Listen to:
Peter Bradley Adams, record called 'Leavetaking'
Alexi Murdoch, record called 'Time Without Consequence'
Bon Iver, record called 'For Emma, Forever Ago'
Sufjan Stevens, record called 'Seven Swans'
Kar got back last night after a week-ish home in Leamington with the fam. I managed to work the majority of the week away, so i wasn't home that much, but it's really pretty great that she's back. :)
it's our one year anniversary on monday. crazy right? we've been married an entire year! it's the best. plain and simple. keeps getting better.
J
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
john mayer owns.
kar got us tix to see mayer last night in Darien, NY. i'll describe a situation. put yourself there:
we got there a bit late. lots of traffic, road work, etc. so we park at the very back of the lot and we're running full out to try to get to the shed. we can hear him from a long way off. 'waiting on the world to change'. sounds good. real good. we get to the gate just as the song is ending. it's late. 9:30pm. dark.. pitch black. and when we walk around the corner, we walk into the amphitheatre, the stage is lit blue, pale, from the back. the band is in the shadows.. dropping a big groove. one of those heavy ones. JJ johnson is the drummer, and he has those really heavy grooves. and John is in the middle. he's got a followspot from above, and he's sortof leaning left a bit, looking straight up into the light.. that white glow, right? and he's just cutting hard into this heavy solo...
that's an image that you don't really see any more. we're past the age of the 'guitar god', you know? we don't have guitar gods anymore. the 60s, 70s... that was all about guitar gods. and that's been lost in the age of power chords and octave leads.
it was such a fantastic night. so musical. john is really the best thing going on guitar right now. mindblowing, really. it's crazy to see someone on a stage that big, in a scenario that, high pressure, and he just goes for it. his talent is huge. bigger, i think, than he can fit into a particular song. it's teh type of thing where, really, he belongs in the trio. it's probably where he's his best. or maybe sharing a stage with clapton and buddy guy and steve gadd or something.
one thing to note:
i couldn't help but notice how things changed depending on what was being played on stage. when the band was playing john's pop tunes.. heck, when John was playing his pop tunes, he looked almost disinterested. so did they. like.. just.. going through it. but man, that place came alive when they launched into a slow blues. everybody just stepped it up to another level. good stuff.
also, highlight of the show was when some girl in the audience held up a sign listing all teh songs she wanted him to play.. sortof a personal setlist. and he says... 'well.. that's way to many songs, but.. you know, i don't like to be trumped, so, of course, i'm gonna do it..' and then he goes ahead and plays about 5 seconds of 20 of his hits right then and there.. it was sweet.
everybody listen to more John Mayer.
going to the zoo tomorrow with nik and kristina. gonna see the polar bear.
J
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
weekend
i'm in the middle of a layback.. should take a little under an hour, so for the time being, i have a second to rest (my ears... and mind) and jot down some thoughts.
this past weekend was just another awesome one. brent and suz got married, and looked absolutely top shelf in the process. the wedding was a great party. they managed to squeeze all the usual stuff in there, but did some really cool stuff that made it feel a little more relaxed and 'good-time-ish'. (ie, they didn't have dinner at the reception. the wedding was at 7, and the reception was just drinks, niblets, and good times!) it was a great night, for all the right reasons. way to go guys!
we book-ended the wedding with some great visits. on sunday afternoon we hung out with Bob and Christina for a bit. bob was a teacher, then colleague of mine at oiart, and has since been a great friend. he's fully responsible for helping me get my foot in the door at CTV, and he's one of those guys who is just a great guy, great friend, very positive person in my life. so, bob and christina just had a baby girl, and i mean JUST.. 6 weeks old i think. she's an incredible perfect little miracle, so we got to meet her. and also, bob has a full fledged recording studio in his basement, complete with a 30-something fader sony console and a 2-inch tape machine. so of course, we hung out there and talked shop a bit as well.
