Here are a couple of very silly "movies" starring Hannah & Jack, and Henry.
- Andrew
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Happy Birthday, Jason!
I had a little surprise treat to put on here for you, but I can't get it working. Dang!
- Andrew
- Andrew
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Links Galore
I'm not feeling so hot these days. I've kind of screwed up my back somehow. It was probably related to all the time I spent lately sitting in front of a computer (which, by the way, is still not completely working). Or it could be from when I backed up into the "fireplace" mantle in our workroom bent over. Then again, I don't think the lower-back-intensive yoga class last weekend really helped things either. Whatever it was that caused me to spontaneously collapse onto the floor in pain on Sunday, I have to appease it for awhile. So I'm missing the second Tuesday night yoga class in a row tonight. Gives me a chance to listen to Downbeat for Danger, though, which I usually have to miss.
I'm also trying hard not to get a cold. Almost everyone at work either has it or has had it and it doesn't seem like much fun. A few symptoms in, I'm taking lots of ColdFX and crossing my fingers. Sugary pop music seems to help. For instance, when I heard this song on the radio by Vancouver band, The Yoko Casionos, I felt so much better that I rushed out and ordered the sold out CD from my local Record Man. Now I'm wondering whether I'm really going to enjoy it. Well, it was fun at work, anyway, and it keeps the old sinuses clear.
The weather's getting colder and darker fast, so it must be time to start stockpiling books. I just started one called Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture, which I borrowed from my boss. He'd been reading it but seemed to have stalled — possibly a case of the converted being preached to. The author, James B. Twitchell, is trying to build a case that there is no meaningful distinction between high art and advertising. He's coming from an academic background (he's a professor of English), so it's pretty interesting. If he wins me over, maybe I'll feel a little better about the devil's work I do. Probably not, though.
In other entertainment news, I really want to see Marie Antoinette and Running with Scissors. Anybody got any opinions on either of 'em? Ali and I will probably catch the former with Krista this week.
Finally, here's an interesting Dove ad/public service announcement. Makes you think. Where can I learn those Photoshop techniques?
- Andrew
I'm also trying hard not to get a cold. Almost everyone at work either has it or has had it and it doesn't seem like much fun. A few symptoms in, I'm taking lots of ColdFX and crossing my fingers. Sugary pop music seems to help. For instance, when I heard this song on the radio by Vancouver band, The Yoko Casionos, I felt so much better that I rushed out and ordered the sold out CD from my local Record Man. Now I'm wondering whether I'm really going to enjoy it. Well, it was fun at work, anyway, and it keeps the old sinuses clear.
The weather's getting colder and darker fast, so it must be time to start stockpiling books. I just started one called Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in American Culture, which I borrowed from my boss. He'd been reading it but seemed to have stalled — possibly a case of the converted being preached to. The author, James B. Twitchell, is trying to build a case that there is no meaningful distinction between high art and advertising. He's coming from an academic background (he's a professor of English), so it's pretty interesting. If he wins me over, maybe I'll feel a little better about the devil's work I do. Probably not, though.
In other entertainment news, I really want to see Marie Antoinette and Running with Scissors. Anybody got any opinions on either of 'em? Ali and I will probably catch the former with Krista this week.
Finally, here's an interesting Dove ad/public service announcement. Makes you think. Where can I learn those Photoshop techniques?
- Andrew
Friday, October 20, 2006
Happy Birthday, Dad!
'Tis me Dod's birthdee. I guess he's gone away for the weekend, but perhaps he'll read this somewhere in among the festivating. And also, yesterday was our friend Johanna's birthday, so happy birthday to you too, "Jayster," even though we'll see you for billiards 'n beer in less than an hour.
