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.