brokenengine

hmmm

2009-08-22T12:27:00.002-04:00

Dunno how into blogging I am anymore. Too busy, way more on my plate these days. In short:
-Kids are good, growing like weeds, my joy
-Marraige is a constant learning process, with rough spots and smooth spots. Lately though, I have felt more and more in love with my wife, despite any of the rough spots.
-We're moving to Kitchener. We decided we don't want to raise our kids in a city that increasingly shows itself to be broken, apathetic, and depressing. I'm tired of apologizing for this city that i once loved. It breaks my heart, like a lover that turns his back on someone that was once his entire world and dreams. But turn my back I must, for me, and my family. So, we're out of here, as of late Sept.
-Don't know when I'll update this again. Don't know IF I'll update this again.

2009-03-18T08:40:00.005-04:00

It's been forever since I updated. Wow. Life has just been full. Being a Dad is amazing, and I'm sure it will reveal itself to be more wondrous every day, but it's also exhausting.

-Max: His body growth has plateaued for the time being, but his intellectual growth is amazing. He's conversational know, something he wasn't even close to 6 months ago. The kid MAKES JOKES. It's just amazing, to see him put things together, each and every day. He's not out of diapers yet, but he is showing more interest in "the potty", so it won't be long now. Poor kid has had a run of being sick though; he gets sick, shakes it, is healthy for a week or so, gets sick again. Sigh, I think he's inherited his mothers constitution.

-Zoe: Her intellectual growth is also stunning, but her physical growth is astounding. If it wasn't my little girl, it might border on disturbing. She is 8 months old(today!), and already weighs more than 20 lbs and is wearing the same size diapers as Max. She is JUST on the cusp of crawling, should be happening any day now. She is growing her 5th tooth. She has not slept through the night, doesn't nap, as a baby of her age should. But last night, she slept from 9pm to 630am. I'm not saying anything else, to avoid the jinx, but you know what I'm hoping.

-Nisha: Just turned 5. Unbelievable. She's awesome, but I still don't see her nearly as much as I would like. I'm just so swamped with the kids at home, and she lives on the other side of town...no excuse though. We're hopefully getting together for a trip to the ROM in a couple of weeks, so that will be fun.

Hey, if she's 5, that means this blog also turns 5, in the next month or so. Crazy. If anyone is still reading, thank you for your interest.

-Kristie: Poor Kristie. She hasn't had a good nights sleep in 3+ years. Hopefully Zoe sleeping last night means that this will end soon. She has decided not to go back to work, and will be looking into working from home somehow.

-Me: I work, I go home and play with the kids, they go to bed, and Kris and I hang out until bed time. Repeat. So, I live for the weekends, when we can all go out, just to get out.
:Haven't touched my guitar for a couple of months, although I am starting a new music project with my old friend Russell next week. It'll be electronica based, I think. No plan on doing it live, purely for recording and having fun.
:I'm also thinking about writing a script; A few months back, I joked about the Monopoly movie, but the more I think about it, the more I'd like to give it a whirl.
:Finally, also thinking about the Canadian Forces Reserves. Just to prove to myself that I can do it.

I'll try to update more often.

(edited out some pettiness)

2009-01-15T15:58:00.000-05:00

A Christmas Miracle

2008-12-24T16:16:00.008-05:00

Back in 2005, I made a calendar for my friends for Christmas. A David Hasselhoff Calendar. Using my ass-tastic MSPaint skills, and a collection of too-good-to-be-believed photos found in a Google Image search, I brought joy and well being to all.

Now, literally no one asked me to resend it for 2009. So, of course, thats exactly what I'm doing. I wanted to do a new one, but the sublimety of the original just can't be matched. Believe me, I tried. Seems all these other "Stars" have publicists and such, preventing them from, oh, say, posing nude with a puppy balanced on your balls. Fascists.

Enjoy! Please, pass the wonder and awe to all! And Merry Christmas!

(click on the pic to enlarge)

2008-12-08T16:40:00.003-05:00

We're all adults here, right? Can we talk like adults?

In no way, or by any unit of measurement, is Katy Perry "good", or even "adequate". She is boring, derivative, not genuine, and generally all around sucks.

The fact that shes famous in the least, let alone people buying her albums and making her a star, is surely one of the signs of the apocalypse. At the very least, it's evidence of a culture in serious decline.

That is all.

Go Directly To Jail, for such a stupid idea

2008-11-17T18:01:00.004-05:00

artists craptastic rendering

Check this out:

"Monopoly set to pass go with Ridley Scott

If you thought that Tetris, the Movie was a bad idea, wait until you hear about this one

If you listened very closely, you might have heard, coming out of the far west, the faint but undeniable sound of the bottom of a barrel being scraped. I refer to the news, reported recently in the film trade press, that Ridley Scott has signed on to direct a big-screen adaptation of Monopoly.

Yes, you read right: Monopoly. The board game. The one that's been around for most of the 20th century, in one form or another (Parker formally acquired the rights in 1935). Scott, we are told, was originally slated only to produce, for Universal Pictures, but now will helm the film as well, and reportedly intends to give it "a futuristic sheen, along the lines of his iconic Blade Runner."

Just what you imagine when you play, isn't it? Golden light filtering through Venetian blinds. A well-fed owl perched in the corner somewhere. And, just as you're about to put some hotels on Park Lane, your brother-in-law leaning in close to mutter, "Time to die." Oh yes, it's all perfectly congruent with that family classic we've loved for generations. Amazing, it hasn't been made into a movie already

...Bad as this is, it's not the worst that could happen. On the contrary: in their unending search for a ready-made audience and a "risk-adverse spend", Hollywood studios are teaming with games manufacturers to produce more adaptations. Before long we may be treated to such kitchen-table classics as Battleship (also from Universal) and Milton Bradley's Game of Life and Ouija Board (which, in fairness, could be kind of cool).

As one producer friend put it, "Hollywood would adapt a parking ticket if they thought people would come to see it" – a statement confirmed back in May of 2003 when Paramount paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to option Avril Lavigne's single Sk8er Boi. The cash, it seems, went mostly to acquire that "youthful" spelling; the film never materialised.

Make no mistake: Blade Runner is a flat-out masterpiece, Scott's best and most satisfying movie. But applying its rococo-futurist aesthetic to a venture whose lead character looks like this, promises a peculiar disjunction of style and subject.

One possible solution may be to shift genres. And in this respect, Monopoly offers no shortage of options.

How about a period piece? Despite Hasbro's rather Stalinist attempts to rewrite history, it now seems clear that one Lizzie Magie, a Quaker living in Maryland, originally conceived the game in 1904. Then called The Landlord's Game, it was intended to warn of the perils of private monopolies, not to celebrate them. Perhaps because of this stern moral rectitude, Quaker board games remain, to this day, something of a niche market.

Scott has form with historical pieces - Gladiator and his 1977 debut, The Duellists, are particularly fine. I can see Amy Adams as an effervescent Lizzie – and Russell Crowe (who these days is to Scott what DiCaprio is to Scorsese) as a pudgy carpetbagger.

What about a war movie? Again, Scott knows the territory, after all. And during the second world war, the British secret service mobilised the International Red Cross to distribute a special Monopoly edition for allied POWs.While one imagines the actual game-play to have been a little on the grim side ("You've just won a beauty contest. Prize: a night with the Hauptbefehlsleiter!"), the adapted game had its uses – not least, to conceal various items (maps, compasses, small amounts of cash) that could aid the soldiers, were they to escape. Though, frankly, to have included a Get Out Of Jail Free card would have just seemed cruel.

It's not that cinema is incompatible with the blithe pleasures of playtime: think of the obscure rules, the elusive clues, of Jacques Rivette's Pont du Nord, which treats the arrondissements of Paris like a giant board game. Or Anthony Harvey's They Might Be Giants, which does much the same for Manhattan. And what is L'Avventura, after all, if not an extended game of hide-and-seek?

Yet this one has a definite whiff about it, somehow. Still, it might conceivably get made, and if it does, will doubtless cost a fortune – neither Scott nor his "futuristic sheen" come cheap. No matter: whatever the budget, they'll spend it the same way: like it's play money."

Which got a friend and I talking about, A) How stupid and ridiculous this is, and B) how on Earth the game pieces will translate to the film, and who will inevitably play them. I submit the following, for your dissection and discussion:

Knowing Scott, it'll all be a mix of either metaphors or ham fisted literality:

Wheelbarrow - This will be the sidekick, the guy that does a lot of the leg work for the male lead. His last name will be "Barrow", or "Wagon" or something. Maybe a cop, on the inside. Maybe he ends up betraying the hero. Shia Lebeouf.
Battleship - A matron of some sort, a loud and heavyset woman that protects the female lead, or the male lead, or both. Comic Relief, in a Mae West vein. Probably Queen Latifah.
Sack of Money - Literally a sack of Money. Some sort of Payoff, or Ransom. The conveyance of which will be an exact replica of the playing piece.
A Horse and Rider - Most cars are hover vehicles, like in Blade Runner, so all the ground traffic is pedestrian, therefore all the cops are on Horseback.
Car - Literally a car. The Hero will anachronistically drive a car, as he is a rebel and out of his time. It will be an exact replica of the playing piece, lending to it's antique quality compared to the hover vehicles, and allowing the Hero to get away from the horseback cops with ease.
Train - Literally a train, but probably an urban E or a subway. Perhaps the climatic showdown or ransom handover occurs here.
Thimble - The female lead. She is the daughter of a famous politician, but has eschewed that life, and hasn't spoken to him for years, despite his attempts to find her. He needs to find her for some nefarious reason though, and has hired a corrupt detective to search for her, leading to chase scenes. She has been hiding out as a seamstress in a sweatshop. Amy Adams gets to play something gritty for a change.
Cannon - The hero. His gun will TRY to resemble the game piece. Leo DiCaprio.
Old style shoe - The dirty detective that is chasing the female lead for the politician, but he kidnaps her and holds her for ransom. Russel Crowe gets to play a bad guy again, since he was so awesome as Sid6, and Scott loves him.
Scottie dog - Either the females sidekick that gets killed early on(Named "Scottie" of course), or literally a dog, the Hero's. Sara Rue.
Iron - The Good cop that originally is chasing the hero, until he realizes he's the hero(near the end of the film, of course). He wears immaculately tailored and pressed suits and shirts, which will be a running gag and source of mocking for the hero. Ben Affleck.
Top hat - The Female leads father, a politician. The first time he is seen, he will be wearing a Top Hat. An interesting bad guy turn for George Clooney or Brad Pitt.

This looks terrible

2008-11-11T14:00:00.004-05:00

Valkyrie: from solemn drumbeats to big bangs
In case you thought that the film about the German plot to kill Hitler was sombre and talky, the trailer has made it out to be a Jean-Claude van Damme action special

Anna Pickard

When a trailer begins with a solemn drumbeat, it can only mean one thing. Well, two things. A) We're in the run-up to Oscar season and B) laughs will be few and far between. Trailers for Harold and Kumar movies never EVER begin with a solemn drumbeat, and also never win Oscars. Coincidence? I think not.

In fact, just to labour both points, the first 30 seconds are made up of some of the most dramatic and sweeping statements you'll see in a cinema this year, spoken in sombre, weighty tones by sombre, weighty actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Terence Stamp.

"Gentlemen, we can save Europe from total destruction."

You hear that, audience? You hear that, Academy? TOTAL DESTRUCTION! And they're going to save Europe from it!

"We have to show the world that not all of us were like him."

Him meaning Hitler - not Tom Cruise who still hasn't appeared yet, despite being the one with his name in big letters above the title - and "us" being either "Germans" or "Nazis", it is not clear as yet.

"It is too great a risk." "It doesn't change what we must do."

It all sounds very important, very serious, and is only compounded by the big words on screen flashing between the sombre men.

IN THE WORLD'S DARKEST HOUR - WHILE OTHERS FOLLOWED ORDERS - THEY FOLLOWED THEIR CONSCIENCE

"They" being the brave Nazi officers (which feels distinctly odd to type, but bear with me) and other members of the German resistance who plotted to kill Hitler. And ultimately failed, but that's not the point right now.

At 30 seconds in, the Cruise-ter is finally revealed to us, in all his dramatic glory. He's wearing a uniform - because everyone loves a Cruise in uniform, right? Surely evidenced by the fact that he's worn so many now, he's like a one-man Village People.

By one minute in, he's got a matching eyepatch. And, as he becomes quickly entangled in the plot to assassinate the Führer, he rocks that eyepatch as only an All-American Hero can. Yes, I know he's meant to be German. They're all meant to be German, but, sensibly, they're not all performing in cod German accents - that would be dreadful (although quite funny, an entire film with serious actors shouting, "VE HAFF VAYS AFF TRYING TO SEV EURIP FROM TOTAL DESTRUCTION!") - so they're all performing in their own accents. Which is all well and good, but it's just a sightly unfortunate coincidence, then, that everyone who has spoken up to this point has had a cut-glass English accent, and suddenly Cruise's Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg bowls up and is as German as mom's apple pie.

Anyhoo. Back to plotting to kill Hitler.

"Any problem on earth can be fixed with the careful application of high explosives" is a piece of advice I plan never to pass on to my gynaecologist, but it is apparently part of the complex assassination plan, as explained to Cruise by another American-accented German resistance figure.

And with that, things start blowing up. After an initial trailer, released last year, that made the film look a little too theatrical and talky for potential audiences, they remade the trailer to focus more on the actiony aspects of the plot and less on the quiet "plotting" bits that might scare people off.

And thus the rest of the trailer is made up of big bangs, firing squads and aeroplanes, causing some concern that one of the most interesting and difficult stories as yet untouched by mainstream Hollywood might just have been turned into a roister-doistering Jean-Claude van Damme special.

That, of course, can't be true, for if it was, where would Cruise be hoping to pull his Oscar from? And hope he surely must. So, there are scenes of heart-wrenching family partings, dire warnings and tense meetings with Hitler himself. You begin to develop a cold sweat and wonder how it all might end ... or you would if you weren't aware that the July 20th plot ended in confusion and failure, with Hitler being merely scratched and living almost another year, 200 members of the resistance executed, and the movement falling apart. Still, no reason to ruin a good story, eh?

And, perhaps to muddy the water just a little, cause a little ripple of confusion and make us feel like we might not know what's going on after all, mingled in amongst the bangs are little scenes that might or might not mean nothing at all. My very favourite moment is one minute 53 seconds in. In it a woman sitting in a typing pool raises her hand. Why? What reason lies behind this? We may never know. It's brilliant. Completely mysterious, utterly inscrutable, yet clearly one of the most important hand-raisings in history, and one of the best moments in the entire film, as it's been included here. I don't know who she is, I don't know what she's doing, I just know it is, by default, brilliant. Someone give that woman an Oscar.

Obama bama bo bama...

2008-11-11T12:49:00.003-05:00

... Banana nana fo fama
Me my mo mama
YO MAMA

I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the US election, as improbable as that seems considering it was all anyone seemed to talk about for the last month. I liked the charisma of both candidates equally, but I know very little about their platforms, or how they differed from one another. I inherently mistrust politicians, and believe their campaign promises are worth the paper they're written on, and I don't give the average American the credit for the intelligence to understand half of what those politicians are talking about anyways, so charisma seems as good a measuring stick as anything.

So, I liked each guy equally. But when McCain chose Palin as his running mate, it almost seemed like he was trying to throw the thing. Mind boggling.

So, yeah, cool that Obama is in. I never thought I would live to see a black president. Amazing. It really is a sign that the USA might be changing for the better. And it gives hope to millions of disenfranchised Americans, and that can only be a good thing.

But the USA is in such a shambles, it's hard to see how he can fix it. He has so much hype to live up to, and there's only so much a president can do in a democracy, while still keeping his promises, and appealing to those that voted for him. How long before he has to make some tough decisions? How long before he starts getting called "Uncle Tom"?

I really want to be optimistic, I do. I wish I could get caught up in the zeitgeist, the Obama-mania. But I just think that the USA I hooped, no matter which guy was elected. I believe they are a Neo-Rome, and like all empires eventually and inevitably do, they are on the down slope of their power, influence, and affluence. Thank W for ushering that in, the Neo-Caligula, with his hedonistic economic orgy of the last 8 years.

So would that make Obama the new Nero? Does he play the fiddle? Or will be be playing basketball while Rome burns? Attacks by Islamic forces contributed to the fall of Rome, as did attacks by the Huns and Vandals(or Russia, for our purposes).

(Students of Roman history will know I'm way off on the time lines for these allusions. Call it creative license, in order to make a point)

Again, I really hope I'm wrong about this. Mainly because Canada is so tethered to the USA, and if they sink, it will be nigh impossible to avoid drowning in the backwash. And that's if they don't try annex us and our mineral and water resources in an attempt to stay on top.

But I digress(ha, no kidding). I wish Barack the best of luck and I hope he can live up to the hype. I never thought I'd see a black man in the oval office, so the impossible is possible after all.

Oh. Oh no.

2008-11-11T10:27:00.004-05:00

Look! It's College and Clinton on a Saturday afternoon*.

*or Brampton/Mississauga pretty much 24/7

YAY SCIENCE! The solution to/cause of all of life's problems.

2008-11-06T17:26:00.003-05:00

Chemicals from test tubes may be fouling experiments, scientists say
Last Updated: Thursday, November 6, 2008 3:12 PM ET
CBC News

Researchers in Alberta have discovered that two chemicals used in the making of plastic test tubes and other lab storage units can leach into experiments, interfering with some results.

University of Alberta pharmacology researcher Andrew Holt said previous research suggests the leaching compounds, and their presence in other plastics, do not pose a health hazards, as do other contaminants such as bisphenol A.

But the findings, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Science, could have an indirect impact, as they raise the prospect that the leaching compounds may have compromised thousands of medical and pharmaceutical experiments.

At best, such interference would introduce extraneous or scattered data, forcing experimenters to waste time and money retesting experiments. And at worst, it could mean papers could have been published based on faulty results, or that current research might be impacted by those results.

Holt said he doesn't have any examples of papers that might have been published or experiments that may have been delayed by the leaching. But the sheer amount of work done in health research suggests the problem could be widespread.

"We do know that of our less than 20 research groups here at Alberta, at least three have experiments whose results could be affected by these compounds," he told CBC News.

"There are tens of thousands of research labs doing life sciences experiments around the world," he said. "It seems reasonable to suggest a percentage of these may be affected as well."

Two compounds affected results

Holt said while the scientific community has generally accepted that using plastic equipment reduces the likelihood of experimental success, few efforts have gone into identifying the substances at the root cause of introduced errors.
The two compounds, a disinfectant called DiHEMDA and a lubricant called oleamide, are both used in the manufacturing process of disposable plastic labware, including test tubes, to improve their sterility and reduce stickiness, respectively.

The researchers made their discovery while attempting to assess the effects of ammonium chloride on the activity of a human enzyme, called monoamine oxidase B, or MAO-B. While the results showed the ammonium chloride had a very weak effect on the enzyme, the results varied widely during each test.

After all other possibilities had been exhausted, the researchers came to the test tubes themselves, and using mass spectrometry they were able to isolate the two leaching compounds, both of which, as it turned out, were strong inhibitors of the enzyme.

Further study revealed inconsistencies in the appearance of the chemicals in the plastic equipment. For example, 1.5 ml test tubes from one company had no effect on the experiments, while 0.5 ml test tubes from the same company (but a different manufacturing plant) had a potent effect on the enzyme.

Money would have been wasted

Holt said he estimates that the research group spent over six months of solid work trying to determine the cause of the anomaly at a cost of $60,000 in federal funding through a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant

The REAL election

2008-11-04T15:53:00.001-05:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

I, phone

2008-10-21T15:43:00.002-04:00

I am blogging this from my iPhone. How awesome. The crazier and shittier the world seems with every passing day, it also brings us wondrous things like this. A dichotomy, truly.

It's funny because it's oh god so true

2008-10-07T11:34:00.001-04:00

From everydayshouldbesaturday.com

This week’s blogpoll is brought to you by hangovers. Kids, we’re gonna lecture you here for a second with a sad fact: drinking after thirty is not fun, and you know this is true because we began with “hey kids,” which is kind of condescending but fuck that THE HEAD IT HURTS AND TO HELL IF YOU DO–
Sorry. Apologies. It’s just…we’re so…emotional today. Because we’re hungover and 32.

Drinking before thirty is a grand adventure, filled with surprises and intrigue. Who’s that guy drinking on my tab? Does he really need that eyepatch? Hey, you’re the only guy in a bar full of black dudes! (Who all have eyepatches.) You really boxed a kangaroo once? Yes, my pants did disappear quite a while ago. Say, is that a real ultralight? Sure, I can fly one.

Look! A place that serves eggs at four in the morning! (Repeat; rinse vomit out of hair; repeat.)

Sometimes, drinking still retains its halcyon glow, its moments of beauty. Anthony Bourdain has described that moment when you should be asleep, an undefined time between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. when your work is done but you’re not, and you’re probably three drinks into the evening, and a song comes on and sets everything perfectly well on its axis. It’s still a wondrous moment.
This particularly evil egg sac of hangover around the eyes and forebrow right now? The lingering feeling of doom? This is not one of those wondrous moments. This is called a hangover you wouldn’t suffer before the age of 30, a Lucky Jim special from a shockingly small number of drinks that Kingsley Amis can only properly describe:

“He stood brooding by his bed…The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again. A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he’d somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad.”

To repeat: don’t drink after 30. It’s not a good idea and hurt will head it your. Secret police will be waiting for you in the morning, and you won’t like what they do to you.

Decks aka Boards aka Skateboards aka DOOM

2008-09-12T17:47:00.008-04:00

I grew up in the 80's.

Thus, I was there when skateboarding and BMX was starting to get huge with suburban kids looking for rebellion, but not old enough for punk rock. At one point in my mis-spent youth, I aspired to be a skateboarder. I saw "Gleaming The Cube" and probably thought "Oh my god, I wish I could do a tailslide and fight crime at the same time", or something like that. I read whatever magazines I could get (read: I drooled over the awesome pictures), and eventually talked my parents into getting me a board of my own.

My parents we're gloriously ignorant of the entire subculture, so we got my skateboard pretty much at the uncoolest place possible: Zellers. The thing was heavier than Slayer, probably made of particle board, and the bearings seized up with the slightest rumour of dust. It was like riding a cross between a brick and a laundry cart.

Thankfully, I lived in the country. Most roads were gravel, and even the paved roads we're covered in all manner of stones. Thus, actually being able to travel any suitable distance on the monstrosity was nigh impossible, which meant I never had the notion that I might be able to do any tricks. Therefore, I survived with my frontal lobe mostly intact (until I discovered beer of course, but that's another story).

The reason I'm telling you this is, even though I may be betraying my own youthful notions of rebellion, and though I may end up being "uncoolest dad ever" in the eyes of my kids, they will NEVER own a skateboard. The following videos only reinforce my point (as well as give me cause for alarm in the IQ of our future generations).

(Semi-interesting sidenote: Max rode his Winnie The Pooh tricycle down the stairs last weekend, which meant our plans for the day were preempted for a fun trip to Sick kids to make sure that he'd still be able to spell his name one day. He's fine. But it's possible that he has the gene that makes all of the above moot. Sigh.)

2008-09-12T11:02:00.001-04:00

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization

2008-08-27T14:41:00.003-04:00

(From Adbusters, Issue #79)

We’ve reached a point in our civilization where counterculture has mutated into a self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum. So while hipsterdom is the end product of all prior countercultures, it’s been stripped of its subversion and originality.

I‘m sipping a scummy pint of cloudy beer in the back of a trendy dive bar turned nightclub in the heart of the city’s heroin district. In front of me stand a gang of hippiesh grunge-punk types, who crowd around each other and collectively scoff at the smoking laws by sneaking puffs of “fuck-you,” reveling in their perceived rebellion as the haggard, staggering staff look on without the slightest concern.

The “DJ” is keystroking a selection of MP3s off his MacBook, making a mix that sounds like he took a hatchet to a collection of yesteryear billboard hits, from DMX to Dolly Parton, but mashed up with a jittery techno backbeat.

“So… this is a hipster party?” I ask the girl sitting next to me. She’s wearing big dangling earrings, an American Apparel V-neck tee, non-prescription eyeglasses and an inappropriately warm wool coat.
“Yeah, just look around you, 99 percent of the people here are total hipsters!”
“Are you a hipster?”
“Fuck no,” she says, laughing back the last of her glass before she hops off to the dance floor.

Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.

But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of “counter-culture” have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the “Hipster.”

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.

