Family Pajama Day

We spent most of today in our pajamas.

It's like one of the patented "Hugh Hefner" days that Alexander and I enjoy having. I call them "Hugh Hefner" days because, in Hef style, we lazily lounge around the house all day in our pajamas.

Except, on this particular day, Family Day 2009 (Ontario has declared this particular Monday "Family Day" and it is a provincial holiday), wasn't just a pajama day -- it was a LEGO day.

A good portion of the day (almost 3 straight hours at least) was spent constructing the various LEGO sets from the City LEGO that Alexander started acquiring about 6 months ago.

It's quite amazing to see the cool setup that can be made from the various construction sets in the City LEGO models.

And while I'm a bit disappointed that, unlike the LEGO of my childhood, the modern LEGO sets seem to be a bit less geared towards "free" creative build (most of the new sets use so many specialty pieces and there isn't as much flexibility in terms of using the pieces to make things of your own creation), I'm quite delighted to be toiling with those little coloured bricks again.

LEGO rocks! A day with the family, rocks!

Sleep With One Eye Open

It's like something out of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" song, inviting you to sleep with one eye open, clutching your pillow tight.

The other day, after waking, my four year old was complaining that his eyes were sore because during the night the Sandman had spread salt into his eyes.

I asked him to explain.

Alexander went on to explain how, at night, The Sandman comes into your room and spreads salt into your eyes to help you sleep. He used the term "spread" rather than "sprinkle" in a wonderful re-imagination of the mythology.

And, of course, he used "salt" rather than "sand."

I'm betting that this mythology from my four year old's mind comes from the fact that we live in a northern climate and he has witnessed the fact that the winter service trucks (salt trucks) often use a mixture of salt and sand to melt ice and offer better traction on the roads. This is particularly important the further north you go because the temperatures are often so cold that the friction of the sand is more important than the salt, which requires closer to freezing temperatures to actually work. Thus, "salt" and "sand" are easily interchangeable in his mind. It makes sense to me (having grown in a more northern climate than where I now live)

I explained to him how The Sandman spreads magical sand that helps put us to sleep.

I left out the technical explanation of the more technical term of Rheum which is a medical term for the natural watery mucus discharged from the eyes -- or perhaps more commonly known as matter, sleepydust, sleep, lagañas, eye boogers, sleepers, sleepies, sleepy men, eye gunk - (Thanks, Wikipedia).

But I think I much prefer his version of the mythology. And I'm curious, particularly given his passion for trucks, that he didn't explain how The Sandman left his big service vehicle parked outside and running while he nipped into the house to spread his sand. I could almost feel the throbbing of the still-running engine vibrating through the house from The Sandman's vehicle parked, running, at the curb in front of our house, a bit nervous about looking outside and seeing the dark frosted glass of the front window preventing you from seeing inside the cab.

It does inspire some interesting imagery, though.

Perhaps I'll use the concept in a short story one day.

HNT - Valentine Memory

I recently won a local radio contest where they asked people to tell the story of how you first met your sweetheart. The prize was a tour of the famous Walker's Chocolate factory AND a $100 gift certificate to romance their Valentines with the exquisite taste of Walker's chocolate hearts, roses, luscious truffles and famous Mint Meltaways!!

When entering the story I submitted the tale of how Francine and I first met as counselors/instructors at an academic camp at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Called "Campus Camp"(an alternative to the usual summer sports camps), students would enroll in two week sessions where they would take one of two "subject area" tracks where they could learn more about different areas that Carleton University had to offer and was taught by students who had studied in these areas -- courses included Architecture, Law, Biology, Journalism, Business, Chemistry, Music and Drama.

I taught the drama program at Carleton's Campus Camp for 3 years and can honestly say that those were three of the best summers of my life. The students I taught were incredible -- many of them displaying incredible talent in theatre, writing and acting. I often wonder what happened to many of those students and can only imagine how a real teacher feels having seen so many developing minds come through their class.

I'm actually still in contact with one of the students who attended my class and who grew up to become a successful writer/playwright -- we maintained a correspondence while she was growing up and it was fantastic to share in her amazing successes and accomplishments over the years. There's a brief article, one of the only remaining remnants of Carleton's Campus Camp that I could find on the internet, here.

In any case, during the first meeting of counselor/instructors in my second summer of teaching at Campus Camp, I jokingly said that I had called the meeting to order because I was looking for a girlfriend and potential wife. Francine, whom I hadn't met before that day, put up her hand and said "Sign me up!"

Despite a mutual attraction that summer as we got to know each other, we had both been dating other people while remaining friends, so it wasn't until much later that our friendship actually evolved into something more serious. But I think it's really neat how the joking we'd been doing on that first day we met ended up coming to pass.

Therefore, in honour of the tale of how Francine and I met, I'm posting a picture (taken in Ottawa) of Fran and I for this week's HNT post. (And now I get to take my sweetie on a tour of Walker's Chocolate factory -- woo hoo! Thanks, Talk820! Thanks, Walker's Chocolates!)

Talk820 Morning Interview

Yesterday morning, Jason & Jodi from Talk820 and I had a chat about the Espresso Book Machine at Titles Bookstore McMaster University and the different types of custom books that we're producing there, including the special "put your sweetheart on the cover of a love sonnet book" we're offering customers for Valentine's Day.

It was a fun conversation, running about five minutes.

I though it would be fun to throw together a short video sequence of photos to go along with the conversation, and posted it to YouTube.

It's Never Too Late For A Good Review

It's never too late for a good review.

I found a recently posted review of an anthology I edited back in 2006.

Yeah sure, the book is three years old, but any book that hasn't been read yet is a NEW book to the reader.

And that's what makes it nice to have discovered this review of North of Infinity II posted at SFreader.com (Speculative Fiction Book Reviews and More) written by Paul Weiss.


In his review, Weiss imagines a pie sliced into three distinct pieces: horror, fantasy and science fiction. Based upon this premise, he has the following to say:

"North of Infinity II", an anthology of 12 short stories edited by Mark Leslie and written by the very best that contemporary Canadian fiction in this genre has to offer is a fascinating three legged beast standing at the very center of this pie with one foot firmly planted in each of its pieces.

I like that analogy.

The authors whose stories appear in North of Infinity II are indeed worth spotlighting (Of course, having selected the tales, I'm a bit partial to them), and I'm delighted to see Mr. Weiss taking the time to share the review about this anthology.

North of Infinity II is still available at Amazon and, get this, as a remainder at Chapters/Indigo for a MERE $4.99 -- a virtual steal at this incredible price. Go snap one up now. I won't be offended that remainders mean no royalties for the authors. I'll, instead, be delighted to know that you'll discover some great writers as a fantastic price.

HNT - Curse Of The Tall

One of the side-effects of being tall are the occasional head-wounds suffered when one forgets to properly duck through doorways, entrances, etc that were constructed with the average person's height in mind.

Case in point, our basement. And while I, a tall person, finished our basement, there were some restrictions I couldn't avoid -- like the air return vent that ran above near the bottom of the stairs. It was at a point where I couldn't avoid making a sloped ceiling that was just about an inch too low for my height.

Therefore, as I often have to do, I need to duck my head slightly while approaching the last two stairs coming into our basement.

On Saturday morning, however, with my first cup of coffee (as yet untouched) in hand, and an early morning desire to get into the den and work on a writing project, I failed to properly negotiate this maneuver (perhaps I was so excited to get to my desk and get writing) and whacked my head on the ceiling.

Of course, there was a time when there used to be hair there that might have softened the blow, or at least hidden the scar.


Five days later, the scar is almost entirely healed. But it was pretty nasty looking. For example, when Alexander woke up later that morning, the first thing he said to me was. "Where'd you get the lump on your head from, Dad?"

Shiver Me Timbers

I received the contributor copy of Champagne Shivers 2009 the other day, which contains my short story "Captive Audience."

