Retro Reading - The House of Many Worlds

I have a pile of old books I that I've mentioned from time to time. This is a pile that I still haven't managed to get through yet and it's been more than a year. Most of these books tend to be duds, but then I take chances and I find some gems. The House of Many Worlds is a gem among the rough. It's one of those books that are very good even after all the time has passed. It's one of those books has passed the test of time. Upon reading the first sentences, I knew this would be something special. I was right, of course, as I'm really enjoying what I'm reading.

Basically, the story is that of a strange house (not a haunted house as even the story mentions), but a house that has strange things happen to it. The owner of the house explains that it is a tangential point; a gateway to parallel worlds. At the point where I am in the story, the characters are now in a parallel world where the United States are called The Columbian Republic, and the nation's capital is New Orleans, not Washington, where the world doesn't have rockets, but have vehicles propelled by some form of propulsion.

It's all very interesting and it's apparently one of the better Alternate History novels published.

Synopsis:

Ancient, encrusted with legend, supposedly empty, the old mansion on Spindrift Key stood like a dark and lowering wraith. In this classic science fiction novel the New York Times called "a fast-moving adventure, told with engaging humor," reporter Elspeth Marriner`s nose for news leads her into a world of trouble. Make that, in worlds of trouble. When she and photographer Mack Fraser, the man she loves to hate, are sent to investigate the old mansion in the Hatteras, they never dream that once inside their lives will never be the same. For the house is a gateway to alternate Earths, watched over by a mysterious group called the Workers, who guard against more advanced civilizations crossing the dimensional barriers to conquer defenseless neighbors. From the Workers, Elspeth learns that her and Mack`s presence at the house is no accident. They have been personally selected by the Workers for a dangerous assignment. Their unique combination of talents and knowledge are needed to counter a threat that could plunge the entire world into war. If Elspeth accepted the assignment, she would have to cross to another world, aided only by her native ingenuity, then surmount a succession of plots and counterplots, with death the price of failure. Worse, she would have to work more closely than ever with the detested Mark Fraser. "Merwin has created characters that are human ¦ House of Many Worlds is entertaining and realistic." San Francisco Chronicle. "House of Many Worlds is an exciting ... story, with a new and highly unusual twist ¦ outstanding for its realistic characters and expert seasoning of thrills and horror." H. L. Gold, Galaxy Magazine.

How Blogs Are Born!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope you've all had some good holidays. I know I did, and got quite a bit of awesome loot in the process, some of which I'll review here!

I only hope the year 2007 will end up being a better year for everyone, and in some cases, top 2006.

Not much today, but I thought I would make a post to let everyone know that I'm still safe and alive after all that binging. No, I didn't explode from overeating.

I found a certain video from Corner Gas (which I love) about how Blogs are born. I thought it would be appropriate to post it in my first post of the year. Robots vs Werewolves, I wonder...

Music Review: Sarah Mclachlan - Wintersong

Before I begin, I'd like to say, that while I liked Sarah Mclachlan's music in the past, I've never actually owned one of her albums until now.

It all started when I first saw one of her performances of Joni Mitchell's River a few weeks ago from her new Christmas album, and I knew it was something special from then on. Next was this week's free itunes download of her version of Silent Night, which had an Enya quality to it. I then knew I had to get this album.

So, now I have my first Sarah Mclachlan album, and as it so happens, it's probably the best Christmas album to be released this year. None of that tacky selection of Christmas songs like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer or Santa Clause is Coming to Town are on the album. Sarah Mclachlan explains that she despises the commercialism of Christmas, and she chose songs that reflected Christmas as a celebration of Christ instead of a symbol of commercialism. As such, the album has more of a personal touch to it, and you can see that the album has been a labor of love for her. It's also quite a deep album as many of the songs are sung with melancholy. One would think that as a Christmas album, the songs should be cheerful and upbeat, but the reality is, that life isn't so cheerful, and one often wonders if we'll be together for the next holiday. That's what Sarah Mclachlan tries to show through her singing, and in the end, it brings a sense of hope to the whole situation in a way that a cheerful Christmas album might not possible.