Take a stroll down the street in any major North American or European city and you’ll be sure to see a speckle of fashion-conscious twentysomethings hanging about and sporting a number of predictable stylistic trademarks: skinny jeans, cotton spandex leggings, fixed-gear bikes, vintage flannel, fake eyeglasses and a keffiyeh – initially sported by Jewish students and Western protesters to express solidarity with Palestinians, the keffiyeh has become a completely meaningless hipster cliché fashion accessory.

The American Apparel V-neck shirt, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Parliament cigarettes are symbols and icons of working or revolutionary classes that have been appropriated by hipsterdom and drained of meaning. Ten years ago, a man wearing a plain V-neck tee and drinking a Pabst would never be accused of being a trend-follower. But in 2008, such things have become shameless clichés of a class of individuals that seek to escape their own wealth and privilege by immersing themselves in the aesthetic of the working class.

This obsession with “street-cred” reaches its apex of absurdity as hipsters have recently and wholeheartedly adopted the fixed-gear bike as the only acceptable form of transportation – only to have brakes installed on a piece of machinery that is defined by its lack thereof.

Lovers of apathy and irony, hipsters are connected through a global network of blogs and shops that push forth a global vision of fashion-informed aesthetics. Loosely associated with some form of creative output, they attend art parties, take lo-fi pictures with analog cameras, ride their bikes to night clubs and sweat it up at nouveau disco-coke parties. The hipster tends to religiously blog about their daily exploits, usually while leafing through generation-defining magazines like Vice, Another Magazine and Wallpaper. This cursory and stylized lifestyle has made the hipster almost universally loathed.

“These hipster zombies… are the idols of the style pages, the darlings of viral marketers and the marks of predatory real-estate agents,” wrote Christian Lorentzen in a Time Out New York article entitled ‘Why the Hipster Must Die.’ “And they must be buried for cool to be reborn.”

With nothing to defend, uphold or even embrace, the idea of “hipsterdom” is left wide open for attack. And yet, it is this ironic lack of authenticity that has allowed hipsterdom to grow into a global phenomenon that is set to consume the very core of Western counterculture. Most critics make a point of attacking the hipster’s lack of individuality, but it is this stubborn obfuscation that distinguishes them from their predecessors, while allowing hipsterdom to easily blend in and mutate other social movements, sub-cultures and lifestyles. Standing outside an art-party next to a neat row of locked-up fixed-gear bikes, I come across a couple girls who exemplify hipster homogeneity. I ask one of the girls if her being at an art party and wearing fake eyeglasses, leggings and a flannel shirt makes her a hipster.

“I’m not comfortable with that term,” she replies.
Her friend adds, with just a flicker of menace in her eyes, “Yeah, I don’t know, you shouldn’t use that word, it’s just…”
“Offensive?”
“No… it’s just, well… if you don’t know why then you just shouldn’t even use it.”
“Ok, so what are you girls doing tonight after this party?”
“Ummm… We’re going to the after-party.”

***

Gavin McInnes, one of the founders of Vice, who recently left the magazine, is considered to be one of hipsterdom’s primary architects. But, in contrast to the majority of concerned media-types, McInnes, whose “Dos and Don’ts” commentary defined the rules of hipster fashion for over a decade, is more critical of those doing the criticizing.

“I’ve always found that word [“hipster”] is used with such disdain, like it’s always used by chubby bloggers who aren’t getting laid anymore and are bored, and they’re just so mad at these young kids for going out and getting wasted and having fun and being fashionable,” he says. “I’m dubious of these hypotheses because they always smell of an agenda.”

Punks wear their tattered threads and studded leather jackets with honor, priding themselves on their innovative and cheap methods of self-expression and rebellion. B-boys and b-girls announce themselves to anyone within earshot with baggy gear and boomboxes. But it is rare, if not impossible, to find an individual who will proclaim themself a proud hipster. It’s an odd dance of self-identity – adamantly denying your existence while wearing clearly defined symbols that proclaims it.

***

“He’s 17 and he lives for the scene!” a girl whispers in my ear as I sneak a photo of a young kid dancing up against a wall in a dimly lit corner of the after-party. He’s got a flipped-out, do-it-yourself haircut, skin-tight jeans, leather jacket, a vintage punk tee and some popping high tops.

“Shoot me,” he demands, walking up, cigarette in mouth, striking a pose and exhaling. He hits a few different angles with a firmly unimpressed expression and then gets a bit giddy when I show him the results.

“Rad, thanks,” he says, re-focusing on the music and submerging himself back into the sweaty funk of the crowd where he resumes a jittery head bobble with a little bit of a twitch.

The dance floor at a hipster party looks like it should be surrounded by quotation marks. While punk, disco and hip hop all had immersive, intimate and energetic dance styles that liberated the dancer from his/her mental states – be it the head-spinning b-boy or violent thrashings of a live punk show – the hipster has more of a joke dance. A faux shrug shuffle that mocks the very idea of dancing or, at its best, illustrates a non-committal fear of expression typified in a weird twitch/ironic twist. The dancers are too self-aware to let themselves feel any form of liberation; they shuffle along, shrugging themselves into oblivion.

Perhaps the true motivation behind this deliberate nonchalance is an attempt to attract the attention of the ever-present party photographers, who swim through the crowd like neon sharks, flashing little blasts of phosphorescent ecstasy whenever they spot someone worth momentarily immortalizing.

Noticing a few flickers of light splash out from the club bathroom, I peep in only to find one such photographer taking part in an impromptu soft-core porno shoot. Two girls and a guy are taking off their clothes and striking poses for a set of grimy glamour shots. It’s all grins and smirks until another girl pokes her head inside and screeches, “You’re not some club kid in New York in the nineties. This shit is so hipster!” – which sparks a bit of a catfight, causing me to beat a hasty retreat.

In many ways, the lifestyle promoted by hipsterdom is highly ritualized. Many of the party-goers who are subject to the photoblogger’s snapshots no doubt crawl out of bed the next afternoon and immediately re-experience the previous night’s debauchery. Red-eyed and bleary, they sit hunched over their laptops, wading through a sea of similarity to find their own (momentarily) thrilling instant of perfected hipster-ness.

What they may or may not know is that “cool-hunters” will also be skulking the same sites, taking note of how they dress and what they consume. These marketers and party-promoters get paid to co-opt youth culture and then re-sell it back at a profit. In the end, hipsters are sold what they think they invent and are spoon-fed their pre-packaged cultural livelihood.

Hipsterdom is the first “counterculture” to be born under the advertising industry’s microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.

An amalgamation of its own history, the youth of the West are left with consuming cool rather that creating it. The cultural zeitgeists of the past have always been sparked by furious indignation and are reactionary movements. But the hipster’s self-involved and isolated maintenance does nothing to feed cultural evolution. Western civilization’s well has run dry. The only way to avoid hitting the colossus of societal failure that looms over the horizon is for the kids to abandon this vain existence and start over.

***

“If you don’t give a damn, we don’t give a fuck!” chants an emcee before his incitements are abruptly cut short when the power plug is pulled and the lights snapped on.

Dawn breaks and the last of the after-after-parties begin to spill into the streets. The hipsters are falling out, rubbing their eyes and scanning the surrounding landscape for the way back from which they came. Some hop on their fixed-gear bikes, some call for cabs, while a few of us hop a fence and cut through the industrial wasteland of a nearby condo development.

The half-built condos tower above us like foreboding monoliths of our yuppie futures. I take a look at one of the girls wearing a bright pink keffiyah and carrying a Polaroid camera and think, “If only we carried rocks instead of cameras, we’d look like revolutionaries.” But instead we ignore the weapons that lie at our feet – oblivious to our own impending demise.

We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.

2008-08-21T12:03:00.000-04:00

2008-08-20T13:28:00.001-04:00

Hind-D

2008-08-12T01:23:00.002-04:00

These things scare the hell out of me.

Specifications (Mi-24)

General characteristics

Crew: 3 (pilot, weapons system officer and technician)
Capacity: 8 troops or 4 stretchers
Length: 17.5 m (57 ft 4 in)
Rotor diameter: 17.3 m (56 ft 7 in)

Wingspan: 6.5 m (21 ft 3 in)

Height: 6.5 m (21 ft 3 in)
Disc area: 235 m² (2,530 ft²)
Empty weight: 8,500 kg (18,740 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 12,000 kg (26,500 lb)
Powerplant: 2× Isotov TV3-117 turbines, 1,600 kW (2,200 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 335 km/h (208 mph)
Range: 450 km (280 miles)
Service ceiling 4,500 m (14,750 ft)

Armament

Internal guns

flexible 12.7 mm Yakushev-Borzov Yak-B Gatling gun on most variants. Maximum of 1470 rounds of ammunition, though in practice about 500 was a normal load.
fixed twin-barrel GSh-30K on the Mi-24P. 750 rounds of ammunition.
flexible twin-barrel GSh-23L on the Mi-24VP and Mi-24VM. 450 rounds of ammunition.
PKT door mounted machine guns

External stores

Total payload is 1500 kg of external stores.
Inner hardpoints can carry at least 500 kg
Outer hardpoints can carry up to 250 kg
Wing-tip pylons can only carry the 9M17 Phalanga in the Mi-24A-D and the 9K114 Shturm complex in the Mi-24V-F.

Bomb-load

Bombs within weight range (presumably ZAB, FAB, RBK, ODAB etc.), Up to 500 kg.
MBD multiple ejector racks (presumably MBD-4 with 4xFAB-100)
KGMU2V submunition/mine dispenser pods

First generation armament (standard production Mi-24D)

GUV-8700 gunpod (with a 12.7 mm Yak-B + 2x7.62 mm GShG-7.62 AGS-17) combination or one 30mm
UB-32 S-5 rocket launchers
S-24 240 mm rocket
9M17 Phalanga (a pair on each wingtip pylon)

Possible combination of armament of Mi-24W

Second generation armament (Mi-24V, Mi-24P and most upgraded Mi-24D)

UPK-23-250 gunpod carrying the GSh-23L
B-8V20 a lightweight long tubed helicopter version of the S-8 rocket launcher
9K114 Shturm in pairs on the outer and wingtip pylons

ATE upgrade (Superhind MkIII B)

30 mm turreted cannon
8× Ingwe anti-tank guided missile
Bombs
S-8, S-13, S-240 rocket pods

Other

In foreign service other weapons have sometimes been converted for use
After the Mathias Rust rust incident experiments were conducted using the R-60 air to air missile in an attempt to produce a quick response "Cessna interceptor".
Some aircraft may have upgraded hardpoints so as to be able to carry the long UB-13 S-13 rocket 122mm pods, 9M39 Igla racks and S-25 350 mm rockets - but this is unconfirmed.
Modern prototypes can carry the 9K121 Vikhr (Ukrainian prototypes), 9M120 Ataka-V (Mil prototypes), R-73 and a variety of semi-active laser guided rockets and missiles.
Variants up to at least Mi-24V (HIND-E) have swivel mounts fitted at the three forward windows on each side, including the two in each door; a rifle can be clamped into these mounts to allow embarked troops to fire from inside the cabin. The forward window on each door has a socket for a pintle-mounted machine gun as well as the rifle mount, although there is not enough space to effectively use both at once. All rifle mounts can be folded or slid out of the way to clear the windows. The windows are hinged at the top and fold up inside the cabin; clips on the cabin ceiling hold them open. The rearmost window on each side cannot be opened.(much like on Soviet APCs from that period). The infantry weapon mounts may have been removed from later production aircraft.
During the war in Afghanistan, additional hand-held weapons were carried internally for crew self defence if shot down. Extra rounds of rocket ammunition were often carried so that the crew could land and self-reload in the field.

2008-08-09T00:05:00.003-04:00

Bad Mojo happening in the Caucasus. Stay tuned to this conflict, it could be really major.

Cyclists & Streetcars

2008-08-07T15:55:00.007-04:00

Interesting column in today's Metro by Ed Drass, who is their transit columnist. Today he was discussing cyclists who ride past streetcars that are unloading, ignoring the traffic bylaw that says you must stop in this situation. Understandably, there has been an increase in tension between cyclists and transit riders.

In his column, he said "To reduce conflicts between these two groups I propose that those exiting or boarding streetcars tell approaching cyclists to “Please wait” while raising an open hand. No yelling, cursing or presenting single digits — even if you are ignored or worse. This is a polite reminder, although it’s not risk-free."