The magazine, edited by Cathy Buburuz, is a perfect-bound 8 1/2 by 11 magazine containing 76 pages of exquisite horror stories and poetry. Sam's Dot Publishing regards this publication as the Dom Perignon of horror.

Champagne Shivers has a hauntingly beautiful cover by Carole Hall and is speckled with great art inside by several of the genre's well-known and prolific artists. I haven't yet had a chance to read the magazine, but I know it's going to be a good one, chock full of good writing, because it has a story by my friend Michael Kelly, who is fantastic writer.

My story, "Captive Audience" looks at a situation we've all been in at least once -- the horror of being cornered and stuck in a conversation with the town bore. Only in this tale, the risk of actually being bored to death runs a bit higher. (C'mon, what did you expect from someone who enjoys dark humour?)

Brief Excerpt:

Blinking the sweat from his eyes, Sean watched a chubby middle aged man saunter toward the bus stop. Sean didn't know the man personally but knew that his name was Rupert. Everybody knew Rupert. He was the town bore. Sean had never spoken with him before, being new to the town of Overbrook, but Rupert's reputation preceded him. Apparerntly, Rupert would corner people at the library or grocery store and manipulate them into conversations that they wanted nothing to do with. According to Sean's next door neighbour, getting out of a conversation with Rupert was a difficult, learned process, on par with getting out of the heat in the middle of this tiny desert town.

I had fun writing this tale with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and recall that it was originally born out of a character sketch exercise I did during a writing class back in Grade 13. I had so much fun writing a short scene between the two characters (a rambling bore and a self-absorbed jock), that a few years later I changed it up a bit and imagined what might happen if the bore were finally able to land himself a truly captive audience for all his outlandishly wearisome monologues. It was a fun tale to write and hopefully a fun tale to read.

Snow Fun

It's snowing lightly as I write this, and gosh darn it but I'm completely delighted.


I know that usually by this time of year people are moaning about winter dragging on and can't wait to either escape to some place tropical for vacation or for summer to come.

Not me. I love the snow.

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I love all 4 distinct seasons and the different things they have to offer. In the climate we live in, we're fortunate enough to actually have 4 distinct seasons, and I love sucking the marrow out of each one.

So, it's early February -- bring on the snow!!!

Why am I asking for snow? For my four year old, of course. Okay, and I'll admit it, it's also partially for me, because I also love playing in the snow, jumping off snow banks, digging tunnels and creating snow forts and snow men. It's all great fun.

And, apart from the new budget announcement that allows for large home renovations, Alexander and I have tons of renovations to do on the snow forts in our front and back yards. The kinds of renovations that can only come with a few more dumpings of the beautiful white fluffy stuff.

Yes, we weren't quite satisfied with the large snow fort in the front yard and the two sentinel snow figures standing guard over it. Yesterday (a nicely timed vacation day if I do say so myself), we decided to turn the giant snow pile beside the deck (a wonderful side-effect of keeping our back deck completely snow free so) so that we could build a proper snow cabin in the back yard. One that is big enough to fit both Alexander and I. Of course, we need more snow so we can expand it and fit Francine in as well.


So bring on the snow.

There's lots more snow fun to be had!

HNT - A Custom Book For Your Sweetheart

When you own an Espresso Book Machine, there's no end to the fun you can have creating custom books of your own or using public domain sources.

This past weekend I started fooling around with the creation of a custom book in which we would allow customers the ability to put a picture of their sweetheart on the front cover of a collection of Shakespeare's The Sonnets. I thought it would be a great idea for Valentine's Day.

Entitled Thou Art More Lovely, a title inspired by Sonnet 18 (the one most people know, that begins with: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.") customers can have a picture of their choice (anywhere between 1 inch X 1 inch to 3.5 X 3.5 inches) added to the cover along with a name under the statement "Custom printed for."

Of course, we have a plain version of the book (no custom picture, just a nice red heart on the cover) available for a real cheap price -- but customers can special order a unique one for their sweetheart for only $16.95. [Email me to request an order if you don't live in the Hamilton area and are interested in ordering one -- Titles will gladly ship one out]

I used my own sweetheart for the cover of the book to create some samples that customers could see, using one of my favourite pictures from our wedding day. (I honestly can't remember who took this picture -- it was likely either one of my talented photographer buddies, Steve or Greg who both took some phenomenal pics that wonderful day)


It's far less expensive than the steep price of roses this time of year. And while the flowers, like summer's lease, hath but all too short a date, this book will last a long time (I won't say forever since we know that paper does eventually crumble after hundreds of years). And it's a bit more romantic and unique than the tired old cliche of a box of chocolates (which only last on the hips). Of course, I'm a book nerd, so you'd fully expect me to say something along the lines of a book being the perfect gift.

The only catch is that to get one in time for Valentine's Day, they need to be ordered by the end of the day on Wednesday February 11th in order to pick them up on Friday February 13th.

But, it's always best when you plan ahead for that special love of your life, isn't it?

Of course, the book doesn't say "Valentine's Day" anywhere on the cover, so those who don't order one in time could always get one for their sweetheart for an anniversary or birthday.

After all, as the Bard says, thy eternal summer shall not fade . . . so long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Kathleen Robertson's Sweaty Pits

Occasionally I'll take a quick look through people who land on my blog based on certain keyword search results. The queries that direct people to this blog are sometimes really bizarre.

For example, someone recently did a google search for "Kathleen Robertson sweaty pits" (without the quotes) and ended up landing on this page (which is an archived page from 2005).

Since I didn't remember actually blogging about Kathleen's sweaty pits (I like this actress and can honestly say I've never seen her with sweaty pits), I tried to figure out how that happened.

Here's how. The archive page contains several different posts, including two that mention two of the key-word terms. There's a post called Back in Black in which I mention Kathleen as a Hamilton native who was attending a special gala in town. Then there's another post called Mash Pits in which I was complaining about sweating in a cold office (not one of my proudest moments of course). Mystery solved.

Again, it's strange how people end up coming to this blog, but at least our world has a wonderful thing like the internet allowing people to find pictures of celebrities with sweaty pits. God bless the fact that it's used for such useful purposes and not for research or important study.

Pow! Right Between The Eyes!

I like that title. I particularly like the way in which the author of this book, Andy Nulman, is going about promoting it.

Andy Nulman has written a book called POW! RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES! Profiting from the Power of Surprise and is offering 200 copies to the first group of legitimate bloggers who simply asks him for one.

The way to ask Andy for a book is to blog about it -- he's asking bloggers to request the book on their own blog and way that we see fit and link that post to his original request on his blog.

This isn't the first time I've heard of Andy or read about his methods of viral marketing using new and fun techniques -- and that's why I'm dying to read this book.

So Andy, if you're reading this . . .

PLEASE! I WANT ONE!

In fact, I'm so curious to read it that, Andy, if you send me a copy of your forthcoming book, I'll send YOU a copy of my short story collection ONE HAND SCREAMING. (It's a decent collection of my previously published stories -- if you like horror and dark humour you're likely to enjoy it -- if you don't then you're likely not to enjoy it -- hey, I have to be honest here as I know it's not everybody's cup of tea)

But in any case I am interested in reading POW! RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES!

Andy, please email me so I can send you my address.

Thanks.

HNT - Erotic Horror

Since Half Nekkid Thursdays are about exposure, I thought it might be appropriate to do something a little different this week. Rather than simply exposing a picture of my physical self, I thought I'd expose a bit of something I recently had published.

My erotic horror story "Switch" was recently published in Black Ink Horror magazine's special XXX issue. This is a special issue of the magazine which has been devoted to extreme horror stories, a little too full of sex, gore and perversion for their regular issues. Limited to 100 copies, this full-colour special issue was just released and certainly exposes one of the most erotic and darkly disturbing story I've had published.

