I got a chance to speak a little truth to power today in voicing a summary disappointment at how unmotivated Halifax Transit was in their proposed budget ask, for all the things they didn’t do, the shenanigans they engaged in, and the horrible “goal setting” that was intended to be easy targets for them to meet and look good next year, without people remembering how easy the targets were. The targets were a drop from the status quo when it should be an increase, basically. Since I wrote out what I was going to say, and that it’s part of the public record now, I figured I might as well share it for a post.
business
Hot Business Idea: Piñatas of Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi and Other Hated Dictators
Does anybody currently make piñatas of hated dictators like Hosni Mubarak and Muammar al-Gaddafi?
Piñatas are brightly-colored decorations made from a cardboard shape covered with papier-mâché, in case you don’t know what one is. Inside are candies or little gifts which children can get by beating the piñata with a big stick until the piñata breaks open, usually while blind-folded. Each kid takes his/her turn until the piñatas is completely opened up and nothing remains inside.
It’s something I imagine a lot of people like to do to those dictators!
Halifax Skating Oval Could Be Kept for 50 Cents to $2 per Use (A Cost-Benefit Analysis)
Halifax Skating Oval
For about $1 of tax per person per year, or a $2 (toonie) charge per use, the Halifax Skating Oval can be sustained, at the highest cost estimates. It could be as low as 50 cents per use. I’m not encouraging this, but if paying for use of the Oval were a last resort, it could be very affordable and definitely worth its value!
There’s a big debate on whether or not to keep the Canada Winter Games Skating Oval on the Halifax Commons (CBC, Jan 4 2011). A lot of the public is enjoying the facility, but the worry is the cost of maintaining the Oval after the Canada Games are over. The hope is that business support can be found to pay the costs, rather than increasing taxes or having to charge skaters. However, that’s a political solution. This analysis looks at the business case of keeping the oval if the public had to pay for it.
Favourite Songs I Heard for the First Time in 2009
What were your favourite pieces of music that you heard for the first time last year?
I don’t necessarily mean music that came out last year, just that you heard it for the first time last year because it was new to you. If you care to share, you can put it in the comments following the post. I’d love to know to expand my musical horizons.
Below are a list of favourite songs I heard for the first time in 2009, enough that would fit on CD were I to have made one. Most were from musicals as I really got into them in 2009 after my classic jazz year in 2008. A few were one-off takes on television events, though, so I’ll start with one that was both. It was available on YouTube like most of my selections so I have included the videos to have the music right here for you. I also linked the songs to blog posts I did inspired by them, where I did one.
Someone Like You
from Jekyll & Hyde
Linda Eder & Frank Wildhorn on 2000 PBS Special
Linda Eder delivers a loving performance of this gorgeous song with touching lyrics, accompanied by husband Frank Wildhorn, who had composed the song. (blog post)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Upload of this video sometimes seems a bit slow so please be patient.
If You Were Gay
from Avenue Q
Rick Lyon and John Tartaglia
Love and humour, not just in song but also video spoof. (blog post)
The Internet is for Porn
from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon & the Guys
Possibly the funniest song I have ever heard! (blog post)
Mix Tape
from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo and John Tartaglia
A song that dragged my emotions up and down, enhanced by Stephanie’s nuances of acting while singing this song. (blog post)
As Long as You’re Mine
from Wicked
Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz
An often overlooked song from Wicked that I only heard once I saw the musical, rather than hearing the more popular songs from it. However, I loved it immediately, especially the soft-spoken ending.
Academy Awards 2009 Introduction
Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway
This number was both brilliant and unexpected in being clever, funny and spectacularly performed. My intro to the full talents of Hugh Jackman. (blog post)
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Monologue Song
from Saturday Night Live November 7, 2009
Taylor Swift
How to trash everybody you want to with class and humour while being really cute about it. (blog post)
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Dark Eyes
by Bob Dylan
Judy Collins
Judy Collins gives this sad Dylan song a haunting rendition. (blog post)
Better Angels
Lesley Gore
The original It’s My Party girl seriously grows up with this beautiful tune I first heard on CSI Miami (compilation video of episode shown below).
I Got a Feeling
Black Eyed Peas
Just an awesome dance song, ’nuff said cause I’m getting dancing! Best 2009 song in my opinion. (I chose the flash mob version shown on Oprah for the video cause it’s also so awesome!)
Wake-up
The Arcade Fire
I heard this song via the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are and thought they had made a pretty good choice for a theme song.
The Closest Thing to Crazy
by Mike Batt
Katie Melua
Pretty much describes what feeling in love feels like to me. (blog post)
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Gayla Peevey
I heard it on a Telus commercial and loved it immediately, a bit surprised I had never heard this 1950s seasonal classic until now. (blog post)
You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick
from There’s No Business Like Show Business
Bernadette Peters, Julia McKenzie, Ruthie Henshall
This is probably the ultimate example of my claim that girls have all the fun songs in musicals, and the video only emphasizes the point.
Married
from Cabaret
Ron Rifkin, Michelle Pawk
A charming little song about marriage. A compact version is shown below.
Mystery
performed on the show Inside the Actor’s Studio
Hugh Laurie
A hilarious and charming example of how lyric writing sometimes feels like to me, trying to find desperate rhymes and more desperate words that conform with desperate rhymes. (blog post)
Love, Look in my Window
from Hello Dolly!
Ethel Merman
There isn’t a video for this one but the piece was written for Ethel Merman when she joined Hello Dolly! If you hear her perform it with the emotions she does, you’ll know why it was written for her. I can hardly keep from crying at points in it. Probably good I don’t have the music for that reason!
Friends’ Name Alphabet Facebook Picture Tagging Game
I did not create the idea for this Facebook picture tagging meme game, nor did I create the pictures for them below. However, I did look for them, touched them up and adopted them for this game because the ones I saw were bad or inadequate (i.e. missing letters in the alphabet).
The idea is to tag one of your friends who have first names starting with each letter of the alphabet, for as many letters as you can. You can tag people who don’t have Facebook accounts as well because you can just type in a name when you tag a picture instead of choosing from someone on your list.
Aside from just a quick survey for yourself, for those of you who are social butterfly types, challenge your friends to see who has more. If that’s too easy, see who find friends with first names starting with every letter of the alphabet. I do not recommend this because true friends should be based on something more than just for filling out a Facebook tagging meme, and I do not recommend getting Facebook or other social media network friends who you don’t know just for the sake of this. There are real life dangers and risks with these activities. However, if you are among a lot of people in big institutions there there’s a realistic chance there might be a Zack or Xavier walking around, it might be fun to try!
Can you name all the logos?
Just as an aside, even if you don’t want to use this for tagging games, can you help me name all the logos in the top two pictures?
- Corporate Brands: B, C, E, H, L (I should know this), M, P, R, U, W, Z.
- Sport Teams: F (Florida something?), J, Q, T (Texas something?), U, X (Xavier?), Y (did someone cheat on the Yankees logo to remove the N?).
To get these pictures for your use:
- Click on the picture to get it at full size.
- Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
- Upload it to your Facebook profile.
- Tag your friends!
Please click here for a complete list of over 100 Facebook picture tagging memes on this site with which you can use for fun with your friends.
Digital Citizen 