music and talk and whaddaya no

March 21, 2005

coming, colours in the air


Just when you thought TV was better than going outside...


It's been pissing rain for the past two or three days here in Vancouver. I thought it was fairly depressing. But today, on my way to the video store to return some movies, I saw one of the most beautiful rainbows I'd seen in a long time. I rushed home to grab my camera and took a few pictures, one of which I've posted above.

I like to think that there is always good to balance out the bad. Sometimes, though, you have to wonder at the things that humans do. A fine example is the Terri Schiavo case that is all over the news and internet this week. What should have been open and shut has taken many years in the court system, and has now come to a head, flying in the President from his vacation to pass special legislation to keep Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube attached. Never mind that the courts and many great medical minds have laboured years to come to the simple conclusion that (a) Ms. Schiavo is in a persistent vegitative state from which, short of a literal miracle, there is no recovery, and (b) it is up to her legal guardian, her husband Michael Schiavo, to decide what is best for his wife, who has repeated over and over her wish never to be kept alive if she ever ended up in such a state, where pretty much all she is able to do is breathe. Never mind the complete and utter contradiction from the Republicans and the religious right. For example, as pointed out by Glenn McGee on bioethics.net, "Those who fought for the sanctity of marriage now fight against the importance of a husband's choice." All to win favour. Apparently congress knows better than expert medical opinion and years of judicial deliberation. And Terri Schiavo's parents? I'm not sure what their motivation is. I mean, I understand that she is their daughter, and I hate to even pretend to know what it is like to be in the middle of all this. Believe me, I know it's easy for me to sit here and ramble. But she has been in this state for over 10 years without improvement, and doctors, court-appointed doctors, have said time and time again that she won't improve, that she can't improve. What should have been strictly a private family matter has been dragged through all this mud for seven years, for, as I see it, pretty selfish reasons.

My two cents. I could go on. But I won't, because others have made all the points already. And much more eloquently and articulate than I. See the latest Glenn McGee entry on the bioethics.net blog which nails it for me, and check out this entry on the Majikthise blog for a very straightforward dispelling of many arguments that have arisen regarding this tumultuous affair.

This weekend I saw a couple of movies. I hardly see enough film these days, so this was a bit of a treat. Both films were good in their own way. First, Garden State was a nice film about finding onesself and reconciliation. I thought it was pretty good, if slightly overrated. But I can't complain too much about it, especially it being Zach Braff's writing and directorial debut. He did a fine job, and we'll see what he does next time. The second film, Bubba Ho-tep, starring the legendary Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness fame as an elderly Elvis Presley, was a pretty original story to say the least. Elvis and his friend, a black man who says he is JFK, try to save a rest home from an ancient Egyptian mummy who sucks the souls out of old people. I dug it. As bizarre as it can get, pretty much every thing in the story works. It even had a thing or two to say, I thought, about how shitty we treat our elderly.

I finally picked up The College Dropout by Kanye West, and it's fantastic. The whole album, minus a couple of tracks, is remarkably consistent. He obviously saved his best stuff for when he produced his own album.

Finally, I got word today that Woodhands has a video that will be featured on CBC's ZeD TV Monday, in an all-electronic edition of Music Monday. That's tonight! The program starts around 11:25 pm on CBC, and goes to midnight. So do yourself a favour and tune in to see the video for "Honest Broker", an awesome track, or at least go to the ZeD website to see it. I'll hopefully be putting up some Woodhands for your listening pleasure in the near future.

Out Hud - How Long   I'm pretty pumped for the new Out Hud record, out on Tuesday. S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. was so unbelievably good and I hear that this one, called Let Us Never Speak of It Again, is great as well. Here is a track off the new one from their website, which I hope hints at what to expect from the rest of the album. Hope you enjoy it. (You can purchase it from Kranky Records)
Posted by: Rob / 04:36
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