The arrangements are quite interesting and not always what you would expect. For example, the first time I heard Greensleeves, I thought it was a completely different song. The melody isn't the same as we know, rather it seems like an entirely different melody wrapped around the same lyrics. It changes the mood of the song entirely into one that is darker, but in its own way, it is beautiful.

Along with covers of Joni Mitchell's River, there's also a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's Song for a Winter's Night and the Charlie Brown Christmas favourite, Christmas Time is Here. All in all, along with her original Wintersong, her covers and her interpretations of the classics, it's really quite a remarkable album that manages to convey artistic expression as well as keeping in check the true reason for the Christmas season.

NOTE: I should mention that there have been videos released around the same time featuring songs from this album. They have her singing while playing a piano. These aren't the same versions of the songs that are on the album and the instrumentation on those featured songs are different.

Album: Sarah Mclachlan - Wintersong
Label: Arista /Sony Music Canada
Release Date: October 17th, 2006
Bonus Material?: No
Site: http://www.sarahmclachlan.com/
Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/sarahmclachlan

Currently Reading: Deception Point

I became a fan of Dan Brown after reading the Da Vinci Code, and I think many did after that one, although it is a book that you either love or hate. Ironically, it was the second book in a series of books that became extremely popular, and it was only after it became popular that they reprinted Angels & Demons, his first book in the series. I actually ended up liking Angels & Demons better then the Da Vinci Code, and I hope they make a movie out of it like they made the Da Vinci Code a movie, which I found to be very cleverly made due to the book's visual clues. So far, all those books in the series have religion as a recurring topic. Angels & Demons presented a topic that is a very heated debate topic; one of Science vs Religion. The Da Vinci Code showed us that we should keep an open mind, that not everything should be taken at face value, that there is often an other side to what we are told. Apparently the yet unnamed third book will tackle the topic of Religion vs Politics, or Religion vs State, the Pentagon being a location in the story. It's all speculation of course, but I'm anxiously awaiting for its release.

In the mean time, I've wanted to read one of his earlier novels called Deception Point. I've wanted to read it for quite some time ever since I read an excerpt of it in, I think Angels & Demons, and I got it as a present last Christmas and only getting to it now.

Here's the description and synopsis:

When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory — a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election. To verify the authenticity of the find, the White House calls upon the skills of intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic scholar Michael Tolland, Rachel travels to the Arctic and uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery — a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. But before she can warn the President, Rachel and Michael are ambushed by a deadly team of assassins. Fleeing for their lives across a desolate and lethal landscape, their only hope for survival is to discover who is behind this masterful plot. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.

Synopsis

When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory -- a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election.

Movie Review: Casino Royale

Finally, the James Bond franchise is cool again. I never liked Pierce Brosnan very much. His Bond seemed to more or less just be action movies with the Bond name attached to it, with very weak stories. They focused too much on the action, and cartoony action at that.

Me and My Dad went to see Casino Royale last night on the recommendation of my Sister, and it was probably one of the first movies in awhile that made me feel like it was money well spent. The last one that did that came close to that was The Prestige, but even that didn't really do it.

Casino Royale brings the franchise back down to earth. Remember when the movies actually had good stories and didn't suck? Has been awhile in this franchise hasn't it? Well, imagine if a movie actually made an effort to be a James Bond movie again. This movie is it.

You know, I originally had doubts about Daniel Craig as Bond. When they first announced him he got the role, many people gasped at the fact that they had cast a blond bond. But you know what? You could never actually tell he actually is blond, cause there is something called dying. I think Roger Moore was the closest to blond that we ever got before, and we won't get a blond bond, because Craig's hair was dyed. Ok, maybe it was a dark blond. Anyway, at first I didn't think he was suited for the part, but gradually I accepted him.

