Category: pop culture

  • Book review – Chase of the Rising Sun – Colin Rink

    Colin Rink - author of Chase of the Rising SunI grew up out in the countryside listening to the national broadcaster of Japan, NHK, on the shortwave spectrum. In the 1970’s, international broadcasting was about to enter its peak before a swift decline in the 1990’s.

    Inasmuch as I knew about Japan, from what I was taught in school, watched on television (with the requisite twisted stereotypes more typical of 1960’s television), I was always fascinated by this mysterious culture. A society, largely closed to the rest of the World, save for tourism. NHK radio opened up some of the secrets of this nation and I was hooked.

    In Colin Rink’s debut novel, Chase of the Rising Sun, Colin crafts a tale of adventure, intrigue, romance and tragedy around one Mark Rasper, a newly minted 30 year old from Vancouver B.C. who is eager to break free. Rasper has tired of his job, the shallowness of his relationships and succumbs to a yearning for travel and a fresh start.

    Obsessed with Japanese culture and traditions, Rasper pulls up all his stakes and heads to Tokyo with a small suitcase, backpack and the barest of minimums of Japanese fluency. Propelled by a solid job opportunity from his Vancouver employer, Rasper finds himself immediately over his head as if overwhelmed by the power of a Pacific tsunami.

    For those that have bookmarked Japan as a future destination, Chase of the Rising Sun is as much a thriller as it is a tourist masterclass on what awaits the first time visitor. Attention to detail is exquisite. The sights, sounds and smells of the Tokyo culinary scene literally waft off each page as the reader is slowly drawn into the fray.

    Rink leaves few aspects of Japanese daily life off of the table – which reinforces the solidity and believability of “Rising Sun.” Whether it is the almost insurmountable task of merely “fitting in” or getting a more complete understanding of the work culture, to the habit of “work hard, work long hours and drink impossible amounts of liquor late into the night…” Rink does not miss one rhythm of this nations mysterious heart beat.

    I found Chase of the Rising Sun to be an immediately breezy read – with a familiarity to it that was more a byproduct of my preexisting knowledge of this cryptic and often contradictory society. For those seeking a culinary or cultural shockwave to Japan, this is a must read or must pack along. From the food and beverage aspect of the novel, the cuisine alone is a sufficient enticement to drop what you are doing and buy a ticket pronto! And by the way, this book is not a foodies guide to the land of the Rising Sun – but more an extension of the author’s literacy. And I loved it.

    Chase of the Rising Sun would be a great first book with some tame adult content for teens – but enjoyed immensely by this 60 year old. There are some surprising twists and turns in the novel. If there was one bone to pick, I genuinely wanted more – and I was left not knowing – which made the denouement of the book… well, I’ll let you find out for yourself!

    Chase of the Rising Sun is available in most reputable bookstores and on Amazon!

    Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and lover of coffee and cocktail culture – and occasionally reviews a book or two. Read? Me? You bet – and you should too!

  • Logic and reason requires critical thinking skills.

    In a time rife with disasters, simmering regional conflicts, global warming, and out of control fires, when more people than ever can find an audience online, conspiracy theories seem to be growing more silly by the day.

    We’re also more prone to believing such things under heightened stress, and there is no shortage of troubling issues confronting us, whether locally or globally.

    Some conspiracy theorists pride themselves on being “critical freethinkers,” but a new study showing a trend between lower critical thinking skills and increased conspiracy theory belief suggests this may not be the case.

    “Conspiracy theories refer to attempts to explain the ultimate cause of an important event (social, political, climatic, etc.), by accusing a hidden coalition of perceived malicious and powerful people or organizations of having secretly planned and implemented these events,” explain Paris Nanterre University psychologist Anthony Lantian and team in their paper.

    Across two studies, the researchers assessed the critical thinking skills of 338 undergraduate students using a French version of the Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test. They then scored the students’ tendencies towards conspiracy beliefs and their personal assessment of their own critical thinking skills.

    Critical thinking – the objective analysis and evaluation of a situation – requires a collection of cognitive skills. These include the ability to discern relevant versus irrelevant information, think systematically, seeing other perspectives, recognizing and avoiding logical fallacies, look beyond the obvious, be aware of and avoid biases and changing your mind in light of new evidence.

    “The more people believe in conspiracy theories, the worse they perform on a critical thinking ability test,” Lantian told Eric Dolan from PsyPost. “This test is characterized by an open-ended format highlighting several areas of critical thinking ability in the context of argumentation.”