Here's the premise for the story (or teaser, if you will):

When Dr. Connie Watson uses an extremely risky, experimental and morally questionable technique of switching bodies with her sexually deviant male client in order to force his mind into an empathetic state, she gets more than she bargains for.


"Switch" was illustrated by Jacob Parmentier, with three wonderfully shocking pictures that wonderfully add to the presentation of my story in this magazine.

And since I don't want to break the rules of HNT all that much, I thought I should at least toss in a picture of myself. So here's a shot of me at the Chapters in Sudbury back in October of 2004 for the launch of my story collection One Hand Screaming.

Balanced Mailbox

The week didn't start off so nice with one story submission rejection via email and another one in my mailbox yesterday.

But the painful blow of rejection was coupled quite nicely with something else in my mailbox -- the contributor copy of my story "Switch" which appears in Black Ink Horror XXX. This is a special full-colour edition of Black Ink Horror magazine, devoted to horror stories of the extreme variety -- chock full of sex, gore and perversion. It's limited to 100 numbered copies. My story, "Switch" involves an experimental treatment a therapist uses to treat her sexually deviant male client.

It's always nice to achieve that kind of balance in my mail box.

HNT - Magazine Shot

This week I figured I'd post a picture from the latest issue, the Winter 2009 issue of The McMaster Times (The Newsmagazine for McMaster UniversityAlumni), which includes a brief article on page 10 about the Espresso Book Machine at Titles Bookstore.

In the accompanying shot (below), I'm demonstating the machine, which comes from On Demand Books in New York. This ninth install of the machine worldwide, and the second in Canada, has been dubbed "McMaster Innovation Press" -- you can see the cool wall banner we created for it on the wall behind the machine.

Fortunately, during the demo I didn't once get my tie caught in any of the moving parts of the machine. Good thing too. It was one of my favourite novelty Christmas ties.

How Books Are Made

I saw this hilarious video on BookNinja and had to share it.



Hmm, I wonder how many people watching this believe most of this is true.....?

2nd Canadian Book Challenge - Midpoint Checkup

Several months ago, I joined the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge. The originator (John Mutford), challenged bloggers to read (and write about) 13 Canadian books (by Canadians and/or about Canadians) in the 1 year period between July 1, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

I joined up, but haven't actually posted any official updates about how I'm doing on it (nor have I properly tracked how I've been doing)

So this post is an attempt to play catch-up and see where I am at about the mid-way point in this challenge.

Let's see how I've been doing and pause to comment on some of the books by Canadian I've read in the past 6 months. (I suppose it's fortunate that I've been keeping a brief noted journal about the books I've read since the beginning of 2008 -- I did it so that I could a) determine approximately how many books I read in a year and b) keep brief notes about the books I read because I have to admit I have a terrible memory if you ask me for details about a book I've read -- I usually leave a book with an impression of "liking it", "really liking it", or "not liking it all that much" but most of the details tend to escape me.)

1) The Killing Circle - Andrew Pyper
Finished Reading: July 21, 2008
Comment: A great story about a writer without inspiration who ends up stealing the story from one of the members of a writing circle. Only, this writer's tale of an evil entity known as The Sandman seems to crawl right out of the nightmarish fiction world and into the real one. A good read with a solid, intriguing storyline. I've always loved Pyper's writing since reading Lost Girls the month it came out. He never disappoints.
Link(s): The Shit You Pull Out of your Ass (Blog Post)

2) Cricket in a Fist - Naomi K. Lewis
Finished Reading: August 3, 2008
Comment: This was a decent and interesting novel by an author I had never read before. See my full review at the link below.
Link(s): Detailed Review

3) Wolf Pack - Edo van Belkom
Finished Reading: Sept 23, 2008)

4) Lone Wolf - Edo van Belkom
Finished Reading: Sept 27, 2008)

5) Cry Wolf - Edo van Belkom
Finished Reading: Oct 2, 2008)

