3-posts-in-a-week shocker!

I coudn't resist this meme about science fiction books floating around; let's see if my cut n' paste is working:
The most significant SF/F novels from 1953-2002 according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you have read, strikethrough the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star next to the ones you love. Note that only the top ten are in rank order, and after that they're alphabetical by title.1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov *3. Dune, Frank Herbert *4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein 5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin *6. Neuromancer, William Gibson *7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke *8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley 10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury *11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe *12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. *13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras15. Cities in Flight, James Blish16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison *18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison *19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester 20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany *21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey 22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card 23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl *26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice *30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin *31. Little, Big, John Crowley **32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick 34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke *39. Ringworld, Larry Niven40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester *46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks49. Timescape, Gregory Benford50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Not on the Spotlight Review: new Gwen Stefani

Not quite as good as L.A.M.B., but enough jaw-droppingly silly moments to qualify as pretty great nonetheless. My favorite moment so far is the part on "Yummy" where she starts making the donuts.

In flux

Since this blog has evolved for the time being into an announcement forum for the Monday night show, I figure I'd better keep the playlist updates fresh. And yes, they change all the time, depending on what comes to the station, who will be playing live soon, general good feeling about music, etc etc. So starting with tonight, and again, subject to change:
11/20: Comets on Fire, Lullabye Arkestra, Noel Ellis
11/27: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jarvis Cocker, Karen Dalton
12/4: The Harry Smith Project, Pere Ubu
12/11: Annuals, Grates, Pink Nasty, other odds-and-ends
12/18: Neko Case, Xmas
12/25, 1/1: no show, spend time with family
1/8: Best of 2006
1/15: Sleater-Kinney, Reputation, Rainer Maria (bands we lost in 2006)

whew!

The High Falls Film Fest has ended, and my wife and I had a great time, but I think we exhausted ourselves: 11 films in 5 days. I don't think we've seen that many movies all year. Here, for the sake of posterity, is a list of what we did see:
Copying Beethoven (opening night), Ten Canoes (loved this one), Shoot the Messenger, The Treatment, A Coat of Snow, Children's shorts program, What Remains (the Sally Mann documentary), The Lives of Others (awesome, they're showing it again tonight as the Best of the Fest), Emily Hubley films (with soundtracks by Yo La Tengo!), The Cats of Mirikatani, and Lonesome (silent film with accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra, even Sheila was won over by this one). We even did some of the parties too. Loads of fun, but I'm not sure we'd choose a schedule like this again next year (of course, come next year, we'll be all refreshed and rarin' to go).

Quick playlist addition:
12/4: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jarvis Cocker, Comets on Fire
I thought I'd have Lady Sovereign in my hands by now, but not yet, so Comets may move up to next week.

blah blah blog

Once again, little time to update, but a revised playlist presents itself:
11/6: Robyn Hitchcock, Shout Out Out Out Out, Klaxons
11/13: Tom Waits, Under Byen
11/20: Lullabye Arkestra, Noel Ellis, Lady Sovereign
11/27: The Harry Smith Project, Pere Ubu

The Quitters show at the Bug Jar was expectedly fun, though it felt strange to be out in a club setting after so long a time. Ah, the vagaries of aging. This week, Sheila and I hit the High Falls Film Festival, doing it up big time as we really didn't get a chance to go to too many movies last year. I'll try and report in the interim.

Is there anything cooler than the CBC Radio on a Saturday afternoon? Even though I catch bits and pieces of it during my workday while at my desk, I think I get more from an hour of Sook-Yin Lee's Definitely Not the Opera than a whole week of local radio. And it's even better when I take a trip over the border for a little shopping and cruise along to it. Again, the vagaries of aging: it used to be 102 the Edge as the car soundtrack but they haven't been half as exciting for a few years now.

More to come, hope everyone is having at least a halfway decent fall (though it seems like we went right into winter, doesn't it?).