The following is the letter I wrote in response:

"I'd like to preface this by saying, I live in the city and am therefore VERY pro-cycling. Our city can't afford to continue with the pro-car culture of previous generations. The quality of living in Toronto is declining, and part of this can be attributed to the health and overcrowding that automobiles contribute to.

That having been said, and in regards to your article, do we really have to treat everyone like children? Is this the result of the ever increasing reluctance to mature that the last couple of generations have exhibited(and I am a member of these generations, so I know of what I speak hahaha)?

WHY do streetcar riders have to ask cyclists to "Please, stop"? Is common courtesy that rare a commodity? If I am getting off a streetcar and a cyclist barrels through, I would treat them the same way I would treat any car that did the same thing: kick them. They are selfishly and unthinkingly risking my life! Of course, kicking them would be wrong as well, but one can understand the knee jerk reaction when one's safety is endangered. One cannot understand or forgive the actions of said cyclist.

Perhaps the answer is two-fold:

1) Require cyclists to license their vehicles, with the license plate clearly visible. Thus, scofflaws can be reported, just like motorists. I do see the pro's and con's inherent in this; licensing fee's could add to city coffers, but could also disincline an increase in cycling. It might also incite current cycling advocates, who already seem to have a chip on their shoulder. To this I would submit that it be mandatory for all licensing fees to be used to increase or improve cycling lanes. Perhaps later, the city could even offer rebates, with the purchase of a license, for new bicycles or cycling equipment, thereby increasing incentive to ride, and also increasing business for our local cycling shops. While I'm tempted to suggest that one must be licensed to ride a bike, just like any other user of the road, requiring the same sort of testing and enforcement, I think that would be going a little too far.

2) This is probably the most likely suggestion to actually be implemented: A police blitz. The police occasionally have weekends, or even months, when they concentrate on speeders, or cars that run red lights, etc. Why can't they do the same for cyclists that don't obey the rules of the road? A constable could ride each streetcar, paying special attention at each stop. The same penalties that apply to motor vehicles breaking this law should apply to any cyclist. The only way cyclists attitudes are going to be changed is when they are forced to change. People that exhibit this kind of behaviour obviously have delusions of granduer, and are not going to change their behaviour just because someone asked them too. Hitting them in the pocketbook is much more likely to get a response.

On a completely different note, my personal dream is to see the entire downtown core be made car free. Bloor to Front, Bathurst to Jarvis. Street car ROW's on all major streets, including streets that don't currently have streetcars(ie. Jarvis or Mccaul), and cyclists to the road, expanding the sidewalks for the increased pedestrian traffic. Increase subway underneath it. Delivery vans/trucks by permit only, permits being expensive. Increase rickshaw use heavily, or allow some livery vehicles, but again expensive permits required.

A pipedream, I know."

Your thoughts/comments?

2008-08-07T15:53:00.002-04:00

(From Left to Right):

Raelen Slater, Leo Gareri, Abigail Knight, Asher Knight, Annalise Knight, Maxwell Knight, Nisha Slater, Zoe Knight, Madeleine Sloman, Lily Pearl Wallace.

I <3 Anderson Cooper

2008-08-06T10:53:00.000-04:00

2008-07-24T19:51:00.001-04:00

Beirut

2008-07-22T01:20:00.001-04:00

Can't say this is my favourite song, and the singer is a bit maudlin for my tastes, but this is a great idea for a video. Less is more, n'est pas?

Zoe Claire Knight

2008-07-20T00:41:00.004-04:00

Labor Starts: 11:15pm, Thursday July 17th.
"Pushing" begins: approx 7:30pm July 18th.
Delivery: 7:51pm July 18th.
10lbs, 14oz, 22 inches long.
Daddy finished delivery, and cut cord.
Perfect baby girl, no issues whatsoever.
Family is doing fine. Big brother Max appears to be happy so far!

2008-07-12T15:47:00.000-04:00

TOO FUNNY

"Wow Factor": REDUX

2008-07-12T09:02:00.003-04:00

Remember this post?

Well, we actually got the stroller. So far, it lives up to its billing. Phil&Ted's is a really innovative company. I recommend.

yikes

2008-07-02T02:24:00.005-04:00

AS I prepare to have another child, I have been worried about the future.

Looks like someone else has stated it, with facts to back it up, for me. Shit.

Peak Oil Mania

by mtippett July 1, 2008 at 03:45 pm http://www.blogger.com/www.nowpublic.com

Wow. That didn’t take long. Back in December when everyone was compiling lists about what the best gadgets of the year were or other nonsense, Jim Kunstler was predicting that 2008 would be the year of peak oil. It is now July and he is right.

Consider this excerpt from a recent piece in the New York Times:

The economics of long commutes are forcing many to the conclusion that suburban living is no longer viable, and suburban housing prices are falling accordingly.
"Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of reaching, heating and cooling homes on the distant edges of metropolitan areas.
[L]ife on the edges of suburbia is beginning to feel untenable.

And closer to home (in Vancouver, that is) the most respected national paper penned and editorial calling for revolution. In their view, the current state of affairs in Canada is unsustainable if the government doesn’t recognize the existential peril that peak oil represents for Canadians. They write:

Each upward tick in oil prices signals the slow death of a postwar North American way of life, built around car ownership and suburban sprawl. In a harsh diagnosis of the plight of the United States, which could easily apply to Canada too, CIBC World Markets economists Jeff Rubin and Benjamin Tal foresee “the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America's highways in history.” The change will be especially radical for the four-fifths of households earning less than $25,000 that now own a car. One in five of those low-income Americans will “probably stop driving or give up the second vehicle” over the next four years because the cost of gasoline will gobble up one-fifth of their incomes, a rise from 7 per cent today.

Unfortunately the mainstream media has largely kept us blissfully unaware of this impending crisis, focusing instead on the meaningless, celebrity driven filler that now inhabit our rapidly dwindling news diet.
Well the invisible hand of capitalism is about to flip us all the bird. As Kuntsler says in the latest post of his aptly named blog – Clusterfuck Nation – this ain’t gonna be like your Grandma’s depression:

Our debt problems today are of a magnitude so extreme that astronomers would be hard pressed to calculate them. By any rational measure our society is comprehensively bankrupt. From the federal treasury down to the suburban cul-de-sacs so much loaned money is either not being paid back, or is at risk of never being paid back, that the suckage of presumed wealth has passed through an event horizon out of the known universe into some other realm of space-time, never to be seen again in this realm. This would seem to be the very essence of monetary deflation -- money defaulted out-of-existence.
This condition is partly disguised by both the loss of credibility of US currency and real-world scarcities of oil and food, but the upshot will be something at least twice as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s: people with no money in a land with no resources (with manpower that has no discipline), hardly any family farms left, cities that are basket-cases of bottomless need, comatose small towns stripped of their assets and social capital, an aviation industry on the verge of death, and a railroad system that is the laughingstock of the world. Not to mention the mind-boggling liabilities of suburbia and the motoring infrastructure that services it.

When it becomes this obvious that the present course of economic development is so clearly flawed then the smart thing to do is develop alternative plans. We need to be investing NOW in new ways of ensuring food security and other essential components of a sustainable, post peak oil world.

My latest review

2008-06-25T01:38:00.005-04:00

Portishead - Third

Portishead aren't what anyone would called prolific.

Third is, appropriately, their third album. But they've been together for almost 20 years, and this is their first album since 1997's eponymous Portishead. Myself, I've always liked what I've heard by the band, but I can't truthfully say I've ever soberly heard one of their first two albums in it's entirety. Most of my experience with the band, and I'll wager that many of our male readers will probably have similar experience, is linked inextricably with a shadowy female in their past. Or present. I hate to generalize, but that's just the facts, jack.

What I remember from Portishead is the dramatic, cinematic soundscapes built with tremolo, reverb, delayed guitar, and a very ethereal, almost fragile female voice layered overtop. Portishead have always been considered of the "Trip Hop" genre, although they themselves eschew this moniker. All those elements are present on the new album, but something is...different.

'Silence', the opening track, immediately announces that business is not as usual, with the upbeat and aggressive drum track. I had to double check to make sure I hadn't accidentally clicked on to some extra remix track tacked onto the end of the album. This track starts off great. The beat is a nice change of pace, and combined with the delayed guitar, it makes a really sinister groove. And then, inexplicably, it all stops. The beat disappears, all the noise is scaled back, Beth Gibbons starts singing, and her voice sort of hangs out there in space. The quality of her voice just doesn't work with music this aggressive. It's still a cool track, but it went from 'epic' to 'just ok' in my mind, mainly due to the vocals. The guitar riff for the last minute of the song also seems to have been played on an out of tune guitar, and a sour note is hit repeatedly. I can only assume this is left in the mix intentionally, perhaps to add some more edge. If so, it is unnecessary, and doesn't have the desired effect. It just sounds amateurish.

The next two tracks ('Hunter', 'Nylon Smile') are much more familiar to the average listener. Vintage Portishead; quiet, and subdued. However, and this is where the band shines, please don't read "subdued" as "relaxing with a good book". Please read it as "tied to a wooden chair in a one bulb cement room, wondering where the hell you are". This is where Gibbons fragile voice is allowed to do its nasty business. Her pleasant voice always sounds just on the verge of breaking, like a whisper of some tragic secret, in the dark. The fourth track ('The Rip') also makes me think of Stereolab, which I personally think was a band that hasn't been given its due as one of the progenitors of the whole trip hop movement, so it's nice to hear things come full circle.

And from there, the album strikes a nice balance of familiarity with innovation; the beautiful and orchestral juxtaposed with the angular and jarring.

Much of the album, particularly the more aggressive tunes, hearkens to older Cocteau Twins, or even The Cure. The droning hooks that repeat throughout the entirety of many of the songs ('We Carry On') makes me think of industrial music, like Nitzer Ebb, or Depeche Mode on Construction Time Again ('Machine Gun'). The discordant guitars and keyboards makes me think of Radiohead's Kid A or Amnesiac. The good thing about this album is it seems to reference a lot of familiar things, but is original enough that you can never really put your finger on just what they're copping.

This is not a pleasant album. This is not what I would describe as "really good background music", which is how I would've described their previous work (in fact, I have had their previous worked described as exactly that by more than one of the aforementioned shadowy females of my past). This album is challenging. It is jarring. This album is possibly alienating, especially now that a lot of the people that loved them in 1997 will have matured, and their tastes perhaps will have mellowed. So, considering they liked a band that was pretty mellow already, this album could throw them into quite a tailspin.

But this album is a triumph. It took balls to release it. It would've been so easy to release an album that eased people back into the band after such a lengthy hiatus. That in itself is a middle finger worthy of any punk band you care to mention. This band grew, and doesn't care if you come along for the ride. It is fun to listen to, and one should pay attention. This album is not aging gracefully. It is telling you to fuck off with your pretensions, with your pigeonholing, with your expectations. It is telling you to plug in your headphones, and fasten your seat belts. Portishead is dead; long live Portishead!

8.5/10

Cool Tracks:
Hunter
We Carry On
Threads

2008-06-10T01:33:00.002-04:00

Hmmmm. Van-nasty is thinking about taking her blog private, due to the nasty effect blogging can sometimes have on ones career. This got me to thinking...it might be prudent to do likewise.

Haven't decided quite yet, but if I do, just send me an email for access, and I will see if you worthy, or found wanting muahahahahaha

(not like anyone ever comes here to read anything i post anyways)

The Alternate Opinion

2008-05-29T23:15:00.002-04:00

Here are obviously controversial articles about two globally important (and lionized) individuals, submitted purely for the sake of equal coverage.

My questions for Obama - Fidel Castro

The brightest and best of the presidential hopefuls seeks to extend a cruel, immoral Cuba blockade.

It would be dishonest of me to remain silent after hearing Barack Obama's speech delivered at the Cuban American National Foundation last Friday. I feel no resentment towards him, for he is not responsible for the crimes perpetrated against Cuba and humanity. Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries a favour. I have therefore no reservations about criticising him and expressing myself frankly.

What were Obama's statements? "Throughout my entire life, there has been injustice and repression in Cuba. Never, in my lifetime, have the people of Cuba known freedom. Never, in the lives of two generations of Cubans, have the people of Cuba known democracy ... I won't stand for this injustice ... I will maintain the embargo."