Last night I was damned glad that they had went with a particularly unknown actor. It means there's less to distract us about, unlike Pierce Brosnan who was in Remington Steele, and Roger Moore who played The Saint. It was in effect, a perfect start for a franchise looking to look back at its roots. In a way, it was sort of like getting our first look at Sean Connery in Dr No. And Daniel Craig reminded me a lot about Sean Connery's Bond, yet he didn't try to be Sean Connery. Rather he became his own unique Bond. There was no doubt at the end of the movie that, he was Bond. I was sorry I ever had casted doubts on Craig for the role.

The movie gets back to basics. There are no gadgets, except for the few believable things that I won't mention. There's no Q. No Money Penny. You might ask, what's a Bond movie without those things? I'll tell you. It's a Bond movie that's actually really good for once, because instead of having gadgets to rescue Bond out of stupid plot holes, he has to think his way out of sticky situations.

There's a lot for girls to like about this Bond, and there's also lots of cleavage for guys to stare at. Wow, I almost thought Eva was going to have a wardrobe malfunction at more than a few points in the movie. Her dress was very loose.

Anyway, it was money well spent and I'm glad we went. Bond is Back!

New Look aka Blogger Beta

Wow, it seems like everytime I go to write on this blog, that it seems longer and longer since the last time I wrote. This time, 2 months? Is that possible? Haven't really done much since my last blog post except for reading, and I haven't gotten any new music since the last review, so there really hasn't been much for me to post about.

Well, there is NaNoWriMo which I did participate in. I want to thank everyone involved for the support, though I must say that I cannot continue with it as I feel too rushed and too stressed. I will continue working on the story on my leisure which I will enjoy doing far more knowing I'm not on a deadline. While I'm no longer doing it, I want to say that I have a lot more respect for those who go through with it year after year. It really is quite an amazing accomplishment. You know who you are ;)

I've moved this blog over to Blogger Beta, and unfortunately meant I had to ditch my beautiful template and had to choose between a limited choice of templates due to the big overhaul between the template system. On the other hand, things are much easier to tinker with, which is a definite plus. I'm liking it so far. On the bottom of each post, you'll notice labels. These labels allow me to put posts in different catagories, which make it easier to search for something specific down the road, or if you just want to read book or music posts. I like those too because it allows me to see just how many of each kind of post I've made over the years.

Music Review: The Duhks - Migrations

One Two Three Four, Run to the store! The Duhks have a new album and it's a sweet one!

That's right. I put in an order at Amazon on the week of its release in September and got it the first week of this month. I was a little impatient that it would take so long. But, I have to say, it really was worth the wait.

When I first got their self titled debut earlier this year which was released last year, I quickly fell in love with it, and so when I heard that they had a new album coming out this year, I both was really excited and had a little of trepidation. The trepidation was because I wasn't sure if they'd pull off such an excellent album as their debut, because as is often the case, followups aren't always as great, sometimes due to a producer change and a different vision that that producer has. Vision changes can be good, but they can also be disastrous. Well, in this case, there is a producer change this time around, but thankfully the vision stayed the same. The only thing that has really changed is the slicker production. Slicker production doesn't always work as sometimes it takes away from energy and art of the songs, but here, it works as all that was really done was give the songs more of a velvety feeling if that makes any sense. There is more bass to the songs this time around to make them stand out more.

So, how does this one compare to their self titled debut? It's actually quite a really standout album. I'm not sure if it will ever nudge the self titled debut out of my favourite spot, but there are some really stellar tracks on this album, and I would have to say which album is my favourite that came out this year, I'd easily pick this one. In fact, If anyone asks me what Canadian culture is like, I'd hand them a copy of this album and say that this pretty much sums it up.

