July 3rd, 2009 Graig
Cherries aren’t cheap. But I also know from experience that they’re also hard to grow without getting worms, so when you buy them, and they don’t have worms, they’re totally worth it.
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July 3rd, 2009 Graig
Years, and years, and years ago, on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, they introduced a sketch character who was a stand up comic and impressionist but in the witness relocation program. The joke was that he’d come out and perform in a balaclava with his voice modified (as they’d do for deep throats on 60 Minutes) and doing impersonations.
Over 10 years later, that character… or rather the idea of that character, was spun off into his own show as another 15-minute gem in the Adult Swim lineup. In Delocated, “Tom” has agreed to appear in a reality TV show, which, for someone in the witness relocation program, is not an incredibly smart idea. He moves into an apartment in New York, along with his wife and son (both adorning balaclavas) where they quickly leave him, and he just as quickly rebounds and puts himself back on the market. A fateful encounter with demi-celebrity Paul Rudd puts him on notice that the men trying to kill him know where to find him (the assassin played by Eugene Mirman).
It’s a funny concept and an often funny show (even outside of its concept) from the creators of Wonder Showzen, but after one episode I’m not sure how much longevity it has.
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July 3rd, 2009 Graig
I’ve decided that my favourite animal is a Squirrel. I love watching squirrels as they precariously yet effortlessly bound across telephone wires and fence tops and through trees… they have such a liberated sense of movement, the parkour of the animal kingdom, you ever seen two of these things go after each other? It’s more thrilling then the opening chase in Casino Royale . Of course, they are incredibly skittish creatures, but even that amuses me, when they bound up behind a tree as you pass, peering their head around the corner to watch you. Oh, but they can be vicious… the little rats, but still… And in the spring, when they begin to shed their winter coat, and it looks like they’re wearing skirts… adorable. Yes, I love me some squirrels.
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July 3rd, 2009 Graig
Artist: Q-Tip/A Tribe Called Quest
Albums owned: Tribe - Peoples Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990); The Low End Theory (1991); Revised Quest for the Seasoned Traveler (1992); Midnight Marauders (1993); Beats, Rhymes and Life (1996); The Love Movement (1998)
Q-Tip - Amplified
Eps owned: sadly, none
Album(s) missing: Tribe - Hits, Rarities & Remixes (2003); The Lost Tribes (2006)
Q-Tip - The Renaissance (2008)
Status: Q-Tip’s “lost album”, Kamaal/The Abstract, originally slated for 2002 release, then scrapped by the record co., will finally be released by Battery Records on September 15, 2009
A sixth Tribe record was discussed around 2006-2007 when the group reunited for touring but nothing since has been mentioned.
Personal history: Tribe was always my second hip-hop love to De La Soul, but upon relistening to the albums (see anew #134-140) the once-perennial seed has once again blossomed. I’d been anxiously awaiting Q-Tip’s second album for years, then kind of gave up hope, and completely missed it when it came out last year. It’s on the list of things to be corrected. I also forgot that I had the opportunity to see Tribe about a year and a half ago in Toronto, and didn’t take it. Dang.
Artist: Godspeed, You Black Emperor
Albums owned: Yanqui U.X.O.
Eps owned: none
Album(s) missing: lift yr. skinny fists like antennas to heaven! (2000); slow riot for new zero kanada (1999); f# a# oo (1998)
Status: on hiatus
Personal history: GAK introduced me to GSYBE on a mixedtape back in 1999 I believe, or perhaps it was a mixed cd in 2000. Either way, i was fascinated and a live show at a remodeled and restored Palais Royale way way back still resonates in my mind, as does their powerful contribution to the opening moments of 28 Days Later (remember when Danny Boyle was cool, not famous…? bah). GSYBE, I miss you.
Artist: Parkas
Albums owned: Now This Is Fighting (2003), Put Your Head In The Lion’s Mouth (2007)
Eps owned:A Life of Crime (2006)
Album(s) missing: none
Status: Currently recording their third album with Dale Morningstar… and then…?
Personal history: Even though I’ve known drummer Greg Rhyno, and bassist/vocalist Mark Rhyno since high school, do I put them on the list because I know them? Hell no. The Parkas are an amazing band, full stop. Having emerged from a tumultuous career path (see the near-brilliant “Life of Crime” DVD) stronger than ever a few years back, they make fun, exciting rock and-or roll, with clever and catchy lyrics and deliver one of the best working man live shows around. New material is most definitely welcome, and anticipated.
Artist: Golden Dogs
Albums owned: Everything In Three Parts (2004); Big Eye, Little Eye (2006)
Eps owned: none
Album(s) missing: none
Status: Currently recording
Personal history: Even though married leads Dave Azzolini and Jessica Grassia are originally from Thunder Bay, I didn’t actually come across the Golden Dogs until 2006, and even that was by happenstance (of which I can’t remember). Impetuously infectious and a killer energetic live show, with a wildly varied and grandiose sound, they could be from Duluth or Bruges and I’d still be just as enthusiastic. I also have a yellow t-shirt with the “target” emblem from their last album which I just love love lurve. Their video for “Never Meant Any Harm” still ranks as one of my favourite all-time videos:
Artist: Matt Murphy
Albums owned: The Super Friendz - Mock Up, Scale Down (1995); Slide Show (1996); Love Energy (2003)
The Flashing Lights - Where the Change Is (1999); Sweet Release (2001)
Guy Terrifico - The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (2005)
Eps owned: The Flashing Lights - Elevature EP (2000)
City Field - Authentic City ep (2004)
Album(s) missing: none
Status: Supposedly recording a new Super Friendz album…
Personal history: I was introduced to Matt Murphy and his Super Friendz by the aforementioned Parkas, Greg and Mark Rhyno, way back in 2005, when their pre-Parkas endeavour, Phasers on Stun, opened for the Halifax based band at a tiny little place with a foot-high stage and low ceilings whose name escapes me (I saw Hayden there too). Chris Murphy of Sloan was filling in on drums for their tour, I recall, and I remember him saying that Mark had the best hair in Rock and Roll. Anywho, I bought Mock Up, Scale Down then and there, and it’s been probably my favorite Canadian rock album ever since. Their track “Karate Man” was at one time adapted into chapter 3 of my novel Quarter City but was later excised.
Their second album, Slide Show wasn’t well received, which I couldn’t ever figure out, since I’ve enjoyed it immensely from the get go. It’s not as poppy as their debut, but it does show growth and maturity. I knew the Super Friendz had sadly disbanded but I was over the moon to discover the Flashing Lights in 2000, and to see them live a bunch of times in 2001. The track “Do It To Yourself” on Sweet Release is one of my all-time favourite songs. It was bittersweet to hear that the Flashing Lights disbanded so that the Super Friendz could reunite, creating Love Energy, followed by Matt Murphy’s unexpected performance as the titular legendary 70’s country music sensation in the mocumentary film The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico. The album which resulted from the film was incredible, and the celebratory live/farewell show for the DVD release was a great time, full of nudie suits and pedal steel guitars. Taking a back-seat in his girlfriend’s band, the B-52’s inspired City Field, Murphy’s contribution is still quite tangible. He’s been rather absent since Guy Terrifico disappeared, but whatever he does next, I’m there. The man can cross genres and styles with ease, and is a damn fine entertainer.
Artist: Rod Slaughter/Novillero
Albums owned: Duotang - Smash the Ships and Raise the Beams (1996); The Cons & The Pros (1998); The Bright Side (2001)
Novillero - The Brindleford Follies (2002); Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives (2005)
Eps owned: n/a
Album(s) missing: Novillero - A Little Tradition (2008)
Status: Active, just coming off touring.