    Before anyone gets all superior and self righteous around this, we must keep in mind that some people may not have had opportunities to obtain or develop these skills. This doesn’t mean they’re any less intelligent, just that their lives have not as yet taken them on the critical thinking skill acquiring path. But it’s never too late to learn. Good thing!

    The researchers didn’t find any evidence for a higher (or lower) subjective critical thinking ability (as opposed to that evaluated more objectively by the test) among those who subscribe more to conspiracy theories.

    “This is not in line with the cliché of the conspiracy theorists who see themselves as critical thinkers,” Lantian said.

    All this is not to say those with high critical thinking skills can’t also be sucked into believing things that may not necessarily align with reality. The way our thinking is wired as an obligatorily social species makes us very vulnerable to believing those we identify with as part of our own cultural group – no matter how much education we have had that boosts science literacy.

    Trust plays a massive role in who we believe; we also have a tendency to believe each of us is above average at detecting misinformation. And that is a clear case of self deception if there ever was one!

    Researchers have also linked this need to feel special to greater belief in conspiracies. This is the classic, “I know something that you don’t!” Or, “There is this guy that has a YouTube channel that knows stuff that no one else knows!”

    Lantian and team point out that while their study suggests critical thinking lowers people’s chances of believing in unfounded conspiracy theories, the findings don’t determine if these skills can help people detect true conspiracies.

    Think like a scientist

    Photo above: Our COVID-19 journey has been rife with speculation and a lively source for “conspiracy theorization”, in part, because of the elements of calamity, the “perceived” volumes of unanswered questions, the complexity of the varied impacts on society and so on.

    Furthermore, the uniformity of their sample population (all French-speaking undergraduates) means these findings may not necessarily be an accurate reflection across wider society, nor have the researchers demonstrated a causal relationship.

    However, previous research has also suggested more highly educated people are less prone to conspiracy beliefs. Another study, specifically designed by Yale University psychologist Dan Kahan and team to untangle within-group bias from levels of understanding, found similar results: Participants who scored highest in science comprehension – which requires critical thinking skills – displayed higher scores in independent thinking.

    Kahan and colleagues have also found that curiosity can play an incredibly powerful role in counteracting within-group biases by leading people to consume “a richer diet of information”.

    Lantian and team conclude in their paper that “critical thinking ability could help individuals to seek contradictory evidence rather than blindly trusting a conspiracy theory as long as it challenges an established version.”

    They hope that this and further research on the topic will help develop better ways to teach more people these vital skills. Critical thinking, along with fostering curiosity and a sense of belonging and community to counteract the forces of cultural biases, may help us nudge each other back towards a smarter and wiser reality.

    Elements of this research was published in Applied Cognitive Psychology.

    Your web writer, Colin Newell, has lived on the radical Wet Coast of North America and has been writing stuff, totally believable stuff, since 1996!

  • It’s National Coffee Day (almost) and what’s up with that?

    I was talking with Brad Plothow, VP of communications at Womply.com in Lehi, Utah this morning.

    Womply, in its simplest terms, is a company that analyses market trends based on transactional commerce data – you know, credit card and debit transactions – who’s making them and what they are buying or selling.

    And do they know coffee! At least who drinking what, when and how much.
    And some of that information surprised even me! As a coffee drinker who sips the same amount of coffee, year around, it was interesting to look into the lens for more granular data on consumption trends.

    • Which are the busiest days of the week at your average cafe.
    • What is the busiest time of the year for cafes.
    • What is the average amount of sales for the average cafe in North America

    Not surprising, coffee house consumption tends to swing upwards later on in the week – and you guessed it, Friday is the busiest day at the campus, urban or office cafe when folks are rewarding themselves for a week well done!

    Ironically, while Christmas shopping season in North America may be the busiest of any season year around, coffee drinking drops significantly in January (as resolutions kick in…) and then consumption slowly returns to “normal” in February!

    You can read the entire article over here

    My take-away: Womply.com is a creator of small business software that provide valuable market data and trends on consumption based on meta data from credit card transactions – very fascinating stuff.

    National Coffee Day – without too much of a dig-down, I am assuming that the industry has created this date to “pay back” their valued clients with a free cuppa Joe. Me, I like to pay for my fancy coffees and I think in a city like Victoria, Vancouver, Portland or Seattle, you might be hard pressed to get a free serving of the good stuff. Dunno. Results may vary.
    Meantime, enjoy a great cup of coffee every day of the year!

    Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and coffee expert who has been writing about cafe culture for 25+ years – now that’s a lot of coffee!

  • Transitioning the chapters of life – Chapter one – hey, what’s with the bow tie?

    I was sitting with my lovely wife Andrea at the Fernwood Coffee House today at noon. Between bites of a breakfast egg bagel and sips of black coffee (and her sampling her London Fog…) we reflected on the passage of time – and how we grow and change.

    Cutting to the chase: “What’s with the bow tie?” She asked.

    Right. Bow ties, in the 21st Century trigger a lot of different responses – and it all depends on where you are. I work at a University (in IT) and in my wandering between classroom buildings, my lab and the cafe, my attire is usually business casual; in the Springtime, shirt and slacks – in the summer, an Aloha shirt and blue jeans. I never, ever wear shorts. What I wear is dependant on the day of the week and the time of year. Many places, schools, Universities and colleges have a casual Friday. We have flipped that on its ear and do a formal Friday. Some of the staff wear ties, scarves, fancier head gear and yes, even bow ties. It is simply a timeless look that works anywhere at anytime. At least that is what I tell myself. Today, while popping into a bookstore for some items, I was asked by the staffer at the counter if I was “going to a birthday party…” “Uhm… no I hesitated then I realized that I was dressed as a magician that would be going to a birthday party! Impression, then response!

    Truth be told, Victoria B.C. is not an urban centre with a high awareness of fashion. Go to an opera in Victoria and the listener next to you is just as likely to be dressed for a hike or a dig of the root vegetables in the back garden. And not that this offends me much – actually it offends me a bit. I truly believe that clothing is not about elitism (at least entirely…) and more about the expression of “I care about my appearance!”

    And yes, I am an extrovert and I am a bit of an attention suck. For what other reason would I pay attention to fashion trends and make an effort to stand out… well, at least a bit. “But where does this begin?” she asked.

    “Well!” I exclaimed as I took a lung full of air.

    In 1979 while attending a series of courses at one of the local colleges, I noticed a 21 year old classmate who stood out from the rest. He was wearing a Harris Tweed sport coat. I’d seen elbow padded professors wearing these beat up old classics but I thought it was their exclusive reservation. It’s wasn’t and on this blue jean clad student, it worked. It got me thinking about how we make impressions based on the image that we present. My career choices would always put me in contact with the general public so I had to craft some kind of “package” – over time, this “look” would evolve into a fashion forward sense that changed with the times. My 1st suit for my first date near the Christmas of 1980 would be a cotton corduroy thing from a mall Mens store. It was a modest beginning. Interestingly, I did not buy a tie for this outfit and my date at the time reminded me of the necessity of achieving “balance”. There could be no balance with a three piece suit and no tie.

    It was a beginning. The 1980’s offered a wealth of quirky choices for men while remaining somewhat centred in the fashion mainstream – and as it would turn out, the “stream” of fashion in Victoria, at the time, was little more than a rivulet. That would change, little by little, over time.

    Flashing forward, I have been working at a University since the late 1980’s (now around 6 years away from retirement!) and that is a few items of clothing under the bridge. The biggest transition is yet to come. It’s thought that graduation, marriage, death, divorce and retirement are among the most stressful of transitions. One takes stock and wonders what it will be that they will be next. Reinvention. It’s a thing. It’s healthy, too a point I guess.

    So. The bow tie. For me, it is an expression of, “Hey, it’s still me and I’m still here and I still care…”

    When I stop caring… well, let’s not go there.

    Colin Newell is an about town writer, food and coffee guy, member of the Canadian Media Guild… and always on the hunt for a great cup of joe and a sharp looking tie.

  • West Coast living in the dairy free World – Wonderful waffles

    dairy free waffle-pancake recipe

    Perhaps more than life itself, I love breakfast. If I fail to start my day with lots of carbs and a bit of protein, I might as well stay in bed.

    Welcome to a re-boot of my level best most popular blog post ever! The Waffle Special!

    What do I eat for breakfast? The most important meal of the day!
    A typical morning for me includes granola, fruit, yoghurt, multi-grain toast and water.

    I know what you are thinking: No coffee and no juice. Nope. Never. If anything, I drink water for breakfast. Your body does not need a sugar slam first thing – so don’t drink juice!

    But you’re the coffee guy Colin!
    Coffee is a ritual that comes later – Almost always around 10AM.

    Lately, I have been doing way more baking. Muffins. Cookies. Waffles. Why? To save money and enjoy life more!