Canadian culture is quite a mix, and a mix that we aren't afraid to show and it shows a lot in our music. In this album, you have a cook pot of Métis, French-Canadian, Acadian, and even some Cajun and Zydeco which the title of the album seems to imply (If one has any doubt, Cajun is a degeneration of Canadian while Zydeco is a degeneration of the french Les Haricot, which is the french for green beans, all deriving from Lousiana).

Many stand out tracks on the album, including a cover of Tracy Chapman's Mountain O' Things, a celtic song called Three Fishers sung by the beautifully voiced Tania Elizabeth, and Who Will Take My Place? about an Irish patriot, which is probably my favourite on the album as it's beautiful and poignant.

Starting with this review, I'll be posting the lyrics to the song that catches me most on an album, and that one happens to be Who Will Take My Place.

Who Will Take My Place?
Written by Dan Frechette

If they shoot me down to shut me down
Who will take my place?
If they bring an army into this town
Who will take my place?
if they rule this land and silence me
When I'm laid out with injury
When my words won't matter much anymore
Who will take my place?

Revolution, you are not my own
Who will take my place?
There are flowers painted on those stones
Who will take my place?
When the silence of oppression dies
Overheard beyond the battle cries
Are the words of final compromise
Who will take my place?

When the dogs of war are on the land
Who will take my place?
When you forfeit life to take a stand
Who will take my place?
When the dreamers fear the simplest thoughts
When the bloodshed takes all that you've got
When this world's an empty, creaking floor
Who will take my place?

If they rule this land and silence me
When I'm laid out with injury
When my words won't matter anymore
Who will take my place?
Who will take my place?

---

Again, I repeat, One Two Three Four, Run to the store! The Duhks have a new album and it's a sweet one!

Album: The Duhks - Migrations
Label: Sugarhill Records
Release Date: September 13th, 2006
Bonus Material?: No
Site: www.duhks.com
Myspace page: www.myspace.com/theduhks

Music Review: Lennie Gallant - When We Get There

Been awhile hasn't it? I have to be honest. I haven't had much to post about ever since my trip. I guess I should have spaced that out more since I knew I wouldn't have that much material until a future purchase. I did promise some full length reviews of the albums I bought on the trip though. So, we'll start with this one.

Lennie Gallant. What can I say, but When We Get There. It's surprising that a singer-songwriter of his talent isn't more well known, even across Canada. What I mean by that is, I would put him in league with singers such as Gordon Lightfoot and Jimmy Rankin, and Ron Sexsmith. Yes, he is that good. At first I didn't really think much of it, but it's grown on me a lot and I find it to be one of my favourite albums that I've bought this year. I think it's destined to become a classic.

The songs are beautiful, and just the kind of songs that should be hits on the radio, but somehow aren't. The kind of songs that make you wonder just what are actually considered "hits" anymore. The kind of songs that make you wish that there were more of.

Album: Lennie Gallant - When We Get There
Label: Universal Records (Canada)
Release Date: 2005
Bonus Material?: No
Site: www.lenniegallant.com

The Trip: Loot

Well, I picked up quite a bit of stuff during my trip, mainly in music and books. I'll list them here with a sentence or two, where I'll save bigger descriptions for later when I actually get to read them.

First stop was when I was in Ottawa. We headed to the Chapters in the market, the one that's two stories big. Wow, I had fun in there. Didn't think I'd spend so much time in there, but we spent nearly 2 hours there, maybe 3. It was almost too easy to get lost and get tempted to keep picking up more books. So, here's what I got there.

System of the World by Neal Stephenson: This is the book that finishes the Baroque Cycle. It's volume 3 of 3. Finally I have them all.

Kydd by Julian Stockwin: Saw this new series on the bookshelf and thought I might as well give it a try. It's a new series in the lines of Horatio Hornblower by C.S Forester and Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. In other words, napoleonic era, which I like.

Star Trek Titan (book 2): The Red King: You'll remember I read Titan: Taking Wing earlier this year, and I thought they were well written, so I picked up The Red King, and Orion's Hounds.

