Before I start, let me say that this is now like some sort of bizarro-world or some kind of strange freaky alternate parallel universe world, or some sort of tear in the fabric of the space time continuum... world, or maybe something on the level of the union of interstellar Herbig-Haro objects and Bok gobules at the exact occurance of a Syzygy in our very own solar system. The point is, it seems my back-to-back championships/double blog posts now make me the triumphant"quote-unquote" (yes i just did that) lead blogger on what has become a neglected site.
I guess i don't much to say other than show off some space vernacular that i looked up on google 5 minutes ago to impress you. Life is good, i dunno. Here are some top things:
1. I ate some Ontario peaches and cream corn. Also some Ontario peaches and cream, MMM!
2. Annie lives in Waterloo now!
3. I got accepted into a part time MBA program!
4. The profanity-screaming lady across the street doesn't wake me up in the morning anymore!
4. I learnt some space words today!
I have hidden some gramattical gems, or easter eggs, or rather, glaring errors in this post. See if you can find them! IT'S A GAME!
8.20.2008
7.15.2008
Newfie-land
"Welcome to the Rock"So as some of you folk may know, I recently went away for a week to Newfoundland. A good friend of mine from home worked in Africa for a few years at a college, and met this Newfoundlander gal there (of all places), and they got married! I stood up in the wedding as the best man, and since my parents were also good friends with theirs, they came too.
It was a fun trip... here are some highlights:
St. John's:
I flew in to St. John's late Saturday morning (early?) without a hitch. After getting some much needed sleep, my parents and I decided to explore the city. We visited signal hill, a pretty neat site outside of the harbour, where the first wireless signal was sent across the Atlantic (such a nerdy family):
Standing on signal hill, St. John's. Coolness tip: my "hands in the pockets" stance.Later that day, we went whale watching. There were a bazillion whales, and I was kind of hoping one would jump out of the water and eat another jumping whale, but it just didn't happen. We were lucky to see so many, and saw some porpoises (dolphins) as well. I tried to capture them on film, but the combination of my slow camera and their breakneck speed made that incredibly difficult:
This is a whale. Well... its tail. To my surprise they didn't jump all the way out of the water or eat each other.We also toured the city, and visited George Street, allegedly the place in the world with the most pubs per square foot. I maintain that Hess Village in Hamilton would give that a run for its money, but we enjoyed the atmosphere, great folksy music, and some good food and drink.
Cape Bonavista:
After visiting St. John's, we traveled through many small villages and towns along the coast up to Cape Bonavista. We visited local museums, and stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in a place called Harbour Grace. To our surpise, in this town of probably a couple hundred, Stockwell Day was coming to this very Bed and Breakfast that evening for a press conference to discuss a possible prison build that was promised to the town in the 80's. After the moratorium on cod fishing in the '90s, many Newfoundlanders had lost their livelihood, and towns like this struggled to survive economically:
Fishing village. Probably mostly shrimp and crab in this place.After a long day of mulling whether or not to pie Stockwell Day in the face, interspersed with enjoying the coastal scenery, I had to decide against such a noble charade for the sake of the town, and not getting a record for assaulting the Minister of Public Safety. We had a chat before his presentation, he seemed like a decent guy, but he is still a lil' bit evil for writing a letter to the Wall Street Journal condemning Canada's decision to not go to war in Iraq in 2003:
My Dad and I with Stockwell Day, whom I was tempted to pie in the face.Lewisporte and the Wedding:
The wedding was a lot of fun. The guys had a bit of running around to do, but things weren't bad, and we managed to enjoy the driving range. All of us aren't golfers, but it was fun to whack our balls. Ha:
Bobby (L, groomsman) and Andrew (R, groom)Things went pretty smooth with the wedding. Ceremony went well, lots of good food and stuff, and I did a speech. Usual wedding fare I suppose, and a really good time.
Twillingate:
Allegedly the iceberg capital of the world, and known for whales, we saw neither in Twillingate. I guess it was just bad timing, but we actually managed to spot an iceberg along the way in our travels, and we got our fill of whales in St. John's. It was a beautiful town, and we enjoyed a hilarious dinner theatre that was put on by the locals - a home cooked meal with lots of crazy Newfie skits, probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen... i highly recommend it.
Probably the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.
Twillingate at Twilling-ight..Conclusion:
So this is kind of a long post. In conclusion, Newfoundland is pretty neat. A lot of the small towns are neat to see, but they are hurting for tourism as the closing of fisheries has devastated many communities. This means you kind of get some makeshift museums in 50-person villages that are a bit lacking in substance, and towns promoting themselves as things like 'the root cellar capital of the world'. A lot of young people seem to leave or go to St. John's. I didn't notice too many of them. It was still a great time though, Newfies are friendly if you can understand what the heck it is they are saying, and if you avoid to pick up their accent, you are lucky. I think I would really enjoy going to St. John's again, and if you love nature or seafood like myself, then the Rock is pretty awesome-sauce:
The most easterly point of th'Americas. East is relative anymore these days.
Another picture, from a camera. This one is in colour.7.07.2008
Wall-E
So Krista and I went to see Wall-E this weekend and we loved it. Loved it. I had every intention of writing a review but then I thought about something, so bear with me if this seems a little preachy.
The idea behind Wall-E is that we’ve consumed ourselves into oblivion, at least as far as Earth is concerned. The planet is literally covered in garbage and is now a desolate landfill that Wall-E spends his time compacting, stacking and sifting through for little treasures. The message is (theoretically) clear: waste is bad and will make things worse very soon if we don’t do anything.
The question is, is this a message or a plot device?
I was hoping for the former, I really was, because waste is a problem, especially here in good old North America. Yet in the credits there are ads for the new Wall-E video game. And one quick search for Wall-E over at toywiz.com give 40 results.
At shopping.com, you can get one of 22 shirts.
In ten minutes of searching I found 200+ Wall-E products including books, toys, clothing, posters, treat boxes (?), temporary tattoos, piñatas (ola, señor Wall-E!), magnets, costumes, invitations, and so on.
Think any of this will end up in a landfill?
Is it right to hold Pixar to task for producing these products? Many of these products are reusable and/or recyclable: clothes, paper, cardboard, etcetera. But realistically, much of it will be thrown out within two years. How many kids do you see running around in Toy Story shirts? Or even Monsters Inc. shirts? Technically, this isn’t Pixar’s problem: they’re in the movie business, and these days a lot of the movie business is merchandising (especially animated films, which are intrinsically seen as “kid” movies and have access to the lucrative parent market). But I would hope that a studio using the perils of overwaste as a plot point would do more to lessen the load.
I also tried running a search on Google using keywords like “wall-e” “environmentally friendly” and “merchandise”. I only got one hit back that noted any effort by Pixar to “green” the merch push for Wall-E: a cardboard recyclable slip for the soundtrack.
Like I said, I’m a big fan of the movie and will more than likely buy it on DVD when it comes out. I just wish Pixar had taken the concept past the screen.
6.19.2008
Caleb's Plums (or, Kristi has 366 Days To Think This One Over)
I should also mention that after the camera turned off, Caleb drooled those plums all over the bathroom floor. HYGENE~!
6.18.2008
The Magic Is Gone, Dear One (or, Why I Didn’t Like Prince Caspian)
I would make a terrible movie reviewer, if only because there are very few film genres that I enjoy. I don’t like horror, or thrillers, or most action, or dramas, “art” films, or anything with a lot of gore. Mostly I like comedies, sci-fi, fantasy, and the occasional rom-com. So if you liked Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, please don’t be offended that I didn’t I do not represent movie viewers as a whole.
Also, there are some big ol’ SPOILERS ahead, so if you don’t want the SPOILERS to SPOIL your movie experience, don’t read the SPOILERS.
SPOILERS~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~!
Middle East = BAD GUYS
All the bad guys are Mediterranean-leaning-towards-Arabic looking, except for Caspian, who is for some reason Spanish. Could the actors not have got together ten minutes before shooting and decided on one accent for them all to use? Caspian has Spanish and all the other guys are vaguely Middle-Eastern. You can actually tell which of the “nice” bad guys will turn out to be BAD bad guys by how Arabic they look (the baddest bad guy looks just like Saddam Hussein). According to Wikipedia they were going for a Spanish/conquistador vibe with the armor, etc., so I don’t know why they can’t all speak in Spanish accents. Not that it would have been much better to typecast Spanish people, but at least it’s not jingoistic.
Yeah, THIS is what Lewis was thinking…
I’ll be honest – I think I might have read this when I was a kid, but I don’t remember a lick of it. I have been talking with some friends who have read the books recently (Jenna, mostly) and they confirmed that there is nowhere near the amount of time devoted to battle in the books that there is in the movie. In fact, the whole castle attack was made up for the film, based on an offhand comment the mouse had in the books about wanted to attack the Telmarines. There seemed to be a real desire to turn this into a Lord of the Rings for kids, complete with a straight up theifing of the arrow stabbing scene in Fellowship (check Susan during the castle siege ). To my understanding C.S. Lewis was less about conflict and more about relationships. And I know, I know, a totally faithful adaptation of the book would have made a terrible movie since the Pevinses’ aren’t even around for the first four chapters, but then why would you want to make a movie of a book that wouldn’t make a good movie in the first place?
(PS – and don’t get me started on bringing the White Witch back. What purpose did that serve, aside from bringing back the best performer from the first film? Also, look for a cameo of Tilda Swanson near the end as a centaur)
Where’s Edmund?
From his first line in Caspian I was excited to see what Edmund was going to be about in this one. He’s a very rogueish and watchable character. But he gets thrown aside in this film and does very little aside from swordfighting a dwarf and playing with a flashlight. I understand they wanted to give the lion’s share (HIYO) of the screen time to Susan and Peter since it’s their last kick at the can for Narnia, but watching Peter throw hissyfits every fifteen minutes while Susan moons over Caspian didn’t really excite me. It sucks that Edmund’s (and to a lesser extent, Lucy’s) screen time suffers, especially since they’re going to be expected to carry the next film.
We get it. Aslan is Jesus.
SUSAN: “Why couldn’t I see Aslan?”
LUCY: “Maybe you weren’t looking for him”
Oy, vey. Caspian reaches into the Bucket o’ Popcorn Theology pretty consistently and pulls out handfuls vague sampler-worthy quotes that are disingenuous at best, out-and-out incorrect at worst. I showed you at best, and here’s at worst:
PETER: When’s Aslan going to prove himself to us?
LUCY: Maybe we need to prove ourselves to him.
That’s right. Jesus is Emilio Estevez’ dad in The Breakfast Club. You must win a wrestling meet before he gives you his love. There are no losers in God’s family.
So who liked it?
Also, there are some big ol’ SPOILERS ahead, so if you don’t want the SPOILERS to SPOIL your movie experience, don’t read the SPOILERS.
SPOILERS~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~!
Middle East = BAD GUYS
All the bad guys are Mediterranean-leaning-towards-Arabic looking, except for Caspian, who is for some reason Spanish. Could the actors not have got together ten minutes before shooting and decided on one accent for them all to use? Caspian has Spanish and all the other guys are vaguely Middle-Eastern. You can actually tell which of the “nice” bad guys will turn out to be BAD bad guys by how Arabic they look (the baddest bad guy looks just like Saddam Hussein). According to Wikipedia they were going for a Spanish/conquistador vibe with the armor, etc., so I don’t know why they can’t all speak in Spanish accents. Not that it would have been much better to typecast Spanish people, but at least it’s not jingoistic.
Yeah, THIS is what Lewis was thinking…
I’ll be honest – I think I might have read this when I was a kid, but I don’t remember a lick of it. I have been talking with some friends who have read the books recently (Jenna, mostly) and they confirmed that there is nowhere near the amount of time devoted to battle in the books that there is in the movie. In fact, the whole castle attack was made up for the film, based on an offhand comment the mouse had in the books about wanted to attack the Telmarines. There seemed to be a real desire to turn this into a Lord of the Rings for kids, complete with a straight up theifing of the arrow stabbing scene in Fellowship (check Susan during the castle siege ). To my understanding C.S. Lewis was less about conflict and more about relationships. And I know, I know, a totally faithful adaptation of the book would have made a terrible movie since the Pevinses’ aren’t even around for the first four chapters, but then why would you want to make a movie of a book that wouldn’t make a good movie in the first place?
(PS – and don’t get me started on bringing the White Witch back. What purpose did that serve, aside from bringing back the best performer from the first film? Also, look for a cameo of Tilda Swanson near the end as a centaur)
Where’s Edmund?
From his first line in Caspian I was excited to see what Edmund was going to be about in this one. He’s a very rogueish and watchable character. But he gets thrown aside in this film and does very little aside from swordfighting a dwarf and playing with a flashlight. I understand they wanted to give the lion’s share (HIYO) of the screen time to Susan and Peter since it’s their last kick at the can for Narnia, but watching Peter throw hissyfits every fifteen minutes while Susan moons over Caspian didn’t really excite me. It sucks that Edmund’s (and to a lesser extent, Lucy’s) screen time suffers, especially since they’re going to be expected to carry the next film.
We get it. Aslan is Jesus.
SUSAN: “Why couldn’t I see Aslan?”
LUCY: “Maybe you weren’t looking for him”
Oy, vey. Caspian reaches into the Bucket o’ Popcorn Theology pretty consistently and pulls out handfuls vague sampler-worthy quotes that are disingenuous at best, out-and-out incorrect at worst. I showed you at best, and here’s at worst:
PETER: When’s Aslan going to prove himself to us?
LUCY: Maybe we need to prove ourselves to him.
That’s right. Jesus is Emilio Estevez’ dad in The Breakfast Club. You must win a wrestling meet before he gives you his love. There are no losers in God’s family.
So who liked it?
6.12.2008
How I stopped the use of 'or' in blog post titles (or, how I just made an ironic mockery of myself but still managed to save Christmas)
And isn't it ironic... don't you think?
Yep, i just posted an overused quote. Who would have thought, it figures.
Ah well, can't say I don't post.
Yep, i just posted an overused quote. Who would have thought, it figures.
Ah well, can't say I don't post.
6.04.2008
Bat Signal vs. Bat Phone (or, Batusi vs. Bat-Dance)
So I grew up with the Adam West Batman (remember when Batman used to dance?). As we all know, that series is considered to be the stupidest possible representation of Batman there has ever been. But there is one thing it has over almost every other Batman in every other medium: NO BAT SIGNAL. In those days, Batman was summoned by use of a translucent red phone known as the Batphone. Which made sense to me (and was cool looking when it went off). 
I started thinking about this last night at the movies when I saw a trailer for The Dark Knight. There’s a quick cut of a scene where the Joker caves in the Bat-signal with an axe. And I was all like” hooray!” because the Bat Signal made no sense.
Like for example, what if someone decides to commit a crime on a cloud-free night? What is the Bat-Signal reflecting off of then? It’s just a beam of light in the sky. What if it’s a club night and they’re all using those Hollywood sky-spotlight things?
More than that, Batman’s whole thing is to stop crime in Gotham with his rep. Having Gordon throw up the bat-signal is a good way to tell every criminal in the city “hey, Batman’s gonna be over here for a bit so, uh, just…just try to not commit a crime or anything, OK?” He might as well hang a “back in 5 minutes” sign from the front door of the police station.
I have too much time on my hands, I think.
I started thinking about this last night at the movies when I saw a trailer for The Dark Knight. There’s a quick cut of a scene where the Joker caves in the Bat-signal with an axe. And I was all like” hooray!” because the Bat Signal made no sense.
Like for example, what if someone decides to commit a crime on a cloud-free night? What is the Bat-Signal reflecting off of then? It’s just a beam of light in the sky. What if it’s a club night and they’re all using those Hollywood sky-spotlight things?
More than that, Batman’s whole thing is to stop crime in Gotham with his rep. Having Gordon throw up the bat-signal is a good way to tell every criminal in the city “hey, Batman’s gonna be over here for a bit so, uh, just…just try to not commit a crime or anything, OK?” He might as well hang a “back in 5 minutes” sign from the front door of the police station.
I have too much time on my hands, I think.
5.24.2008
5.15.2008
Class Action Lawsuit #2 or Bite the Hand that Feeds
So, I am currently eligible for payment in a class-action lawsuit. This is my second one, and sadly, the second one that I can't claim because I cannot prove it.
The lawsuit is for early iPod adopters of the 2nd and 3rd generation iPods. I had a third generation. I am eligible for an Apple Store credit of $49, but have no receipt to prove my eligibility.
The first class-action suit was against Columbia Pictures. Why? Because they made up a bunch of critics and gave some of their movies praise. If you went to one of those movies and still had the ticket-stub you were eligible for a refund. The movie in question for me? A Knight's Tale.
I know it's been a sparse time in hlogging for me, but I now have a PowerGlove and that takes up most of my time.
I recently sold my Nikon D50 dSLR, bought a Nikon D200 then just sold it and bought a D60, so here are some pictures I've taken on the way to work with it this week.
The lawsuit is for early iPod adopters of the 2nd and 3rd generation iPods. I had a third generation. I am eligible for an Apple Store credit of $49, but have no receipt to prove my eligibility.
The first class-action suit was against Columbia Pictures. Why? Because they made up a bunch of critics and gave some of their movies praise. If you went to one of those movies and still had the ticket-stub you were eligible for a refund. The movie in question for me? A Knight's Tale.
I know it's been a sparse time in hlogging for me, but I now have a PowerGlove and that takes up most of my time.
I recently sold my Nikon D50 dSLR, bought a Nikon D200 then just sold it and bought a D60, so here are some pictures I've taken on the way to work with it this week.
5.13.2008
Recording (or, Kerry > Li'l Jon)
So you're probably wondering why we haven't updated in a while. No idea. I've been doing lots! In fact, I've been recording for a couple of projects so I thought I'd share with you. Last week I was at AME studios in Kitchener, recording a couple of tracks for the upcoming Critical Mass album. Here's pictures!
The guys in the last pic are Scott (top left, bass), Lawrence (bottom left, keys) and Andy (bottom right, producer, smiled the whole day until we took a photo, seriously).
And that's it!
The guys in the last pic are Scott (top left, bass), Lawrence (bottom left, keys) and Andy (bottom right, producer, smiled the whole day until we took a photo, seriously).
The a couple of weeks ago I was in Brooklyn ON, recording some drums and vocals for the Runaway. Here are some videos! The first one is me doing my vocal tracks and scaring Krista the camera operator cause she couldn't really tell when I was going to yell.
I don't know why they liked my other take better. This one is clearly genius. Clearly.
This one is me doing a drum take in a darkened room for ambience. Kinda samey all the way through, but that's recording for you.
And this one is self explanatory.
Finally, WEEKS before that I was in Arkona doing recording for Michael Bannerman's solo album! I only have pics of my drums from that one, so I hope that's cool.
And that's it!4.29.2008
Addendum (or, additional info)
Here are some pics of the guitar incident just after it happened. Pam took the pics.
4.28.2008
Why Does It Always Rain On Me? (or, The Week Fate Punched Me In The Junk)
So this has been something other than my best week. Last Sunday, On the last play of the last game of basketball at Lincoln Road, I took a hard pass off the tip of my right pinkie finger. This happens a lot, but hurts more than normal. I looked down to discover that my finger, instead of looking like an “l”, looks more like a “z”. I pop my finger back into place and it’s not broken, but doctor says I’m to be in a splint for two weeks (also, no more monkeys jumping on the bed). I should note that the week before I took a hard pass to the temple and was knocked out cold for ten seconds. I’m starting to feel like Mr. Glass from Unbreakable.
Then, this past Friday, I was at Out of the Cold at WMB. There I was, just talking to Steph and Pam as my guitar rested in a corner by itself. Suddenly, and for no discernable reason, my guitar tipped and fell forward, shattering the headstock. Unwarrantied! Unfixable! GUITARLESS’D!
Then today, I’m coming in to work from Conestoga mall and there’s a ginormous backup on King Street. Turns out that there was a huge power outage and the cops are having to reroute away from the area, car by car. I was worried at having to explain to the cop that I have to get through because I work in the affected area, and it turns out that the cop is Sniddy! I was still late though, so it counts.
I leave you with a picture of me and my guitar in better times. Mourn with me, please.
Then, this past Friday, I was at Out of the Cold at WMB. There I was, just talking to Steph and Pam as my guitar rested in a corner by itself. Suddenly, and for no discernable reason, my guitar tipped and fell forward, shattering the headstock. Unwarrantied! Unfixable! GUITARLESS’D!
Then today, I’m coming in to work from Conestoga mall and there’s a ginormous backup on King Street. Turns out that there was a huge power outage and the cops are having to reroute away from the area, car by car. I was worried at having to explain to the cop that I have to get through because I work in the affected area, and it turns out that the cop is Sniddy! I was still late though, so it counts.
I leave you with a picture of me and my guitar in better times. Mourn with me, please.
4.25.2008
4.16.2008
Muffinball or What to do With Muffins of Unknown Vintage
Lüke had some mighty old muffins. How old you say? Well, I can't for the life of me remember a time when those muffins weren't a furnishing in the haus. This is what Kristi, Lüke and I decided to do with them.
We're also considering a bring your own produce baseball league.
We're also considering a bring your own produce baseball league.
4.07.2008
Rock Star OR: The people who usually want my signature are clerks with my credit card
So I'm a rock star again, apparently. This weekend I went to Michigan to play my first of two shows with Critical Mass.
The show was at a high school and I was iimediately hit by how much sportier American high schools are. I spent some of the pre-show time looking over the team photos and they had every sport you could think of (except Curling): Football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, soccer, bowling (!), track, field, wrestling, swimming, and so on. And with the exception of football and wrestling, every sport had men's and women's, and each gender had three teams per sport. This with a student population of just over 500.
the only other notable differences came at dinner time, when we were offered chili dogs.
ME: (looking at dude-ahead-of-me's hot dog, which looks like someone literally threw up on it) Uh, can I have one without chili?
SERVING LADY: Oh, you're one of the Canadians, aren't you? Guess you don't want this either (points at case of Mountain Dew).
I'd say she was culturally stereotyping me if she wasn't TOTALLY RIGHT. Gotta love the land of the free and the brave and the vomit dogs with a side of chilled urine.
The show itself went really well. Due to usual border anxiety we didn't bother trying to haul my kit over, instead bringing my breakables (cymbals, snare, kick pedal) and hoping the opening band had some decent gear. Fortunately the promoter had asked a friend of his to bring her kit, a Yamaha Stage Custom. She showed up halfway through soundcheck and I almost cried with joy. I should mention that the openers were really, really nice guys who said I could use any of their stuff I wanted. I totally forget what the first band was called, but the second band was called Obsidian Crush and they were very fun. Extremely nice guys, too, especially the drummer, Josh. Check them out if you be diggin' on the pop-punk.
Our set went pretty well. I hadn't played that hard in a long, long time (too many small venues), so I wound up with a cramping hand, three broken sticks and a mild case of whiplash. My ears were also ringing as we were having some monitor problems.
the best part was afterwards. It's been a while since I got to do the post-show schmooze thing and I totally missed it. I signed a bunch of autographs and chatted with fans who were really cool. The Critical Mass guys were super nice about it -- they included me like I had been in the band ofrever and asked me to get in pictures and all that stuff (our bassist, Scott, later told me I "looked the part" of a rock star. I blush). I'm really excited to keep doing this stuff! Someday you'll hear of me, I'm sure.
IN OTHER NEWS: Luke's dirgible race is not going as planned. Somewhere over Tanzania he lost some ballast and wound up having to ground himself lest he float into the atmosphere. Fortunately for him, he met a small primate named Pepe, who weighed just enough to increase his ballast! He has since taken back to the skies and is in search of the race leader.
Caleb can be found dancing in front of the Orange Julius at Fairview as he asks for napkins.
END TRANSMISSION.
The show was at a high school and I was iimediately hit by how much sportier American high schools are. I spent some of the pre-show time looking over the team photos and they had every sport you could think of (except Curling): Football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, soccer, bowling (!), track, field, wrestling, swimming, and so on. And with the exception of football and wrestling, every sport had men's and women's, and each gender had three teams per sport. This with a student population of just over 500.
the only other notable differences came at dinner time, when we were offered chili dogs.
ME: (looking at dude-ahead-of-me's hot dog, which looks like someone literally threw up on it) Uh, can I have one without chili?
SERVING LADY: Oh, you're one of the Canadians, aren't you? Guess you don't want this either (points at case of Mountain Dew).
I'd say she was culturally stereotyping me if she wasn't TOTALLY RIGHT. Gotta love the land of the free and the brave and the vomit dogs with a side of chilled urine.
The show itself went really well. Due to usual border anxiety we didn't bother trying to haul my kit over, instead bringing my breakables (cymbals, snare, kick pedal) and hoping the opening band had some decent gear. Fortunately the promoter had asked a friend of his to bring her kit, a Yamaha Stage Custom. She showed up halfway through soundcheck and I almost cried with joy. I should mention that the openers were really, really nice guys who said I could use any of their stuff I wanted. I totally forget what the first band was called, but the second band was called Obsidian Crush and they were very fun. Extremely nice guys, too, especially the drummer, Josh. Check them out if you be diggin' on the pop-punk.
Our set went pretty well. I hadn't played that hard in a long, long time (too many small venues), so I wound up with a cramping hand, three broken sticks and a mild case of whiplash. My ears were also ringing as we were having some monitor problems.
the best part was afterwards. It's been a while since I got to do the post-show schmooze thing and I totally missed it. I signed a bunch of autographs and chatted with fans who were really cool. The Critical Mass guys were super nice about it -- they included me like I had been in the band ofrever and asked me to get in pictures and all that stuff (our bassist, Scott, later told me I "looked the part" of a rock star. I blush). I'm really excited to keep doing this stuff! Someday you'll hear of me, I'm sure.
IN OTHER NEWS: Luke's dirgible race is not going as planned. Somewhere over Tanzania he lost some ballast and wound up having to ground himself lest he float into the atmosphere. Fortunately for him, he met a small primate named Pepe, who weighed just enough to increase his ballast! He has since taken back to the skies and is in search of the race leader.
Caleb can be found dancing in front of the Orange Julius at Fairview as he asks for napkins.
END TRANSMISSION.
4.03.2008
Random news (or, my tomato doubles as a cell phone)
So downstairs in the basement of infamy (and percussion), there is a leak that threatens our very way of life. Right now it’s tiny, but with the ridiculous spring thaw that we’re in for I’m willing to bet that the water will sooner than later have us in a Pharaoh’s-army-in-the-Ten-Commandments kind of situation. And not just trickle down our drain. Clearly.
In other news, the Leb’s soft bigotry towards non-fruit-oriented computers reached a new high this week when he discovered that the non-Mac monitor he had purchase in order to…uh…feel more like a security guard (that would also explain the grey uniform in his closet and why he’s always carrying around a flashlight and a coffee) was not what he had wanted. That is to say, its whites were off-white and the text was garbled. At any rate, Caleb has now sworn off any non-produce related technology and has already started plans to grow himself an iPod in our backyard.
Mook is currently embroiled in a dirigible race around the world against Lord Figguris Southampton III of Yorkshire. I think? Details are sketchy.
I am currently preparing for a hopeful return to school this summer, and for a return to the stage with various rock and roll combinations. I’m also enjoying the sunshine and trying to figure out what to do with my holidays this summer. Thoughts? I also spent an inordinate amount of time writing up my thoughts on the prequels of Star Wars, since I just watched them over the last couple of weeks. If anyone’s actually interested I’ll post them. If not…WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME??? Or something.
Oh, Krista has a blog now!
END TRANSMISSION.
In other news, the Leb’s soft bigotry towards non-fruit-oriented computers reached a new high this week when he discovered that the non-Mac monitor he had purchase in order to…uh…feel more like a security guard (that would also explain the grey uniform in his closet and why he’s always carrying around a flashlight and a coffee) was not what he had wanted. That is to say, its whites were off-white and the text was garbled. At any rate, Caleb has now sworn off any non-produce related technology and has already started plans to grow himself an iPod in our backyard.
Mook is currently embroiled in a dirigible race around the world against Lord Figguris Southampton III of Yorkshire. I think? Details are sketchy.
I am currently preparing for a hopeful return to school this summer, and for a return to the stage with various rock and roll combinations. I’m also enjoying the sunshine and trying to figure out what to do with my holidays this summer. Thoughts? I also spent an inordinate amount of time writing up my thoughts on the prequels of Star Wars, since I just watched them over the last couple of weeks. If anyone’s actually interested I’ll post them. If not…WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME??? Or something.
Oh, Krista has a blog now!
END TRANSMISSION.
3.26.2008
Caleb Is (or, Luke is)
Caleb started playing this game in the comments of my last post. You type "(someone's name)
Caleb is not presented consistently.
Caleb is a young man taken into the employ of the local squire Falkland.
Caleb is quick to point out that rugby is not a popular sport in the United States.
Caleb is a Horite.
Caleb is playing flag football this year and may try gymnastics.
Caleb is evidence of primitive totemism.
Caleb is a very flashy, fancy, brave 8 year old grey large pony.
Caleb is an arrogant, misogynistic, defrocked priest who is allied with the First Evil .
and of course:
Luke is the world's greatest cowboy.
Luke is way off the mark on more than a few of his assumptions.
Luke is detached toward police when they arrive at the scene and arrest him .
Luke is releasing an box set entitled Luke Campbell's Soup for the Freaky Soul.
Luke is the oldest and the least important employee of a dismal company.
Luke is a consumerate historian, to be ranked in his own right with the great writers of the Greeks.
Luke is being a tool, as always.
3.24.2008
Tour (or: You Know You're Getting Old When You Meet At the Retirement Home
So much for once a week, eh kids? Ah well.
Thought you might like to know all about my week. Don't know why I thought this. But you're here, so I have a feeling you'll read it. And hopefully like it. This last week felt like I was on tour. Here is a not-so-brief (yet entertaining) travelogue:
Tuesday, March 18: Drove to London with Krista and Steph Andrews (my brother's girlfriend) for the Tokyo Police Club show. My brother Kevin was supposed to come but he was wicked sick, so we managed to get the awesome Fiona Jack to meet up with us in London and take the ticket. Show was good! It was Call The Office so the sound wasn't great. The Knaves opened and were fairly unremarkable, but we were so annoyed at having been out in the cold and rain for an hour (doors were at 8, but they didn't let anyone in until 9:10) that we were waaaay nasty about how much we didn't like them.
Will Currie et le Pays Francais were on next and, despite APPARENTLY being influenced by Elton John, they were enjoyable. I've heard them play better, but Krista was up front and apparently Currie was having mad moniter problems and was somewhat upset by this (understandably so, as there's nothing harder on a singer).
Tokyo Police Club were great. We only saw a third of their set at Winterfest so it was nice to catch the whole thing. They have an album coming out April 22 so a lot of stuff was new to my ears. Krista got a great video of a new song that I will post if/when she gives it to me. Their guitarist couldn't make it so their sound tech filled in and was indistinguishable from the genuine article (sound wise, that is; he kind of looked like Ron Jeremy). The only knock I could have is that they just kind of played songs end to end: no segues, covers, crowd interaction, etc. I give the entire show a B+.
We got on the road late and the 401 was coated in fog, so much so that we couldn't go more than 60 in some places. I wound up falling asleep (Steph was driving) and am apparently hilarious while I am sleeping. I woke up every so often to ask Steph if she was OK, and then would go right back to sleep. I also snored. Yep, I rule.
Wednesday, March 19: Drove to Ikea in Burlington with Krista to check out some possibilities for the Haus. Since I'm not moving anytime soon I want to make it a little nicer to live in. Didn't buy anything of note (except a wok to replace the one that has been adding tefloon to our stir-frys), but I eyeballed a new computer desk, some poster frames and shelving. More to come! Stay tuned.
Thursday, March 20: Drove to Oakville with Krista to play a show at Abbey Park Secondary School with the Runaway. It was a sweet show. A couple of students opened, and I didn't get to talk to them or I'd link to them here. Nifty was also on the bill and he was very cool. I didn't know any of his stuff aside from his guesting on Runaway's A Brief Word, and he was amazing. A super cool guy, too, please go check him out. I hype-manned as per usual and also busted out the Popcoustic Medley v3.0, swapping in Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" where I had previously used "I Will Survive" or Whigfield's "Saturday Night". I also debuted the "Will Ferrell Rap" that I wrote in ten minutes the night before. I'll post that video too, but later. LATER, I said! The crowd was super responsive and fun, which is always helpful. The weird thing was that the show was done at 5 PM and I was baffled as to what I was supposed to do with myself. I'm used to leaving it all on the stage, so to speak, so when I have to stay awake for another six hours it's weird.
Friday, March 21: Drove with Krista to Stouffville to do her family Easter thing. I thought it was just going to be her immediate family, but found out that her aunt, uncle, cousins and grandmother were all coming to dinner! Yikes, that's a lot of people to meet. Played Egyptian War again and won my very first game...Joyce, I'm coming for you. Also played and lost a close game of Crokinole. Also ate an amazing ham dinner. Dead pig FTW!
Saturday, March 22:, OK, this technically counts as Friday cause we didn't travel and you're supposed to do a Travellogue based on place, not on time, but ANWAYS.... In the morning we visted Krista's paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother in the retirement comunity they all live in, and I was walking throug hthe cafeteria and ran into my great Uncle Karl, who has been living there a couple of months. I had thought that he was still living in his own apartment. This is either
a) an amazing coincidence, or
b) a sign that I am now old enough to run into people I know inside retirement homes.
I'll let you know.
ANYWAY, we then drove to Toronto and did a bunch of shopping. I picked up three t-shirts at Black Market, finally spent my Sunrise Gift Certificate on Arrested Development Season 2, and bought an X-Box game I've been wanting. Krista got some earrings from a designer she really likes. It was a pretty day and warm enough to be fun walking around the downtown. Not like the 10 FREAKIN' CENTIMETRES OF SNOW THAT WE'RE GETTING TOMORROW. Ahem.
We then had dinner at Krista's friend Lydell's condo. He's this wizard chef who made (MADE!) bread bowls, and then we chose between a Lemon Pork stew or a Wild Rice and Mushroom chowdah (say it, Frenchie!). He topped it off with this amazing Oreo cake that had a brownie base with cheesecake topping. Ridiculous.
Sunday, March 23: Drove to Guelph for my family Easter thing with Steph A and my newly recovered brother. For the first time in my 28 years with this family we had dinnner out, which was kind of weird. We were at the Cutton Club in Guelph. The meal was good, but intorducing Krista to my extended family was the highlight (especially my grandmother telling me I should stop "shopping around". I think my grandmother thinks I'm a bit of a player. Holla!).
OK, 'twas ridiculously long. Now I don't have to update for weeks. But I should let you know that the Haus renovation project (i.e., painting my room, framing some posters, recovering my dining room set) is underway. Be afraid.
Be VERY afraid.
Kerry
Thought you might like to know all about my week. Don't know why I thought this. But you're here, so I have a feeling you'll read it. And hopefully like it. This last week felt like I was on tour. Here is a not-so-brief (yet entertaining) travelogue:
Tuesday, March 18: Drove to London with Krista and Steph Andrews (my brother's girlfriend) for the Tokyo Police Club show. My brother Kevin was supposed to come but he was wicked sick, so we managed to get the awesome Fiona Jack to meet up with us in London and take the ticket. Show was good! It was Call The Office so the sound wasn't great. The Knaves opened and were fairly unremarkable, but we were so annoyed at having been out in the cold and rain for an hour (doors were at 8, but they didn't let anyone in until 9:10) that we were waaaay nasty about how much we didn't like them.
Will Currie et le Pays Francais were on next and, despite APPARENTLY being influenced by Elton John, they were enjoyable. I've heard them play better, but Krista was up front and apparently Currie was having mad moniter problems and was somewhat upset by this (understandably so, as there's nothing harder on a singer).
Tokyo Police Club were great. We only saw a third of their set at Winterfest so it was nice to catch the whole thing. They have an album coming out April 22 so a lot of stuff was new to my ears. Krista got a great video of a new song that I will post if/when she gives it to me. Their guitarist couldn't make it so their sound tech filled in and was indistinguishable from the genuine article (sound wise, that is; he kind of looked like Ron Jeremy). The only knock I could have is that they just kind of played songs end to end: no segues, covers, crowd interaction, etc. I give the entire show a B+.
We got on the road late and the 401 was coated in fog, so much so that we couldn't go more than 60 in some places. I wound up falling asleep (Steph was driving) and am apparently hilarious while I am sleeping. I woke up every so often to ask Steph if she was OK, and then would go right back to sleep. I also snored. Yep, I rule.
Wednesday, March 19: Drove to Ikea in Burlington with Krista to check out some possibilities for the Haus. Since I'm not moving anytime soon I want to make it a little nicer to live in. Didn't buy anything of note (except a wok to replace the one that has been adding tefloon to our stir-frys), but I eyeballed a new computer desk, some poster frames and shelving. More to come! Stay tuned.
Thursday, March 20: Drove to Oakville with Krista to play a show at Abbey Park Secondary School with the Runaway. It was a sweet show. A couple of students opened, and I didn't get to talk to them or I'd link to them here. Nifty was also on the bill and he was very cool. I didn't know any of his stuff aside from his guesting on Runaway's A Brief Word, and he was amazing. A super cool guy, too, please go check him out. I hype-manned as per usual and also busted out the Popcoustic Medley v3.0, swapping in Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" where I had previously used "I Will Survive" or Whigfield's "Saturday Night". I also debuted the "Will Ferrell Rap" that I wrote in ten minutes the night before. I'll post that video too, but later. LATER, I said! The crowd was super responsive and fun, which is always helpful. The weird thing was that the show was done at 5 PM and I was baffled as to what I was supposed to do with myself. I'm used to leaving it all on the stage, so to speak, so when I have to stay awake for another six hours it's weird.
Friday, March 21: Drove with Krista to Stouffville to do her family Easter thing. I thought it was just going to be her immediate family, but found out that her aunt, uncle, cousins and grandmother were all coming to dinner! Yikes, that's a lot of people to meet. Played Egyptian War again and won my very first game...Joyce, I'm coming for you. Also played and lost a close game of Crokinole. Also ate an amazing ham dinner. Dead pig FTW!
Saturday, March 22:, OK, this technically counts as Friday cause we didn't travel and you're supposed to do a Travellogue based on place, not on time, but ANWAYS.... In the morning we visted Krista's paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother in the retirement comunity they all live in, and I was walking throug hthe cafeteria and ran into my great Uncle Karl, who has been living there a couple of months. I had thought that he was still living in his own apartment. This is either
a) an amazing coincidence, or
b) a sign that I am now old enough to run into people I know inside retirement homes.
I'll let you know.
ANYWAY, we then drove to Toronto and did a bunch of shopping. I picked up three t-shirts at Black Market, finally spent my Sunrise Gift Certificate on Arrested Development Season 2, and bought an X-Box game I've been wanting. Krista got some earrings from a designer she really likes. It was a pretty day and warm enough to be fun walking around the downtown. Not like the 10 FREAKIN' CENTIMETRES OF SNOW THAT WE'RE GETTING TOMORROW. Ahem.
We then had dinner at Krista's friend Lydell's condo. He's this wizard chef who made (MADE!) bread bowls, and then we chose between a Lemon Pork stew or a Wild Rice and Mushroom chowdah (say it, Frenchie!). He topped it off with this amazing Oreo cake that had a brownie base with cheesecake topping. Ridiculous.
Sunday, March 23: Drove to Guelph for my family Easter thing with Steph A and my newly recovered brother. For the first time in my 28 years with this family we had dinnner out, which was kind of weird. We were at the Cutton Club in Guelph. The meal was good, but intorducing Krista to my extended family was the highlight (especially my grandmother telling me I should stop "shopping around". I think my grandmother thinks I'm a bit of a player. Holla!).
OK, 'twas ridiculously long. Now I don't have to update for weeks. But I should let you know that the Haus renovation project (i.e., painting my room, framing some posters, recovering my dining room set) is underway. Be afraid.
Be VERY afraid.
Kerry
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