John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

An iceberg off Twillingate

It's hard to not look at an iceberg while it's still, and they're all the more captivating while they're breaking apart. Here's a video Cecil Stockley recorded off Twillingate on the weekend of a foundering iceberg. 

Stogged, and using words as tourism assets

There's an interesting new set of videos that the Newfoundland and Labrador tourism campaign has released, and they're a bit different from the ones we've typically seen over the last few years. These play on the theme of language, and underscore how words and conversation set us apart from, well, other places that people can visit. 

This one is for the word "stogged," which is a word I've had to explain a few times to folks from away. You can see more of the Language Lessons series here. 

 

The fact-checked Newfoundland and Labrador tourism commercial

The spots produced by Target Marketing for the Newfoundland and Labrador tourism campaign have garnered a lot of attention and awards over the years ... and, now, a parody. 

This was posted a couple of days ago by the folks who chronicle the exploits of Donnie Dumphy. 

The Mainland

The main island in the Orkney Islands is known, simply enough, as The Mainland. 

I thought today's random fact might resonated especially here on Newfoundland, because we use the same phrase to describe the rest of North America, but particularly the rest of Canada, not to mention Labrador. 

S'always time ...

for a cup of tea.

Lovely bit of work from Grumpy Goat Gallery from Pam and Cara at Grumpy Goat Gallery.

 

Ahead by a century: Photos that make their mark

Surf’s Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

If you look at a landscape and come back a day later, nothing seems to change. A month? Possibly. A year? Definitely maybe.

How about a century, then? Our first site this week involves photography that is about place, change and perspective.

Hyperfocalpoint
Hyperfocalpoint is a collaborative venture involving photographers Ian Vatcher and Duncan de Young, the latter of whom put together a portfolio called A Century Later: 1909-2009.  The collection is absolutely absorbing.

In the first image, you see de Young’s great-grandfather, posed by a rocky vista in Brigus. Click on the image, and the black-and-white tones of a century ago give way to bright, vivid colours, with de Young taking the place of his ancestor.

Similar projects have been staged over the years, including here in Newfoundland and Labrador, but I find that the technique never gets old, as it were. There’s something remarkable in seeing a well-worn road of several generations ago become effectively grown over, with the slightest hint of a path left behind. Or, in a picture of St. John’s, a vivid description of how neighbourhoods can change with a key marker remaining intact.

I love the project, and am looking forward to what else this site may have.

Elsewhere this week

Seaquence
This is the most curious thing I’ve played with this week: a sonic exploration that’s as much a game as it is a novelty or a way of understanding how music works. To play, as it were, you select what looks like a sea critter, and make some choices about octave, melody, volume and more. Things get really interesting when you add second and further creatures, and the sounds becoming increasingly complex. If you like what you’ve made, you can save it. Very intriguing.

What Happened in My Birth Year
You obviously can’t remember what was happening in the year you were born. You were, of course, just an infant, and your mind was not on current affairs and such. So, with this site, you type in your year, and the screen slowly dissolves before presenting you with an essay on your year. Then, things get interesting. An essay, of sorts, types itself before your eyes. I found this amusing for a few seconds, and then, well, slow. Maybe I read more quickly than they expect! On the other hand, you can click on it, go do something else, and come back and read the works when it’s finished. 

Epicurious app
iTunes, Android
Epicurious has been a kingpin on the web for many years, pushing aside challenges from celebrity food sites, corporate kitchens and upstart bloggers alike. The food tends to be a little fancy-schmancy, but it deserves its stellar reputation. The companion app for smartphones is a breeze to use, and appetizing on the eyes. Free for download from iTunes, and a version is now available for Android phones, too.

Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is one of the many smart people who worked at Apple Computer – he was called chief evangelist, which I bet looks dandy on a business card – and now is working independently. I doubt Kawasaki needs the money, but he’s as deeply engaged in things as he must have been with Apple. His Twitter feed is one of my favourites, simply because I learn something new (and occasionally amazing) from him several times a week. What more can you ask?

Einstein blackboard generator
Albert Einstein had one of the most recognizable faces of the 20th century, and one of the most respected minds. And now, thanks to this bit of tomfoolery, you can make light of that respected image and craft your own personalized message. Here’s the deal: it starts with a familiar photograph of Einstein at a blackboard; the generator lets you pick out the words he’s supposedly writing in chalk. (I put some lyrics for Lukey’s Boat.) Have fun. Einstein seems to have had such a warm sense of humour, he might even have appreciated it.