Star Trek Titan (book 3): Orion's Hounds: You'll remember I read Titan: Taking Wing earlier this year, and I thought they were well written, so I picked up The Red King, and Orion's Hounds. Yes, I did this on purpose. You're not experiencing double vision.

King Jerry by David Arnason: Picked this up in the bargain section. Couldn't resist. Well, who wouldn't when it's priced at $2.99. It's essentially a modern retelling of King Lear. The book says itself "A satirical modern-day version of King Lear set in a western-Canadian university English Department. "

Now for the music. Well, when we were in Quebec, on our way back, that is, we went to View Quebec and stopped in at Archambaud, which I think I mentioned in my original post. This store is a treasure of a store for finding french music, and has 3 floors! A bit on the pricy side, but then I'll take that over not being able to find them at all. Over there, I found at least two CDs I wouldn't even have had the chance of finding in Ontario, and I found them so easily.

C'est Ici Que Je Veux Vivre - Marie-Michèle Desrosier: Got this one and decided to give it to my Mom as it has many old french Quebec songs by other artists on this. I thought that she would like it more than me considering that. It was so easy to find to and I didn't have very much trouble at all finding it. In fact, one could say that it found me. I went to one corner of the store and it was just there, staring at me. Funny how that goes.

Plus Grand Que Les Mots - Les Muses: Wow, I had been looking for this one ever since I'd seen them on the East Coast Music Awards two years ago. Ask about them in Ontario, and you get weird looks and people wondering if you're thinking of Muses, Throwing Muses, or other bands using that word. In other words, it didn't exist to them. This is truly an awesome record. Beautiful french songs, with very clear words, which is quite rare as recordings aren't always too clear and sound compressed. It's beautiful even if you don't speak french.

When We Get There - Lennie Gallant: The only non-french album that I got while there. It's really quite a good album. It's my first of his and he's a great songwriter. Good songs.

The Trip: Pictures (Part 4)

Misc

Will have to describe all the images here ahead of time since I'm having trouble entering text along with the pictures without the pictures messing up the text.

Picture 1: Beautiful sunset that we caught on the way back. We just had to stop. There was no alternative. It was gone very soon though as it didn't last very long.

Picture 2 & 3: Ok, there's a story behind the next two. At our second hotel, Motel a la Brunante, there was this fancy shower contraption. That is, the shower could slide up and down a metal bar to adjust height and the head could also swivel. There was a sign next to the hairdryer above the sink that basically told people to be gentle with the shower and not force it. It was both in French and in English, but the English version had a mistranslation to it that I found hilarious. I couldn't resist taking a picture as it's not something you see everyday.

Picture 4: Next is the windmill park next to La Maison D'Eole (Translates to The Windmill House) where I had breakfast one morning. There were a lot of these windmills in Quebec, and to the right is the biggest verticle windmill in the world, as the waitress at the restauraunt explained. Unfortunately, the braking system failed and it's too costly to repair, so it's not working.

The Trip: Pictures (Part 3)

Le Grand Rassemblement

We stopped at this roadside attraction on the way back and we found that it was actually a lot more than we realized. This art is just amazing. The artist, Marcel Gagnon made statues made out of concrete and wood that extend further down the shore. As you'll see, some of them are even on rafts and when the tide comes in, looks like they're floating on the water. The idea is that all seafarers are all converging together onto this point for a big get-together, hence Le Grand Rassemblement. It's really quite unique.

The Trip: Pictures (Part 2)

Rivière-Du-Loup

This next set is the house where my grandfather grew up in.It was built in the 1800's. My grandfather's family wasn't the first family to own it, but I think they were the second family to own it, and now, sadly it's a halfway house. I would have loved to have taken different angles of it, but I couldn't since we stayed in the vehicle the whole time.

The Trip: Pictures

I said the pictures would be coming, and guess what, they're here! I'm sorry for the poor quality of the pictures in advance. These were taken with my new video camera and video cameras aren't known for good still quality. I had to use it for pictures since my brother borrowed my other camera for his trip to Cuba. Click on them to see them full size.

Auberge-Sur Mer

This set of pictures was taken from the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the sea.

The Trip: Scoop

Well, I was gone on a trip since the 10th. Went up to Ottawa and from there, me and my sister went on a trip with my grandfather up into Gaspésie, up to as far as St-Anne-Des-Monts. Our first stop was at Notre-Dame Du Portage, where we actually had our hotel (Auberge Sur Mer) where we had an awesome room with a balcony overlooking the sea. We ate there that night in the dining room to a very fancy dinner, but unfortunately the service was very slow! We were in there starting at 9:45pm only to get out of there after having eaten everything at 11:30pm.

Then the following morning, we ate breakfast there and a very good breakfast at that. Just about the best breakfast I ever had. Then we went on to Rivière-du-Loup where my grandfather was born and grew up where he told us stories of his childhood and showed us the home he grew up in, which is now a halfway house. Apparently the house has a lot of history attached to it. I do love the town and the old houses though. If I could, I'd want to own a cottage in that area.


So after our little tour of Rivière du Loup, we went on towards St-Anne-Des-Monts where we found another good hotel (Motel a la Brunante). The price wasn't too bad to begin with, but it was also a little on the expensive side, but my grandfather had managed to charm one of young ladies who worked at the reception. Throughout our trip, me and my sister were sharing our hotel room while my grandfather would be getting a room of his own, and we wanted them side by side. Unfortunately, the hotel only had one simple room that wasn't non-smoking, but he said he'd take it anyway and lowered the price to around $60, and then remembered that elsewhere, there were two rooms together, but what they hadn't told him was that it was a room with two beds, so he got more for the price!

And this hotel really impressed him. It was the first hotel room that had a bar in the bath to help him get in, and you wouldn't believe it, but it impressed him so much that he kept talking about it with everyone he met. My sister and I both found that really funny and cute. For example, we stopped off at a tourist center in Matane where he went to go to the washroom, and he had been impressed that that one had a hook to put his clothes on. Those two things somehow seemed to be the highlight of his trip. This guy is 92. He congratulated that tourist center on having a hook and went on to tell his story about his bar in the bathroom at the hotel, and that wasn't the only place he did this.

What impressed me about that hotel was the fact that they had a red light in the bathroom to help dry clothes and towels and to help with the cold from stepping out of a shower on a cold day. I'd never seen anything like it before. But that might also be a disadvantage. You see, the normal light hadn't been working for some reason, and so I decided to turn on the red light, which turned itself off in the middle of my shower. Now picture someone in total darkness in a foreign shower trying to feel their way around. Hmmmm.

That night we ate at a little restauraunt attached to a gas station which ended up having some pretty nice food, and what surprised me was that for some restauraunt like this to have escargot. It was kind of funny because it didn't seem in character for a restauraunt of that type, but then again, what do I know of that area?

Breakfast that morning was very good. It was at a little restauraunt next to a windmill park (coincidentally the one with the biggest verticle windmill in the world) called La Maison D'Eole, and I had a nice big house style omelette with mushrooms and bacon in it. The toast was made out of some thick bread. Hmmm, just thinking about it makes me hungry for one.

Ahh well, so we went all the way from St-Anne-Des-Monts the next morning all the way to Lévis where we stayed at the Hotel Kennedy, a very reasonably priced hotel owned by a family. Our room had a coffee maker! This I was impressed with, and the following morning, I made coffee. I learned that not every room had one, but that should change as the hotel is still quite new. It's only a few months old, and they're still adding things to it.


