The Savvy Boomer

Classicaltv. com -music video site

If you are a classical, jazz, opera, dance, popular music or musicals fan, then there is a new site that you may be interested in looking at.  Classicaltv.com has both free and pay per view videos including performances such as Madame Butterfly from the Metropolitan Opera.  Great looking, easy to navigate site with an extensive catalogue of free videos.  Nice to see a new music video site that can be enjoyed by all age groups, and particularly by boomers.

Boomer plus night on American Idol

Santana, Rod Stewart, Queen, KISS, Lionel Richie, Cindi Lauper, Steve Martin helped to make that a very enjoyable show for the boomer crowd.  Too bad the wrong guy won but America has a habit of liking the underdog doesn't it?  But it doesn't really matter because the winner -I don't even remember his name already, will be the answer to the trivia question in 10 years, "Who beat Adam Lambert in American Idol?"  Shows like Idol and Dancing with the Stars really need to figure out a voting system that gets the best contestant declared the winner.  You knew something was going wrong when what's his name made it to the final 4.

Contest for Toronto area readers to see John/Yoko Bed Piece

draft89 is thrilled to present John/Yoko Bed Piece by up and coming writer and director Risha Yorke. Based on John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 week long Bed-In for Peace for Peace in Montreal, this multi-disciplinary piece opens Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at the Theatre Centre in Toronto. This insightful theatre experience is perfect for those who fondly recall the music and exuberance of the late 60’s.

I've got 2 free tickets for someone who wants to see the show in Toronto.  Leave a comment on this post and I'll randomly draw a winner in a few days.

Downloading music and videos legally

We all know about iTunes but there are lots of other sites out there that provide downloads or stream entertainment content.  Check out Download Music Savvy  that not only de-mystifies the differences between the major legal music download sites, explains what DRM is, discusses streaming sites and also has some fun reviews on bands you might enjoy.

CRTC treats Canadians like children

CRTC stands for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.  I think it really stands for Censors Run Telecommunications in Canada.  Now, according to the Globe and Mail, they are trying to tax us so that more Canadian content can be developed on the Internet.  The idea of supporting Canadian content is fine with me IF I make the decision I like it-not some bureaucrat stuffing it down my throat.

There are lots of reasons for the public to hate the CRTC and I'm sure the media have many more that we don't know about.

• we pay a fortune for cell plans in Canada because they won't let U.S. carriers compete
• we can't get channels like ESPN and HBO here-we are forced to watch Canadian versions
• radio stations must play a certain number of songs every hour that have Canadian content. 
  
• they sold Do Not Call Lists to telemarketers
• they defend our pure Canadian morals by keeping out shock jocks like Tom Leykis and Howard Stern-probably not all that bad a thing with these examples,  but at least let us choose who we want to listen to-don't tell us who we can't.
  

I'm reminded what narrow-minded jerks make decisions in this example of Canadian nationalism on steroids every time I watch the Super Bowl.  What they do is even though my cable station is on an American channel, they make the Canadian cable companies override it by showing a Canadian station that is taking the feed off the American station I want to watch.  Why does that matter you ask?  2 reasons:

1. Not only is the logo of the American station embedded on the picture, but so is the logo of the Canadian station-actually I hate this to start with so when I am forced to watch the Canadian station, I hate it doubly.
2. We don't get to watch the American commercials which is 1/2 the reason people watch the Super Bowl.  We have to watch lame ass Canadian commercials so I made a point this year of noting every sponsor and boycotting their products.   Royal Bank of Canada stock dropped sharply after I closed my account.

So now the CRTC wants to tax Canadian internet users to support Canadian content?  Big mistake!  I really hope that this threat of another tax grab by this dinosaur government department will put the CRTC in the spotlight and enough people bitch about it to their MPs that someone with some wisdom and power in Ottawa will tell them to STFU.

Maclean's magazine put it best when they said:

"Perhaps the media will now realize that the CRTC is no longer a mere nuisance, to be suffered in silence. It is a mortal threat: the most serious to press freedom in generations."

91 year old drummer rocks on -oxygen tank and all

You have to check out this post and video about Jerrie Thill on Going Like Sixty's blog.  I also played the drums on the Preston Scout House (Canada) drum and bugle corps when I was a teenager in the late 50s and early 60s.  I was so sad when we moved to the U.S. for a couple of years because I had to give it up and while I played in other bands, none of then were at the level Scout House was.  My last year there,we traveled thousands of miles as we won almost every competition we went in.  Maybe I'll take that up again when I get older but I doubt my shorts would still fit.  I think that's me, 2nd drum from right below.

Monty Python videos available on their own YouTube channel

If you're a boomer, chances are you grew up with the humour of Monty Python's Flying Circus.  Their TV series was wildly popular in the UK and found its way to North America.  These guys were all born before the first boomer year-1946, and 5 of the 6 are still alive.   Their channel on YouTube which has most of their TV material in high-def plus some other extras, but no movies yet, is very popular and is responsible for a 23,000 % increase in their DVD sales on Amazon according to Mashable.

Last Chance Harvey is a boomer flick

The first time I saw Dustin Hoffman he was involved with a 40 something woman and when I saw him again last night, he was again involved with a 40 something woman.  The difference though is about 40 years have passed in Hoffman's life (yes, mine too) from the first time his character, Ben, was an early 20's in the Graduate to Last Chance Harvey, in which he appropriately plays a 60 something.  Of course he has a much higher woman savvy quotient as Harvey who is smitten with Emma Thompson's character but the puppy dog looks are still there.  Well, men like to think we get savvier about women as we age but that discussion we'll leave to another time.

This genre of movie is probably going to become more popular as the industry realizes that boomers have their favorite actors who are aging as well.  The nice thing here is that the movie is about the lives of the older characters, not just about them being someone's grandparent or mentor. 

Hoffman is just one of those actors that draws me to any movie he is in and I still watch the Graduate, Midnight Cowboy and Rain Man whenever the opportunity presents itself.  His performance in Harvey while not at the same level as these 3 roles because the character doesn't demand it, is certainly solid although I wish the director had taken more advantage of Hoffman's innate ability to be humourous.

I am less familiar with Emma Thompson but remember her Oscar winning performance in Howard's End and whenever I see her on TV or in a Harry Potter flick, I'm always impressed by her wit and she does so again in Harvey.  One thing that jumps off the screen at you is that Emma is not a petite woman and often seems to tower over Hoffman.  With Hollywood technology's capability to make anyone look any size, it was obviously something the director wanted us to notice.  I think that's a good thing because in real life, not all women are size 2's and in their early 20's. On a blog, Emma said:

"If you see the picture, and I hope you will because I love it very much and am moved by it every time I see it, you’ll notice I am decidedly unglamorous and at least size 16. I really wanted to look like a “normal” woman, I mean in terms of body size.

Actresses seem to be getting tinier and tinier and I do wonder how we think we can present really powerful women, matriarchs and the like, when we seem to insist upon having such attenuated physiques."

If you like Hoffman and/or Thompson, or are tired of trying to relate to 20-something actors, see the film.  Yes, it's somewhat predictable so you aren't going to be blown away with plot twists although there is a bit of suspense even-but it doesn't last long.  However, it's nice to watch 2 boomers (I know I am stretching the term with regards to Hoffman) manage to get together and resolve some baggage issues that many of us may relate with in one way or another.  While I'm no prude, it's also nice to sit through a movie where every 5th word doesn't start with F, no one gets a limb severed and cell phones are just used as phones.  Oh yes- stick around when the credits roll.  About a minute in, something happens on-screen that leaves you wondering-"How's that going to turn out?"