lord of the rings

Comic updated today

Jeff and I went for dim sum at King's Garden Chinese Cuisine with Jen, Bryan and Christine yesterday. Yummmm. Christine and I are going to be collaborating on a personal project, by the way...more details soon. ;-)


After stuffing ourselves on shrimp dumplings and steamed pork buns, Jeff and I went to see Bridget Jones's Diary at the Paramount. Allison and a few other friends had recommended this movie. LOVED it. Especially liked Renée Zellweger. Does anyone know if her accent was faked? Being unfamiliar with the actress, I looked her up on The Internet Movie Database -- and found out she had grown up in Texas!


A question about faked British accents in North American movies...are these obvious to you genuine Brits? If so, how do they come across? Obnoxious? Stuffy? Side-splitting hilarious?


But I digress from my intended topic of today's Blathering: THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I never finished reading this trilogy. I did actually try once when I was much younger, and got within the last 50 pages or so of the third book. Then I got distracted, and never came back. My Tolkien-loving friends were incredulous and scandalized. "How can you POSSIBLY stop reading it so close to the end??" To tell you the truth, I found LOTR pretty dry, with dull characters and an interminably plodding plot.


Before you Tolkienites start hurling big rocks at my head, however, you should know that I've decided that I might have been wrong about the book. Maybe I tried reading it at the wrong time in my life. Maybe I went in with too high expectations. Maybe I had indigestion. Anyway, I'm going to give it another shot, and to post mini-reports after each chapter. I got the idea from Allison, who recently told me about a similar project on a Tolkien site, by a "Tolkien virgin" reading the books for the very first time.


Why publicly document the process? Because I figure I'm more likely to finish the books that way. Plus I figure it would be intriguing to get feedback from others who have read (or attempted to read (or who are determined never to read)) the books along the way. My goal is to finish reading the trilogy by the time the movie comes out in December. I'm going to start reading the book in a few days, when Jeff and I head off to the cottage for most of May.


Posting reports in my Blatherings, however, would involve heavy spoilers for those who haven't yet read LOTR. So I've set up a separate section, which I hope to update on a regular basis. Like my comic strip, I will post links to updates on my Blatherings so you'll know when I've managed to get through another chapter. Feel free to check out this new section:




Reading LORD OF THE RINGS

...A Final Attempt




I've posted the URL on my links page. For the sake of those who aren't LOTR fans, I'd appreciate detailed LOTR comments being posted on that message board rather than in Blatherchat, thanks. :-)


Today's Blatherpic:

With Jeff, Jennifer, Bryan, and Christine.


Link of the Day:

Dancing Paul.


Poll:

Have you read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy?

web rings

Comic updated (yet again)

Comic strip help needed!: I need a name of an Internet startup company (xxx.com) that ISN'T already registered (you can check through http://www.qwho.com). Ideally, the name would have something to do with music or songwriting, but this isn't necessary. All the over-the-top "corporate dot com" names I came up with turn out already to be registered...my goal is NOT to use the name of an already-existing company (the potential lawsuit thing, y'know). Please e-mail me or post your suggestion in Blatherchat. If I end up using your suggestion, I'll send you some Inkspot pens. :-) Thanks!





So I've joined a Web ring. Two, actually. Inkspot was never part of one even though there are many for writers. I've never gone for the "become part of as many Web Rings as you possibly can even if it means taking up half your main page with links" method of self-publicity. My primary beef with Web rings is that most are completely open. I find that this results in Web rings with hundreds of linked sites of wildly varying quality and a gradually increasing number of 404s. This may not bother some, but I don't have the patience to click through the sites in a ring like this. Call me an Elitist Web Ring Snob, if you'd like. :-)


I think that the best Web rings are ones which are very specific in scope and membership requirements. On Display appealed to me because its focus is on strong writing and because it involves collaboration projects. Collaboration is a strict requirement, in fact...if you fail to participate in a certain number of monthly projects or miss one without making arrangements, you're out of the ring. If you don't join the mailing list, you're out of the ring. There are also several optional collaboration projects.


The concept is intriguing. Each month, members agree on one topic. During the month, each member must write one entry on that topic, then all the entries are linked to that month's topic page. Here's an example of the March topic page, where the topic was the word "red".


I think this concept of topic challenges is a wonderful idea, partly because of the "writing prompt" aspect, and partly because it builds community in a way that a typical Web ring never does. It would be fun to apply this idea to songwriting, wouldn't it? Hm...or the concept could even be done through a password-protected message board (for posting of lyrics, discussion of upcoming topics, etc.). You'd have to agree to abide by the rules to get a password. Hm...I'll have to think about this.





