CD Review: Nicole Byblow Plays All the White Keys by Nicole Byblow
Nicole Byblow Plays All the White Keys by Nicole Byblow (Shiny Nickle Music 2011)
Manitoba born, British Columbia educated, and now calling Ontario home, Nicole Byblow brings a sound that all of Canada can love. The young singer/songwriter who is finding her footing in the national music scene has embarked on a tour to promote her latest CD, entitled “Nicole Byblow Plays All the White Keys.” She made a stop in Victoria where I saw her play and met with her to discuss music, school, life and even a little fashion. Nicole and her piano are packed and ready to go back east with a few more stops in the prairies before heading home.
Over the years, we have seen enough examples of “boys playing guitar”, and Nicole falls into the female opposition of “girls playing pianos” which seems to be a common theme in recent musical trends. Starting with Alicia Keys and Vanessa Carlton, this movement led the way for the likes of Sara Bareilles, Sarah Slean and more.
Slean is one of Byblow’s biggest influences for the career path she chose. The Canadian Juno-Nominated singer was one of the reasons Nicole started playing piano and writing songs when she was just 16. Luckily, Nicole was able to meet her other idol at the 2011 Juno Awards Dinner and Gala in Toronto in March of this year. The spontaneous introduction initiated by her sister and singer Matt Dusk left Byblow both wide-eyed and starstruck. It’s nice to know that even people who make CD’s and tour get a little speechless every once in a while.
When listening to Nicole’s music, you can immediately hear the impact of her influences in her vocal and piano stylings. Citing Ben Folds as one of her biggest inspirations, Nicole told me of how she spent many hours trying to learn his songs. When things weren’t going well, she would write to Ben via email. She assumed that her angry rants about the difficult of Folds’ songs went unheard, until she received a reply from an artist who has sold over 3 million records in his career spanning almost 2 decades. The two pianists continued emailing and eventually Nicole was invited to meet Ben at his show in Seattle. Fully expecting to be turned away at the door, Nicole was shocked when two tickets had been left under her name. The evening concluded with a conversation at the hotel bar where Folds was staying.
Now, I think this is enough background for you, what you’re really here for is to know what her CD is like and whether or not Nicole Byblow is worth a listen. But before I give you that answer, I’ll do my best to break it down for you.
Nicole Byblow Plays All the White Keys actually comes with one of the “Parental Advisory” stickers commonly found on albums from Eminem, NWA and 50 Cent. This is rather unexpected from the girl on the cover with a white background and staring at a red balloon. Nicole’s been described as “hyper-feminine” and “delicate” and for me; this is one of the first things that grabbed me about this music: Nicole’s unabashed attitude towards profanity is rather striking. When hearing her drop an “F Bomb” for the first time in a small coffee house on a rainy night in Victoria, I instantly looked up from whatever it was I was doing and started paying attention. Not many singer/pianists of this genre have the guts to swear on their records. You’ll never hear Sara Bareilles say “I don’t give a shit” about her former job in a hospital, but Nicole is unafraid to tell it as it is. She speaks the way in her songs the way she does in her normal life and that translates to her songs. She’s not trying to beat around the bush or use a clever metaphor to say she doesn’t care; she just doesn’t give a shit.
(Things That I Learned When I Worked in the Hospital)
My favourite track from the album is “Things I Learned When I Worked in the Hospital.” Starting with the toy piano, and the rolling drums chugging along, Nicole’s witty lyrics bring you a real insight to the life of a hospital. Lyrics like, “Patient confidentiality is of the utmost importance, but you’d be surprised how accessible that information is when you have to sweep the room it’s in”, are the kind of sarcastic backhanded lines that riddle this song. The chorus reminds us “who cares what we do in the mean time, it builds character doing the things we hate all our lives,” which, in out of context is rather quite depressing. But in the nature of the song, it’s understood that this is a sarcastic inflection of the songwriter and just an excuse for her to get through her shitty job. The bridge of this song builds follows the typical pattern of most pop songs, with one slight deviation. We have all come to expect the key change going into the last chorus of songs (think “You Raise Me Up”, “My Heart Will Go On”, etc.), and thankfully, Byblow doesn’t go this route with this song.
Once you get past the occasional expletive, the music itself is simplistic in its nature. All the songs only feature piano, drums and bass guitar, with the occasional splashes of violin and the toy piano from the CD cover. It’s Nicole’s song writing and melodies that stand out musically. Some of her lyrics are complex and compact, not unlike the rap counterparts who share her “Parental Advisory” sticker, which is juxtaposed by simple melodies and hooks that make the CD a treat to listen to. The track “February” has a particularly catchy “Ooh ah” section, that later features the range of Nicole’s vocal in the bridge.
