DVDs I Watched in 2007

Mission: Impossible Season 3 ****
Pixar Short Films Volume 1 *****
Corner Gas Season 4 ****
The Last King of Scotland ****
Battlestar Galactica: Razor *****
Futurama: Bender's Big Score *****
Premonition *
Full Metal Jacket ****
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 3 Vol 2 **1/2
A Clockwork Orange *****
The Shining *****
2001: A Space Odyssey *****
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 *****
Queen Rock Montreal ***1/2
The Wild Blue Yonder *1/2
Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who *****
Hollywoodland ***1/2
Stargate SG-1: The Complete First Season ***1/2
Das Boot ****
The Godfather Part III ****
The Godfather Part II *****
The Godfather *****
Grindhouse: Death Proof ***1/2
Grindhouse: Planet Terror ***
Metallica - Some Kind of Monster ****1/2
Once Upon a Time in the West ****
My Name is Earl - The Complete Second Season ****
Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman ***1/2
Heroes - The Complete First Season ****1/2
The Elegant Universe *** 1/2
Take the Money and Run ***1/2
Unforgiven *****
Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice **
Slap Shot ****
The Office - Season Three *****
Jack of All Trades - The Series ***
The Tick vs. Season Two ****
The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season ****
Fracture *** 1/2
UFO - The Complete Series ****
300 ***1/2
Octopussy **
The Secrets of Isis ***
You Only Live Twice ***1/2
Zodiac ****
Dr. No ***
Batman - Mask of the Phantasm ***
Moonraker ***
Shark Week - 20th Anniversary ***
For Your Eyes Only ****
Jason of Star Command - The Complete Series ***
Jackie Brown ****
Live and Let Die ***
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 3 Vol.1 **1/2
Titanic (1996 tv-movie) **
On Her Majesty's Secret Service ***
Who Killed the Electric Car? ***
Music and Lyrics ***
From Russia With Love *****
Planet Earth *****
The Spy Who Loved Me ***
Mission: Impossible Season 2 ****
Ark II: The Complete Series ***1/2.

Movies I Saw in 2007

I Am Legend ****
The Golden Compass **1/2
Stardust ****
The Simpsons Movie ****
Harry Potter and the Gamesters of Triskelion ****
Transformers ***
Sicko ****
Ratatouille *****
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer **1/2
Spider-Man 3 ***
Pirates of the Carribbean - At World's End **.

Books I Read in 2007

Space Race by Deborah Cadbury ***1/2
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore ****
The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories, Gonzo, Hunter s. Thompson and Me by Ralph Steadman ****1/2
Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson *** 1/2
Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson ****
Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson *** 1/2
State of Denial by Bob Woodward *****
Nixon in China by Margaret MacMillan ***
Holding the Bully's Coat: Canada and the US Empire by Linda McQuaig ****
Marley and Me by John Grogan *****
The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler *****
Cell by Stephen King ***1/2
The Truth (With Jokes) by Al Franken ***1/2
Mammoth by John Varley ***1/2
Heat by George Monbiot *****
Harry Potter and the Mindharp of Sharu by J.K. Rowling ****
1491 by Charles G. Mann ***1/2
Who Let the Dogs In by Molly Ivins ***1/2
The Mess They Made by Gwynne Dyer ****
Outrageous Fortune by Tim Scott ***
Salt by Mark Kurlansky **
The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling ***
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson ****
JPod by Douglas Coupland *****
Field Notes From a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert ****
The Third Chimpanzee, by Jared Diamond ***.

Linus 1990-2006

Linus left us a year ago today.
His person misses him very much.

More Proof of William Shatner's Godhood

Dr. House Back When He Was Funny

Some classic Fry and Laurie....

Folly and Madness

It is madness, absolute folly and madness.
Strictly economically speaking, it makes no sense for Canada to continue to support a fossil-fuel economy and not embrace a so-called "green" economy irregardless of what the Bush junta in America does. Canada will transform to a green economy because we have no other choice. We will either embrace and welcome it, or fight it kicking and screaming, but it will happen. The economic benefits of making that transition sooner rather than later far outweigh what the Bush approach of denial will benefit the United States. If Bush wants to speed up the fall of the American Empire with his Neanderthal antics, that's his choice; our choice should be to get on with the business of reducing our footprint on the planet. If we don't, there won't be any economy to worry about.
But this idiotic notion that our Environment Minister is spewing in Bali that we can't do anything without the United Stated signing on is vile sputum. Why the government is tying its fortunes to the policies of an increasingly irresponsible and reprehensible fool with delusions of demagoguery is unfathomable to me. It didn't work so well for John Howard or Tony Blair. Why does Harper think it will work for him?
Of course, it would be best for the United States and other major polluters to be on side. But we can't wait for these pig-heaed obstructionists to get their way. The latest estimates are that summer polar sea ice will completely melt in five years and new estimates of sea-level rise are two to three times what they used to be. We don't have a lot of time.
The irony is of course that America will have to transition to a green economy too -- they won't have a choice if they wish to stay competitive in the future global reality.
Canada used to have its own voice in the international arena. It grieves and saddens me that we are now perceived as Bush's boot lickers.

Another Warm Year

According to this BBC report, 2007 is the seventh-warmest year on record, and the second-warmest year on record in the Northern Hemisphere.
The eleven warmest years ever have all occurred within the last thirteen years.

The Top Ten:
1998 - 0.52C (above the 1961-1990 average)
2005 - 0.48C
2003 - 0.46C
2002 - 0.46C
2004 - 0.43C
2006 - 0.42C
2007 (provisional) - 0.41C
2001 - 0.40C
1997 - 0.36C
1995 - 0.28C

Kayak Land Speed Record

The World's Fastest Sofa

Surf Moose Jaw

Props to Louise for sending this one along....

Kayaker Saves Cat!

According to this CBC story, a cat that had been missing from home for 26 days was spotted stranded on a cliff and rescued by a passing kayaker. The considerably thinner cat has been happily reunited with its family.

Speakers On....

...and click here -- if you dare!

The The Impotence of Proofreading

Evel - NOT!

Here are some guys who are decidedly not Evel Knievel.....

The Weather Sucks - Continuum

Having set some dubious weather records this year (including the hottest day ever recorded here and the first July ever with seven straight days of rain) Victoria set another one yesterday.
It was the wettest day ever in Victoria -- a one-day rainfall record of 80.6 mm.

Episode V: The Empired Mashed Up

There's some fun stuff going on at worth1000.com. It seems they're running a Star Wars photoshop contest: reimagine any Star Wars character as a celebrity.

I kinda like this one - it's subtle....
....although Cheney the Hutt makes a big impression, too. No doubt he's looking for his Jawas of Mass Destruction.
But can anything top this?

Yes Virginia, It Does Snow in Victoria

British Columbia: Nigeria North?