My Place

Miss Katherine Earl

weekend

I have to include a story from Friday...

At lunch I went to Criminal Records, to buy a CD that I've been wanting to get for a while - Wayne Petti (lead singer for Cuff the Duke)'s solo record. When I walked into the store, I looked over to the cash, and Wayne Petti was himself working there. Hilariously, a Cuff the Duke song was also playing on the store stereo. And then I walked up to the cash with his record in my hand. It was like three Wayne Petti lines randomly intersected in a single point.

The CD is good, by the way...

On Saturday, I took the long ride to spiritual direction. That afternoon/evening, we collected money for the Salvation Army outside of Holts, on Bloor. It was pretty cold (for a 3.5 hour shift)...

During the shift, and continuing through the night, and most of Sunday, it snowed. On Sunday morning, we trudged through a foot or so of snow to the laundromat (we pretty much had no clean clothes, or we would have postponed the outing...)

Church was pretty empty, and I played melodica. There was this one pretty cool part in the second last song where I totally screwed up... and Leah couldn't stop laughing.

In other news, we kept Mabel drugged all weekend, after her dental surgery on Friday. Luckily, she didn't seem to respond to the codeine in the same way she had to the morphine which the vet gave her (she was growling and woozy and violent when Leah picked her up!). She seems to be pretty much back to normal...

Where was I ?

So...

My new job is keeping me pretty busy, as you can tell from the lack of blogging (also, I'm not really feeling the blog recently, but I will try to keep it up for all the fans...) I am working on a film post-production facility, and an office building. Last week we had our client Christmas party at the Panarama.

So, what about the weekend?.. Leah and I rocked the Salvation Army collection kettle at Yonge and Bloor on Saturday. By which I mean we sat at one of those things for about 3 hours as people put money into it.

Also, we hung out with Bradley on Saturday night, and the Cumbys for brunch on Sunday. Groceries. Church.

weekend

went to Montreal
came back...

That was pretty much the weekend, aside from marking some assignments on Friday night. And the trip to Montreal was more about hanging out with the McG's than seeing the city, since all we really had time to do was eat a few meals and log some highway miles.
We did walk around old Montreal for a little while, stopped in at Notre Dame and the fishermen's church, and met up with Rob W and his girlfriend for brunch on Sunday.

I live still

Seems I skipped a weekend update...
My new job started this week - and seems to be going OK. I have been working on a commercial office building development, which is certainly different.

Last night Clayton Park played a show at the Kathedral - they sounded great and a good few people were there despite the rain.

Today it is snowing.

On Saturday we will be driving to Montreal with David and Jen McG.

Last Days

For those who haven't heard - today is my last day of work before starting a new job on Monday.

I have been spending the last week trying to wrap things up, and all of today handing off project folders to other people.

decalogue 3

decalogue 2

We have a lot of work to do if we are going to get through the next eight of these before Sunday!

Dumb but funny

Top Hip-Hop Acts of 18th-Century England

w__k_nd _pd_t_

On Friday we went over to Andrew and Bradley's for dinner, and to play some music.
On Saturday we went to a church meeting, and then we went and bought me some clothes.
On Sunday I met up with Nolan (who used to work with me) for lunch, and then went to an exhibit at the Design Exchange. After church we watched part one of Krzysztof Kieślowski's The Decalogue.

Weekender

Friday night - Leah went out with the DR grrrls - for dinner, and then to 'cause trouble around town. I stayed home and took the opportunity to watch Batman Begins. I (generally) <3 superhero movies, at least in theory (in practice, they tend to kinda suck). This one was pretty sweet.
Afterwards, I cleaned and set up the drums underneath the bed. It is kinda ridiculous, but it works.

Saturday - Leah had a rehearsal at the house - so people showed up with instruments and learned a few of her songs for the show on Tuesday. That evening, we went to the gluten/dairy-free fish and chips blace on Broadview.

Sunday - we hit up the always exciting Dufferin Mall. We had to buy some random Wal-Mart things, as well as some groceries. I hate even going in to Wal-Mart, but we generally end up there a couple of times a year. Church was good, and afterwards we went to Hosu Bistro with the bound-for-NYC Sue.

A Show

weekend

The last few days have been a little hectic - but things are calming down now, which is good.

We went to a couple of shows over the weekend... one for Don's CD release at the Rex. It was pretty rammed, and the music was of course amazing.

On Sunday night we went to Mitzi's Sister, where Jessica was playing a show. Leah was rocking the flute/vox on a couple of songs. The show got pushed back at the last minute, so we ended up unwittingly arriving an hour early, which was kinda neat 'cause we got to hang out with the violin player and her husband.

Last night, after getting back from Humber, I went down to Paul and Becky's to borrow Dan's truck. We then proceeded to move all of our stuff out of the studio and into our apartment. There is currently (among other things) an entire drum kit scattered around the living room, and a little air organ in the kitchen. Somewhere in the move, my table broke, so I will have to rewire it at some point. We also hauled Jen's desk and Mae's backdrop rolls over to their house before returning the truck, gratefully filled with gas and beer.

That's it for now...

The Immigrant

Immigrant Design has been getting some much needed updating of late, with a couple of older projects finally reformatted for the site...

The Weekend

You know the deal:

Friday - we went out for Korean food for dinner, and then rented the Color Purple... old school, featuring, among others, Oprah Winfrey. Despite that, it is a pretty good story... I hadn't watched it since high-school, and I didn't realize how overly dramatic some of the scenes are (in my opinion, at least)

Saturday was the church annual general meeting. It was a good meeting, but too long.

I sort of hoped to watch the world cup rugby final afterwards, but instead I went in to the office and prepared lecture material for today's classes. Turns out South Africa won the world cup - not that I care about rugby, but it would have been kinda fun to watch.

Sunday was church - afterwards Jeremy and Bradley came over, and we ate sushi from Hosu bistro. That place is killer, btw. Then we stayed up a bit too late for having to get up at 6. Not that people had to get up at 6. Except for me.


Turns out students don't particularly mind if their 3 hour class doesn't go for the full 3 hours (at least, those that mind are pretty quiet about it...) Today we talked about both metal and glass, all in just over an hour.

Hamlet

If you don't listen to This American Life, you haven't heard this episode on prisoners performing Hamlet...

I highly recommend the show (podcast it), and this episode in particular.

Late Update

So - I'm a little late at the old weekend update, but here goes...

On Friday night, Leah was playing a show (of the CD release variety) with the Loitering Heroes. It was at the Tranzac, which is a great place for shows, and the first time that I saw them play with new drummer, Nico (I might end up taking drum lessons from him, once the drums are set up in our apartment!) Some new songs too, which are pretty sweet.
Afterwards, we hung out (sushi, Starbucks) with Bradley. Among other things, we talked about how his thesis is freaking him out, and his plans to take the bus out to California to record with Jason Martin (and Leah and I, if we're up for it).
The rest of the weekend pretty much saw me working on lesson-planning and putting together assignments for Humber kids. Seriously, the rest of the weekend, except for Kevin and Jenn's housewarming, and church.
Yesterday I was at Humber, dispensing quizzes, assignments, and my own precious knowledge! Afterwards I went grocery shopping and made dinner, and then went to bed before my migraine headache kicked in too hard.

And today I am back at the office... and listening to the recently (at lunch) purchased R.E.M. live album(s). So far I am actually pleasantly pleased (I was worried, to be honest). I am hoping (against the odds, I fear) for their new album next year to be HUGE...

I am old.

Long Weekend

Mostly we had a couple of Thanksgiving meals - so we made a few pies.
Also - I ran sound at church, for the first time in a while, since everyone was away for the weekend.

Football

Yesterday after work, some people from the office played soccer against folks from the architecture office that's a floor above ours.

