This past summer, a large group of households in my neighbourhood in Toronto, under the auspices of RISE (the Riverdale Initiative for Solar Energy), fitted our houses with solar energy systems.  I myself have a 2.8kW system, and Jimmy C has a similar one on his house, too.  So does Dave Ullrich, who runs Zunior.com, Canada's premier DRM-free indie download site.  We're hoping to get even more groups like this going, and an umbrella organization called Our Power has been started up to encourage this kind of community-based growth:  Neighbourhoods generating their own renewable energy.So, I've contributed a solo track, "The Chorus Girl" to a compilation available only on Zunior (and a very limited amount of CDs are available at the fabulous Soundscapes in Toronto, as well).  Check it out - discover a new source of great music, help a good cause, and get a song of mine you may not have heard (and if you have heard it, this one's available in higher-fidelity FLAC format).  A perfect digital stocking-stuffer, if I may say so myself....

Seriously. Read this.

I can't believe I forgot to link to this earlier!  It's a review (and a good one; these are precious and few), and it's by Cory Doctorow, heroic copyfighter, homeboy, Sci-Fi writer, and all around busy cutting edge fellow.  Boing Boing is one of my favourite blogs, so it was a thrill to be mentioned!

Fin and I are in the production office in Hartford reminiscing about the wings we ate in Buffalo last night.  I mean, I like a good chicken wing as much as the next guy, and everyone talks up the wings in Buffalo.  But, seriously, we've had their wings before, and they're good and all, even from the Anchor Bar, where the damn things were invented (Well, okay, not invented, I guess that God or whoever invented chickens did that, but you know what I mean), and last night's were just outstanding.  Truly, truly outstanding, crispy, flavourful, not greasy, and meaty.  Sometimes when there are wings on the bus, you walk on, and it just smells like death, which, I guess it should, but dirty, Tyson's slaughterhouse-style, where last night was more like soft, beautiful, Baudelarian death. 
Damn, I'm hungry.

How exciting to see that Apocalypto is the number 1 film in America this week.  See, you can say whatever you want and people will still flock to your movie.  And, besides, Mel really showed us Jews who REALLY runs Hollywood:  Sugartits.

In 2002, I was triumphant in getting Canada to read Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion, on CBC's Canada Reads.  This year, the sixth, features a Battle of the Champions, in which I will be defending David Bezmozgis' righteous Natasha And Other Stories against a bunch of other lesser works of literature.  It airs early next year - but start reading today!

Last night of the tour ( I know we have some shows closer to Christmas, but this is the end of the full-production shows), so we're all cleaning up our crap.  Clothes, books, Christmas and Hanukkah presents, all those stuffed monkeys, wine, etc. all gets packed up.  My drawers in our wardrobe case was so full I couldn't close it.  Now it's all empty. 
But of course, wouldn't you know it that the day when everyone needs the most space for packing features the smallest dressing room of the tour.  Just when  everyone's completely sick of each other, apparently it's in God's plan for us to be all over each other. 
Looking forward to getting home for a week, before we hit the last little leg of holiday shows.
But the sunshine here in San Diego/La Jolla sure is nice...