Aside from the first single “They Didn’t Think So”, which Nicole describes as a song about what would happen if Jesus came and let every person on earth ask him a question about life, the lyrical content of the album is mostly what you would expect from the genre of girls playing piano. “A Song About A Lover” and “If I’m Lucky” may not have different thematic content, but are striking and beautiful in their own right. The production quality of the entire CD is superb. Ben Nixon, who was the bass player, recording engineer and co-producer of the album, did a fantastic job in a “garage turned studio” to produce The White Keys. I can only hear one minor slight throughout the whole album, but overall I have been impressed throughout.
You will be happy to know that Nicole does play in keys other than C major and A minor, utilizing more of the piano than the album title implies. I hate to use the buzz-word “up-and-coming” to describe Nicole and this album, as I think it gets thrown around too liberally these days, but I feel that you hipsters out there need to latch onto this girl so you can say that you liked her “before she was mainstream.” Byblow’s album is a melting pot of the fairy tale wonder of Cinderella, the epic storytelling of the Princess Bride, with just a sprinkle of Tarantino-esque profanity. If you love “girls with pianos” but are missing something with a little bit of an edge, Nicole Byblow Plays All the White Keys will be able to fill that void for you. No matter what kind of music you enjoy listening to, I would highly recommend this album for anyone (even if there is a Parental Advisory on it).
This is what Canadian music is all about and I look forward to everything else Nicole Byblow has to offer.
You can find Nicole at:
The End (of Summer) is Here!
So I guess it’s about time I stopped whining about writing this and actually got down to writing this.
It’s here. In the last waking hours of the last day of my summer, here I am, on my computer writing this blog in between games of Modern Warfare 2 on PS3, which is something I bought this summer. After playing it lots in my second year, and then finally getting a PS3 for Christmas last year, I’ve actually been able to play again! Still working on my first nuke on my own. I’ve only done it once before and come close multiple times, but no dice as of yet. For those of you who don’t know what MW2 or nukes are, don’t worry this whole blog won’t be about that.
Aside from that, I’ve stayed in Victoria most of the summer, with one short jaunt to Calgary for my Dad’s birthday. I surprised my Mom at her doorstep, and then my Dad downtown for lunch later. My mom cried twice that one day. Thanks to all my friends who made that one happen.
I also applied and didn’t get on a TV show this summer. It was called “Operation Unplugged” and it was basically taking techno-addicted people away from their addiction and seeing how they fared in the wilderness. I had the most viewed video on YouTube (for the audition videos) for a rap I wrote but didn’t get on the show. In the process of trying to show that I was techno-addicted, I started using Twitter a lot more. I went from about 30 followers of mostly friends and random spams to 90+ as of right now. I’m slowly learning how useful it is for networking, especially in my industry. Most producers and a lot of studios are on Twitter. I’ve met one guy who would be willing to give me an internship when I finish my degree and everything. So that’s really cool.
Operation Unplugged Video
I spent all the summer working. With my side job at the Gap and then doing all the recordings that came in through the school. I was basically the go-to guy for recordings this summer. Which led to my promotion as the Interim Audio Manager at the school right now, replacing my current boss for the semester as he takes his parental leave. This summer I worked on; ESL audio tapes, the soundtrack for a play, a guitar quartet, my own covers, and this audition tape. I also did live sound for 2 separate Indian concerts and recorded piano and sax, a piano feature and dual pianos. All in all it was a great summer for me and furthering my experience as a recording engineer.
With that being said, I designed and established http://jstasiuk.wordpress.com which is my website featuring all my work and my portfolio. It links directly with http://jstasiuk.bandcamp.com which is strictly my music portfolio. Both sites are currently under construction as I work to improve them and make it one seamless site – hopefully.
So I’m working hard to get my “brand” out there and promote myself. I’ve contacted a few other recording people and through volunteering at festivals like Rifflandia this fall, I hope to network myself more into this industry.
As most of all of you know, Harry Potter came out this summer! As most of you who actually read my blog probably know, I don’t actually like Harry Potter. I never got into the books and thus I was not interested in the movies. Well Girlfriend enjoyed the series and thus we commenced the HP movie marathon of the ages. We eventually watched all of them in preparation for the final installment. I think I enjoyed maybe 2 or 3 of them out of the entire 8. To me, it’ll never match up to Star Wars in terms of an epic saga. I guess it’s up there, but it’s definitely behind LOTR and Star Wars for me. HP7.2 was a satisfactory end to the series and I didn’t care enough to complain or dislike it.
