the rantings of a new polluter

it's friday

2008-07-18T11:48:00.001-04:00

therefore, BERT AND ERNIE MASHUPS!

stand-up

2008-07-16T11:36:00.002-04:00

Summer days call for light reading, and I've been cruising through quite a number of books already this summer-one standout has to be Steve Martin's Born Standing Up, a memoir of sorts detailing Martin's career in standup from his teens in the 1960's to his enormous success in the late 70s/early 80s.

Much of the book focuses on his time at Disneyland, working selling programs, or in one of the park's magic shops-magic and old-school punchlines formed much of the early repertoire-through years of sketch shows and tiny empty clubs. Martin placed an ultimatum on himself at the key age of 28 (hmmm...) to either make it at 30 or move on, and the next couple years of course led to bigger things.

A fairly minimal portion of the book focuses on the arena/stadium years, where Martin played to thousands on any given night, completely exploding the scale of live comedy to a level never seen before-and perhaps not surprisingly, it's pretty lonely at the top.

A quick and very enjoyable read.

Bocce

2008-07-14T11:45:00.002-04:00

Seemingly out of nowhere, we've gone from elementary school nostalgia to elderly care facility pre-nostalgia...Bocce is hotter than hot in 2008! (seriously).

Diamonds are forever

2008-07-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

So a guy pretending to be 'Diamond' David Lee Roth apparently fooled various residents (and police officers) in Brantford and Hamilton area recently...it's understandable said impersonator might have been good enough to fool people in random, brief encounters...but he stayed at some guy's house FOR THREE WEEKS!

not dead, just younger

2008-07-09T14:16:00.002-04:00

Zoilus very aptly describes the current feeling a number of us are going through right now here, something I had a conversation with a fellow industrinian a few weeks ago over noodles, namely, what was going down 2 or 3 years ago has sort of sailed on, and while old coots might proclaim the scene a bit ghost town-ish, it's just gotten younger and we don't know it as personally yet.

Like, some of these kids were born in the '90s have never even watched Seinfeld and shit!

on showmanship

2008-07-08T15:41:00.002-04:00

the monotonix have it!

*pic stolen from antoniele

polaris scientific analysis

2008-07-07T11:59:00.002-04:00

The 2008 Polaris Short List, ordered in likelihood to take the big prize, in my biased, subjective, opinion (entirely):

CARIBOU — Andorra
PLANTS AND ANIMALS — Parc Avenue
STARS — In Our Bedroom After The War
BLACK MOUNTAIN — In The Future
HOLY FUCK — LP
BASIA BULAT — Oh, My Darling
THE WEAKERTHANS — Reunion Tour
KATHLEEN EDWARDS — Asking For Flowers
SHAD — The Old Prince
TWO HOURS TRAFFIC — Little Jabs

may the best album win.

TOPS

2008-07-03T14:44:00.002-04:00

HOW HAVE I NOT YET DISCUSSED TOP GEAR YET HERE?!?!?!

some reasons why it's so awesome:

- the opening theme song
- Jeremy Clarkson's fatally-flawed father figure
- Richard Hammond's friendly younger uncle that gets into occasional giant dragster accidents
- James May's quiet older uncle, usually in 3rd place
- STIG (pictured above)
- production values approaching Hollywood Feature (in a good way) levels
- the cars (and I don't really give a shit about cars these days)
- it's the most pirated show in the world - people are on to something here!

5

2008-06-27T10:26:00.002-04:00

FIVE YEARS I'll have been in Toronto this weekend...wow how does the time go!

I'm celebrating by...going back to Winnipeg!

TO-ers can consult the fancy new YO! JAMZ Blog for a full-on weekend party menu.

more fabulous consumer products

2008-06-25T10:32:00.002-04:00

You'd think Adidas would have a better indication of what's available on their very own online store, but that would simply be too easy. These ZX500s were purchased from the Originals store on Queen, which for whatever reasons carries a completely different selection of shoes from the 'Flagship' store at Yonge and Dundas.

Most of what's in the Originals store seems truly...original-at least to that particular line of stores, which I suppose promotes an aura of exclusivity (not counting all of the independent stores down the block that have many of the same models).

Anyway, I like these a lot!

shacked up

2008-06-23T11:23:00.003-04:00

May not see me outside for awhile, given the above new piece of hardware, and a desire to watch every freaking Top Gear episode I can get my hands on!

welcome back, big guy!

2008-06-20T14:11:00.000-04:00

videovideovideovideovideovideo

2008-06-13T10:59:00.002-04:00

With the MMVAs going down this sunday, the question of whether internet killed the radio star? has arisen, and to some degree even gets answered. We're in a sort of bizarre time where a lot of the traditional big label money has dried up for clips, and institutions like VideoFACT have quickly become one of the last remaining sources of money for musical and production development. Just like that.

Anyway, current personal faves for Best Video:

(Domestic):

(Foreign):

the Future is here!

2008-06-04T13:25:00.002-04:00

Saw these in London - haven't yet here but FINALLY a hand dryer that works!

Dyson's taking over, man.

I tried to read

2008-05-28T10:41:00.002-04:00

the daily kos the other day, the biggest blog in the world in terms of traffic, but I have NO IDEA what the fuck is going on in there!

seriously, if that really is the State of The Nation please make it so you haven't needed to have been continually been following the site for the past 5 years to understand what the hell is going on! (I think it's mostly the constant, incessant quotations).

Anyway, I gave up and went back to Marmaduke Explained, which remains genius and brilliant AND accessible.

da swirsk

2008-05-23T12:02:00.003-04:00

Not news- but Chuck Swirsky is of course leaving TO back for Chicago to do the Bulls' radio play by play. I'll miss the guy as his enthusiastic style had a role no doubt in turning me from a casual to a somewhat (lot) more obsessive Raps fan. Chuck is going back to do radio, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see him go national on TNT etc. in a few years time! Godspeed Swirsk.

Good things dans MN

2008-05-21T20:45:00.002-04:00

Gehry.

Buca!

minneapolis

2008-05-15T11:14:00.002-04:00

Heading down tonight.

After Paris...the next logical city to visit, non?

rock the bells july 20

2008-05-14T11:48:00.001-04:00

Headlining: A Tribe Called Quest

Reunited: The Pharcyde

Also: The Cool Kids, Nas, Ghostface and Raekwon (Cuban Linx), Rakim, Mos Def, De La Soul, Method Man & Redman, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, MURS, Kidz in the Hall, Spank Rock, Santogold, Kid Sister, Jay Electronica, B.O.B., Amanda Blank, Wale. Flosstradamus

this over rogers picnic?

paris blows

2008-05-11T23:02:00.001-04:00

no it doesn't ARE YOU CRAZY?!

it would make a good conversation-starting t-shirt though.

LDN

2008-04-29T12:11:00.001-04:00

Let's Go!

I've seen butter times

2008-04-24T15:09:00.002-04:00

YO! Butter returns tomorrow night. I have to say I'm pretty stoked about this lineup-the combo of Wordburglar and Co-op brings together reps from two fine regional scenes (Halifax and Winnipeg, respectively), that we don't get to see often enough here. We may even see a few surprise guests show up, at which time heads (mine) will explode.

my newest signing

2008-04-23T12:48:00.000-04:00

still kicks it!

2008-04-18T14:49:00.001-04:00

all these years later.

shiny toy guns

2008-04-14T15:37:00.002-04:00

Caught Shine A Light on the weekend and I have to say I was quite impressed with the overall production both in terms of the performances and Martin Scorsese's A-level documentation of the band's 2-night stint at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan back in late '06.

Quality seems to be the order of the day with this, with what appears to be no expense spared in a lavish set, combined with a number of top-tier artists both behind and in front of the cameras. Scorsese splices in vintage interview footage of the band (presumably in part to ease continuity in what were most likely longish stoppages between songs while filming), and leans towards the front row centre position more often than not (highly reminiscent of his work on the legendary Woodstock Doc).

Seeing the Stones 5 stories tall on IMAX is at times startling-everyone is of course aware of the band's age, but Jagger's continuing rampant mobility onstage remains a Master Class in stage presence and showmanship. Guest performances by Jack White and Buddy Guy also prove to be a showcase of fine blues-related guitar work, with White really coming across as THE heir apparent of his generation in terms of being able to segue seamlessly between rock, country, and blues as the Stones do.