John Gushue is an online editor with CBC News in St. John’s. Twitter: @johngushue. 

Newfoundland Weather

Colleen Power's song works 365 days of the year for me, but especially during winter, when it's as likely to be about freezing rain as, say, snow. 

Thinking about Sandy Cove

Eastport is one of my favourite places in Newfoundland and Labrador, and when I say Eastport, I mean the peninsula, including neighbouring communities like Salvage and Sandy Cove. The beach at Sandy Cove, to narrow things down even more, is one of our favourite spots, anywhere.

If you know the beach at all, you'll know there's a steep hill that's covered in sand and appears to be made of clay, and where erosion poses more than a minor threat.

Robert Hiscock (of Product of Newfoundland) posted this video recently about the impact of the storm surge around Christmas.

 

Cupids has a way of getting into your heart

Surf’s Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, July 8, 2010. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

This past weekend, the missus packed a picnic lunch, the kid picked out some road tunes and I filled up the tank with gas. We didn’t’ actually use that much, mind you. Cupids, after all, is barely an hour outside St. John’s.

That said, it was a pretty transporting daytrip, in part because of the fete that Cupids is putting on to celebrate its 400th anniversary. We’re planning at least one more trip before the summer is out – there were things still on our list, and we saw plenty that we wanted to explore. 

Cupids 400 
With some solid government support and private sponsors, Cupids 400 has a website worthy of the significance of the event – the first planned English settlement in what is now Canada. This is your anchor, whether or not you can make the trip. 

At the very least, learn about John Guy, the Cupers Cove colony founded in 1610, and remarkable stories involving the archeology and scholarship that have flourished in recent years. 

If you can make the trip, this site is the best place to start. You’ll get a sense of what you can see, including the brand-new Legacy Centre, which is a terrific community museum. (The online component isn’t quite there yet, but I’m hoping that can be beefed up.) You can also read some of the background of the digs that have put Cupids on the archeological map lately. 

Cupids Cove Chatter
Chatter uses a blog format for quick updates on what’s happening around the community, which has been decked out for the summer. Cupids and its neighbours are hosting numerous activities – concerts, plays, get-togethers, you name it –  well beyond the standard tourism centre. I’ve been kept abreast of Chatter postings thanks to the diligent work of Twitter friend Margaret Ayad, who has helped keep Cupids top of mind for a whole online community. Meanwhile, look for lots of links, including a Flickr group to see what’s been going on so far. 

New World Theatre Project 
Rabbittown Theatre of St. John’s has branched out to Cupids for this season, with a program that’s kind of ambitious: it’s staging two Shakespearean plays, plus three originals (including a dinner theatre). We caught three of the productions in a single day, including the effervescent Chris Driedzic’s brief one-man show on the fire that destroyed the legendary Globe theatre. You can find out about productions and times here. 

Elsewhere this week 

Twitter of the Day 
Earlier this winter, the people who count such things announced that 50 million tweets were moving into the ether every single day. Woof. Even if you follow a moderate number of people or organizations, it’s impossible (and, to be blunt, just not a good idea) to keep up with everything they say. The appeal of Twitter of the Day is that particularly clever or insightful or colourful things get picked for you.  

15 Things You Should Know About Breasts
Sounds dirty, but boy, is it not. This infographic is packed with information that everyone should know, but given that it’s published by OnlineSchools.org, I suspect it’s meant mainly for older students, and particularly boys at that. Some inaccurate assumptions about smoking, cosmetic surgery and breastfeeding get the fact-checking they’ve had coming. This is a great public health tool, but it may not please all parents or grown-ups, nor is it appropriate for young kids. [UPDATE: This link is no longer active.] 

 

Lost map 
It didn’t have a name, but the Island on Lost sure saw a lot of action, from a plane crash to a temple to a freighter exploding into bits just offshore. Fans of the recently concluded TV show will be intrigued to see what a Virginian mapmaker named Jonah M. Adkins came up with after (apparently) following the show quite closely – a map with many of the key settings, from Jacob’s cave to Jughead to the various Dharma stations. Look for links to buy a copy, plus notes from the mapmaker himself. 