Also in this summer, I bought myself a new computer! It had kind of been a long time coming as my laptop was slowly but surely living out it’s last legs. I bought myself a new 21.5″ iMac and now have quite the Apple collection. I still use my laptop for mobile recordings and Photoshop, but other than that, I’m officially a desktop guy. I think the set-up is pretty sweet. It definitely makes editing a lot easier with my two screens. 
Girlfriend went away for the entire month of May, so I didn’t do a whole lot except bum around and work. I actually just went through my facebook page to see if there was anything else worth mentioning.
Some highlights:
- Shotgunning a beer on the 16th hole of a private golf course
- The Oak Bay Tea Party with Girlfriend and Kath
- The Hunger Hush show in Calgary
- Naniamo with Jordo and Girlfriend
- Freaks and Geeks Cover –
I think that’s all for now. Not much else that really comes to mind. School starts tomorrow. First day of fourth year. I have the potential to finish this year, it’ll take me 11 classes. 5 first semester, and then 6 the second. And I’ll be taking a Ukrainian elective which will be pretty cool. Got rep’ for my heritage.
Hope you enjoyed this quick wrap up of the summer! Looking forward to much of the same in the fall!
If this gets 3 likes on any social media platforms I will write a post by the end of this week of my top 5 albums/songs/artists of the summer and what I’m looking forward to in the fall in terms of music!
- J
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- The summer winds… (daisyfae.wordpress.com)
- Calgary mayor makes history as Pride Parade marshal (canada.com)
Operation Unplugged
So I’m going to be applying for a show called Operation Unplugged. Link here. The idea is that they’re going to take 8 students who are techno-addicted and throw them in the wilderness for five weeks. I’m hoping to get on. For the application we have to create a video showing our personality, so I’ve decided to write a “rap” / song thing and then I’ll perform it or do my video over it or whatever.
This is what I’ve got for words so far, thoughts? I know Girlfriend is going to hate it, buttttt she’s gone to Europe for three weeks so – there’s nothing she can do about it! But – she’s gone to Europe for three weeks, so I am sad 
This is Operation Unplugged, We’re a nation of subs
We’re followers, friends, connected to the ends
Of the earth, haven’t you heard?
Did you check your feed? I sent a tweet?
updated my status, did you get my friend request yet?We’re the self-proclaimed, techno-dependent,
what’s gonna happen when you away take our internet?
It’s sick and twisted how we’re all addicted to the technology.
Open your eyes, open your ears, hopefully you can follow me.The kids these days got heads connected to their speakers,
cell phones, headphones, we’ve all become drones
Can’t eat, can’t sleep unless you kickin’ the right sneakers
Gotta fit in gotta keep up to the Jones’They’re gonna throw us in the parks for 5 weeks,
And I’m here to prove, I got the marks, I ain’t weak.
With Alan Bishop, Cap’n of our little ship,
gonna be the one to make the most outta this trip
So gimme all you got Canada, I’ll take command of ya.
Natural born leader, ain’t gonna deceive ya.
This is me, who I am, I’ll make you a believer.
Artist, musician, rapper, what you make of it,
I can also tell you how many bytes are in a bit,Now you might be wondering how am I gonna survive
without the iPhone, iPod, Macbook Pro. I’m gonna show
I got the strength to kick the machine,
to wean the brain from the life that i’ve been leadin’,.I’m like Neo, pull me out of the Matrix, I need to feel,
I’m better off with the stones and the sticks.
Don’t like what you hear? So shoot me,
Maybe you’re the one with fear but this is my Call of Duty,
turning off the PS3, so I can see the world behind the TV.
The Facebook Dilemma
So – I haven’t written on here for a while, but fret not! All is not lost. I have just been busy. But kind of not really. I’m back working at the Gap and doing all the recordings during the summer so that’s keeping me partially busy. You’ll see below two versions of a recording I did with Chris Ho recently. It was a good time, and I think that the recording turned out well. Thoughts? Do you like version one or the remixed version two?
I did well in school. Passed all my classes. One D – in my super tough electrical engineering course (Thank GOD – no more elec), 2 B+’s and 2 A’s. This has definitely been one of my
more successful years even though I did get two D’s. So – I’m glad to be done that, and enjoying summer.
Image via Wikipedia
So the main thing I wanted to rant about today was my Facebook Dilemma. It’s about choosing who to add and who not to add. There are lots of people who I see on a semi-regular basis and have classes with and talk with in those classes occasionally. I would not consider these people my friends but they are people I could talk to at a party or in a social setting. Being kind of an outsider in the School of Music – that means there’s a lot of people who don’t really know me and vice versa, even though we’ve had classes together for 3 years now.
Should I be adding these people to my Facebook who aren’t really friends but decent enough acquaintances to justify a friend request? I know lots of people treat Facebook differently and think that “You should only add your true friends and people you actually know.” And then there’s the flip side of people who add just about everyone and anyone to their friends list. It’s all about how open and how social you are. I feel that I’m somewhere in the middle and will add people even though I’m not necessarily friends with them. I figure I might as well – there’s really no harm since I keep my Facebook pretty secure in what I share.
My general rule of thumb is if I would say hi to them on the street or nodded in passing (in terms of guys) then I can add them as a friend. To me this means that we know who each other are and share some kind of acknowledgement or whatever you want to call it. This also works pretty easy for deleting people – if I see them in public and make direct eye contact and they don’t say hi – I’ll delete them from my account.
Oh the tough life of a suburban university student. Who to add on Facebook such a huge dilemma.
What are your thoughts? Who do you add? Do you have filters for different groups of people?
- J
Related Articles
- How to use Facebook Friend Lists to your advantage (insights-group.com)
The CAPTCHA & You
So! I learnt something new today. You know all those annoying thingys you have to type in for security reasons on certain websites to prove that you’re a human being? Well they’re called CAPTCHA‘s which stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” Random, I
An example of a CAPTCHA
know.
Anyways, these CAPTCHA’s have been around for a while, but I recently found out what they do! Not only are they there to make sure you’re a human, but by filling them out, you’re helping libraries!
Since the creation of digital imaging and recently scanning of books, the guys who scan the books have had troubles distinguishing every word because of some old fonts and what have you.
Well this is where CAPTCHA’s come in.
A CAPTCHA gives you two words to decipher, one of which is pretty easy and generally a word you know. The second however is scrambled or looks really weird. This second word is one that has been scanned by a computer, and determined to be undeterminable! So they need an actual human to figur
e it out. Based on responses in the CAPTCHA’s, they average out the most likely word and then make the changes accordingly.
I always hated those stupid things, but now when I do them I might actually take some more time and effort now that I know the process and reasoning behind it.
For more on this, check out the article I read: Walrus Magazine » How Spam Saves Libraries » reCAPTCHA » by Alex Hutchinson.
Adidas gives you wings
Facebook | Adidas Originals’s Photos – adidas Originals – Fall/Winter 2010 – ObyO -Jeremy Scott.
If only I didn’t already have too many pairs of shoes….
I’ve always wanted to be like Hermes. Or get tattoos like that on my ankles.
Like this
An Interesting Read on Facebook
I am definitely gonna look at my privacy settings on Facebook right now.
Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline | Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Since its incorporation just over five years ago, Facebook has undergone a remarkable transformation. When it started, it was a private space for communication with a group of your choice. Soon, it transformed into a platform where much of your information is public by default. Today, it has become a platform where you have no choice but to make certain information public, and this public information may be shared by Facebook with its partner websites and used to target ads.
To help illustrate Facebook’s shift away from privacy, we have highlighted some excerpts from Facebook’s privacy policies over the years. Watch closely as your privacy disappears, one small change at a time!
Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2005:
No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.
Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2006:
We understand you may not want everyone in the world to have the information you share on Facebook; that is why we give you control of your information. Our default privacy settings limit the information displayed in your profile to your school, your specified local area, and other reasonable community limitations that we tell you about.
Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2007:
Profile information you submit to Facebook will be available to users of Facebook who belong to at least one of the networks you allow to access the information through your privacy settings (e.g., school, geography, friends of friends). Your name, school name, and profile picture thumbnail will be available in search results across the Facebook network unless you alter your privacy settings.
Facebook Privacy Policy circa November 2009:
Facebook is designed to make it easy for you to share your information with anyone you want. You decide how much information you feel comfortable sharing on Facebook and you control how it is distributed through your privacy settings. You should review the default privacy settings and change them if necessary to reflect your preferences. You should also consider your settings whenever you share information. …
Information set to “everyone” is publicly available information, may be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), is subject to indexing by third party search engines, may be associated with you outside of Facebook (such as when you visit other sites on the internet), and may be imported and exported by us and others without privacy limitations. The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” You can review and change the default settings in your privacy settings.