This man who is doubtless, from the social and human points of view, the most progressive candidate for the US presidency, portrays the Cuban revolution as anti-democratic and lacking in respect for freedom and human rights. It is the same argument US administrations have used again and again to justify crimes against our country. The blockade is an act of genocide. I don't want to see US children inculcated with those shameful values.

No small and blockaded country like ours would have been able to hold its ground for so long on the basis of ambition, vanity, deceit or the abuse of power, the kind of power its neighbour has. To state otherwise is an insult to the intelligence of our heroic people.

I am not questioning Obama's great intelligence, his debating skills or his work ethic. He is a talented orator and is ahead of his rivals in the electoral race. Nevertheless, I am obliged to raise a number of delicate questions. I do not expect answers; I wish only to raise them for the record.

Is it right for the president of the US to order the assassination of any one person in the world, whatever the pretext? Is it ethical for the president of the US to order the torture of other human beings? Should state terrorism be used by a country as powerful as the US as an instrument to bring peace to the planet?

Is an Adjustment Act, applied as punishment to only one country, Cuba, in order to destabilise it, good and honourable when it costs innocent children and mothers their lives? Are the brain drain and the continuous theft of the best scientific and intellectual minds in poor countries moral and justifiable?

Is it fair to stage pre-emptive attacks? Is it honourable and sane to invest millions and millions of dollars in the military-industrial complex, to produce weapons that can destroy life on earth several times over? Is that the way in which the US expresses its respect for freedom, democracy and human rights?

Before judging our country, Obama should know that Cuba - with its education, health, sports, culture and science programmes, implemented not only in its own territory but also in other poor countries around the world, and in spite of the economic and financial blockade and the aggression of his powerful country - is proof that much can be done with very little. Cuba has never subordinated cooperation with other countries to ideological requirements. We offered the US our help when hurricane Katrina lashed the city of New Orleans. Our revolution can mobilise tens of thousands of doctors and health technicians. It can mobilise an equally vast number of teachers and citizens who are willing to travel to any corner of the world to fulfil any noble purpose, not to usurp rights or take possession of raw materials.

The goodwill and determination of people constitute limitless resources that would not fit in the vault of a bank. They cannot spring from the hypocritical politics of an empire.

· Fidel Castro is former president of Cuba. This is an edited version of an article that appeared in Granma, the Cuban Communist party newspaper granma.co.cu

Down with the Dalai Lama - Brendan O'Neill
May 29, 2008 10:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_oneill/2008/05/down_with_the_dalai_lama.html

Has there ever been a political figure more ridiculous than the Dalai Lama? This is the "humble monk" who forswears worldly goods in favour of living a simple life dressed in maroon robes. Yet in 1992 he guest-edited French Vogue, the bible of the decadent high-fashion classes, which is packed with pictures of the half-starved daughters of the aristocracy modelling skirts and shirts that most of us could never afford.

He claims to be the current incarnation of the Tulkus line of Buddhist masters, who are "exempt from the wheel of death and rebirth". Yet he's best known for hanging out with clueless western celebs like Richard Gere and Sharon Stone (who is still most famous for showing her vagina on the big screen). Stone once introduced the Dalai Lama at a glittering fundraising ball as "Mr Please, Please, Please Let Me Back Into China!"

The Dalai Lama says he wants Tibetan autonomy and political independence. Yet he allows himself to be used as a tool by western powers keen to humiliate China. Between the late 1950s and 1974, he is alleged to have received around $15,000 a month, or $180,000 a year, from the CIA. He has also been, according to the same reporter, "remarkably nepotistic", promoting his brothers and their wives to positions of extraordinary power in his fiefdom-in-exile in Dharamsala, northern India.

He poses as the quirky, giggly, modern monk who once auctioned his Land Rover on eBay for $80,000 and has even done an advert for Apple (quite what skinny white computers have got to do with Buddhism is anybody's guess). Yet in truth he is a product of the crushing feudalism of archaic, pre-modern Tibet, where an elite of Buddhist monks treated the masses as serfs and ruthlessly punished them if they stepped out of line.

The Dalai Lama demands religious freedom. Yet he persecutes a Buddhist sect that worships a deity called Dorje Shugden. He outlawed praying to Dorje Shugden in 1996, and those who defied his writ were thrown out of their jobs, mocked in the streets and even had their homes smashed up by heavy-handed officials from his government-in-exile. When worshippers complained about their treatment, they were told by representatives of the Dalai Lama that "concepts like democracy and freedom of religion are empty when it comes to the wellbeing of the Dalai Lama".

As the Dalai Lama tours Britain, lots of people are asking: why won't Brown receive him at Downing Street? I have a different question: why should Brown, who for all his troubles is still the head of an elected political party, meet with an authoritarian, fame-chasing, Apple-loving monk?

The Dalai Lama has effectively been turned into a cartoon good guy. In America and western Europe, where backward anti-modern sentiments are widespread amongst self-loathing sections of the educated and the elite, the Dalai Lama has been embraced as a living, breathing representative of unsullied goodness. Despite the fact that he advertises Apple, guest-edits Vogue and drives a Land Rover, he is held up as evidence that living the simple eastern life is preferable to, in the words of Philip Rawson, westerners' "gradually more pointless pursuit of material satisfactions". Just as earlier generations of disillusioned aristocrats fell in love with a fictional version of Tibet (Shangri-La), so contemporary un-progressives idolise a fictional image of the Dalai Lama.

Most strikingly, the Dalai Lama is used as a battering ram by western governments in their culture war with China. The reason he is flattered by world leaders and bankrolled by the CIA is not because these institutions care very much for liberty in Tibet, but rather because they want to ratchet up international pressure on their new competitors in world politics: the Chinese. You don't have to be a defender of the authoritarian regime in Beijing (and I most certainly am not) to see that such global sabre-rattling is more likely to entrench tensions between the Tibetan people and China, and increase instability in world affairs, rather than herald anything like a new era of freedom in the east.

Far from "helping Tibet", the slavish western worshippers of the Dalai Lama are helping to stifle the development of a real, lively movement for liberty and democracy in the Tibetan regions. One author on the Tibetan independence movement argues that "the Dalai Lama's role as ultimate spiritual authority is holding back the political process of democratisation", since "the assumption that he occupies the correct moral ground from a spiritual perspective means that any challenge to his political authority may be interpreted as anti-religious".

At least one reason why the Dalai Lama can pose as "the ultimate spiritual authority" and all-round supreme leader of Tibetans and their future is because influential elements in the west have empowered him to play that role. In doing so, they have been complicit in the infantilisation of the Tibetan people. Tibetans now suffer the double horror of being ruled by undemocratic Chinese officials on one hand, and demeaned by the Dalai Lama and his western supporters on the other.

sigh

2008-05-26T18:03:00.000-04:00

Sweet! Here's hoping this doesn't take a million years.

2008-05-25T23:59:00.004-04:00

A hilarious weekend for hockey, in a mean-spirited, schadenfreude sort of way...

First, there was Marc Andre Fleury taking the ice for game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

I love the 2 Detroit kids standing next to the door, unable to contain their glee. I laughed, but then I felt horrible for the guy. I mean, imagine dreaming your whole life of taking the ice as the starting goalie in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And then THAT happens. God.

Next, and I can't figure out if it's worse or better, so lets call it a tie, The Spokane Chiefs won The Memorial Cup. And this happened:

Just look at those two guys, standing there, not knowing what to do. TOO funny. And then they try to put it back together, which just makes it worse. It's like something from a Chris Guest movie. Hilarious. Tragic. Classic.

"Seal Got Antarctic Fever! Seal Got Antarctic Fever!"

2008-05-02T19:19:00.001-04:00

'Sex pest' seal attacks penguin
By Matt Walker
BBC

An Antarctic fur seal has been observed trying to have sex with a king penguin.
The South African-based scientists who witnessed the incident say it is the most unusual case of mammal mating behaviour yet known.

The incident, which lasted for 45 minutes and was caught on camera, is reported in the Journal of Ethology.

The bizarre event took place on a beach on Marion Island, a sub-Antarctic island that is home to both fur seals and king penguins.

Why the seal attempted to have sex with the penguin is unclear. But the scientists who photographed the event speculate that it was the behaviour of a frustrated, sexually inexperienced young male seal.

Equally, it might be been an aggressive, predatory act; or even a playful one that turned sexual.

"At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin," says Nico de Bruyn, of the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

The brazenness of the seal's behaviour left those who saw it in no doubt as to what was happening.

De Bruyn and a colleague were on Trypot beach at Marion Island to study elephant seals when they noticed a young, adult male Antarctic fur seal, in good condition, attempting to copulate with an adult king penguin of unknown sex.

The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it.
The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail.

The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully.

After 45 minutes the seal gave up, swam into the water and then completely ignored the bird it had just assaulted, the scientists report.

Why a fur seal would indulge in such extreme sexual behaviour is unclear.
Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common: males of many species often harass, coerce or force females of their own kind to mate, while animals are also known occasionally to harass sexually a member of a closely related species.

Harassment is common among pinnipeds, the group of animals that includes seals, fur seals, and sea lions; and occasionally it happens between related species.

Male grey seals have been known to harass and mate with female harbour seals, for example, producing hybrids.

"Sexual harassment is often more commonplace in non-monogamous mating systems, and in species where males are physically much larger than the other sex and thus physically capable of coercion or harassment," says de Bruyn.

But this is thought to be the first recorded example of a mammal trying to have sex with a member of another class of vertebrate, such as a bird, fish, reptile, or amphibian.

Chinstrap penguins occasionally indulge in homosexual behaviour, and adelie penguins sometimes "prostitute" themselves to get stones for nest-building; while one in seven emperor penguins will change partners from one year to the next.

But generally, king penguins lead straightforward sex lives: males and females pair up for years on end.

Marion Island is the only place in the world where Antarctic fur seals are known to hunt king penguins on land, so the idea that the fur seal was trying to eat the object of its attention made sense.

"But then we realised that the seal's intentions were rather more amorous."
The researchers speculate that the male seal was too young to win access to female seals, and in a state of sexual excitement, looked elsewhere.

But the mating season was nearly over when the incident took place, leading the scientists to also wonder whether the seal's natural predatory aggression toward the bird became redirected into sexual arousal.

Equally, the incident may have arisen because the seal was "play-mating".
"It was most certainly a once-off and has never previously or since been recorded anywhere in the world to our knowledge," says de Bruyn.

The penguin did not appear to have been injured by the seal, the scientists report.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7379554.stm

Published: 2008/05/02 13:10:24 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Mothers Day is Coming!

2008-04-30T14:15:00.001-04:00

TTC sing-a-long

2008-04-28T12:34:00.001-04:00

**Sung to the theme song of "Thomas The Tank Engine"**

Expensive, surly, always late
But then surprised when there is hate
Management says theres no cash
Workers hit the bricks but fast
We must bear it with a frown
As they're the only game in town
They're no friend to you or me
Screw you TTC

2008-04-25T01:34:00.003-04:00

This is an extremely interesting documentary about mid-wifery, and the myths/facts surround it and Obstetrics. It also helps crystallize my belief that:
A) Pregnant women that schedule cosmetic C-sections are insane, or narcissistic, or dupes, or insane narcissistic dupes.
B) Insurance Companies are horrendous scams that have pulled the greatest con ever: making themselves legally mandatory.
Watch and learn. Seriously, worth the time.

HAHAHAH

2008-04-18T22:45:00.003-04:00

A couple of people have done a google search for "supernova battle bands scam" and fallen on my rant from 2006 about Paragon. So, the pwnage lives on.

Oh well, sometimes the kids gotta find out for themselves. I just hope the search, although obviously too late to avoid the pain of a Supernova heist, will help them avoid Para-gone. Thats what I put it up for in the first place.

STRIKE

2008-04-17T22:40:00.005-04:00

GRRR.

My on-going hate affair with the TTC gets more fuel with the upcoming strike. CP24 asked for commuter response, so this is what I emailed them. Your thoughts/comments?

'I think it has become obvious at this point that the TTC union is broken, and an alternative needs to be sought. Making the TTC an essential service and the union done away with seems the logical conclusion.

The problem is the political impact of being seen as a "Strike buster", given the weight of union lobbyists come election time. The other problem is the TTC itself is broken as well, seemingly run by people that have ZERO knowledge of business. It has been made clear that the federal government is not going to provide any more funding, and yet the TTC doesn't take any meaningful steps to increase its own revenue outside of fare hikes. The logical answer to this seems to be privatization, as loathe as I am to admit it. Perhaps if some businessmen were at the helm, the TTC would start operating like a business!

The time for a politician to rise above this is now. I think the support of the common person, that is sick and tired of this ridiculous Dickens-ian holding out of the hand at every opportunity, will outweigh that of the union lobbyists come election time. If only a politician would come along and say "enough is enough" and do what must be done for our "world class city" to actually function like one. Someone must rise above the politics.

If the union values their jobs, they will suck it up. I empathize with their demands, but you can't always get what you want. I'm upset when I see someone doing the same job as I do, but being paid better. If you're unhappy with how you're being paid compared to your peers at another company, GO AND APPLY AT THE OTHER COMPANY! If my answer was to stop doing my job until I was paid the same as those peers, I'd be shown the door. Time for the same thing to happen to the TTC.

If the TTC was to hire scabs to replace these union drivers, I would 100% support it. I would actually be happy to apply as temporary security to protect those scabs, providing me with some much needed catharsis and an outlet for my frustration by being a barrier to the inevitable picketers.

Unions are not a bad thing. Unions that hold a city hostage because they want more than they agreed to when they got hired are. You signed a contract when you took the job. Suck it up, and honour it.'

2008-04-17T22:37:00.002-04:00

Here's an interesting article that has another angle on the whole Tibet/China thing. Y'know, just so you're not uninformed. Take from it what you will. Myself, I found it fascinating.

No Shangri-La
From Slavoj Žižek

The media imposes certain stories on us, and the one about Tibet goes like this. The People’s Republic of China, which, back in 1949, illegally occupied Tibet, has for decades engaged in the brutal and systematic destruction not only of the Tibetan religion, but of the Tibetans themselves. Recently, the Tibetans’ protests against Chinese occupation were again crushed by military force. Since China is hosting the 2008 Olympics, it is the duty of all of us who love democracy and freedom to put pressure on China to give back to the Tibetans what it stole from them. A country with such a dismal human rights record cannot be allowed to use the noble Olympic spectacle to whitewash its image. What will our governments do? Will they, as usual, cede to economic pragmatism, or will they summon the strength to put ethical and political values above short-term economic interests?

There are complications in this story of ‘good guys versus bad guys’. It is not the case that Tibet was an independent country until 1949, when it was suddenly occupied by China. The history of relations between Tibet and China is a long and complex one, in which China has often played the role of a protective overlord: the anti-Communist Kuomintang also insisted on Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Before 1949, Tibet was no Shangri-la, but an extremely harsh feudal society, poor (life expectancy was barely over 30), corrupt and fractured by civil wars (the most recent one, between two monastic factions, took place in 1948, when the Red Army was already knocking at the door). Fearing social unrest and disintegration, the ruling elite prohibited industrial development, so that metal, for example, had to be imported from India.

Since the early 1950s, there has been a history of CIA involvement in stirring up anti-Chinese troubles in Tibet, so Chinese fears of external attempts to destabilise Tibet are not irrational. Nor was the Cultural Revolution, which ravaged Tibetan monasteries in the 1960s, simply imported by the Chinese: fewer than a hundred Red Guards came to Tibet. The youth mobs that burned the monasteries were almost exclusively Tibetan. As the TV images demonstrate, what is going on now in Tibet is no longer a peaceful ‘spiritual’ protest by monks (like the one in Burma last year), but involves the killing of innocent Chinese immigrants and the burning of their stores.

It is a fact that China has made large investments in Tibet’s economic development, as well as its infrastructure, education and health services. To put it bluntly: in spite of China’s undeniable oppression of the country, the average Tibetan has never had such a high standard of living. There is worse poverty in China’s western rural provinces: child slave labour in brick factories, abominable conditions in prisons, and so on.

In recent years, China has changed its strategy in Tibet: depoliticised religion is now tolerated, often even supported. China now relies more on ethnic and economic colonisation than on military coercion, and is transforming Lhasa into a Chinese version of the Wild West, in which karaoke bars alternate with Buddhist theme parks for Western tourists. In short, what the images of Chinese soldiers and policemen terrorising Buddhist monks conceal is a much more effective American-style socio-economic transformation: in a decade or two, Tibetans will be reduced to the status of Native Americans in the US. It seems that the Chinese Communists have finally got it: what are secret police, internment camps and the destruction of ancient monuments, compared with the power of unbridled capitalism?

One of the main reasons so many people in the West participate in the protests against China is ideological: Tibetan Buddhism, deftly propagated by the Dalai Lama, is one of the chief points of reference for the hedonist New Age spirituality that has become so popular in recent times. Tibet has become a mythic entity onto which we project our dreams. When people mourn the loss of an authentic Tibetan way of life, it isn’t because they care about real Tibetans: what they want from Tibetans is that they be authentically spiritual for us, so that we can continue playing our crazy consumerist game. ‘Si vous êtes pris dans le rêve de l’autre,’ Gilles Deleuze wrote, ‘vous êtes foutu.’ The protesters against China are right to counter the Beijing Olympic motto – ‘One World, One Dream’ – with ‘One World, Many Dreams’. But they should be aware that they are imprisoning Tibetans in their own dream.

The question is often asked: given the explosion of capitalism in China, when will democracy assert itself there, as capital’s ‘natural’ political form of organisation? The question is often put another way: how much faster would China’s development have been if it had been combined with political democracy? But can the assumption be made so easily? In a TV interview a couple of years ago, Ralf Dahrendorf linked the increasing distrust of democracy in post-Communist Eastern Europe to the fact that, after every revolutionary change, the road to new prosperity leads through a ‘vale of tears’. After socialism breaks down the limited, but real, systems of socialist welfare and security have to be dismantled, and these first steps are necessarily painful. The same goes for Western Europe, where the passage from the welfare state model to the new global economy involves painful renunciations, less security, less guaranteed social care. Dahrendorf notes that this transition lasts longer than the average period between democratic elections, so that there is a great temptation to postpone these changes for short-term electoral gain. Fareed Zakaria has pointed out that democracy can only ‘catch on’ in economically developed countries: if developing countries are ‘prematurely democratised’, the result is a populism that ends in economic catastrophe and political despotism. No wonder that today’s economically most successful Third World countries (Taiwan, South Korea, Chile) embraced full democracy only after a period of authoritarian rule.

Following this path, the Chinese used unencumbered authoritarian state power to control the social costs of the transition to capitalism. The weird combination of capitalism and Communist rule proved not to be a ridiculous paradox, but a blessing. China has developed so fast not in spite of authoritarian Communist rule, but because of it.

There is a further paradox at work here. What if the promised second stage, the democracy that follows the authoritarian vale of tears, never arrives? This, perhaps, is what is so unsettling about China today: the suspicion that its authoritarian capitalism is not merely a reminder of our past – of the process of capitalist accumulation which, in Europe, took place from the 16th to the 18th century – but a sign of our future? What if the combination of the Asian knout and the European stock market proves economically more efficient than liberal capitalism? What if democracy, as we understand it, is no longer the condition and motor of economic development, but an obstacle to it?

Slavoj Žižek
Birkbeck College, London WC1

Kathleen Edwards

2008-04-16T00:53:00.003-04:00

Go get "Asking For Flowers" by Kathleen Edwards. Now. No seriously. I'll wait.

It's terrific! And she blogs too! Here are the lyrics to one of my favourite tracks from the new album, as I think they are clever beyond measure.

I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory

Blazing a trail to the southern cities
From the streets of our hometown
Basement bars we played from the heart
In the company of our friends

If I write down these memories
That I have saved away
Photographs of the years that passed
Inside my little brain

You're cool and cred like Fogerty
I'm Elvis Presley in the 70's
You're Chateauneuf, I'm Yellow Label
You're the buffet I'm just the table
I'm a Ford Tempo you're a Maserati
You're the Great One, I'm Marty Mcsorley
You're the Concorde, I'm economy
I make the dough but you get the glory

Big fish small pond and some cover songs
We sang along the way
We used to midnight run to the Vesta Lunch
Cheeseburgers and chocolate shakes
Once I got drunk with Jeff
I told him I was in love with you
But I love you like a brother
So at least half of it was true

You're cool and cred like Fogerty
I'm Elvis Presley in the seventies
You're Chateauneuf, I'm Yellow Label
You're the buffet I'm just the table
I'm a Dodge Sparkle, you're a Lamborghini
You're the Great One, I'm Marty Mcsorley
You're the Concorde, I'm economy
I make the dough, but you get the glory

If I write down these memories
That I have saved away
Photographs of the years that passed
Inside my little brain

I'm sure it's been said in the finer print
You make me look legitimate
Heavy rotation on the CBC
Whatever in hell that really means
You're cool and cred like Fogerty
I'm Elvis Presley in the 70's
You're the Concorde I'm economy
I make the dough, but you get the glory

2008-04-08T01:10:00.001-04:00

Old School Hip Hop

2008-04-01T10:23:00.004-04:00

Here's how old I am: I remember watching this (because I watched Arsenio Hall every night), and knowing who all these people were before the graphic announced who was on the mike. Back when I thought Rap was where it was at and followed along.

From HCwDBs

2008-03-13T02:24:00.001-04:00

The Tao of Oates

Oates in not a douchebag.

Oates is the yin, the yang and the chakra to our collective Kaballah. Oates is the private to our eyes. The no to our can do.

Oates dances the mustache dance for all of our collective Freudian nightmares and Jungian sins.

Oates rocks the retro with grace and wit. Oates rebounds on the dance floor. And within Oates's style, his ballet, his poetry, we find the shards of ideological purity.

Oates washes our souls of sin. Oates is our ritual purge. Our mikvah bath. Our Mississippi river baptism.

Do not doubt The Tao of Oates. For Oates is not just the key to spiritual enlightenment due to his second-banana 1980s rock star iconic forgottenness. With a fantastic 'stache. Oates is the "other" by which we define ourselves. The projection of the schism within all of our psyches.

Oates is the unknowable. The ethereal. The corporeal embodiment of our deepest darkest fears onto that which we normally fail to comprehend. That which we deny to ourselves.

Oates fractures our false construct. All through the power of one single, iconic, 1980s moustache. For Oates is not Hall. Oates is Oates.

Oates is more than Garfunkel. Oates is more than Ridgely or either of those guys we can't remember from Tears for Fears.

Oates is liminality. Ambiguity.

Oates exists not as fixed polarity, but as conceptual dialectic. Oates is neither background musician, nor foreground solo artist. He is neither star nor chorus.

Oates is between the stage and the audience. The light and the dark.

Oates challenges the entire paradigm of binary either/ors that we use to construct narratives to define ourselves and our world.

A false construction that needs Oates to reveal its falsity. That needs that 'stache to reveal the higher truth.

The Oates in the Machine.

No, Oates is most certainly not a douchebag.

For Oates is us.

R. Kelly: Real Talk

2008-03-13T02:02:00.003-04:00

Lyrics are NSFW, so don't crank it up until you're at home. But once you're home....daaaaaaaaaamn! Real Talk!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

2008-03-11T00:51:00.001-04:00

HCwDBs

2008-02-25T23:04:00.004-05:00

I don't get why everyone is talking about Sundin being selfish for waiving his no trade clause. It's not like The Leafs are total write offs. Everyone is whining because they're not top of the table. But they're only 5 pts out of the playoffs.

Stop hatin' and get behind the team! They could still pull it off! They WHUPPED the Sen's tonight, 5-0!

**MAR 10th UPDATE**

Um. Well. They have to win 11 of the last 12 games, and for sure the next two. Hmmmm. Go Leafs, go?

Cutest thing I've seen in a long time

2008-02-25T00:11:00.003-05:00

Star Wars Episode IV, according to a 3 year old. Couldn't have said it better myself.

"Don't talk back to Darth Vadar, he'll getcha!" = Priceless.

A note from the cameraman/father: "A little about the video: She wasn't coached to say anything, nor was she forced to make the video. She rarely stops talking. Those of you with children understand this: sometimes it's harder to turn the faucet off than to turn the faucet on.

Believe it or not, she has seen the movie only once, and I spread it out over 3 days so it wouldn't be too much all at once for her.

The video was edited to make it shorter, more cohesive and hopefully funnier. I did move some of the lines around so it would make more sense."

2008-02-22T23:14:00.002-05:00

2008-02-14T01:31:00.003-05:00

Hilarious article in the paper today about Scarborough's search for a new slogan.

