John M’s blog

For some reason, I was sure I had seen a blog or article where the author listed his or her Top 10 Most Important Movies. The idea was not to list the greatest movies or their favourite movies, but the movies that had the most importance to them.  I was sure that Kelly was the author of this possibly mythical list of movies. She says she wasn’t but since she was nice enough to hunt down the lists she DID do, here are the links for…

Her 100 Favourite movies: http://khager.vox.com/library/post/100-favorites.html

And

Her Top 10 Best Movies: http://khager.vox.com/library/post/top-100.html

I don’t think I could do a Top 100 list for either category, and besides, I think a Top 10 Most Important (To Me) Movies is a pretty intriguing list in and of itself, so here goes (in no particular order):

1. Star Wars: I fall completely on the Wars side of the Star Wars/Star Trek fence, and this movie (and its sequels in the Original Trilogy) certainly captured my imagination when I was a kid. I still don’t consider myself a science fiction fan, but Star Wars is one of the arguments AGAINST that statement.
2. Highway 61: Growing up, Canadian movies were usually nature documentaries aired on CBC. Watching Highway 61 made me realize that we could make quirky, fun movies. Bruce McDonald would go on to make Hard Core Logo and…well, a lot of TV shows, but along the way he became perhaps the most off-beat director in Canadian film history.
3. The Wrestler: The Wrestler did in dramatic fashion what Beyond the Mat did in documentary style, showcased pro wrestling, warts, glory and all on the big screen. And the Wrestler took it a step further, as it had a far wider opening, and even got some Oscar buzz for both the film and its stars. (And any film that includes a “Holy Sh!t!” chant gets props from me!)
4. Twister/Independence Day: In the summer of 1996, there was a slew of big budget action flicks. Neither of those two movies were lauded for their plot, but they were just fun movies to watch. In fact, it inspired me to write a big-budget movie, about a cop battling a crime boss whose mob is posing as a terrorist group. It was the first script I ever began and finished. (Sadly, it never quite made it to the big screen!)
5. Strange Days: Many of the films on this list have made me want to make movies. Strange Days made me want to make movie trailers.
6. World Trade Center: I remember sitting in the theatre watching World Trade Center, scared to death I was going to lose it, emotionally. I managed to hold it together, but World Trade Center remains one of the most emotional movies I’ve ever seen.
7. Clerks:  The story behind Clerks, and how Kevin Smith made it on the super-cheap to get this off-beat Black and White movie about two friends stuck in dead-end retail jobs to the screen was damned inspirational to a guy working at a Blockbuster at the time.
8. A Bridge Too Far: Back before Blu-Ray and DVD, even before VHS, there was something called “Videodiscs”. My Dad used to rent them from a local electronic shop in Glencoe, and one of my favourite discs was A Bridge Too Far, a star-studded recreation of the 1944 battle of Arnhem. The film sparked my interest in Operation Market Garden, the risky Allied plan that resulted in the battle.
9. When Harry Met Sally…: Of all the so-called “Chick Flicks”, this is my all-time favourite. I also really enjoyed just how the two main characters became friends first, before sleeping together and overcoming a lot of personal relationship adversity before finally falling in love. (It also sparked my crush on Meg Ryan and my puzzling fascination with the way she says the “F” Word in one scene.)
10. Milk Money: This remains the worst movie I have ever seen in theatres. It also serves as inspiration, because I figure if someone thought this was a good enough film to be released, anything I can come up with should be a shoe-in

Honourable Mentions:

• The Doors
• Gettysburg
• Wimbledon

My lead-off to this blog entry is going to come as a surprise to many of you…but for my massive wrestling fandom (which has admittedly waned severely over the last decade or so) and the similarly massive presence that pro wrestling has on the Internet (similarly waning since the demise of the Monday Night Wars and the failed Invasion angle of 2001), there are very few wrestling websites I visit on a regular basis.

Basically it boils down to three main sites:

SLAM Wrestling (http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/) – mostly for their News and Rumours section, and for the odd article or feature.

Online Onslaught (http://www.oowrestling.com/) for their columnists.

And finally…

411Wrestling (http://www.411mania.com/wrestling) for their columnists, video, PPV and TV recaps, and very frequent (as in several times a day) news updates.

But see, 411Wrestling is actually a sub-site (am I using the correct terminology?) of 411mania, which also has  sections for politics, sports, MMA, music, and boxing…but really the only other site I check out is the Movie/TV section. (And even then it’s usually to see what hot-actresses/models-in-bikinis photo montages they’ve posted…KIDDING!)