I signed up, expecting a friendly game at Trinity Bellwoods or something. The next thing I knew, I was given a black Umbro team shirt, and told that we were playing here.

The guys from upstairs seemed kinda shocked when we didn't all show up wearing cleats and shin guards, and that our goalie didn't have gloves... and I couldn't help overhearing conversation about where and when there next game was...

Needless to say, we kinda got schooled - although not as badly as I suspected we might be. I learned that my soccer skills are pretty weak - turns out if you don't play for, like, 20 years - you lose most of whatever ability you had (which probably wasn't all that much anyway - 'cause you were 10!) By the second half though, things were getting better - the mostly forgotten soccer area of my brain was starting to wake up (even though my body was perhaps still a little behind.)

Another thing I learned is that, even with the occasional subbing out for breaks on the sidelines, a full-on 90 minute game on a full-on official size field is absolutely killer. In the last few minutes I was fighting off cramps in my calf muscles (and then had to bike home, too!)

Unfortunately, one guy fell during the game and landed nastily. He ended up going to the hospital, 'cause his collarbone was, um, definitely not in a normal position anymore. It sucked - I was talking to him while people were off getting the security folks and looking for someone with a car - and I had no idea what to do or say to help. I haven't heard if it was broken, or just out of place...

Check out these lyrics...

I saw the Devil in the Garden, he was bringing Good News
I saw the Devil in the Garden, he was bringing Good News
He told me I could be in charge and then he brought me a noose
I put it right around my neck, I thought I'd wear it (just loose)

DriveXV

For those interested, Stereogum organized a 15 year anniversary tribute to Automatic for the People... download/read about that junk here.

(In case you didn't hear, they also did a 10 year anniversary tribute to OK Computer a few months back.)




Both bands have albums out in a couple of weeks...

Backwards

It is rainy and grey, so I rode the rocket in to work, rather than my bike. I was listening to Endtroducing, and that, together with the grey, made me want to keep walking, past the office, and down to the Gardiner and the train tracks. Somehow the trash and graffiti and concrete of the 'terrain vague' can be more comforting than the office.

Last night we went to see Douglas Coupland read from his new book. It was the first time I have ever been to a reading, and it was pretty neat. I will say that I preferred the times when he was just talking about stuff, in between chunks of the Gum Thief (which I haven't read, but probably will once the winter forces me onto the subway every day). Afterwards people lined up for him to sign their copies of his books.

I also went to Humber and taught a class on Flooring. It was very exciting, and afterwards people lined up and I signed copies of their Interior Detailing textbooks.

On Sunday, I was going to play drums at church. After setting up the whole kit, I discovered that the kick pedal was missing - turns out it was left out last week and the folks at St Andrew's locked it up for us. So I didn't play drums.

On Saturday I spent the day putting together Powerpoint slides for my lecture on Flooring. That evening, one of Leah's friends from highschool came over to visit. After dinner in Koreatown, we strolled around the Nuit Blanche festivities. This mostly meant walking through frustratingly dense crowds, and seeing almost nothing of the exhibits. Basically we went for a long walk. It was good.

On Friday, Leah went to the Rivoli to sing backup for everybody's favourite country duo. I went to a long church meeting at the pastors' house.

I <3 Processing

(nerd post warning)

I wrote my first Processing script last Friday...
I don't know if I will have the time to learn how to use it, but the 3D engine makes me want to try.

For example, I could never do this in Flash...

Cellulose + Science -> Fuel + Water

There is a pretty interesting article over in Wired about the efforts of various researchers to find a cost-effective way of converting cellulose to usable fuel.
Could this be the future?



I propose a car with four stomachs.

Weekend

Friday afternoon - The office had their big grand opening... the CEO showed up, as did king-of-town, David Miller. That night we watched the Departed (all the stars, but I didn't care for it).

Saturday - we went grocery shopping, and then trekked up to the old hood to see the ArtStarts art house. They basically took an old beat-up house which is scheduled for demolition, and painted it up. There is a giant octopus-beast with his tentacles wrapped around the thing, and pretty hilarious quotes everywhere. There was also a band playing covers of everything from Dylan to the Beastie Boys, and a massive tire sized bowl of donuts.

Later we went to see Basia Bulat at the Music Gallery, after randomly reading the article in Now. It was pretty good, although we were both expecting a more polished band... instead there was a definite this-is-one-of-our-first-shows-ever kinda vibe. It was fun.

Sunday - I stepped outside to Salvation Army church in the morning (787 Dovercourt... we're at 781) - it turns out the pastors' family spent a lot of time in South Africa. They were disappointed to discover that I am not much of a rugby fan. Church featured uniforms and a brass band, and a lot of older folks, mostly... but is was pretty cool.
Church at night featured no uniforms, Leah and Anne, and a lot of kids, mostly...
Afterwards we went to Jonathan Bluks & Co's place.

talk20

A while back Zellyn sent me a link about Pecha Kucha; 20 powerpoint slides, 20 seconds per slide, 6 mins and 40 seconds of presentation, total.

Yesterday I found out about talk20 - it was free, it was at the Drake... so I decided to check it out.

Turns out it was really cool. There were presentations from a number of groups whose work I had already seen online (thanks to core77 and archinect)... as well as a bunch of others. The work ranged from spatial design to furniture to glitch-art to fixtures to urban exploration to landscape to straight-up hipster-art.

If you haven't seen this guys site yet, check out some sweet pics of the sewers of Toronto (and other places)...
These guys were funny.
And this site is something I need to check out when I have some time (since I ran my first ever Processing script yesterday).

Here are links to all of the participants... all in all it was pretty inspiring.

There is another round coming up Nov 1, if anyone wants to go with me...

Some links

Check out these cool mini-planet pics...

AND...

This bike is the jam!

Weekend Summary

Rehearsal on Friday night... Leah, Bradley and I ran through the songs for church. Went to bed too late.
Saturday... I ran around town and bought some pants and shoes. On Saturday night, we watched God Grew Tired of Us, which I highly recommend. The movie documents some Sudanese refugees (the lost boys of Sudan) as they move to the US... It is pretty amazing.
Sunday... laundry and church.

Nothing

I don't have anything to say here these days.
Here is a neat post from a blog, about why we write...
It reminds me of my scribble.nu days (almost 8 years ago?!) - when my online presence was creative and energetic and personal. Is it possible to recreate/discover an environment that is as creatively inspiring as that one was?

Last night I went to the Welobike fundraiser. Like all events, it didn't really get going until after my bedtime. I rode a bike and lit up an LED screen. And then I rode a bike home... as the bands were taking to the stage.

Tonight I will be playing the drums, practicing for church on Sunday. It's been a while since thumping on them tubs... I hope it works out.

Oh - and I had coffee this morning with somebody I went to Georgia Tech with. She is in town for a wedding, and I swear I haven't seen or talked to her in maybe 8 years. It was really good - like having my mind shoved through space and time. I miss people and places but I don't even know it.

In the News

A couple of articles for your reading pleasure...
Welobike gets some love from the Star.
And the Global Warming Chess Team gets props in Now.

Crazy Weekend Update

It was indeed a crazy weekend.

Friday was Leah's birthday. 3-0!. It was also Lisa's last day staying with us, and the end of a 5 night run of house guests. And it was also Dylan's welcome back to Toronto party. Crazy, busy, fun times.

On Saturday, I headed down to the islands for the Virgin music festival. I had signed up to volunteer with Global Inheritance - I am on their email list and was happy to see they were coming to Toronto. I didn't really know what I was in for, other than it involved human global warming chess. I spent the morning helping to finish the giant chess-boards, and then went on to help with the final touches (emergency measures!) on assembling a giant wind-turbine costume (and pretty much covering my hands in spray-insulation and spray-paint).

