the visible problem with invisible children
EDIT ON MARCH 7, 2012: This post was originally written in 2006. As you read and comment, please consider that it has been over 5 years since I wrote my thoughts here. I personally still have the same concerns about IC that I did when I posted this and have chosen not to contribute to their cause. However, Uganda continues to hold a very special place in my heart.
Apologies for my stunned silence in the face of the Kony 2012 movement and the internet’s explosion of power. I’ve never felt like the whole internet has simultaneously pushed down the same keys at the same time. Not even the response to SOPA made me feel this level of solidarity. The LRA has been around, being evil, and making the world suck more since I was in college, and that’s when I first tried to raise awareness for stopping them…more than ten years ago. Sometimes it feels like there are so many terrible things in the world, it’s impossible to figure out what to focus on. But the LRA is getting that focus now. And I hope we can maintain it. (source)I too believe that there is a large possibility of #Kony2012 failing within 3 months as the attention span of the population wains. That being said, I'm still choosing to donate.
Who Is Joseph Kony? #KONY2012
Step 1: Watch This Video. Now.
Instead of clicking through some pictures of cats, watch.
You have a half hour, you can sit and just watch.
Step 2: Make a difference.
I know I tend to get caught up in these idealistic kind of things that promote world change and using the mass to make a difference (there was the AIDS dog-tag campaign with Aldo that springs to mind) – but I have faith in this one. Why? These guys have their shit together. They have a plan. It’s set out, clear as day. The objective is to make Joseph Kony famous. And by the end of this year, he will be.
People rag on me all the time for the amount that I use social media. Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and Skype and MSN and the list goes on, but now is when these networks will come to my aid. I tend to be a pretty passive activist, choosing to stay anonymous and help out where I can. Retweet’s and blog posts are of my usual do-gooding habits. So if I can use all the people who I have a constant contact with – who I talk to half way around the country and have never met, if I can get them to be passionate about this too – then I will consider myself successful.
I’m going to act on this one. I plan on buying one of those kits and posting the stickers and posters around my school and city in hopes of affecting a few others in the same way.
For those of you who want some more background:
Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA – a rebel group out of Africa who abducts children to increase the numbers in his army. He forces the boys to murder, the girls into sexual slavery, and is the number 1 on the ICC’s (International Criminal Court) list of war criminals still at large. (link)
Joseph Kony claimed to be a distant cousin of Alice Lakwena’s and the natural successor to lead the Holy Spirit Movement. Soon after Joseph Kony assumed management of the group, he changed the name to the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA. Joseph Kony wasn’t able to maintain the group’s number or regional support, so he started stealing food and abducting children to fill the ranks of his army. Subsequently, he lost any remaining regional support. What had started out as a rebel movement to end the oppression of the north became an oppression of the north in itself.
Joseph Kony’s tactics were—and remain—brutal. He often forced children to kill their parents or siblings with machetes or blunt tools. He abducted girls to be sex slaves for his officers. He brainwashed and indoctrinated the children with his lies and manipulated them with his claim of spiritual powers.
At the height of the conflict in Uganda, children “night commuted.” That is, every evening they would walk miles from their homes to the city centers. There, hundreds of children would sleep in school houses, churches, or bus depots to avoid abduction by the LRA.
Kony and the LRA abducted more than 30,000 children in northern Uganda.
So hopefully you do something. We here in the Canada and the States are the luckiest people on earth, and we should be trying to make that reality for everyone else we share this space with.
So will you?
”There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time is now.”
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/
http://c3424386.r86.cf0.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Kony2012_digital_kit.zip (Digital Download Kit)
Actually LISTEN to your Music
People buy more records than they can listen to. They stockpile what they want to find the time to hear. Use- time and exchange-time destroy one another. [...M]usic is no longer heard in silence. It is integrated into a whole. But as background noise to a way of life music can no longer endow with meaning. - Jacques Attali
This quote is taken from an article “Looking at Records” by Philip Auslander (link), where he quotes Attali’s paper “Noise: The Political Economy of Music”. Auslander’s paper speaks about the commodification of music, and how the simple act of viewing a record, or looking at it is what the consumer derives pleasure from. I see this all the time in people of my generation, especially with vinyl records coming back into popularity. As no one has the time to listen to all the music they own, we begin to stockpile. And continue stockpiling for the sheer enjoyment of the view of our stockpile. I know countless times I have compared the size of my iTunes library with a peer, and felt that satisfaction when my number was much larger than theirs.
But just because you have all this music stockpiled – does not mean it gets listened to. Maybe you put it on, and go make dinner, just to have something on. And this is when the music loses all meaning.
I am guilty of doing this all the time. I just put on my music, get busy doing something else, and forget it’s even on. I want to begin trying to actually listen to my music more now. Focus on what about it makes me happy and what I enjoy about the piece.
One thing I’m going to try to do is consider all musical entities a “piece”, instead of a song. Even the shift in a title changes your perspective on the art form. It takes it out of the realm of casual, passive listening and into that of active, critical listening. I think popular music in general has turned into more of a hobby/craft for some people and has lost it’s creditability.
From studying at a music school, I’ve begun to gain a new respect for the process of composing and creating a piece of music. And it’s a “piece” – not a “song”. A part of a whole that may be an album or a symphony or an opera. Moving farther in my career, dreaming of being a recording engineer, I am hoping this change in mindset from “song” to “piece” will help me gain a further understanding of my art.
I urge you to do the same. Give your music the listening it deserves. Don’t just place your music on in the background, to consciously listen and be actively involved in your own musical indulgences. I’m interested to see what others will find when they start to critically listen as well.
Here’s a Matthew Good track that I’ve been listening to a lot lately to get you started.
Non-Populus
Makes Me Think of My Grandfather
My grandfather recently passed last year, and seeing this video made me think of what he must of been like when we came to visit. I was too young to realize how much us grandkids mean to our grandparents – but it’s video’s like this that really make you all warm in fuzzy.
RIP Gigi.
Four Years
I saw this photo on the tumblr of a friend of mine a few weeks ago, and I’m just getting around to writing about it. It’s part of a bigger series of weird interesting facts about the body, but this one stuck me as the most prominent. (The rest are here if you’re curious - http://www.icanhasinternets.com/2011/10/mind-blown/) 
And I feel like this is not only true physically, in terms of all our cells and stuff, but also in terms of who we are as a person and emotionally. We all know we go through different stages in our lives and they happen at different times for different people. But would it be too far of a leap to assume that maybe these changes occur every seven years when all our cells from our “previous self” have finally disappeared?
Seven years ago, I was 14. I was in the 9th grade and was in the middle of maybe my second style cycle. I had ridiculously long hair, thought I was hot shit because I wore pink, played drums in a shitty junior high band and listened to Sum 41 and Blink 182 all day. I had had some random “girlfriends” but not a first kiss, and had played hockey almost all my life. I had dropped out of band class because I had hated it the year before. And I think this was about the time I got my first Facebook page. It was a few years later that my brother graduated and went to Australia, and my parents went to meet him shortly after, leaving me alone on my first week of high school. Getting to band practices in October in Calgary by bus at 6am was not fun.
I'm kind of proud to say that I'm still friends with that guy who I am wrapped around.
If you know me know, I’m sure you’ll hardly believe that that’s what I used to look like. (Aside: Part of me wants to retake this picture when we get back together at Christmas time. Kind of like these ones – http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/)
Somewhere in my grade 12 year I went through another shift. I think it a big part of it was during my trip with the high school band. It was during this trip that I discovered the rewards and the hardships of the career path I was slowly beginning down. I got thrown into a huge leadership role and kind of reveled in it. In grade 12 I was also playing and coaching hockey, had a few more girlfriends, had a first kiss, made a Grad Film, played a solo for our entire graduation class + families, and got accepted to my first university of choice. My musical tastes branched out more, I now liked screamo and emo and acoustic and punk and rock. I had almost mostly given up the drums and picked up the guitar and a mixing board. I even made a CD (Granted it’s terrible and I never want to have to hear it again – but those of you with a copy! Hold onto that sucker, you can sell it for millions later). I fought with my parents a lot – mostly about my current (and as I found out later, crazy) girlfriend.
I also cut my hair short for the first time in a while. You can always tell when a guy is ready to move onto the next stage of his life when he cuts his hair short and gets rid of the mop top shaggy teen look. Some guys keep it going out of high school, but it usually gets cut eventually. So far, the 7 year trend isn’t coming true, it seems to be closer to 3 or 4 years for me at least.
Incredibly, these people are still friends with me...
And this is where I’ve kinda plateaued. I haven’t changed much since then. Still super tall and skinny, 6’5″ 150lb, a broomstick some have said. One or two more girlfriends, maybe a bit more experienced. My style hasn’t changed all that much, I’ve grown into my “professional hipster” mentality and have learnt to rock it. University kicked my ass in my first two years, calculus almost killed me. I met one of my best friends and girlfriend here and learned a lot from her. I’ve had the same recording job now for 3 and a half years. I’ve become “that recording guy” in the school of music. Music has become one of the biggest factors in my life. Not only is it becoming my job, but I am always discovering more things about it and more styles that I am enjoying. I breached the 10 000 song mark this summer. I don’t fight with my parents anymore, or my brother – I think the distance was good for us. And I’m almost done my degree. Hopefully two more semesters and that’ll be it.
So now, it’s been 4 years since that last “style shift” in grade 12. Hold on.
It’s been 4 years since high school.
4 years.
That’s kind of gross. Most of my friends now are people I met when I was in high school. I still talk to all those people. I always wanted to be that guy who made all these great friends in University and went to all these parties. I always told myself I wasn’t going to be like my dad and never go out (at least he tells us he never went out – except for the one time he threw up over a bridge into a river – he does like to tell us that story). But I didn’t go out. Well, I didn’t go out A LOT. I mostly stayed in, I was content staying in. Partying was never my thing. I have met some great friends here though. I’ve got some Bro’s who I hope I’ll keep in contact later. And really, that’s what I’m thinking about now. What’s later? What’s next?
I’m almost done my degree.
What am I gonna do after? I’m feeling like that’ll induce another “style shift.”
Where am I going to be in four years? Who am I going to be in four years? Who are you going to be in four years?
(Also – a little more Nicole Byblow for your listening pleasure)
Fabio will be the ruin of Old Spice
So we all remember Isaiah Mustafa, just Google “Old Spice Guy” if you need to refresh your memory, and the ads he did for Old Spice. They were funny, original, and made men want to buy their product. Even though the ads pandered to the ladies as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like“, most of us guys wanted to be that guy.
Even if it meant just smelling like him. Some people rank him next to the Dos Equis as the Two Most Interesting Men In The World.
The YouTube campaign was unprecedented in it’s use of social media like YouTube and Twitter. and resulted in an increase of sales by 107% for Old Spice (see here). The video has almost 34 million views on YouTube. I’m sure at least a few of us out there edited together the phone message video to have the Old Spice Guy on our answering machine.
Things were going great for Old Spice. Until now.
The new Old Spice Guy is now Fabio. Fabio? Are you kidding me?! Practically no one from my generation even knows who he is! We were all babies when he was gracing the covers of adult “romance” novels throughout the 80′s & 90′s.
One of my friends has a Tumblr dedicated to appreciating Fabio in his once great glory (ironic hipster appreciation of course – http://fabioisawesome.tumblr.com/) So why Old Spice wanted to pull him out of nowhere and start using him for their ads is beyond me.
This is the first Fabio Old Spice ad that I saw. This is definitely not the kind of guy I want to be buying deodorant from. Rolling around on a piano like that? Rubbing his face against the stick of deodorant? No. This is not cool. I tuned out as soon as he started rolling back over to the second girl.
Here’s the second one:
Great, Fabio has long hair. And again with the rubbing on his face?! What is this?!?!?!
What happened to the great single shot ads? Ones that knew they were being ridiculous and fantastic. These new ones were trying so hard that they just end up looking silly.
Hopefully the community explodes with hate for Fabio and brings back the man we all loved.
Look at your new man, now back to me, now back at your new man, now back to me.
Sadly, he isn’t me.
Related articles
- Meet Your Newest Old Spice Guy: Fabio (Yes, That Fabio) (adweek.com)
- Fabio: The NEW Old Spice Guy? (celebs.icanhascheezburger.com)
- The New Old Spice Guy Is an Old, Familiar Face: Fabio [VIDEOS] (mashable.com)
The Video
Here’s the video for my Operation Unplugged Audition! Hope you enjoy! Take a minute to like it and comment it if you want!
re: Stacks
You know what I hate?
Places that have two sets of doors at their entrance.
They have them in just about every building at my school, and it drives me crazy. I understand the need to separate the wet part of the building or keep noise out or whatever, but it’s annoying for me! Especially in two very similar, very specific cases.
When you are walking behind someone through both doors (conversely, when they are walking behind you). “Why does this drive you crazy?” you might ask, and I would say;
Because then I am left in this awkward gap in the space time continuum where deja vu occurs every 10 seconds.”
So it’s common courtesy for people to hold open doors for people yes? And when someone holds a door open for you, you thank them, because that’s the polite thing to do. Now – lets say you’ve followed that person through the first door, and now you’re both heading towards the second. You know this awkward moment is going to come up again – Do you thank them a second time? Make eye contact? Nod? If you’re the person holding the door – do you make an extra effort to hold the door open the second time – or do you just keep on about your merry way?
I tend to lean toward the second grouping. I only say thank you the first time they hold the door open for me, and I don’t bother making an extra effort to hold a door open the second time. That’s just me, I’ve asked a few people and they’ve said that they’d thank people after opening both doors.
That’s just me, I figure people would understand that I said thanks the first time and don’t need to hear it again. Maybe I’m rude – but maybe I just don’t feel the need to please someone that much.
What are your thoughts on this space time continuum deja vu door opening duo?
4’33″ for Number 1!
Before you read the rest of this article, I should give you some background on 4’33″. Written by John Cage in 1952, it comprises of no music. The entire piece is silence for 4 minutes and 33 seconds, that’s the whole point. The player or orchestra or soloist or whatever comes out on stage and does nothing for that time. This was a super big deal when it first premiered and people were pretty pissed.
The idea is that, what the audience does and the resulting sounds IS the piece. So the shuffling, coughing, whispering etc. is the real “beauty” of the piece. Many musical people hate it and others wish they thought of it first.
So anyways, this is the piece that this article below talks about. The jist of it is that a bunch of famous musicians got together and did a version of 4’33″. And now they’re trying to make it the most downloaded song in December. This is a big deal because apparently the show X Factor puts out their song around this time and has dominated the charts every December for quite some time. So if 4’33″ can beat Matt Cardle (the latest winner of X Factor), then snobby musicians everywhere will rejoice!
I’m thinking I might buy it, it seems like one of those pieces that every musician should have at least one copy of. I also think it has a decent enough meaning behind it, as the proceeds are going to local charities.
If you’re the average music goer who has probably never even heard of John Cage or 4’33″, are you going to buy this song?
You can’t sing along with it or dance to it. It does not have a catchy beat – or, in fact, any beat at all. Yet the producers of Cage Against the Machine are hoping that their single – four-and-a-half minutes of famous musicians being perfectly silent – will be the top-selling single in Britain this Christmas.
This week, 40 musicians representing the old guard (Billy Bragg, Orbital) and the new (the Kooks, Guillemots) entered a London studio and did not play their instruments in a performance of John Cage’s famous silent composition, 4’33’’.
The studio microphones picked up breathing, shuffling and, on the second take, the muffled sound of someone’s buzzing BlackBerry. But there was no singing, and no music played. The resulting single, the proceeds from which will benefit four charities, will be released this week, in time for the frenzied British ritual known as the race for the Christmas No. 1.