    I sous-chef for 100% of our home cooking, but I tend to nibble more at work.
    So, in addition to making all of my own coffee and the coffee for the lads in the lab, I make all my own baked goods for my weekdays.

    But back to breakfast: I love breakfast and we all know that breakfast tends to include dairy in some form or another. It is hard to find a work-around. But you can. Here is my dairy free waffle recipe. This is not purely vegan, but I suppose with a bit of work it could be.

    Ingredients and instructions.

    1 3/4 cup of all-purpose unbleached white flour
    1 tablespoon baking powder
    Pinch salt
    1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
    2 Egg yolks
    1 3/4 cups premium quality Soy, Coconut or Almond milk
    1/2 cup cooking oil, ideally canola oil
    2 Egg whites

    In a large mixing bowl (which will ultimately hold several days worth of waffle mix) stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
    In a smaller mixing bowl beat egg yolks. Add Soy, almond or coconut milk, cinnamon and oil.

    Add your wet to the flour mix all at once. Stir or fold til mixed but still slightly lumpy.

    In yet-another-bowl whip egg white to form a stiff peak.

    Gently fold egg whites into soya-flour-oil mixture leaving a few whisps of egg white visible.

    Heat waffle iron letting waffle mix work for about 7 minutes.
    Pour batter onto preheated iron. Do not open while the waffles are cooking! Timing will vary depending on your iron.

    Serve with butter, maple syrup, fresh blueberries and hot, hot coffee!

    Enjoy! This recipe updated March 2019

    Colin is a Victoria resident and food lover that is constantly searching for the perfect cup of coffee. His blog has been on the air since 1995… but who’s counting?

  • The Ten Best Cities for Coffee in the United States of America

    Living on the West Coast of North America in an area dominated by coffee culture, I cannot imagine not having the best of cafe culture within an easy walking distance. And in my 25 years of writing about the bean scene in Canada, I have traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast, with many stops along the way, looking for the best of the best in the brewed cup of joe.

    Two decades ago there would have been larges swaths of land between hot spots and thankfully that has changed. Most towns, large or small, in Canada have grown with the times and it’s now downright challenging to find a whistle stop completely free of a hot cup of java or a great latte or cappuccino. And while this is a rule in Canada where there are a finite number of pathways East to West, it is not that simple a quantification in the U.S. of A. Here are some stats about the coffee scene in the U.S.A. – by the numbers!

    Top 10 cities based on coffee businesses per resident

    It’s no surprise that the Pacific Northwest is well represented on our list of the best cities in America for coffee lovers. These 10 highly caffeinated locales have the most coffee shops per resident, so that quick fix is never too difficult to find.

    Number 10. Ann Arbor, Michigan – One cafe for every 2825 people.

    With a total enrollment of more than 44,000 students, plus one professor for every 12 students, the University of Michigan is a likely inspiration for the many coffee shops scattered across Ann Arbor. Coeds have plenty of places to get that all-important caffeine infusion to help them cram for exams.

    Coffee drinkers living in Ann Arbor can expect to pay an average of $1,331 for a one-bedroom apartment. Ouch!

    Number 9. Everett, Washington – One cafe for every 2752 people.

    Located 25 miles north of Seattle (or as Coffeeville as it’s also known!) on the Puget Sound, Everett is the first of four Pacific Northwest cities on our top 10. The military town is home to Naval Station Everett, and a slew of local roasters keep around 6,000 sailors and civil servants assigned to the base alert at all hours.

    Living in Everett is considerably more affordable compared to Seattle just a few miles to the south. The average one-bedroom rent here is $1,307.

    Number 8. Pittsburgh, PA – One cafe for every 2607 people.

    Coffee may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Steel City, but the caffeine scene is growing fast in this proud Pennsylvania town. From cappuccinos at the buzzing Espresso A Mano to curry ginger lattes at eclectic Biddle’s Escape, Yinzers have a wide variety of coffee shops from which to get their daily jolt.

    In addition to all of the coffee options, Pittsburgh residents have it pretty sweet (comparably) on their rent as well. A one-bedroom place here averages about $1,282 a month – which is cheaper than most cities on our top 10 list.

    Number 7. Minneapolis, MN – One cafe for every 2427 people.

    With an average snowfall clocking in around 60 to 70 inches annually, the country’s coldest urban center tends to Jones for java. Locals escape sub-zero temperatures and blizzards (in April!) with cozy caffeinated beverages in warm independent coffee shops and the beloved local chain, Caribou Coffee – founded in nearby Edina.