Facebook Privacy Policy circa December 2009:
Certain categories of information such as your name, profile photo, list of friends and pages you are a fan of, gender, geographic region, and networks you belong to are considered publicly available to everyone, including Facebook-enhanced applications, and therefore do not have privacy settings. You can, however, limit the ability of others to find this information through search using your search privacy settings.
Current Facebook Privacy Policy, as of April 2010:
When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. … The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” … Because it takes two to connect, your privacy settings only control who can see the connection on your profile page. If you are uncomfortable with the connection being publicly available, you should consider removing (or not making) the connection.
Viewed together, the successive policies tell a clear story. Facebook originally earned its core base of users by offering them simple and powerful controls over their personal information. As Facebook grew larger and became more important, it could have chosen to maintain or improve those controls. Instead, it’s slowly but surely helped itself — and its advertising and business partners — to more and more of its users’ information, while limiting the users’ options to control their own information.
A note from President Obama
The author The Life of Pi, Yann Martel recently recieved a note from Barak Obama. Posted on the website that he has, called What Is Stephen Harper Reading?, to make our PM jealous. Every two weeks Martel sends Harper a book to read to try and inspire him. Pretty nifty.
Posted using ShareThis
The Sleep I Should Be Having…
Just isn’t happening…
So I lay in bed with Girlfriend as she’s asleep and I’m not. This was reversed about 3 hours ago, but being the idiot I am, having a nap @ 9 pm, makes sleeping hard. I suppose I’ll write a nice blog entry.
Puke
Today, well officially today, is Valentine’s Day. So to all you lovers out there, enjoy your guarenteed sex. Girlfriend and I will be spending the day at the museum, then massages, then dinner @ the Keg. I had to book our reservation on Monday, and we get our table @ 8 pm. Which is crazy if you think about when you would have to call to get a good time. I’m not very good at Valentine’s Day. Never really have been. Especially being away from home makes me lazy. I don’t have the supplies to make a handmade card and I kind of just don’t like it. I don’t know, that’s just me. I know I should be one of those perfect boyfriends who gets a present and makes a card and blah blah blah, but for some reason I don’t like Valentine’s Day. Maybe it’s because I was born the day after and it’s just really annoying. I always feared the idea of getting a Valentine’s day card for my birthday and people being like “Happy Valentine’s Day! Oh, and yeah, we’ll just get you one card for your birthday too.” It’s stupid, but eh. For this reason, Girlfriend and I didn’t celebrate V-day last year, a mistake she’ll never let me forget; but nonetheless I’m trying to do better this year. She’ll be getting the heart shaped box of chocolates, some other chocolate, and I want to get her flowers, but it’s going to be so goddamn expensive. Why does society say that I have to buy my girlfriend flowers on this specific day?! I’d much rather buy them for her at a random time then for her to expect them. Blah, stupid holiday. I also really hope that Girlfriend doesn’t read this blog so she finds out what I got her….
Speaking of holiday’s, I am on one for the next week. School is out for reading break and thus I will get to relax and enjoy some time off. Unfortunately I will probably spend a few days strictly doing homework. Sigh this is the life of a student.
Another holiday coming tomorrow is my birthday. Those of you who read my blog via Facebook will notice a discrepency between my real birthday and my Facebook birthday. This is a stupid social experiment of mine to see how many of my friends really know my birthday and how many rely on Facebook to tell them. I’ve already had a few people send me messages expressing statements of confusion. I received a package in the mail from my parents for my birthday, and to be honest, it sucked. I got a comic book which I already have, and I think they got my brother years previous, and some chocolate. Also I told them I had got it and opened, but not opened the wrapped presents inside, and my mom told me to open a specific one. My Mom knit me a sweater vest. A purple sweater vest, that I will never wear. It’s dumbfounding how tacky it is. My Mom told me she knit it for me because she thought I liked sweater vests, I own one, which was a gift, which I got 3 years ago, which I also rarely wear. You would think she’d pick up on this. Now I feel obligated to have to wear it at least once. Or more than once since I will be asked everytime I go home, “Oh where’s your vest? Do you wear your vest?” No.
So hopefully the rest of my birthday will be better. In other news, I found my shoe! Silly roommates brought in a bar(like an actual drink bar) and placed it over my shoe a couple of weeks ago. We moved the bar last night and found my shoe under it. Yay.
