CBC calls St. John's "Hyper-Cool"

Great article on the CBC website about a St. John's artist who makes books and book art. Apparently, St. John's is the cool place to live now.

"... the perfect place is St. John’s, a city that acts as a living metaphor for the line between the values and esthetics of the old and new. In the midst of a long-running renaissance, Newfoundland’s capital has become hyper-cool and overflowing with personality and art. It is home to many refugees from the mainstream..."

I went to the CBC, (not a trek that I make often) looking for more information on Laura Gainey, who was swept off the deck of my old ship, the Picton Castle on Friday. The search has been going on all weekend, but I'm not holding out much hope for a happy end to this story. If there is one thing I understand well, it's the realities of my job. I lived for almost 3 years on that ship, and I know it is almost impossible to enact a successful recovery of a MOB in any kind of weather. Not that I'm being pessimistic or anything, just realistic. I would be delighted to be proved wrong in this case. I'm afraid that this may prove to be the end of the Picton Castle. Her father must be well connected and there will be an inquest at the very least.

We are unloading in Wolfe Cove, Quebec. We should be here about 3 days, if all goes well. I went for a walk (and dinner) in the city last night after walking up the stairs to the Plains of Abraham. As I said to my father, "it's not such a steep cliff, but I'm glad I'm not dragging a cannon!"

what a geek I was in high school...

I was cruising by skylarkd's blog the other day and came across this. She had googled the top 100 songs of the year she graduated high school and then crossed off the ones she didn't like. Honesty is key policy here. While I can honestly say I did like (and in some cases, still do) some of the songs here, at least I'm not on record with Hanson on my list.

1. "Careless Whisper".....Wham!

2. "Say You, Say Me".....Lionel Richie

3. "Separate Lives".....Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin

4. "I Want To Know What Love Is".....Foreigner

5. "Money For Nothing".....Dire Straits

6. "We Are The World".....USA for Africa

7. "Broken Wings".....Mr. Mister

8. "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".....Tears for Fears

9. "The Power Of Love".....Huey Lewis & The News

10. "We Built This City".....Starship

11. "St. Elmo's Fire".....John Parr

12. "Can't Fight This Feeling".....REO Speedwagon

13. "Crazy For You".....Madonna

14. "Easy Lover".....Phillip Bailey & Phil Collins

15. "Everytime You Go Away".....Paul Young

16. "Don't You (Forget About Me):.....Simple Minds

17. "Take On Me".....a-ha

18. "Party All The Time".....Eddie Murphy

19. "Everything She Wants".....Wham!

20. "Shout".....Tears for Fears

21. "Alive and Kicking".....Simple Minds

22. "I Miss You".....Klymaxx

23. "Sea Of Love".....Honeydrippers

24. "Cool It Now".....New Edition

25. "Part-Time Lover".....Stevie Wonder

26. "Saving All My Love For You".....Whitney Houston

27. "Sussudio".....Phil Collins

28. "Oh Sheila".....Ready for the World"

29. "A View To A Kill".....Duran Duran

30. "One More Night".....Phil Collins

31. "Cherish".....Kool & The Gang

32. "Heaven".....Bryan Adams

33. "The Heat Is On".....Glenn Frey

34. "Raspberry Beret".....Prince & The Revolution

35. "You're The Inspiration".....Chicago

36. "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free".....Sting

37. "Miami Vice Theme".....Jan Hammer

38. "Freeway Of Love".....Aretha Franklin

39. "Don't Lose My Number".....Phil Collins

40. "Never".....Heart

41. "Things Can Only Get Better".....Howard Jones

42. "The Boys Of Summer".....Don Henley

43. "Rhythm Of The Night".....DeBarge

44. "We Don't Need Another Hero".....Tina Turner

45. "We Belong".....Pat Benatar

46. "Loverboy".....Billy Ocean

47. "All I Need".....Jack Wagner

48. "One Night In Bangkok".....Murray Head

49. "Never Surrender".....Corey Hart

50. "Lovergirl".....Teena Marie

51. "Nightshift".....Commodores

52. "Head Over Heels".....The Go-Gos

53. "Neutron Dance".....Pointer Sisters

54. "Axel F".....Harold Faltermeyer

55. "You Give Good Love".....Whitney Houston

56. "The Search Is Over".....Survivor

57. "Small Town".....John Cougar Mellencamp

58. "Smooth Operator".....Sade

59. "Glory Days".....Bruce Springsteen

60. "Suddenly".....Billy Ocean

61. "Run To You".....Bryan Adams

62. "Obsession".....Animotion

63. "Lonely Ol' Night".....John Cougar Mellencamp

64. "Some Like It Hot".....Power Station

65. "Valotte".....Julian Lennon

66. "You Belong To The City".....Glenn Frey

67. "Material Girl".....Madonna

68. "Perfect Way".....Scritti Politti

69. "Election Day".....Arcadia

70. "Too Late For Goodbyes".....Julian Lennon

71. "Freedom".....Wham!

72. "In My House".....Mary Jane Girls

73. "Summer Of '69".....Bryan Adams

74. "Sleeping Bag".....ZZ Top

75. "Angel".....Madonna

76. "Lay Your Hands On Me".....Thompson Twins

77. "I'm On Fire".....Bruce Springsteen

78. "Would I Lie To You?".....Eurythmics

79. "Who's Zoomin' Who".....Aretha Franklin

80. "Fortress Around Your Heart".....Sting

81. "Born In The U.S.A.".....Bruce Springsteen

82. "All She Wants To Do Is Dance".....Don Henley

83. "Voices Carry".....'Til Tuesday

84. "Be Near Me".....ABC

85. "Private Dancer".....Tina Turner

86. "Fresh".....Kool & The Gang

87. "Sentimental Street".....Night Ranger

88. "California Girls".....David Lee Roth

89. "Do What You Do".....Jermaine Jackson

90. "Method Of Modern Love".....Hall & Oates

91. "Walking On Sunshine".....Katrina & The Waves

92. "Pop Life".....Prince & The Revolution

93. "You're Only Human".....Billy Joel

94. "Invincible".....Pat Benatar

95. "Lovin' Every Minute Of It".....Loverboy

96. "Get It On (Bang A Gong)".....Power Station

97. "Dare Me".....Pointer Sisters

98. "What About Love".....Heart

99. "You Are My Lady".....Freddie Jackson

100. "Dress You Up".....Madonna

The Christmas Season

Skylarkd was writing the other day about the christmas tv season, about how all the old favourites were being replayed, like they are every year, and that the Christmas season wasn't complete unless she had seen a couple of them. Yes, they are cheesy, and we've all seen them lots of times. I made sure this year to pack a few holiday DVD's in my seabag to watch when I got homesick around this time. I'd love to find One Magic Christmas on DVD, but so far it eludes me. These are some of my favourite "new" classics.

• One Magic Christmas
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Family Stone
• Bad Santa

a lot of time and energy trying to be curmudgeonly about the holidays (who am I kidding, not just the holidays, but everything in general) but the truth of the matter is that I love Christmas. My favourite Christmas thing when I was growing up was this totally funky paper Nativity scene. A couple of years ago, Mom gave it to me and apparently it had always been mine, a gift from a college friend of hers for me. Unpacking the Christmas books too, alway had a special appeal for me, like old friends that you only see once a year.