DUBSTEP

dominates my life.

If I could describe to you the clarity, the unparallelled intensity of how these sounds affect me you would immediately admit me to CAMH; ergo, I will refrain from telling you more details on the matter.

Paperspray

DIG THIS SHIT!!!!

Paperspray EP (Promo) from Lunice on Vimeo.

The Forgotten Borough

I watched this video a couple months ago and recently thought about it again, which evidently means it is worthy of posting here. There really isn't anything crazy or extraordinary about it, just simple, understated beauty at its best; I particularly like the way the video is shot and the location. If your attention span is not suited for the entire twenty-two minute video, please skip to the five minute mark and watch the song Cowboys.

Secret Garden Series: Motel Motel from hoovesontheturf on Vimeo.

I have barely left my bedroom today. It is safe to say that what.cd is taking over my life. The Master Music List (no, not a typo- it is most definitely a proper noun) is growing at an exponential rate and hopefully Santa will bring me an additional external hard drive on Christmas morning.

Manufacturing the Sublime

When you step beyond those paramount boundaries, the dreamlike becomes palpable, the odyssey of meaning begins, and the astute ability to discern between living and mere existence becomes both an overwhelming gift and a detrimental curse.





That shit sure was fun.

To see more about The Wedge, visit The Windmill Factory.

Wizard Smoke

Can you say playa dust? This is utterly gorgeous, and I am a huge fan of the first song featured in the video by The Seeds.

Wizard Smoke from Salazar on Vimeo.

Beach House

Guess the immediate comparison I made when hearing Victoria Legrand's voice (of Beach House) for the first time?



I am going to see the sold out Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros show tomorrow night at Elmo; also looking forward to seeing Fool's Gold, who are opening. In other news, I have a ticket to experience Nectar from my favourite Bass this Thursday when he plays across the street from me. It will likely be better than even this (take note Santa, this item is on the top of my Christmas list).

Pedaling Revolution

The disastrous state of the TTC, the new purchase of a second bicycle, and my strong attachment to biking as a means of efficient commuting and pure leisurely pleasure have got me thinking a lot about the topic of transportation. Jeff Mapes makes a convincing argument in regards to the power of the bicycle in his book Pedaling Revolution:

"The bike offers a non-polluting, non-congesting, physically active form of transportation in a country, and in a world, that increasingly seems to need such options. The heightened global competition for the world's oil supplies has ended the era of cheap fuel that made our automobile dependency possible. Our increasingly sedentary lifestyle raises the specter of an obesity epidemic that could shorten the life span of the next generation. And we're outstripping our ability to maintain and expand our network of roads and bridges.

At first blush, it may seem odd to talk about the humble bicycle in the same breath as electric cars or biofuels or hydrogen-powered fuel cells that are presented as the ultimate solution to our energy and environmental woes. In fact, though, bicycling can accomplish more than most people think.

Paul Higgins was a postdoctoral scientist at the University of California at Berkeley when he dined at a restaurant one night with his parents, both of whom are physicians. His mother sighed when the waiter brought huge platters of food. "Think of all the resources that are wasted in this food on this plate," he remembered her saying, "and it's just going to make us fat." Higgins, who was studying climate change at the time, turned it around in his mind. He asked himself, What if we saw that food as the original biofuel? How far could we go on it? Higgins calculated the energy savings if every adult walked or cycled for a half hour or an hour a day and then reduced their driving by the distance they covered walking or biking. The savings were the most dramatic for cyclists, of course, because they can easily travel about three times as fast as a walker. if everyone cycled for an hour and reduced their driving by an equivalent distance, the U.S. would cut its gasoline consumption by 38 percent, Higgins found. Greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by about 12 percent, which is greater than the reductions called for in the Kyoto treaty (which the U.S. saw as too onerous and never signed). To add to the bargain, the average person would lose about thirteen pounds a year."

The simplistic joy and countless positive solutions biking provides seems to follow Occam's razor precisely, but reaching the point of a true "pedaling revolution" may not be so easy in terms of urban planning and infrastructure, especially in Toronto. Nonetheless, these guys have it figured out.

Fort Building

We made a fort that looked something like this yesterday and slept in it:



It's amazing what some bed sheets, a few brooms, and some dental floss can create. Our fort was a vessel for music listening, candlelit ambiance, Pop Rocks candy, wine, and the sharing of horrific news stories and wonderful ideas. Further proof that genuine fun is generally free, or at least quite inexpensive.

SXSW 2010, European tours, The Rosebuds

Although tickets cost nearly $700 USD, the music portion of SXSW 2010 is March 17-21 and I've been itching to go for a couple of years. If only money grew on trees in my backyard and I was the chief harvester. I will have to check out the Bonnaroo, Coachella, APW et cetera, et cetera line-ups to see which one will reign supreme.

Just a note on my not-so-recent trend in perceptions of bands lately: if a band omits North America from their tour, I suddenly value them twofold. This is likely an extension of my unremitting attraction to those who are emotionally aloof.