Yet again, I fall back to the topic of Facebook. The social networking site has now turned into an online forum to express beliefs, rants, feelings, and blah blah blah. I feel like FB is the new place to protest and attempt to make social change. People make all these stupid groups saying they’ll donate a cent to Haiti for every person that joins, there are memorial groups for every second person who dies, there are groups for schools and for trying to change your school. But do these really do anything? In my opinion no. Nothing will change because someone made a Facebook group, no one is really going to get out there and protest. Groups are the easy lazy ass way for someone to show that they care about the world and it’s causes but they’re too lazy to get the fuck out there and do anything about it.
Anywho, I think I’m gonna try and get some sleep.
- J
Repost: Sorry, those Facebook friends aren’t really friends – The Globe and Mail
This is why I only have 88 friends on MY facebook.
from: The Globe and Mail; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/sorry-those-facebook-friends-arent-really-friends/article1443661/
Technology may change, but the number of friends we can have appears to stay the same.
While social networking sites allow users to have thousands of “friends”, the mind is only capable of handling a maximum of 150 relationships at one time, according to a new study conducted by Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist at Oxford University.
In the 1990s, Dr. Dunbar carried out research showing that the part of the brain responsible for thinking and language cannot accommodate more than 150 friends – defined as people a person cares about and makes contact with at least once a year. That figure has since been known as “Dunbar’s number.”
But does the ability to connect with people online push the limits of Dunbar’s number?
Sorry, Tila Tequila, but in looking at the online traffic of roughly 500 people’s social networks on sites including Facebook and MySpace, Dr. Dunbar’s new research suggests our ability to maintain friendships is just as limited on the Web as in the real world.
“You can list 10,000 people as friends on your social networking site. But the big issue is the quality of those relationships,” Dr. Dunbar says.
“If you look at people’s actual social networking sites and whom they actually contact on a regular basis, then that really comes down to the same group of people that they meet face to face with in the real world.”
The upper limit of faces we can put names to is somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000, he says. Which means those thousands of Facebook friends one might have are much less than real friends.
“You can’t even know who they are, actually,” Dr. Dunbar says.
The full results of the study are expected to be published later this year.
via Sorry, those Facebook friends aren’t really friends – The Globe and Mail.
Lost for Words
Oh man, this blog has been a long time in the making.
My last few days here in Victoria have consisted mostly of this.
- Wake up, check email and blog and facebook
- Review a CD
- Watch Sportscentre
- Watch my roommate play Modern Warfare II
- Check email
- Watch roommate play Modern Warfare II
- Have Dinner
- Watch roommate play Modern Warfare II
- Stare at books and hope that I learn something from them
- Say to myself that I’ll study tomorrow
- Watch The Office/Secret Life of The American Teenager with Girlfriend
- Watch roommate play Modern Warfare II
- Sleep
I really haven’t done anything. Yesterday Girlfriend and I went to the mall and we she shopped for 5 1/2 hours. Which I think is the longest time I’ve ever spent in a mall. It was also the most exercise I’ve gotten in probably the last two months. So tired afterwards. It’s no help that I’ve been fighting off a cold, so today I was even more tired. It made studying almost impossible.
When I was in the mall yesterday, I heard a lot of music from a few years ago. Nelly Furtado, Backstreet Boys, etc. It made me think about the music I listened to growing up. This coupled by watching the most influential moments in music history on MuchMusic a few days ago added to my nostalgia. I was just thinking about how I’ve gotten to that point in my life where all the things I’ve grown up on are now gone from the mainstream lifestyle. The cartoons, the music, TV shows, the people, the hockey players. It’s weird to think that all the hockey players I grew up watching, and idolizing are almost all retired now.
This is the same with music. Bands like Blink 182 and Greenday don’t put out CD’s anymore. Sum 41 has a greatest hits CD out for crying out loud. They’ll be doing reunion tours sooner or later. The punk lifestyle has taken it’s toll on them and they have ceased to exist. Basically. Same with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake. The list goes on. The generation of music that we grew up is over. Now we’re into the age of autotune, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers. Sigh I miss my old music.
Yesterday while watching mine and Girlfriend’s new favourite obsession; The Secret Life of the American Teenager (more on this later), I heard a song I hadn’t heard in ages. After struggling and finally watching the scene again and copying out the lyrics, I discovered it was a band that I listened to a long long time ago. Something like 6 years ago. When I was 13. (It was “Unforgettable Night” by And Then I Turned Seven, for those of you who are curious). It makes you think how much your musical tastes have expanded since then. I know mine definitely have. I’m slowly working my way through 8000+ songs on a mission to listen to them all.
While shopping, I saw the book “1000 Recordings to Listen to Before You Die”. And I want it. For Christmas. I want to start a new project. I want to listen to all of those recordings. Or something like that. There’s another book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. Maybe when I have more time, or when I get the book I’ll figure out what I want to do with it. Maybe I need to write my own “100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. The sad part is I don’t think I’m old enough to be able to come up with 100. It’s most likely going to be a quest to locate a copy of each of those albums, and listen to it, if not own it. Maybe I’m just a dreamer.
Anywho. Secret Life Of The American Teenager. When Girlfriend and I were in Seattle earlier this year, we were in our hotel room watching TV and flipping through channels. We stumbled upon this gem. SLOTAT is about a 15 year old girl who is pregnant (this happens pre-episode 1) and how she grows up in high school with this baby. Well her baby’s father is banging just about every girl in school, and has one particular lover. Well the male half of a hardcore Christian couple wants to have sex, so he finds the baby’s fathers love, who does god knows what. So the female half starts hanging out with the baby’s father, while the baby’s mother gets her own boyfriend, who says he loves her and wants to marry her (after about 4 episodes) and she’s still trying to figure out how to tell her parents, who are splitting up because the baby’s mother’s father is cheating on his wife. We aren’t even half way through the 1st season! It’s so great! It’s like Jerry Springer, Degrassi and 7th Heaven all mixed into one. If you followed any of that and like any of the aforementioned shows, you should definitely give this one a try. So good.
Moving on. If you read this blog often, you’ll know I do CD reviews. I write them for my school newspaper and there was some day a few months ago where I saw someone reading one of my reviews as I walked by, and it made me think about how crazy a university is. (Also, sidenote, why is university the only word I can think of that starts with a vowel and isn’t preceded by “an”?) I was thinking that you walk around campus, and you sit in class and you don’t realize the people around you. Some could be doctors, professors, people who write in your school newspaper, athletes, who knows what! And we all have this level of anonymity because of just the sheer amount of people. I thought it was pretty cool. No one’s ever come up to me and said “Hey you’re the guy that writes those reviews in the Martlet right?” Maybe one day.
I think that’s enough for you guys to read tonight. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave me a comment about anything you read or for suggestions on my quest.
Something to get you through Hump-Day
Scientists have found a planet in another solar system some 500-light years away that is solid enough to stand on! Yay! This is big news because the previous planets found in outer space have been big gas filled things which are most definitely not inhabitable. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/astronomers-find-planet-to-stand-on/article1289578/
“The evidence is becoming overwhelming that we live in a crowded universe.”
Here’s one my girlfriend won’t like, the University of Toronto is initiating a fee for those who use their library. It’s going to cost $200 a year to use their library; which, to me, seems a little steep. The fee will only be applied to those who are visitors using their library, this makes the situation a little more understandable as students already pay for the use of their school library in their fees. Here’s the part I don’t get, the University is considering charging people to BROWSE their shelves. Not just take books out, but even LOOK. I think that is horribly ridiculous. There is fear that this charge will start up reciprocal things in other schools.
In other news, I’ve signed up to become a MuchMusic VJ. It’s a contest through Much where lots of people audition and so many are chosen. I figure I should do a little more campaigning if I really want to do this for a living, but to be honest, I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort. I would love to have the job and everything that comes along with it, but I am not really the kind of guy who is going to beg for your votes (I tried that once before for a photo contest, and failed miserably). So I’m going to rely on the people at Much picking substance over gimick.
So in case you haven’t heard yet or haven’t seen the latest Sxe Phil episode, Kanye West was a dick and ruined Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMA’s last weekend. Well now, Kanye’s outburst has become an internet meme - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme – I kinda enjoy these and thus the posting. http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2009/09/14/kanye-west-a-meme-is-born/
So school is going well for me. Everything but Electrical Engineering. That has become my nemesis. I hate it so terribly already. The other classes are good and bearable, in my listening to music class, my homework was to find a song with melody. So essentially I got to listen to City and Colour for homework! It was a great day for me! The boys buying Rockband has been fine, we started a pretty nifty band and it’s a good waste of time. I’m just concerned that somebody is going to walk into our place and steal everything when we’re all in our rooms, because we’re not really attentive like that…
So being a VJ would be a pretty friggen sweet job, and since I haven’t done a ‘Your Turn’ forever, mostly because viewer participation SUCKS. That’s right, I mean YOU. Anyways, what would your ideal job be?
