On "repeat" today a new recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto by young Norwegian Henning Kraggerud wonderfully playing a violin made for his countryman, the 19th century virtuoso Ole Bull, who was also an ardent patriot and promoter of Norwegian culture. The CD also has a concerto & a "romance" by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, of whom I hope to hear more on this. But I like Romantic concerti generally lately--they all seem to be so unaffectedly about me.

among the caribou last night I met couple of the guys from Analog Blues, prarie transplants making things happen in the Hub City.  

Being Caribou

"April 8, 2003: Karsten Heuer & Leanne Allison left the remote community of Old Crow,Yukon, to join the Porcupine Caribou Herd on their epic life journey. For 5 months the Canadians migrated on foot with the 123,000-member herd from wintering to calving grounds in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and back again -- 1500km across snow and tundra. They completed their journey on Sept. 8, 2003 and headed straight to Washington, DC to tell politicians & activists what they found."

Going to see this big screen this evening, after being amazed by parts I saw on TV--caribou swirling fractally like sandpipers or bugs. It's playing at the old Fiesta Theatre--mostly closed now, for many years the only and then one of only two in Nanaimo--that I haven't set foot in for years.

Hotel Point

"Oh March, it's March when
My self-absorption matches that
Of the great coastal cities
And if I call you
"Boisterous and Dutch," a cabinet
Of curious grief-canisters, you' ll
Know it's Jimmy Schuyler talking
Confusedly about the color green."

Arm wrestling robots beaten by a teenaged girl in Turing test turnaround tussle--

"Despite her lack of strength, training and technique, she was able to conquer the first arm, developed by Environmental Robots Inc. from Albuquerque, New Mexico, in just 24 seconds. Following this, and a pep talk from an arm wrestling expert, it took her just four seconds to beat the second arm and three seconds for her to win the last match.

Two champion arm wrestlers oversaw the matches to ensure that standard arm wrestling rules were observed. The three robot teams are now trying to work out what went wrong."

fine beard-fluffing poem by Jason Bredle in the new "Shampoo" means there's one less I have to do!

"I am in the bathroom fancy beard fluffing.
Fancy beard is growing in stunningly,
ask anyone in the park. As I fluff beard
in summer sun, goose feeding youth
and goose feeding elderly all stop
to receive its glory shower. When I am camping,

I need only brush minimal amounts
of worms and ticks from beard come morning,
then I allow the soft dewy breeze
to have its way..." 

Violent New Front in Drug War Opens on the Canadian Border...or not--

"In British Columbia, a once-quiet province in a country that has long enjoyed a low crime rate, the murder rate has soared in the past two years, Canadian officials say, because of killings linked to warring drug gangs."

"Correction: March 10, 2005, Thursday:

A front-page article on Saturday about violence related to marijuana trafficking from the Canadian province of British Columbia misstated the murder rate there. Although the police say drug-related violence has risen greatly in the last two years, the overall murder rate has remained stable; it has not soared."

Never mind!

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash--mp3's from their 1969 collaboration 

last night in the Value Village finally scored mint copies (1981 paperback) of the two volumes of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", a Peanuts card taped on the inside front page wishing the newlyweds a life "filled with laughter, happiness and plenty of good food", which I hope it is and was but it was never from this unstained book (maybe they were a "Joy of Cooking" or "Fit for Life" couple). One of my all-time favorite blogs was the The Julie/Julia Project in which "one girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen" valiantly tried cook her way through it's 538 recipes in a year. I thought they would have made a movie of it by now. Daphne found an unopened and troublingly Richard Dadd-ish 1000 piece jigsaw and a battered church basement panorama of Jersualem.  

great interview with singer/writer/Teddy Bear Carol Connors--

""But I do namedrop, because that's who I hang out with! They are my friends as I am their friend. I remember when I went with David Janssen a lady came up and said, 'Oh, Carol, you're so lucky to be going out with David Janssen,' and I looked at her and said, 'Excuse me - David Janssen is lucky to be going out with me!'"

(via gmtPlus9, who also hosts an mp3 of "To Know Him is to Love Him")

this photo of the concrete dragon at the Gyro Park in Cadboro Bay from Big Things in Canada nicely catches Victoria's dreamy light, its homely colonial hyperreality, as if you've overslept and don't know if its morning or evening. The site is good though it lacks a certain local Giant Head. Thanks RM! 

Disappeared In America

"Since 9/11, approximately 3,000 American Muslim men have been detained in a security dragnet. To date, none have been prosecuted on terrorism charges. The majority of those detained were from the invisible underclass of cities like New York. They are the recent immigrants who drive our taxis, deliver our food, clean our restaurant tables, and sell fruit, coffee, and newspapers. The only time we see their faces are when we glance at the hack license in the taxi partition, or the ID card around the neck of a vendor. Already invisible in our cities, after detention, they have become "ghost prisoners." "

lovely mild if overcast today, was able to read all of the new TOLLING ELVES namely "Not Even" by Kit Robinson (w/ photograph by Ericka McConnell), walking it back from the mailbox, old skill, flipping the fragile newsprint pages, enjoying the hand-eye challenge, turning into from the breezes, here's one--

"THE SOUND OF CAR DOORS CLOSING

The sound of car door closing and voices from the street.
An engine starts up, revving to pull away. Down to the
corner and gone. In the silence that follows, train whistle
sounds. Who listens? Then jet noise over head. Who stays
behind to report? And who, in some other time and place,
quietly waits to hear word?" 

Rudy Burckhardt - An Afternoon in Astoria (flash)

(thanx Equanimity) 

The Charms of Duckweed

"an introduction to the smallest flowering plants" 

KOMPAKT KITTENS--a tribute to Minimal Techno