Everyone knows Dan Ackroyd and Michael J. Fox. And perhaps you knew that Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey were Canadian.
But did you know aboot Eric McCormack, of Will and Grace? And Matthew Perry of Friends? And Victor Garber of Alias?
Our very own Field of Dreams is based on Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, who is, you guessed it, not from Iowa, but from Alberta.
Also…..
Hollywood must have had some serious Winter Olympic fever in the early Nineties because almost all of my favorite movies featuring skates, ice and attitudes were made between 1992 and 1994–not that surprising when I remember that these were the years of the great split between the Winter and Summer Olympics, and in order to get the new schedule on track the Winter Olympics were held only two years apart (Albertville, France in 1992 and Lillehammer, Norway in 1994). Here are my favorites:
The Cutting Edge:
I may have only been in elementary school when this movie first came out, but I was apparently woman enough to completely swoon over a tough guy hockey player getting in touch with his figure-skating sensitive side. Note that this movie was an obvious inspiration for the heated relationship between Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in 2007’s Blades of Glory.
Mighty Ducks
D2: The Mighty Ducks
D3: The Mighty Ducks:
From these movies I learned that the best way to deal with a person is to quack at them, flying Vs are unstoppable (unless you are playing the Varsity team), and Joshua Jackson is pretty awesome.
Cool Runnings:
This family comedy may skew the truth a lot from the events surrounding the real 1988 Jamaican bobsled team (I never realized how much until I was reading the Cool Runnings wikipedia post before writing this blog entry), but that won’t stop the tears from streaming down my face every time I watch it. And Doug E. Doug is hilarious! I wonder if I would be funnier if my name was Amber L Amber…
The triumph of the human spirit…pfft. More like triteness of the human spirit. I can relate more to putting in a modest amount of effort and then not just coming up short, but failing…catastrophically…in front of a sizable audience. I think most of us, therefore, are “Agony of Defeat” people.
ABC Wide World of Sports interposed various other symbolic clips and stills of the show’s intro over the course of decades, but they left the footage of “agony of defeat” static because the portrayal was so spot-on. So, the initial humiliation had interest compounded for a small lifetime, week after week, until the wretched soul epitomized epic failure.
His name is Vinko Bogataj. He was competing for Yugoslavia in the Ski-flying World Championships in Oberstdorf, West Germany (now Germany) on March 21, 1970 when his third run’s adjustment for excessive speed turned him into a self destructing cyclone of limbs and personal dignity. He only received a concussion that day, but retired from competition. According to various Internet sources, he transitioned into coaching, painting, and driving a forklift.
A rare blessing from the Cold War is he was unable to endure a televised lifetime of shame from across the Iron Curtain. Imagine his surprise in 1991 during the Wide World of Sports’ 30th anniversary show when he was mobbed by such luminaries as Muhammad Ali who wanted HIS autograph.
Vinko Bogataj, we salute you.
We’ve been playing a lot of Canadian Spotting in our office as we gear up for the Winter Olympics, so I was gleeful when I came across a list of Canadian Authors which included Cory Doctorow–co-editor of the popular blog BoingBoing and author of several books including the YA bestseller Little Brother.
I will say up front that Little Brother has made me an extremely paranoid little lady. If you ever needed a book to slap you into paying attention to privacy and online security issues, this is it. Little Brother begins when a very technologically savvy high-schooler (aka Hacker) named Marcus skips school with his friends to play their favorite ARG (Alternate Reality Game) when they are interrupted by a bomb blowing up the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Marcus and his friends are picked up by the Department of Homeland Security within minutes of the attack and spend the next several days being interrogated and tortured. Upon his release, Marcus discovers that they are still imprisoning his best friend and have completely stripped San Francisco of personal privacy. So he begins to use those hacking skills the DHS was afraid of in order to create an underground movement to bring down the DHS–actions that soon lead his peers to proclaim him a hero and the American media to declare him a terrorist-supporter.
Check out Cory Doctorow’s website for Little Brother where you can download a free copy of the book and other readers’ remixes (Remixing ain’t just for music anymore, baby!). You’ll also want to mark your calendars for the ICON 35 conference held in Cedar Rapids on Nov. 5-7, 2010 where Doctorow will be the guest of honor!
Another tip from the new book by NPR personality Chris Farrell, New Frugality… freeze your credit card. No, not do a security freeze to prevent people from accessing your credit file, another great idea.