Related Articles
- Why I’m backing Cage Against the Machine for Christmas No 1 (guardian.co.uk)
- John Cage For Christmas (theawl.com)
Cótes des Neiges (Snow Hill)
So school is in full swing again, and unfortunately this blog has taken a toll because of it. I have a few extra minutes tonight, so I feel like writing something. I’ve got a whole bunch of other random stuff and thoughts I’m gonna write down sometime, it’s just a matter of laziness.
The start of my third year has kind of come in as a whimper versus a bang. My schedule is very forgiving this semester, I only really have class on Monday and Thursday. Tuesdays has one class @ 7pm, and Fridays are off. So it’s pretty good. Again due to the program, I’m taking a mismash of courses, including the Art and Architecture of Ancient Greece. So hopefully things will be good as the year progresses.
Luckily, Girlfriend and I have still managed to maintain seeing each other fairly often. You’d think more often than we do, given we live in the same house. I am surprised how well the living situation is going. Being roommates is great, we usually have breakfast together and then do something in the night together, so it’s nice. The owners of the house are great and the cat loves me. Which is nice. Unfortunately my parents are under the assumption that Girlfriend and I share everything (food wise) and thus they have stopped pitching in for my food bill. I suppose this is fair, but hopefully when they come at the end of September, they will see how little we actually share, and have a change of heart. (Doubtful – but here’s to wishful thinking)
$500 Music Box
In other news, I’m spending too much money lately! I’m in the process of purchasing an Mbox Pro2 (pictured below) for $500. Which is a steal of a deal considering you generally pay $1200+ for it. It’s great because I can use it to record, I can plug in my other box into it, and I get access to the most used software in the business.
You see! Digidesign, the company who makes the Mbox, has also produced a program called ProTools which has become the industry standard. Well, Digi has also made it so that you can’t use ProTools unless you’re hooked up to an Mbox. So this is not cool. Thus I am buying one.
Secondly, I just bought VIP tickets to the Alexisonfire show that will be happening here in November. This means I get: a ticket &
- meet & greet
- tour poster
- exclusive laminate
- 7″ (DEMOS from OC/YC….super limited)
- early entry into venue
The guys I'll be meeting
Most importantly on this list is the meet & greet. Alexisonfire has grown to be one of my favourite bands, and having the opportunity to talk to them is going to be awesome. I’m already thinking up questions to ask and all this other loser stuff. Victoria is the first stop on the tour, so I’m gonna be one of the first people they meet! Aweeeesum.
In other nerdy music news involving me, there’s a guy coming to our school to talk to us about working in a well known studio. This guy has worked with K-Os, R.E.M., The Tragically Hip and Rise Against to name a few. These are a lot of big names, and a lot of bands that I listen to. I’m super pumped to talk to him and see what he says about the industry. So I’ve got another list of questions going for him too.
That kinda runs injunction with some other news of mine. I’ve taken over the Facebook group for my program, so I’m being a big n00b and posting all the time in the group to keep it relevant. 
Umm…other than that, I’m not really sure what else is going on with me. Trying my best to stay active. Girlfriend and I have started playing tennis, and I’ve joined a ball hockey team as well. So I’ve got lots on the go.
Oh! I suppose I can talk about what happened in the last bit of the summer. I’ve been working at the Gap most of the time, and still am continuing into the fall (5 classes, and 2 jobs – great). The Gap is great, and I love working there, right now it’s mostly weekends and Friday’s so the hours aren’t fantastic.
Also – this summer was probably the first summer where I actually read more than 2 books that weren’t comics. I read:
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
- The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
- The Producer as the Composer by Virgil Moorefield
- Think of a Number by John Verdon
All of them were really good, but I have to pick two out of the mix. Think of a Number was fantastic, probably the best book I’ve read in a long time. It’s a great serial killer/mystery/crime/psychological/fuck-with-your-brain type of book. Which I really enjoy. So I’d definitely recommend that one. 
The second, The Producer as the Composer, I would recommend for anyone with any interest in music. It talks about the producers role in making music all the way from Motown to DJ’s of today. It was the first book that got me to listen to an entire Beatles album (Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) and it made the music actually interesting to me. I went out and bought Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, just so I could hear for myself what Brian Wilson did in terms of mixing and arrangements. So for me this book had a significant impact on my musical life and how I want to pursue my career.
I think that’s enough for tonight. Ima go to bed now. More specifically…girlfriend’s bed! 
If there’s any books you think I should be reading, please let me know!
Twitter Shows It’s True Colours
Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day inferred from Twitter.
A study recently at Northeastern University in Boston created a mood map according to different tweets in the United States. The researchers there analyzed the 140-character long messages, deciphering mood and ranging it between least happy to most happy. There is a psychological word-rating system that is used to look at the 300+ million tweets and determine if they are happy or sad.
They found that people were most happy first thing in the morning (odd – I guess Tweethards are also morning people) and later in the evening. On a weekly trend, Sundays are the happiest, followed closely by Saturdays (no surprise there) and Thursday evenings found people the least happy.
“Even though individual tweets are pointless to anyone besides your followers, in aggregate there is a lot of meaningful information that can be an instrument to see how people feel about things, whether it’s public reaction to a politicians speech or a consumers attitudes about a brand.” said Sue Lehmann, one of the researchers.
