Friday 28 November 2008

Musical metadata mishaps

I love the way iTunes gets my album cover art wrong. It's like a small unexpected treat - like finding a mint on your hotel pillow. Or not having your credit card rejected. I've had the Violent Femmes' first album on my nano at least 5 times now. I can't remember where i got the tunes from originally - maybe limewire, for all i know - and every time, iTunes returns some strange cover art that's not even remotely linked to the band. Odd. Meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but odd nonetheless.

also, it's day 2 with Chinese Democracy. reactions to come...

Saturday 22 November 2008

Overheard in my head

"It's chili...not exactly rocket science."

Thursday 20 November 2008

Bifurcation

Woody Allen had his "Horrible" and "Miserable," Horrible being anyone living with a disability or chronic debilitating condition, the Miserable being everyone else. "Be happy that you're miserable" was his typically twisted retort.

I propose the following:

There are those who call it "porridge," and those who call it "oatmeal."

I belong to the latter, just so ya know.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

Movie lines I remember for no particular reason, without context and without prompting

"The whole thing is the leads."

"Why are you doing this to me, George?"

"These are filled with helium...so they're very light."

"As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster."

"Deserve's got nuthin' to do with it."

"Interesting group of friends you have there, like the cast of a Fellini movie."

"This is what comes of empire building."

"That's my family, Kay. It's not me."

"Do you suppose I could buy back my introduction to you?"

"Don't drink that poison, it's ten dollars an ounce!"

"It's no trick to make a lot of money, if all you want to do is make a lot of money."

"He had no conception of the instrument at all...He was blowing into it."

"You're here in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not expanding."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Gotta love the winter tires.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Hail, Hail Freedonia...

Ok. So GM, Ford and Chrysler go cap in hand to Washington asking for $25 billion or else last one out turn off the lights. They say thank-you, now we need $25 billion more, or you know, good luck finding parts for your 1998 Lumina.

Maybe they've been watching too many old movies, and I'm none too keen to imagine Ben Bernanke as an elderly dowager, but I gotta say i'd be interested to see what the new Buicks would look like with Groucho at the helm (the joke kicks in around 1:30).



In other news, I think i'm giving up on documentaries on freaks, wierdos, subcultures and outsiders. I've seen The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Dog Town and Z-Boys and this evening I'm an hour through American Hardcore and I could easily say they're the same movie. Ok, maybe Dog Town and Z-Boys has the best soundtrack (Sorry, Daniel, but i just don't hear the Beach Boys in your manic chordings), but documentaries done by fanboys and insiders, interviewing fanboys and insiders about how cool it was to be a fanboy and insider, no matter how strong they start, always end up with me feeling like i'm on the outside of an inside joke. and seeing as i only wanted to watch the damn dvd because i tend to find freaks and outsiders interesting, i really find this a common failing. What all three of these flicks needed was some external voices or opinions to bring us - the uneducated but curious viewer - into the story to understand why the freaks and outsiders we're watching are/were so GD important. Kinda like what this guy says. But seriously - I only read it the day after the dvd was on its way back to zip.ca

Oh well. I'm sure I'll cope.

Monday 10 November 2008

I Was There, Part 6 of ?



This was the first time I saw Pat Metheny. I'd been a fan for so long before this show and it's been so long since then that it's hard for me to believe that there was a time that I hadn't seen him. I mean, I had seen Dizzy Gillespie play my high school years before - a fluke of luck booking for the concert series that usually catered to the blue rinse crowd. But PM was probably the first jazz musician I remember being an actual fan of, partly because my dad would always play American Garage when we had dinner guests and I remember they did a lot of entertaining back then. I had just moved to Montreal back then to start a stint as a fill-in reporter for RCI. My dad had helped me move up, right in the middle of the jazz festival, and Pat (yah, like we're on a first-name basis) was playing that night. But that's not really the story. The real story is that it's one helluva walk from Place des Arts to Club Soda. Like along the highway, through an overpass, "where the hell are we going?" kind of walk. Damn near missed the show and jeez, were we pissed at the guy who sold us the tickets, seeing as Montreal has subways and all. It's still not much of a story, granted, so apologies for those of you who've stuck it out this long  and were hoping for some big reveal  - like, we saw Pat and his band at a stoplight and got a ride in his limo, or we got invited backstage to chill with Roy Hanes, or maybe even mugged. But none of that shit happened. I'm really only writing this to get back into the writing game. So much of what I do now is simply copying and pasting that I think i've forgotten how to actually write - and what I do manage to stab out seems boring even as I write it. So apologies again if you've not yet come to your senses and are still with me by this point. This is also part of a project I have on the go to scan in all these old ticket stubs that I have and string them together into a story of some kind. Or at least another book with blurb. But the prospect of writing a book in one fell swoop was kinda terrifying, as I can't seem to write much more than a headline or ass-covering email these days, so i thought I'd roll them out - hopefully as amusing anecdotes - as I had the time and inclination. This is only the first. I think i have other, more interesting stories to accompany my other stubs. At least let's hope so - for your sake and mine.

I like Ted Dot Com.

And photography. i had lots of national Gs hanging around growing up. maybe some of it rubbed off. Very good video here about how photos connect us to the world. i'd embed it but blogger is giving me grief, like every other technology i use today.

Friday 7 November 2008

Hooray!

Researchers at Oxford have compiled a list of the most irritating expressions. Top of the list?

"At the end of the day..."

Screw you, Cambridge.

Thursday 6 November 2008

(Not so) Idle hands

I doodled a lot in school. During dictation, like. Seems old habits die hard. Too bad I turfed all my old notebooks.





Wednesday 5 November 2008

Tuesday 4 November 2008

On TV at the dawn of a new age

TVO:  10 days to war
Global: "I'm looking for 53 calamaris! let's go!"
A-Channel: "This nightmare is going to end. I didn't know I was doing anything illegal."
CTV: That's Ohio's flag.  Put up Cuba's flag....I knew it!
CBC: Allison Smith is wearing nice pearls. Very Leave it to Beaver.
NBC: Brian Williams' tie knot is too narrow. People people people, it's a double windsor now...don't you ever pick up a magazine?
TVA: ben, quoi? calis..
TQS: allez..le but! let but!
CBS News: "Clinton overreached in the minds of many."
CTV (?) : Lloyd Robertson is still alive? 
The Shopping Channel: "We use a lot of nice butters."
ABC: Wow...can't people hold the camera steady?
The Weather Network: Overnight, 9 degrees. 
Vision TV: If you're really going after God, brace up.
Newsworld: Peter Mansbridge is getting old man nose.
Spike: Couture vs. Lesnar, Nov. 15. I don't care how many tattoos Lesnar has, my money's still on Couture until he shows he can't do it.
Another french chanel: "one hundred percent. y'all just ripped the show for me." (subtitles)
AMC: Rocky! Get up, Rocky!

This kills me

Monday 3 November 2008

Work in Progress

finally got the work station set up in the basement. enough room for slides and laptop and speakers and stuff. confused the hell out of the cat, as this required moving some stuff around. but i think she'll cope. hell, if she can deal w/the dog, she can deal with anything.

a little late now, but Salon.com posted a pretty decent list of the best horror flicks. I pretty much agree with all of them, though i would add Eraserhead to the list. check it out the next time you're alone in the dark.