You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2010.
So I was rootin’ around my “creepy gem” collection this morning, but found it conspicuously empty. I think my cats may have swatted them all under my fridge.
So instead, I give you Bare Naked Ladies.
“Godda kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight” is probably one of the best lines ever penned in this country, by one of our greatest and most under-rated artists – Mr. Bruce Cockburn.
(That’s pronounced “KOH-bern” to any who aren’t familiar)
Many moons ago, I saw Bruce Cockburn perform live. His guitar work is subtle but intricate and stunning. And for such a gentle and mild-mannered man, his music packs a wallop. This one almost had me in tears…and as I watched him perform I could see that, after many years of singing this song over and over, he was in tears as well. He means what he says.
Respect.
In other news, it looks like Clown the Youngest is getting out of the hospital today, just in time for Halloween.
Have a good weekend all…I hope it bleeds daylight over all of you.
Cheers!
The outriders stormed in, early in the morning. Their reports were grim. The Frost Giants and Snow Gods had been fanning out from Duluth, Minnesota, and had begun this year’s campaign of frigid war much earlier than expected. The outriders stomped heavy, wet snow from their boots and eagerly grabbed for steaming mugs of morning coffee.
“The trails are glare ice! There’s no way you can make your way back to the village today!”
“We’re going to be surrounded and boxed in! Local Peace Officers are urging everyone to head for shelter and wait until the hordes have exhausted themselves!” Needless to say, my outriders are a somewhat cowardly lot. They would rather die in their beds than face the hordes with wet and serrated blades. I took their wailing intelligence reports in stride as I had prepared for this eventuality.
I, of course, had been keeping Hellbringer out in the stable, lo these long, summer months. Now…now it would earn its keep and unleash its fury.
I looked out my window, and the Snow Gods blasted a cursed handful of snow into the glass. When the dusting had passed, I saw heaps and heaps of cold, wet, heavy snow already piling and drifting in front of my lodge. I could hear it. I could feel it. They were pushing me toward despair, cowardice, and surrender. I smiled…and conjured forth images of my fathers, battling this icy scourge in the generations before me. And they had not Hellbringer – could I do any less than these fine, winter warriors when I had the perfect instrument of snow-pain and snow-suffering at my right hand? I would die of shame if I didn’t sing their names and join battle.
I donned my woolen helm and Gore-Tex armour. I pulled on my gauntlets of felt and leather. I poured hot coffee in my Roughriders travel mug.
And I went to the Hellbringer.
By the Gods, Hellbringer was beautiful in that pale, snowy, morning light! So very green and shiny…extending its knobbed-tire claws…proudly showing the serrated teeth that would bring Hell, Doom, and Woe to any Frost Giant who dared chance my neighbourhood! Its halogen headlight gleamed at me, eager for the fray. With child-like joy I adjusted the choke and depressed the fuel bulb…and pressed the electric start.
Adrenaline surged as Hellbringer belched its too-rich smoke into the air! The Snow Gods had forgotten their foe! I switched the choke over to “run”. The Gods would not forget now…and it would be they who ran! The swirling snow in front of Hellbringer’s stable hesitated, then retreated in the face of its roaring snow-lust. There would be no escape for them now.
“HAVOK!!” I screamed, “Die Gotterdammerung is upon you! Sing loudly of us both when you arrive in the Underworld! Lament your fate when you lie broken in my neighbour’s yard!” Hellbringer’s teeth spun hellishly in its gaping maw and together we leaped into the fight.
By God, I almost felt sorry for that sorry snow. We went through it like shit through a goose. Coaxing my big, green, war pig along its murderous path, I did scream so that The Hall of Warriors did hear me…as did my neighbour whose parking spot I had just cleared out. He was overjoyed with our fight, and did bring us schnapps to keep our strength and spirits high.
Across the road! Onto the neighbour’s lawn! Snow to the left of me, ice and slush to my right! It was glorious, my friends.
Completely and utterly glorious.
Upon completing our destruction of the Snow Giants and their laughable snow, I did return Hellbringer to its stable, and lovingly dusted it off as it ticked and cooled; its snow-lust slated for the time being.
And I did celebrate by downing a few Polar Bears while admiring my nice, clean driveway and front walk.
(Note – Polar Bear. Hot chocolate, made with milk, 1.5 ounces Peppermint Schnapps, splash of Bailey’s Irish Cream. The breakfast of snow-blowing champeeeens, like moi.)
Howdy all – thanks for continuing to stop in.