He means take the card out of your wallet or purse and put it in a container full of water. Then give it the ol’ Han Solo treatment in your Frigidaire.
“Put the credit card away when you’re eliminating debt. One technique is to store the card in the freezer. That’s right, place the credit card in a container of water and stick it in the freezer. You have to wait for it to thaw before you can use it again. It gives you the time to think whether you really want to use it. Yes, the card will work once it’s thawed.”
The Super Bowl means one thing to me: PUPPY BOWL! Why would I want to watch men run into each other aggressively when I can watch puppies roll around together adorably?! This year’s Puppy Bowl VI airs Feb. 7 on Animal Planet at 2 pm central time , and it is going to be awesome–Animal Planet has just announced that in addition to the playful Kitty Halftime Show, there will also be Bunny Cheerleaders and a Hamster Camera Crew! Can’t wait for all the action? Head on over to Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl website and you can check out the Puppy Starting Line-up (so far my pre-game favorites are Bandit, Kiva and Fava), play puppy puzzle games, learn how to adopt and care for a puppy, and meet the equally adorable Puppy Bowl Ref:
It is nice to know that no matter what happens in the Super Bowl, the puppies always win!
Hey, if its the kind of swill this rugged devil slugs back after a hard day at the ol’ salt mine, it must be good enough brew for a roughneck like myself. Just discovered this neat link, Vintage Ad Browser. Naturally I gravitated to an old favorite.
However, if you’d like to peer into the marketing of over the last 100 years (some of which quite politically incorrect) in a number of industries (food, clothing, automotive) give it a l00k. It will make you smile.
I really should watch that show Mad Men everyone is talking about (seasons 1 and 2 available at the library!)
“Could someone just tell me what I need to know without trying to convince me that I need the latest gadget, assuming I have all the time in the world to trudge through geek speak, and wasting my time with a lengthy explanation of how it all works?” Christina Tynan-Wood, a female geek, could hear these subliminal pleas for help whenever a friend asked her a question about technology–a question they usually chased with a “I’m sorry to be so clueless (page xviii).” GIRLS! YOU ARE NOT CLUELESS! You had the brains to ask the question, right? Well now Christina has made it easy to find the answer–Ta da! How to be a Geek Goddess: Practical Advice for Using Computers with Smarts and Style.
Finally everything a girl needs to know to feel technologically confident in ONE BOOK! Christina explains what you should know before buying a computer, how to set up wireless, how to organize your desktop, what security software you might need, how to shop online, and so much more! Her writing is fun, conversational, and full of illustrations and screenshots. Only downfall is that the book is very PC-heavy (which she admits up front), so some of the very useful topics, such as installing software, will not apply to Macs. Despite that, How to be a Geek Goddess is must-read for all women who want (or need) to be in control of their technological life. You may also want to check out Christina’s website at www.geekgirlfriends.com.
Okay, lets get our geek on!
Michael Pollan, the popular author of the Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, has another book out which may prove even more popular. Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual is a short, easy read — some pages have just one sentence in large print and there’s lot of white space. And if that’s not easy enough, he’s further simplified his 64 rules into 3 main parts which anyone can remember.
Some rules are cute, such as # 7, “Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce.” Others are familiar standbys, such as #25, “Eat your colors.” Still others, such as #46, “Stop eating before you are full” are not only practical but have been proven effective in several cultures. Do yourself a favor and read this book. Even if you don’t need to diet or lose weight, it will encourage you to keep developing those healthy eating habits. After all, as he mentions in his very last rule (and my favorite) it’s okay to “Break the rules once in a while!” Bon appetit!
The next few Frugal Librarian blog posts are ideas gathered from Chris Farrell’s new book, The New Frugality. Farrell is the host of the public radio program Marketplace Money.
Bud Hebeler is a retired aerospace engineer from Boeing that founded the conservative financial advice website analyzenow.com. Below are some of his top savings tips:
-Arrange for automatic savings deposits from your paychecks
-Sell things you don’t really need on the Net or elsewhere
-Downsize your home or rent. Renting provides mobility to get jobs elsewhere in the country
-Grow your own vegetables
-Buy items with cash
-Rule out cars, cell phones, or iPods for children—or even for yourselves
-Make do with old computers, and software. Use no downloads requiring payments
-Try to get lower-cost TV, Internet, and telephone services
-Turn down the thermostat and wear sweaters
