John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

A Sparky plug

Mary Lewis and her short film The Sparky Book are in the final four for the online vote for the Short Film Faceoff, which CBC has been airing the last few weeks. (I have no involvement in this, for the disclosure hounds). The Sparky Book is the only film from Newfoundland and Labrador in the finals; you can see it here.

To vote, head here. Voting concludes Monday evening. Please mention this to friends.

Weekend playlist ('That's hot' edition)

Saturday was conspicuously warm in St. John's ... it wasn't that hot, it's just that the preceding weeks have been so cold. Noticing that two of the newer songs on my iPod have a thematic link, I went looking for more. Apologies to Paris Hilton.

The B-52s: Hot Corner. The B-52s have a new album, Funplex, and pretty much the same sound and look that have served them well (for some reason, though, they dropped the apostrophe in their name, which I guess shows that it took about three decades to understand how a possessive works). It's nice to have a toe-tapper again, but ... well, don't they age?

The Detroit Cobras: Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat). This came from a CD tucked into Uncut some months back, paying tribute to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Proof, if nothing else, that rock is alive in someone's garage.

Bina Mistry: Hot Hot Hot. What wedding or Christmas dinner-n-dance would be complete without an awkward run-through of "feeling hot! hot! hot!"? Among the versions out there, I like this curried take on the Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack.

Hot Chip: Ready for the Floor. Nerdy look, non-melodic vocals, great hooks.

The Bosshoss: Hot Stuff. Yes, the Donna Summer song, getting the Bosshoss countrified workout. Not as hilarious as, say, their wink at Britney Spears's Toxic, but fun enough.

Billy Idol: Hot In The City. When did Billy Idol go from a semi-credible punk guy to a I-wanna-top-the-charts dude? About around here, I would reckon. "Straaaanger ..."

Sly & The Family Stone: Hot Fun In The Summer Time. More appropriate for August, I would guess, than the tentative warmth we get in May, but an AM radio favourite from my childhood. I'm still amazed to think that some people thought this song, or Dancing in the Streets for that matter, was code for rioting.

Level 42: Hot Water. A song from a period in the 80s when it was acceptable, if not fashionable, for semi-mulletted men to wear paisley shirts, long scarves and red jackets.

Beautiful losers: Who's not going pick up awards at the Webbys

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, May 1, 2008. Click here to read more columns.]

The Webby awards, which honour the best of the net, sure do things differently: the five-word limit on acceptance speeches is proof enough of that. Another clue: even before the voting is over, you can find out not only who's winning, but who's bound to lose.

The Webbys come in two flavours: one batch is decided by the industry, and the rest by ordinary schmos, like you and me, in a massive competition. Both are valid: it's nice to be recognized by your peers, to repeat a cliché from televised awards shows, but it’s great fun to watch what the crowd does. Which, of course, is what the web is all about.

A curious thing about the "people's voice" division of the Webbys is that you can actually see the vote results so far – that is, after you’ve actually cast your ballot. You see who's in first through fifth place. Better hurry: the last day to vote is today. [Note: the competition closed May 1, when this column was published.]

Webbys: People’s Voice
You have to register to vote, which takes a minute. Why? "It's the only way we can determine a human from a robot. That's why we named it People's Voice, not Robot's Voice." Makes sense.

As always there are a dizzying array of categories and options. Every year, I’m amazed by the sheer variety, not to mention how many nominees I’ve never heard of. Then again, as we’ll see, a good few aren’t up my alley.

So, this week, I focus on a bunch of the sites that appear destined to lose when the awards are handed out next week.

Design Observer
I'd make a lousy architect, I can't draw a straight line, and I wouldn't know where to start in creating a model. That said, I have a real curiosity about design and how things are put together. Design Observer (a nominee in the personal blog category) is an eclectic find, in which I always learn something.