on monday morning we got together with some of kar's friends/former co-workers from Western/Robarts lab. great to see andrew and rebecca and here what they're up to, etc. they're getting married soon, so there was lots to talk about.
now we're back home. i think both kar and i were struck, on the way back, with how much more toronto is becoming home these days. i truly do love this city, and our little corner of it! :)
i'm at work tonight. this morning, i woke up at 4:00am, and was behind the desk by 4:45. kar and i said 'have a good week!' to each other last night..hehehe... both of us are trying to do about 2 weeks worth of work in the span of this one week. we're off to another wedding on the weekend, and then HEADING TO THE COTTAGE for mon-wed. CAN'T WAIT!
so for this week, it's go time. i knocked off one episode of Cooler Facts this morning, and got set up for River Knott for tonight. As i mentioned, i'm now laying back River Knott (an episode all about Chinese Opium drug production...). i've got another episode of River Knott to pull in tonight yet, cause Andy and I are doing at least two eps worth of VO recording tomorrow night, so that should take me to about 10:40pm. If i still have life after that, i may take a crack at knocking off next week's ep of Cooler Facts before i pack it in.
finally, i just wrapped up reading 'Blue Like Jazz' this morning as well. dad, you should read this one. it was a really fantastic book for me. i've got to unpack it a bit.. lots of stuff in there that heavily applies to me these days that i need to mull over.
you now know as much about my current life as i do.
oh, and brent and suz (those sweethearts!) gave me a gift card to HMV for playing guitar at their wedding. suuuuuuggggessstionsss?
J
this past weekend was just another awesome one. brent and suz got married, and looked absolutely top shelf in the process. the wedding was a great party. they managed to squeeze all the usual stuff in there, but did some really cool stuff that made it feel a little more relaxed and 'good-time-ish'. (ie, they didn't have dinner at the reception. the wedding was at 7, and the reception was just drinks, niblets, and good times!) it was a great night, for all the right reasons. way to go guys!
we book-ended the wedding with some great visits. on sunday afternoon we hung out with Bob and Christina for a bit. bob was a teacher, then colleague of mine at oiart, and has since been a great friend. he's fully responsible for helping me get my foot in the door at CTV, and he's one of those guys who is just a great guy, great friend, very positive person in my life. so, bob and christina just had a baby girl, and i mean JUST.. 6 weeks old i think. she's an incredible perfect little miracle, so we got to meet her. and also, bob has a full fledged recording studio in his basement, complete with a 30-something fader sony console and a 2-inch tape machine. so of course, we hung out there and talked shop a bit as well.
on monday morning we got together with some of kar's friends/former co-workers from Western/Robarts lab. great to see andrew and rebecca and here what they're up to, etc. they're getting married soon, so there was lots to talk about.
now we're back home. i think both kar and i were struck, on the way back, with how much more toronto is becoming home these days. i truly do love this city, and our little corner of it! :)
i'm at work tonight. this morning, i woke up at 4:00am, and was behind the desk by 4:45. kar and i said 'have a good week!' to each other last night..hehehe... both of us are trying to do about 2 weeks worth of work in the span of this one week. we're off to another wedding on the weekend, and then HEADING TO THE COTTAGE for mon-wed. CAN'T WAIT!
so for this week, it's go time. i knocked off one episode of Cooler Facts this morning, and got set up for River Knott for tonight. As i mentioned, i'm now laying back River Knott (an episode all about Chinese Opium drug production...). i've got another episode of River Knott to pull in tonight yet, cause Andy and I are doing at least two eps worth of VO recording tomorrow night, so that should take me to about 10:40pm. If i still have life after that, i may take a crack at knocking off next week's ep of Cooler Facts before i pack it in.
finally, i just wrapped up reading 'Blue Like Jazz' this morning as well. dad, you should read this one. it was a really fantastic book for me. i've got to unpack it a bit.. lots of stuff in there that heavily applies to me these days that i need to mull over.
you now know as much about my current life as i do.
oh, and brent and suz (those sweethearts!) gave me a gift card to HMV for playing guitar at their wedding. suuuuuuggggessstionsss?
J
Monday, July 28, 2008
Batman, Nostradamus
i'm coming off two experiences with media that have me thinking about 'the human condition' or.. just, life as a human in this world, or... whatever it is to you.
#1. The Dark Knight: kar and i went to see the new batman movie yesterday. first, let's get this out of the way. Heath Ledger's performance is absolutely everything that it's cracked up to be. If (when) he wins an oscar for 'best supporting actor', it won't be a pity vote, and it won't be 'typical'. it will be an entirely appropriate recognition of what is certainly the most incredible and intense portrayal of a villain that i have ever seen in a movie, ever. i can't say enough about how out of the park his performance was. you really never do see him.. just the joker, and all his... whatever it is that he is.
The story is really all about the joker. he's a criminal, of course, but not in the traditional sense. that's where this movie rises above anything that comes before it in this type of genre. he's a criminal who has no interest in money, or power. his entire lot in life is to create situations in which his victims are forced to look at themselves, really look, and recognize that they aren't nearly as in control as they lead themselves to believe. that they really aren't as righteous, and noble, and loyal, as they give themselves credit for. and that, when things go bad, go differently than they may have planned, they have as much evil in them as he does.
and that's it. that's his deal. i won't give anything away (though i'm sure anybody who is going to see it has already seen it) but i will say that there's a scene in the interrogation room that is utterly powerful, where batman comes to the realization that he's powerless against this man.. and he's in the process of beating him down, and physically throwing the joker around the room, and the joker is just laughing, hysterically, and the joker says, 'you have nothing to use against me.. nothing to do with all that power..' and batman realizes that.... if he lets the joker live, he loses, and joker continues his reign of terror on gotham. and if he kills the joker then and there, as he's clearly capable of doing, then he's really no different from the joker at all, is he? just a murderer.. a fallen man who takes the path of violence to counter violence.
there's also a scene at the end, with the boats.. that's downright chilling.
it's the old adage that 'when you're bumped, it's what you're full of that spills out..'
and the city of gotham is clearly bumped, the joker will see to that. and the question that, through the entire thing, the joker is asking is.. 'what, really, are we all full of?..'
#2. Hey Nostradamus - i borrowed this book from, and at the suggestion of, Nik. i finished it in (primarily) two sittings. it's written by douglas coupland, a vancouverite. it's a story (fictional) about a school shooting.. a massacre... in a vancouver high school. no, more to the point, it's a story about four lives and how they are directly and indirectly affected by the massacre. it's an analysis, firstly, of the fact that everybody deals with a given situation differently. and that everything that has happened in a person's life leading up to that situation is going to directly and indirectly affect how they respond to the situation. but also, it's something of a commentary on spirituality, christianity, organized religion, betrayal, friendship, family, and everything else that makes up our lives.
the author is not a christian. this is not a christian book. but it doesn't matter. which is to say.. when i'm done reading it, i wonder whether i'm a christian, and whether i want to be, either way (because, does god really think of us as Christian's? does god have a term, a name? and are his lines of separation the same as ours?)
again, i dare not spoil it, should some (one) of you try to find and read it. i'll say, though, that i leave this book looking deeper into my own relationship with god and others, and into the little black spots that cover my own heart. when the shooting happens, everybody reacts. some, with violence (murdering the murderer), some with fear, some with anger (hate) that never truly dissolves, some with blame (who is REALLY behnd this??). some people band together (out of love? or out of a need for security? or.. out of a mutual sense of hate) and some people flee into isolation that they'll effectively maintain until death.
some of those involved find god as a result, and some leave him. some look skyward and ask 'why'. some look skyward and are left convinced that there is nothing to look at after all.