The other big news that I didn't get a chance to blog about last time (I believe that within the next couple of years or so, the word "blog" will replace the word "brag," as in, "I caught two fish, but they're nothing to blog about," or, "That guy's always blogging about his latest conquest. He's such a bloggart." Work it into your next conversation and be the first in your knitting group) but yeah so the big news is that we bought a new computer. New to us that is. It's a G4 tower. We've been working on a G3. This one has two hard drives with 40 and 120 GB of space. Our old one had 8. So this is more. But it's been a HUGE pain to set up because it's all full of the previous owner's very mixed up garbage and multiple operating systems, and I've been trying to make sure that it can run our old operating system because I need it to keep using the free version of ProTools I always use for recording. In the end I was able to do it, but it involved buying a new keyboard and working on the new machine like a Rubik's Cube all week. Combined with my job and my crazy weekend of non-stop recording, that means I've spent pretty much every waking minute of the last seven days in front of a computer. Ai yi yi.
Then last night, after I finally got this thing up and running (I'm on it now), I looked around the back to see where the microphone input is, and THERE ISN'T ONE! For some Jobsian reason no one now remembers, Apple made computers with absolutely no way to get sound into them a few years back. So I have to shell out some more bucks for a USB pre-amp with 3mm inputs. My prediction is that they will turn out not to be compatible with OS 9.
Anyway, I hate when people talk about their computers on the internet — it's like when people write songs about being in a rock band — so I'll shut up about it now, except to say that Johanna's workplace is buying our old one and she needs it right away, which is why I had to spend so much consecutive time in the Republic of Digitalia. And now, due to overwhelming demand, here's a sample of the stuff I recorded last weekend. Hope you like it.
- Andrew
The other big news that I didn't get a chance to blog about last time (I believe that within the next couple of years or so, the word "blog" will replace the word "brag," as in, "I caught two fish, but they're nothing to blog about," or, "That guy's always blogging about his latest conquest. He's such a bloggart." Work it into your next conversation and be the first in your knitting group) but yeah so the big news is that we bought a new computer. New to us that is. It's a G4 tower. We've been working on a G3. This one has two hard drives with 40 and 120 GB of space. Our old one had 8. So this is more. But it's been a HUGE pain to set up because it's all full of the previous owner's very mixed up garbage and multiple operating systems, and I've been trying to make sure that it can run our old operating system because I need it to keep using the free version of ProTools I always use for recording. In the end I was able to do it, but it involved buying a new keyboard and working on the new machine like a Rubik's Cube all week. Combined with my job and my crazy weekend of non-stop recording, that means I've spent pretty much every waking minute of the last seven days in front of a computer. Ai yi yi.
Then last night, after I finally got this thing up and running (I'm on it now), I looked around the back to see where the microphone input is, and THERE ISN'T ONE! For some Jobsian reason no one now remembers, Apple made computers with absolutely no way to get sound into them a few years back. So I have to shell out some more bucks for a USB pre-amp with 3mm inputs. My prediction is that they will turn out not to be compatible with OS 9.
Anyway, I hate when people talk about their computers on the internet — it's like when people write songs about being in a rock band — so I'll shut up about it now, except to say that Johanna's workplace is buying our old one and she needs it right away, which is why I had to spend so much consecutive time in the Republic of Digitalia. And now, due to overwhelming demand, here's a sample of the stuff I recorded last weekend. Hope you like it.
- Andrew
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
I believe 10 days is a new record.
OK, there's a lot of stuff to catch up on and not much time, so let's get right to it. Thanksgiving long weekend was just great. We went to a cottage that was NOT in Cape Breton, as I may have previously suggested, as that plan fell through. Instead, we were able to procure one of the MacLeod Cottages in Green Bay again, this time with our friend and neighbour Krista. It was the last weekend of their season, meaning we were the last 2006 tennants of "Boulder" (our cottage's slightly less than whimsical name [cf. Heart's Content, The Bonnie Dune], presumably referring to the rock at the head of the driveway), and what a last weekend it was. The weather could not possibly have been better. And the scenery was gorgeous as always, this time tinted with the bittersweet colours of death's preliminary pallette. There weren't many other people around, either, which was both eerie and nice. We took lots of walks and drives, heading on one trip along the south side of the LaHave river inland past Bridgewater. The leaves looked great beside the rushing water. We found lots of good spots for fishing, not to mention paper boat sailing.
Then there were four days of work in there. That part's kind of a blur.
But then this last weekend, I followed through with my plan of working non-stop for two days on music writing and recording. I'd made the plan to go through my fifteen dictaphone tapes worth of song ideas which I've been keeping for the past as many years but rarely if ever actually go back and listen to, and plunder them for songs which I would finish writing and recording as quickly as possible, avoiding my usual finicky, slow methods. Whip 'em off scrappy and whimsical, à la early-to-mid-period Guided By Voices, in other words. I figured if I paced myself all right I could come out the other side with a whole album's worth of material.
Well, it didn't exactly happen that way, but I did get three songs done from start to finish, and more importantly I began to see how it can be good not to be so picky, especially in the initial stages. The closer you get to the final product, the pickier you can be, but constantly reminding myself not to be so precious with chord structures and not letting myself use a thesaurus were really helpful. I'm excited to keep this little project up, and anxious to see whether it's possible to do in much smaller packets of time. Maybe I'll put one of the songs on next time.
After two days cooped up with ProTools, it was weird to go out of the house and see a movie. Things moving in my visual field and sounds having meaning beyond their strictly sonoral properties took some getting used to. But the movie we went to on Sunday night was The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry's latest offering, which fit in perfectly with my state of consciousness as the whole plot centres around a guy never being sure about his own state of consciousness and the film's style is Gondry's usual one of whimsical silliness with a lot of clever work put into it. It was very inspiring.
That's all for now. I gotta go to work. But there's more...
- Andrew
Then there were four days of work in there. That part's kind of a blur.
But then this last weekend, I followed through with my plan of working non-stop for two days on music writing and recording. I'd made the plan to go through my fifteen dictaphone tapes worth of song ideas which I've been keeping for the past as many years but rarely if ever actually go back and listen to, and plunder them for songs which I would finish writing and recording as quickly as possible, avoiding my usual finicky, slow methods. Whip 'em off scrappy and whimsical, à la early-to-mid-period Guided By Voices, in other words. I figured if I paced myself all right I could come out the other side with a whole album's worth of material.
Well, it didn't exactly happen that way, but I did get three songs done from start to finish, and more importantly I began to see how it can be good not to be so picky, especially in the initial stages. The closer you get to the final product, the pickier you can be, but constantly reminding myself not to be so precious with chord structures and not letting myself use a thesaurus were really helpful. I'm excited to keep this little project up, and anxious to see whether it's possible to do in much smaller packets of time. Maybe I'll put one of the songs on next time.
After two days cooped up with ProTools, it was weird to go out of the house and see a movie. Things moving in my visual field and sounds having meaning beyond their strictly sonoral properties took some getting used to. But the movie we went to on Sunday night was The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry's latest offering, which fit in perfectly with my state of consciousness as the whole plot centres around a guy never being sure about his own state of consciousness and the film's style is Gondry's usual one of whimsical silliness with a lot of clever work put into it. It was very inspiring.That's all for now. I gotta go to work. But there's more...
- Andrew
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Update
We ARE going to a cottage this weekend with Krista. Same ones we went to with Charles & Kelly. In fact, we're leaving right now. Be back on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving!
- Andrew
- Andrew
Thursday, October 05, 2006
16 Things You Should Know
Alison made it through her first class of teaching last night. She'd been pretty nervous and realized afterwards that she had no idea what she said in the first ten minutes. A couple of well-deserved beers later, she felt all right about how it went.
We're going to see Joel Plaskett, Matt Mays, and Pete Elkas play a free outdoor show in Dartmouth right after work tonight.
Everything but the F#'s and C#'s is in tune and plucking at a reasonably consistent volume on the harpsichord.
We're probably going to a cottage this weekend with Krista.
I have an ambitious and I hope inspiring secret musical project planned for myself the weekend after this.
Breathing is the key to everything.
Jeff is coming to town again and there is a very small window of opportunity on Friday wherein we will see him, barring unforeseen venetian blinds of frustration.
The new Beck album is full of enjoyable grooves and the videos that come with it are hilariously ugly.
I have a love/hate relationship with words. They allow me to express beauty while preventing me from seeing it.
Halifax Pop Explosion is coming up. Quite a few acts I'm hoping to see this year.
There is a potato plant growing out from under our kitchen wall.
Friends With Money is a really great film. I don't know why we missed it in the theatres.
We're planning to play tennis with Johanna after the show tonight.
Canned kidney beans with tofu, lemon juice, soy sauce and ginger make a nice salad, but not right before yoga.
Buster has a good ear for harpsichord tuning, though his attitude toward the process could use some work.
Yoga can save the world.
- Andrew
We're going to see Joel Plaskett, Matt Mays, and Pete Elkas play a free outdoor show in Dartmouth right after work tonight.
Everything but the F#'s and C#'s is in tune and plucking at a reasonably consistent volume on the harpsichord.
We're probably going to a cottage this weekend with Krista.
I have an ambitious and I hope inspiring secret musical project planned for myself the weekend after this.
Breathing is the key to everything.
Jeff is coming to town again and there is a very small window of opportunity on Friday wherein we will see him, barring unforeseen venetian blinds of frustration.
The new Beck album is full of enjoyable grooves and the videos that come with it are hilariously ugly.
I have a love/hate relationship with words. They allow me to express beauty while preventing me from seeing it.
Halifax Pop Explosion is coming up. Quite a few acts I'm hoping to see this year.
There is a potato plant growing out from under our kitchen wall.
Friends With Money is a really great film. I don't know why we missed it in the theatres.
We're planning to play tennis with Johanna after the show tonight.
Canned kidney beans with tofu, lemon juice, soy sauce and ginger make a nice salad, but not right before yoga.
Buster has a good ear for harpsichord tuning, though his attitude toward the process could use some work.
Yoga can save the world.
- Andrew
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Title Not Applicable
I don't know why but there seems to be nothing for me to tell you about lately. I must be in some kind of transitional period. Just the usual reading, listening to music, work complaints, yoga classes, etc. Sorry to be so boring. We did see a pretty great movie last night called Friends with Money and then I spent today trying to fix up the harpsichord. I got all the A's, B's, D's, E's, and G's in tune. Hey, can anyone fill in the blank on this song lyric for me? It's driving me crazy. "Frolicking, frolicking, over the hill. Oh, what a _______ for Betty and Bill." Remember Bill came to our house? I'm pretty sure it's not "nightmare".
Alison has plenty of stuff going on (lucky!). The class she's teaching starts on Wednesday, so she's been writing handouts and making lesson plans, and a few days ago she went to Cape Breton to assist on a Canadian Living photo shoot for three days! Sounds like it was a pretty swanky place they stayed at and were served lots of rich, gourmet food.
We played some tennis with Johanna last night and will hopefully get a couple more games in before the weather gets too cold, which it's starting to do quickly. And that is seriously it. But we're alive and happy.
If you have some time to kill and are in the mood to see George W. Bush publicly lambasted, I recommend this very funny and gutsy monologue that Steven Colbert was somehow given the chance to deliver. It could be quite old by now, but it was new to me.
Next episode: Plot!
- Andrew
Alison has plenty of stuff going on (lucky!). The class she's teaching starts on Wednesday, so she's been writing handouts and making lesson plans, and a few days ago she went to Cape Breton to assist on a Canadian Living photo shoot for three days! Sounds like it was a pretty swanky place they stayed at and were served lots of rich, gourmet food.
We played some tennis with Johanna last night and will hopefully get a couple more games in before the weather gets too cold, which it's starting to do quickly. And that is seriously it. But we're alive and happy.
If you have some time to kill and are in the mood to see George W. Bush publicly lambasted, I recommend this very funny and gutsy monologue that Steven Colbert was somehow given the chance to deliver. It could be quite old by now, but it was new to me.
Next episode: Plot!
- Andrew
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)