    Minneapolis renters may be able to splurge a little more on their espresso machines – the average monthly price for a one-bedroom here is $1,468.

    Number 6. Salt Lake City, UT – One cafe for every 2387 people.

    Even with the significant LDS population abstaining from coffee and tea, Salt Lake City has some serious coffee cred. From single-origin espresso to green bean brew, pioneers like the Salt Lake Roasting Company and Millcreek Coffee have been paving the way for creative coffee purveyors for decades.

    Salt Lake City is also one of the more affordable places to live compared to the rest of our top 10 list. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,260 a month.

    Number 5. Portland, OR – One cafe for every 2322 people.

    Home of the beloved Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Portland’s coffee culture is strong – arguably the strongest in the country. The city trumped coffee rival Seattle multiple years to take Travel + Leisure’s title of America’s Best Coffee City. Alas, judging by the number of coffee outposts per capita, Seattle edges out Portland by a hair on our poll.

    Coffee lovers looking to settle down in Portland can expect to pay about $1,550 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

    Number 4. Seattle, WA – One cafe for every 2308 people.

    Starbucks was born here in Pike Place Market back in 1971, opening the door for a flood of Seattle roasters to follow, from Tully’s Coffee to Caffe Vita Coffee Roasting Company and many, many more. Whether they’re searching for Bulletproof Coffee or the perfect pourover, Seattleites have a diverse array of excellent coffee shops to choose from.

    Seattle also comes in as one of the more pricey cities on our list for rent. Your average one-bedroom apartment in Seattle will cost $2,139 a month.

    Number 3. San Francisco, CA – One cafe for every 2297 people.

    Perhaps you’ve heard about the “third wave of coffee”? Powered by high-quality artisanal coffee, the latest trend started with roasters like San Francisco-born Blue Bottle, which only sells beans that have been roasted within the last 48 hours. Locals also swear by third-wave pioneers like Ritual Roasters, Sightglass Coffee and Four Barrel Coffee.

    In what’s probably no surprise, San Francisco is the most expensive place to live compared to the rest of our top 10. Rent for a one-bedroom apartment here will set you back $3,704 a month.

    Number 2. Vancouver, WA – One cafe for every 2224 people.

    Located just across the Columbia River from Oregon, Portland’s largest suburb is equally devoted to coffee culture. In fact, Vancouver edges out its sister city on our top 10 thanks to a slew of places to sip, from Relevant Coffee to Compass Coffee.

    Vancouver is also the most affordable city on our top 10 list. One-bedroom apartments average $1,167 a month.

    Number 1. Berkeley, CA – One cafe for every 2037 people.

    Many brew aficionados trace coffee’s third-wave back to Peet’s Coffee, which started selling hand-roasted small batch beans in 1966 near the University of California. Today, Berkeley takes the title of the best city in the U.S. for coffee lovers, with more coffee shops per capita than any other city in the country.

    Berkeley also comes in toward the top for rental prices compared to the rest of the cities on our list. The average one-bedroom apartment in Berkeley runs $3,106 a month.

    Inspiration for this article

  • Book review – A Strange Little Place – the haunting and unexplained events of one small town

    Revelstoke: Where the worlds of the living, dead, and extraordinary collide.

    Brennan Storr, of Revelstoke, British Columbia, a rustic, rugged and alpine town in Western Canada, considers his hometown something of a magical place. But that was not always the case.

    Brennan was not a believer in much of anything in the spirit world apart from what he could see in front of him and hold in his hand. Slowly but surely he would be converted to a new reality.

    On the rare occasions when Brennan Storr’s family, on his mother’s side, would get together, they would tell ghost stories about the house where they all grew up.

    He did have a few personal stories of the unexplained. Nothing dramatic, really, apart from a small collection of inexplicable things that had happened throughout his life. Brennan offered “Understand, I didn’t believe in ghosts or the paranormal, but I got a lot of mileage out of those stories – both my family’s and my own – at parties.”

    But in his debut book, A Strange Little Place – the haunting and unexplained events of one small town – Brennan reveals, in 33 succinct chapters, the unusual fabric of time and space that permeates Revelstoke.

    “I’ll be straight with you – If you believe that UFO’s, Sasquatch and the like are all nonsense of the highest order, I have no intention of trying to convince you otherwise. Before starting this book in April 2012 I was in the exact same boat.”

    Revelstoke, an internationally recognized destination for winter sports and becoming increasingly popular in the spring and summer for its cultural and outdoor activities, harbours something of a dark secret. If the examples within this 240 page paperback hold any greater meaning, it could be that this little town lies in the focal point or nexus of some mysterious force.

    The history and progress of Revelstoke plays a very important role in this tale and Brennan thoroughly documents this relationship while unveiling 70 years of the town’s paranormal fabric. In A Strange Little Place Brennan offers several explanations for these odd events. There are a lot of unusual phenomenon here. There may be some inexplicable connection that links these events together. Clearly, Revelstoke has a quantity of spiritual baggage because of its very colourful and, initially, optimistic future.

    Tales of missing time, shadow people, spectral light and sound, UFOs and ghosts spill from the pages in a jaunty kind of way that will leave you questioning your own reality and looking over your shoulder a little more often.

    “Assuming he had fallen asleep without turning off the kitchen light, Nelles sleepily rose from bed and returned to the kitchen where, sitting at the table in front of him, was none other than the recently deceased Louis Bafaro.”

    Brennan’s style is at once charming, folksy then gritty with a 1940’s gum shoe sensibility.

    Perhaps coming from a similar upbringing to the author, I found his stories of the unexplained resonated with me. I was left reanalyzing some of my own experiences. I was opening chapters of my own life that I had often dismissed as “false memory”. I liked Brennan’s book because it made me think about the world around me – and had me squinting more objectively at things I might have not given a second look.

    A Strange Little Place is a frisky and fast paced read on a subject that I have always been fascinated with. These stories left me wanting more and asking more questions.

    Brennan Storr, now a Victoria area resident, is an active story teller, researcher and journalist who has written on many subjects including pop culture, pro wrestling, his own itinerant life and his fascination with dark places. He works in a haunted office building in one of the most haunted cities in North America. His book is readily available on Amazon online (in Canada) and a growing number of small book stores in Western Canada.

    You can meet Brennan in person and buy an autographed copy or two of his book at Chapter’s book store, 1212 Douglas St – downtown Victoria on Friday, September 30 from 2 to 4 pm.

    Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident and long time writer of non-scary stories about coffee and pop culture.

  • Social media 101 – 10 things about todays internet

    25 years ago the World wide web was born. In the beginning it all seemed simple enough: Web pages were 100% information. Eventually they would include photos and multi-media. At that point the entire resource became limitless as a medium for knowledge deployment, information sharing and instant global communications.

    I am fortunate enough to have been born before the internet. To have lived at a time where I did not have instant access to everything, I think, was something of a developmental benefit. It was a valuable experience. Like growing up without electricity or television… not that I was one of those people! It gives one perspective.

    At this 25th anniversary juncture, I have some thoughts and questions about where we are at right now – and yes, it is going to come across as “you kids get off of my lawn…” Here are 10 thoughts:

    10.) When did content on the internet become all about search engine ratings? Everywhere you look, you see rubbish, junk content and click bait. This article, for a refreshing change, is 100% information. There is nothing for you to click on, no sensational content, no mass reloads of pages to see one simple article. You are not forced to load 10 pages of ads to see a 300 word article. It respects you and does not treat you like a fool. This is actually the top thing that gets me fuming. Because I am fuming, I put it at the top of the list!

    9.) When did the internet (our greatest knowledge resource) become so dumbed down and assume we are all stupid? We are not stupid. The average person functioning on this planet is quite smart. You have to be to survive. So why does the “internet media” feel that we are all idiots?

    8.) Where there is potential for so much more we see endless quantities of junk or rubbish content, scandal sheet articles, click bait and pointless advertising shills that pose as meaningful consumer reviews.
    It’s everywhere. This article has no hidden agenda. There are no surprises. No insults.

    7.) Whither integrity? I may not believe in the same things that you do, but I have stood for some things all the years I have been online and have not really changed my perspective that much.
    Websites that try and pass off rubbish for pure profit – or legitimate media sites that include rubbish content (like our local Times-Colonist newspaper) leave me feeling kind of cold.
    In their favour I imagine that the life of newspapers is a pretty tight one right now and maybe their very survival depends on this strategy.

    6.) Too much information. Yea, I use Facebook and Twitter. When did the curtain of a reasonable expectation of privacy fall away with everyone (quoting a dear Hawaiian friend…) “Drop their panties for the camera…” Is it because we all want to share every moment of our lives and all our desires OR have we been conditioned to do so. I think it is the combination of the two.