The next morning, we went to Quebec City, visited Vieux Quebec which I did for the first time and found the treasure of a store called Archambaud where I found what I had been looking for for ages where I hadn't been able to find in Ontario (this will be detailed in a future post). Then we went to Montreal where my sister would be visiting a friend for the night while my aunt who lives there would be driving us back to Ottawa. And then I spent the rest of my weekend in my aunt and uncle's cottage in Ottawa and came back home on the 21st.


Pictures will follow soon.

Currently Reading: Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1

You're right. I haven't really had much time for reading this month. Mostly because I was busy with a trip and I didn't do much reading during that trip as I was too busy doing other things. I'll post more about my trip later, like when I get my pictures downloaded from my camera.

But, right before the trip, I did start a new book. This one is the Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, which was given to me by my brother for Christmas this year. It's a definitive version of the best science fiction short-stories published, this one between 1929 and 1964, and great stories they are!

Anyway, I know it's not much of a post now, but I'll have more posting to do in the next few days that will make up for this smallish post.

Currently Reading: Hornblower & The Atropos

Did I say I was a slow reader? Sure seems like I'm going through books lately and contridicting what I said earlier. But the fact of the matter is, the books I've been reading lately have been easier to read than I thought they would, so I'm just blowing through books at a fast pace.

This one is part of C.S Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, and the first novel of his that I read. It's part of the books in the pile that I got last year while in Vermont. Amazing that I've still got books in that pile that I haven't read yet and I only paid a dollar total for all of them. They sure were worth it for the reading I've been doing with them.

Unfortunately, I can't find a summary of this book without spoiling it both here and for myself, but if you've seen the A&E series of movies, then you'll love reading this. I've started reading the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series of novels, which the Master & Commander movie was based on, and in comparison, this novel feels more simplistic and less stylistic, and almost more mainstream. So far, I've enjoyed the Patrick O'Brian novels more since he has more of a flair for descriptions, and makes you almost feel like you're there, enough to smell the sea water. So, so far, it's good, but not as good as I'd hoped it would be.

Currently Reading: Pattern Recognition

I, err, forgot. That's right, I forgot to post the book that I'm currently reading. I'm more than halfway through it now, but I suppose it's better late than never, right? I sure don't want to make a habit of forgetting.

Right, so with that out of the way, I'm currently reading Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. It's my first book of his that I picked up in the bargain section at Chapters, and some say that it's far from being his best book, this one taking place in the present, while most of his other books take place in a far away future. Since I don't have much to say about it so far, I'll just post the synopsis from the book itself:

"Cayce Pollard is an expensive, spookily intuitive market-research consultant. In London on a job, she is offered a secret assignment: to investigate some intriguing snippets of video that have been appearing on the Internet. An entire subculture of people is obsessed with these bits of footage, and anybody who can create that kind of brand loyalty would be a gold mine for Cayce's client. But when her borrowed apartment is burgled and her computer hacked, she realizes there's more to this project than she had expected.

Still, Cayce is her father's daughter, and the danger makes her stubborn. Win Pollard, ex-security expert, probably ex-CIA, took a taxi in the direction of the World Trade Center on September 11 one year ago, and is presumed dead. Win taught Cayce a bit about the way agents work. She is still numb at his loss, and, as much for him as for any other reason, she refuses to give up this newly weird job, which will take her to Tokyo and on to Russia. With help and betrayal from equally unlikely quarters, Cayce will follow the trail of the mysterious film to its source, and in the process will learn something about her father's life and death."

Title: Pattern Recognition
Pages: 368 [Hardcover Edition]
Author: William Gibson
Publisher: P.G Putnam & Sons

Canadian Music is Disappearing

Picture the scenario of someone walking into a record store, money in hand, and coming back out with that money still intact. You might wonder of course, why that money is still not spent. It might either be that they're out of stock of what you're looking for, or that the artist is no longer in their list of artists to stock.