this book doesn't SOLVE anything. and that, i think, is its strength. it doesn't wrap. when you arrive at the end, it does not say, 'but the families eventually came together and found hope in what they gained in what they had lost.. and from that day on to the end of days, they had a yearly reunion to remember the lost and celebrate the future..'
no, and why should it? because does that actually happen? in fact, something similar does happen. in this story, a girl is killed in the shooting. it was her senior year. she was married (secretly) and pregnant (post-marriage, also secret). prior to her death, in homeroom, on that day, she is scribbling on her binder and writes 'God is nowhere... God is Now Here..' it doesn't mean much to her. it's a line she learned at youth group. it's a tidbit that crossed her mind and she's simply regurgitating a thought in a state of near sleep, waiting for class to end.
in her death, of course, the binder becomes a girl's heroic last spiritual statement, her last declaration of faith. and at her funeral, the entire youth group descends on her white coffin with black sharpies, having been handed out by the youth pastor previously, and they write messages of love and spirituality on the top and sides and front and back of her coffin. it's a beautiful picture, in a sense, and yet her parents, who are not religious, nor particularly convinced that her involvement in the youth group is beneficial, are horrified, and hurt, and see the scribbles as nothing more than chaos and disrespect, forever preventing their beautiful (and terribly loved) daughter from resting in peace. years later, the youth group kids have moved on. they've left the moment, but for a small memory, tucked away in their busy minds. But the parents carry that day, and forever remember the look of the white coffin, covered in scribbles.
sooo.. i know that sounds incredibly sad, and disheartening. in a sense, it really is. as i said, the story never turns the corner. but it got me thinking, again, about what would spill out should i be so aggressively bumped...
you gain an appreciation for people's situations. inherently, we see people's situations through OUR eyes. not theirr eyes. we say, 'we, the youth group, can make our point here.. can put our stamp on this moment, and share our hearts....' and yet, it really isn't OUR moment at all... and i suppose this book sits you down and says, 'this is what this day, and the rest of their lives, looked like from the eyes of THESE people. no, it isn't your situation.'
but it could be.
i suppose that is 'in my pipe, and currently being smoked..'
J
#1. The Dark Knight: kar and i went to see the new batman movie yesterday. first, let's get this out of the way. Heath Ledger's performance is absolutely everything that it's cracked up to be. If (when) he wins an oscar for 'best supporting actor', it won't be a pity vote, and it won't be 'typical'. it will be an entirely appropriate recognition of what is certainly the most incredible and intense portrayal of a villain that i have ever seen in a movie, ever. i can't say enough about how out of the park his performance was. you really never do see him.. just the joker, and all his... whatever it is that he is.
The story is really all about the joker. he's a criminal, of course, but not in the traditional sense. that's where this movie rises above anything that comes before it in this type of genre. he's a criminal who has no interest in money, or power. his entire lot in life is to create situations in which his victims are forced to look at themselves, really look, and recognize that they aren't nearly as in control as they lead themselves to believe. that they really aren't as righteous, and noble, and loyal, as they give themselves credit for. and that, when things go bad, go differently than they may have planned, they have as much evil in them as he does.
and that's it. that's his deal. i won't give anything away (though i'm sure anybody who is going to see it has already seen it) but i will say that there's a scene in the interrogation room that is utterly powerful, where batman comes to the realization that he's powerless against this man.. and he's in the process of beating him down, and physically throwing the joker around the room, and the joker is just laughing, hysterically, and the joker says, 'you have nothing to use against me.. nothing to do with all that power..' and batman realizes that.... if he lets the joker live, he loses, and joker continues his reign of terror on gotham. and if he kills the joker then and there, as he's clearly capable of doing, then he's really no different from the joker at all, is he? just a murderer.. a fallen man who takes the path of violence to counter violence.
there's also a scene at the end, with the boats.. that's downright chilling.
it's the old adage that 'when you're bumped, it's what you're full of that spills out..'
and the city of gotham is clearly bumped, the joker will see to that. and the question that, through the entire thing, the joker is asking is.. 'what, really, are we all full of?..'
