To thine own self be true

It honours WWII soldiers and brings home the message of how war also influenced Canadian families and why people enlist to serve in wars.

Peter Jackson’s excellent, astoundingly realistic documentary covering the war from life before the conflict, recruiting, mobilizing, fighting, and the return home. Colorized, creating amazing immediacy. This is the ultimate document about what it was like to serve in WWI. Should be compulsory viewing for high school Social Studies students in Canada to instill a sense of the horrors of war and the public need to honour veterans.

After 70% of the voters indicated they didn’t think he should stick around, he offered to make no real changes American voters had challenged him about. Instead, he replied, in the style of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that he is “constant as the northern star” and we all remember what happened to Big Julie after the conspirators had heard him out!

(My Dad in his teens, 1944)

Since many of the older vets are gone and legions aren’t what they used to be, and you no longer see vets at malls selling poppies, it is good to remember that you can donate to a number of vets organizations to honour those guys and family members who kept our country free in previous wars. Things would not be the same today without their noble and heroic sacrifices.

ps/We donate to No Stone Left Alone Edmonton, which is relatively new Alberta initiative which has also involved younger generations.

We stepped outside this morning to clear yesterday’s dump off the driveway and behold! The driveway has been totally cleared by a snow machine with tires.

Although the two of us 73ers are prepared to take on the world, it is, especially, a pleasant surprise to find that good neighborship is not dead in these cold, uncivil times.

And whoever didn’t even let us know! Nothing nicer than anonymous help, kindness, and looking out for others.

has been terribly destructive. Core to his approach has been his continuous barrage of fake news and steady lying with no apologies, anchored by the so-called Big Lie that the last election was stolen.

This is core to his and the GOP’s success to date. They have rewritten history as an excuse for all they do. Right out of 1984. If they win, they will have succeeded in controlling the past, by nullifying the previous Biden/Democratic win. Very Stalinist. They will have, metaphorically, vaporized the past 4 years in the U.S.

As Orwell said, control of the present can control the past, and, therefore, the future, too. A major dissent into chaos, violence, hate, and an all-out attack on the populace, starting with doing away with democratic elections.

What is truly tragic, though is the omnipresent amount of American public ignorance, which has become an Orwellian/Trumpian strength in this transition and GOP takeover. Many U.S. citizens has become case-hardened and used to being lied to, and will now follow Old Orange Face, unquestioningly, into the abyss.

Commented on elsewhere of late has been the U.S. suppression of the teaching of history so that young people have no larger social memories, making them perfect puppets and dupes for the GOP takeover long-term.

And, overall–as Winston Smith noted–all you have is that few centimeters in the individual skull which is the last bastion of freedom. Once that is messed with and had memories and the memory function erased, the game is over and the dictators and autocrats shall have their ways with individuals. No one will be free anymore. They will cease to be autonomous individuals and merely become hateful mobs pig-piling to Trump’s tune.

Again, the key to everything/the whole shooting match is memory control. So if the GOPs win this election, they win the dispute over whether Biden got elected and whether the January 6 insurrection ever happened. These are no longer relevant facts because the one-third voters, by and large have let the crazies take over. And if they say This or that never happened, then…..Then all that shall be left is non-stop lies and autocratic control of an entire country with a thoroughly-corrupt fatcat dictator waiting in the wings come 2024. Trump would then get what he wanted: Big Brother status so he can chum freely with Kim Jong-Un, Putin, and other like-minded dictators.

for the first or second time, I strongly recommend this splendid audiobook version. An intimate experience laying bare the ideas and structure of Orwell’s classic.

“Everything melted in the mist” pretty much sums up the main goal of the Party, much the same as what Trump and his election-denying GOP-coattails members are engineering today.

The novel’s incredible relevance to our world today remains astoundingly prescient and, for those who already know the book, it is a timely work and well-worth a revisit to affirm your consciousness and resistance to propaganda, fake news, manufactured political fear-mongering.

in Canada, reflect on this headline:
Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power

to see a large flock of geese v-ing south against the gray skies this morning. So late! They must have been surprised by the recent change in weather.

(In addition to the 2 CDs below and a mono CD version, this disc has mono and stereo versions of both songs)

Best part of the 100 p.p. book–the track by track detailed writeups explaining more of their creative process and choices.

2 CDs of interesting, entertaining demos and outtakes with a fair bit of talking making you feel like you’re in the studio with them, though the remixing already accomplishes that very well. Best bit–George Martin consulting with Paul about vibrato on the strings in “Eleanor Rigby. There are also several instrumental alone tracks so that you sing along with the group!

The individual songs: * denotes highly recommended

Tomorrow Never Knows take 1–different drum beat. George plays droning tamboura, lead guitar snippets, John on organ

Got to Get You into My Life–take 5: extra background voices
2nd version: * George plays a fuzz guitar line. there are now even more voices/ A very solid multi-guitar track with no brass
take 9: *an extra guitar, instrumental version; singalong with full brass

Love You To aka Granny Smith (George’s working title)–
1st track: *just George singing with his guitar & Paul harmony
unnumbered rehearsal: Indian instruments added with George humming, no tabla
take 7: extra Paul harmony throughout (later dropped)

Paperback– *George & Paul on lead guitars’ singalong, just the instrumental with spaces for chorus voice breaks; those extra tambourine bits were done by George BTW

Rain–take 5: *twice as fast! Absolutely nuts with fast bass and Ringo’s excellent drums. George & Paul do the lead guitars.
take 5: slowed down

Dr. Robert–take 7: George & John do the lead guitars; George on maracas

And Your Bird Can Sing–take 2: Paul & George do lead guitars; 1 chord difference going down on bridge
take 2 giggling version: *”When your bike is broken”; very articulated loud bass
take 5: *totally different beat (same as “Ballad of John & Yoko”)

Taxman–take 1; with regular extra guitar accents; Paul does the Indian-sounding lead guitar solo, surprising George! Includes the backup vocal call-response “Anybody got a bit of money”

I’m Only Sleeping–*rehearsal: instrumental with vibraphone!
take 2: vocal, guitar and tambourine
5: just the instrumental, faster
mix RM1: early tape looping, different from the final

Eleanor Rigby– interest pretake speech with Martin, Paul and musicians
take 2– * just the strings, articulated; singalong

For No One: *piano and clavichord and minimal drums; just Ringo and Paul in this instrumental

Yellow Submarine–*2 work tapes of John and his guitar with original depressing lyrics
next: Lennon with different lyrics, no chorus
next: Paul comes in singing; there’s now the chorus
take 4: Ringo’s turn to sing what’s become a children’s song with harmony voices by the other 3. George plays tambourine; no sound effects
next: highlighted heavy sound effects and vocals by group, Martin, Pattie Harrison, Brian Jones, Marianne Faithfull

I Want to Tell You–*only the instrumental with George on guitar and Paul on piano playing that discordant F natural over E

Here, There: *Paul’s vocal prominent; he plays the only guitar and bass; all of them do finger snaps at end; that lead part is actually a 12 string acoustic sounding more like an electric! Ringo’s drums upped

She Said–*just John on vocal & guitar to start
take 15: just the awesome backing track instrumental; George does lead guitar with John on rhythm. John also plays organ. Harmony vocal was just George and John with Paul focusing on exceptional bass part