John Gushue is an online editor with CBC News in St. John’s. Twitter: @johngushue. 

Radio running on full Battery power

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, April 8, 2010. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

This week’s web tour starts in a community within a community, incorporates an old Newfoundland fable, implores citizen action to preserve a slice of St. John’s history, and underlines the importance of storytelling.

And that’s just the first few sites we’ll site. We’ll also get old-fashioned with St. John’s performer Joe Belly, see how Lexus has been sponsoring finely crafted web series (including a funny bunch with a former Friends star) and tempt the jazz gods with a low-fi digital tribute to Miles Davis.

The Annotated Jack
A few weeks ago, this documentary by Chris Brookes aired on the local airwaves, in installments on CBC Radio’s On The Go as well as on the weekly Performance Hour. It’s not the story of not just one but two Jacks: the Jack of folklore, who learns the wisdom that lies in listening to a crazy-talking cat, and one Jack Wells, a retired fisherman who lives near Brookes in the Battery section of St. John’s. This link takes you to the Irish public broadcast RTE, which aired the documentary in December. It’s well worth the time.

Save Jack’s Twine Store
Coincidental to the production of the radio piece, the fishing premises that the Wells family used for years were battered by a recent storm surge. This page was set up by his friends and supporters, to raise enough money to repair the twine store and a nearby wharf. This page lists several ways anyone can get involved to restore an iconic corner of St. John’s.

Battery Radio
Chris Brookes has worked on many other terrific documentaries over the years, and you can find out plenty about his work –  and stream or buy a lot of it – right here. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Chris in the past, and can vouch for the fact he approaches his subjects in unusual ways, with spectacular results.

Elsewhere this week

Joe Belly’s Nickles and Dimes
St. John’s singer Phil Goodland’s Joe Belly persona recently released this video, for the title track of his album Nickles and Dimes. It’s shot on Super-8, which gives it a retro feel that can’t be matched with editing effects.

L Studio
The L stands for Lexus, and before Toyota had other things to worry about – gas pedals, recalls, and such – it was able to do things like launch a website featuring high-quality films featuring musicians (Jon Anderson of Yes, Ray Manzarek of the Doors) and quite a bit of original work. My favourite? Lisa Kudrow’s appearances in a series of short films called Web Therapy, in which her character counsels one sad sack after another. All told, L Studio is an unusual way to take the Lexus branding to its choice demographic – well-heeled boomers, I imagine.

 
SolarBeat
We all know that the planets make laps around the sun at different intervals … but how different? This page will show you how, and make you think about the enormity of things for a moment.

Kind of Bloop
Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue has a revered status in jazz, more than 50 years after its release. Kind of Bloop is subtitled “an 8-bit tribute” to Kind of Blue, and it made me laugh. You’ll hear old-school synthesized sounds, mimicking the album’s tracks. (You’ll have to buy it for $5 to hear the whole thing.) It’s kind of like Nintendo meets bebop.

United States quiz
Would you be able to identify Kentucky or South Dakota, simply by looking at a drawing of their borders? That’s the gambit of this quiz, which rewards those who paid very close attention in geography class.

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and works with CBC News. John is on Twitter right here.

Ron Hynes, the movie

A documentary will be coming this fall on legendary St. John's singer and songwriter Ron Hynes, who's had quite the life. I'm quite curious to see it, and to see what it says. Here's the trailer:

A Newfoundland maxim gets the Bad Translator treatment

Bad Translator is a fun type of parlour game: you type in a phrase, and let the machine translate it into a foreign language ... then translate it back into English, into something else, and so on and so on.