That person was me. Just today, went to Music World to planned on getting something I had been eyeing for many months. I scanned the rack of CDs, trying to find what I wanted: Melanie Doane. I had found her quite easy to find in the past, so I was quite surprised that I couldn't find it. A clerk came to ask if I needed help, and I told him what I was looking for and he went to check "the book" once I told him the correct spelling of her last name. Came back and told me they don't stock her anymore. Huh? Asked why, and the answer came back that it didn't sell well enough. Ok, sure. Last I knew, she sold well enough.

Fine then, I figure I'll try something else I'd been eyeing that was easy to find in the past. And you know what? Same deal here. And then I start voicing my disappointment to the clerk. Met another clerk, this time a lady that understood my plight and thought the decision to no longer stock them was a stupid one. Can't argue there.

It seems as if all the music that I like and interested in is disappearing. It's not just one band, but two out of the two I had been looking for that I could no longer find. These are not the biggest money makers, I'm sure, but as I said in my previous post on this subject, how is a smaller band supposed to make money if the albums aren't in stock? A lot of these smaller bands need the bigger chains to support them due to their smaller influence. Some of these Canadian bands only tour specific provinces or areas and hardly venture out of it and the support from these big stores means more of a chance for someone who might not be familiar with their music to become aquainted with them. Example: Band might not tour selected location, but at least I can enjoy their music and hope that in the future they decide to tour further out. But with these stores cutting their support, it means less of a chance of success for these smaller bands, not to mention those that can't even get stocked in the first place that deserve a chance.

It seems that more and more with the experience that I've been having, that Canadian bands are disappearing from the shelves, in favour of bigger, more promising acts, that will probably just end up fading away in the next 2 or so years, and by that I mean both bigger Canadian and American acts that are pushing the smaller ones away. There ought to be some of the same Canadian Content Regulations put in place that the Radio and TV abide to that give smaller bands a fairer chance, even if those albums don't quite sell as much as the bigger bands. We need some protection for these artists.

So, while I am interested in buying this music, it seems foolish that these stores not make it available for those with money in hand. I would gladly pay money for something I want that is in stock. Is that so hard to do? I'm starting to feel frustrated and depressed that I can't find the music I want, and I feel it's the start of an ugly trend. Of course, it could just be that I'm just too out of touch with what I'm supposed to want, right? What's a poor guy supposed to do? Obviously, walk right back out with the money still intact.

Currently Reading: Star Trek - Titan: Taking Wing

Yes, don't laugh! I do read Star Trek books. I like reading them for light reading material when I don't want my brain to overload. Not going to say much as I've only just started it, but this one takes places after Nemesis is a new series about Riker's new command, the Titan. Should be exciting. I've wanted to read this one for quite awhile now. It was staring at me on my bookshelf, pleading to be read, and maybe after that I'll pick up the two other books in the series.

Ok, so as you've noticed, I finished reading Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince. It was quite good. I'm glad that I've finally read it so that I don't have to keep people silent.

Currently Reading: You-Know-What!

It's been awhile since I've posted what I've been reading. I'd forgotten to actually post what I've been reading ever since I finished reading The Confusion. And that's mostly because I'd been reading books in my pile that I had gotten in Vermont last year that aren't really worth mentioning. Yes, still trying to catch up, and I still have books that I got for Christmas. Wonder how long it will take me? I'm guessing I'll be done all of them by the time Christmas comes around.

Anyway, yes, I'm reading HP: And the Half-Blood Prince. It's taken long enough already to get to it, and I figured this was as good a time as any. I'm a slow reader and don't plow through like most people, so you'll just have to bear with me and wait until I finish it to discuss anything that I know you're bursting to talk about. I'm currently on Chapter 16 for those who are curious. And this is the UK cover, the one that is also used for the Canadian release. I tend to like the UK covers better than the American covers. The American covers sometimes tend to look a bit overdone in my opinion, and the one thing that makes the UK and Canadian releases stand out is the fact that they don't use chapter images.

And then of course, there are the Adult versions of the cover for each book. As a treat, I'm posting this one: