Bill

I'd like to meet:

Too many people to name, but here are a few anyhow: my grandfather - he passed away almost 20 years ago and I could still use his advice; Thistle - my favourite fuzzball; Bernard Blanc - bagpiper extraordinaire; friends whom I've lost touch with for no good reason; the woman who truly broke my heart; Gandhi; Bernard Cornwell - author of many of my favourite books; assorted MacCrimmons through the last 400 years to find out if they were really that good; Sir Ernest Shackleton; Edmund Blackadder (preferably 2, but 3 or 4 would do nicely); Miyamoto Musashi; Dr. King; Jesus Christ; the person who invented pizza; Theodore Roosevelt; Bernard Black, Manny Bianco and Fran Katzenjammer; Dick Francis - love his books; J. Scott Skinner - sure he was a fiddler, but his music was amazing; Charles de Lint - another author whose work I enjoy and admire; George MacDonald Fraser - yet another of my favourite authors; Iain Anderson - either or both the flautist/guitarist/singer/genius in Jethro Tull or the the British folk musician/announcer; John Skelton, Ged Foley and Chris Parkinson - What can I say? I'd love to see a House Band reunion; Great Big Sea; Jean Baron and Christian Anneix - I'd love to learn more about Breton music at the feet of the masters; Ian Richardson - a great actor; The Chieftains again - this time without seeming like an über-geek fanboy; my friend Hilary and finally hear her new smallpipes.

UPDATES:
Met The Chieftains again and still was an uber-geek fanboy.......

more cat pictures

(Another band I like!)
Some music for your edification - All songs and artists I enjoy

LIFE IS GOOD by Livingston Taylor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3uFZyVDXNY

One of my favourite performers of all time! Special thanks t Jim for introducing me to this amazing man's music. Oh, I'd like to meet him again too!

Music:

Right now "The Rose" by The Medieaval Baebes is in the CD player.

Movies:

The newest "Casino Royale" is the best Bond ever ("Quantum of Solace" is looking even to be even better); "Still Crazy"; "300"; "The Maltese Falcon"; "Farewell, My Lovely" - either Bogart or Mitchum version; "The Thin Man"; anything by Monty Python is hilarious; "Spaced Invaders" is good dumb fun; "Casablanca" (what kind of list is complete without that?); "The Great Escape"; "Kelly's Heroes"; "Still Crazy"; "Men With Brooms"; "The Searchers"; "M"; "The Usual Suspects"; "Chinatown"; anything directed by Toshiro Mifune is brilliant; most of the "Alien" series is fun; The Pirates of the Caribbean films (no real shocker there); I enjoy campy "B" movies perhaps more than I should; "The Dark Knight" (not much of a surprise there....); "Iron Man" (finally a good movie based on a Marvel comic); "No Country for Old Men" - WHOA! GREAT FILM!; There Will be Blood (I drink your milkshake) Too Many Great Movies and Too Little Time; "The Last of the Mohicans" - Michael Mann's version (It doesn't follow the book too faithfully, but is so beautifully shot and acted that it's still an amazing movie)..

Television:

Burn Notice; Top Chef; Torchwood; Top Chef; the occasional episode of CSI; Black Books; Top Chef; MSNBC by the boatload, especially "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"; oh, and did I mention Top Chef?

Books:

Currently reading: Triggerfish Twist by Tim Dorsey
Recent Favourites:Hugger Mugger by Robert B. Parker....it's a signed first edition - who knew I had such a thing!?!?!?; Dance to the Piper: The Highland Bagpipe Tradition in Nova Scotia by Barry W. Shears. (Thanks for a great book Barry - The CD is invaluable); Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time by Nicolas Slonimsky; Mask Market by Andrew Vachss; The Power of Nations: The Political Economy of International Relations by Klaus Knorr; Hush Money by Robert B. Parker; The Wreckers by Bella Bathurst; The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams; Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint; Old and New World Highland Bagpiping by John G. Gibson; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders by John Mortimer; The Big Bamboo by Tim Dorsey; Hood by Stephen Lawhead; The Sheikh and the Dustbin, MacAuslan in the Rough and The General Danced at Dawn all by George MacDonald Fraser; This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin; The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper; Moby Dick by Herman Melville; A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson; Widdershins by Charles de Lint; The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, The Anonymous Genius Who Proved Newton Wrong and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Surprising Feats by Andrew Robinson ; Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey; Massacre at Montsegur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade by Zoe Oldenbourg; Trinity by Leon Uris; Hengeworld by Mike Pitts; Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser, Bagpipe Brothers by Kerry Sheridan; Sharpe's Regiment by Bernard Cornwell; The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels; Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels; The Rough Guide to Irish Music; The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford

Heroes:

My grandfather - he taught me that strength is doing the right thing without expecting thanks and being willing to accept the consequences. The lessons I have learned since his death are directly attributable to his early teachings. I will be eternally grateful that I had him in my life.
W. P. Orner (1895-1990)
I miss you. Rest in peace.