Here's what I got when I put Brian Peckford's oft-repeated quote of the 1980s ("Some day the sun will shine and have not will be no more") into the Bad Translator engine:

AFRIKAANS : Eendag sal die son skyn en ek het nie sal word nie meer nie.
Back to ENGLISH : One day the sun will shine and I will not be no more.
ALBANIAN : Një ditë dielli do të shkëlqejë dhe unë nuk do të jetë jo më shumë.
Back to ENGLISH : One day the sun will shine and I will not be no more.
ARABIC : يوم واحد والشمس يلمع وأنا لن يكون هناك أكثر من ذلك.
Back to ENGLISH : One day the sun shines and I will be no more than that.
BELARUSIAN : Адзін дзень свеціць сонца, і я буду не больш за тое.
Back to ENGLISH : One day the sun shines, and I'll be no more.
BULGARIAN : Един ден слънцето грее, и ще бъде не повече.
Back to ENGLISH : One day the sun shines, and will be no more.
CATALAN : Un dia el sol brilla, i no serà més.
Back to ENGLISH : One day the sun shines, and most will not.
CHINESE : 有一天，阳光普照，而且大多数不会。
Back to ENGLISH : One day, sunny, and most will not.
CHINESE_SIMPLIFIED : 有一天，阳光明媚，最不会。
Back to ENGLISH : One day, sunny, most will not.
CHINESE_TRADITIONAL : 有一天，陽光明媚，大部分不會。
Back to ENGLISH : One day, sunny, most will not.
CROATIAN : Jednog dana, sunčano, većina neće.
Back to ENGLISH : One day, sunny, most will not.

The shower for baby Guy

Here's a Flickr stream to keep an eye on: John Guy 2010 is gathering photos for the upcoming Cupids 400 celebrations. The pick above, by Dennis Flynn, is from a "baby shower" that was held in March for the first English child born in Canada.

I've been playing Chris Kirby all day

One of the albums in heavy rotation lately has been Vampire Hotel by Chris Kirby of St. John's, and his band, The Marquee. It's a great record for working, and for driving (it's been the CD in the car for a while now). I love the sound of the record, which feels like a bit of Squeeze dipped in a bowl of Billy Preston sauce. You find out more at his site, and pick up a free download, too (though I'd recommend just getting the whole record.)  

Kirby is up for four East Coast Music Awards next month. The video below was shot at an ECMA showcase last year in Corner Brook, before Vampire Hotel was released. The tune is Don't Forget About Me, which gets added to the long list of songs about heartbreak and betrayal that happen to have a festive, dance-ready beat.

Tomatoes, timepieces and keeping track of things

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. Click here to read more Surf's Up.] 

Could a simple tomato help you regain focus in your work, spur productivity and help you clear outstanding tasks from your to-do list? According to people who believe in what’s called the Pomodoro Technique, the answer is an unqualified yes.

The first thing to realize, though, is that this is not your garden-variety tomato.

 

Pomodoro Technique
In a nutshell, the Pomodoro Technique is about time management. Creator Francesco Cirillo developed it years ago, although it seems to be gaining ground more recently online, with discussion groups and fan pages sprouting all over. And, yes, plenty of software choices are already available.

Here’s how it works: you take a kitchen clock – the technique is called Pomodoro, because of the tomato-shaped timer that Cirillo used – and set it for 25 minutes. During that time, you work with purpose on a set task. When the alarm sounds, you can do what you want for five minutes. Then, you do it all over again. When you’ve done a few “pomodoros,” you’ve earned a longer break.

Adherents swear by it, particularly as the web and our gadgets supply us with an ever-increasing list of possible distractions. At the official site, you’ll find the technique is as much a product as a way of living, or at least working.

Google Timer Group
Curiously, many people who work online have become infatuated with the Pomodoro idea. This is a popular Google Groups forum devoted to developing and promoting software connected to the Pomodoro universe. I would have thought things would be straightforward – an online timer, and that’s about it, right? – but plenty of people are working on some pretty sophisticated applications, such as the involvement of real-time networking for large groups of people. 

Online Clock
You don’t have to have huge, complicated ideas to benefit from the technique. This application is really simple: you set an alarm (like, for 25, or 45, or however many minutes from now), and an annoying buzzer goes off. It’s great for micronaps, by the way. 

Elsewhere this week

At Cupids Cove
Here’s a link where time is definitely an issue. Last Sunday, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a documentary on John Guy and the settling of Cupids, tied to this year’s 400th anniversary celebrations. It’s a good piece, and you can listen to it here, but (because of the BBC’s limitations on playback) for just another three days. [Note: The window to hear this piece has now, unfortunately, closed.]