I guess "Scarborough: For all your puncture wound needs!" or "Scarborough: It's Gangtastic!" were shot down before it went to press...

Some hilarious ones I amazingly didn't make up:

Scarborough – We carve our name with pride
Scarborough – We're not all like that
Scarborough – City of the rising sun and unsettling gun
Scarborough – Is us and we'll get you
Scarborough – Gateway to Gananoque
Scarborough – Urban sprawl at it's very best
Scarborough – Give us a chance

NICE!

2008-01-28T01:36:00.001-05:00

2008-01-23T22:35:00.000-05:00

Heath Ledger was a really cool actor, and I always enjoyed his work. Tragic. I was really looking forward to seeing him as The Joker, being a big Batman fan(and especially a fan of The Joker).

Whats really baking my noodle is this: The news this morning reported that he had recently admitted to getting so into his role as The Joker, that it had given him nightmares, so he had to take sleeping pills. Results are inconclusive, but all signs are pointing to the sleeping pills being a direct cause of his death.

So, in essence, The Joker killed him.

!!!

In other movie news, Cloverfield is the greatest movie in the history of the Earth, and you should all go see it 100 times.

2008-01-21T21:32:00.000-05:00

Dude. Cloverfield. DUDE! CLOVERFIELD!

G.I. Joe?

2008-01-16T23:31:00.001-05:00

There's a whole bunch of this crazy stuff!

2008-01-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

Rick Mercer: Last Man On Earth To Have A Blog

The music in the background of this faux commercial is "Daylight Savings Time Again", by +nurse. Yay licensing and risidual fees!

2008

2008-01-01T11:24:00.000-05:00

So this is the new year.
And i don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance .

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialogues bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then i could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back.

There'd be no distance that could hold us back

So this is the new year

(usual 'reflections' post to come later)

2007-12-23T11:06:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays from my family to you. Here's pretty much the only Christmas song I like, from the old Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

OH, PS: Watched the old Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer show again for the first time in years. It's pretty messed up! Particularly the fascist undertones! Yeah, there was another group that banished their misfits as well. They were called NAZI'S!

2007-12-16T23:48:00.001-05:00

Weirdest thing I've seen this...oh, lets say month.

2007-12-15T23:41:00.001-05:00

It was either a coincidence, or an inspired bit of last minute programming, but SPACE ran "The Day After Tomorrow" tonight, on the cusp of one of the worst snow storms to hit Toronto in a decade, and right at the end of the UN conference on Global Warming in Bali. Nice one SPACE!

And here, this should scare the bejesus out of you.

See this movie

2007-12-11T00:24:00.000-05:00

This movie is a real eye opener. Here we think our Health Care system is awesome, and compared to a lot of other counties, it ain't.

I love Canada, I really do. But if they ever privatize Health Care, Kris and I decided we're moving.

Probably to :HERE:

Sorry Mom & Dad.

Ridiculous things, seen on the subway

2007-12-09T10:23:00.001-05:00

#1. Highly Politicized and Unbelievably Pretentious Sticker

Look, I get what you're saying. We ARE being manipulated by fear, I hear you. I'm on that team, for sure. But to say there are NO terrorists? Are you insane? Of course there are, and there ARE terrorists that ARE plotting bad things for North America, right now. I just don't think it's as constantly imminent as the media and government would tell us it is. But "NO terrorists"...give me a break. Whats more accurate is "There are WAY MORE terrorists than you think, we just need to better define the word 'terrorist'".

#2. Poster for the latest Peter Pan musical, starring: Kurt Browning?!

Kurt Browning is a fantastic figure skater. Great Athlete. National Treasure. And for all I know, he might be a Tony-Caliber singer and dancer. But dude is old. And bald. And not totally bald either, but with the Jean Luc Picard, Colliseum hair going around the back of his head. And he's playing Peter Pan. "The boy who never grew up", "I can fly I can fly I can fly", Peter-fucking-Pan. Did the casting director not see the hurdle inherent here? I know we're supposed to suspend our disbelief and everything, but please don't tax imaginations so much that the POSTER is hard to believe! Help us help you, for gods sakes!

One thing Kurt has going for him: He'll be right at home, jumping around in tights, surrounded by fairies, pirates, and lost boys.

"This Stroller Has WOW Factor All Over It!" - WTF?

2007-12-05T01:04:00.001-05:00

It's quite amazing to me how much my life has changed in such a short period of time. Getting excited about strollers, for instance. This is the stroller Kris and I are looking into getting. I'll let you ponder why.

Phil & Ted's Sport Buggy Stroller Demonstration/Review - The funniest bloopers are right here

REVIEW: Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist

2007-11-24T02:07:00.000-05:00

This review will be up on zengrooves.com shortly

Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist

Friends and Neighbours, when I heard Smashing Pumpkins was coming out with a new album, I so wanted to submit a 2 word review: "Fuck Zwan".

Sadly, it is not to be. I used to be a BIG SP fan. BIG. Had all the albums, the t-shirts, the de rigeur SP/Billy Corgan fan-girl girlfriend, the whole bit. I heard the first single "Doomsday Clock" and thought "This rocks! They're back! Woo hoo!". It didn't hurt that I heard it while watching Transformers. Giant Robots blowing shit up will make anything that much cooler.

In short: To this reviewer, Zeitgeist is a monumental disappointment.

Don't get me wrong, the album is not the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. It's just so....uninspiring. If it had been a terrible experiment gone awry, at least you could say "Well, they tried really hard to do something, but they really screwed the pooch". But that's not the case here. This stuff really sounds mailed in, and yet it doesn't. It's hard to put your finger on.

You can tell that Corgan really misses James Iha, as much as that surprises me, never really giving Iha his due credit in the past. But now that I've heard the band without him, his absence is noticeable. The guitar work is serviceable and tight, but really uncreative, lacking that certain je ne sais quois that Iha brought to past SP efforts. Jimmy Chamberlin is still one of the best drummers in rock, past or present, no marks off there. But the songs are formulaic and trite. You can almost imagine Corgan really wanted Zwan to work, and when it didn't, he thought "I have to get the rock back, and then they'll love me again", and he set out to bridge the gap. And while he somewhat succeeds, the end results are less than moving.

The rock tunes rock, the quiet songs are...quiet (and also sound like an after thought, like Corgan noodling around in the studio and thought "Oh, that's a song, good."). All the songs sound different, and yet somehow really really similar.

And that's really the issue. The songs all sound the same somehow, and none of them are great enough (with the exception of Doomsday Clock) to really kick you in the ass and say "Love me! Cherish me forever!!".

You won't, believe me. So, again, I wish I could say "Fuck Zwan", but it appears Zwan never left. It just put on its RAWK costume.

With a frown in my heart, a 4 / 10

brokenengine at 11 or 12 yrs old

2007-11-20T09:06:00.002-05:00

An old friend of mine recently unearthed some super 8 film from approx 1985. I'm the tall drink of water wearing the unabashedly 80's sleeveless-T-shirt-covered-with-music-notes. Thanks Scott!

2007-11-09T00:57:00.002-05:00

R.I.P Gouleeeeeet

2007-11-04T23:44:00.002-05:00

A bit late, I know, but whatev. And of course, here's Will Ferrell doing Goulet to a T.

will ferrell extra robert goulet on conan

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Brilliant

2007-11-02T14:32:00.001-04:00

"I say we're in range now, fire". Hahahahaha I can't believe I've never thought of that before!

Are you F-ing Kidding me?

2007-11-02T14:09:00.000-04:00

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about when I rant and rave about over-hyped artists. This chicks album was average. And even if it had been good, she obviously cvan't hack it live, and if you can't hack it live, i could give a rats ass how awesome some high priced producer made you sound with all the technological magic at their disposal.

Whoop-dee-doo, someone is reliving the jazz era. Hooray. Oh, and she has seriously tacky and awful tattoos. Isn't that ironic? Isn't that Iconic.

No, no its not. She's a junky and she's mediocre and I once again have to call bullshit and point out that the hipsters will embrace anything in the interest of being "cool" and "now". Get a life, listen to some albums OBJECTIVELY, and decide what you like for yourself. And then maybe I won't have to hear about sad-ass wannabe hacks like Amy Winehouse anymore.

2007-10-02T14:00:00.001-04:00

Andy Samberg is a genius.

glumbert - Iran So Far

2007-09-29T18:02:00.000-04:00

So, I've been trying to write for a new CD review site called ZenGrooves. "Trying", because I've only got two reviews done, and I'm way past deadline for the other 3. Life is full, y'know?

Anyways, here's a short one on "Nevermind" (Classic album category), and a longer one on "The Else", the latest offering from They Might Be Giants (New album Category). Albums I am currently trying to find the time for(I'm so sorry Fred!) are:

Build A Nation - Bad Brains
Good Morning Revival - Good Charlotte
Infinity On High - Fall Out Boy
Zeitgeist - Smashing Pumpkins

ZenGrooves is looking for more writers, so head over there if you're interested.

NIRVANA - NEVERMIND

On Nirvana's final album In Utero, Kurt Cobain opined "Teenaged angst has paid off well / but now it's time to go". Turns out, that was rather prescient.

Nevermind, the bands 2nd album and huge break out, changed everything. Disenfranchised kids across the world had something to cling to, sick of the decadent and formulaic pap of early 90's corporate music, they had something from the underground, something they could scare their parents with again, without delving too far into the weird fringes that is the "alternative" music scene. And I was one of them. I was in Vancouver the week before the nationwide launch, and actually got it a week before anyone on the East Coast. I brought it back to Toronto, and played it for my friends, proud to be one of the vanguard of the rebellious; cranking Nevermind from my car stereo, windows down, challenging the denizens of my suburban bedroom community to listen to something previously unpalatable. Within a month, I knew the album front to back, note for note.

The funny thing is, I was already starting to grow up before Cobain died, and that’s my point: Nirvana is/was a band for disenfranchised teenagers.

I have tried listening to Nevermind as a grown up, and I just don't buy it. The obtuse lyrics that seemed so rebellious and mysterious to me as a teenager now just seem the meandering bad-high-school-poetry of a troubled miscreant, trying too hard to juxtapose the normal with the shocking, to see the look on his therapists face. The sloppy playing of Cobain seemed like the perfect counterpoint to the tight backbeat of Novaselic and Grohl; now I find it distracting. The high energy, high distorted, scream along choruses that launched "grunge" and a thousand imitators seemed the pinnacle of a rock revolution; now, I'm much more interested in a well sung melody, a solid harmony, I'm far more impressed with a band that can be successfully quiet than a band that can turn it to 11.

But what do I know? I'm just old. And I still see the youth of today wearing Nirvana T-shirts, rediscovering the music of my youth, just as I rediscovered the Sex Pistols once. It's the circle of life. Cue Elton John.

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - THE ELSE

Ah, 1990.

I was 17. I was just newly driving, newly shaving, newly ‘deflowered'. And there was an album that spent a brief residency in my tape player called Flood by a band called They Might Be Giants. "Quirky" songs like "Birdhouse In Your Soul", "Triangle Man", and especially "Istanbul(not Constantinople)" captured the more ironic parts of my imagination, and didn't let go for about 10 weeks. But after awhile, I was again enticed by the siren song of the more traditional modern rock sounds of the day. And then grunge broke and I, much like the majority of the world, completely forgot all about the band.

I haven't listened to the guys since then, except for noticing their music being used as the theme song for a couple of different TV shows, and smiling inwardly with recognition. In the interest of not alienating the hardcore TMBG fan, it must be noted that that classic album is my only reference point for the band, and therefore my only anchor of reference for this review. I am now exactly twice as old as when we first met, and like an old High School friend you look up on Facebook, TMBG come back older and wiser, but still the same old TMBG, with their latest album, The Else.

Much like Flood, The Else is not an album I will listen to in it's entirety for very long, which I allow is probably more due to subjective taste than for overall quality. It is still a good album, and TMBG fans will probably love it, with the one caveat that it is much more mainstream than Flood. Whether this is a new development that could potentially alienate their fan base, or whether it is a trend that has been continuing over the years, I don't know. Either way, there are gems worth strip mining the album for, and adding to your collection.

Immediately, one is struck with how much less "quirky" their songs are now. Which is not to say that they have lost their sense of mirth and experimentation. This IS a TMBG album. The relaxed vocals and eccentric lyrics are still there, as is the fun experimentation with instrumentation. I don't know whether its because Flood was SO quirky for its time, or because they guys have actually mellowed and become more accessible, or if I have become older and less tolerant of silliness, but I like this album a lot more, though a classic Flood may be.

