit mostly because of the pretty girl on the cover) and was overwhelmed by the emotional power she imparted through the instrument. If you enjoy music and would like to be introduced to classical pieces for violin and piano, this is the CD for you.

I will post part two tomorrow so tune in.

Jools Holland interviews Andy Summers

Very interesting video with Andy explaining his effects kit.

Fantasy pic found on arthistory.cc

Art History site

http://www.arthistory.cc/auth/hokusai/great-wave.jpg

wow...image insert fail...but you get the picture...sorta

Be advised that some of the artists works may not be intended for all ages

The Police and Sting 1979 Netherlands music festival

Sting could belt out a tune.

"Roxanne" in this case.

Katie Melua - Live (3 songs)

Katie Melua sings three songs during what seems to be a television guest spot from Norway. The songs here are "Nine Million Bicycles", "Piece by Piece" and "The Closest Thing To Crazy".

FlashEarth

In keeping with the map theme, we have a website that will allow you to view the earth through satellite images. Similar to Google Earth, the site offers multiple sources for the images and, depending on the source, you may zoom to quite a low elevation. Controls are easy to use and there is no install needed if you have Flash plug-in installed on your browser of choice.

Flash Earth

Historical maps

Maps have always fascinated me. They represent adventure and seeking knowledge as we travel into unknown territory. World history can be traced along the contours of the landmasses and oceans as we advanced our understanding of the planet in all it's diversity. This web site provides us a collection of maps that display our path to knowledge and the inevitable mistakes and misunderstandings that come from exploration.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Anna Netrebko part II

Proms - Anna Netrebko - Meine Lippen sie Kussen so heiss

"My lips kiss with such fire..."

A glorious voice and wonderful presence on stage.

Librarian chick

Lots of links to educational resources and the like.

Learning is se-hex-ay

Photo albums of German Soldiers in WWII

This site features the personal photo albums of German soldiers preceding and during the Second World War. The page is in Russian but the images in the albums do not really need translation

Captured German Photo Albums of WWII

Hafdis Huld

A sweetly quirky Icelandic singer, Hafdis has been performing since 15 with band Gus Gus and her album "Dirty Paper Cup" shows the experience reaped rewards. The album has some wonderful material and Hardis' voice is warm and sugary without being cloying. This video is for her song "Tomoko" and is quite a hoot. In short, this Icelandic waif is talented and suffers having a sparkling personality in stride.

Whose Line w/ Richard Simmons

This is one of the funniest games they ever played on this show. Richard Simmons arrives as guest and the fun begins. Colin and Ryan are newlyweds on luxury cruise ship and Wayne and Richard are used as the props in the game. If you have any issues at all with laughing and wetting yourself do not watch.

Anika Moa - Mother

The altogether lovely Anika Moa in video for her song "Mother".

Memorial University Digital Collection

Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland has put a wonderful collection online. Anyone with interest in history, especially of the local variety, will find this site endlessly entertaining and enlightening. Wonderful pictures from days long gone but not yet forgotten.

Memorial Digital Collection

Click "browse" and use drop down arrow to find interesting sections to explore. In the digitized books section you may be able to download the books as a pdf file. When you click a book and it loads, look for the "PDF" in the tool-bar for the viewer and you can easily save the document to your computer for viewing later.

Link of the day

This site is a source of many videos from decades previous. T.V show clips, audio and images are classified by time frame (1930's onward) and registered users can upload their own content. The site is rated "G" and can be very entertaining.

Do a search for "What's My Line" and see a who's who of early 50's stars on the popular show of the 50's...Salvador Dali is a particular fav...and Barb Streisand shows that she speaks very good Italian.

http://www.yourememberthat.com/

Inventor looking for cancer cure finds possible fuel source

A retiree, John Kanzius, attempted to find cure for cancer and, although he is not quite successful yet, he has discovered something remarkable and, potentially, revolutionary in itself.

Anika Moa video - In The Morning

Video of the day

Anika Moa - Good in My Head

Kiwi Artist...great songs and vids for them and dimples to die for.

Link of the day

The Beatles in Pictures

http://www.dmbeatles.com/picture.php?category=1&picture=4

"Pictures of the Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr (there are 1155 pictures, photos, pics, images)"

Everyone and their mum luvs the Fab Four.

The site also includes comprehensive history, lyrics and discography.

Link of the day

http://listverse.com/

This site is comprised of people writing up lists on various subjects and other users commenting on the lists. The lists range from "best" and "worst" of lists to the unusual or mundane. I believe the site accepts registration of users who can then comment and add their own lists. This site always has something of interest and I visit daily for the countdown and inevitable disagreements.

Anna Netrebko

Anna Netrebko, Russian soprano,who may possibly be the perfect woman, singing "O Mio Babbino Caro"

First post

This being my first blogging excursion I will attempt to remain coherent and keep it simple.

The purpose is simply to present ideas, useful links and friendly banter. I am not trying to find and keep sponsors in the form of ads on my pages (although money in brown bags on doorstep will not be frowned upon) and will certainly try to keep any content within the threshold of good taste. For the most part, I think this blog can replace my "link" emailing and people can come here of their own free will (after I email them the link) and peruse my findings of the day, week etc.

Well, that is it for now...tune in tomorrow and tomorrow and etc...