Randomness!

There's this meme going around the facebooks and the internets that goes a little like this:

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Here's mine:

I like this. I imagine it sounds a little like the Chameleons with a little New Model Army thrown in. Anyhow, Ochmacanthus is now seeking members. Apply in the comments section with your instrument and influences.

Shrovetide!

Today is Shrove Tuesday. I have no idea what a shrove* is, so I'm just going to say it's Pancake Tuesday. I will be having pancakes for dinner. But back to Shrove Tuesday, it is the time in England for the traditional Shrovetide football matches. For those of you who don't know, which is, I'm assuming, most of you, considering the readership here, the Shrovetide football games are massive games between towns or villages that involve, potentially, hundreds of players. These games date back to the 12th century. The ball will, typically, begin at a centre point and players will attempt to move the ball to their own goal, which could be kilometres away, kicking or hitting it, though more likely passing it man to man, like a rugby scrum. Anything goes, so long as it doesn't lead to manslaughter or murder. The game resembles more a mob or riot than a modern football match, but these games are one of the precursors to what we now know as football. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my pancakes. Down wi' it!

*I actually do know, I'm just not telling you.

A Trip to the Record Shop!

Inbox Zero

After coming across this and seeing a friend's near empty inbox, I decided to attempt to attain Inbox Zero. With that in mind I cleaned up one of my e-mail addresses from about 2500 e-mails down to fifteen. Tomorrow when I go into work there are a few things I need to do because of those fifteen e-mails and then I'll have the number down even lower. I didn't just delete everything, I sorted and kept what is actually relevant or important information in appropriate folders and the rest went into the trash. Bye-bye. I've got a couple more e-mail addresses with their respective over-flowing inboxes, but I'm slowly liberating them from the weight of electronic clutter. Who knows, maybe after I get that done and learn how to keep it that way, I may be able to translate that into real life.

A Trip to the Record Shop!

Pizza of the Day!

Today's pizza is...hey, wait a minute...that's not pizza. True, it's actually socca, which is a chickpea flour type flatbread from Nice (nice). There are other variants throughout southern France and Italy, such as farinata or cecina. The main ingredients are chickpea flour, water and olive oil, though the one I made has tomatoes, rosemary, and Parmesan, as per a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's wonderful World Vegetarian cookbook.

Shaving Time

As shown by the above photo, taken just moments ago, I have not been shaving of late. One might even say, I've been growing a beard. It's been two month since I last dragged a sharp metal blade over my face. I went to hot yoga this afternoon. It was hot in there. Really hot. Do you see where I'm going with this? It's time to shave.

Lux Interior R.I.P.

A Trip to the Record Shop!

When this came out on CD, I thought the cover would look best as a proper record. Now I have it.

Some online quiz results

25

45%

$4325.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

47%

Saving Ink!

Spranq, a Dutch company, has designed the Ecofont. Depending on your software and your printer you could use up to 20% less ink. Their idea was to reduce each letter as much as possible while still rendering them legible. The font looks like this:

It isn't the greatest looking font, but at a regular size is quite usable. And you can download it for free.

Just Say No!

Apparently this video was taken after the kid was at the dentist.



I don't think kids should be doing drugs.

A Trip to the Record Shop!

I've since bought two more records:

V/A-Vancouver Complication purchased at Neptoon Records.

Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes purchased at Audiopile.

The Vinyl Resurgence/Revolution.

See what I did in the title there? I made a pun. Kind of. Records...they revolve. Wow, tough crowd. Anyhow...

Two weeks ago I purchased a new turntable, the first I've had since I moved out to Vancouver. When I left Ontario I had boxes and milk crates filled with records that I left behind. I was never quite sure what to do with them all, but last fall, 13 years on, I decided to actually buy a record player and ship the records out here. I went back to Guelph in December for Christmas. While there I boxed up all the records for shipping and as soon as the weather warms up a bit they'll be on there way.

The record player, a Rega P-1, came in last week. The kind folks at Hifi Centre lent me a CD player while I waited for the turntable to arrive so that I could at least play music through my new amplifier and speakers (Rotel and Bowers & Wilkins respectively). (That will, of course, work in their favour because, damn, that CD player sounded A WHOLE LOT better than my current bookshelf unit.) So, having a brand new turntable and only 4 records to play on it, there was only one thing to do...go record shopping!

