smart fit park

I caught a glimpse of this on TV (yes, I get the irony) …it’s an interactive video learning/activity game for kids, kinda like a Wii Fit but geared for a pre-school audience.  The kid, with a movement pad on which they stand, marches, runs, skips and jumps their way through various activities displayed on screen.  It’s like a virtual park.  They even get to customize their own avatar!

Alright, the exclamation mark after avatar really isn’t needed, but I was only trying to stress the silliness of it all.  It is silly isn’t it?  I mean, having your child simulate playing in a park instead of actually playing in one?  Or is it me?  I can see the use for older, shut-in types of people, but for kids?  Certainly there’s a connection to ‘real life’ …designing a game that ties the thrill of video/computers into the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of today’s youth in an attempt to get them active once again.  But isn’t this a little over the top?  Shouldn’t someone have stepped back and looked at the obvious; ‘We’re designing a toy that simulates a playground so that the child doesn’t have to actually go to one’ …or something like that?

I have a better game idea …it’s called “Unplug the TV!”  You and your child get in front of your TV set and while it’s showing a favorite show, go behind it and pull the plug.  Neat hey!?  You get to stand there for a few minutes in the erie silence that now fills the room, until one of you finally offers up a suggestion for doing something real.  Maybe go outside?  Bike?  Walk?  Throw leaves at each other?  Invent a game?  Something!?  I’m sure that one of you will figure things out, and in no time you’ll both be happier for not only doing something together, but for doing something real as well.  Heck, if you went to a real park you might even be able to make some new friends …imagine that!  Of course …the TV game will probably allow you to make your own friends as well.  So maybe that’s not a great idea.

Maybe I’m picking nits or something.  Maybe.  And of course the makers of the product would never endorse their game as a substitute for real activity.  The thing is though, providing an indoor simulation of an outdoor activity to a naturally active child is not doing the family any favours.  Kids are not bumps on logs …but parents, who may otherwise be busy, might reasonably expect this product to occasionally provide their kid with playparky goodness in lieu of the real thing.  It’s sad but true …so why even present the opportunity?

Smart?  Not really.
Fit?  Nope.
Park?  Definitely not.

Image from the FIsher-Price store.

the Yardbird Suite

Tilo did another gig at the Suite tonight.  It was OK actually …although it probably should be considering he’s been doing some of the same tunes for what seems like forever.  Jugi was on guitar as well adding some tasteful blues stuff.  And it was kinda full too from what I heard …so that was good.  Tilo was his typical heartfelt self on stage, and I think he may have been a little nervous.  Usually it’s hard to tell with him, but when we finished and the crowd was cheering for an encore, he was kinda in a pickle over what he had left to play …and couldn’t remember the tempo/intro for a song that he’s played a million times over.  So he was happy …and that’s good.

Here’s a shot from the gig of Dave and the Serge …and it seems that Dave has some interesting ears.  Or maybe sideburns?  I’ll find out later I suppose.  There’s some audio below as well.

Spidey Sense

It’s a jazz tune kids.  Ignore the butchered piano, hacked bass and sub-standard boning.  The drums came from a ‘brushes’ sample pack that I paid $2.99 for …so by that measure they’re great!  Click on the arrow to listen or *here* for a .pdf lead sheet.

fear of fear

I was waiting for this train of thought. (click)

Here in Edmonton we recently experienced an unfortunate event.  A distraught person who had fallen on hard times, took his frustrations out by heading to the Workers Compensation Board.  In effort to bring attention to his plight he took a number of people hostage at gunpoint.  He had been on disability for a while but was unable to find work …and the WCB had just cut off his support.  As one former employee remarked “These people are at their wit’s end and don’t know what to do any more.“

I’m sure there’s talk (amongst the powers that be) of reviewing situations like this in effort to avoid similar problems in the future.  They’ll talk about case handling, screening, extensions on benefits etc., but among them there will always be those who, in spite of understanding the root of the problem, bring up the idea that we need more security.  After all, we’re in ‘terrorism times’ and why not spend millions of dollars equipping all of our public buildings to thwart the efforts of gun-wielding …crackpots?  Let’s install and man hi-tech, costly machines to clamp down on all the pocket knife, box cutting bandits that might do us harm.  I mean, how else are we supposed to live in peace?

It reminds me of post 9-11.  After the dust had settled, we here in Edmonton immediately placed guards to specific areas in the city ‘just in case’ we were to be the next target.  Sound thinking?  It depends on who you talk to.  Some might say you can never be safe enough while others might argue what can it hurt?  And yet others may suggest that safety is an illusion at best, for if anyone truly wanted to inflict harm on us, it could be done regardless of our defence.  My beef with the idea of heightened security is that it typically fails to address the problem before it becomes a problem.  It’s an after thought.  It’s a band-aid solution that after spending countless dollars and time, misses the cause in the first place.  It’s the easy thing to do.  It’s window dressing.  It gives the look of protection without really protecting.

It’s not that I don’t think innocent people in an office need protecting …if their lives are in danger then certainly, we should do all we can to ensure their safety, but what are the odds that their lives are actually going to be in jeopardy while sitting behind their desk doing the paperwork that fills their 9-5 days?  What are the chances that someone is going to be desperate enough to walk into their place of work looking to put an end to …something?  Should we necessarily spends hoards of money preparing for the infinitely improbable chance that someone is going to stroll into our workplace and physically harm us?

There are places that warrant security.  Banks come to mind.  Casinos.  Any setting or event that operates physically with money or in capital of some type.  And these places have security procedures in place because the odds of an event occurring are almost expected given the opportunity that exists.

But working in your office on paperwork!?

You often hear about the disgruntled postman.  Or the regular white collar guy who one day suddenly snaps.  These are rarities.  These are the types of situations that although unpleasant, are so remote that you really can’t prepare for them.  They’re almost an ‘act of god’ …a force majeure.  And this is what happened at the WCB last week.  And event unraveled that was so improbable that it will most likely never happen again in the lives of those involved.

Media might have you think differently of course …when events like that happen it’s HEADLINE NEWS for papers, tv etc., so coverage is extensive, prolonged and awash in speculation and conjecture.  It is news, without a doubt, but as much as we wish it was preventable, it’s not.  The idea that we could have done something different is only natural, but at the same time we have to acknowledge that ultimately it wasn’t our fault – that is was beyond our control.  We couldn’t foresee the unforeseeable and given what we know now, still can’t really change anything.

But we’ll try I suppose.  We’ll put security in place to alleviate our fears which ironically promotes our fears by having a ‘person with a gun’ in sight everyday …constantly reminding us that our freedom is at risk.  Our safety is in jeopardy.

I think life is too short to be worried about being struck by lightening.

things…

A 12-14 year old slightly overweight kid was in the 7-11 tonight filling up a huge 52 oz. jug with some Slurpee brand slurpee product and I, being amazed by the size of this mug remarked… “That’s a LOT of slurpee!”  He quickly replied… “You buy the cup for $8 but then the refills are only $1.89!”  What a deal -lol.  Just for rough comparison that’s over 200g of sugar – the near equivalent of a 2L bottle of Coke. (click)  And yes, I was there getting a girl sized slurpee myself because heck, I deserve it once in while.

After a swim this morning, I was in the locker room and some kids were running around whipping each other with their towels.  A childhood memory rushed back…. it was in grade 7 gym class when my friend whipped my nads with his towel.  I think I cried.  I might have gone home.  I probably hated him for a while.  Now that I think about it, that may have been the reason why I didn’t mind stealing his girlfriend in grade 9.  Then again, I probably did him a favor.

‘The Puffy Chair‘ was a neat movie.  I kinda liked it because it wasn’t too predictable, but the whole romance thing got me depressed after a while.  Not to ruin any endings (spoiler alert …but it’s still a good rental none-the-less) but I’m glad things didn’t end up all lovey-dovey like most might have.  It’s by the Duplass Brothers.  As a bonus, it had a great Spoon song in it …That’s the Way We Get By.  Sweet.

I got one of those hair-cut things today too.  I don’t mind the Hot Razor cause anyone there seems to do a fine job …it’s close, they’re accommodating especially on Saturdays, and it’s not way over priced like some other places.  I typically ask for the ‘number 2′ on the sides and back but this girl, who I think was kinda new, said she doesn’t use the guides on her razor …like it would be cheating or something.  That was weird.  It worked out fine though.  Strangely enough she didn’t use any water either.  She did mention that I had a lot of hair.  I countered with something like ‘for now, yeah..’ but she reassured me that if I didn’t start loosing it when I was in my 30’s then it was a safe bet I’d keep it for a while.  Although, I am considering the shaved head thing again.

Then again, maybe not.

circa 1994

Lappy

Well it kinda worked out.

The week I decided to buy this new Macbook turned out to be the same week Apple decided to update its iMac models …which happened to be what I was hoping to sell to off-set my Macbook purchase.  As soon as I realized they updated, I scrambled and got an ad out for my iMac.  It did sell, this morning, and on the bad side I took a little less than what I was expecting ($100 less) …but on the plus side I found a $50 bill lodged under my keyboard from some remnant gig of the past, so that was kinda like free money.  Yea for free money!

So it’s all good.  I parlayed a nearing 10 year old ibook and a semi-current computer into a new laptop that I kinda missed having.  The Macbook is a computer, and like all computers it’s more about how you use it than what it does.  Of course it does stuff …and kinda well (that’s Apple though) but it is what it is – a piece of technology that’ll be obsolete in as long as it takes me to find another $50 bill laying around my room.

Now to get used to this small screen again.

The Unibody Macbook ...the 'Pros' are just hype

a foggy day…

I missed all the good fog when I was out on my runs yesterday.  On that morning I thought “Should I bring my little camera …naw, I’ll just stare around at things and never stop anyway.”  That was a mistake, as everywhere I looked I could of pulled over and snapped a post-card.  Today however, I got another chance of sorts.  It was foggy again, but just not the same, and I didn’t have as many rural places to go …but I did manage to find a few roads that offered some neat opportunities.

kenny loggins & classic spidey

‘I Need A Hero!‘

Not really of course …it just happens to be one of the songs in the Footloose Musical I get to do in mid-November or so.  The scores just came in I was perusing some of the tunes of yesteryear.  It looks pretty straight forward though.  Lots of key changes of course, but generally rock.  And some roll I suppose.  Maybe even a mix of the two …that’s exciting.  I think?!

Aside from that, I’m hoping to sell off the ibook (500) tomorrow, which is the precursor to the selling of the iMac (2.4 GHz) within the next few weeks, which is also the indicator of the soon to be arriving Macbook.  Yep, I decided it was time to get back to the laptop thing …and I have a feeling the timing might be right.  My iMac is pretty current for being almost a few years old, but rumor down the pipe is that there’s a change a-comin’ …and I don’t want to be stuck with it when it’s too far out of the loop.

For a guy who doesn’t like to be behind the times though, you might wonder why I decided to order the recently discontinued Macbook Unibody instead of going for the firewire/SD-slot/7-hour battery Macbook Pro that just released?  Well, and it may come back to bite me, but I think the Macbook is on its way out.  The MBPro is here to stay, but I sense a small ‘netbookish’ offering from Apple sometime next summer.  Something between the Macbook and the iPhone, and that should squeeze the Macbook into that 5th dimension that the made-for-tv classic Spiderman was so often in.  Essentially I’m thinking that the unibody Macbook of today is going to become the Clamshell of tomorrow.  Or that’s my hope at least.  Time will tell I guess.

And in the meantime I’ll be watching for the postman to arrive …and hoping he doesn’t get stuck in the 5th!

Hey Ocean

Welcome to my part rant and part Canadian music post.

The Canadian music part of the post has to do with this neat little band I was recently turned on to.  They’re called Hey Ocean and are from Vancouver, BC.  The main vocalist is a chick who almost does a spoken/rap/neatly-displaced-singing thing that after a while is somewhat infectious.  At least in the few songs I’ve listened to.  They’re on their way through Edmonton and area shortly (then afterwards moving on to some shows with Cat Empire) …and if going by this video, might be something of a thing to watch for if you’re into watching those things – if you know what I mean.  Here’s one of their tunes called ‘A Song About California’.

The rant part will be short and sweet…
I hate bands sometimes.  Especially ones I’m in.

Was that short and sweet enough 

Ralph Lauren apology

It seems someone called Ralph Lauren on their blatant photo-editing in a recent cover.  Ralph Lauren issued an apology of sorts (which I’ve placed below the photograph) and admitted to the touch-ups, but it seems fashion isn’t the only industry using this sort of ‘enhancing’ (click).  I suppose it’s nothing new though, at least in the face of advertising.  I’m reposting the image (which makes me sick to look at) because I feel it’s important that people take a step back when it comes to image and fashion.  Consider too, the entire unreality often portrayed in media that you (myself included!) might buy into for the sake of popularity or the desire to be something you’re not.  Among other things.

Am I blaming media/advertisers?  Not entirely.  They only, to a large degree, serve those who support them.

Image from boingboing.net

“For over 42 years, we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the calibre of our artwork represents our brand appropriately.”