posted 2007/06/15 at 20:57
... that the first federal party in Canada devoted to the separation of Quebec from the rest of the country, the Bloc Québécois, was formed. Whatever your opinion of the notion of Quebec sovereignty or French-speakers, I'm sure that we can all give the Bloc a hearty "thank you" for making Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes that much funnier over the years. On that note, let's play the friday5.org Friday Five!
1. What’s something you were into before it became popular?
I'll go with computers for one hundred, Alex. My first gaming and programming experiences came on my father's old ZX-80, before I even went to nursery school. Of course, by the time knowing a lot about computers and being a good computer gamer was considered really cool, I was so into my music and other stuff that I missed any opportunity I might have had to be considered cool.
2. What’s something you were reluctant to jump on the bandwagon with, but now are totally into?
Dance Dance Revolution. I probably would have tried it out a year or two earlier than I did, but the people I knew who played the game at the time were, while friends, some of the most exceedingly annoying people I've met in recent memory.
3. What’s a current trend or fad you just don’t get?
All of them? American Idol for starters ...
4. If you could turn any current fondness of yours into a popular trend, what would it be?
This is a trick question to get me to admit that if something is considered cool, then I'm probably a whole lot less likely to do it. Well, I admit it. That being said, if I could get more people to stop and think about how their actions affect others before doing anything, well, maybe that wouldn't seem so cool to me anymore, but it would make the world a heck of a better place, so let's go with that.
5. What’s something that’s totally uncool that you love anyway?
I don't think new age music has ever been considered "cool," although I would point out that most peoples' impressions of new age music are likely tainted by the formulatic stuff that gets put out there into the mainstream by artists like Yanni and John Tesh. Seriously, go buy some of David Lanz's or Michael Jones' earlier work, or some of the more recent work of Catherine Marie Charlton or Matsui Keiko (who can actually make "smooth jazz" work), it's good stuff and you'll thank me later.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon