Google Lit Trips is a pretty cool site where users can submit their own mash-ups combining Google Earth files with the places visited in famous novels. Although it's aimed mostly at teachers looking to teach literature in a different way, this site can be enjoyed by any book lovers.
I remember watching this performance live when it was first broadcast – I think on MuchMusic back in the day.
At the time the song “Nautical Disaster” hadn't yet been released and was only a rant in the middle of “New Orleans Is Sinking”. I didn't realise this and thought Gord Downie was being his usual quirky self introducing the song “New Orleans Is Sinking” as “Nautical Disaster” – which was/is actually quite fitting.
Went to my hometown this weekend for the grand re-opening of the historic Bell Farm Round Barn , a reconstruction of the original building which had been near collapse only a few short years ago which would've been a shame, both for the loss of history and also, on a more personal note, as this farm was on the way to our own family farm and I've spent much of my life driving past this building, which often inspired thoughts about the people who settled in the area and the groundwork they laid for our present lives here on the prairies.
The reconstruction used many of the same stones and materials from the original structure although with a few added touches to keep with modern building codes (the original had neither plumbing or electricity.)
It did however have many firsts and significant accomplishments including the first phone system ever operated in Saskatchewan. This was how the founder, Major Bell, kept in touch with the twenty-seven cottages where his foremen lived and worked across this 53 000 acre farm – a farm so large that that passing trains would often stop so passengers could have a gander!
Hopefully one of the areas original tourist attractions can once again regain that mantle. If you're in the area, I encourage you to check it out.
Bookstore Bingo is apparently a new trend on Twitter where people post some of the silliest things they overhear at bookstores (and libraries?) HuffPost has collected some of the best ones.
We definitely have all the stereotypes characters of any good TV show – the anal retentive cataloguer, the wacky children's librarian, the geeky IT folks the hard-nosed uhm, is there anybody hard-nosed in the library?
A quick count indicates I'm probably on about twenty of them and maybe active on ten of those or so.
There are probably some gaps – I'd call YouTube a social networking site and MetaFilter too. Any site that allows you to create a profile and connect with other people on the same site fulfills a couple of the main criteria for “socialness” in my opinion which both of those sites do.
My hometown of Indian Head is one of two Saskatchewan finalists for a $25 000 make-over courtesy Kraft & TSN. You can vote for Indian Head today until noon. If we get the most votes, the money will be used to upgrade our historic ball diamonds (20 000 people used to come to our small town of 2 000 people in the 1950's for games!) and build a new kid's splash park which I'm sure Pace would love! Click on the link to vote (you can vote multiple times so feel free to do so) and for more information about these two projects.
Beck apparently gets together with a group of musicians regularly. They record a cover of an entire album in a single day then release the results. Here's their haunting take on a well-known song from INXS' “Kick” album (and yes, I'll admit it – one of my favourite songs from high school):
It's my dyslexic birthday today (I was born in '73 and am turning 37) and I know they didn't do it for me but what a great gift to stumble across a clip of a quasi-Beatles reunion as Sir Paul recently took to the stage to celebrate his old bandmate at the conclusion of an All-Starr Band concert in New York. It was Ringo's 70th birthday and the drummer had no idea this was in the works.
From the YouTube comments:
“He says that when Ringo came off stage after “With a Little Help From My
Friends,” Wright was standing beside Ringo and Barbara in the wings.
She asked Ringo if he was ready for his surprise. When Ringo heard
McCartney start “Birthday,”? Wright said, “His jaw just absolutely
dropped!” And then in seconds, he was running on stage for his drums.
(In the video below, you can see Ringo racing for the drums.) Wright
also said Ringo had tears in his eyes!”
I know its juvenile but given how he died, you have to admit that this DVD case for a David Carradine Tai Chi workout has some unfortunate text on the cover promoting its “benefits”.
