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There was a time in the early 90s when psychic infomercials were all the rage on late night television. Some of them had celebrity hosts like Philip Michael Thomas, Dionne Warwick, or Billy Dee Williams. They all promised that their army of psychics would help answer questions about money, their love life, or family grievances. At the bottom of the screen was this caveat: FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. On one of them, a psychic visited Alcatraz to psychically find out what happened to three prisoners who had broken out of the maximum strength prison in June of 1962. The psychic stood on the island and waved her hands at the water and determined that the three men had drowned in the San Francisco Bay. Miracle, I tell ya. - Those infomercials were fascinating in how terrible they were. The acting was awful, the scripting was even worse, and the so-called psychic miracles could be explained away by an intelligent eight-year-old. Still, these silly psychic hotlines made a pretty penny an...

 "I know that I know nothing." That sentence is usually attributed to Socrates. It is supposed to be something uttered by people who are incredibly wise. Solomon tells us that there is more hope for a fool than for someone who thinks he's a genius. I don't think I'm a genius. I think I'm an idiot. - The dialogue is supposed to go like this: Pupil: Oh beloved master, now that you are near the end of your life, tell us what you know for sure. Beloved master: What I do know, at this ripe old age, is that I know nothing. - "I know nothing" is an idiotic statement when you take it at face value. There are quite a few things that I do know. Since you're reading this blog, it's obvious that I KNOW how to turn on my computer, how to load the blogger web page, and how to edit a post. I also know that two plus two equals four, that the French word for window is fenetre, and that Jamie Marchand Forrest cheers for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. I know tha...

I don't blame you for hating me I know that I was wrong And now I am in prison and I've lost all but a song   I know we all are sinners I know we fall from grace but no man should go breaking hearts with a smile upon his face   I know my wings are burning I know my glory's gone I know that you won't listen when I'm pointing to the Son.   Pitiless indifference or the devil fresh from hell. I'd rather you choose the latter if you think of me at all. Don't chain me to your future or love me like a God my precious hands are bleeding where the angels never trod. My friends have died beside me I am alone like Christ My final prayer is let there be in me a dot of light. - EA

There is nothing to admire about Tony Montana, protagonist of the 1983 movie, Scarface. Montana, as played by Al Pacino, is ruthless, impulsive, and driven only by animal desires. Early in the film, he tells his best friend, Manny, that his life's ambition is to acquire the world and everything in it. His journey starts at an immigration centre, where officers quickly determine that he's a Cuban criminal and send him off to a detention camp. He gets out after a local drug lord agrees to get him a green card if he kills one of his fellow prisoners. From there, he gets a job washing dishes at a roadside food stand but he doesn't last there very long. He gets into the world of drug smuggling and, before long, has become one of the biggest kingpins in the lucrative Miami cocaine trade. Somewhere in there, he acquires a trophy wife, several sports cars, and a palace-like estate complete with a jacuzzi big enough to live in.  And despite having all of that, he's not happy. By...

Driving back from Cornwall tonight. Weather isn't great but not terrible either. A little snow. Slush on the streets. I've seen much worse. As per usual, I've got my iPod plugged in and on shuffle. On comes Amanda Marshall's Let's Get Lost.  I switched songs immediately. It's not a song I can listen to anymore. It reminds me too much of the past - not really of a concrete memory but of a time radically different from now. Livin' in the darkness, baby Comin' all undone It's been a cruel December, now we're prayin' for the sun By the time the storm rolls in, we could be long gone Baby, let's get lost 'til the days get long Just you and I    So sings Amanda Marshall. Serendipity, perhaps, in that it was a cruel December and there was a storm rolling in tonight, but that song has always been a summer song for me. Just the title and Amanda Marshall's plaintive wailing. To me, that song is all "man life sucks right now and I've...

 1. Sometime this holiday season, I will watch the 1969 James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I mention this movie a lot on this blog - it is my favourite Christmas movie and probably my favourite movie of all time. I hope to, just once, see it on a big movie screen before I die. On Her Majesty's Secret Service takes place at Christmas and was released around Christmastime of 1969, a little more than three years before I was born. My mom would have been 19 when it was in theatres, my dad, 26.  I watch it every year in December. I don't like watching it when it's not December.  Another personal tradition of mine is to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special. And I usually livestream myself singing with the kids at the end - complete with the mass synchronized inhaling. 2. Outside of Christmas, I have a tradition with vehicles. Every time I take ownership of a new one, I ensure that the first song I listen to in it is Prince's Let's Go Crazy. I time ...