Went to see "Driven" yesterday afternoon with Jeff and his dad. I don't normally go for car racing movies, but part of the movie was filmed in our neighbourhood, so I was curious. The movie was pretty much what I expected. But it WAS very cool to see shots of places in Toronto I recognized. If any of you see the movie, for example, check out the scene where two of the characters go joyriding through the streets of Chicago in racecars. That's one of the streets just outside our apartment; I can see it from my office window. I was in Philly when this scene was filmed, but Jeff reports that it was VERY loud. The production company had posted notices in our building warning tenants that they would be filming all night, and that there would a lot of noise, but apparently some tenants complained anyway.


Last night, we went to Hiro Sushi with a bunch of friends (Luisa, Reid, Doug, Mark, Bryan, Parki, Scott) for a belated celebration of Scott's birthday. 'Twas good sushi, but I thought it a tad overpriced.


These days, I'm reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Enjoying it much more than I expected; I had heard only lukewarm reviews about it. The atmosphere reminds me a bit of that in the Gormenghast series, and some of the antagonists are truly nasty.


I've also become hooked on the game Black and White. More on this in a future Blathering. :-)


Today's Blatherpic:

My four-year-old niece, Annie.


Poll:

Do you feel that you lost your virginity too early?

ritual

Went to the Pickle Barrel with Jodi and Allison last night. Allison decided to be a rebel and opted for a strawberry-banana smoothie instead of our usual coconut mambo. Some of the waitstaff recognize us on sight now...not surprising, since we've been eating there regularly on Thursdays for years now. It's become a ritual for us on Urban Tapestry "practice" nights (in quotes because we tend to do more just hanging out than actual practising these days :-))...Jodi picks me up at Finch subway station, we pick up Allison, dinner at the Pickle Barrel, then mall browsing or a movie after.


I know some would say we're in a rut, that we should opt for a different restaurant every time. Personally, I find certain rituals comforting. They help ground me, giving me something to hold onto when everything else in my life might be in flux. The ritual of getting together every week even if we don't have an upcoming gig has helped cement the friendship between Jodi, Allison and me over the years.


We tend to only do serious practising together when we have a concrete reason, such as a guest spot at a convention, or some recording (we'll be practising "Alien Jellyfish" a lot for Chris Conway's recording project, for example). In terms of improving our own musicianship and songwriting abilities, we tend to do that independently rather than as a group.


Urban Tapestry doesn't tend to do improvisational jam sessions, something I used to enjoy (it's what attracted me to filk in the first place), but I get my "jam" fixes at conventions. The satisfaction I get from my involvement with UT is more about friendship, and the ability to work on music with like-minded people. It's wonderful to be able to write out a three-part counterpoint on paper, take it to a UT practice, and come away with a rough recording of the vocals. Allison and Jodi always seem to pick up their parts like magic, and can suggest improvement tweaks.


We support each other through difficult personal times as well as musically. Yes, there are minor squabbles, but they never last very long. In the end, we all look out for each other. And we all know what a rare thing it is for a musical group to settle on a chemistry (musically and personally) that works in the longterm. I'd like to think this comes across in our music. :-)


Today's Blatherpic:

Urban Tapestry in concert in the UK at Didgeri-Douze last year. Photo by Godfrey Joseph.


Today's Poll Question:

When you come across an unfamiliar word in a book, do you usually look it up in a dictionary?

copyright

Comic updated




A recent entry in one of the online journals I check on a regular basis inspired the topic for today's Blathering. While I was involved with Inkspot, online copyright was an issue frequently misunderstood, resulting in much heated debate.


It's easy to forget that basic rules about intellectual property apply as much online as they do offline. I am guilty of this myself. About a month ago in Blatherchat, John O'Halloran posted a link to a photo of me that he took at Consonance. I actually liked this photo (I usually hate how I look in pictures), and posted the photo at the top of my Blatherings the next day, making sure to credit John. I had assumed that he wouldn't mind, and had gotten too used to asking filker friends for permission to use their photos and having their surprised reaction be, "Of COURSE you can, I can't believe you even asked!"


This was an incorrect assumption. I -should- have asked John for permission first, and he was justified in being upset. I removed the photo and apologized to John as soon as I saw his angry posting on Blatherchat (he also e-mailed me privately). I was deeply embarrassed at having forgotten one of the most basic rules of online copyright, one that I had been so vocal in advocating while working on Inkspot...just because it's online doesn't mean it's free for the taking.


Inkspot and Inklings were plagiarized several times. In all cases, the perpetrators claimed ignorance, that they hadn't realized they were doing anything wrong. Some -were- innocent mistakes. Others not so innocent, like the person who included the entire writers' marketing listing section from each issue of Inklings in his own newsletter without credit, or the writer who basically copied an Inklings article, tweaked the phrasing, then sold the article as one of her own.


Because pretty much everything online is free, people tend to assume that no one would mind if content is redistributed without permission. Even the jokes and funny stories that are constantly recirculated by e-mail could be a breach of copyright laws. It's so easy to cut and paste text (and images) online that most people don't think about the copyright implications.