    5.) Is this a lost opportunity. I think every day we are given the chance to make a small contribution to the greater good of the Planet. The power of the internet and access to information could help us do this. But we waste our time running around after junk content, passing off jokes and gags as a meaningful use of our time and chasing phantoms in the street as a game (Pokemon…) Yup, full on old man rant now!

    4.) I’ve still got hope. Actually, I think during a crisis situation the net becomes an awesome tool for coming to the rescue and marshalling a response really fast. Examples include the devastating Earthquakes in S.E. Asia (Indonesia, Thailand), Japan and Haiti. There is no question that people can pull together when they need to. And who knows, maybe the greatest global challenge is still ahead of us.

    3.) Why all the eggs in one basket? I worry about the centralization of media and information on the internet and the abandonment or neglect of traditional forms of media, like newspaper, TV and radio. When you think about it, for the consumer, radio is one of the most economical mediums to reach a very large audience at little cost to the end consumer. TV used to be like that in the day we had TV antennas. Truth is, you can still put up a TV antenna and pick up a lot of good stuff – even HD. Most people don’t know this. For most of us, our cable bill (often bundled with internet) is often the priciest of utilities that we have little or nothing to show for our expenditure at the end of the month… apart from wasted time maybe.

    2.) Spam is still king. It takes many forms but by and large, unwelcome e-mail is still the bane of the internet that has been with us every day the internet has existed. If anything, our laws and tools against spam may actually be improving. Ironically perhaps, we have grown to trust online commerce for its robust nature, selection and time-saving capabilities and it might just be that we don’t even need spam anymore – of that it might be completely ineffective anyway.

    1.) There is hope. I just told you a bunch of different things. Perhaps they may have been laid out in a haphazard manner without the best grammar or punctuation. What I have tried to do is challenge my readers on some level, getting them to stop and think for a few minutes. This content is simply that. Content. No more. No less. So on this 25th anniversary of the world wide web, I offer you this. A single page of words with no music, no photos, no links, no promoted content, no rubbish or bullshit.

    Take this knowledge freely. And in your internet travels, keep a watch out for the truth and integrity – two things often in short supply.

    Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident, writer, technical analyst and a bunch of other things who has been writing on the internet for an awful long time.

  • Social media 101 mad as hell and what are you going to do about it

    I heard a TED Talk not too long ago on CBC radio and I would like to track it down and listen again.

    It was all about how social media (as good as it appears to be on a surface examination) has robbed us of creativity and productivity.

    How our addiction or dependance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like has separated us of from our true potential selves.

    But how is that even possible? I think of myself as a smart person, an engaged person and a person who is making a contribution to society. But am I, as an avid user of social media, really making a difference or the best possible contribution that I possibly can?

    Let’s talk about one contribution that I make to the World around me that I am kind of proud of.

    It is the website that I have been writing content for, for over 20 years.
    A site that has been suffering from a degree of neglect over the last few years. But can we say definitively that this is the actual issue? Perhaps I have said everything I need to say about coffee culture or that it is time for younger voices to be heard. Fact is, when I started writing about the culture of caffeine consumption 20 years ago, I was relatively alone in a very finite field of coffee writers. That has changed. But could I be doing more?

    Well, here is my truthful observation. In an average day, I may dedicate 45 minutes to “social media” or the “internet”. You know, checking e-mail, posting a couple of tweets or photos and updating my “Facebook” status. In that 45 minutes I may flip over to one of my web projects, like this one, and have a quick look see to make sure everything is ship shape… a couple of seconds of my time.

    The reality of social media is that we are now all working for “free” for giant media mining companies like Facebook and Twitter. Many of my friends post on twitter like it is their own personal blog, not realizing that every word they are writing is being “exploited” in some fashion or another. They share their lives, their birthdays, the very minutiae of their earthly existence. I am often astounded by the sheer richness, the overwhelming quantity of words and thoughts that people post to their Facebook space is if it was a private personal journal. They update their profile photo’s with every change of hairstyle or mood. Outwardly this would appear to be pretty darn harmless. But is it?

    I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist. Most global conspiracies are merely that: the product of someones overly fertilized imagination. If there was a conspiracy of global domination driven by a handful of evil doers, I think word would get out. And yet, here we are, sharing our whereabouts, our birthdays, our holidays and our most intimate feelings to an online behemoth. Relationships germinate, develop and coalesce and often die miserable deaths on social media. We use social media, like Facebook, as if it was some tangential communications form as reliable and without strings attached as a casual conversation or a binding agreement between strangers.