This makes me wonder how much the government can use this information to judge it’s populous and determine where they have to campaign more. Say after a great Obama speech, the western coast is tweeting all red, then the government can learn to campaign better in that area and have to tailor it’s message better to those people. For me personally, I’d like to see the MoodMap for specific days, like when Lebron James announced he was going to play in Miami. (Maybe this explains Ohio’s grumpyness – See below).
There’s a time lapse video included here, and just so you’re not confused; The map is skewed because of the large population mass found in each region. You will see California bulge and shrink as more users in that area Tweet. See more in the picture below.
A cartogram is a map in which the mapping variable (in this case, the number of tweets) is substituted for the true land area. Thus, the geometry of the actual map is altered so that the shape of each region is maintained as much as possible, but the area is scaled in order to be proportional to the number of tweets that originate in that region. The result is a density-equalizing map. The cartograms in this work were generated using the cart software by Mark E. J. Newman, available at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cart.
I found it particularly interesting that during the time lapse, you can see that the states of New Mexico (on the top left corner of Texas) and Ohio (in the middle of the map, with the little hook on the right side) seem to stay red for the entire course of the day. Now, I don’t know if this has to do with the lack of tweets coming from that area, thus making the small sample size skew the results, or if people in those two states are really just grumpy all day long. Note to self: Do not go to Ohio/New Mexico on Vacation.
You have the right to look ridiculous.
A judge in Brooklynn ruled against a cop who had given a young man wearing his pants too low a ticket.
The cop had ticketed the man for disorderly conduct for having “his pants down below his buttocks exposing underwear [and] potentially showing private parts.”
While the look has been banned by some other towns, it’s not illegal in New York, where you can look as foolish as you want. As long as you’re not exposing your body too much.
I think that this is pretty interesting that they’re actually trying to take this to court, it seems rather ridiculous to try and fine someone for wearing a fashion that you don’t necessarily like.
What do you think?
Firefox taking the next step to Internet superiority
Firefox Just Perfected Tabbed Browsing. It’s Like Apple’s Expose Plus Spaces For The Web.
So really, you need to watch this video, or just read what I am going to write below.
Firefox has created a super awesome new browser that’s going to be available soon. With a new feature called Tab-Candy, it allows users to sort and manage their tabs much like the Expose feature on a Mac. I know Girlfriend will love this feature because she is terrible with her tabs.
Basically, Firefox has given you a giant flat table with all your tabs on it. You can sort all your tabs into different groups, label them, and then when you click on a certain group to view the page, you will only see the tabs within that group. (Ie, if you’re doing research on Miley Cyrus, but on Facebook and stuff at the same time, you make your Miley group, and then gawk at her for few minutes until you realize that’s illegal.)
This is going to be particularly handy for me. Right now I have a bunch of bookmark groups, such as all my emails/networking/facebook group, my webcomics group, my online banking group, my music group, etc etc etc. So now I can have each of these groups seperate and easily accessible. 
Another great thing is that you can have separate log-ins for email. So Girlfriend is going to get her own group just for her, and she can log into it whenever she wants, and won’t have to deal with my saved passwords and stuff.
And it doesn’t stop there! They’ve got all these plans for being able to connect to other people. Essentially letting you see what everyone else is browsing on the internet at the same time, which could prove problematic at some points/decreasing our privacy even less, but interesting for sure.
An Introduction to Firefox’s Tab Candy from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
Anyways, it’s just in the development stages right now, but this looks practically revolutionary – I’m going to download the beta version now and try it out! Maybe you will too!
A few things from this week…
As I get ready for school this morning, I feel like I should mention a few things that have happened to me this week that have been quite out of the ordinary.
Two days ago, as in February 1st, I got 150 hits to my blog. Which is an all time record. The not so cool part was that 90% of these hits were from people searching John Krasinski, better known as Jim from the Office. I had posted something about him getting married a couple months back and apparently people wanted to read about it? Or see his picture? I don’t know.
John Krasinski again, also, I really like his cardigan
Another thing that’s been really random and really annoying, is that I lost my left shoe. Just one. I went out on Friday night with Girlfriend, and when I had come back my roommates had moved in a bar and my shoe was gone. I have no idea where it would have gone or why it would have disappeared. I’ve asked all the roommates, and all the roommates girlfriends and they have no ideas either. Something is aloof in Victoria.
Life in the house is kinda tense right now. It’s pretty weird. With my one roommate working full-time, he really misses out on a lot that goes on with the 3 of us. It’s really become the 3 of us and then him. It doesn’t help that he generally shuts himself in his room when he is home. I feel bad because we haven’t really done a very good job of being nice to him. Things are generally his fault (even if they’re really not, he has become the scapegoat) and it’s just not fair. I feel like there’s nothing I can really do to change anything as it’s just a personality clash and if he chooses to segregate himself from the rest of us, then that’s his choice and I’m not going to influence it.
With my birthday and valentine’s day coming up, Girlfriend and I are trying to plan a trip again. Last year at this time we went to Seattle and it was one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on. We want to do that again, but are having troubles making plans. I would really love to go to Vancouver, but with the Olympics this year, that’s just not an option. I wouldn’t mind going to Seattle again, but I’m not sure if it would be as fun as last time. We’ve been looking @ B&B’s up island, but nothing looks perfect just yet. Any suggestions?
Also, you may or may not remember that I was having a terrible semester a few months ago, and I had looked into transferring to the Digital Audio Arts program at the University of Lethbridge. Well, that’s definitely out. I got my first reply from them this week. When I had first inquired in November. That’s almost 4 months of waiting for an answer. And if their faculty there takes that long to answer a question, then it’s definitely not worth getting involved with the school. So yeah!
Anywho, I best be off to class. Music Theory ahoy!
Later days,
- J
Youtube Music Challenge Pt.3
Okay Em, here’s my rebuttal to your video, “We May Cry” by the Script.
I present you with “Elegy for Elsabet” by the Weakerthans. Now, you need to either watch (or skip to) the middle/bridge of this song. The band puts down their instruments and do something pretty awesome. Hence why they beat the Script, who sound like any other band who sits infront of the quad at my school. Cept maybe a bit better.
Enjoy the Weakerthans!
What I’ve Been Listening To…Maybe You Should Too!
- As Tall As Lions
- Band of Horses
- Brand New (New CD called Daisy)
- The Constantines
- Dear and the Headlights
- Emarosa
- Final Fantasy
- Hot Little Rocket
- Jay – Z
- Just Jack
- Manchester Orchestra
- Neverending White Lights (New CD)
- One Day As A Lion
- Stars
- Sufjan Stevens
- The Wallflowers
- The Weakerthans
- Weatherbox
I’ve been really like Weatherbox and Emarosa. Both suggested to me via the Itunes Genius, which I find is surprisingly reliable. If you’re fans of alt rock and post-hardcore respectively, you’ll like these bands. I also bought the new Matthew Good CD, Vancouver, so I’m pretty excited to get to listen to that one!
I’ve got four more CD’s to review and I think they’re going to be good! I’m pretty excited!
It’s your turn again! – What have you been listening to? Anything I should listen to or check out? Let me know with a comment!
A Few Thoughts on the First Month
So September has turned over rather quickly and already we’re into October. I find this quite amazing, I’ve survived a month of school.
Let’s take count of what I’ve done so far.
- Moved into my 4th home in one year.
- Started six new classes
- 4 Electrical Engineering Assignments
- 3 Linear Algebra Assignments
- 4 Music Theory Assignments
- 1 Listening to Music Assignment
- 5 Jazz Band Rehearsals
- 15 Hours of Work
- 25+ boxes of Peak Freans
- 5+ Solid Hours of Rock Band Played
So as you can see I’ve been a little busy. School is hectic and work sometimes makes that nicer, and sometimes not. Like today. Work tonight was really lame. Some world renown singer came in and made noises that I’ve heard my girlfriend make randomly. And apparently she gets paid to do this. I would compare it to listening to a Pentacostal worshipper speak in tongues. Weird stuff.
The last two things on that list relate to my roommates. I have moved in with three guys that I knew from last year and I think that has made a huge difference. Knowing each other, we can joke around and be a little more confrontational if we need to be. It makes living together a lot funner and easier. We all share meals, and D, who has become a good friend of mine, cooks most (if not all) of our meals. And we eat together. We divide up the food and the bill on a whiteboard and everything is generally hunky-dory. Three of us have a Peak Frean obsession (the cookies with the cream and the fruit jelly in the middle) and we can go through about 5 boxes a week. It’s a fun, slightly ridiculous thing we all have. And then there’s our rockband. My one (rather wealthy/frivolous) roommate went out and bought Rockband for the PS3 within the first week of living here. We all created outrageous characters and then a band. And it works out perfectly as we all have an instrument in which we enjoy. K, isn’t comfortable enough to play hard guitar, but medium is too easy, so he plays bass, I naturally play drums, D sings gloriously (seriously, the dude sounds like an angel sometimes) and B plays guitar. So we fit. They want to dress us as our band for halloween, but I’m not too keen. My character will be quite hard for me to reproduce on a budget. I’m thinking of just going as Elvis Costello/Buddy Holly.
Halloween Costume - Elvis Costello?
Halloween Costume - Buddy Holly?
We had a party last week which was eventful to say the least. We had some friends over and watched the Flames beat the Oilers, and then K’s girlfriend wanted to watch Animal House. The rest of the party goers didn’t think this idea was too hot, but she was fairly addament about watching this movie. I find this is kind of ridiculous, and this applies to anyone who throws a party at someone else’s house. If you are throwing a party, make that clear, don’t leave it to the house owner to throw it, you should be there. You should be there before to clean up, prepare and help out, not arriving at the specified time. This way, you can make your plan clear, and organize any alternatives if need be. So already that was not going well. Then she added alcohol to the mix and things did not turn out in her favour, which looked even worse on her part. She did get to watch her movie, albeit on a laptop in the kitchen. After the game, some friends from my old old (original) rez and I went back to see the new renovations that had occured over the summer. And the place is so nice, it sucks to be the last one in a place that gets changed after you leave. It’s happened a lot to me…
Anyways, I get back home, and my friends take off, and then, the real fun starts. 7 RANDOM people, walk into our house, and start snooping around and eating our stuff. By this time, K is dealing with his girlfriend, and B went off with his, so D and I are left to defend our kingdom on our own. We eventually get them settled into the living room, and it is clear that these folk are drunk, high, crunk, whatever the fuck you wanna call it. They were gone. So that was fun to handle. I did my best to just be chill and accept them and try to get them to leave on their own terms, but D wanted them out ASAP, but was far too kind to just kick them out. Eventually we did get them to leave, and immediately locked the door.
So Saturday was an interesting night to say the least.