6) Wolf Man - Edo van Belkom
Finished Reading: Oct 7, 2008)
Comment: What a great young adult series of novels surrounding a group of four teenagers who happen to be werewolves. When their parents were killed in a forest fire, they are raised as humans by the forest ranger who discovered them. An excellent series and one that I peeled through rather quickly. Easy to see how it won a Silver Birch Award. It's interesting to see van Belkom writing for the young adult market. I've alreadys quite enjoyed his adult horror novels and stories -- this series proves that he is a multi-talented author capable of writing very different types of stories for different audiences. Definitely worth picking up, particularly for those who like the supernatural young adult series like Stephanie Meyer, etc, but are looking for more Canadian content and a setting that is definitely north of the 49th parallel. Each novel is a perfectly self-contained story, but the reader certainly gets much more out of it reading them in sequential order.
Link(s): Edo van Belkom's website

7) In Tongues of the Dead - Brad Kelln
Finished Reading: Oct 24, 2008)
Comment: A very avid reader at work (someone who reads tons of thrillers), loaned me this book telling me that everyone important to her has read it. (What a nice compliment and recommendation at the same time) It's about a manuscript in a dead language that a priest has spent his entire life watching -- one day, it all changes when an autistic boy who has never spoken can read it and tells the priest a bit about what he is reading. This is a thrilling, well written and fascinating tale set both in the US and Canada. I loved it. Kelln is certainly a writer to watch.
Link(s): Dr. Brad Kelln's website

8) Wake - Robert J. Sawyer
Finished Reading: Dec 14, 2008)
Comment: I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this book which is coming out in April 2009. The story mainly follows Caitlin Decker, a smart, energetic and blind teenager who undergoes an experimental surgury to gain sight. The technology involved in giving her sight allows her a "view" of the World Wide Web. As she explores the web, she also discovers there is "another" there, some sort or sentinent being. This first in Sawyer's "WWW" triology is a great start to what I'm sure will be a fantastic series. Sawyer is a wonderful storyteller and I always have a good time with pretty much anything he writes. His characters are genuine and human and the story arcs he creates are filled with intrigue, suspense and an enlightening extrapolation of actual scientific research. I tend to not only enjoy reading his novels, but I always find myself learning a bit too at the same time.
Link(s): Robert J. Sawyer's website

9) Grown up Digital - Don Tapscott
Finished Reading: Dec 26, 2008)
Comment: An eye-opening, well-researched book that I would highly recommend. Read the detailed review I gave it at the link below.
Link(s): Review

10) Too Close To Home - Linwood Barclay
Finished Reading: Jan 2, 2008
Comment: I always thought Linwood Barclay was a talented humorist. But he's an even better writer of thrillers. After completing the four book "Zack Walker" series (a fantastic series that merged mystery/thriller writing with Barclay's unique sense of humour), he moved on to an outstanding stand alone thriller last year (No Time for Goodbye) and followed it up with a similarly fantasic tale here. I treated myself to two different mystery/thriller titles for Christmas with some money my Mom gave me. With it I bought Michael Connelly's latest (The Brass Verdict) and Barclay's Too Close to Home. I picked up Barclay's novel right away and was immediately pulled into this incredible tale of intrigue and suspense. The story follows Jim and Ellen Cutter a small-town couple whose neighbours are brutally murdered just down the lane one night. The story begins with a question of what their neighbour, a successful and well respected criminal lawyer, got himself into to spark such a terrifying end to his family. It quickly moves into one in which several different long buried secrets from Jim and Ellen's own lives start to be unravelled, which leads to the question of whether or not the Cutter family were actually the intended targets of this murder. Virtually unputdownable, this is a tale with twists and turns that kept me flipping those pages and had difficulty putting down. Thank goodness I was on Christmas vacation at the time because this one had me staying up rather late at night so I could read "just one more chapter."
Link(s): Linwood Barclay's website

Okay, so I've read 10 books by Canadian authors since July 1, 2008. Not bad at all. I only need to read 3 more to get to the end of the challenge, which shouldn't be a problem because I have at least 5 more Canadian authors in my current "to read" pile.

