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oVIR21dpIl8 Aloha, Brad

Aloha, Brad

Fillion appeared as the character Caleb in the final (7th, I think) season of Buffy. Aloha, Brad

Aloha, Brad

There's also a Buffy reference in that scene. (Nathan Fillion was briefly in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.) Aloha, Brad

Bravo is airing a three-part documentary on Monty Python's Flying Circus this week; part 1 was last night, with parts two and three tonight and tomorrow night at 9pm. I caught most of last night's show, and it was pretty good: lots of behind-the-scenes stuff, along with newly done (and fairly candid and revealing) interviews with the surviving members. Aloha, Brad

I've seen a lot of ads lately about the proposal from (what I'll call) the TV companies (Global, CTV, etc., the companies who own and operate most local TV channels) to the CRTC that the cable companies (Rogers, Bell, etc.) be forced to pay them for providing their channels' content to their subscribers, and from the thinking I've been doing about it, I've concluded that there is idiocy and mis-statements on both sides. First, the cable companies are claiming that the TV companies are proposing a "TV tax" of up to $10 a month be levied against individuals. The problem with that is that any such charge wouldn't be a tax, as it's not going to the government. As well, the TV companies aren't proposing that individual subscribers pay the fees, they want to get the fees from the cable companies; it's the cable companies who would pass that fee on to subscribers. There's also one ad that has a person interviewed in the street say, "But don't the TV companies already get funding?" The interviewer doesn't answer, and it's not stated exactly what "funding" means; the ad also includes the fact that the TV companies had a combined profit of $400 million last year, without stating what the combined profit of the cable companies is. The ads also refer only to the big guys: CTV, Global, etc., without mentioning the independent stations. In Ottawa, CHRO The New RO A Channel recently dropped all of its news coverage, except for its morning program. Similarly, CHCH in Hamilton recently switched to running news and movies only. To my thinking, these are the channels that need support (especially for their news coverage, which is usually a money-loser for TV stations), but they're not included in the companies that the cable companies are targeting. As well, the ads don't include the fact that the cable companies pay for content, just not the local stuff (this fact is also omitted), which seems a little unfair to me. But on the other hand, the TV companies aren't really arguing from a "harm" (or cost recoupment) point of view, they're arguing from a fairness point of view: since the cable companies pay for some channels' content (e.g., American cable stations), it seems only fair to them that they should be paid, too. I understand where they're coming from, but the problem I have with this argument is that the TV companies actually benefit from being carried by cable companies, as it boosts their ratings at no (or very little) cost to them. I doubt very much that there are people who have both cable TV and an antenna; if the cable companies dropped the TV companies' channels, the ratings of those channels would plummet severely. So I'm not sure where I stand on the issue. Part of me wants to voice some of these concerns on http://www.stopthetvtax.ca/ and http://localtvmatters.ca/ but I have a feeling the thoughts I gave above might not be welcome. Your thoughts here, though, are welcome. Aloha, Brad

That's not quite the voice-of-sexy-in-a-room-full-of-hot-stewardess that I was hoping for, but thanks anyway. Aloha, Brad

I think there's a problem with the argument you're trying to make, though. You're stating that since health officials wouldn't inject a vaccine (or any other medicine) that was known to be dangerous (which I believe to be true), then that means that the vaccine/medicine must be safe. It doesn't, it just means that the vaccine/medicine isn't known to be dangerous, which is a very different thing (see thalidomide). Aloha, Brad

Whoops, I may have mis-interpreted your post. If you were using the fact that health officials wouldn't knowingly inject something dangerous (or which had likely-to-occur harsh side effects) as an argument in favour of the safety of the H1N1 vaccine, then I apologize for what I wrote. Aloha, Brad

Stop right there. The safety of medicines is not black and white, "dangerous" or "safe." All medicines have side effects, and yes, that includes vaccines. As one of the posted articles says, what danger there is known to be with the H1N1 vaccine is much smaller than the danger from getting H1N1 flu, and much less likely to occur. (It's also important knowing how you as a person react to vaccines. I heard a call-in show about the H1N1 vaccine program on CBC radio the other day, and one caller said she had an allergy to eggs, and wanted to know how she'd be affected by the vaccine [flu vaccines are manufactured using chicken eggs]; that kind of thing is important to know if you have such an allergy.) They're not injecting you with something dangerous, they're injecting you with something that has known side effects (e.g., sore arm) in a small percentage of the population, and the information on those side effects is readily available*, as is information on side effects of any other medication that is given or prescribed. Aloha, Brad * I assume there'll be pamplets available at clinics about the possible side effects.

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=529288 Aloha, Brad

I heard good things about Vista Print. Aloha, Brad

They usually have a full band; from http://www.myspace.com/brotherschaffey I've also seen Brothers Chaffey shows with guests sitting in, like Kelly Prescott on vocals, or Steve Marriner on guitar and vocals. Maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing the full band, but I found the duo kind of lacked something, like the drive of the drums; with just the guitars, the rockin' numbers (like their cover of the Ron Wood / Bo Diddley tune, "They Don't Make Outlaws Like They Used To Anymore") just didn't hit hard enough for me. Add to that the problems that Curtis Chaffey was having with his gear, and their set (IMnsHO) wasn't nearly as good as I know they're capable of. The Allrights blew me away: heavy-duty, slightly sloppy, rawk and roll, with the fun of a garage punk show, but with intensity (or the sharpness of the intensity) dialed back a little from punk, and with none of its violence of nihlism. The best part of their set was the bass playing. John, their drummer, told me that they had recently had a line-up change which ended up with one of their guitar players switching to bass. He broke a string early in the set, and asked if any of the other bands had a bass he could borrow; unfortunately, both Right By Midnight and Brothers Chaffey are two-guitar / no-bass duos, and Bruce Pensinula, who have a bass player, hadn't arrived yet. But he soldiered on, and rocked the 75% of the bass he had available, and rocked it hard. The set of fans they brought out (I think there were more Allrights fans there than Bruce Peninsula fans) did a great job on the dance floor and, to their credit, stuck around for the rest of the night. Bruce Peninsula floored me. They came out of the gate harder and heavier than I'd seen them, and kept at it the whole set. A personal highlight for me was the praise and props that Matt dropped on flipzoso and myself (we had given him a DVD of their Burnstown show last week, along with four CDs of BP shows), and their dedication of their cover of Louden Wainwrights "Swimming Song" to us, because that was exactly the song I wanted to hear them play. Their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" was a great encore. Right By Midnight was pretty good, with well-written songs, good musicianship, and great singing from Kris Ward. I think they could use more of a band (bass and drums, especially, along with some background vocals), but I liked what they did. Aloha, Brad

http://casadelpopolo.com/contents/calendar/cal.php Aloha, Brad

Gov't Mule is at Le National on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Aloha, Brad

I'll need to see the new A-Team's vehicle before I decide whether to be interested in it or not. Aloha, Brad

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/record_dealer_turns_up_ultra_rare_sgt_pepper Aloha, Brad

Courtesy of flipzoso, here are a couple of tunes from the last time Bruce Peninsula played Ottawa, at Cafe Dekcuf: nL4pCF_KQ-E RyHgKqIRGvw Aloha, Brad

I'm not sure. The doors are at 9pm (first band at 10pm?), and there are three acts on before Bruce Peninsula, so I wouldn't expect them to start that early. (That said, the two times I've seen them, they played for about an hour, so if the show gets going early, it might end fairly early.) Aloha, Brad

http://www.jambands.ca/sanctuary/showtopic.php?tid/254353/ I saw Bruce Peninsula in Burnstown, ON last week (read about it here) and was really impressed. Add in Brothers Chaffey (I think it's just Matthew and Curtis, not the full Brothers Chaffey band) and two other acts, and this should be a blast. Aloha, Brad

Am I right in reading this as two acts, one the Barr/Grass duo, and the other the Freedman/René/Zubot trio, or is it going to be a quintet with everybody in it? Aloha, Brad

Aloha, Brad

Cancel that: heady ride and hotel room acquired. Aloha, Brad

I got two for each night of Albany. Heady ride and hotel needed. Aloha, Brad