But seriously, recently they had a writers’ survey about the Top 5 Movies that Should Get a DVD Upgrade. (http://www.411mania.com/movies/columns/111251/The-411-Movies-Top-5-07.24.09:-Week-175---Top-5-Most-Wanted-DVD-Upgrades.htm) Now, I know for many people, those extras they put on DVDs are just annoying distractions from the actual movie that just serve to jack up the price. Many, including I must assume, some of my faithful readers, would prefer to just get a bare-bones DVD release: the movie and that’s it.

For those of this mind-set…stop reading this blog right now. In fact, never read this blog again. Delete me from your Facebook friends list, your MSN contact list and in fact, BEGONE FROM MY LIFE FOREVER, YOU CLASSLESS HEATHENS!!!!

Okay, I’m kidding! That’s called humour, folks! It shows up on my blog here from time to time. It’s just something you’ll have to learn to live with.

I’m sure we can agree to disagree on this point. (You know…as long as you agree that I’m right and you’re wrong!)

For me, I happen to enjoy the extras that DVDs provide. I like the idea of being able to sit down and watch JFK and then check out the accompanying documentary. I like the idea of watching the Independence Day trailers and TV teasers. And I definitely like listening to the audio commentary on Kevin Smith films. (Snootch to the Nootch!)

In a perfect world, every DVD I pick up would have a trailer/teaser section, audio commentary and accompanying featurettes/documentary. But every once in a while, a movie or, more likely, a TV show comes along that I enjoyed enough to pick up sans mucho extras, and so here is my ….

TOP 5 DVDs I OWN WHICH I WANT AN UPGRADE FOR

1.      Grosse Pointe Blank.  “The Hitman” Bre…er, I mean John Cusack goes back to his Michigan home town for his high school reunion to complete one last job, win back his high school girlfriend (Minnie Driver) and try and stay alive.

Save for the orginal trailer…oh and a French language track and Spanish subtitles, this DVD comes up Blank in terms of extras. Come on, you mean they couldn’t have put on a “Making Of….” Documentary or a featurette on the use of the music in this movie? Maybe have the cast sit around and talk about their own high school experiences. Cusack and director George Armitage (who went on to direct…The Big Bounce? Really???That was it? Some B-movies in the 70s, Grosse Pointe Blank and The Big Bounce? Huh!) doing audio commentary???

2.      Empire Records. The staff of a funky New York record store tries to save their beloved store from being turned into just another corporate outlet.

First of all, the version I have of Empire Records is on a “Double Feature” disc with Singles, and includes but four additional scenes, three music videos and cast bios. Much like Grosse Pointe Blank, I think the DVD could have benefitted by a featurette on the music in the movie (you know, why it was chosen, more about the band, etc) But in a comedy that featured a mostly teen cast, there had to have been an awesome gag reel, to say nothing of the fun that could have been had if they’d all been crammed into a recording studio to do the audio commentary. (Of course, on a slightly more serious note, Allen Moyle, the director who also helmed Pump Up the Volume and, ironically, the 2004 TV Michael Jackson biopic Man In the Mirror, could have sat in for a commentary as well.)

 

And hey, where’s the “Rex Manning Day” featurette, career retrospective and video we were all dying to see…unless that’s one of the “3 Amazing Music Videos” the DVD boasts.

3.      Deep Impact. A comet is about to collide with the earth.  No, this is the one without Bruce Willis and that damned Aerosmith song.

Okay, it’s a sci-fi movie about a comet about to collide with the earth. Anyone else think they could have

gotten hours of extras out of this. Making Of Featurettes, Documentaries on the possibility of something

like this actually happening, to say nothing of audio commentaries both from a movie standpoint (director,

cast) and a scientific  perspective (scientists, NASA reps, etc).

4.      The Gilmore Girls. A single Mom (Lauren Graham) raises her daughter (Alexis Bledel) in a small Connecticut town.

In fairness, the Gilmore Girl Season DVDs have had their fair share of extras, but for the most part they’ve been fairly short featurettes. For the 7^th and final season on DVD, the producers of the DVD should have gone all out. They certainly could have produced a half-hour or an hour retrospective on the series, how it came to be, how the show evolved, some of the major plot twists as well as recollections from the cast. Maybe a featurette on the final episode as well as a Behind-the-Scenes look at what went into the making of said episode. It needed more of a send-off than just Kirk’s Tour of Stars Hallow.

5.      Wrestlemania I. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. team up to battle Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.

WWE gave Wrestlemania III the two-disc treatment which, as I found out as I researched this column, includes not only the entire card but interviews, mini-featurettes and a “Did You Know” pop-up of tidbits feature. Not bad, although I’m thinking they could do better, and they should definitely do better for the initial Wrestlemania. With the WWE’s crack production staff and the amount of video they have access to, could they not whip up a feature about the build-up to the event. Maybe toss on “The War to Settle the Score”. And hey, could they not bring in some of the participants from both the main event and the undercard to do commentary? To say nothing of doing a featurette on those same participants about what it was like to be involved (or at the very least a “Where Are They Now? Segment) as well as modern day superstars about their memories of Wrestlemania I.

So I'm watching TMZ...which is like "Celebrity News for People Who Don't Know Kelly Hager" (well, TMZ covers the lowest common denominator-type celebrity news whereas Kelly is more Celebrity News For the Discrerning Consumer)

Anyways, the crack team of TMZ "journalists" have tracked Jane Fonda on a recent shopping spree, where she was parked in a fire zone. (Geez...where was she shopping Masonville Place where "Handicapped Parking" is code for "Park Here If You're Too Damn Lazy To Walk Five Extra Feet"?) Apparently, this scoop comes hot on the heels of a recent expose on Fonda sneaking her dog into a showing of "Bruno".

But my question is...how did this woman have a career after 1972? For the uninformed, that was the year Ms. Fonda took a trip to North Vietnam, going so far as to pose for photos at a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery. To put this in modern day perspective, this would be paramount to Angelina Jolie hanging out with the Taliban.

For you non-baseball fans: Don't worry, I won't be focusing completely on the game.

I will say this to start off...How is it the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays have at least five reps at the game, and the Blue Jays have two?

If you see only one movie this summer...don't make it "I Love You, Beth Cooper". There have been many movies showing one unforgetable night in the life of a group of teenagers. American Grafitti. 300 Cigarettes. Can't Hardly Wait.

"I Love You, Beth Cooper" is not destined to be ranked among those movies. Quick plot outline: A geek declares his love for the head cheerleader during his valedictorian speech. This sets in motion one night where the geek, his possibly gay best friend, the cheerleader and her two friends (neither one of whom really are used as anything but eye candy filler) hang out, try to avoid the cheerleader's coked-up boyfriend and his two Army buddies.

(And myay I say it's quite disrespectful that all three would-be soldiers are wearing Combat Infantryman Badges, yet there's no mention of any of the three having actually seen combat.)

I think "Beth Cooper" wants to be one of those movies that say something about the high school experience. (The school bully is outed as having been sexually abused, leading to his behaviour. The cheerleader who knows high school might be the high point of her life.)  But it spends most of the time just being one of those shallow "We're Young, Let's Party" movies more intent on selling copies of the soundtrack than really giving a crap about making a decent movie.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

And if you're not disappointed by the body of the movie, the ending pretty much ruins it for you. The geek's best friend has threesome with the cheerleader's two friends, looks like he's falling for one of them, only to turn around and announce that yes, he is indeed gay. Meanwhile, the geek tells the cheerleader that no matter what, there will always be someone who loves her....but they just leave the future relationship between the two of them hanging. "I'll probably leave her a message on Facebook."  Dear Lord, tell me this isn't the harbinger for "I STILL Love You, Beth Cooper!"

*** SPOILERS ALERT ENDS ***

Well, just when I'm ready to write off Major League Baseball as being anti-Canadian. Not only do they play our National Anthem before the game (albiet just an instrumental version, they got Sheryl Crow to sing the U.S. National Anthem) but when they brought out the "Heroes Among Us" they included one such hero wearing a Blue Jays jersey.

So Roy Halladay ("Currently with the Blue Jays", they've had to mention at least twice so far over these All-Star festivities gets the start for the American League. Aaron Hill bats 8th and starts at second base. At least two other former Jays, Orlando Hudson and Ted Lilly, on the National League rosters.

I'm likening the appearance of Stan "The Man" Musial on the field in St. Louis to a similar one to the late Ted Williams in Boston at an All-Star Game some years ago. Meanwhile, I'm remembering my conversation with a good friend of Musial's and a former Cardinal, Tim Burgess, who passed away earlier this year. I'm sure Tim, a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, is watching on, from the best seat in the house.

Hey, since President Obama can throw out the first pitch at the All-Star game, why doesn't Stephen Harper do the same at the NHL All-Star Game?