Star Doll
I had never heard of  Star Doll (celebrity site category) until I read about it in a magazine a few weeks ago. Then again, it's not exactly aimed at adult males (well, most of them); it's a virtual update of those pop-out paper doll books, where you could fit clothing over various figures. Except, in this twist, the "dolls" are all celebrities, including the ones that preoccupy the supermarket tabloids. [That's Amy Winehouse to the side, in a doll I whipped together in a minute. Not bad, eh?]

Bad Gift Emporium
"Because one man's bad gift is another man’s bad gift … in a good way." Ever received one of those presents where your face muscles clench as you force a smile? This site (a Weird category finalist) treasures those non-treasures. You can submit your own, or celebrate your favourite finds by sending them as e-cards to friends. That’s a gift that’s likely more suitable.

Don’t Give Up on Vista
Some of the best bits up for Webbys this year are in the advertising categories. That shouldn’t be a surprise: they’ve got the money, the creativity and the licence to be more flippant on the web than in practically any other medium. Toyota's hilarious ad, which puts a Tacoma truck in a World of Warcraft gaming sequence, is (at this writing) leading in the Online Advertising category. But I like this ad for Apple, which adapts the famous PC-vs-Mac series for the web, and makes brilliant use of the parameters of an online ad.

Cook’s Illustrated
You Suck at Photoshop is leading the how-to and DIY grouping in the video categories (there are quite a few, which says something about how potent online videos have become), but I picked the Cook’s Illustrated video podcast. Until a year or so ago, I had the impression that Cook’s Illustrated magazine was a bit snooty. Then I started reading it, and then got into the companion America’s Test Kitchen show on PBS. Snooty it’s not. Fussy, yes, but often funny, too. The video podcast is all about one of the key goals: finding the best and easy-to-make version of a popular dish. Try it out.

John Gushue is a news writer for CBCNews.ca in St. John's. Site suggestions always welcome at surf at thetelegram.com. John is on Facebook right here.

A thought on good points of a sleepless night

"Insomnia is my greatest inspiration."
- Jon Stewart

Bands with singular visions

One-man bands are nothing new, but the New York Times reports on the resurgence of indie bands that can count their members on one finger. (To be more fair, I should say one-person bands, as in the case of Annie Clark of St. Vincent, pictured above, who is one of the ones profiled.) Check out the piece here.

Icebergs: striped edition

Here in Newfoundland, we sometimes take icebergs for granted; they float by each and every year (this year, there's been more than ever), but we can forget that very few places in the world have the opportunity to see them up close. The above is from the other end of the world, with an example of the phenomenon of striped bergs. More here. Very pretty.

A T-shirt for the locally produced

I'm a big fan of Robert Hiscock's Product of Newfoundland blog, which I still reflexively think of by its old name, rj:product. It's must reading on the cultural front. Robert is hawking some stuff through CafePress right here.

The Lost Generation. Gets it. Backwards

This is a very clever way of delivering a message about a message; it was created last year for a contest sponsored by the AARP.

A thought on rethinking things

"No philosopher understands his predecessors until he has re-thought their thought in his own contemporary terms."
- Peter Frederick Strawson

Hey, e-mail forwarders!

I get a LOT of e-mail, at work and at home. I appreciate a lot of it ... and while I like getting some jokes in my mailbox, others leave me cold. A lot of others. To be honest, the amount of messages titled something like this ...

Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: TOOOOOO FUNNY!!!!!!!!

... dropped off since, oh, about 13 years ago. In any event, I got a kick out of this:

A thought on happy sailors

"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up alongside it."
- David Lee Roth

A T-shirt for vengeful and aspiring writers

Yes, it's funny ... and it's true! As seen here. Click on the link below for other T-shirts in this collection.

Baby Face and other G-Man tales

That's Baby Face Nelson, one of the better known criminals of the 20th century. You may know the name, but do you know the case? The FBI's site has a peculiar archival section: some of the best-known cases it's worked on, from Al Capone and Bonnie and Clyde up to modern-day spy Robert Philip Hanssen.

