How do you define "Best"?

Recently I was at my friend Sara's blog . In this particular entry she wrong one on "The Best Ever" where a local radio DJ proclaimed that "Sunset Grill" by Don Henley as the greatest song that he had ever recorded. Surely what's the best is open for critisism and debate when it comes to a band or artist.

I ask the same question as she does .. what are the parameters to this question? What makes it such? what makes one song or bunch of songs "the best"?

Some of you may know that Steely Dan is pretty much my favourite band. Yes I do love the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Van Halen (and id anyone hear about the rumour going about that they will be appearing next season on that show "Rock Star" to find their new lead singer like INXS did? what's the freakin' deal with that?! How could they screw things up with Sammy this time?!)but Steely Dan is my above all favourite band.

The problem with narrowing it down to at least 10 is that the Steely Dan catalogue is so wide because of the demo songs that are bouncing about online and the various songs from their entire album catalogue (and yes, I do like some of the demo versions of some of the well known tracks ove rthe finished product). Also I can't ask the same questions that Sara can because both Donald and Walter equally wrote the music and lyrics and save maybe for a few songs Walter sang lead vocals. Yes they both put out solo albums while "the Dan" was on hiatus or "retired" (that's the common word used to describe their status post 1980 until early 90's despite working together on solo projects in a production capacity but not known as Steely Dan). So in fairness I never really had the chance to listen to their individual works (save maybe for "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen).

But as it is, here they are my 10 favourite Steely Dan tracks:

Peg
Reelin' In The Years
Time Out Of Mind
Do It Again
Pretzel Logic
Dirty Work
Home At Last
Kid Charlemagne
Haitian Divorce
Pixeleen

Honourable Mention:

Don't Take Me Alive
Everyone's Gone To The Movies
Dr Wu
Black Cow
FM
Midnite Cruiser

Favourite reading material

Hey everyone!

I just thought that I would post up a few links to some other blogs that I really enjoy reading and I hope you do too. The two of them are unique in their own rights and tell some really great stories.

The first one that I am posting is written by my dear friend Sarah. She has such a great style, very eloquent and very well spoken. Her journal entries are very reflective and also quite current. By all means drop by and see what's going there because like I said, I know you will enjoy it. To check out her blog you can just click the link below:

http://randommentalmesses.blogspot.com

Secondly, this is written by my younger sister Rachel. Some of you may not know but she's currently in Ghana working as a human rights reporter. The stories that she conveys are quite eye opening because it's all first hand accounts on what she's seen. It astounds me that people do what they do to each other, that we're capable of such atrocities but through her writting on her blog she tells stories that must be told or else these things will keep on happening and no justice or change will happen.

To read and open your eyes you can go to the next link at the end.

http://www.rachelreporting.com

Again, these two blogs are ones I like and I hope you do as well. If you think there's a blog that deserves recognition leave a comment and I will post it up next time I do a entry like this.

Take care everyone!

J

Finally ....

Hey there everyone!

I hope that everyone is doing well and had a great summer. As you can tell I haven't updated the BLOG in awhile and that's because I couldn't think of anything all that witty to add or to say ... until now.

Unfortuneately sad circumstances have prompted me to write this entry to bid a sad farewell to someone who was a huge part of my life for the past 19yrs ... my cat .. Snowball.

Our dear Snowball was put to rest just this past Thursday after deteriorating health. It wasn't a easy decision that my mom had to make but Snowy's health had dropped off so severely that it had to be done. There were a myriad of health related problems that plagued her but it's hard to believe that it was May that I saw her last and she appeared as healthy as I could remember her being in a long while. It looked like the diet she was on had worked well, she was full of energy, lost some weight and then suddenly she was gone. I can remember the day when she was brought home by my sister and a friend of hers after finding her. The moment you saw her you couldn't resist those big eyes that she had and the grin she'd give you. Of course you couldn't resist her friendly and overprotective nature as well because if you were hers, she's stand by you and wouldn't let anyone get near you.

The one other thing you couldn't forget about her was that her stomach was bigger than the rest of her. You couldn't get over how much she could eat! If you had scraps of whatever meat product there was for dinner .. give it to Snowball .. she was the kitty version of the Hoover (tm) and in moments it was gone!

In the end I will always have fond memories of my dear Snowball but I will also have regrets about certain things through the years as well. Lots of "I woulda coulda shoulda" moments but towards the end it seemed like Snowball buried those problems and forgave me (after I asked her) and we grew closer through the years. It was nice to know she forgave me and we developed that element of closeness that both pet and owner should have. And in the end as well I should thank her for her love, compassion and closeness that she gave me for all these years.

Thank you Snowball and I love you

Anyways, at the bottom is a picture of Snowball from last Christmas. This is the way I will always remember her .. a cat with a marvellous sense of humour and wonderful personality! (and I bet she hated the bow but was being a good sport about it)