Sorry I haven’t been able to finish my thoughts on the Gun Registry yet, or give you anything new to look at or think about. Clown the Youngest is currently in hospital with a bacterial infection in his blood stream. I have a feeling he got it from his IV’s the last time he was in (and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him), but what do I know, right? Either way, he’s doing well – he’s not at death’s door or anything like that. He’s just bored and “rammy”. You would be too if you were looking at 2 weeks in a small room with tubes in your arms and fed bad food. On the other hand, he has a favourite nurse he likes to flirt with. It seems my son has good taste in women for she is a looker. Yowza.
So anyway, it’s open thread time until I can get settled again.
Colonel Williams – bring back the death penalty or no? Was all that graphic evidence truly necessary for the public to see and hear?
US Democrats – going down in the mid-terms this year?
Saskatchewan Roughriders – WTF is going on down at Taylor Field? Coaching troubles? Player motivation? Other teams just getting that much better? Just a whole bunch of whining from fans who are ready to bail on their team as soon as the going gets rough?
BHP Billaton (sp?) – Can Saskatchewan / Canada block their potash bid with a straight face, knowing Canadian interests control a gigantic chunk of Aussie Ag companies?
Anyhow, some things to talk about while I’m sitting in a hospital room….the coffee’s on, there’s a fresh deck of smokes on the table…
Have at ‘er.
For pure, artistic beauty, today’s Gem probably isn’t the best example.
HOWEVER – for a fun little guitar song with 80′s hootchie-mamas? This one’s for YOU, my friend.
I’ve always loved this video because they only show little “flashes” of the girls; really highlighting the “tease” aspect of this song. Well done.
Anyway, finish what you start this weekend – whether it’s raking leaves or a enjoying a 2-4.
Cheers!
I didn’t feel I should speak about this for legal reasons until today.
But one of these toddlers was Clown the Youngest.
I do believe justice was served.
The recent debate and vote in the House of Commons over scrapping / saving the Gun Registry brought out a great deal of frustration – from both sides of the issue. Myself included.
What I did notice, though, was that many supporters of the Gun Registry seem to be arguing for something they don’t understand. And thus, fear. All the usual “scary-gun-lovin red-neck” name calling aside, many seemed to believe that if the Gun Registry was scrapped, it would be open season out in the streets and any yee-haw yahoo could purchase an MP-5, or AK-47, or .50 Desert Eagle and paint the town red without a thought. I understand how visceral this fear might be to someone living in downtown Toronto or Calgary. Thank God I live on a quiet hillside in the middle of nowhere. But almost every pro-registry poster I read had this underlying belief that scrapping the Registry was scrapping gun control.
I can forgive people for thinking this. Since the early 90′s, governments have been absolutely terrible at explaining how all this actually works. Perhaps on purpose in order to keep average Joes and Janes scared and looking to government to solve all their problems, but I digress.
For the record – scrapping the Gun Registry is not scrapping Gun Control.
If you support the Gun Registry, please grab a coffee. (I’d pour you one myself, but I don’t know what you take in yours). In good faith, I’m going to walk you through the process and show you some things you may not know. Things that may, ultimately, lead you to a different way of looking at this, one without so much fear, supposition, and hysteria.
The first and foremost thing you need to know is this: The Gun Registry is a seperate entity from Gun Licensing. You have yourself a driver’s license. You register your car. (I know what you’re going to say. More on that in a moment).
Before you can purchase and use any kind of firearm in this country, you must take an in-depth safety and training course. You cannot get yourself a firearms license without passing this course and being able to prove on paper that you did. Once you have your passing grade, you can then apply for your firearms license. Along with your passing safety grade, you must essentially go through an RCMP back-ground check. You must provide photos of yourself. You must have your spouse and ex-spouses give their consent. You must supply detailed information about yourself (such as revealing divorces, and treatment for mental health issues), and 2 or 3 members of your community must vouch for you and sign these forms as well. My point here is that the screening process to become a licensed gun-owner / user is quite rigorous. And the RCMP can dig further on you if they feel it necessary. Despite the hoops a Canadian needs to jump through in order to pursue a love of hunting / shooting, I have yet to meet a single gun-owner who isn’t OK with this. They all understand the importance of having trust-worthy, safe people using firearms and think this is a reasonably effective way to go about it. You absolutely cannot legally purchase or use a firearm without being licensed to do so. If you meet all the requirements, you can then purchase and own a firearm that is legal to own in Canada. Assault rifles, rifles that look like assault rifles, automatics, and several specific makes of rifle are prohibited from public ownership under all circumstances (such as the rifle used in the mass shooting at Ecole Polytechnique). You are also responsible for the proper storage of your firearms as dictated by law. Gun safes, trigger locks, removing the bolts and storing them separately from the firearms, storing ammunition separately, etc etc. Here again, most gun owners I know are OK with this.
So here you are – a responsible, licensed gun owner.
The Gun Registry is a different animal. It’s simply a detailed list of the firearms you have in your possession.
I’ll say it again.
It’s a list.
This list doesn’t make safer gun owners. This list, by its nature, is utterly powerless to create safety in your urban neighbourhoods. It’s a thing. It’s not an action by which people move to become more safe and responsible. It’s not an initiative to reduce gun crime on urban streets. It’s a big, long, 2 billion+ dollar list that cannot give you any of those things you ultimately want.
It’s only power is (if you’re a gun owner), to take things away.
And not just your guns.
(part 2 coming soon)
…or “To Hell and Bach”.
Just outside of Hell, right at the cross roads, there’s a club where the Devil gets paid his dues.
But sometimes?
Courage combines with joy and beauty and the Devil goes back to his infernal home empty handed.
Today’s gem was a little long, but I thought it fitting. We’re approaching Hallowe’en after all, and it combines deals with the Devil with face shredding guitar work from Steve Vai and Ry Cooder.
Strength, joy, courage, and beauty to you all this weekend.
Like most people, I’m not what anyone would ever call “psychic”. But there are times when (I believe) I get precognitive flashes and premonitions. In my case, they always come to me in my dreams – in the form of tornadoes.
Since I was 14, my dreams of tornadoes have always warned me of upheaval. Not necessarily bad things (although most of the time they are hard things), but big change. Difficulties.
Relationships ending…deaths…career changes and moves…things like that.
The last dream I had was 24 hours before an unexpected death in the family. I had another tornado dream last night in which myself and several good friends were fishing and we were beset by waterspouts of all sizes. What’s coming down the pipe this time? I dunno. But I believe something is coming my way.
Do you have dreams like this? I think we all must have precognitive dreams of some sort from time to time…but after having had them for years, I wonder about their true nature.
Can I actually claim them as precognitive? Or is my mind simply reacting to upheavals that are already there, and because of my dreams I simply notice them more? I wonder if what I experience isn’t “forecasting the future” so much as pattern recognition? Extrapolating that idea, can all psychic visions and such be some form of pattern recognition as opposed to “voices from the ether”?
Here’s my crackpot theory. When I dream of tornadoes, it’s because my subconscious is recognizing patterns that my conscious mind doesn’t see. You know – subtle little things at work, how a sick person looks, or the way a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend is acting. My subconscious then relays this information to the conscious in a language of symbols. Further, I think perhaps all psychic abilities are forms of pattern recognition. That is to say, a function of the brain so misunderstood it looks and feels supernatural.
How about those people who just know where the bodies are and what happened to them? Can that not be an ultra-highly tuned form of pattern recognition? Their brains just see some sort of pattern in the missing person’s family and belongings? When they claim to speak with the dead, is it perhaps their own subconscious actually breaking through into the conscious and voicing the complex patterns that have been recognized?
I don’t mean to diminish people who have this ability. I just wonder if it’s less paranormal in nature, and more “special brain features” that are not seriously studied or understood.
Good news! My coyotes came by for a visit on Wednesday night. It seems almost silly how good it made me feel to hear them yipping and yapping and howling again. If I could find the time or cash, I’d endeavor to leave them a nice pile of deer guts this fall…but alas, it’s not to be.
I also had tickets to Black Label Society a couple of weeks ago, but I had to pass those over as my mum needed some company and attention that weekend. Zak Wylde (of BLS) used to play for Ozzy Osbourne…and here he his doing a song Ozzy and Randy Rhoads made famous. In order for full effect, you must needs crank thy volume.
Have a great weekend all – Happy Thanksgiving!
Be thankful for all you have at full speed and full volume.
Also? Stop in here and give me your thoughts and suggestions. I’d be thankful…
You know it’s coming.
Despite the sunshine, you can feel the wind has shed its milk teeth and will soon have fangs. It grows hungrier, my friends.
The leaves turn and flee before it. They stampede this way and that through the air and scurry down my street, saying with one voice – “ssssshhhhhhhhhh! It’s coming! Make yourself ready!“
October for me has always been the time of year that I feel like I’m standing in some gigantic, stone doorway, looking into a room of blackness. Sometimes, I hear laughter. Sometimes, I smell hot blood and damp mold.
Other times, there’s bleating.
After I stopped laughing, I got a chill. The little goat reminded me of something most unpleasant and it took me a minute to remember what it was.
Does the name “Brown Jenkin” ring any bells?
What are the ghost / horror stories that I absolutely must read or see on the screen? Have any chilling tales of your own you’d like to share while we huddle against the darkness?
I’d love to hear them. It will distract me from the odd, wordless whispering I keep hearing from the other side of the doorway.
