Saturday, November 30, 2013

Random Saturday Musings

Hi all,

Hope your last couple of days have been great! 

I admit to doing some online shopping yesterday, but it was related to trying to get my shopping done as I want to mail all my packages on Monday.  I started decorating the house over the last couple of days and hope to get the tree as well this weekend and start decorating that as well.  I love this time of year and I have really taken the time to be thoughtful about what I am buying people this year, which is kind of nice, since sometimes in other years it was a bit of a chore.

Some things I am thinking about this weekend:

1) My email cup runneth over...

I got more emails from more companies in the last three days then I got the previous month!  Even businesses that I didn't think had my email seemed to have my email and wanted to tell me about their sale.

Now this would make some of your cranky.  I understand why.  It breeds mental and (potentially) fiscal junk.  You suddenly know about sales from companies that you didn't even know existed.  Of course, there is that 'delete' button and I put it to good use.  However, there were some sales I was unaware of (hello Chapters!) and it was great to find out about them. 

This is the ying and the yang of our new world, I guess.  Having said that, in my old job I used to get 100+ emails a day and at least 50 needed real action.  So my perspective on junk email, email that I can delete with impunity with a simple push of a button, is not a bad thing...

did you get a lot of love letters, too?

2) This is just what you say right before your long dead soap opera wife returns...

I read with interest this morning the following AP article:

China claims victory in scrubbing Internet clean

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government has declared victory in cleaning up what it considers rumors, negativity and unruliness from online discourse, while critics say the moves have suppressed criticism of the government and ruling Communist Party.

Beijing launched the campaign this summer, arresting dozens of people for spreading rumors, creating new penalties for people who post libelous information and calling in the country's top bloggers for talks urging them to guard the national interest and uphold social order. At the same time, government agencies at all levels have boosted their online presence to control the message in cyberspace.

"If we should describe the online environment in the past as good mingling with the bad, the sky of the cyberspace has cleared up now because we have cracked down on online rumors," Ren Xianliang, vice minister of the State Internet Information Office, said during a rare meeting this week with foreign journalists.

***
But here's the thing - it's the freakin' internet people.  And I remember 1982, when General Hospital was in its hey day and I was at university with apparently a lot of time on my hands, and Luke told his new girlfriend Holly that he loved her and they would always be happy and that he was well and truly over the death of his first wife Laura.  EXCEPT SHE WASN'T DEAD!!!!!!!!

And the pesky thing about the internet is you can't really scrub it clean.  There is always something creeping out there somewhere.  And it smells like democracy and freedom and it is insidious and this headline might better have read:

China in final death rattle of totalitarian regime

Cause you and I both know the truth: Laura is alive and she is coming back and sorry Holly, it turns out Luke still loves her....



3)   My New Love Affair - the local indoor track

It has either been torrentially raining or -10 here, so this week I had to find a new place to go for my long walks.  Enter the local rink/sports complex, which has a lovely walking track  with a specially engineered shock-absorbing floor.  I made it there 4 times this week and was so happy to find a spot when the weather is just too inclement!

no that isn't me on the left!

4) High School Musicals

I am off this afternoon to see a high school production of White Christmas with my daughter and her friend.  I love high school musicals - they work so hard and are so appreciative of the love they get from the audience.  Yay to Fredericton High School!  This will really help me get in the Christmas mood....

5) and speaking of White Christmas...

I am reminded of something every December: Bing Crosby has ONE OF THE GREATEST VOICES EVER.  Some of you may think that is an old fashioned perspective but I do not care.  Bing's voice is superb and he was the original pop singer - Mr. Popular Music from the 1920s onwards and that term was coined to describe his music.  Everybody copied him, including Old Blue Eyes.  Most of us only know Bing from his Christmas music now, but music historians and many current musicians would cite him as one of the best singers ever.

 Artie Shaw described Bing as the first hip white person born in the United States, and Louis Armstrong said that his voice sounded like gold being poured out of a cup.  I sat that his is a songbook worth exploring and really listening to and not simply at Christmas - it is a joy to listen to all of his music.

You know I love David Bowie as well, so here is my now annual playing of Bing and Bowie's hit, which I first saw live many years ago:





Finally, I would be amiss if I did not acknowledge the tragedy unfolding this morning in Glasgow.  My prayers are with them this morning as they work to free more of the club patrons.

Much love all - stay safe out there!





20 comments:

  1. Bing Crosby could be my dad's brother, that's where I get my long face and giant forehead from! OK, off to go watch that but I can feel the weep creeping up already.

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    1. Okay - we may well be related! My grandfather and father looked related to Bing as well in terms of face shape!!!!

      I am thinking of those in Glasgow - it is so shocking!

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    2. I am way behind you on that story, I don't even know how many fatalities there are so far.

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    3. They have been unclear here - I have only heard one confirmed and many injuries though they suspect more bodies inside.

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  2. The email onslaught is just crazy these days. The trash can is bigger than the inbox.

    I love Bing Crosby as well. Smooth as silk.

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    1. Bing is a welcome refuge from many of the other singers, whom I like, but whom I have no idea what they are saying!!

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  3. Ah Luke Laura. My first romance I tracked! We listened to bung Crosby so it is a family tradition...makes me miss childhood!

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    1. CSW - that was really the last time I ever watched soap operas - every one was watching that one - it sure brought me back when I thought about that!

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    2. First romance I tracked too! It always did bother me that they seemed to gloss over and "forget" that Luke raped Laura and he started as a really bad guy. Bringing people back from the dead is one thing, but rewriting a rape is another.

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    3. Hmm - surprisingly like a totalitarian regime..

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  4. Laughing at the Luke/Laura photo. First romance I tracked too, just like Naomi. So true about Bing Crosby and the promotional emails are nuts!
    That's great that you have an indoor track, that will allow you to walk all winter, how brilliant.

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    1. Do you have any near you Dani? I love to walk outdoors, but at a certain point out here, our roads become sheer ice (we are in the country and they barely plow) so I knew I was going to have to move indoors at some point!

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  5. My father was a big fan of Bing Crosby and we used to have the records (not holida-y). But speaking of great voices, I caught Josh Groban (whom I am not a fan of) reharsing in a plaza for a free concert sponsored by Bloomingdales a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is, the man can sing. He has a very powerful voice live that left me speechless. I can only imagine what an experience could have been hearing Bing Crosby singing live. Which reminds me, I should go to concerts more often!

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    1. Well that is cool seeing him Ema, even if you are not a fan (I am not either!) - that's the beauty of living in NYC!

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  6. Meant to say, I only get your emails and about two others every day, I hit unsubscribe to everything!

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    1. It's funny - I did that awhile ago, but I am sure they have crept back in again unbeknownst to me, so I will have to redo!

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  7. No one can sing like Bing! Louis Armstrong had the perfect description of his voice. And the duo with Bowie is one of my all-time favorites.

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    1. it is so great, isn't it? I think Bing died about 6 weeks later, so it makes it all the more special!

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  8. I'm so sappy this time of year!! I love Bing's voice. I noticed the same thing about my inbox...they're crawling out of the woodwork this year to get my money.

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    1. Ha! I fooled them! I have no money (while not technically true, true enough...)

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Kindness is a virtue...