Anyways…look for more updates on the VJ thing, and there’s a new Martlet tomorrow with more of my reviews! Maybe I should start writing some new ones….
Later days,
- J
Today In the News
I found this article on the globeandmail, I think this is a pretty cool picture. Accompanied by the subsequent viral photoshops.
Also, a signed copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was sold on auction today for $35 000 (U.S)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/hitlers-infamous-manifesto-sold-at-uk-auction/article1250850/
Here’s how to “unfriend” someone gracefully. I prefer to just block them on Facebook. Problem solved.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/how-do-you-un-friend-someone-gracefully/article1250583/
And here’s one for my girlfriend, who keeps asking me how snakes, and frogs have sex. Or if they do. Maybe we can see this and learn!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/rossellinis-lessons-on-underwater-sex-headed-for-toronto/article1248436/
Homeward Bound and the Facebook Rant.
Hello internet!
Yes, it is official. I am travelling home to Calgary on August 27th, 9:00 am flight. I made the plans this morning and now it’s all set. I’ll be returning to Victoria on the 7th of September to start the school year on the 9th of September. I suppose I best go get my books now so I don’t have to be rushing on those two days. Blah.
So it’s even more official now. It’s on Facebook. Facebook is a weird world of it’s own I’ve found. Everyone these days makes the joke about relationships: “It’s not official ’til it’s on Facebook.” Which I can see some truth value in, but don’t fully believe it. I only recently changed my relationship status even though my girlfriend and I have been dating for almost 9 months now. She doesn’t even have Facebook and we facilitate everything through me.
And when I say facilitate, I mean creep. Everyone who has a Facebook knows what I mean when I say creep. The checking people’s profiles constantly, the staying on for hours hoping for something new, the viewing of pictures, seeing status updates but never commenting on it or making your presence known.
I do it. Ex-girlfriends, ex-friends, current friends, friends friends, people who add you who really shouldn’t have because they are never going to talk to you but you still have anyway. I’ve found ways to find out that one of my old friends who fell out of my life in high school now has a tattoo on his back, and is still the complete douche bag I remember him being. I basically use Facebook to judge you on what you’re doing(or not doing) with your life, kinda makes me feel better about my own! Knowing that I turned out better than so and so, Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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d I’m actually a contributing member to society. (But, I know that there are some people with certain circumstances that affect what they are doing now, and this is not directed at you.) Via Facebook I don’t even have to be in these peoples lives, but I still know what’s going on in them. Hey! Kinda like this blog, which anyone can see! Anyways.
I also think it’s a really bad thing in some ways. People in relationships go crazy on facebook. Hacking into accounts, viewing blocked profiles, seeing pictures of their ex with a new girl. It’s a little ridiculous the lengths some people go to get back at, or spy on their exes, or even current boyfriend/girlfriend.
Furthermore, I think Facebook gives way for people to let go of friendships. I’ve had a few people drift farther away in terms of friendship. We rarely talk anymore, and when we do it’s often just the standard questions and then conversation stops. Then the excuse comes up,”Just facebook me” or “check my facebook” and you don’t even bother really talking to the person anymore, you just check their facebook and see how they’re doing. I guess it goes to show you the people that really matter to you are the people who can maintain a friendship outside of Facebook.
I think it’s weird that people just view you from a far and never comment on things. I’ve been trying to use Facebook more as what it’s made for, commenting on stuff, kind of actually USING facebook rather than just watching everyone. Makes me feel involved in the bigger commuinty I suppose.
But then it makes you wonder who’s viewing your profile and your pictures and such. Who creeps you on a daily basis? I know my profile is pretty restricted and only people who are my friends can see it. So not to many people can creep me. I think…
Facebook has given way to the instant world, where we know everything that’s going on with everyone at anytime. It has it’s good and it’s bad. I’ve recently re-connected with a few of my old friends from high school, and it’s nice to be in touch with them again. I also think Facebook provides a good way to network and promote yourself. Perhaps my future employer will see something on Facebook about me and be more inclined (or less inclined if pictures of me totally trashed at this party are up) to hire me. Applebee’s is a huge supporter of Facebook, our resturaunt has it’s own page, and they use it to connect with the employees, which I think is great, and an easy way to stay in touch and connected.
I think that’s about all I can say on this topic. Hope you enjoyed! Leave me a comment on your thoughts about Facebook!
Later days,
- J