Pick your mood, tap your feet

It's human nature to pick your music to suit your mood; What Mood Are You In? is a web service that makes it as easy as clicking a mouse on an obvious image. Don't expect, though, to see Mariah Carey, the Killers or anything on the charts. All the music here is generated by individual users through YouLicense, a company that connects musicians and producers with people who license music (advertisers, films, TV, special events, etc.), while taking a small cut to pay the bills. Even if you're not in the business, you can build your own playlists, once you register. If you like the adventurous side of things, you could have a lot of fun here.

A thought on knowing best

"Men know best about everything, except what women know better."
- George Eliot

Harry Shearer, 935 Lies

Harry Shearer may be best known as a) the voice of Mr. Burns, Smithers, Rev. Lovejoy and many other Simpsons characters or b) the dim-witted bassist of Spinal Tap, but he's also a pointed social critic and broadcaster. This is 935 Lies, a tribute, of sorts, to George W. Bush, from his forthcoming album.

Pirates! (TM)

Recognize the above? Sure you do. The skull-and-crossbones has been a symbol for pirates for more than two centuries ... and in this recap on the Adrants blog, a powerful bit of branding. (Aaar! Be warned of adult language ahead!)

A thought on turning up

"Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."
- Sam Ewing

Jazz portraits

This 1953 photograph of Sidney Bechet is among a collection at the online Jazz Resource Library. Check it out.

Clone for a loop

I doubt I was the only father who took his li'l guy to Speed Racer this weekend (although, judging by the box office receipts, there weren't that many of us). [If you want an idea, imagine all the Matrix movies, but with all the good stuff ... excised. And then the rest of it pressed through a strainer for one more quality drain-out.]

Anyway, the best part was simple: the trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which makes a movie out of the animated series.

Um, the little feller can't wait, either.

A thought on literary voices

"Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way."
- Salman Rushdie

Flashdance: a source for advertising parodies, after all these years

Kia has a newish ad that makes fun (quite well, too) of several scenes from Flashdance:

It's not the first, of course. Here's one for the Australian beer Carlton Draught (who consistently make great spots), turning the audition sequence on its, um, head.

Math: The upgrade

It's been a while since I've had to cram for a math test, but I remember enough to chuckle at many of these.

Doris Lessing, sore winner

Who would have guessed that winning a Nobel prize could wreck your writing career?

Go! goes to the LSPU Hall

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, April 24, 2008. Click here to read more columns.]

I like my rituals. Saturday morning is often bookended with swimming and piano lessons for the boy, with Dad enjoying lazy sips of coffee, the weekend papers and that pleasant shift into the weekend. One element is CBC Radio's Go!, Brent Bambury's hyper and often hilarious jump through music, comedy and the minutiae of daily life.

I have to admit I was excited when I heard Go! was coming to St. John's. I work at CBC, so seeing how shows get made (what's that phrase about legislation and sausages?) is far from a novelty. Nonetheless, I wanted to see how a live 90-minute show with multiple guests gets hauled together.

The Go! crew were in our building all last week before heading down to the LSPU Hall for the live show, and I can say this: a lot of thought and planning goes into that burst of Saturday morning energy. (And, certainly not to my surprise, given how the show always sounds more scripted than improvised, a lot of writing.)

Go! in St. John's
The highlights of the show have now been posted to its Audio page. In fact, almost all of the show is there for streaming, including the Dance Party of Newfoundland's Dave Sullivan’s gonna-be-classic retakes on The Empire Strikes Back and Casablanca, now with Newfoundland idioms. ("We'll always have Buchans," indeed.) You can download a fair bit to keep for yourself: two terrific songs by Chris Kirby and the Marquee, and a couple of the satiric ballads about Danny Williams. You can look at a photo gallery (from which the pics above and below were nicked) of the show right here.

Chris Kirby and the Marquee
Norris Arm's Chris Kirby and his band were the house performers for Go! last week. The songs they played have not been released yet (Kirby's first record, On Rum and Religion, came out almost two years ago), but you can sample the band's stuff on its MySpace page. Kirby said he described his new style as "rhythm and blues got back together," which works just fine.