Songs like "Careful What You Pack" will be on heavy rotation in my ipod for some time. It is easily my favourite on this album, with it's "Ben Folds 5" chord progression and sweet harmonies. I'm actually reluctant to name drop other bands as a reference, since one could easily argue that Ben Folds is entirely influenced by TMBG. They're that influential on this sub-genre ("college-rock"?) of music.

"Upside Down Frown" has a cool jungle/dance club rhythm juxtaposed with an acoustic guitar, which catches the ear nicely, being fairly disparate sounds. This is augmented by the major key feel of the verse transforming nicely into a minor key feel for the chorus.

"With The Dark" is much closer to their older sound. With lyrics about taxidermy and nauticism (appearing in the same stanza!), multiple time signatures and keys, the notable absence of any identifiable chorus, and several unexpected instruments coming out of nowhere, it sounds like 2 or 3 songs jammed together. But they make it work, with clever shifts in momentum matching the lyrics at the time, and brilliant movements in the chord progression taking the listener from point to point in the song. The overall result is clever and enticing, and vintage TMBG, however unpalatable it may be to this reviewer.

The same can be said for "The Mesopotamians", with it's chorus of "We're the Mesopotamians/ Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal, and Gilgamesh". Such arcanity is really unparalleled in successful modern rock. They are the masters of the obscure, the standard by which all other "quirky" college-indie-rock should be measured (there's that word "quirky" again, and although unwieldy, it's almost impossible to escape when discussing this band).

Upon hearing this stanza from the aforementioned song , one wonders if it explains their rationale for acquiring a new, more accessible sound: "Then they wouldn't understand a word we say / So we'll scratch it all down into the clay / Half believing there will sometime come a day / Someone gives a damn / Maybe when the concrete has crumbled to sand". Maybe the duo got tired of being pigeon holed as "critical darlings" and actually wanted the masses to fall in line? Whatever the reason, it works.

"The Shadow Government" is probably the most solid track of the bunch, straddling the old TMBG sound with the new more refined sound. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a sing-a-long chorus and a good dance beat. And if "It's a bad bad world" like the chorus says, we can all pop The Else into the CD player, smile, and fiddle as Rome burns.

Which, I suppose, is the whole point of TMBG's music in the first place.

7.5 / 10

karkwa

2007-09-18T22:55:00.002-04:00

My friend Courtney turned me onto this song, and BOY, do I dig it!

Nostalgia

2007-09-14T00:44:00.001-04:00

Anyone remember this?

A Challenege to all my fellow bloggers and you readers:

2007-09-08T10:43:00.001-04:00

Lets all watch this, take the test, see who does the best!

UPDATE: Oy, I got a 74%. The last 6 questions on etymology killed me.

2007-09-06T11:04:00.000-04:00

Tenacious d - Tribute - Tribute to the best song in the world

PS

2007-09-05T13:20:00.001-04:00

Oh, and here's some GOOD music. The more I hear new stuff, the more I keep thinking how good the old stuff was. Yep. I'm an old fart.

Lots of stuff

2007-09-05T11:51:00.001-04:00

So, again, not too good at updating these days. No net access at work anymore (trogolodytes!), and of course, I'm the family man when I get home.

Just about everyone I know is moving to the East Side, so thats cool.
Was thinking the other day that, I miss performing and creating music, but I don't miss it at the same time. I know that makes no sense, just go with it for me.
Money is still an issue, but then again, when is it not.
Job is still an issue, and I am actively seeking alternate opportunities. Anyone out there got any leads?
Max is ALMOST walking. He took 10 steps across the room yesterday. He's still not actively CHOOSING to walk all the time though.

This is for fellow bloggers: The future of photo manipulation, should help in the design of blog posts.
Talk about it at Videocracy

This I found amusing (I love Robot Chicken):
Talk about it at Videocracy

This I found extremely accurate (Toronto Hipsters: look into the mirror, losers):
Talk about it at Videocracy

And finally, Anchorman. When I watched this film, I found about 16% of it funny. And thats being generous. However, in the special features portion of the DVD, there WAS this:
Talk about it at Videocracy

Great Answer

2007-08-26T16:42:00.001-04:00

Where I come from, we have a saying about girls like Miss Teen South Carolina: "Lets Date 'Em!"

Also for the WTF file

2007-08-24T01:15:00.000-04:00

However, how much do I want the "I. FIGHT. VAMPIRES." bit as a ring tone? A lot, friends and neighbours, a lot.

File under: WTF?

2007-08-13T10:46:00.001-04:00

Heh

2007-08-10T14:51:00.000-04:00

My mother in law lives in Brighton, which is a small hamlet about 20 minutes west of Trenton. They don't come to the city very often. Like, ever. She sent me this email, and I responded:

HER:

"HOW TO DRIVE IN TORONTO

You must first learn to pronounce the city's name: it is T.O.
The morning rush hour is from 5:00 a.m. to noon. The evening rush hour is from noon to 7:00 p.m. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.
The minimum acceptable speed on most freeways is 130 km/h. On the 401 or 407, your speed is expected to match the highway number. Anything less is considered "wussy."
Forget all traffic rules you learned elsewhere; T.O. has its ownversion of traffic rules. For example, cars/trucks with the loudest muffler go first at a four-way stop; the trucks with the biggest tires go second. However, in Oakville or Woodbridge,
SUV-driving, cellphone-talking moms ALWAYS have the right of way.
If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended, cussed out, and possibly shot.
Never honk at anyone. Ever. Seriously. It's another offense that can get you shot.
Road construction is permanent and continuous in all of T.O. and, fact, the GTA. Detour barrels are moved around for your entertainment pleasure during the middle of the night to make the next day's driving a bit more exciting.
Watch carefully for road hazards such as drunks, skunks, dogs, cats, barrels, cones, celebs, rubber neckers, shredded tires, cell-phoners, deer and other road kill and the coyotes feeding on any of these items.
MapQuest does not work in T.O. -- none of the roads are where they say they are or go where they say they do and all freeway off-and on-ramps are moved each night.
If someone actually has their turn signal on, wave them to the shoulder immediately to let them know it has been "accidentally activated."
If you are in the left lane and only driving 130 km/h in a 100 zone, you are considered a road hazard and will be "flipped off" accordingly. If you return the flip, you'll be shot.
Do not try to estimate travel time -- just leave Monday afternoon for Tuesday appointments, by noon Thursday for Friday and right after church on Sunday for anything on Monday morning."

ME:

"HAHAHA obviously written by someone from "the sticks".

RULES FOR DRIVING IN THE STICKS (or "How to drive like a local")

Never ever pay attention to speed limits. Those are for city folk
If you see someone else on the road, they are obviously not from around here (because NO ONE is from around here), so disregard them or their safety
Street Signs? Why would we need street signs? There's only 3 streets! Plus, the kids would just steal them...
It is not proper to hit the deer and other animals that jump out into your path. This ruins all the good meat.
Feel free to allow your pre-teen children to operate all manner of motor vehicles. There's nothing for them to hit, and locals will know what to do when around them. If city folk come into contact with them, they ARE city folk, so the local constabulatory will naturally assume they are in the wrong, allowing you to sue said city folk for millions. And then you can finally move out of the sticks. To the city. It's the circle of life. Cue Elton John."

2007-08-07T12:01:00.001-04:00

Word of the day + advice on women:

2007-08-07T11:53:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple of great song's from the 90's. Age of Electric and Limblifter.

2007-08-07T11:37:00.000-04:00

This weekend, TFC played the LA Galaxy. Beckham sat, but that didnt stop the amazing TFC fans from going nuts. My buddy Rob appears in this video of the pregame craziness.

2007-08-07T00:38:00.001-04:00

I know. I know, I don't update enough. C'est la vie with a 1 year old.

I'm working hard at work, trying to be the model employee, so I can GTFO of there. The only thing I have time for there is reading friends blogs, and laughing at some other people's blogs. And when I'm home, I'm dad & husband, so not much time for blogging myself. And then, there's the aforementioned Facebook Texas Hold 'Em (Current Rank #650). So, you can see, I have NO time.
Max turned one last week. We had a small family gathering at the local park. Met Maire & Peters new Son Raelen, super cute. Cool that Nisha has another little brother, one that lives with her. And she is adjusting remarkably well, so thats a relief.
In other news....hmmm...well, +nurse might be playing another show, private party, by request type thing. In Burlington. I'll let you know if it's open to road-trippers.
I might be doing some pre-production with The Dunes, as I have offered to help on their new record any way I can, and they have expressed interest.
And my buddy Martin has a new solo project coming up, which I might also help on.
And there's always an upcoming "old school" jam, one with my ex-bandmates and ex-ex-bandmates, that has yet to be solidly booked, but everyone is interested none the less.

So, I'm keeping busy.

Kris goes back to work next week, and Max starts daycare. So, thats a new adjustment. And I'm finding life and finances pretty heavy, so thats a new challenge. But one we'll work out.

Ok, I'll try to update more often. Sorry again.

2007-08-06T17:03:00.000-04:00

This is really cute.

2007-07-31T14:06:00.000-04:00

My buddies in The Dunes just got back from a triumphant UK tour. Here's a clip of one of their new tunes, "Cacophonic", live from The Barfly, in Camden UK.

2007-07-31T13:59:00.000-04:00

HAHAHA nice one Marc!

2007-07-27T16:25:00.001-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!

2007-07-27T10:06:00.001-04:00

2007-07-25T13:48:00.001-04:00

Very interesting link, useful for getting to know you're hood. It has a few bugs, mainly because I think it's predominantly American (so the search tells me the closest school is in Youngstown NY), but still a pretty cool App.

2007-07-20T18:17:00.001-04:00

Facebook has a Texas Hold'Em app.

See you in a month.

2007-07-12T16:04:00.001-04:00

Jason @ the2scoops posted this little treat from our childhood! Enjoy!

2007-07-11T02:24:00.001-04:00

This looks really really cool. Whats the movie called? No one knows!

2007-07-01T10:50:00.000-04:00

I went over to the Smashing Pumpkins' Myspace Page to hear the new track (Doomsday Clock) from their new album (Zeitgeist). Holy Crap! It RAWKS. I actually may be tempted to buy a SP album for the first time since Melloncollie! Their site also has "Where Boys Fear To Tread" from the aforementioned album, and I'd forgotten how much that band could bring the rock when they really put their minds to it.

One of my ex-gf's was a HUGE Billy Corgan fan. Not just SP, but Billy Corgan in general. She went on pilgrimages to see him. I went once, to Chicago. It was a great show, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't share the same level of obsession she did. After that, I left it up to her to go on her trips, and actually, that was not coincidentally the beginning of the end for us. The obsession got to be a little much, and it was a bit of a sticking point. We were never destined for 'forever' (obviously!), and it started to become apparent around that time.

Speaking of proper rock bands, the new video/single (Sick Sick Sick) from Queens Of The Stone Age was on TV the other day, and WOW, another rock band that has me thinking about picking up the album. I know I'm super late to the party on this band, but nothing before now has grabbed me by the crotch and said "Listen to ME!". Or maybe it's me. I've been listening to melodic rock stuff for a couple of years now(The Dears, Death Cab For Cutie, Editors, Interpol), and had forgotten the visceral feeling that good pounding rock gives you.

Max was immediately enraptured and was wiggling back and forth as he watched. He also did this for a Linkin Park concert (yet another band that brings the melody to the rock, and whom I can't join the hipsters in hating). The boy is a rocker-in-training, methinks. Don't worry! No mullets!

In other news, I just found out you can put LOTS of songs up on music profiles on myspace. So, I can put up everything from +nurse, zoolab, and create a profile for Collider! Isn't that just what you always wanted? heh ok, well, I'm doing it anyways! I'm still proud of all that music and I want to share it with whoever wants it!

2007-06-29T18:19:00.000-04:00

Amanda went to see this last week, but it was cancelled because the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. So, I'm putting this up for her. Amanda, don't say I never got ya anything!

2007-06-26T10:58:00.001-04:00

If you're going to waste time playing games on the internet, why not try to win 10 million dollars while you're at it?

The Night They Turned The Lights Off

2007-06-25T13:49:00.001-04:00

HAHAHAHAHA

2007-06-20T16:47:00.000-04:00

Wow. Just...wow.

2007-06-18T12:00:00.001-04:00