That's me buying my first record in about 14 years. It's Prince Buster's Fabulous Greatest Hits. Sadly, when I got it home there was a nice big scratch from centre to edge on both sides, rendering it unplayable. (It was still in shrink wrap, so there was no way to check it. The record store, Highlife, is ordering me a new copy.) Luckily I bought another record as well, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, on 180 gram vinyl.

It's psychological, I know, but there is something much more satisfying to me about shopping for records than CD's. I, like many people, am tired of CD's. There isn't much exciting about them beyond the music. And we all know that we don't need to buy the CD to get the music. With records though, I actually feel like I'm getting something for my money. Beyond the fact of better sound quality, listening to vinyl is a much more visceral experience. Partially it comes from having a better stereo than I've ever had, but the act of listening to records, actually playing and listening to records, as opposed to having background music on, has me more excited about music than I have been in a long time.

Fire!

Exactly 25 years ago today, Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial.

Remember that? Yeah, well, you're getting old.

NFB Screening Room

The National Film Board has launched an online screening room where you can view full length NFB films. And it's all free. There are feature length documentaries, shorts, animation, and more titles will be added each week. And they have The Sweater.

Sure Buddy!

The Best Albums of 2008

I know that January is more than half over. What of it? I play by my own rules, man!

Anyhow, here we go again, still playing fast and loose with release dates.

Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
I think this album was on everyone's list. I was sitting in a coffee shop one day and they played a fantastic song that I didn't know. A few weeks later a friend told me that this band Fleet Foxes was coming to Vancouver and that it would be a great show. I hadn't heard them so I started listening to their myspace page and there was that awesome song I'd heard in the coffeeshop (White Winter Hymnal). Nice. I couldn't get tickets to the show, sadly. But the album is excellent.

Made in Dakar by Orchestra Baobab
This Senegalese band's afro-cuban-pop-whatever just makes me feel happy. Listening to the album makes the world feel like a better, warmer, happier and funkier place than it really is.

Glasvegas by Glasvegas
Another friend recommended band, these guys remind me of Jesus and Mary Chain. Not a bad live show either. (I talked to the lead singer...woohoo!)

Creation Rebel by DJ Spooky
Normally I don't go for the remixes, but this one really works. DJ Spooky knows what works apparently.

An England Story: The Culture of the MC in the UK 1984-2008 by Various Artists
A Soul Jazz release, this chronicles the blah blah blah, you read the title of the album already. It really shows the influence of Jamaican music on British music, dancehall in particular.

In the Future by Black Mountain
The opening of this album is enough to merit a spot on the list. It says to me: Rock and roll is alive and well.

The Stage Names by Okkervil River
My brother recommended this in the comments section of last year's list, so obviously it came out in '07. Or he can see into the future...you didn't think of that possibility, did you?

Man Descending by Justin Rutledge
Simple folky sounding singer-songwriter stuff, but it's good at that. Greenwich Time and Alberta Breeze are my favourites of the bunch.

Soft Airplane by Chad VanGaalen
When I first heard the song Willow Tree I fell in love with it at once. What's not to like about a banjo driven death dirge? I bought the CD at the concert and he was right there so I got him to sign it. Instead he drew a picture on it. Thanks, Chad, you ruined my album cover. *

Some honourable mentions:
Mr. Love & Justice by Billy Bragg
Cardinology by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Chances by Jill Barber
Kensington by The Constantines
Proof of Love by Old Man Luedecke
Mountain Meadows by Elliott Brood

Some eagerly anticipated in 2009:
New Great Lake Swimmers Album...New Great Lake Swimmers Album...New Great Lake Swimmers Album...New Great Lake Swimmers Album...

That's all folks.

*He didn't really ruin the cover; I actually quite like it.

Pizza of the Day!

Actually it was the pizza of a couple days ago. It had mozzarella, cheddar,pecorino and parmesan cheeses, halved cherry tomatoes, broccoli florets, tofu, olives, artichokes, and little dollops of pesto. It was good.

Patrick McGoohan R.I.P.

Be seeing you, Number Six.