Just before the first game started, I was assigned the role of playing a solar panel - this is pretty much like a bishop, in traditional chess, but with a sandwich board of solar panels, a mask and a bright orange wig...
AND woman's American Apparel GOLD TIGHTS.

After a quick run to the washroom to change into my leggings, I was ready to do battle against the forces of pollution and destruction. We managed to draw a decent crowd, but we lost the two first games, with major havoc wreaked by the black queen (a factory, with smoke billowing from her chimney). The final game of the evening was an epic battle, with Hugh of the Wildbirds leading us to our first victory of the day!!

It was RIDICULOUS. And lots of fun. I got more than a few 'nice tights' comments, and a number of requests for pictures.

After about 7, we were free to roam the festival grounds. I saw most of Mute Math's set, with Felicity and Marty (MM's biggest fans). After that, I saw the first two songs of Bjork's set, which was AMAZING! I then left to go and catch the ferry, and heard another couple of songs on my way there. It was magical riding towards downtown on the ferry, on a clear cool night, with Bjork and her 12 piece brass section soundtracking the whole thing.

I left before the end in order to book it up to the Concord, to see Jessica play. The set included a couple of guest appearances... Leah on flute and backup vocals, for a couple of songs (including a Feist cover), and a crazy, not-altogether-sober lady who requested to get on the mic for a minute... and proceeded to bust out some not-all-that-bad-sounding freestyles (although the actual words were mostly incomprehensible). Jessica and the band were pretty freaking awesome - it is crazy watching jazz musicians who are so good they can kill, without even putting forth any effort.

On Sunday I frantically tried to prepare for Monday's classes at Humber. I had to give two lectures, and had not managed to even get my hands on the textbook yet. It was stressful, to say the least. Church was good, although I was feeling pretty burnt. Pat prayed for me in the back, which was cool. I managed to slip my volunteer bracelet off, and gave it to Leah... so she skipped out early to go and watch the Killers and the Smashing Pumpkins (who totally blew her mind, by the way). I went home and threw together a presentation on Sustainable Practices.

I couldn't sleep. Leah came home at 1 or something. I think I fell asleep around 2. I woke up at 5 yesterday and trekked out to Humber for an 8 oclock lecture. The rest of the day was spent scrambling to prepare for a 2.30 lecture on Residential Framing... hectic. I got home, exhausted. Leah had made a delicious dinner, and then we watched the Goonies...

And that was the weekend...

Extra Long Weekend Update

Leah's brother Matt, and his girfriend, Darcy, stayed with us this weekend. They are moving to Winnipeg, and stopped in TO for a couple of days.

So... we all went to Canada's Wonderland on Monday. We had close to perfect weather, and hit up a number of rollercoasters and waterslides. Aside from Leah kinda hurting her neck on what must be the jerkiest old wooden rollercoaster anywhere, we had a good time. I haven't really been to any amusement park type places since the proliferation of the unusual-position-ride - so riding Top Gun (the seats are suspended, with your legs hanging over nothing) and Tomb Raider (suspended on your belly - like Superman) was pretty rad.

On Tuesday, I took the day off, and we roamed around Queen Street and the Eaton Centre.

Other highlights of the weekend included:

Visiting the Pastoral Residence, to help paint.
Having (Dr!) Lisa around town, and in the neighbourhood, and coming over to eat!
Doing a whole lot of grocery shopping and laundry.

and, having Dylan back in town... even though we haven't seen him yet.

The Concord

Last night we went to the Concord, to see Indio Saravanja... Since Dylan gave me the heads up about this guy (who he saw play in Yellowknife last summer), and since the Concord is a) rad and b) 5 mins from our house, I figured we should check it out.
It was a pretty good show, of the Freetimes/one guitar and one mic variety - although I was a bit tired. Also, the key to a lot of Indio's songs seems to be in the storys that he is telling... which can be hard to catch, especially in some of his more wordy songs.
My faves seemed to be the ones that were about living in small Northern towns... something universal, yet super-Canadian going on (at least in my mind - see Daniel Howlett if you want more examples).

Pretty sweet though, especially since we are old and boring now, and never see any live shows any more.

Weekend update

On Friday afternoon, Leah and I went to the scary yellow and blue world of Ikea. We spent loads of money.
On Saturday, I wrestled with an Ikea flåren. Some underpaid factory slave in the abused world had drilled some holes in the wrong spots, and I refused to spend the 3 or so hours it would take to go back to Ikea to return one piece of wood. Instead I used my limited tool-set to beat the shelf into submission. This was more successful than hanging the thing on the wall, which took a few tries. I eventually added an extra bracket, 'cause that thing is pretty heavy, and hangs directly above the toilet. Leah suggested that we leave a bike helmet in the bathroom.

Later that day our new mattress showed up. After sleeping on a futon for the last forever (one that Leah bought about 6 years ago or something) this is a new development for us. Unfortunately, the mattress is a lot thicker than a futon, which brings our previously high-but-comfortable bed to a high-and-a-bit-too-close-to-the-ceiling level. I am seriously considering chopping a few inches off the legs.

That evening we met Jen at Bradbucks. Unfortunately, Bradley was not working. We also checked out BMV, the big cheap blue book/DVD store. I don't buy DVDs, generally, but this time I did purchase Joe vs the Volcano. I couldn't find it at any rental places, so this was pretty much my only option if I wanted to see it. Which I did. I used to list it as one of my top favorite movies, and I wanted to see if it is actually any good. Turns out it is! (although I'm not sure Leah would agree). When was the last time someone (other than small indie film-makers - this thing stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) went out on such a long limb to make something that whacky and creative? Leah also bought one of those Rolling Stones books, showing the first 1000 covers of the magazine.

On Sunday we went to Billy's for breakfast.

Church involved Leah on guitar, Bradley on bass, and 3 to 4 guys (myself included, for a few songs) on various percussive instruments ranging from the didgeridoo, to the cajon. The potential for hippie-drum-circle chaos was somehow avoided, and it ended up sounding hippie-drum-circle kinda cool.

Radiant City

Last night we rented Radiant City - I've been wanting to see it for a while (it's all about the suburbs, and why/how they are killing us). It was OK, although the ending was a bit odd. I think I will like it more the more I think about it though...

Check it out if you're too lazy to read Kunstler's books (he's in the movie... and I must admit that I still haven't made it through the Geography of Nowhere despite a number of attempts), or for a more 'emergent' perspective, if you roll like that, Sidewalks in the Kingdom (which I actually thought was pretty good... I finished it at least!)

The Update

On Friday evening some folks came over to our place for a barbecue. It was fun times (even though the Hubbles didn't show!)

Afterwards, Leah and I went to a late night showing of Dark Side of the Rainbow, at the Bloor cinema. This is basically The Wizard of Oz with the audio switched out for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Supposedly, the album audio lines up with the film in all sorts of crazy ways - I had never seen it before, and was pretty interested to see how it works.

Given the merging of Pink Floyd with the freakiness of Oz, we fully expected a high number of stoners in the crowd. What we did not expect was for the ENTIRE audience to pretty much light up IN THE THEATRE as soon as they got through the doors. The kids in front of us even pulled a home-made bong out of their bag. Canada. The stench of weed, coupled with the precocious idiotic babble coming out of their mouths convinced us to move over to the far side of the theatre.

The movie/soundtrack thing was a bit of a let-down, in my opinion. Leah disagrees, but aside from the odd (admittedly pretty cool) synchronicity, the main highlights for me were seeing the OZ movie (I don't think I'd ever seen it all, and frankly, if you more or less know the story, you don't need the audio), and listening to the album through cinema speakers.

We got home too late.

On Saturday I went to the furniture bank, for their monthly sale. I scored a fairly nice (albeit huge) coffee table for $31 (which included a $6 delivery fee!). That evening we watched Looking for Leonard, a kinda not-great indie Canadian film, which I plucked at random from the shelves of Blockbuster, and which turned out to be more enjoyable and better than your average non indie/foreign movie.

On Sunday, I took a fairly major nap before church, and then we some how ended up at Rice Bar. Again! (On the way there, we drove past a crazy man skipping energetically up Spadina with his pants pulled down...)

Wednesday

Went to bed a little late last night...
tired.

Tonight we have a church prayer meeting.

Our apartment is getting pretty close to being unpacked and set up...

Weekender

Friday - we hit the kitchen with a coat of paint. Turns out the old paint was oil-based, so the new stuff kinda slides on. That evening we went to a church elders meeting.

Saturday - I cruised up to the old neighbourhood with Don, and sold him my old drum kit. Afterwards I finished off the last details of the frustrating getting-any-service-from-Bell-Canada-to-actually-work process of having a functioning internet connection. I went for a long walk, and then went to buy a few groceries at the Duff. Whilst there I purchased the latest Drive-by Truckers CD, and the first Lynrd Skynrd album. Yes. That is correct.

That night we went to the Bloor to see Knocked Up. The Bloor is cool, but the movie was... not great.

Sunday - we had breakfast with The Guerette trio (although Dominic didn't get anything) at Billy's. Afterwards, I added another coat of paint to the kitchen.

Church.

Pancakes for dinner.

Week Update

It seems like its been a busy week - we had an old-school church prayer-meeting on Wednesday night. It was really good, although it ended a bit late. And then last night we went to Two by Two. It was fun, and we wanted to stick around to see the fashion show segment... which is pretty much the highlight of the evening! It is hilarious to see people you know wearing clothes made by people you know doing their hilarious versions of runway strutting. The Freedom gang has a really fun style all around, and the models always seem to have fun too, making for a great show. Highlights incuded the series of sweaters converted to pants and held up by suspenders (!), a couple of really sweet dresses, and of course Luke M, with his odd gyrations and Zoolander attitude. Again, a late night!
Today we will begin to paint.

Two by Two

Weekender

It was a long one... and I worked like a pack-mule.
On Friday we hit up New Canadian for some wood. I built version two of our bed, and this time it is six feet off the ground. It is pretty sweet 'cause the desk fits underneath it. Yesterday I went back for some wood for a ladder, 'cause the chair to dresser to milkcrate-on-dresser seemed pretty sketchy. I notched the posts at every rung of the ladder, and it took FOREVER (using an XActo saw and a $2.99 hacksaw - it wasn't pretty).
We also finished converting the kitchen to a reasonable state of cleanliness (the bathroom is still kinda grisly), and we managed to get most of our stuff unpacked. Once we paint (next weekend?), we can put up a few more shelves and get the rest of our stuff sorted out.
I also got the internet sort of set up... running a 25' cable from the phone jack, getting everything plugged in, sitting on the phone with tech-support for 20-30 minutes... only to be told that someone would contact us within 24 to 48 hours, once Bell fixes whatever the problem is that makes things not work!
Also set up and tore down church on sunday, and played the melodica... afterwards we hit up RiceBar (again) with Jamie and Bradley. Bradley came over and we stayed up too late.
Other highlights included being visited by Esther Parry, riding the bike with two 10' long pieces of wood on my shoulder, and rocking the new Tegan and Sara album...

Dos por Dos

If Leah and I didn't have to unpack and organize our apartment tonight, I would totally be at the WETBACK screening tonight.

Do you have to unpack and organize all your worldly possessions tonight? No? So go already...

Moved

So we moved yesterday. We picked up the van at 7:30am, and I dropped it off around 11:30 last night. We moved all of our stuff, and a lot of Jessica's, and somehow in there ended up moving about 4 couches... 2 of which were sleeper couches (=heavy) and pretty much all of which had to fit through ridiculously small doorways.
I don't know if we will ever get our new couch out of our apartment if we ever move again (which we're not ever doing, by the way!) - highlights included dropping off the gross 'free' couch that we decided we didn't want at Value Village (it was so easy...) and also scoring an actually nice couch for $40 after randomly spotting it in someone's driveway.

We 'slept' for about 4-5 hours on the living room floor, between the desk and the couch... and for some reason, at about 3am, the cats decided to go freaking mental. Petrie was racing back and forth from the bedroom, through the living room, and into the kitchen, the full length of the house (the typical long skinny Toronto floorplan is a new thing for him, I guess). This of course means that he was racing back and forth across our heads! Eventually I got up and locked them both in the bathroom. They are seriously mental.

This morning I got up and scavenged the chaos of boxes for food, clothing etc. and then rode my bike in to work. I called up Bell, and they are sending a technician by our house sometime today. Maybe I should phone Leah and let her know... oh wait, I can't, the phone doesn't work.

[update] 537 7469... or 416 53-SPINY... or 416 LESS?-HOW?..

Cold War Kids video

Delvyn emailed me a while back with a YouTube link to the Cold War Kids video that he is in. Due to my employer's YouTube ban, I wasn't able to watch it. I figured I could just wait until it was up elsewhere... and I was right.

If you don't blink, you can catch a glimpse of him enjoying a lovely family meal!

All about the Benjis

Check out this sweet article about LNeef, JBiv, and myself.

Weekend Update

On Friday I got off work at noon, and went to meet the team at Trinity Bellwoods. Actually, we met at Tealish, one of them fancy all-tea kinda places. Afterwards, Leah went to help Katherine paint her new apartment.

That night we went to the Gem. Afterwards we watched Dark Blue, Almost Black (or azuloscurocasinegro), which was pretty cool-but-weird, in that most-bizarre-scenario-we-could-imagine kinda foreign film way. And Leah came up with a hair plan.

On Saturday, we took the expensive cats to the vet so that they don't get the rabies. It was hilarious trying to get them into their carrier, and I am pretty surprised that I don't have bloody meat ribbons for arms. After their shots etc. at the vet, they were quite happy to return to the confines of what was, just 20 minutes earlier, the last place on earth they were going.

We also went to get a free couch from next door to our new apartment. After contemplating what to do with the stupid thing, we ended up leaving it on the porch, for us to get later. After that, we decided we don't even want it, so the whole thing was an exercise in wasting time and in lifting really heavy stuff.

We also practised music a bit for church...

Sunday - I tried to get more boxes for packing, but failed (Leah scored big at the Dufferin Mall though). I took down shelves (and with the shelves, big chunks of paint), blinds, and other random hooks and nails, and packed a few things.

Church was kinda frustrating, 'cause the sound was sorta bad. Afterwards we went to the Rice Bar with Jen. It is a great place to go if you want to try eating a huge bowl of rice with chopsticks. It is also a good place to go and sit on a patio when Kensington is in pedestrians-only mode, and there is a live reggae band performing up the street.

When we got home we talked to brother Reeve on the phone !!!!!

The bus

I don't like to laugh at crazy people, but yesterday I couldn't help myself.

I was waiting for the bus on the way home, and couldn't help but notice this old man walking with a cane, and wearing a tshirt that read (in really large print):

EDUCATION
IS FROM
THE
DEVIL

as he walked past, I checked out the back of the shirt:

TELEVISION
IS FROM
THE DEVIL

THE INTERNET
IS FROM
THE DEVIL

The guy was also yelling/mumbling a not unexpected mess of bible-based nonsense.
I went to go and stand nearer to where the bus stops, and ended up near enough to make out some of his message. Apparantly, according to this guy, the bible explains that HONEST ED IS IN HELL.

How was I to keep a straight face given the bizarre randomness of this news?!

Weekend Update

Let me see...

Friday night we wanted to go see a movie with David and Jen. After much deliberation and general apathy, we decided on Sicko. I was not expecting much more than a bad taste in my mouth, but it turned out to be pretty good. I would even go so far as to recommend it - but only if you want to see some pretty depressing things about the US of A. I think that all the personal-freedom-from-government woven into the United State's political structure left the doors wide open for corporate despots to fill the vacancy. Individualism means the right to trample your neighbour if it benefits you (especially financially).

Saturday - we went out for breakfast, which was fun. Leah is able to eat omelettes and other egg-centric foods, as long as you leave out the dairy, toast, sausage, bacon, coffee, hash-browns etc. Afterwards we disassembled various household items... including our bed.

Sunday - I picked up some empty boxes, did the laundry and the dishes, and broke out the barbecue for lunch. After church (Kate is back - hooray!) Bradley came over for pancakes and good times.

Off the juice.

I've tried to cut out the caffeine, and have, for the last week, only been pounding decaf coffee and tea. And decaf water.
Hopefully I will stop getting headaches as frequently.

Another photography link...

Check out these rad monochromatic pics by artist Helga Steppan.

Subway Animals

Check out this neato website of subway animals. The only thing I could come up with for our wimpy underground is this sort of deer-like creature...

Or, like, a worm.

La Chute

Check out some pretty amazing photographs from Paris. The kids are not alright.

Weekend

I'm getting tired of blogging...

Let's see here - in no particular order, the weekend:

Die Hard. This movie was ridiculous, in every kind of good way.

The Last King of Scotland. I wish I never watched this. I know it might sound sort of hypocritical to say that Die Hard is fun and OK, despite the carnage, and that this movie is horrible, (at least partly) because of it... but that's what I'm saying. I don't know that there was anything good about this movie, except maybe some acting.

Bradley came over for dinner, and to play music. This was fun indeed.

Church.

Leah finished recording for her 4 song EP.

We bought a couple of items of clothing at the 'we don't support sweat-shops, we support smut' american apparel.

I helped Rachel's sister and family move into their new house. And by help, I mean show up just in time to carry the last 3 boxes off the UHaul.

I made a large pot of sweet tea, just because.

quoth...

I may have posted this one before, but while we're on quotes, and music, and memory...

I think there is something we were supposed to do before we lost our memories.

and more quotes...

I've blogged this song before... but while I'm on quotes, here are the words.
What happens to imaginary friends? (or real ones...) I keep listening to this song.
You can too:
1. Lisa (Esopus Magazine 2005)
-----
There’s nothing I could call this
No architecture for the order of things
When I sat and watched you sleeping
Before the trucks arrive, boxed up your better life
I wrote you letters for awhile

Left to haunt this sad estate
In hollow walls and empty halls but all I saw was
Some doll that you’d abandoned
So I crawled inside where the stitching held me tight
And hoped that you’d come back to find me some time.

I hope that you’ll forgive me for being so severe
Your proximity was clouding my account of what was real here
You’re eight years old I’m stuck inside the wall
you always talk but never hold me
And I wish that you would ask me how I’m feeling
There’s so much I want to tell you about the way I’m disappearing
And so many years have passed since that
I left the house I left the map to my new wall
You must have never found it
And I heard that you got married
And I hope that she helps you fall asleep these days

'Cause I knew the ways
When you were eight
You’re not what I imagined
You’d become when we were younger
But I’m still in love with that one

But I’ve since found your parents’ house
And live inside the wall
But you don’t ask about me when you call

while I'm doing quotes...

Here's one that I found on the Cold War Kids website, from an essay (which I have not read) by David Foster Wallace.

The next real literary ‘rebels’ in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal:shock disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the ‘Oh how banal.’ To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law.

Back at it

So - we are back from a week of vacation in N.S.

Things that happened since last posting:
visited the family
drove +4000 km
turned 30
watched the first two Freaks and Geeks DVDs
felt shame at my monolinguality
ate poutine in Quebec
listened to many, many CDs
saw some of Sackville, N.B.
drank some rum and Coke
met Elliot Pashley (age: 4 months)
bought some new drums
found an apartment
watched some Trailer Park Boys episodes


Perhaps I might post a couple of pictures here when I get a chance.



On an unrelated note, I thought this quote from a recent Jack White interview was pretty neat:

I think there's too much opportunity. In general, opportunity tends to kill creativity. I think people don't realize that. A painter goes into an art supplies store and sees all these different colours and supplies and thinks, "Oh, goody! This is going to make me a better painter." Of course it's not. It's just going to make it harder to decide what not to use and what not to do. That's what happens with a group of 20-year-old kids who walk into a studio with ProTools and a computer and they can record 400 tracks if they want to. Maybe now with the state of the music industry they'll start spending less on albums and people will go back to reality. They should put up a plaque in every studio that says, "The Beatles recorded Revolver and Sgt. Pepper on four tracks." That'll clear everyone's head.





That's it for now...

An old, old, old, old tree

Today I stumbled upon this wikipedia article. This is really amazing... I figured the tree was named Methuselah because it is so old - while this is indeed the case, it turns out that the estimated germination date is actually some time during the human Methuselah's lifetime.

midweek

It's Wednesday.

Last night we went to church at Adrienne's. She is leaving for India this Friday, which is pretty crazy (and by crazy I mean amazing). Also, Becky read some quotes, psalms, and poetry which she had beautifully written out in ink on scraps of paper - it was very good...

And we spent a good old amount of time just hanging out and covering a typically random and bizarre range of topics.



This weekend, Leah and I are driving to Nova Scotia for the week.

Weekend

It's Monday morning, and I'm avoiding the beginning of my work day.
Let's ease into it with the weekend recap...

On Friday I get off work at noonish - but I stuck around to work on a competition entry that I will hopefully develop enough to enter (deadline is July 23rd). The little house that you see above is all I have done so far (don't worry, I'm going to add windows!) I am modelling each stud, and will then add each sheet of drywall inside, and cladding outside (every brick?)... then all I have to do is explode all the individual elements into a zillion peices, and animate the process of going from one state (whole) to the other (totally shattered)...
Yeah - the competition is kind of a weird one (the title is RUPTURE, and one of the judges is Lebbeus Woods)... we'll see if I can get it done in time.

On Saturday we went and looked at a pretty nice apartment that is too far away from where we would like to live. Afterwards we biked all the way back home, via Fresh, where we ate lunch.
That evening we watched Lucky Number Slevin. For some reason I felt like watching an action kinda movie... It was alright, in a kinda-too-graphic-but-with-a-pretty-decent-plot kinda way...

Sunday - church was kinda crazy - I was drumming, and for whatever reason was playing most of the evening pretty far beyond the level of my normal/safe capabilities. The whole time I felt like I could totally lose it at any moment... and it was indeed pretty messy here and there... it was scary and funny, but it seemed to work well. We had a guest speaker preaching/teaching - and it was pretty interesting. Dr William Webb is apparantly a hugely controversial theologian - he has written a book called Slaves, Women & Homosexuals, and he introduced us to his approach to examining the Old Testament. In particular he addressed some of the difficult parts about beating slaves, seizing women, killing babies, genocide etc. which the bible appears to endorse!
The sermon should be up some time on the website - if you want to check it out...

Afterwards we went for sushi/Korean food with a good bunch of church peeps.

sweet deal / potential mistake ???

affordable, music-friendly, central, 2 bedroom apartment (+++++)




... in a basement (-----)

MidWeek

So yesterday got straight cold... with a possible frost alert overnight.
After work, we went to church at Becky and Paul's (minus tree-planting Paul)... since it is the summer and pretty much nobody is around, we just hung out, ate food, and then went home much too late.
This morning I had to make my first ever work-related trip to City Hall. Not a bad way to start off the day, really - you sign in, and then you sit around waiting and drinking your coffee for a good while...
Afterwards I ran into Kevin, who was checking out the Wednesday morning farmer's market at N.P.Square... I bet those farmer's might sell more stuff if they didn't set up at a time when everybody is at work.
I am pretty tired today... and pretty boring.

Weather

Some things about Canada really suck...





It's June, right???

It's Monday

This morning I came in to work at the new office. The place is pretty much still under construction, but overall it is pretty nice. It feels more large-urban-design-firm than the old office did. I should try to get some pictures up or something...

The weekend...
...was long, 'cause Friday was a day off (for moving). I rode my bike down to Second Cup, went to some used CD stores and bookstores, and then met Leah for lunch. That evening, we dropped by the Madison to say goodbye to Lisa. There was a huge posse there to celebrate the successful defending of the PhD thesis, complete with free-flowing drinks and equation cupcakes.
It was tragic to see Lisa leaving.
Afterwards, Sue and Leah and I walked down to take a look at the ROM spectacle...

Saturday - we went to help Josh pack up his family's things and move away. We arrived as the last of the bicycles was being shoe-horned into the van, and just in time for some sandwiches. After that we hung out with Becky for a while... and then biked home through Kensington. That evening we played some church music.

Sunday - church was fun. Setup was a little stressful (not really for me!, but for some people) and I had fun playing the drums. Andrew is back, and played the upright bass, Anne sang backup, Leah lead on acoustic guitar, and Brad played space guitar... it was rad! I had to laugh every time I looked out to see our church congregation mostly just standing there... I am still not used to how reserved these people can be!

And that is about it for now...

Moving

My office will be moving location this weekend...

It's crazy here.

There is an entire vacated room labelled 'GARBAGE'.

The Maple Leaf State

Pitchfork has a link up to a live Sufjan video... where you can watch the indie superstar playing the banjo on a roof, and covering the Innocence Mission's Lakes of Canada.
As cool as Sufjan is, the IM is cooler still... so this is a pretty sweet deal. I ripped the audio, so feel free to 'right-click and save' that piece right here...

Update le Weekend

Another busy one...

Leah and I played a good bit of music... both practicing for church as well as playing/recording music in general. Leah rented a bass last week, and immediately started playing Dead Kennedys songs on it...
We also went to a couple of gatherings... one farewell party for Josh, Corky, Hannah and Molly, and one party at Jeremy etc.'s house.
Also, I rode the new bike around a fair bit... it is fun, but pretty hard to tackle hills on... Leah also gave it a go, all along the Cedarvale trail.

Bicycle

Yesterday I bought a new (used) bike. I was tired of tackling the ghetto streets (and sometimes the parks) of Toronto on my road bike...
But now I have an even LESS practical option!

It's Thursday

Last night, Anne and Joel came over to play some of their songs, with me trying to play along on the drums...
It was pretty fun, although I def. could use some more practice/general ability thumping the tubs.

Today I didn't bring any CDs to work, so I am left scouring the interweb for music to get me through the day... any ideas ???

Weekend Updating

Before I start updating anything, check out the cover of New Reform..!

Should I even continue...?

OK...

I don't feel like updating, so here goes:

Friday -> Church-style bachelor party ( = - stupid + more fun )
Saturday -> random roaming around - ended up eating sushi on the steps of the Walmer... and then at a barbecue at Anne and Joel's... complete with children and a country music / Rancid sing-along
Sunday -> random roaming, including a stop at Indigo (I repurchased the Geography of Nowhere)... and then church. The sound system was mental, but Bradley man-handled it - and Cyril gave a good sermon despite his new-dad total exhaustion. Ended up at Jeremy's for a while (complete with country music / Led Zep sing along), and then watched Rocky II
Monday -> random roaming, including purchasing some CD's... punk rock for Leah (Dead Kennedys, Sex Pistols), and wuss-rock for me (Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session)... surviving another Vic Day Oakwood Ave fireworks apocalypse
Tuesday -> that's now, kids...

Let's get to work !!!

wireframe

http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/

Audi Campaign

Simply genius

Check out this sweet customized briefcase.

Tired

Last night Leah and I got home from church kinda late... and found that we had left the skylights in both the bedroom and bathroom open. Since we had some pretty heavy rain throughout the evening, the bathroom was pretty wet, as was one whole corner of our bed...
Also, we had heard rumours that the basement room at the studio (yeah, the one with our guitars, drums, keyboards, computer...) leaks, so I went to check that action out. It does leak. But everything was mostly OK, and I just piled some stuff on chairs. Our carpets are going to be gross though.
So I only got to sleep (on the couch) around 12.30...

Time for a new bike...?

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I stopped in at Loblaws to pick up a coupla largish sacks of cat litter, and some other assorted grocery items.
I also took the opportunity to pump up my back tire, which keeps getting soft... and the whole valve ripped off. Good times.

So I loaded up the groceries in my basket, and proceeded to push my bike home. Luckily, I passed the bike store on the way, and it was still open... So I took the bike in, and the guy noticed that I also had a broken spoke (this must have been a pretty new feature, 'cause I hadn't noticed it). This means that I could not just buy a new tube, but had to leave the whole bike with him to fix...

So, I proceeded to carry the groceries home, without shopping bags. And then it started to rain. It was almost funny.

Turns out that I can't load up my bike like I do. Being a road bike, it can't handle carrying things like groceries, as well as my hulking weight... This makes the bike close to not-at-all-usefull.

Craigslist ???

Update

So - you can pretty much refer to the previous post for the weekend update...
We ended up watching the Science of Sleep at Jen and David's on Friday night.

On Saturday, I went to meet Solmaz to discuss/brainstorm some ideas for a strange design competition which we hope to enter. Afterwards I biked on down to Kensington to pick up some things. That afternoon we did more grocery shopping - and ended up buying more food than we could reasonably carry on two bikes. I had to bike home with one load, and then bike back to where Leah was waiting with the rest of the groceries (it sucked). Then we practiced some music for church. And then we went to the ElMo to see Laura Veirs. That place kinda sucks in that you can hear the bass coming through the floor from the dancefloor upstairs. The show was pretty good - I especially enjoyed opener (and Veirs' bass-player) Karl Blau, who has a looping station which he puts to good use, and a CD subscription service where he records and sends out music in the same way other people do magazines...

On Sunday we went to the Walmer. The theatre looks great. The art in the lobby included work by (studiomates!) Paul and Maegan and (non-studiomate) Jon B. Sarah J was singing. And Jen's clown workshop was really great. Quite a few people from church were there - I seriously couldn't understand why anybody DIDN'T come...

Afterwards we went to church to setup/soundcheck/practice. Drumming is still hard work for me, although it is definitely getting better. I am seriously lacking in technical skill, and also just need more hours playing with Leah and reading/following her. After church we met Dominic Guerette, who turned 5 days old yesterday.
!!!!!

Plans...

Tomorrow night we are going to see Laura Veirs... usually we plan to go to shows, and then do something else (read: go to bed) instead (last weekend's CftPA and Mt Eerie shows, for example). But Leah already bought tickets to this one, so that should ensure that we are there. Hopefully it will be good - we missed her last time (opening for Sufjan)... but this time she is the main attraction.

On Sunday I am going to try to play the drums in church.
And I think I should hopefully still be able to catch Jen McN's clown show at the Walmer before that. I am excited about this for a number of reasons:
a) I J clowning
b) Jen is amazing
c) I want to see the fully redone theatre - Kate and Brad have been performing miracles, and I haven't seen the finished final product yet...

Also - tonight we may/may not hang out with some church peeps to watch a movie/hang out on a patio...

My big break

I SINCERELY COUNT ON YOUR ASSISTANCE.REMEMBER .I AM HIGHLY PLACED OFFICIAL AND EXPECT ABSOLUTE DISCRETION FROM YOU IN ORDER TO PROTECT OUR HONOUR FROM FOREIGN JOURNALIST WHO
SEEK TO DESTROY MEMBER OF OUR RULING CIVILIAN GORVERNMENT THIS TRANSACTION IS HITCH-FREE, SO YOU NEED NOT ENTERTAIN ANY FEAR AT ALL.
I EXPECT YOUR REPLY IMMEDIATELY.

blah blah blah

Yesterday, after work, I went to Cumbrae's and purchased possibly the most expensive piece of meat I have ever bought. On the way home I also purchased some charcoal, and a $20 barbecue. When I got home, I cooked the meat on the barbecue - it was freaking delicious...

During the night, I had a dream in which I was killed. There was some sort of war going on, and someone had to shoot me for some reason or another. They took me to the edge of some elevated structure, and I took a bullet in the back of the head, execution style. As I fell off the edge everything went black, and I never hit the concrete pier below. It was almost like the fall never ended, because I was dead. And then I woke up. I don't think I have ever actually died in a dream before...

Today I am listening to Sonic Youth...




Are these events related ???

I must be bored...

...'cause I'm blogging like a madman.

The first song here, by the Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, is pretty freaking nice. Check it out.

...flashback...

Design Skool

Check out this video, for a bizarre architecture history lesson on Mies van der Rohe.
For extra-credit, compare and contrast Mies' work to that of Walter Gropius...
or you can compare and contrast that guy's dance moves to this guy's...

Moving

In preparing for the great office move of 2007, I deleted all of the mp3s of CDs that I own off of my work computer (I have spent 3 years slowly ripping most of our CDs at work - I listen to music pretty much constantly). The only stuff I decided to keep was the stuff I don't have on CD... Reeve's music, SLC, live stuff, promotional songs from bands'/labels' websites etc... now I'm down to around 3.11 GB - yikes...

Also - Leah and I are wondering about where to move to... we were thinking of finding a pimped out place downtown (think MTV cribs) - just to save time and simplify our lives. But we are also thinking about looking for something cheap (and therefore maybe a little less downtown) and saving some dough.

Maybe we can follow Jen and David's lead, and start looking for a dome-home...

jPod

OK - so a little more explanation on why I didn't like jPod all that much...

The main flavour of this book, to me, was one of total amorality... I suppose you could argue that this, in and of itself, would not necessarily make for a bad book. And, after checking out the website for the book, and downloading the available interview with the author, it turns out that this lack of morals was entirely intentional. Which makes sense... Coupland generally seems pretty intentional about the thematic content of his writing.

I guess you could argue that I am prejudicial in my tastes; I happen to believe in truth, and morality... and it turns out that most of my friends do too. I hope that Coupland DOESN'T have his finger on the pulse of society this time... but what if he does??!

In related news... I have found in some recent movies I have watched an equally disturbing amorality. I can't remember any examples other than Marie Antoinette (I seem to remember that there was a much better example in something else I watched first... Scoop? Volver??) The way in which her affair was handled in the film bugged me in that it was not even framed in moral terms. I think this is different from immorality, and is in a lot of ways much scarier.


Check out this clip from the Coupland interview... (or go to the jPod site and hear the whole thing) :

God has been kind of present in most of your other novels in one way, shape or form; people thinking about religion, thinking about meaning, maybe, more than anything. And, where did God go in this book? I mean, has He got part of this jPod universe? (or she, or it, or the overpowering...)

Well, hard-core Christians have this thing called the rapture, where all the people who are true believers vanish, and everyone else is left on the planet, and God himself has sort of become absent. And I think this book takes place in sort of a post-rapture environment, where everything holy has been removed from the world, and you just have to work with what remains, and have to get yourself through it. So, you know, I don't know, I mean, God, if you're up there and you're looking at jPod... um... Be merciful. Oh dear.

---

I do agree with the part about asking God for mercy on our world!!

Weekend

Friday - after leaving work early with a migraine, I slept for a couple of hours, and then we went to Katherine's place for dinner. We hung out with her and Joel, and it was fun, even though I was still feeling kinda crappy.

On Saturday, I still had a residual dull ache in my head - so we went to the Dufferin mall... we purchased various exciting clothes items (socks, underwear...), as well as the first three White Stripes CDs.

The rest of the weekend kinda sucked (although church was OK - and Adrienne sang backup with Leah, which was cool...) - I was just in a bad mood, and didn't really feel like doing anything.

I also managed to read Douglas Coupland's jPod over the course of the weekend. Unless you are a huge Doug C fan, I wouldn't bother with this one...

Useless links

Zellyn posted this one - pretty funny.
And then there's this one... inexplicable...

If it ain't broke

Last Christmas, Delvyn told me about the fixed gear bike trend that was happening in California.

Looks like it is spreading...

and - IT SOUNDS TOTALLY FREAKING POINTLESS... Let's see - no coasting, and no brakes... ??? Clearly this is an improvement ???

Hopefully Canadians will be sensible enough to pass on this one...

Weekend Update

On Friday night we did nothing - instead of the two or so birthday gatherings we could have attended, we went to bed early.

On Saturday I slept in (this means getting up at 9!), and then went to Lisa's place to give her some Freedomize India CD cash. I also swung by the hardware store and the vet, to pick up random things we needed (to fill holes in walls, and to fill the bellys of cat-beasts).
I then did the rest of our Canadian taxes ( hooray - we get some cash back )... Now I just have to file our US forms and I'll be done (yes, I get an extension for living in a far-off land).

That evening, Leah and I went out for dinner, and then were going to go and see a movie. Because there was nothing showing that we really wanted to see, we ended up at Future Shop, where we purchased a portable DVD player. The sales guy was very helpful - and tried to sell us a TV and DVD player, 'cause it would be cheaper and bigger and have actual real speakers... but we have developed a dislike for TVs, and opted for something that can instead fold up and fit on a bookshelf when not in use.

And then we went home and watched Marie Antoinette from the comfort of our bed. (After talking to my parents, who left the next morning for 10 days in Mongolia!)

On Sunday we went for a run with some church peeps. It was sunny, and we met down by the lakeshore.
And then we went to church. Afterwards we went to Sushi on Bloor with Jen and Anne and Joel. Good times with good people.

The end.

All My Friends Who Play Guitar

I would recommend listening to My Korean Friends, if you can - which you probably can't.

Word up

Brother Jesse has been known to speak some truth.

First the bees...

...die, then the plants die, and then everybody dies.

David Byrne suspects agribusiness - whether he is right or not, everybody at Monsanto needs to be beaten severely.

Maddening

I recently found out about this site, which tracks and fights illegal billboards and other advertising in the public spaces of Toronto. I have been thinking a little about the massive pollution of advertising that washes over us every day, and how much it freaking sucks.

I know that the TTC, for example, pretty much relies on ad revenue to operate. The new street furniture contract for the city also involves ad space on benches. I really wonder if we should not put more TAX dollars towards a cleaner mental environment. Seriously, the noise of ads screaming in my face every day to buy sh...tuff makes me kinda angry. And it seriously messes people up.

The issue of illegal billboards is extra infuriating - at least the signs on the subway are helping to pay for my ride. These are just poisoning minds AND making bad people richer.



I'm surprised that there is not yet advertising printed on each square of toilet paper that I use to wipe my bum!!

Get to Work

For whatever reason, I have spent too much time today looking up info on the Pochinko method of clowning, instead of doing real work (actually, it was sparked by this blog post, if you wanna see how weird my thought processes can be). Turns out I haven't been able to find much on the old interweb, other than some pretty sparse info on its pretty pagan genesis (spirit guides and everything)... and the fact that clowning workshops are pretty freaking expensive.

Anyway - from my perspective (read: total ignorance), clowning seems pretty fascinating. I think it has something to do with the level of self examination and awareness required to clown well - if I ever made any moves in a theatrical direction (read: pretty freaking unlikely!), it would probably involve a white face and a red nose.



Maybe it's because I have clown blood in me.

Weekend Update

Check it out:

Friday night - we went to see some friends play at Clinton's
Saturday - I went to help with the painting of the Walmer Centre Theatre, with Kate and a bunch of other volunteers. The theatre looks so amazingly much better now..! That evening, Leah's flute student was playing in her high-school's production of Guys & Dolls. I was expecting, well, a high-school play - but it ended up being pretty sweet.
Sunday - church

In other news, Bradley is playing this Thursday, in his DJ/laptop outfit, Harsh/Mellow. Check it out here... Not sure that I can go (it's a school-night), but I might try to anyway.

Don't Mess With the Family

For those who haven't seen 'em yet... Dylan took some pics of our 'dining room' and posted some of them here.

The Weekend

Elder's meeting after work on Friday.

Saturday - groceries and other assorted tasks. Also Jamie came over for dinner, which was a good time.

Sunday - I went for a walk and picked up some gravel from a nearby vacant lot, to use for some overdue planting. I also finally took some pictures of the table that I built forever ago - I will post some here once I get them organized. I ended up not playing drums at church, due to a lack of bass-players, which was fine by me. During soundcheck I went for a walk downtown listening to DJ Shadow's Endtroducing... after seeing Dark Days a number of times (my favourite documentary EVER), the music seems to work best walking around under the Gardiner - and at least it made the crappy weather we've been having seem appropriate.

I also burned a million CDs all weekend, which I started selling at church last night, for Freedomize India.

Freedomize India CDs

I finally burned some of the Freedomize India Cds last night. I have a LOT more to do (and a lot of covers to fold, too), but it is good to finally have some done.
You can see how they look here, and you can give me $5 to $8 if you want your own copy (all the cash goes to Freedomize India).

like 'suck' for architects...

I don't know how I haven't heard about this architecture site for so long.

Unless you have the years of education (indoctrination) that your average architecture grad has, you may not have the underappreciated, underpaid, misunderstood, and totally out-of-touch 'genius' necessary to find this site funny.

weekend update (easter edition)

I hope everyone had a great easter...

Friday - we took it pretty easy... we went out for lunch, and then went to watch the Host. It was pretty good, compared to your average Godzilla flick... but pretty disappointing if you're expecting anything more than that... (Leah HATED it).

Saturday - we did some non-stop grocery shopping (3 grocery stores + the LCBO), and started making food for the great annual easter feaster. I also managed to swing by Kinkos (the devil, in store form) and copy 100 covers for the FI³ CD.

Sunday - we continued to make a lot of food. And then we ate it. Afterwards, we went to church, and then to David and Jen's. We ate yet more food, and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. Watch this one instead of the Host.

link

MailMeArt.

Posthaste

Random things

Last night I went on a crazy adventure with friend Anne, to pick up an air-organ from friend Josh. The organ is not large or heavy (I think I could have maybe managed it on the streetcar), but for whatever reason WOULD NOT FIT INTO THE CAR!
Luckily, Josh has dad skills, which include knot-tying, and he managed to secure the organ-sticking-half-out-of-the-trunk situation with some rope.

I haven't really had a chance to play it yet, other than plugging it in to make sure that it survived the trip - but it should be pretty fun times.

Also - I found out that the guy who runs this music blog (one of the only ones I check pretty much daily) has started another project. Being something of a casual R.E.M. fan, I find this one pretty neat... he is going to review every R.E.M. album track ever. Depending on who you are, there is a reasonable chance that R.E.M. is older than you are, so this is no small feat.

weekend

groceries, laundry, drumming, silk-screening some CDs, cooking, eating, sleeping.

WhooaohahHH!!! IT'S FRIDAY!!!

Our church is reading the bible this week, as part of our celebration of lent and easter. That doesn't sound unusual - but here's the deal.
We are reading it out loud and non-stop, creation to apocolypse, at St-Steven-in-the-Fields church.
I showed up for the 'beginning', but I couldn't stay for too long. It has been kinda cool though, for the past few days, to think that there is somebody there (right now!) reading out loud.
Stop by some time before Saturday evening, if you wanna listen. They should be getting close to the NT, so there won't be any chance of showing up for one of the long name-listing early books!!

Blogger ate my Weekend Update

So you get the summary. It was so good too...

Friday - pupusas and paperwork (health insurance forms, gathering together documents for the impending tax-filing). Good times.

Saturday - recorded a song, for the FI³ sampler CD, which I ended up not liking at all. Threw it out. Went to a DJ type event that Jeremy and co were hosting. Yelled at people over loud music. It was fun, even though we left before the party really started.

Sunday - recorded some melodica for a different song. Leah re-recorded some vocals for a song of hers. Mission accomplished. Church was good - we didn't have to do anything! JFL with Jen and Jeremy. Delicious.

Today - rode the subway all the way to work WITH MY FLY UNZIPPED!! Good times indeed. Finally updated Immigrant Design - went for easy-to-update (ie Blogger) over sexy and flashy (ie that draggable thumbnail flash thingy that I action-scripted about a year ago but never used...)

Wednesday

So last night I watched my first ever real-life (not on TV) hockey game. I got a pair of Leafs tickets from work (>$150 each!) for coming up with a (fairly crappy-looking) header for an internal newsletter.

Despite having a stupidly annoying headache and not really knowing all the rules of hockey (icing, off-sides, etc???) it was good times. The place was packed, and the whole event was one giant spectacle. The game was pretty good, with Toronto winning 2-1 over the NJ Devils.

There was even a fight, which lasted about a minute and a half. I couldn't believe that the refs just stand by and let these two fools pound on each other's helmets. (I found out this morning that the NJ guy apparantly almost knocked out a Leafs player last time the two teams played - so they sent there biggest dude in last night to punch him for a few minutes...) Everyone in the crowd got really excited, and it was one of those moments that made me feel kinda gross... like humans are really just a bunch of savage idiots. Apparantly it is 'all part of the game' though.

I heard once that the average person in N America is exposed to something like 3000 advertisements per day. Leah and I must have each tripled that in a few short hours at the ACC!

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This morning I walked a half hour to St Clair West because the streetcar wasn't running.

Lilith

If you want to read a good book (assuming you don't mind what some would call fantasy), I direct you to this one.

Weekend

Friday... bought groceries
Saturday... went to the archives again, to pick up some pictures that I ordered. I also stopped by College & Spadina to buy some white (silk-screenable) CDRs for the FI³ fundraiser CD.
That night we hung out with Jen, and stopped in at Sonic Boom.
Sunday... we went over some songs for church, and then we went to church, and then we went to a church meeting after church.

Link me

Check out this wireframe car...
And also this guy's house...
!

Weekend

Friday...
We went to eat dinner at Ka Chi.

Saturday...
I did laundry. I then went to the Toronto archives - were I discovered they had not pulled the stuff that I requested last weekend. I did talk to a very useful employee, who directed me to the Ontario archives - it turns out they might have a lot more useful info.
I also discovered the Furniture Bank. Turns out Toronto has a place where people just out of shelters, or immigrants with no cash, can get donated furniture and stuff. Also - on the second Saturday of each month, there is a fundraiser/sale on old furniture. Not as cheap as Goodwill furniture - but way better stuff. Who knew?
Bought some groceries.

Sunday...
I went to buy some more groceries.
I also spent a bit of time trying to record a song. I was late for church, 'cause I lost track of the time. Turns out the song sounds pretty bad - and I will have to do it all over...




Leah's parents are coming to town.