 
Amelia Curran Live
Last month, CBC Radio 2 broadcast a full concert of singer-songwriter Curran playing in St. John’s. It was a lovely show, and you can hear it whenever you want, courtesy of the Concerts On Demand feature. You can also sign up for the podcast, and keep the downloaded show (plus many others) for as long as you like. I’d recommend the podcast option, as it’s a terrific way to get live, high-quality music from top-shelf artists.

Amelia Curran
Curran’s own site offers some background information, although fans and prospective fans will find more to sample at her MySpace page; look for the link among the resources here.



Designboom: Parking
When the blog designboom (no capital letters, please; they’re too cool for appropriate punctuation!) launches a competition, hundreds if not thousands get in on the action. This one asked participants to imagine “solutions” to parking crunches in urban areas; some of the results are out there, and a few are hilarious.
 
Bureau of Made Up Statistics
Need a fact that need not be true? Here’s your place for one-stop citations, true or false (but almost always false). It’s a hoot.

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and is currently on leave from his job with CBC News in St. John's. John is on Twitter right here.

Colleen Power meets Sketchy Jerome

St. John's singer Colleen Power has had some fun making videos with her film-making partner Roger Maunder; New Townie Man was a flat-out viral hit, and I liked the Nfld-country hurtin' tune, Dead Bird in the Garbage. 

Just out this week: Sketchy Jerome, about a young woman on the hunt for some marijuana, and having to resort to a visit to the home of said Jerome. As played by comedian Donny Love, he's the sort of guy who works disco pants and answers the door with a baseball bat.

A couple of trivia notes. For instance, people who've bought the "Free Nfld" stickers, T-shirts, etc., over the years can spot the logo's creator Wallace Ryan sitting right next to it in Jerome's living room. Lots of other cameos to be seen, as well, from former union leader Leo Puddister to Maunder himself playing Stan, the boyfriend in the car. 

An advisory: because of subject and language, this video is probably not safe for work, nor around the kids.

Vote for my blog, folks!

For more than a week, the Newfoundland and Labrador Blogroll has been running a competition called the Bloggers' Choice. It's a runoff between 24 different sites that blogroll owner Stephen Eli Harris has chosen each week to highlight, and I'm one of them.

The competition has been fun, and has largely come down to a contest between my blog and Bitstop, Karen Chappell's majestic collection of photography. Barry Parsons's Rock Recipes was in the lead in the early days, and although he's well back now in 3rd place, I still feel he could have won it, thanks to a Facebook page membership of more than 3,800.

I'm currently in the lead - thanks to a lot of support I've garnered through social media. I hope to write more on that sometime soon. 

A purpose of this contest is to draw attention to the blogs of Newfoundland and Labrador. You can always find the blogroll on the right-hand side of my page; the little asterisk means a particular blog has something fresh to read. (The ones at the top are the most recently updated.)

As well, take some time to check out the blogs that are among the 24. I'm sure you'll be astounded by the variety.

Finally, thanks to Stephen Eli Harris for coming up with the idea - ideas, really, for the blogroll itself, the blog of the week, and now this competition. You can hear an interview he did with Angela Antle of WAM, aka the Weekend Arts Magazine, right here. Check out his blog, Understanding Eli, too.

Movie time: Waiting For Fidel

Waiting For Fidel has been a cult favourite among many Newfoundlanders, and indeed among a good few documentary lovers I know; there's an odd fascination to see former premier Joe Smallwood and NTV-Herald founder Geoff Stirling fly down to Cuba and then wait, Godot-like, for a meeting with Fidel Castro. The NFB made the film in 1974; when I was younger, I rented the movie on video cassette. Now, it couldn't be easier to see, as the Film Board has posted the whole thing online. In fact, it can be embedded, as below. Check out the NFB site to see more of the many, many things online: 

A free download in the Republic of Doyle

The Republic of Doyle debuted last night on CBC Television. My reaction? I liked it. Didn't love it outright, like many of my friends; it had that first-episode vibe, with lots of exposition, and plenty of new (albeith potentially wonderful) characters to meet. I expect things to gel in the episodes to come. I loved how it was shot - kudos to Nigel Markham and his crew for letting St. John's shine. Like a lot of people here in St. John's, I know plenty of people who've been working on the production, and I imagine they're all relieved and proud.[Update: author and fellow blogger Tina Chaulk had a similar sort of reaction to mine, as did Craig Welsh.)