Personal history: I don’t actually recall how I came across Duotang. Was it a live show in Thunder Bay? Late-night CBC Radio of Brave New Waves? MuchMusic back when they actually played music videos? Honestly don’t recall. But I remember making a choice between two a bass ‘n’ drums duos, them and The Inbreds. While I like both, I threw my hat in with the Winnepeg-based band and followed them for years, across three albums and at least four live shows. Duotang’s frontman, the brilliantly named Rod Slaughter, had dabbled with the Winnepeg mega-band Novillero between albums back in 1999, but it seemed to be a bit of a passing phase, only when Duotang split up, he threw himself right back into it, and while the first album was decent, the sophomore release was incredible. They’ve been active ever since, achieving some modest success. I missed out on their 2008 release, which will have to be corrected.
Artist: Interpol
Albums owned: Our Love to Admire (2007)
Eps owned: none
Album(s) missing: Turn on the Bright Lights (2002); Antics (2004)
Status: Working on a 4th album, expected in 2010.
Personal history: GAK introduced me to Interpol back in 2000/2001 on a mixed cd, and lent me an early EP, and I didn’t really get it. They didn’t strike me as interesting and I found their sound rather monotonous. Somehow, though, they found their way onto my iPod (probably when I had GAK’s entire CD collection for about 2 years) and one day, with Paul Bank’s dulcet tones ringing in my ear, I became enraptured. There’s a rock-steady consistency to Interpol’s sound which, the more their catalog builds, the more comforting it becomes, and the more they become the heirs to post-punk royal crown. I find their sound to have great momentum, perfect driving music (more daytime than nighttime though).
Artist: Ratatat
Albums owned: Ratatat (2004), Remixes vol.2 (2007)
Eps owned: none
Album(s) missing: Classics (2006), LP3 (2008), Remixes vol.1 (2004)
Status: active
Personal history: Ratatat makes stadium rock for your headphones. It was the video for “Cherry” that drew me in and while I don’t have much in the way of personal attachment, it’s really just that their instrumental merger of hip hop, guitar rock, and laptop electronica just pleases me. Their two volumes of Remixes, made available for free on their website at one time or another, (likely making rounds on the torrent sites), made some very mediocre rap palatable.
—
33 bands (in no particular order):
1. The National
2. Modest Mouse
3. De La Soul
4. TV on the Radio
5. The Futureheads
6. !!!
7. Menomena
8. Danger Mouse
9. Damon Albarn
10. Q-Tip/A Tribe Called Quest
11. Godspeed, You Black Emperor
12. Parkas
13. The Golden Dogs
14. Matt Murphy
15. Rod Slaughter/Novillero
16. Interpol
17. Ratatat
Tags: 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150
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July 2nd, 2009 Graig
Godspeed, You Black Emperor’s third-ish album is a cd-bursting 80 minutes long consisting of five tracks, three songs long (”09-15-00″ and “Motherfucker=”Redeemer” are both split into two parts). You can’t really critique Godspeed’s music: you either climb aboard the journey or you you won’t; you appreciate it for it’s many various inspirations or you don’t; you can get behind their sometimes 20+ minute compositions or you can’t….
GSYBE is art music, it’s a slow-burning soundtrack to modern existence, it’s a planetarium light show minus the plaentarium and the light show. If all you ever listen to is top 40 or (gah) Virgin radio, then you’re just not going to be interested. But this is music that takes you somewhere, epic journeys through sound, virtually lyric-less (or in the case of Yanqui U.X.O., fully).
Taking from prog rock, shoegazer, punk, post-rock, chamber, classical and avant-garde and mashing them together into a falafel consisting of at times dozens of musicians, Godspeed is (was?) a political and social orchestral machine, and in spite of rarely (if ever) actually speaking, their music can convey any number of dark landscapes and horrifying visions of the future. Yanqui U.X.O.’s packaging maps “big music” (Sony, BMG etc) to the military industrial complex, and while their music can’t speak, its intonations are heady. But with any music not tied to lyrics, you go in with only that which you take.
I haven’t listened to Yanqui U.X.O. quite enough in the many, many years since I acquired it, but it creates an incredible vacuum when it’s played, one that draws you in and doesn’t want to let go. What strikes me most about this album is how much it feels like a built-up and blown-out version of Slint’s Spiderland (see “anew #86″), as if that album were a snowball, increasing in size, rolling down an unending snow covered mountain.
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July 2nd, 2009 Graig
A few years ago a low-budget, constrained drama about a time travel machine called Primer emerged, it’s $7K budget and brain-bending plot created an unlikely sensation. While I loved the film, I can’t help but admit that, save for the nichest of audiences, it is kind of difficult to follow, and possibly even dull. Time Crimes, a low-budget, constrained, Spanish thriller has emerged as a more accessible, engaging film taking on a similar theme but with a much different edge. With no more than four actors in the entire production, the film playing out in three tonally distinct acts, the first very much inspired by slasher films, the second is a morose comedy of errors, while the third is a tense, fatalistic tragedy. Without spilling the details of what happens, I have to say that the second and third act are somewhat predictable. I don’t think the film was looking for a Shyamalan-esque “twist” though, but instead following through on its methodical and satirical continuity. It does wind up maddening at times, and the finale really could use a post script, but overall a thoroughly satisfying venture.
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July 2nd, 2009 Graig
A bit of a surprise, I was expecting a heavy drama about a racist, cranky old man who accidentally gets involved in his young neighbour’s gang problems and comes to accept his Hmong neighbours. Well, the plot is exactly that, another retread of the great white savior, but it’s less dramatic and more comedic than I was expecting. Clint Eastwood is in full bore grizzled old man mode here, softened bit by bit throughout the picture by his young neighbours’ affection towards him. The film deals with gang problems with earnestness though, basically up to the resolution, which fits tight and pat with the plot for a (semi-)happy ending. It’s hard to dislike the, film but it is frequently schmaltzy pap, with Eastwood’s grump no less cartoonish than Ed Asner’s Carl in UP.
Tags: 180
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July 2nd, 2009 Graig
Over the past five or so years in blogging I’ve reviewed, or at the very least, mentioned every film that I’ve watched, with only one exception (until recently when I didn’t review “Horton Hears a Who” or “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”… on the former decent kiddie film based off Dr. Seuss with a merger of cel-[styled] and digital animation techniques, while the latter was the weakest of David Fincher’s films (even beneath Alien3 and Panic Room), taking on a cheeky Tim Burton-esque flair, only the characters’ choices and decisions, especially in the climax, were very hard to swallow), Night Watch.
Based, roughly, on the popular Russian anthology series written by Sergei Lukyanenko, Night Watch is the first in a trilogy (Day Watch being the second and Twilight Watch, or Dusk Watch, currently in pre-production, the third) based off the four books Lukyanenko has published (”Final Watch” was his other). This movie takes elements from the first two books (”Night Watch” and “Day Watch”) each containing three novella-sized stories, loosely inter-connected) while the sequel is based the two other tales of “Night Watch”
The DVD version I bought in the UK (Region 2) has 2 discs (where as the domestic only features one), one featuring the extended cut, the other the Theatrical version. The extended cut doesn’t have the absolutely funky subtitles that I recalled from seeing in the theatre (I’ve not checked the Theatrical version to see if it has them) which is too bad, because the subtitles were like a whole other facet to the viewing experience.
There’s a commentary with director Timur Bekmambetov and a text commentary with Lukyenanko, both of which I hope to peruse at some point, because I love the film. It seems so long ago (although Night Watch didn’t emerge into North American theatres until over a year after it had set box office records in Russia) but it was really only 4 years ago that I entered the strange world and supernatural powers of the Others, and the jarred truce between the light and dark.
The film’s look and feel masks brilliantly its unbelievably modest budget, and is directed with vigor and flair by Bekmambetov. It’s no surprise why Hollywood came calling nor that it was primarily the director that made Wanted a hit. Night Watch and Day Watch are incredibly symbiotic as films, to the point that I was looking for scenes that I remembered from Day Watch whilst revisiting Night Watch.
By using the Lukyenanko’s densely constructed world of good and evil policing one another, the films veer off on their own course, like an alternate dimension version of the books, providing a bit more focus and a cohesive story amidst the unusual and often unexplained backdrop. It’s a dark film full of wonder, a grown-up fable, not as fanciful like Burton or Del Toro, nor as excessively generic as Spielberg or Cameron, but somewhere in between.
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July 2nd, 2009 Graig
An interesting article in the Metro the other day about pool hygene, and while some of it’s rather sensible (don’t swim when you have the trots, don’t drink the water), some of it is rarely heeded (such as showering yourself down BEFORE getting in the pool). What was interesting was what the article noted about peeing in the pool… it’s not about how it affects water quality (as urine is sterile and any bacteria and germs are killed by the chlorine), but how it affects the air quality.
“The bigger concern is actually air quality, not water quality, which most people don’t realize.” That’s because when uric acid from urine mixes with chlorinated water, chloramines are formed. These, in turn, form into the gas trichloromethane, which is not good to breathe for long periods.
The gases tend to sit low on the water’s surface, which is where swimmers breathe, Hughes explained, adding that it’s more of an issue at indoor pools where the breezes can’t blow the gases away.
Erm. Ick.
Tags: 178
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July 1st, 2009 Graig
According to this tag attached to a stuffed toy cat, a cat’s nose pad has a unique pattern, like a finger print. So if you’re trying to solve cat crimes, start looking for nose prints, I suppose.
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June 29th, 2009 Graig
A brief little book (140ish pages plus pictures and drawrings) by Goon Show founder Spike Milligan detailing his exploits and hijinks serving in Her Majesty’s Royal Army. Milligan’s writing is glib and whimsical but often too much so, at times just an endless string of quips, playing with words and phrases (written as suspect dialogue). It also feels restrained and hesitant, never getting into too much depth or really establishing any emotional connection with the reader. It’s almost as if he was too concerned whether the reader would be interested in anything but the funny bits from him, and it’s ultimately a mildly amusing but flimsy read. Apparently it was the first of a trilogy (“Rommel?” “Gunner Who?” and Monty: His Part in My Victory), along with a fourth through seventh part of the “trilogy”, (Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall; Where Have All the Bullets Gone?;
Goodbye Soldier; and Peace Work). A film adaptation of this book was made in 1972.
Tags: 179
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June 29th, 2009 Graig
3 reasons, aside from the whole “getting wet” bit (which, in a summer rain isn’t all that bad, mind), why cycling in the rain sucks:
1. Potholes: one out of every three puddles hides a pothole, a wrist wrecking, butt breaking pothole
2. Unpredictability: will the rain ease up, or get heavier… you just don’t know what you’re heading into
3. Grit and the dirt: gets trapped in your leg hairs, on your clothes, all over your bike, and worst of all, in your bike chain, meaning that you’re wearing down your chain and your gears with each rotation as it crunches and crushes dirt and gravel caught in the chain grease.
Oddly enough, traffic seemed calmer, although plenty of other cyclists proved to be rather idiotic given the road conditions. Some people’s children never cease to amaze me.
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June 29th, 2009 Graig
PC’s Tuna Burgers have, its box proclaims, “70% less fat than PC Thick & Juicy Beef Burgers”. Yeah, but it’s still tuna. It grilled up just fine and if you smother it with enough toppings you can only taste a hint of its fishyness, but yeah, we’ll polish off the remaining two and stick with homemade lamb burgers instead.
Tags: 180
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June 28th, 2009 Graig
If I’m going to Tim Horton’s for a donut, I need to stop experimenting and just stick with what I know I like: double chocolate or maple dip, otherwise I just wind up disappointed. The strawberry blossom is a fluffy donut with a ring of extra sweet icing with chunks of crunchy candy, and a center ring topped with strawberry jam. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.
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June 28th, 2009 Graig
TCM stated that Notorious was “up next”, but when it came time, it was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a not-horrendous romantic comedy which bears next to no similarities to the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie feuding assassin spouses film of not too long ago. The film starts with the Mrs. asking the Mr. that if he had it to do all over again, would they get married. They have an established level of honesty and trust to them, so he doesn’t lie and tells her no. What he didn’t know was to come was, through a bureaucratic error, their marriage isn’t actually legal. When the Mr. teases the Mrs. with the information, she rebels against their relationship, throwing him out and allowing other men to court her, including the Mr.’s best friend/business partner (who, though it’s never stated aloud, is insinuated as being gay). The film’s 95 minutes kind of drags along especially knowing that inevitably the two will indeed patch it up. The bits of torture and cunning the two put each other through aren’t really all that clever or humorous enough to sustain the length that each one takes up. Though there are indeed a few laughs, the dialogue isn’t all that punchy nor witty. WIth it’s nonsensically abrupt ending, the film ultimately underscores why Hitch is known for his thrillers, rather than his comedies.
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June 28th, 2009 Graig
Turner Classic Movies held a Hitchcock Marathon yesterday, while I spent most of the day in the pool, missing much of the day, I did manage to catch the bulk of this classic Cary Grant-mistake identity-espionage thriller. JJ was a little miffed at me for changing the channel from whatever banal Treehouse show he was watching, but to my surprise got really into this film. We missed the opening half hour so I had to search the inner depths of my memory to recall the set-up for him, and I had to keep cluing him into what was happening in the film, but all things considered he quite enjoyed it. I always forget that the film features a young Martin Landau.. what a great face that guy had. Also, love that scene where Grant is escaping from his hospital room out the window, reentering the building through another, when the female patient in that room lets out a terrified “STOP!”, and then he pauses, staring right at her. She gets a good look at his handsome mug and salt and pepper hair and as he starts to move again, she utters a melting, luridly soft plea of “stop”. Classic!
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June 28th, 2009 Graig
After nearly a full day in the pool, I could have eaten a horse, but Popeye’s fried chicken, with salty buttered biscuits, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and rice and red beans did the trick just fine. For a while. Though my taste buds pleaded for more, my stomach wasn’t very pleased for much of the evening afterward (was it worth it… a mild “yes” but don’t make it a habit). I was surprised by the mac and cheese, coleslaw and rice’n'beans though, since I wasn’t actually expecting to like them, but I did. The biscuits are addictive, but probably the worst of the items for your body.
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June 28th, 2009 Graig
My mother-in-law, an avid fan of vampire and monster movies, had never seen this Tarantino/Rodriguez mashup so she watched it last night on Peachtree, which, of course, edited the hell right out of the film. I watched about a third, hoping for some “monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday to Friday plane”-like creative covering for swears, but the most inspired they got was “one mean motor scooter” (in place of mother… well, you know). From what I saw about 1/3 to 1/2 of the dialogue was uninspired overdubs and they cut out a few sequences (I didn’t think to stay to see what they did for Cheech’s introductory scene at the Titty Twister).
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June 28th, 2009 Graig
When presented the opportunity, I will stray from my normal diet and consume foods I’d normally avoid at almost every other occasion. This happens most often at my parents house, where my father’s snacking habits wind up overtaking my own impulses, and my in-laws house, where food choices can be limited or what’s for dinner isn’t up to me. And, you know, I don’t want to be an ungrateful guest, so I just shut up and eat what’s served… heh.
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June 27th, 2009 Graig
Not the real “100% nuts” kind of peanut butter, but that stuff you used to eat when you were a kid. You ever read what’s in that stuff? Icing sugar. Really. And trans fat. Do you remember how much PB you ate as a kid… no wonder our health care system is in such trouble. I used to love this stuff, and now, every time I have some (which seems to be only when I visit the in-laws) I get the sense memory of loving it, but at the same time my body wants to reject it, knowing how not-good it is for me. It took about a year back in ‘01 for me to transition to 100% peanuts PB but now that I have I don’t want to go back.
Tags: 177
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