Elsewhere this week

Web to PDF
"Why would anyone want to convert a web page to a PDF?" I thought when I learned about this online tool. A few seconds later, it dawned on me: you can create a record of what you’ve seen on the web, which is, by definition, dynamic and ever-changing. You can see something right now, and not be sure it’ll still be there in a moment. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s made a screengrab of a web page when I’ve seen a gromper error or needed to save something for a presentation, but there’s a limit to what screengrabs can do. (If you’re not sure how to do even that, it's easy-peasy: hit "print screen" and paste the result into a program like PhotoShop or even just Paint.)

Making a PDF, though, covers everything that is on that page, well below what the screen is showing, and the presentation here is in very high quality, to boot. It’s added to my quiver of online tools. [My better half, meanwhile, reminds me that print functions can also be adapted to PDF-ready options.]

Wondermark
This is a comic strip with a twist: vintage look, very modern dialogue. Very. Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam may have made his mark by getting laughs from the look of Victorian-era illustrations, but Wondermark’s David Malki (who contributes the strip to The Onion) can do a lot dropping contemporary thoughts into images from the age of Sherlock Holmes. A hoot.

John Gushue is a news writer for CBCNews.ca in St. John's. Site suggestions always welcome at surf at thetelegram.com. John is on Facebook right here.

Weekend playlist

A bit of jazz, a few golden oldies, and the return of Portishead are on this week's playlist.

Tito Puente: Take Five. The rip and roar that Puente's band puts into a cover of the Dave Brubeck Quartet classic is so energetic, it's tempting to consider it the default. (Tempting, but not enough. Paul Desmond forever!) A lot of fun.

Dire Straits: Skateaway. From Making Movies, one of my favourite album tracks of the early 1980s. A slow build and very cinematic in its feel.

Portishead: Deep Water. I bought the new album, Third, which is the first album of new work in 11 years. Poor Portishead got saddled with having arrived at a key modern musical style years ahead of others, and, worse, getting saddled with a "dinner party music" reputation, which is hardly fair. I've played Third through a couple of times, and it's different, in several ways. Deep Water sticks out the most: I actually thought it was Beirut, with a ukelele arrangement.

McCoy Tyner: Lazy Bird. From an Atlantic piano compilation I bought around 1991, when I was beefing up my CD collection (not the wisest move, in retrospect!) and widening my jazz appetite. McCoy Tyner fits most any weekend mood I've ever had.

John Lee Hooker: Dimples. Last month, I picked up an Uncut feature on the Rolling Stones, which came with a compilation CD featuring 15 early blues, R&B and rock tunes "that fired up" Mick, Keef et al. The CD was worth the cost of the mag.

A T-shirt that updates Stupid

Ah, poor old Stupid. Now known - er, n0wn, maybe - as n00b. As seen here.

A thought on a motherhood issue

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom."
- Henry Ward Beecher

Rocket, man

The New York Times is hosting a slideshow on the U.S. rocket program, to accompany this article on the future of the space program.

Journalists, authors

Geoff Meeker has a posting on his Telegram blog about two past and present colleagues of mine who've also written books, including fiction: Russell Wangersky and Ramona Dearing. Ramona hosted a Crosstalk episode on CBC Radio from St. John's on Friday, with a book club discussion of Russell's new memoir, Burning Down the House, which is about his years as a volunteer firefighter and the emotional troubles that entailed. You can hear that show here. I worked with Russell at three newsrooms over a dozen years or so, and Ramona and I work at the CBC newsroom here in St. John's. Ramona, as Geoff's piece reminds us, is a terrific writer in her own right.

In the meantime, Russell has started a blog about the book. It's here, although (ahem) it needs some updating. (Nudge, nudge.)

A thought on money

"Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand."
- Aphra Behn

A thought on sleeping with one eye open

"The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep."
- Woody Allen