If you missed it, you can download a free copy of the first episode (dubbed Fathers and Sons) from iTunes. I'm not sure if that pricing is going to stick; a season pass on iTunes is $19.99. (If you're outside Canada, you're probably going to have trouble with the download.)

You can also watch the show on demand here, by streaming it over cbc.ca.

Elephants in the room, beats on the box

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

I have a few, final tips for Christmas surfing, but feel free to clip this column for the moments when you’re about to enjoy some lazy, well-earned downtime in the days ahead. They’ll definitely work well past Christmas Day. (And have a good one, by the way.)

First, though, some advice on how to deal with those who’ve indulged too much during the season of high spirits.

Deflate The Elephant
Have you noticed the ads from the LCBO – the Liquor Control Board of Ontario – on TV this month? The board has been buying lots of national airtime with spots based around the premise of the “elephant in the room” at this time of year, when a drunk friend or loved one decides to reach for the keys and head home. This is the companion site, which is worth reading before you have anyone over and the drinks start getting poured; you’ll find strategies for preventing drinking and driving, and possibly saving some lives. 

Curtis Andrews
The hirsute percussionist and all-round groovy guy has been on a roll lately, and not just because he seems to play with every cool outfit in St. John’s. Last week, he won the Atlantis Music Prize, sponsored by the St. John’s alternative paper the Scope, for album of the year, for his jazzy, worldbeat-inflected record The Offering of Curtis Andrews. Last month, he also picked up two major awards from MusicNL. You can learn about his music here (and sample the entire album, or, even better, buy it), and learn about his passions, including a plan to build a school in 2010 in Ghana. 

Holiday Photo Maker
From JibJab, the makers of funny videos and the perennial Elf Yourself app, comes this feature that allows you to plop headshots of you and yours into all kinds of seasonal settings. A head’s up: some of these are definitely not kid-appropriate, so look through the many options first if you’re looking for an activity with small kids! If there’s a new camera under the tree, knock yourself out here afterwards. 

Mashup Arts
In a similar vein, here’s an entire site that allows you to craft cards, messages, etc., for holidays, birthdays or practically any occasion. Upload some pics (it connects with Facebook and Flickr), drag and drop some materials, including comic-style balloons, and zap, you’re done. A nice way to add some pizzazz to your next message. 

Canadian emergency code alerts
I’m sure you’ll recall the colour-coded terror alert system the U.S. government unveiled in 2002 (you know, red means “severe”, green means “low”). This tongue-in-cheek feature adapts the system to the Canadian environment. Hence, green – the lowest threat level – means “Stanley Cup playoffs on, majority government, roll-up-the-rim contest in progress.” You can imagine what happens as things get worse.

Random paragraph generator
Trying to write something, and finding yourself staring at a blinking cursor or a maddeningly white piece of paper? I’ve been working on a pretty large writing project lately (a book, or at least what I hope will turn into one), and have had a few awful moments along the way. This tool can trigger a new train of thought, or inspire a way out of writer’s block. Or, it may just amuse you by presenting weirdly random collections of words.

Christmas in the Sixties
My buddies at the CBC’s digital archives put this collection of TV and clips together. If you’re about my vintage, you may find it fascinating or striking to see and hear how Christmas was celebrated, and described, during the era of aluminum trees (the Charlie Brown Christmas special didn’t make that up). 

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and is currently on leave from his job with CBC News in St. John's. John is on Twitter right here. 

Ennis sing Ron Hynes's Be There Christmas Eve

Be There Christmas Eve has the classic elements of a good Ron Hynes song: longing, wistful, and just a touch sentimental. Ennis (who first recorded it as The Ennis Sisters for the Christmas on Ennis Road album a while back) do it justice in this live performance.You can get Ron's own version on the compilation album . Atlantic Standards Christmas.

Twas the Night After Christmas

From Robert Hiscock, who runs Product of Newfoundland, a riff on Clement Moore. Forget the Yankee milieu, however, this reading is closer to home.

Christa’s Christmas

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

I have no empirical evidence to back this up, but my guess is that Christmas Day tops the other days of the year, in terms of number of photographs snapped.  Pictures are hard to resist: the surprises of Christmas morning, the glee on children’s faces, the joy of families brought together.

Our first stop in this week’s web tour is a video that makes great use of family pictures, in a musical kind of way.