    We often worry about an overly nosy government or police forces that want more power to surveil, ostensibly to save us from ourselves or terror threats, also imagined and otherwise. And on one hand we fight excessive police powers while revealing our destination, location and desires every hour and minute of each and every day. What happened to the essence of our private selves?

    I have had this conversation with many, many people about this phenomenon of “social networking” and how much we all “need” social media. Parents and grand parents insist that they would not be able to connect with their children and grand children if it was not for social media APPS like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Seriously? What did we go before electronic social media? We picked up the phone and put pen to letter.

    I do not wish to be a luddite but I cannot help but look in the mirror occasionally and ask myself, what kind of contribution could I have made today if I wasn’t spending so much time naval gazing and looking for that perfect, funny, witty or perfunctory tweet that will, I assure myself, change the World.

    My mother once told me two stories that have hung with me my entire life: after I spent an evening in front of the TV glued to a sitcom with my dad and sisters that the World could crumble around us if we did not occasionally “self assess” our devotion to pop culture (at the time television entertainment).

    And while standing at a bus top in the early 70’s she overheard two young women talking about a TV celebrity as if they they knew the characters personally. And one of the girls said to the other one, “Hey, isn’t that you brother across the street sitting on that park bench?” And the girl squinted and said, “Yea, I think so… haven’t talked to him in years…”

    Perhaps what life in the 21st Century should really be about is balance. It takes work to achieve balance and sometimes it’s just easy to go with the flow. And that’s what scares me.

    Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and writer, often with a mug of coffee in hand – looking for the truth or something that passes as truth.

  • Michael Kaeshammer and his band in concert – Victoria B.C.

    When Michael Kaeshammer sits down at a grand piano worthy of his dynamic range, the genuflection towards the likes of Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson (the Grand masters and caretakers of the Boogie Woogie music genre of the 30’s and 40’s…) is immediate, respectful and unmistakeable.

    Born in Germany, but relocated to Canada as a young adult, Michael Kaeshammer has toured and recorded tirelessly and brings an energetic show to virtually every stage. His visit to the McPherson Playhouse on a crisp night on November 27th, 2015 was no exception. With 6 Juno nominations to his credit and numerous music awards, Michael is a veteran of several classic musical idioms including but not restricted to boogie-woogie, Fats Waller inspiring stride piano, Chicago blues, straight ahead Jazz and The Great American Song book.

    This was my third time at a Michael Kaeshammer concert and if one thing is assured, it is a sudden release of musical energy that is off the charts. Michael Kaeshammer does not simply play the piano as much as he pushes it to the outer reaches of the instruments spectrum. A Michael Kaeshammer show is a tribute to 20th Century piano history and within the realm of Michael’s humility, he makes the 88 key piano the actual star of the show with his seemingly limitless mastery of the instrument taking the piano places it has never been.

    Michael Kaeshammer also leaves his ego in the dressing room as band members, Nick La Riviere on trombone, Paul Pigat on Fender Telecaster guitar, Devon Henderson on acoustic and electric bass, a nuclear powered Roger Travassos on drums, a hirsute and Miles Davis inspired William Sperandei on trumpet, and an endlessly soulful Eli Bennett on tenor saxophone take turns raising us into the stratosphere.

    In an almost 3 hour show, Michael Kaeshammer and his band seamlessly cross the boundaries of a more formal tribute to a classic American musical genre into the realm of a piano masterclass. What’s quite apparent early in the 1st set is that Michael is so giddy to be back home among friends that the audience is treated to a first class jam session where there is no play list or expectations – it’s just all fun from the word go. And the McPherson audience is the sole beneficiary at this house party. By the second set the band has settled into a groove somewhat reminiscent of a New Orleans Mardi Gras street party. At one point the horn section leaves the stage with Michael on tambourine to go “walk-about” ending up in the Upper Balcony entertaining a surprised and appreciative audience, the rhythm section below never missing a beat.

    In another section of the 2nd set, Michael Kaeshammer and guitarist Paul Pigat are “cutting heads” duking it out between piano and Fender guitar. To his credit, Pigat takes the classic country-rock Telecaster guitar to places normally unexplored for this 6-string, squeezing out riffs generally more suited to a Gibson or Gretsch – and doing it with experience and aplomb.

    Overall, this was the most spirited outing from Michael Kaeshammer that I have seen proving again that he is an exceptional performer, a true master of the piano and a great bandleader that brings out the very best in his musical team members. Bravo Michael Kaeshammer! Good show.

    You can find out more about Michael Kaeshammer at his website Kaeshammer.Com