Does anyone else think Tim Lincecum looks like a grown up version of that kid from Dazed and Confused? You know, the one just going out of public school, who ironically is a pitcher for his Little League team! Man, I gotta watch that movie again.

It's just after 9:00 on a Tuesday night, and after switching off the Jays game with the 6 run lead evaporating by the minute, I've decided to wade into Herman Wouk's Road to World War II epic, The Winds of War (the mini-series not the book, although I've read it probably just as many times as I've seen the mini-series.)

I keep meaning to do just a random thoughts blog and so here we are.

It should be an exciting week at work. Not only are several of us heading down to Pastafest tomorrow but the 1st Hussars is bringing an operating Sherman tank by, so that should be fun. Once the work week is done, Dad and I are heading to Whitby to meet up with Mom, Cathy and Jack. The hope is that I will be heading into Toronto to hit the Skydome and catch a ballgame.

Jane Weidlin turned 51 recently. Sigh! The 80s are so over. Of course, perhaps the less said about my fascination with the Go-Gos and their rhythm guitarist Weidlin the better.

And speaking of things from my youth, I understand that Archie Comics has/have introduced a new plot twist: Archie has proposed to Veronica, who has accepted. Jughead is stunned, Betty is heart-broken, and I'm like "Ah man! You gotta be kidding me!" I always figured eventually Archie would come to his senses, see Veronica for the shallow, rich b!tch that she is and Betty for the love of his life that she is.

It's been years since I've bought comics (save a graphic novel or two) but I'm going to be tempted to pick up the series to see how it plays out. I remember back in the 90s (???) there was a TV movie "Back to Riverdale" that tied up a lot of lose endings. (Dude, Betty and Archie totally did it!)

So I'm reading about the revelation, made by an ex-roadie in his autobiography, that Jimi Hendrix was actually murdered by his manager. The manager, about to be fired, was the beneficiary of Hendrix's $2 million life insurance policy.

Between this and the sex tape they released, they need to just leave poor Jimi to rest in peace, or at least to play his Strat.

Read more about it at:  http://www.411mania.com/music/news/105996

Not sure when my next podcast will be, (I know there's such a demand for one) but I am reading a couple of books simultaneously. I am reading If By Sea by George C Daughan, about the early days of the American Navy during the Revolution and the War of 1812. I'm not usually one for sea stories, but this particular book ties in the land battles with the naval action. You read more about George Washington than John Paul Jones. The author's theory is that the American navy (or what passed for it), was horribly mismanaged. But perhaps the most interesting part is the discussion of how the American Revolution wasn't originally about Independence, but simply respect from the British.

I'm also reading The Contractor by Colin MacKinnon, which is about a businessman who's really working for the CIA. I have just started to read it so I'm not sure where exactly it's going, save that some former contact of the main character has been beaten to death. 

The Boston Red Sox will win the American League East...or the New York Yankees...or the Tampa Bay Devil Rays...or even the Baltimore Orioles.

Anyone but the Toronto Blue Jays.

After witnessing the Boston Red Sox launch home run after home run off Toronto's Brett Cecil in a six-run fifth inning tonight in Fenway Park, I realized something, something I wish I could say wasn't true. The Toronto Blue Jays will not win the Division, no matter how well their season began, no matter how many injuries they managed to overcome with smoke and mirrors, grit and determination.

Why? Because no matter how good they may look against the White Sox, the Detroit Tigers or the Orioles, losing series (what exactly is the plural of series?) to the Yankees (which they did) and the Red Sox (which a loss last night and an 8-0 deficit so far tonight assures) means that it's just a matter of time before they relinquish first place and start heading back to the third place spot that they've resided in since 1993. (Wait, they finished last a couple of times, didn't they? Okay, so the third place has been their best-case scenario from the very moment Joe Carter's home run landed in the Blue Jays bullpen on October 23rd, 1993.)

I guess the big question is, how badly is Roy Halladay going to sully his reputation on his way out of Toronto? Will he stick around until free agency or will he start whining to the media about his disgust with the team, the city, the fans, the owners, the country, and demand a trade to "a contender"? I mean, I love Halladay as much as the next guy, but then I loved Clemens and Alomar back in the day, and they both turned their backs on us. (And don't get me started on David Wells.)

Oh well...thanks Jays, for giving us a few weeks to ponder the possibilities.