They also don't think about the amount of effort that might have gone into the content they are ripping off. This online journal entry by Yen of "Shinkansen" gives a great example of this (check out her entry page, by the way...she uses a Mac laptop, woohoo!). I was blown away when I first saw her online journal...the layout, photos, and writing are all wonderful. She obviously put a ton of time into planning the design as well as the look and feel of the site. Recently, Yen discovered that someone else had copied her HTML...they had even forgotten to remove code that made it obvious that the code had been taken from Yen's site. When confronted, the author denied any wrongdoing (and also quietly removed the telltale HTML "tracks').


Yen nicely summarizes the non-legal aspect of copyright in her journal entry:



"I don't think copyright rules have to be on a marquee or framed with stagelights to be stressed clearly enough. All the average sensible person ever needs is to be fairly cognizant about certain rules of ethics. How difficult is it to practice Internet etiquette? It surely is not as complicated as guessing the right spoon at a dinner party. All that is asked of you is to respect other people's work. It is only common sense."



For those interested, Moira Allen (used to be Associate Editor of Inkspot/Inklings) has some great articles about copyright on her site, Writing World (go to her article index and search for the keyword "copyright").


Today's Blatherpic:

My old cubicle at Xlibris. I don't miss it.


Today's Poll Question:

Do you have any commercial software (normally sold for a fee) on your computer right now that you didn't pay for, and that you don't plan to pay for?

david gray concert

New Filk Forte topic by Allison:
How would you describe your perfect filk circle?




Felt old last night. After a thoroughly enjoyable dinner with some friends at C'est What, we went to a David Gray concert at the Warehouse. I really like his music, but last night I finally realized that I'm just not cut out for this type of smoke-hazed, beer-on-the-cement-floor, everyone standing straining to see over the people in front of you (except for tall people like Jeff, of course) concert venue anymore. I ended up sitting on the floor near the exit (better air circulation there) with Kate and Luisa. I have could have handled it ok were it not for the smoke. I got double-whammied with pleurisy and bronchitis years ago, and since then have had real problems with cigarette smoke. None of my close friends smoke so I've gotten somewhat spoiled, I think. :-)


So as I sat cross-legged on the cement floor, unable to see the stage, unable to distinguish any lyrics (bad acoustics where we were sitting), having to yell at the top of my lungs to have any sort of conversation, desperately trying not to throw up on Kate and Luisa, I couldn't help but wonder if I wouldn't be better off being home listening to a David Gray CD. Luisa and I ended up cutting out early, both of us feeling a little old-fogeyish but secretly relieved. I had a long bath and read about cross-under fingering technique in Harp Column.


Jeff came home about an hour later, raving about how great the concert was. I tried very hard to stay awake, but realized it was a losing battle when I started to sleep-talk. Jodi and Allison have both heard me sleep-talking...sometimes when I get very, very sleepy but am trying very, very hard to stay awake, I start babbling non-sequiturs. This time, however, I became aware of what I was doing.


"Did I just say, 'Madeleine Machine Thingies'?" I asked Jeff suddenly.


"Yes, you did." He sounded highly amused.


"Why? What were we just talking about?"


"I have no idea why you said it. I think you should go to sleep now."


Allison and Jodi claim that late one night at a filk convention, after we had gone to bed and turned the lights out, I told them a story about Xena and Allison's Tamagochi (remember them?!) creature. I would have accused them of making the whole thing up were it not for the fact that I had the vaguest recollection, almost like the wisps of a dream that remain for a few seconds after you wake in the morning.


I'm up to an average of receiving 80 e-mail messages a day now, according to the Eudora stats program. Hm. Some of this is spam, of course, as well as being on a few mailing lists. I am determined not to approach my Inkspot-levels, must figure out how to ensure that. Recent electricpenguin.com stats, for those interested: daily average 360 visits, 7500 hits, 1600 pages. Lowest traffic on the weekends, highest midweek. Most popular visit times: 10 am EST, then 3-4 pm EST. Most popular page is my Blatherings, followed by the message boards, main Electric Penguin page, Blatherchat, Dandelion Report, and then my Harp Resource. Popular search strings: "anabukin-chan", "blatherchat", "pregnant women photos", "debbiecam", "algonquin ice out", "litterbox font", and "UK Photos of my sister naked" (?!?).


Today's Blatherpic:

Amanda Snyder, Beckett Gladney, and me. This photo was taken several years ago, when I went to visit the West coast. Amanda and Beckett took me to some fairgrounds (can't recall the name...Amanda? Beckett?)


Today's Link:

CartoonKate. Parki's super-talented sister! She came to the concert last night and we talked about Greymatter and Shockwave Flash.


Today's Poll Question:

Have you ever given money to a street musician?