This Month At Dontmindme.com — November 2002

Song of the Month: Ever heard of the band Blue Peter? It's not terribly surprising if you haven't, they were a good but largely unremembered Canadian power pop act from the tail end of the '70s and the early '80s. It's regrettable that they didn't sell more albums or get recognition at all outside of Canada, because they're actually pretty decent. I've been listening to one song in particular, the title track of their 1980 album Radio Silence. Download it and give it a listen.

Urban Legend of the Month: Phil Collin's first solo hit, "In the Air Tonight" is allegedly about a drowning he witnessed. The story goes that Phil saw someone drowning from a distance and was unable to help, but he saw someone else standing by who could have saved the drowning person but did nothing. The song was then written and premiered at a concert where the non-rescuer had been given front-row. This story is completely untrue. The song, indeed the bulk of the album, Face Value, is about Collin's reaction to his then-recent divorce.

TV Show of the Month: It happens only so often that a show appears which is utterly brilliant and compelling. It happened last year with 24. It happened back in '98 with Sports Night. Now that show will be available on DVD — the entire series. All 45 episodes. But what is Sports Night? Well, as one of the taglines about the series says, it's about sports like Charlie's Angels was about law enforcement. It's a smart workplace sitcom. The writing is uncommonly clever and tight, quite unusual for a sitcom. Of course that shouldn't be too surprising, considering it was created by Aaron Sorkin, best known for the West Wing.

Rerun of the Month: One of the funniest things I've ever seen was an item in a Canadian Tire flyer five years ago. It was a special one-day-only item and it still cracks me up when I see the picture. I call it Truth in Advertising.

Fun Link of the Month: People do stupid stuff. Sometimes it's unintentional, and sometimes it's very intentional. When you aren't the one doing the stupid stuff it can be highly entertaining to read about it. The Bonehead of the Day is the perfect place to do so. Every day (or so) there are new bonehead stories posted, all true. Recent ones include a Maine fireman who burnt down his firehall and a UK woman who hired teenagers to beat her up so she could have her estranged husband charged with assault. It's amusing stuff.

Word of the Month: Indubitably. The adverb form of indubitable, meaning unquestionable. Not as a obscure as some previous words of the month, but I like it. For a five syllable word it rolls of the tongue quite nicely.

DVD of the Month: When I bought the 24 box set in September, I also picked up the highly amusing comedy Office Space. This subversive little movie was written and directed by Mike Judge, best known for creating Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, but don't let that scare you off. Office Space is a lot smarter and far more subtle. Oh, and it's not animated. It's about a guy who hates his job and does something about it. As such, it's become a cult hit. It's not for everyone, to be sure, as there's considerable profanity, but if you've had a bad day at work this might be just the perfect movie for you.

Acronym of the Month: AFK. It means Away From Keyboard. It's a chat acronym, useful when you're going to be away from your computer for a few minutes. I use it a fair amount.

Rumour of the Month: A Mighty Mouse movie is currently in the works, which given the number of old TV shows that are being made into movies shouldn't be all that much of a surprise. What makes this interesting is that John Woo and Terence Chang, better known for directing and producing movies like Face/Off, Mission Impossible II, and Hard-Boiled, are allegedly going to produce it.