(And I love the fact that TSN2 is giving us more access to Jays games, but it sure shows the difference between the Jays commentators and Boston's crew, especially colour commentator Dennis Eckersley. Toronto's duo is pretty even-keeled, while Eckersley was openly playing the "homer" role to the point I was like "Okay, Boston's winning. You're happy about that. We get it! Now at least try and showcase some decorum!" Jesse Ventura was less biased.)

*********

I didn't think  I would enjoy "the Spanish Bow" by Andromeda Romano-Lax as much as I did. I have just a few pages left (I may finish it up later tonight and start on "If By Sea: the Forging of the American Navy - From the Revolution to the War of 1812" by George C. Daughan.)

The Spanish Bow tells the story of one young man's journey from a small Spanish village to international fame as a Cellist (is that a word?) during the turbulent years of the early 20th century. The hero, Feliu, rubs shoulders with kings and queens (but doesn't complete the Dusty Rhodes motif by sleeping in alleys and dining on pork and beans). Joining with his childhood idol, he turns from the student to, if not teacher, then almost a guardian, of sorts. As political fever boils over during the World Wars and the Spanish Civil War, Feliu tries to believe his music will set him apart from the turmoil. Meanwhile, he meets a damaged young violinist with whose affections he and his mentor, Al-Cerraz, vie for.

It is quite easy to get caught up in the narrative that Romano-Lax delivers, and with the characters that she creates. In fact, so intriguing are those characters, that I will be reading, with great interest, her afterward to see just what is fiction and what is fact. Feliu, who goes from naive young boy to experienced man with hints of bitterness seeping through, is especially interesting. Romano-Lax certainly created a fine, if imperfect, protagonist, through whose eyes we see a most interesting time period, one of great change in Spain.

Wow! I think I just wrote the bulk of my review for Shelf Life (although I'll probably take out the Dusty Rhodes reference). I definitely give it 4 1/2 bookmarks (out of a possible five).

*******

So I've decided. Barring a major catastrophy, on Friday night, I'm taking the bus from work (or the closest bus to GDLS-C) out to White Oaks and taking in a showing of Terminator: Salvation. 

If anyone is up for seeing the movie with me, just show up to the Wellington 8 for the early showing. I might be hanging around White Oaks prior, so if you see me, flag me down.

I started watching the original Terminator last Saturday night but, having seen in already (although way back in the summer of 1991) and having just read most of the script on-line, I kinda knew what was going to happen.

I read a pretty lackluster review of the movie in today's London Free Press, but that's not going to deter me from going to see it. I find I have a taste for apocolyptic movies, although I tend to enjoy the opening scenes where I know what's coming but the people on the screen don't. I don't know what that says about my personality, but I'm going to assume that it's probably not a positive thing. Best not to dwell on it too long.

*******

Speaking of the Apocolypse, I had this strange dream last night. (No, not that kind of dream!)  I dreamt that myself and someone else (a female someone else but not sure who she was or who she was supposed to represent) were standing on a bridge, with a machine gun turret (like we were set up to guard the bridge from enemy aircraft.) I was looking through the view-finder and the 1979-style dot graphics, wondering how I was supposed to figure out which were enemy planes and what were friendly planes.) A short while later, we say these streaks in the sky heading towards a city on the horizon and realized, with some horror, they were nuclear missiles, about to strike the city.

After I woke up this morning, I began to think about the dream and decided it would make for a good short story. I'm going to tell it from the vantage point of my female comrade and it will basically be the story of these two soldiers on a forgotten outpost (they're basically banished there) who watch and (over the radio) listen to their world being wiped out in a nuclear war.

Once it's finished, I might publish it here.

Happy birthday, Queen Vicky. I'm celebrating by hanging out in home-town Glencoe, working on my infamous To Do List. Considering I had something like 50 (but that's several large projects broken down) when I came home on Friday night, the fact that I'm down to 25 some 24 hours later isn't too bad.

As much as I think I might, if I really put my mind to it, get everything done if I worked non-stop (or close to non-stop) over the weekend, I think I might take a break tomorrow and make it a movie day. I have a couple of TVs on DVDs I think I might check out (Generation Kill, Undeclared or the Office - Season 2 - yeah again!!!!).

I went to see Star Trek (No Subtitle Here?) this past week. I went with Sean and Jim from work. I'm not a huge Star Trek fan (as in I've watched one or two episodes of the show, and a couple of the movies) but I really enjoyed the movie. I'd definitely give it four stars, and if they decided to make a series based on this movie, I'd probably watch it.

This past week was the season finale of the Office, and the 100th episode. For such a landmark show, they didn't really bring it. I think they provided closure for the Michael and Holly storyline, even if Michael doesn't realize it. The company picnic was fun, much like the Disco Lounge was the episode before, especially with the Scranton Branch banding together to battle the other branches in volleyball. I loved Pam's accent when she revealed she "went to volley ball camp most summahs!"

And I understand that they revealed that Pam was pregnant (which I semi-called when the nurse asked her if she was pregnant) which I suppose counts as the big season cliff-hanger, but it would have been nice if they could have given the other characters a little something to go on, especially in this season, in which we’ve seen less Pam and Jim and more of what we would have called on Gilligan’s Island “and the rest”. We got hints of reconciliation between Angela and Dwight, a nod to Andy wanting to start something with “the new Kelly” but both of those were minor and the latter is really not something that will make anyone tune in next season for.

As a mid-season episode “Company Picnic” was, like “Cafe Disco”  a fun episode, but not “Season Finale/100^th Episode” worthy. But having said that, it might show up ranked fairly high in my All-Time Favourite Episodes list. (Which I need to do come next September when the DVD of Season 5 comes out.)

Nice surprise tonight while watching the introductions to the NASCAR All-Star Race. When they announced the Guest Race Director, the Theme to 2001 starts up (I know there’s a fancy name for it but...) and I’m joking “Hey it’s Ric Flair!” and sure enough, they announce that it’s the 16-time World Heavyweight Champion “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.

Ironically, one of his first duties as Guest Race Director was to announce the winner of the Fan Vote. I was going to mark out heavily if the voting had picked Bill Elliot (who I made sure to vote for). Bill Elliot and Ric Flair standing together??? How awesome would that have been? Instead the voters picks Joey Logano, who drives the #20 Home Depot car formerly run by Tony Stewart. (Oh well, maybe Bill and Ric were hanging out backstage or something.)

I watched the first half of the original Terminator tonight, but I got bored with it and came back to blog. I will say that, if at all possible, I'll be in a theatre somewhere in London next weekend to see Terminator: Salvation.

So, Swine Flu is still here (or whatever random collection of letters and numbers they've tossed together). We've already had two e-mails at work regarding it, one from our local Health and Safety committee and one from GDLS Corporate. What makes for interesting reading is clicking on the links they sent along.

While the Canadian Health officials website and the WHO (What does Pete Townsend have to do with this? Oh...It stands for World Health Organization, never mind) were basically saying "here's the situation. It's changing rapidly. Here are the symptoms and what you can do to protect yourself", the US's Center for Disease Control is practically calling for the end of the world.

"Very few people will be immune to this disease... there will be more hospitalizations and fatalities in the days and weeks to come". It even comes with a handy scorecard of the number of cases in each state (and New York City) for those who want to play along at home.

So, before the inevitable Armeggedon comes, I'll just give you a brief update on life on McKellar.

First of all, it may not be life on McKellar for too much longer. No, this isn't a joke about Swine Flu. As some of you may know, we have our house up for sale, although save for a showing a couple of days after putting it on the market, there hasn't been too much action. Still, one never knows what tomorrow may bring.

Actually, my Dad and I might be going to the War of 1812 Reenactment at Longwoods Conservation Area just outside Delaware. We went a couple of years ago and I got some great photos so I'm hoping to repeat that tomorrow. It will depend on the weather, of course.

I'm reading a couple of books. (Hope to be doing more of that -reading- I mean.):

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax. I was suprised at how quickly this book drew me in. It's about a (to date) young boy who learns to play the cello. Eventually, I must assume he becomes a famous musician as the early part of the 20th century plays itself out.

Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, the Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan by Chris Wattie. I found this book at the Glencoe Public Library and decided to give it a read, since it's about the Canadian Army in Afghanistan. Of course, the fact it includes a lot of references to the LAV IIIs the Canadians use, and even mention GDLS in London, Ontario by name, is pretty cool. (Of course, they actually mis-name us, since we're GDLS-C, GDLS is in Sterling Heights, Michigan.)

The Jays are 3-3 in the 10th against the Orioles.

I'm actually getting a few things done today. Started the day with 30 things on my To-Do list and am down to 18, although I have come up with a few more things to add to that list. I figure if I keep working away, I should have it down to maybe 10-12 items left for tomorrow. (Since one of those items is to upload pics from the reenactment, I guess there's at least a couple of items that will have to wait until tomorrow.)

One thing I did do was to update the main page of my website. Nothing fancy, just links to other sites, so check it out at www.geocities.com/docmilner

JM