My reviews have been peppering the Martlet in the last few weeks, and I got an email from the new arts editor this week about meeting him about doing some more stuff. So maybe I’ll be able to do show reviews and band interviews and stuff! Budding new music journalist here! Watch out!
In other news, I am staying here for Thanksgiving. My girlfriend and I are going to a potluck which should be nice. (No dishes! Woo!) Also, my jeans should be here soon! So very excited for those! Thank you again if you read this!! 
I’m trying to think of what else to write about. Jazz band is frustrating as always, still no respect from the percussionists. Still can’t practice. Haven’t got anything to play. So it’s pretty lame. I had to put the vibraphone in a recording room last week because no percussionists were there to let me in. Apparently the percussion instructor guy wasn’t too happy. But I really had no other choice unless he wanted someone to steal them. But whatever.
The VJ results get posted in 6 days if you are keeping track! So stay tuned for that. Also, more videos to come in the Em Vs. Jay challenge! Me thinks I’m winning. I might also do a post soon of what I’ve been listening to lately!
What has your September been like? Done anything thrilling? Tell me!
I think that’s about all! Have a good night, morning, day, wherever you are.
Later days,
- J
Morbid Monday to Terrific Tuesday?
Aight, I got 18 minutes to pound this bitch out before midnight, thus bedtime.
This last week(end) sucked a lot of balls for me. Working Wed-Sat from about 5 – 10 on average. So I was pooped. Made about $200 though, which is nice. And now looking at my work schedule for October, I worked more in the past four days then I will all next month. Blasted 5 recording techs. I kinda hate having to share the job. Especially with people in my program. I feel like this is my little nest egg and my thing that I was doing last year and I really want it all to myself. But whatever, I guess I can’t always be a hog.
In other recording news, I’ve been talking with my boss, and he said that it would be a good idea to go to the Banff Centre for the Arts in the Fall of next year. Which means that I would take summer courses for third year in this coming summer, get them all out of the way, and take the fall semester off at UVic. At this time I would get into the Banff Centre for a recording assistantship. It’s perfect! Hurray.
This Sunday was pretty good too. The girlfriend and I went to ToysRUs and got our toys, (see post below) and I did some CD reviews, which Calandra has editted, and I just need her to send me the good copies, and then I can post on here! I did David Guetta and some ska band called Subb.
I’m trying to think of big news to tell you guys! Because I’m sure you all are so entralled by my life that you’re so excited when I post something new. Har. Seriously though, if you do read my blog, you should comment and tell me something. I feel like a big fat idiot when no one says anything. 
So if you’re a big fat hoe bag who hasn’t commented on my blog. Get on it.
The VJ contest closed today, the winners will be announced on the 13th, or the 16th, I can’t remember. Sometime in October. I doubt that I won, but you never know. I don’t think I could do it though, being in school and all. So blah.
I wonder if there’s a way for me to post links to songs on here…I’ve been playing my guitar a bit more again, and might do some more recording if I get a minute or two to myself. So I might look into that, or might just post on youTube. This whole album thing kinda didn’t happen. Oh well.
Ack, 8 more minutes left. What else can I say?
I’m waiting for my good friend to send me a care-package full of jeans for me! She works at a really fancy store and get me a good deal on really nice jeans. 
So I am uber excited. I kinda feel bad for being like “Yay, when’s it coming?” and being really annoying. So I apologize to you! Apparently this year people might come visit me. FagSauce and VeinGirl might come, as well as CalandraBrown! My parents are also coming to visit at the end of October.
Which brings me to another point! I am not coming home for Thanksgiving this year. I think it will be good to stay home for longer, let my parents settle in to being alone with me or my brother for a while. They’ve been so used to taking care of us that they don’t know what to do with themselves! They’re in Quebec right now on a vacation! So jealous.
Also you should check out my twitter on the sidebar! It’s been up for a while, but I’ve never explicitly said anything about it! But you should definitely go read it! It’s all things that my girlfriend asks/says to me. I’m thinking about buying her a big map to answer a lot of the geographical questions.
Monday was gross and rainy most of the day, so it was nice to be indoors. But unfortunately I had to go take the bus to a computer store. And after waiting about 45 minutes, I got a new battery for my computer! This is exciting news. There’s something about my computer that just eats up batteries, this is my 3rd so far. They also told me two important things, that I could get around $1200 for it if I want to sell it. And that I have a CS-code on my Apple file. CS stands for ‘Customer Satisfaction,’ I think because I’ve had so much trouble with my computer that they’re basically willing to repair anything I have wrong with it to keep me happy. So, if there’s anything else wrong with it, just gotta call them up and get them to fix it. Maybe I’ll see if they can fix my screen….but the guy at the store said they don’t like it if you mention you have it, cause then they know you’re just trying to scam them out of money.
Anywho, I think it’s time for bed now.
Hopefully your Monday was good! I kinda feel like Garfield…
Later days,
- J
Two big kids. In love. With Lego and Stuffies.
My girlfriend and I went to ToysRUs today. And I think it can be said that we really like what we got…
http://brasskeys.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/my-new-bff/
My lover bought me Geoffery the Hippopotamus today. Geoffery is almost as cuddly as Boyfriend
So this is how I spent my evening! Building Lego. Oh how I yearn for simpler times! I miss all my Lego at home. It’s such a peaceful activity.
I think my girlfriend summed it up best,
We’re just two big kids.
In love.
With lego and stuffies.
What did you do with your Sunday? Anything relaxing? Leave me a comment let me know!
Also the VJ contest ends tomorrow! I’ll keep you guys posted with what happens. Haha posted, what a pun.
Later days,
- J
Saturday Night Wrap-Up
So maybe some of you are reading my blog for the first time! That’s because you found the link on my MuchMusic VJ page! Yay. Happy to have you here reading!
So the first full week of school is over! Hurray, I’ve survived the start of another semester. This week has already been full of a lot of ups and downs, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it through the weeks and months to come.
First off, my electrical engineering class sucks a whole lot of cock and balls. But before I get there, I have to take a mathematical tangent. Remember in high school when you got something like √-4 your teacher told you that “it doesn’t exist” and “you’ll worry about that in university.” Well, I’m in university and boy am I worrying about it now. So apparently the square root of negative one is ‘i’ (or ‘j’). And it’s imaginary. Yeah, talk about a brain fuck. Well anywho, my elec course basically entirely deals with imaginary and complex (combination of imaginary and real) numbers. So FUCK. It sucks, a lot.
Other than that, my courses aren’t too bad. Nothing too major has come up that’s going to be horrible. We haven’t even been assigned anything in my Software Engineering course so far. I think that class is my favourite. For those of you who are wondering, I am taking the following classes:
- Mus 115 – Listening to Music (For non-music students)
- Mus 201A – Language of Music (Theory)
- Mus 180 – Ensembles (Jazz Band [more on this later])
- Math 211 – Linear Algebra
- SEng 265 – Software Development Methods
- Elec 255 – System Dynamics
So those are my classes this semester, and hopefully things go well!
But! Mus 180 hasn’t gotten off to that good of a start. So, this class is basically playing in an ensemble, and I wanted to try out for jazz band. I’m intending on playing the vibes and auxillery percussion, so tambourines, shakers, conga, etc. So for my audition I have to get a hold of a set of vibes, and I sent around a few emails and finally arranged with some percussionists to get them. Well then I’m waiting outside this teachers office for 45 minutes before leaving. I went home and sent her an email, and APPARENTLY I needed to sign up on some audition list before I could audition. Well that was never said to me, it wasn’t even put up anywhere in the Music building (which by the way we’re not really welcome in). So I have to go see her tomorrow (which is Monday because I am finishing this on Sunday). So already not liking this class, and rehearsals would be on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which are my two longest days. So I’m contemplating dropping the course.
Yeah, so us Music and Computer Science kids have it fuckin’ rough. We call ourselves the “Half-Breeds” because we don’t actually fit into any program. We’re registered into the faculty of fine arts, which makes it practically impossible to get into any of the engineering classes we have to take without somebody up top approving us. And then if we happen to wander downstairs to the music longuey part where all the music students hang out, we barely get acknowlegded. The only way someone is going to talk to us, is if we’re a friend with a music student, which generally we’re not. Even though we’re in the same classes, same ensembles for the same amount of time. The only difference is we don’t get lessons for classes. So retarded.
I’m having troubles thinking up what to say for my MuchMusic VJ video thing, so if you’ve got any ideas let me know with a comment! I’m trying to just be normal, and non-campy/gimicy. We’ll see how it turns out.
Also, I don’t know if it’s my roommate, or my neighbour. But they BOTH have their music so friggen loud all the friggen time. With friggen subwoofers. Blah. I need to just tell my roommate to turn it down a little, and maybe pound on my wall at my neighbour.
In other news, my roommate D, has picked up the Master Quest for Gamecube. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Gamecube. Which is great! I’ve been watching him play for the past few days, and it’s quite nostalgic. I remember when my brother and I got that game for Christmas, when I was like 8. And he played it all the way through, with me sitting there just watching getting just as excited about it as he was. Twas good times. And now I basically get to repeat that! But I’m 19 now…
Anywho, gotta get today started and do some more homework, I hope your Sunday is better than mine!
Later days
- J
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
10 Bands Everyone Hates Me For Hating
I expect to get a lot of hate mail about this post. But I can take it, sticks and stones can break my bones, but your words will never hurt me. Hopefully you can just accept that my tastes are nothing like yours.
1. The Beatles – Let’s get this one out of the way first. Do not like. I don’t think I will ever understand their appeal. Across the Universe was good though.
2. Bob Dylan – I can barely get through one of his songs. His voice is just not what my ears enjoy hearing.
3. Leonard Cohen – see 2.
4. Alanis Morissette – Angsty women kinda creepy me out a little.
5. Bob Marley – I’m sure everything he did for pot smokers was clearly important, his music however is not my cup of tea.
6. Michael Jackson – Same as the Beatles, I will never understand what everyone likes about his music.
7. Kings OProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
Leon – They’re just one of those bands that I skip anytime they come on my iPod. “Why do you have them on your iPod then?” you ask, and I’d reply “I’m still trying to give them a chance, like the rest of bands on this list.”
8. The Rolling Stones – Don’t know why, something about all these ‘classic’ artists just does not flow with me.
9. Daft Punk
10. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus – Now I’m sure you love whatever Miley does and you think she’s great, but I do not.
Comments? Complaints? Who’s in your top ten?
Your Turn!
Well because my computer died, I’ve resorted to one of my most hated past-times.
Reading.
What are some of your favourite books that you think I should read?
Let me know in a comment!
- J