Working For The Weekend

A buddy of mine from university recently posted a reference to an old Loverboy song in his status update. It's one of those types of Facebook status updates that I'm fond of -- the kind that make you pause for a moment and stirs up a bit of brain activity -- this can easily be achieved without too much effort when you borrow a line or two from a song and put THAT into your updates.

I mean, status updates and Twitter are a neat way to broadcast to the world things that you're currently doing or working on and sometimes they're fun if you're actually doing something interesting.

But let's face it, does anybody really care that Bob from Denver is washing the dishes right now, or that Sally from Saskatoon is watching a rerun of "Who's The Boss?"

Perhaps if Bob was spending the afternoon at the skydiving classes his girlfriend bought him for Christmas or Sally was working on a novelization of that old television show, those would be interesting things. But sometimes those mundane status updates/tweets can be a bit tiring.

"Oh look, John is sitting on the crapper right now."

"Hey, check it out, Samantha is having eggs and toast for breakfast. For the third day in a row."

"Sorry, no time for that, I'm too busy keeping updated on Fred. Apparently he's doing really well on Guitar Hero."

"What are you guys talking about? I'm riveted by Todd's angst over his hang-nail."

But I digress. What I mean to say is I rather enjoy it when people tweet or use their Facebook status updates for either actual interesting or unique things (rather than the daily mundane things), or just to inject a little bit of humour into the world. Let's face it, the world is a pretty serious place with tons of negative things going on all over -- a little bit of humour in small shots is some pretty decent medicine.

And thus back to goofy and silly Facebook status updates that liberate lyrics from music. I always find those fun because there's an ability for others to easily recognize the song you're using and perhaps make a game out of trying to determine the artist and song that you're referencing. A short, silly distraction in one's day, but something that can be a little fun (and doesn't require you to install yet another cluttering application to your profile).

But sometimes I find myself getting TOO distracted on minor things.

Like when my buddy referenced the Loverboy song. (See, I take sidetracks, but occasionally I actually get back to the subject matter at hand)

He was working on the weekend. But rather than just stating it in that boring, mundane way, he injected it with a bit of fun uniqueness and referenced the Loverboy song "Working for the Weekend"

And that's where I started thinking about those lyrics.

Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance
- Loverboy "Working for the Weekend" from Get Lucky, 1981

You see, I'd always thought that the song was referencing the fact that everyone is working in anticipation of the weekend.

IE, they drudge through their week days mindful of the fact that when Friday evening comes, they're free to enjoy life again or "come out tonight" and try to "get it right" or, as the album title the song suggest, try to get lucky.

I always thought the song meant they were working for (ie, for the purpose of) the weekend the way that David Wilcox is "Layin' Pipe" (forgetting the double entendre for a moment and assume he's working a tough construction job) to satisfy his woman with expensive tastes by buying her "the latest things, a diamond ring, a car with an ultra-glide." Like Mr. Wilcox, who (again forgetting the double entendres throughout the song), is working a long, exhausting night shift and taking ten minute breaks to have a cigarette. Wilcox is working for his woman the way Loverboy is working for the weekend.

I figured if the song was about working ON the weekend (as in working Saturday and Sunday), that it'd sound more like Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 (with a weekend kind of twist, of course) and less like trying to get lucky.

But that's just me.

Do you see how I can get distracted and find myself a few moments of silly amusement all because one of my cool dude friends decided to have a little bit of fun with his Facebook status update?

But that's a far better thing than if he dediced to use the status update to simply complain that his hemorrhoids were itchy.

Isn't it?

Does Whatever A President Elect Can

Having been a huge fan of Spider-man my entire life I was tickled to see that Barack Obama will be making a guest appearance in the latest issue.

