I have always loved lists, especially around New Years.
I find I can skip entire years — then catch-up by scanning lists of the Best of ____.
For the 237th straight year, Fimoculous.com has posted a lists of lists for 2005.
For example, Roger Ebert’s best movies of the year. (I have seen not one of them.)
Or go straight to America’s Finest News Source, the top 10 stories of the year from Onion.com
40 Rods to the Hogshead?
My theory stands unchallenged that all LIFE is to be found in the archives of The Simpsons.
They have changed our language. They have changed our lives.
Me fail English? That’s unpossible.
By accident Sandy sent me her form email Christmas letter:
Dear _________(Rick),
I (we) are fine and have had a really good year with all of our
activity(ies).
The Kid(s)(dog)(cat)(fish)(circle all that apply) are fine and excelling in
all areas of their lives.
We had a fabulous vacation in___________________. Really enjoyed the
experience.
Hope to visit you in_____________________. Let us know what dates work for
you.
Take care and hoping to spend some quality time with you soon!!!!!!!
Love,
___________________
(sign above)
This is one of the funniest video mockumentaries I have ever seen. Some profanity. Dumb people may find it racist — and be outraged that NASSA landed on the moon 3 years before NASA.
The shocking-but-false story of America’s Blackstonauts:
Will the Daily Show spin-off with Stephen Colbert succeed? Though I love Colbert, I am not convinced.
I watch highlight video clips from the show on the web. If you have high speed internet, check it out for yourself:
Another low budget hit is called by some teens the greatest story ever told.
Napoleon Dynamite. What did I think?
Sweet.
I must try my hand at winning the Sundance film festival one day. The technology is at my fingertips.
Dec 23, 2003
Festivus is upon us. Time to mount the pole, air family grievances & limber-up for post-dinner Feats of Strength.
Festivus is my favourite of the secular alternatives to Christmas. Others prefer to spread the message of peace & good will to all men.
Onion.com did a great piece on bringing Christmas to Iraq — by force. Xmas is an easy mark for humourists & cynics.
Actually, this is my favourite holiday. I’m happy to be together with family after missing last Christmas in New Zealand.
For others this quotation rings true:
Christmas is … an excuse for alcoholics to mercilessly crush their families, children to have their innocence strangled by overwhelming greed and people who hate each other to gather and inflict torture over a cheese ball and crackers.
(from vegetarian Bill, as quoted by acclaimed journalist KZ.)
Hitler was a violent herbivore non-smoker too, actually, though that is possibly just a coincidence.
Speaking of vegetarians, my surrogate family the Masons invited me to one of their favourite annual events, Chocolate for Breakfast. This is a CUPS Christmas fund-raiser for the homeless sponsored by Bernard Callebaut fine chocolates and terrific dance band The Dino Martinis.
Appear Sunday morning in your PJs and dance away your decadent brecky! For the second time in the past 3 years the Mason clan won the grand prize, a huge gourmet chocolate Santa! (click on the photo to see a larger image.)
Trust you are getting a break over the holiday.
If you lack Christmas spirit, go see Love, Actually. It’s a chick flick but anyone would enjoy it — a Hugh Grant movie set in the weeks leading up to Christmas in London.
I’m jolly. Life is good. The gym club is going well, my apartment building now fully rented and I’m healthy if not wealthy nor wise.
I’m always cheered when days grow longer. Makes me pine for hiking adventures next summer.
Know that I am one of those annoying MAC devotees who dis Windoze users while denying the faults of Apple computers. We Macolytes have never been flying higher.
Time Magazine voted the Apple on-line music service iTunes the coolest tech invention of the year. (You can sample the service but it is still available only to Americans.) US$.99 / song — fast, easy, reliable.
Finally Apple has made a dent in the real world — the 97% of people who use Bill Gates operating system. Apple iTunes works on Windows. (I even downloaded iTunes on to Mason‘s PC when he was busy dressing the kids for tobogganing!)
Best song of 2003? I’d vote Where is the Love by the Black Eyed Peas. Great message, catchy song, great video. Uplifting too is Shania’s She’s Not Just a Pretty Face. Go girl!
I’m finally back to Saskatoon for New Years. The Longs host a wonderful weekend with a giant bonfire on frozen Emma Lake. You have a terrific New Years too!
All about the work,
Rick McSchneider
Rick McCharles 