Lastly, I liked this acoustic version of "Life Like", give it a little view:

(turn off the HD on the right hand side of the video if viewing problems arise).

The Rosebuds "Life Like" from Jason Arthurs on Vimeo.

Ambivalence Avenue

Bibio makes me giddy. It's the kind music I can put on, listen to the entire album, and when it's over, wonder where that hour or so disappeared to (and then proceed to press play and listen all over again). Stephen Wilkinson flooding my ears when I walk induces a subtle smile and bounce in my step that only serotonin could rival. He draws much inspiration from BoC, who I've never been blown away by, but Bibio adds a folk element and antique sound that puts him in a class of his own. Better yet, he has been producing albums every six months over the past year, and his evolution seems to be in a positive direction. His new album "The Apple and the Tooth" comes out in November.

Tomorrow, in a Year

Could there be a better combination? The Knife and a Darwinian inspired opera? (My new found enlightenment still pins Darwin as a genius).

Take me! Take me! Take me!

What's so dirty about dirt?

We spend a profuse amount of time attempting to "wash" the dirt off us when really most of the things we put on us or in us are dirtier than dirt, in an inorganic sense.

It seems I was intrinsically nonspiritual until about four weeks ago. Preaching Dawkins, placing science on a pedestal, and stubbornly insisting that scientific reasoning must provide the singular answer as to why so many individuals across the world seem to be inflicted with the "disease" of religion (see here). Now, a light switch has turned on.

As with most things in my life, inclusive of religion, I am an all-or-nothing/black-or-white type thinker. Religion made no pragmatic sense to me and my rational beliefs, actions and morals. This changed however, when I discovered the simplicity in the "grey" of spirituality I never knew existed.

John Hogue

"You can't have your past and your future, too," says Hogue. In other words, you cannot fully embrace the exciting and daunting possibilities that loom ahead of you if you also insist on immersing yourself in the pleasures of the past. You can either have the old ways or the new ways, but not both.

The sweet taste of insight.

Dichotomies, Dichotomies

"Like most of the others, I was a seeker, a mover, a malcontent, and at times a stupid hell-raiser. I was never idle long enough to do much thinking, but I felt somehow that my instincts were right. I shared a vagrant optimism that some of us were making real progress, that we had taken an honest road, and that the best of us would inevitably make it over the top.

At the same time, I shared a dark suspicion that the life we were leading was a lost cause, that we were all actors, kidding ourselves along on a senseless odyssey. It was the tension between these two poles- a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other- that kept me going."

-The Rum Diary, Hunter S. Thompson

White Rabbits

Shoot me with these bullets anyday.

White Rabbits "Percussion Gun" Music Video from White Rabbits on Vimeo.

Burning Man aka Too Excited to Write Full Sentences

- Finally.
- Gone to Mars from Aug 29 to Sept 9.
- T.O.----airplane---->L.A.----shortbus---->Black Rock City.
- My notebook and I will report back (maybe not to you and you, but to me and me).
- Theme = Evolution (!!!)
- 39 degrees in Reno.
- Totally unprepared.
- I want to live like Marie and Marie.

Lengthwise

When you're here I sleep lengthwise,
And when you're gone I sleep diagonal in my bed.

Motel Motel

This song by NYC's Motel Motel makes me happy. It is fair to say that almost every new band I like these days is from Brooklyn or Montreal. Must expand these horizons.



P.S. Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is releasing a solo record in October and The Fruit Bats' new title track "The Ruminant Band" (album out in August) also sounds delightful; a little reminiscent of good (read: early) Fleetwood Mac.

I hate babies

...and picketing utopian CUPE employees!

That being said, I still enjoy these fantastical photographs by Julie Blackmon.

Rural Alberta Advantage

July 30th at The Horseshoe. I'm there.

Who comes out on top?

Brightblack Morning Light's Everybody Daylight
vs.
Portishead's Glorybox (mudflap mix)...

Close call. BUT, I think Beth Gibbons wins.

Brilliance is Costly

Can't wait until July 9th. The Dodos + Beirut = expected mind-blowing experience. His voice, the heavy percussion, their presumed intensity on stage...OH MY!

Instant happiness

All Up

In the climax of my existence, my summers will consist of continuous playlists of Ocean Colour Scene, and my days will be replicas of Ryan McGinley photographs.

Little Things

A woman, her husband and their two young children sat down with Chinese food. The woman parked her stroller beside the table. She cracked open her fortune cookie, put down the fortune without reading it, and gave the cookie to her young daughter. After ensuring her daughter was content with the peach coloured cookie, the mother picked up the fortune and read it. In that single moment I realized I always would have read the fortune first. This confirms all that I already knew about myself.

A gun, a pack of sandwiches, and nothing.

Items rediscovered over the weekend:

1) I hate Sundays most of all (or long weekend Mondays that feel like Sundays).
2) Apart from my family, I feel like there is nothing for me in London anymore. Although I have lived away from home for the last 6 years, this is the first time I have truly felt this way.
3) I have a chronic sick feeling when I see parents and young children, or hear of couples settling down and buying a house together. I assume this sick feeling is not normal.
4) My attention span for life has been whittled down to about 6-8 months. Around this time, I get anxious and feel the need to relocate, change life status (ie from student to working, or working to travelling et cetera, et cetera), or change paces in some other major regard.
5) I seldom remember anything except for the things that I never forget; there's less and less in between.

Papergirl

Yet another reason why Berlin is my next destination of choice- innovative alternative solutions to publicly accessible art...distributed impulsively!

Papergirl #3 from Papergirl on Vimeo.

See more details here.

Beautiful Destruction

Tonight I helped out at my roommate's store, Koma, for the Toronto opening of Louis Helbig's Beautiful Destruction exhibit. The aerial photographs of the Alberta Tar Sands really must be seen as large prints to fully be appreciated. The atrocious and the stunning are merged so harmoniously, it almost makes you feel guilty for accepting their appeal.







The photo below is not of the Alberta Tar Sands but is one of my favourites from his other work.

Just as Charles predicted...

Puijila darwini

A 24-million-year-old fossil thought to be a "missing link" in evolution has been discovered in Northern Canada.



Read more here and here.

I Want

Thinking about making the perfect vintage repro bather before Summer. The following pieces have inspired me to start drawing some designs and get Momma to help me sew (read: probably do most of the sewing).

A little introspection has led to the following concerns about how these suits may fare in reality:
a)I have tits
b)I am not 5'11"

Regardless of these factors, I can't help but attempt a pilot model in hopes of achieving something conclusively wearable. (The DVF and Abaeté make me drool the most).


DVF

Abaeté

Yigal Azrouël

Michael Kors
Oscar de la Renta



DSquared

Stella McCartney

Norma Kamali, Marc Jacobs (obviously), and Eres also have some gorgeous suits. It seems I currently have a tendency to favour ruffles of any kind- the bigger the better. Sweet sweet Summer, return to me!

Conveyor Belt Stories

I have a tendency to spy on the conveyor belt while waiting in line at the grocery store. I entertain myself with hyper-personal stories and scenes of the people ahead and behind me based solely on their grocery purchases.

Medium-sized frozen vegetable lasagna, one roll (not two), box of tea.

Single man, possibly a divorceé, sitting in a well lived-in one bedroom apartment, surrounded by walls of books. He listens to gritty jazz, wears patterned dress socks and keeps his apartment extra warm (utilities are included). He isn’t unhappy, but isn’t happy either; he just lives and is waiting for something, anything, to amend the mundane routine. He eats half the lasagna and brings the other half to work the next morning. He sips tea (2 cups) from a brown mug, watches 60 Minutes, goes to bed at 11 o’clock and has a knitted quilt-like blanket on the back of his couch. He also has a large number of keys on his key ring.

Meat department chicken with bones, sprouts, broccoli, celery, carrots, black forest cake, 4L tub of No Name vanilla ice cream.

Woman with an only child, age 8; passionless but comfortable marriage, close with extended family. She hasn’t blow-dried her hair in years, and what little make-up she once wore, she stopped wearing 3 weeks after her husband proposed. She has been to her home country (elsewhere), and Canada, but nowhere else. She likes country music. The kitchen in their house has laminate flooring, mismatched dishes and dated cupboards, but she is proud of it all, and should be. Three generations eat chicken stir-fry in the formal dining room that gets used about 4 times a year. It is her mother’s birthday so the woman splurged on the cake because she knows it is her favourite. The ice cream sits in the chest freezer, only to be brought out at the end of summer, full of icy freezer burn. They eat it anyway.

Sometimes I think sometimes I don't

The beauty of some things don't need an explanation.

i.e. Scarlett Hooft Graafland

Edward Scissorhead-and-shoulders-knees-and-toes

March of the Zapotec

More Zach Condon to please the senses. Perspective to follow once I have gathered my full thoughts on the album(s) and my ears have recovered from their state of supreme well-being. This Pitchfork review may suffice in the meantime.

I could walk forever if it wasn't for the cold

139

Morning Stroll

This fine thread of permanence lingers as I waver on the discrete edge of consistent rationality and deliberate discord.

you stole from me so many

intangibles

down
down
down

with you they went.

such a catalyst for dormancy

Long Overdue

"There is a kind of subtle chaos, a supple element of chance and change, residing at the core of living things. What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to meet an ever-changing world?"

Aug 31- Sept 7, 2009. This is the year. I can feel it.

DISCLAIMER: Attendance contingent on internship start date.

Tales and Tails and Tiles

I have a prospective photography project in mind, and can't wait to get started. Though the project idea is not related to the following shots, I enjoy what is implied beyond their overt simplicity.

Capture

At lunch, businessmen look stiff and awkward over their $65 microgreen salads and pretentious unnamed meats in port reduction.