Keeping it Local and My Crush on Ron Paul

My adopted doggy, Little Buddy, meets Santa. Check out the smile!

This year I tried my best to give gifts to my family and friends that are made locally and/or are sold by local small businesses. Extra points for supporting environmental sustainability!

I also tried to take heed of columnist Leslie Lowe's warning: Unless you know exactly what a person wants—that is, unless you've been told directly or have it on unimpeachable account—gifts should be edible, drinkable or breakable.

Seeing as I'm fairly sure my family and friends don't partake of my blog too often (i.e. they read it when I tell them to), here's a couple of the goodies I picked up for this Christmas. I shall try to ambiguously describe them!

- Various products from That Dutchman, whose ware is nothing short of godly
- Locally made jewelery
- Tickets to a play
- A print from a fabulous Halifax artist
- Plants... that you can eat!
- Books from the Bookmark
- Crafty stuff from the Black Market
- Local, organic dog treats
- Yarn that will soon be not-just-yarn

I did venture onto eBay for a few items. One of these items has already been given---I couldn't wait any longer. I got the boyfriend a theremin, which he has promptly fallen in love with. The website I ordered it from is quite sketchy looking, but it truly is a case of bad marketing for a great product. Daniel Burns, who maintains this business and I believe builds theremins, has exceptional customer service and replied to a number of my queries quickly and honestly. If you're of the few that are in the market for a theremin, I definitely recommend this website.

Over the next few days I am going to try and relax and wrap some gifts. This weekend I am heading back to Dartmouth and settling in for a week off work. NSARM has been keeping me busy, and I'm especially excited to see what online products we'll be releasing in 2008.

Enjoy this last, hectic week of shopping, folks!

Lastly, on a completely different note, I hope everyone hs been watching presidential candidate Ron Paul rake in the money, lately, due mostly to savvy internet marketing and viral media. It works because he actually has a message that has been unheard of in American politics, lately (I am sort of in love with him). Mr. Paul has raised a phenomenal amount of money and gained thousands of supporters without using mainstream media. Check out his YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter, and Flickr group. Pretty much every second day on Digg he breaks the top ten. There is a reason he has raised nearly twenty million dollars this quarter, so in the words of his supporters, "Google Ron Paul!"

Ninety Years, Eighteen Years

Barrington Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia

In memory of the Halifax Explosion (1917), I'd like to share some of the great online resources the archives offers:

Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book

"The database now contains 1,950 names-an enduring record of the men, women and children known to have died either in the Explosion, in the days immediately after, or in the following months as a direct result of the events of 6 December."

A Vision of Regeneration: Reconstruction after the Halifax Explosion (1917-1921)

"Stand on a vantage point and view the north end of Halifax now. Men say the day of miracles is passed; but there is a vision of regeneration here that fringes the miraculous. As though over night, the North End has shaken off its incubus of holocaust. Ruin and desolation have given place to the new order. A new city has risen out of the ashes of the old. We rub our eyes and look again – but the vision does not fade. The new city remains – and grows, building by building, street by street, amid the tumultuous music of a thousand hammers, the wholesome discord of a thousand saws."

Personal Narratives

Letters and photographs from those who lived through it.

Moving Images

Short film clips documenting the damaged city, as well as relief efforts.

Today also marks the 18th anniversary of the "Montreal Massacre". On Dec. 6, 1989 an derranged gunman stormed the halls of Montreal's École Polytechnique and killed 14 women. Marc Lepine separated the men from the women and before opening fire on the classroom of female engineering students he screamed, "I hate feminists."

December 6th is now marked as a day of remembrance, and the purple ribbon is worn to raise awareness of violence against women.

The CBC Archives have an informative page on the tragedy.

Feist: Part II

What can I say about the Feist concert… it was a mix of both good and bad, with the bad having nothing to do with the chanteuse.

The venue was terrible. The Cunard Centre is essentially a huge concrete barn. It serves the purpose of containing noisy rock shows quite well, but the volume was not jacked up for Ms. Feist. I had trouble hearing her at time, and I was about 10-15 people from the front, and directly facing a speaker.

Why the trouble hearing her? The group of hipsters who camped out next to me and talked very loudly through her entire set and only quieted down during two songs (“1 2 3 4” and “Mushaboom”) were louder than her entire band. This was a shame, because what I could hear was charming, delicate, and uplifting.

If I had my way, the following rules would be followed at similar shows:

1) Don’t go to shows if you don’t like the music. If you’re bored, there are cheaper alternatives. I’d rather you talk through a movie or behave raucously at a bar.

2) Be considerate of those around you. Pushing doesn’t mean I’ll let you in front of me. While disturbing those around you is acceptable during some shows (e.g. the Slayer show of ’04), this wasn’t the proper occasion.

3) You probably can’t sing. If you notice you’re the only one singing, and you’re attracting some stares, it’s probably time to stop.

4) If you’re short, please take that into consideration before the show starts. Don’t show up midway through a set and complain.

5) If you’re going to push your way to the front, don’t whine until people feel sorry for you, or lie about your friends being there… just do it, and do it fast before people notice what’s going on.

Other than the aforementioned annoyances, it was a great show. There is power behind Leslie Feist’s voice, but she chose to hold back and favoured vocal acrobatics over volume. Her lilting voice and very adept band killed every song (that I could hear).

Leslie Feist was born in Ahmerst, and has family here in Nova Scotia. She knew enough about the area that she was able to divide the crowd into choruses of voices from Halifax, Dartmouth, Sackville, and even Truro. At one point, she broke out into a well-known sea-shanty (“I’s the b’y that builds the boat…”). Yes, she knew the crowd.

The encore was one of my favourite Feist-tunes, “Sea Lion Woman”. For this song she invited members of her family on-stage. They seemed extremely happy and excited, and clapped their way rowdily through the song.

Feist puts on a great show, but I really would have preferred seeing her in a more intimate setting. The “multipurpose centre” didn’t cut it for her brand of music.

Ozzy Update: as of 9:04 am Friday I am officially seeing Mr. Osbourne in concert, possibly with Rob Zombie. We snatched lower bowl tickets just before they sold out. \m/