#2. Hey Nostradamus - i borrowed this book from, and at the suggestion of, Nik. i finished it in (primarily) two sittings. it's written by douglas coupland, a vancouverite. it's a story (fictional) about a school shooting.. a massacre... in a vancouver high school. no, more to the point, it's a story about four lives and how they are directly and indirectly affected by the massacre. it's an analysis, firstly, of the fact that everybody deals with a given situation differently. and that everything that has happened in a person's life leading up to that situation is going to directly and indirectly affect how they respond to the situation. but also, it's something of a commentary on spirituality, christianity, organized religion, betrayal, friendship, family, and everything else that makes up our lives.
the author is not a christian. this is not a christian book. but it doesn't matter. which is to say.. when i'm done reading it, i wonder whether i'm a christian, and whether i want to be, either way (because, does god really think of us as Christian's? does god have a term, a name? and are his lines of separation the same as ours?)
again, i dare not spoil it, should some (one) of you try to find and read it. i'll say, though, that i leave this book looking deeper into my own relationship with god and others, and into the little black spots that cover my own heart. when the shooting happens, everybody reacts. some, with violence (murdering the murderer), some with fear, some with anger (hate) that never truly dissolves, some with blame (who is REALLY behnd this??). some people band together (out of love? or out of a need for security? or.. out of a mutual sense of hate) and some people flee into isolation that they'll effectively maintain until death.
some of those involved find god as a result, and some leave him. some look skyward and ask 'why'. some look skyward and are left convinced that there is nothing to look at after all.
this book doesn't SOLVE anything. and that, i think, is its strength. it doesn't wrap. when you arrive at the end, it does not say, 'but the families eventually came together and found hope in what they gained in what they had lost.. and from that day on to the end of days, they had a yearly reunion to remember the lost and celebrate the future..'
no, and why should it? because does that actually happen? in fact, something similar does happen. in this story, a girl is killed in the shooting. it was her senior year. she was married (secretly) and pregnant (post-marriage, also secret). prior to her death, in homeroom, on that day, she is scribbling on her binder and writes 'God is nowhere... God is Now Here..' it doesn't mean much to her. it's a line she learned at youth group. it's a tidbit that crossed her mind and she's simply regurgitating a thought in a state of near sleep, waiting for class to end.
in her death, of course, the binder becomes a girl's heroic last spiritual statement, her last declaration of faith. and at her funeral, the entire youth group descends on her white coffin with black sharpies, having been handed out by the youth pastor previously, and they write messages of love and spirituality on the top and sides and front and back of her coffin. it's a beautiful picture, in a sense, and yet her parents, who are not religious, nor particularly convinced that her involvement in the youth group is beneficial, are horrified, and hurt, and see the scribbles as nothing more than chaos and disrespect, forever preventing their beautiful (and terribly loved) daughter from resting in peace. years later, the youth group kids have moved on. they've left the moment, but for a small memory, tucked away in their busy minds. But the parents carry that day, and forever remember the look of the white coffin, covered in scribbles.
sooo.. i know that sounds incredibly sad, and disheartening. in a sense, it really is. as i said, the story never turns the corner. but it got me thinking, again, about what would spill out should i be so aggressively bumped...
you gain an appreciation for people's situations. inherently, we see people's situations through OUR eyes. not theirr eyes. we say, 'we, the youth group, can make our point here.. can put our stamp on this moment, and share our hearts....' and yet, it really isn't OUR moment at all... and i suppose this book sits you down and says, 'this is what this day, and the rest of their lives, looked like from the eyes of THESE people. no, it isn't your situation.'
but it could be.
i suppose that is 'in my pipe, and currently being smoked..'
J
Thursday, July 24, 2008
jimmy's coming!
Jimmy's coming, Jimmy's coming!!! lock up your kids and pull the drapes folks, cause this town's gonna get dangerous!
k, probably not. Jimmy's pretty mild mannered really, and i've been more tired these days, so..
anyway,
last night i went to see dark knight! in my mind.
in reality, i sat on the couch and watched CSI whilst playing guitar again. i'm playing guitar a lot right now, cause i'm trying to rebuild those nasty callouses that i used to rock on both hands. they've been whittled away by months of not playing, and i've become a sissy picker. it's kindof like when you're a kid, and you get new skates, and so for those first few days, you just walk around the living room with your skates on cause you're trying to get your skates and your feet to meld to the point where it doesn't hurt to have them on for extended periods of time anymore? i'm basically holding a guitar anytime i'm around the apartment.. just playing random chords and lines as i watch TV, eat dinner, sleep, shower, brush my teeth, etc.
tonight is more VO work for River Knott.
kar and i were in the mall after church the other day and i was just floored by the realization of how much of a... vanity project the whole thing is. malls are rediculous. and yorkdale is rediculously rediculous. every store has these huge 40 ft hight posters of 23 year olds with freckles and HUGE sunglasses spending a sunday afternoon on a vintage yacht, laughing in a relaxed and unforced manner, the girls sitting on the back with a glass of dom, the guys keeping things under control in the front.
quick refresher. nobody does that. old men do that. and also, nobody looks like that. and also, who cares? and also, get over yourselves! i don't think i ever want to work with any of the people involved in that marketing campaign.
you spend an entire day in a mall like that trying to sidestep the dudes waddling around with their pants around their knees.
cool is such a non-issue. cool is absolutely not going to be obtained through active pursuit.
i best be aware of that. it's too easy to dive right in and join the masses in the pursuit of things that aren't important.
soo back to this weekend:
jimmy, bring a guitar. and also, your party hat!
see you soon!
J
k, probably not. Jimmy's pretty mild mannered really, and i've been more tired these days, so..
anyway,
last night i went to see dark knight! in my mind.
in reality, i sat on the couch and watched CSI whilst playing guitar again. i'm playing guitar a lot right now, cause i'm trying to rebuild those nasty callouses that i used to rock on both hands. they've been whittled away by months of not playing, and i've become a sissy picker. it's kindof like when you're a kid, and you get new skates, and so for those first few days, you just walk around the living room with your skates on cause you're trying to get your skates and your feet to meld to the point where it doesn't hurt to have them on for extended periods of time anymore? i'm basically holding a guitar anytime i'm around the apartment.. just playing random chords and lines as i watch TV, eat dinner, sleep, shower, brush my teeth, etc.
tonight is more VO work for River Knott.
kar and i were in the mall after church the other day and i was just floored by the realization of how much of a... vanity project the whole thing is. malls are rediculous. and yorkdale is rediculously rediculous. every store has these huge 40 ft hight posters of 23 year olds with freckles and HUGE sunglasses spending a sunday afternoon on a vintage yacht, laughing in a relaxed and unforced manner, the girls sitting on the back with a glass of dom, the guys keeping things under control in the front.
quick refresher. nobody does that. old men do that. and also, nobody looks like that. and also, who cares? and also, get over yourselves! i don't think i ever want to work with any of the people involved in that marketing campaign.
you spend an entire day in a mall like that trying to sidestep the dudes waddling around with their pants around their knees.
cool is such a non-issue. cool is absolutely not going to be obtained through active pursuit.
i best be aware of that. it's too easy to dive right in and join the masses in the pursuit of things that aren't important.
soo back to this weekend:
jimmy, bring a guitar. and also, your party hat!
see you soon!
J
Sunday, July 20, 2008
syruprise!
My wife is the BEST!!!!
and as a direct result, we are going to see John Mayer.
In NY.
State (calm down kiddies).
J (she made me pancakes too!)
and as a direct result, we are going to see John Mayer.
In NY.
State (calm down kiddies).
J (she made me pancakes too!)
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