Apparently in issue #583 of The Amazing Spider-Man (on shelves Jan 14, 2008), a special insert story will appear featuring Spidey and Obama thwarting the evil plans of The Chameleon on Inauguration Day.

Admittedly, I haven't read the comic book much in the past ten years -- paying for the mortgage and food have prevented me from being able to spend the between $50 and $75 on comic books per month that it would likely cost for me to buy all the monthly releases like I used to. I do pick it up from time to time, though, always curious to see what my favourite web-slinger is up to.

I certainly plan on picking this particular issue up -- along with, I imagine millions of others who are curious to check it out.

HNT - New Year, Old Habits

Okay, so perhaps this photo wasn't taken in the new year -- it was taken a few days before the end of 2008. But it's certainly a habit of mine that isn't going to be changing any time soon.

I have this thing.

Every time I get my hands on someone's camera, I flip it around to face myself, put on a goofy grin and take a picture of myself.

It's fun, and addictive. I'm not sure just how many photos there are of me out there doing this. It's certainly not as fun as it used to day in the days of "film" cameras. In the "old days", when the person developed their pictures they got a "fun" surprise. Now, they simply have to scroll through their digital images and delete my ugly mug . . . but that doesn't prevent me from hamming it up for the camera.

Be careful if you try it yourself. You might not be able to stop.

I took this one when inspecting the new camera my buddy Greg picked up during Boxing Week sales.


That's my wife Francine and my Baba in the background trying desperately to pretend they don't know me.

MiniBookExpo Review - Grown up Digital

A short while ago I started following a fascinating blog movement started by Alexa Clark, the genius behind the "Cheap Eats" series of books that profiles great restaurants in various cities (like Toronto and Ottawa) where you can get a decent meal without breaking your pocket book. It works this way. Books are offered out on the MiniBookExpo blog, bloggers claim them, get them, read them then post a review. Or, for full details, read the full rules here. The following is a review from a book I claimed:

Grown up Digital - by Don Tapscott

Following up on his book Growing up Digital from well over a decade ago, Tapscott returns to study the new generation, dubbed the Net Generation by the author. Based upon a multi-million dollar four year private research study, Tapscott provides an in-depth look into the routines, habits and challenges of this young generation.

This is a fascinating, eye-opening look at the Net Generation, and serves to contradict many blatant assumptions being made about today's youth. Tapscott deftly handles the claims that today's young people are a bunch of spoiled brats with limited attention spans who have had everything handed to them and have no scrupples by analysing facts and statistics and applying information from surveys with over 11,000 youth.

Including detailed statistics and charts as well as quotes and examples from real youth all over the world, Tapscott demonstrates a generation that is not only remarkably bright and skilled at thinking, interacting and socializing in entirely new ways, but that they are active participants in a complex and challenging world, that they are fine analysts and are concerned about basic integrity.

Tapscott not only goes through dynamic shifts brought about by this merger of youth and technology (with concepts such as education needing to change from a traditional "broadcast" style to a more interactive environment), but it outlines strategies and suggestions for how to properly embrace and understand the Net Generation.

This is a timely and well informed book that is easy to read and definitely pleasureable and eye-opening. Despite the hard data, charts and graphs, it is an approachable and fascinating read. The Net Generation is mobilized, skilled and connected in a way that no previous generation every possible could be -- they are changing the world and will continue to change it.

And though Tapscott has many positive responses to some of the "darker" sides of this new world the Net Generation are both navigating through and creating, he does offer cautionary details that youth and the older generations need to be clear about such as issues of privacy (that many are either not properly aware of and are giving up in the pursuit of high level/advanced networking), cyberbullying (often much more dangerous and "permanent" than bullying performed in school yards previous to the turn of the century) and a different look at defining "social skills."

I would highly recommend Grown up Digital to adults of all ages, particularly parents, as there are insightful suggestions on how to properly connect with and understand the Net Generation without being imposing and causing them more frustration. I would particularly suggest that those who have a negative view of the younger generation and their "technology endowed habits" pick it up and start looking at these details in a whole new light.