I hate lists …

But that doesn’t mean that, every once in a while, I don’t make them.

You know those lists full o’ questions that show up in your inbox from time to time? I normally don’t fill in the blanks, but I was reading a friend’s blog archives (just found the blog – have to see if there’s anything worth filing a lawsuit over) and came across a list that I’d like to share with y’all (with my answers, of course).

1. Where do you work?

In an animal research lab (yes, I’m a bad, bad, BAD person)

2. Where did you go to college?

Long story: After high school, went to Humber College to study music (jazz, specificially). After trying to make a living as a musician, decided to go back to school. Graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Windsor and am now in grad school at the University of Western Ontario.

3. Do you live in the city or in the ‘burbs?

City, baby. No ‘burbs for this hep cat (yes, that is supposed to be ‘hep’)

4. Name all the books on your nightstand.

Without looking (’cause I’m at work and my nightstand isn’t): Kitchen Confidential, Travelling Music, and The Lord of the Rings.

5. Do you snoop in other people’s medicine cabinets?

Not as a rule (but if I did, do you think I’d admit it here?)

6. Which do you think is worse? The fact that we haven’t left Bosnia in ten years although we were supposed to be there for only a year or so, or the entire situation in Iraq, and the possibility that we will be there for 10 years or more?

Oh jeez. Can the answer to this question be a follow-up post? Please?

7. What are your radio presets in your car?

I don’t own a car, so I can’t have radio presets. But if I did own a car, I’d try to program every station that I could receive into the radio (I can be a fickle radio listener sometimes)

8. To 10 albums in your iTunes library.

Oh boy. I don’t think there are 10 albums that I consistently listen to on a regular basis, but here are some that I’ve listened to recently:

Public Enemy – Power to the People and the Beats: Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits

Frank Sinatra & Count Basie – Live at the Sands

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings – BARK

Peter Gabriel – Up

Yes – Close to the Edge

The Killers – Hot Fuss

Roxy Music – Avalon

Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul

9. If you were given a $5000 gift card to any store, which store would it be and why?

No hesitation here. The iTunes Music Store. There’s so much music out there that I don’t yet own, and $5000 would get me a long way towards completing the collection.

10a. Top 5 movies to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon?

Goodfellas

Any portion of the Lord of the Rings trilogy

My Cousin Vinny

Not quite movies, but:

episodes of M*A*S*H (either on television or DVD)

episodes of Futurama

10b. Top 5 movies to watch when it’s 3 am?

Who is awake at 3 am? Not me.

10c. Top 5 movies you think everyone should see?

Goodfellas

The Godfather (1, 2, and maybe 3 if you like the first 2)

Unforgiven

Better Off Dead

Plan 9 From Outer Space (I don’t know, I could only think of 4 movies)

11. How do you like your steak?

Seared on the outside (nice and carmelized …. mmmmmmmm) and very pink and juicy on the inside (perhaps still twitching?)

12. Current guilty pleasure pop song?

It’s not quite pop (but it probably should be given the current state of the record business), but I kinda dig “One Way Ticket” by The Darkness

All this fuss over a cartoon

Before I get into the meat of this post I want to say that the “anti-Muslim” cartoon that was published in various European newspapers was most definitely in poor taste and should not have been published. In addition, Muslims are whollly justified in being angry over the cartoon.

With that out of the way, I think that those who are rioting, theatening violence, and/or chanting “Death to France” are overreacting. As Tarek Fatah, a director of the Muslim Canadian Congress said, “The protests in the Middle East have proven that the cartoonist was right …. It’s falling straight into that trap of being depicted as a violent people and proving the point that, yes, we are.â€?

I can’t understand this sort of behaviour. Imagine if someone published a cartoon that depicted you beating your wife and children. You would certainly be upset. But if you got so upset that you went home and beat up your wife and children. At that point, doesn’t the cartoon then depict the truth (even if it didn’t before)? I know it’s not the best example, but I think it does, at least to a certain extent, illustrate the point.

Wouldn’t it be better to attempt to have a reasonable, rational dialogue than to fall into the trap that was (intentionally or unintentionally) set by the cartoonist? Instead of marching through the streets of Gaza or Jakarta firing automatic weapons into the air and calling for the head of the cartoonist, try to educate those that think that Islam is a hateful and violent religion.

To the cartoonist and editors who decided to publish the cartoon, I say this: Go down to the local mosque and learn about Islam. Until recently I didn’t know much about Islam. I knew that it has similar roots as Judaism and Christianity. I’d heard that it was a religion that advocated peace rather than violence. That was about it. Then I started working with a woman who was Muslim, and I asked questions (she asked questions about Catholicism, too). Now, while I’m certainly not an expert in the Muslim faith, I know a lot more than I did, say, two years ago.

I was going to say something about some of the comments that were posted on the Globe and Mail’s website, but I think I’ve said enough (at least for now).

Bloglines

I’m not sure how many of you have heard of RSS (really simple syndication). It allows you to, in a sense, quickly scan a number of websites and see what’s new. It’s much quicker and easier than having to visit each and every website in turn. Normally one uses a stand-alone piece of software to do this. That is what has kept me from becoming an RSS addict (why would I want to install something on my home computer, my work computer(s), etc?).

As it turns out, there are a couple of web-based RSS readers out there. I decided to check out Bloglines. It’s pretty darn nifty to be able to see what’s been updated in just a few minutes (and do it on any computer).

I’ve also added links to all of my bloglines feeds to my blog so you can see what I’m reading (and maybe find something new and interesting yourself).