Christa Borden: O Holy Night
Borden’s newly released version of the hymn is splendid, and she has the voice to pull it off: only the brave and/or talented, for instance, will want to try those famous notes at the end. For the accompanying video, Borden reached out to the community, and asked friends and fans to send her some of their Christmas pictures. Here’s the resulting video, which was posted a week ago to YouTube. It’s sentimental and sweet … and a bit of a pleasure amid the seasonal bombardment.

Elsewhere this week

Mailing dates
Still have some cards and things to put into the mail? It may not be too late, depending on what it is and where it’s going. Here’s a link to Canada Post’s guide to deadlines for delivery.

 

Christmas Mah Jong
Mah Jong games, in which you click on matching tiles to eliminate them, have been an online staple for years. Here’s a variation with a Christmas theme, featuring images of Santa, gingerbread, and so on. It was the first game of its kind my son played, so it took a while to get the hang of it; if you’ll recall, only tiles with one border free can be clicked and released. A fine diversion for with the holidays coming.

Tee Fury 
I had never heard of Tee Fury until a couple of weeks ago, when I randomly came across a hilarious T-shirt design, featuring a scene from the Hoth battle sequence of The Empire Strikes Back, redone with a Christmas touch. (Maybe you need to see it to believe me.) I’m glad I read the small print, as the shirt was available for that day only. That’s how it works on Tee Fury: cool designs, cheap prices (US $9), and a big catch. The limited edition shirts are on sale for just 24 hours, so it pays to check regularly. 

Give It A Ponder
Hats off, or beards off, rather, to James Lipton of Inside The Actors Studio for mocking his own image in a clever and really funny series of commercials for communications giant LG, all about the hazards of texting. The message: think before you blurt. Lipton deflates his stuffy image with ads that any tween, teen or older should see. 

Where’s Waldo? 
Whether or not you’ve bought any of the Waldo books, chances are good you would recognize the lanky dude in the striped shirt.  (If you’re British, you may know him better by his original name, Wally.) This online game follows the books: your mission is to find not only Waldo, but his friends, marking them as you go. Look for the “game widget” when you load this page. You can also create your own avatar, and shutterbugs can have fun with a Flickr-powered photo challenge. 

Riddle Fence  
The sprightly St. John’s literary journal has just finished its fourth issue; you can’t read them online, but you can get a taste of what it’s about, plus directions on how you can contribute to upcoming editions. 

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and is currently on leave from his job with CBC News in St. John's. John is on Twitter right here. 

Musical advent calendar: Great Big Sea's Seven Joys of Mary

One of the better-known Christmas tunes from Newfoundland and Labrador is Great Big Sea's rendition of The Seven Joys of Mary. I wasn't aware of the song until the boys recorded it 15 years ago,when they were still a quartet, but have noticed it in various settings in the years since. It's often sung gently and quietly ... which of course makes the GBS version, which has a rollicking instrumental break, pretty different. (You can find another version by Kate and Anna McGarrigle, as well as a classical setting by St. John's-raised soprano Meredith Hall, performing with La Nef, among other renditions.)

I wrote to Bob Hallett, Great Big Sea's wizard of many instruments, to learn more about how they came to record the song. It was to be their contribution to Atlantic Standards Christmas, a compilation album first released in the fall of 1994.Their version appears on at least two other Canadian Christmas compilations.

"The arrangement was something we came up with ourselves," Bob wrote back. "We did not have a traditional version as such, but I knew that the song was sung by traditional carolers [in] Green's Harbour, TB, from family sources. I dug around and found lyrics in an old carol book which came from England. We adapted the lyrics to a more local dialect."

Bob says the band pulls the song out occasionally, usually for shows at Christmas. The video below shows an almost a cappella version, accompanied only by bodhran, from a program hosted by Wayne Rostad.

This is the ninth entry in a musical advent calendar I'm writing this year, leading up to Christmas Eve. Check back every day for something new.

O Holy Night: Song by Christa Borden, visuals by friends and fans

Christa Borden has just completed a rendition of O Holy Night, which is a staple at Christmas time - and a summit for any singer to attempt. For the video, Borden tried something intriguing: she solicited photos from her friends and her fans, and they delivered. The resulting video was posted to YouTube last week. Here it is: