Entheogens and Artistic Exploration

the music post

2009-11-06T11:25:00.001+09:00

well, it's been a while since i've posted about music. what's kind of funny is that since i've been over in korea, i've been exposed to a much greater number of new bands and new albums than i ever had in canada. perhaps because i'm meeting a greater number of people with different origins, and different music tastes. or perhaps it's got something to do with the fact i have so much more time on my hands, i can listen to more music, and check out more bands. so i thought i'd spend some time talking and demonstrating some of the more bands i've recently been listening to.

mother mother

this is the band i've probably listened to the most in the last year. I thank my friend matt kincaide for introducing me to them. they are a smaller indie band out of vancouver that's fairly new, with two albums under their belt. they've played numerous shows around saskatchewan, for all of which i've been absent. i really dig the layered vocals, with three part harmonies for much of the time. two female vocalists and a male vocalist make for a really rounded out sound. i also really dig the lyrics, good imagery and metaphor.

silversun pickups

A newer band, don't know much about it. Reminds me a bit of the old mid-90s post-grungers, although many people will accuse it of being indie :). Their one single has over two bazillion hits on youtube.com so it has to be pretty popular somewhere anyway. Though I like the song 3 seed better. Decent band, mediocre album with some real gems in the rough. The album I'm referring to is Carnavas from 2006.

muse - the resistance

wicked new album. buy it, love it. this track is groovy as hell, catches you right from the outset. kinda like crossing queen with rage against the machine. yes, as blasphemous as it is, i said it.

the bull north

some home-grown talent. these guys have been around since linger's early days and released their first album only shortly after we did. hard to pin the genre on this one, definitely rock, and maybe some country influence. i don't have anything that i can stream, so i'll point you over to their Myspace to have a listen. I'd suggest listening to When I Come Down or The Pines.

them crooked vultures

the bombshell of 2009. josh homme, dave grohl, john paul jones, and some other guy. the first single is awesome, and you can get a free track off of itunes. it's not even out yet, and i'm pumped for it.

-----

other notables are old timers, the new pearl jam album's pretty good, as is the new alice in chains. however, weezer's new album raditude is just...nothing special. i love the band, but the formulaic and cheesy hooks have lost me entirely.

anyhow, i didn't really have swine flu, that was my Halloween costume, although there were still some people that night who wouldn't get too close to me because of katherine's convincing make-up. it was a blast, our friend Simon rented a condo at O2 resort in Taebaek, and we ripped it up.

counting down the days and months now otherwise. we have less than four months left of our contract, less than two months left of teaching (realistically only about 40 teaching days), and five months to the day that we'll be back in canada. i'm working my ass off getting my masters' application finished, even though i'm not totally decided that it will be my path.

until next time
keep fit and have fun.

Swine flu says hello to you too.

2009-11-02T21:02:00.001+09:00

jimmy

2009-10-29T21:23:00.002+09:00

i know that this has been posted on this blog once before, but i recompressed it with some of the modern technology i now have access to, and the more efficient streaming capabilities.

i still look at this as a student project. it is, however, i highly enjoyed making it, and may yet again in the future expand it into something feature length, as this version i shortened considerably from the original screenplay in order to be able to film it.

many of my friends were involved making it, and there are a lot of pleasant memories attached to it. so enjoy, even if the content itself is pretty heavy, you're welcome to not take it too seriously.

peace

Mark Twitchell: filmmaker, star wars fan, psychopathic murderer

2009-09-29T15:03:00.007+09:00

When I tell my friends who haven't heard about this guy's story, the reaction is very often the same. It's unbelievable, straight out. Not-of-this-plane-of-existence surreal. An Edmonton, AB filmmaker who lured a person to his garage, duct taped him to a chair, then proceeded to torture and kill him...all seemingly directly from his movie script. He was best known for his doomed Star Wars fan video, one that he is reputed to have spent in the tens of thousands of dollars on, which in the end, went bankrupt and was never finished.

Of course, something like this doesn't always reek of mental disorder. People often have grandiose ideas that are impossible or imprudent, and usually are let down with a harsh tug off their cloud. However, it became apparent on his next project, with the working title of "House of Cards", that his passion for filmmaking was more of an obsession. He set up a film set in his garage, had a real crew, with actors, shooting the eight-minute long horror short. Actor Chris Heward described his ordeal. He was strapped to a metal chair, duct taped, and played the victim. The other actors were using real samurai swords, understandably, Heward "was nervous". Shortly after, he was contacted by the police asking if he knew anything about the snuff film industry, and if he knew a man by the name of John Atlinger.

The plot of House of Cards details the life of a husband in a not-so-perfect marriage who connects with a woman on a dating website online. He agrees to meet her and goes to her house, only to be stunned by a masked man and tied up. He is then tortured and murdered, with the final twist revealing it to be a fantasy, all in the imagination of the writer, cast and performed by none other than Twitchell himself.

Twitchell apparently was a big fan of the serial killer TV show Dexter, and his short film has similarities as well. The show has taken quite a bit of flak for these similarities. The duct tape, the dismemberment, all reminiscent of the average episode. He even tried to sell the script online, claiming it was directly from the show. The final twist in this case was that he was going to do it for real.

He lured John Atlinger to his garage by posting on a dating website, posing as a beautiful woman who wanted to meet him. Atlinger went to the address to meet a man holding a stun-gun. He said he was shooting a movie and asked to come inside. He didn't and went home, and for reasons unknown, returned the next day. He hasn't been heard from since. His friends received a suspicious email from his account claiming he was running away to Costa Rica with a woman he had just met, and his boss received his letter of resignation through email, however, most people didn't buy it, and the police got involved. It was soon discovered that this wasn't Twitchell's first victim either, another man contacted police later to inform them that he went through the same ordeal. A couple witnessed this man escaping, being chased by a man in a hockey mask wielding a samurai sword. It seems a bit surprising that he didn't say anything earlier, and perhaps he could have prevented the death of Mr. Atlinger.

The police have said that the forensic evidence discovered in the garage is enough to charge Twitchell, however, there is no body, and it has led some to speculate that he is doing this as a publicity stunt, sending Atlinger away for a few weeks and taking in the free media coverage. However, you'd think that it might be a good idea to give up the stunt before you go to jail for the rest of your life. For now, we'll wait and see and maybe we'll finally find out the complete story. Really strange to hear about something like this so close to home.

This is a great, quick summary of the story shown on global.

Sleep tight kiddies.

This is illegal art.

2009-09-09T11:28:00.001+09:00

And shame on you for liking it. This is what the criminal has to say for himself:

"The music video for my song 'Alice', an electronic piece composed using sounds recorded from the Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland'. www.myspace.com/pogotracks www.last.fm/music/Pogo"

6 months and counting...

2009-09-02T11:26:00.004+09:00

well, the time is almost here...well, no it's not, but it's closer than ever! lucky kat is taking a rest at home (with the pneumonia, so i don't feel that envious), and i'm plugging away at school, time is passing ever so slowly, though faster than when i wasn't doing anything at all.

an update on the future:....i got nothing.

that's the trouble. things that seem so solid even a few weeks ago are starting to show fault. i wish i was rich and had about ten lives to live simultaneously. however, i don't on both counts, so the decisions have more weight than i'd like to admit. but let's suppose on the hypothetical reality that i can plan for more than a few months in advance. this could be what the future would look like:

now until the end of january: work like the slave dog i am. february: travel in SE Asia, provided that H1N1 doesn't kill everyone in the world, or at least not erode their better sensibilities. feb. 25: finish the contract, cast off these iron shackles and celebrate freedom. early march: travel china with the folks. early april: fly home to canada, a canada without anymore winter i hope. april: ? may-forever: ?...

just a few blanks left to fill in in that plan, and i'll be set.

anyone wanna help me out?

My tribute to Nine Inch Nails

2009-08-25T15:21:00.001+09:00

Nine Inch Nails are finishing up their American tour this month, the last show for what could be a long time. I had a chance to attend their last show in Asia in Seoul for a brief 90-minute set of some of their classic songs. It was an amazing show, and despite the fact that this time they weren't done up in the fancy light shows or the elaborate stage decor, it was still an absolutely mind-blowing show. In commemoration of the event, I decided to draw out a tribute, NIN in my life and memory.

I remember being in high school with Brent Keefe sitting behind me in Mr. Pegg's English class talking about the rarity of certain albums, Pretty Hate Machine being one and Soundgarden's first album, Badmotorfinger. I distinctly remember Brent (who had a propensity to exaggerate) saying, "Yeah, my friend located one copy of Pretty Hate Machine, it was like, in Belgium." These were the types of discussions we had throughout the high school years for which I look back very fondly. Our worldview was slowly starting to expand beyond the halls of the school, thanks largely to the rock magazines Spin and Rolling Stone and also from the music we listened to. It's funny how the bands we listened to as kids seemed to speak directly to us, even from the distances, and we would relate to the lyrics as though they directly channeled our own teenage (and sometimes pointless) angst. Nine Inch Nails was the band for me that represented that. Back then, they were only one band of many, but if I had need for emotional comfort, or discharge, that was what I would listen to. I had all of their albums by Grade 10, and had all of the "halos" before I was out of high school. After all, the only thing I had to spend money on was gas, coffee, and CDs. I remember that the money I earned from Eddies' was split up in almost an even third just such. My collection of CDs grew exponentially in those days, going from 10 to 300 in three years, since which I've probably only purchased 30 (even though my digital collection mysteriously doubles every six months). I remember remixing Nine Inch Nails tracks by rudimentary looping and editing on Cool Edit Pro, my first real musical foot forward, and a few steps behind my friends Jeremy and Mark who were doing the same thing with different bands.

Then we graduated, and everything changed. The discussions of music became more passionate, more final, and often more confrontational. The worldview then expanded beyond Weyburn's bubble, as most of us moved away to another city for school, or just to get away. The Fragile was released on 9-9-99, in my first year of university. I remember my first listen to the album was while I was writing my first Psychology paper (or should I say NOT writing it). The Fragile was the first thing Kat and I talked about when we got to know each other at a party, and what was playing when we hooked up. I drove around in the cougar with a tape that was starting to become so thin you could quietly hear the backwards music from the opposite side. I don't think I ever played an album as much before or since as I did that one. I was tortured by the fact that they never came through even remotely near Saskatchewan during the Fragility tour which lasted over two years and toured to even the most remote reaches of the globe. However, when they finally released the live DVD, we had a taste. Justin, Dave, Nathan, Victor and myself would all sit down before nearly every Linger band practice in front of his massive surround sound stereo system and get blown away by that DVD. This was what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it.

Even though University seemed like an eternity while we were there, I'm sad to say that I've been out of it longer than I was in it. Maybe when I am old I will look back at that time period as being the best of my life, but maybe that's only because I was much more optimistic and excited during those years, because at first sight, the world is a beautiful and open place with opportunity and potential. However, now, I look back at that time as the life under the umbrella, and not at all in the real world, and thus illegitimate in a way. However perception is a strong thing, and at that point perception was blissfully naive. With Teeth came out when I was experiencing the tidal flood of the real world. The direction that Trent went on that album was perhaps not as epic as the Fragile, but I thought and still think it was concise and less introspective about the world then the previous albums, and thus having greater relevance lyrically. He was making a lot of the same observations as me, so it hit hard, and I listened to that album as much as any other. This was the tour where Kat and I had a chance to finally see the live show, and it was beyond anything I ever dreamed of. The marriage of visual performance and musical performance was astounding. It was an experience unto itself.

It was at this juncture that I finally had a chance to meet the man who'd influenced everything musical in my life. He's short, has striking blue eyes, and he's got a really strong grip. Beyond that, the meeting was really anti-climactic, and although it was a great experience, it was not the life-changing moment of glorious connection I guess I secretly hoped it would be. This is fine, I don't believe it's a good thing to idolize somebody too much, as you create a bubble of who you believe the person is, and very often what they really are like is nothing of the sort. Really, it's all that I really could desire for such a happening, a chance to thank the man who makes the music. But really, it's the gift of music and memory that I will always keep.

Year Zero, Ghosts, and The Slip have all come out swiftly, over the course of only two years. I enjoy all of this music just as much as I have the early stuff, and all in different ways, but really it will be in the future before I can truly realize the impact and it's relation to the events and memories that happen in my life.

Although this blog post seems that NIN was the only band that I ever listened to, that's not true, but it is the band I've listened to the longest and still like as much as the first day I experienced it. So here's to NIN, you'll be missed, though, I have 20 hours of music to listen to until I'm old and gray. Thanks again.

new look...you can tell i'm bored

2009-08-23T16:12:00.001+09:00

updated some links on the side...there are still some more i have to remember to change...there are many defunct blogs or practically defunct blogs out there that i wanted to purge and replace them with some blogs i actually check, and always seem to forget to check. more to come, and soon.

peace

it seems the more time i have on my hands, the less i blog

2009-07-15T09:26:00.006+09:00

I'm in the pleasant and care-free time of summer time in korea. It's raining constantly, but that should break in the next week or so, and after that, it's time again for sweet sweet vacation. Until then, i will plod along; attending classes, but not teaching; attending school, but not working. I am over my hump of depression that hit mid to late semester. A feeling of distance that was very great and anxiety related to the future plagued my mind for a while, exacerbated by the rainy days.

But i look forward to the summer holidays. For the last six years, i've taken vacation in the same set of days, the last week or two in july and the first week or two in august. It feels like that time of year again, and i embrace that. The plans are pretty exciting, we're going to kick off vacation with a concert in Seoul, called the Jisan Valley Rock Festival. Some notable acts are Weezer, Basement Jaxx, Patti Smith and Oasis, as well as a couple dozen Korean rock bands. For three days, the cost isn't too expensive. We picked up a tent to camp out over night, and i expect the event will be pretty awesome. Ryan Hillstead and Lisa Styles are also attending, so it'll be a Weyburn infused event.

After that, we will rent a car (i'm scared already) and drive down the west coast. We haven't explored that side of Korea at all and i'm excited at the opportunity to see a part of Korea that may offer a different view of the country...or may not. Either way, if we're not having fun, we can drive the entire length of the country in less than six hours. Our final destination of this leg will be Jeju-do, an island province only a few hours by ferry off of the southern coast. This place has been called the Hawaii of Korea, although having been to jeju one time before, i will say it's more like the florida of korea. We'll spend the largest part of our vacation here, I think, camping, snorkeling, and climbing the volcanic mountain, Hallasan, which happens to be the biggest mountain in South Korea.

If we are lucky, and the weather holds, we'll take a ferry over to Busan for a few days, and then into Japan. Last summer, we weren't able to do the southern part of the island, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, etc, so even just a few days will be enough time to pick up some of the spots we missed last year.

Then, all too soon, we'll be back at work, for another two to three weeks of not really working before the second and final semester begins. The time to return is coming down, though we have two more major excursions planned before we come back.

OH, and hard to believe i almost forgot. NINE INCH NAILS!!! YEAH!!! AUGUST 15th!!! ETP Festival!!! i'm thrilled to have this opportunity to see the band i love most play one last time. we were disappointed that we couldn't go to summersonic festival in japan because of financial reasons, but trent heard my wish (i'm sure), and has scheduled the last asian tour date in seoul, just for me...SWEET! oh, and limp bizkit is the other headliner...yay...

that's all for now, i swear i'll post more often this summer, i swear!

strange days and strange dreams

2009-05-12T15:39:00.003+09:00

begin part one.
i was a spy sent in to rescue prisoners which were held in small boxes surrounded by laser beams that didn't kill you but alerted the bad guys to my presence. i was together with a friend who i can't remember at this point, and we snuck closer to our targets. we were in the mountains in korea, whereas this is irrelevant militarily, the area was just wilderness and roads as most places in the south are. the lasers were multi-coloured and surrounding several posts in the middle with three-beams in a gate like fashion. thin enough to get through, and that's what we did, and soon we were examining the posts closely. however, the boxes were impossibly small for people, and the realization i made in the non-linear fashion, was that these were bodies, cremated and stuffed into these small boxes on the posts. why so were they protected i wondered? well, there was no way we could carry them, let alone rescue them, so we decided to make a break for it. however, my partner accidentally stepped too far back and tripped the lazer. so we ran, however, the lazers had a slowing side effect. and as a result even though we were running away as fast as we could, we still weren't moving fast enough to get away. or so i thought. as we were running up a mountain road trying desperately to escape our captors, i passed by an idling truck, and realized it was my getaway truck. except the girl who was in the driver's seat (i didn't recognize her) said that i had taken many hours for what felt like a few minutes. i stopped by the driver's side window to find out more about my missing time, when she looked at me and said i wasn't who she remembered me to be. i was someone else. it was then i realized that it was i who had been in the boxes, and somehow my rescuer (which i had been in the consciousness of earlier in the dream) had switched places with me as he/i ran through the lazer beams.

end part one

begin part two.
i was at a jam session with all the usual suspects, i think it was in scott's basement, or something similar, and there were stacks and stacks of amps and gear everywhere. i was very excited because there was a musician who i admire that was playing there. so after a while of watching the bands jam it out, i went up to this musician (who also is a guitar player) and asked her if i could play guitar with her. she said yes, and we tried to jam, unfortunately no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't find that groove together, and i couldn't tell if it was her or me that was making it sound so bad. consequently, after a few tries, she explodes on me and yells that i'm terrible, and we clash so bad because i'm so bad. at this point, i'm very embarassed, and i try to show her some work i did on the computer as reconciliation, however, cubase wouldn't work, and i couldn't play her any music.

end part two

of course, these are edited versions of it, and some parts i don't remember as clearly as others, and other feelings don't translate at all in to words, but it was a very lucid dream, the clearest i've had in a while.

don't think i'd post this to my portfolio site :)

the sneak peek

2009-05-12T00:45:00.002+09:00

i have a much more complete version of my website finally up. becoming a hermit at home has some advantages, as i have actually been working on things. writing, editing, mixing, and finishing up my portfolio.

check it out:

Rob's Portfolio

if it turns out that this site turns out to be functional and easy to update and use and such, i will retire this blog and use the website as my everyday blog.

enjoy

i feel ambitious these days

2009-05-01T11:25:00.006+09:00

wow, two film projects in as many weeks. AMACHJING! i was looking back through my stockpiles of footage, and found the original scans for the Swaying Image video shoot. I forgot what the original stuff looked like after seeing the final version of the video for going on six years now. I thought I might reedit the video and make a version I can call up to the standards I have now for quality of projects. However, after removing everything that I found to be cheezy, or out of focus, I found that I actually didn't have nearly enough footage for the four and a half minute-long song. So, since NIN is always inspiring to me, I decided to do another entry for the Ghosts film festival, although this time, my intention is not to keep the music, this I will compose and make a new short film out of an old project. So I attached the rough cut, there is still one or two shots I think I will change, and I'm not sure yet how attached I am to the fades, but that said, I'm lazy, and I may do nothing more at all except change the music. It's amazing to me that I'm on this roll of tying up loose ends of projects. Only have a website, a script and an album left to finish, and I'll be semi-caught up for now. Here's the rough cut, a very different feel I'll admit, a much slower, eerier approach, with basically no references to the Linger band or concept. Enjoy.

(Please watch in HQ, it's incredible the difference it makes)

**EDIT** Final touches have been applied, enjoy.

A new film-related project!

2009-04-19T00:47:00.002+09:00

Finally! Thank god! It only took me since January 2008 to finish it, but finally, I have completed my entry for the Ghosts Film Festival on Youtube.com. I've been using nine inch nails as a soundtrack for years, but now i finally have permission! Unbelievable. Now, this film can be a little deceiving, but there isn't a shot in the whole project longer than 4 seconds that hasn't been messed around with in some way. At times there is between 3-5 layers of video. All the footage is from the Prelinger archives at archive.org. Without further adieu, here is 33 Ghosts IV. Enjoy. (Make sure you watch in HQ, the difference is remarkable)

it's a sad day

2009-04-17T09:42:00.000+09:00

this is what we do with our cultural heritage...

it's been awhile...SO

2009-03-13T14:46:00.003+09:00

The school year has begun again, and now i have some time on my hands...more time than i've ever had, so it seems. This year kat and i have determined that we are going to get out more and see more of the country. already we have taken a short trip to Andong, just a couple hours south of Taebaek. Now, this in itself doesn't seem to be particularly interesting, so let me tell you of a few of the other ways i've decided to fill my time.

1. Lord of the Rings Online. Potentially the most addicting game I've ever played in my life, moreso than Diablo 2, moreso than Magic Cards Online (yeah, i am a geek, i know). This game has kept me riveted night after night for nearly 5 months now, exploring Middle Earth and saving it's inhabitants single handedly (or in a group) from all the evils of the fantasy world. I've walked Rivendell with Frodo, comforting and preparing him for the journey, have seen the fellowship off to their brave deed, and wasted damn near 500 hours of gameplay time to an imaginary world where the game never ends, isn't beatable, and just continues to morph and grow.

2. My Portfolio Site. I am not a web designer. I can make webpages, but they must be simple, and it usually takes me an ungodly amount of time. I am quite thankful for my new computer, as it has a program called iWeb, which is like iMovie, but for web design. a program that is simple to use, largely drag and drop, and vastly customizable, i've done more work toward a website in 4 hours than i have in damn near a year. it is limited in the scope, you're restricted to the templates, and it's difficult to add anything outside the normal realm of simple web site, but it'll do the trick. the site is still a work in progress, but all my video, and the best of my recent photographs are all together in one place.

3. Kat has the Key - As Yet Untitled EP. We succeeded in laying down enough tracks for a healthy EP. This group took an intense nearly 8 days (or part-days anyhow) laying tracks for about 8 songs. we'll see how this progresses, as it is still being worked on across the ocean. however, i have faith that this will turn out to be a solid recording.

4. Silent Hill 5!!! I just downloaded it today, and i'm excited to see if it holds up to previous versions. this is the first one of the series programed in High Definition, and i finally have a computer with High Definition playback.

5. Reunion. My first attempt at a feature length script. I have completed the outline (in itself, 10 pages), and have completed about 20% of the script. I know that although I've been working on this idea for a few years, progress goes in leaps and bounds. most of the completion of the script took only a few days, whereas the outline took most of last year. It was my intention to be finished it last January, so I am trying to weasel it into my priorities above LOTRO (though it's hard).

...

other than that, i spend a lot of time surfing the internet, pretty sure i've visited every site there is, twice. i only teach about 18 hours a week (in the rare instance that i work the full week), and that means i have 22 hours a week of sitting at my desk, staring at the computer. i try to fill it working, but when i only have two hours of work in 22 hours of downtime, it's pretty boring.

i'm starting work on some more video projects as well, and now that i have the tools to, finishing up the two projects i spent working on all last year, the Linger video reedit, and the Nine Inch Nails Ghosts 33 video that is about 85% finished...i hope to make this year the year of tying up loose ends, especially when i have five projects within a solid evening's worth of work to completion.

here's an entertaining video i found on the internet:

These images are the first captured on motion picture film, back in the late 1800s. hard to believe it even exists. i particularly enjoyed the shot of the busy street in the city, with no power lines, and horse drawn carts being pulled everywhere. it's hard to believe that the technology for making motion pictures precedes the car, precedes common electricity, and precedes the mp3 player...hard to believe, i know.

homecoming

2009-01-18T03:22:00.002+09:00

days off, canada, cambodia/vietnam

2009-01-02T01:16:00.006+09:00

Another five day holiday immediately following a five day holiday. There's something pleasant about following the same schedule as students when it comes to breaks and days off. Kat's even luckier, she has the entire month of January and February off. I have to teach half days for the next three weeks. Not too much work really, and then we come back to Canada. We arrive Jan.24 at 7:30pm in Regina. I think we're gonna sit down with our families first to have a bit of a catch up dinner (at the copper kettle of course), and then we'll be off to Weyburn. While some of my vacation will be free and easy, it's still gonna be busy as hell, and if I can't pull off getting a driver's license for that time, then things might be a little trickier. I think the first week we get back will be a week of meeting up with friends and family with Weyburn as the home base. If we can pull it off, we might go to Regina as soon as Thursday, Jan.29. However, people are more than welcome to come down to Weyburn and live it up hillbilly style. Maybe go marvel at the soon to be disappeared cultural symbol of Souris Valley Mental Hospital. Take in the delicious food at the El Rancho, and follow it all up with a $3 pint at the Weyburn Inn, the only bar in town that you are likely to not get beaten up.

I jest of course, I look forward to those hillbilly times. I think it will be an opportunity to spend some close time with our families, catch up on some of the local cuisine, and, well, rest! I'll get to pull out my acoustic guitar that has been collecting dust now for some time, and maybe strum some chords once or twice before we set about making some music with KHTK.

We got back from Cambodia and Vietnam on Monday. A shocking and wonderful experience all at the same time. Cambodia is a wounded culture that is slowly recovering from a truly horrific past. Angkor Wat was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen in my entire life.

Keep an eye on the travel blog, there should be a new post in the next few days. Either way, I'll be seeing you in a a couple weeks.

Peace
rob

a month of anniversaries/commemerations

2008-12-17T17:28:00.000+09:00

Hello, loyal readership (Kat!), I hope things have been faring you well. It has been a long time since we have had a heart to heart. Although there hasn't been much newsworthy going on in my life, at the same time, many things have come to pass in just a few short days. December 3 was Katherine's and my anniversary, nine years, in itself slightly newsworthy. December 8 was my birthday, I didn't turn 27, I didn't grow older at all this year. December 10 was the one-year point for being in Korea. In a period of one week, there has been much nostalgic reflection. Time is ticking away. One week to Cambodia/Vietnam, five weeks to Canada.

Aside from that, Kat Has the Key has gone into some greater discussion related to the impending album recordings. So much work to do, so little time to do it. But it's like a focus point, something to concentrate on. School is now slipping into a groove that makes it go faster and easier.

I am prepared to return to Canada. Jan.24-Feb.22. I will drive from the airport to O'Hanlon's and buy a pizza and a pint of Stella Artois. From there, we will go to Weyburn, stop at Souris Valley and see it in all it's decrepit glory. After a short stop by the grocery store, where we'll buy bologna, raisin bran, relish, cheese, five pounds of ground beef, candy, ice cream, perogies, frozen veggies, and then go eat them all in one sitting. Even if I'm shivering from the disgusting cold, I will still go tobogganing.

But for now, I must prepare for my English camp this weekend, and start to pack to get ready to go. I think the next 11 days will be a whirlwind, but when it stops, I should have a few days to recover and relax. Or so I hope! If I don't get on here again before xmas, let me just wish you a happy holidays and all that jazz. don't do anything I wouldn't do...

peace
rob

Cambodia, Vietnam, Canada

2008-10-28T09:28:00.003+09:00

Well, Katherine and I have been mulling around for the past month or so in decision-making mode. Really, the decision has been made for some time now, but we've basically been coming to terms with it. No matter which direction we choose, there will be a loss of some sort, so it's been very difficult in letting go what could or might be. So we've been drowning ourselves in busy-ness to avoid having to cope with it. So to ease the pain of another year, we've decided to take a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam for Christmas with Erin Grosjean and Jeffrey Fridfinnson. Our original plan was Thailand, however, it is more expensive and more touristy, so we'll put that off to some other time. Perhaps next year at the same time. It will be a very short trip, hopefully not too rushed, just short. Two and a half days in Siem Riep and Phnom Penh (Cambodia), one day taking a boat up the Mekong River into Vietnam, and one day in Ho Chi Minh city, formerly known as Saigon (Vietnam). Then, we fly back to work the next day. Exciting. Siem Riep in Cambodia is best known for the famous temple ruins Angkor Wat. Phnom Penh is a much more somber destination, with the Killing Fields, and the Genocide Museum. However, this is something that is meant for balance. Nothing makes the things that are beautiful and good moreso than the contrast and reality of the other extreme.

Anyhow, more on that as the situation develops. Either way, expect us back in Canada for a visit in February, now only a few months away...

creepiest five minutes of your life...

2008-10-24T16:46:00.001+09:00

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

2008-10-23T14:50:00.000+09:00

today, i witnessed a murder

2008-10-16T11:31:00.003+09:00

of crows flocking around the soccer field and it reminded me of an occasion when I still lived on Quebec St. Our neighbor was a strange lady who was in her mid-80s and was extremely racist and confrontational against her Latino neighbours. There was one occasion that she told me this delusional tale of when she was walking home from someplace and she was attacked by crows. Now, I will say that when one gazes even shallowly into the eyes of a crazy person, it is not always immediately apparent that that certain spark of sanity is missing in the twinkle of their eyes. Then again, she wasn't totally nuts, just a little delusional, as she the way she described it was quite rational, in a way. She said that one time when she was walking home she noticed she was being followed by a crow, when she turned around to shoo the crow away, it started to sweep at her. She decided to run away, and when she looked back, she saw that it had turned into many crows. Soon the crows were started to swoop at her a lot, and eventually they knocked her down and started to try and pull her away. She told me that the crows were starting to lift her off the ground when finally she escaped and made it back to her house. So she doesn't like crows anymore and I saw her several times chasing them out of her yard with a rake, in a very slow-motionesque way. This story I thought to be very strange.*

The group of crows brought back this very vivid account that she gave me, and just before I turned my back to walk up the stairs, I took a glance back. Even though a group of birds keeping an eye on a passing person is not unheard of, I found it more than a little freaky to see 30 or so crows staring at me. Really, I should use this as sort of inspirational and queer moment to write some sort of Edgar Allen Poe/Alfred Hitchcock type short film or story, but the truly scary thing is that I will probably just go play Lord of the Rings Online some more. I just bought a house, and I can go slaughter crows all day if I like. Now THAT's terrifying.

*This wasn't the only crazy story I heard from her, but the other one was verified, which makes me sort of question the complete craziness of the first. I've told this to a few people, but on one occasion, the poor old gal fell down in her bathroom, and could not get up. Now before anybody cracks any cheesy jokes about that stupid commercial from the 90s (80s?), I will add that she was stuck there for 3 days before anybody found her. Her bathroom window was directly across the sidewalk from mine, perhaps only 6-7 feet away. She told me how she screamed for help whenever she saw the light turn on, but neither Kat nor I could testify to that, because we never heard it. At this point we had two cats that liked to prowl the neighborhood, and after day 2 or 3, she told me she was starting to hallucinate and the dustbunnies that were on her bathroom floor were meowing at her. The only thing that I myself noticed suspicious in that whole time period was that I could hear her phone beeping as though it was off the hook, and though I felt it was kind of strange to hear that kind of volume of beeping so late at night with the lights on, and I did for a moment consider going and knocking on the door, in the end I dismissed it. For that I feel guilty, as the experience would have been quite a harrowing one. However, after several weeks in the hospital she recovered and finally moved into a special care home after one more similar occurrence (this time however, somebody checked on her daily).

a drop in the bucket to stay, a drop in the bucket to go...

2008-10-09T14:03:00.003+09:00

well, we're within a few weeks time of having to decide whether or not we sign on for a second term or head home. we have been flip-flopping almost as much as Harper in the last few weeks, sure we'll stay, then sure we'll leave. personally, if i can't continue traveling due to budget constraints from the depreciating Korean Won, than why should i stay? monetarily, i won't be able to achieve any of my goals for lessening our debtload for the same reason. so why should i stay? should i stay?

on corporal punishment

2008-10-02T16:23:00.004+09:00

It is very hard to articulate into words the horror and dismay I felt when I saw the use of corporal punishment for the first time. Instantly I sided with the students, my Canadian resentment for authority getting the better of me. After time, I learned to let it go, that most of the time it really wasn't a big deal. Mostly the students accept it and don't live in constant fear of it. I initially felt it to be a strictly a cultural difference, and though my moral conscience screamed that it was wrong, I decided I'd push that metaphorical line in the sand back a few feet. I stopped losing sleep over it, and no longer felt a welling up of anger and indignation. Then one day, my co-teacher, a man of Christian philosophy dragged a student into our office in a great rage, he then proceeded to, at full strength, slap the student's face with an open palm multiple times. In an instant, all the things that I had previously thought I was okay with disappeared, and I was left with a singular emotion of pure, naked indignation. After the ninth time that slapping sound rattled the cage of my emotions, it became apparent to me that he would not stop. My anger finally burst forth, and I shouted several times, "Stop it!" at the top of my lungs until the teacher stopped striking the student. He then turned his temper from the student to me, further cementing my belief that this punishment only marginally was about the disciplining of an unruly student, and more about the cathartic satisfaction of making that student pay dearly for his mistakes, as those mistakes were what ignited this flash fire to begin with. "Don't do that, this is not your business, this is personal." I said, "Obviously, it is very personal." As I stormed out of the office, my rage burning and seething like a coal oven still could not help but remember the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms. I looked it up, and the exact clause is Article 5, stating: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Past the cultural differences, I know that I do not stand alone on this issue. There are many Korean teachers, some of those who even support the use of a lesser form of corporal punishment that condemn these extremes; this cruel and unusual form of degrading punishment. To those who consider themselves of Christian faith, like that of my angry co-teacher, I would ask this one question: How many times in the bible did Jesus strike another human being out of anger or demand for control? Or even out of love, like those proponents of corporal punishment claim the act is? Even aside from the broader implications of the lessons students will learn from their teachers that use violence as the solution to a problem of discipline, the fact is that even in Korea, there is a line drawn in the sand that most teachers will not cross. The problem is that there is no protection for the students from those that do.

About a week has passed since I intervened in this atrocious act, and it has caused me great grief at my school. Miraculously, most of the teachers are taking my side, and despite a few awkward moments of the older teachers debating about what to do about it, most people have shown their support to me. However, my relationship with my co-teacher, who I sit beside and have the most contact with, is irreparably damaged. However a working relationship is something that we must maintain, and that is a horrible awkward structure that seems to want to tip at any time. Principles are expensive, a wise person once said to me, in more ways than one.

elections have become a spectator sport...for me anyhow...

2008-09-24T14:32:00.002+09:00

this is the first election, provincial or federal, that i have decided not to vote in. not because i'm apathetic or anything like that, just straight up lazy. i'd have to fax in some forms, wait for a ballot to arrive and then send it express, which costs money, and may not arrive in time anyway, so I have done the true Canadian thing, and have just given up. i'm just kidding, i don't think that's the true canadian thing at all. now the choices of parties this year is finally across the board, from right to left, everyone can now find representation within the main parties. my congratulations to the green party for coming so far, it goes to show that there is more and more demand for steadfast representation in the house of commons pertaining to the environmental issues the governments of the past have shirked. i have no illusions, i don't expect nor really desire to see the Green Party with either a minority or majority government, however, a few seats can go a long way. polls are running high for the Greens at around 10%, higher than the BQ. despite that, they probably will not get more than one or two seats (if they're lucky), due to the concentration of support being spread out over the entire country, and not focused in one geographical area. so even though there was more than 600,000 votes in the last election for the Greens, they didn't win a single seat.

personally i like the idea of a minority government, as it prevents one party to be able to come along and make any drastic changes contrary to public opinion, or near consensus in the House of Commons. just think, if the conservatives would have had a majority this last term, we would have seen drastic changes to our copyright laws that would have made most users of the internet common criminals. or perhaps a bill that limited only Canadian content in funding due to arbitrary judgments of the heritage minister.

now i could list many more, but i will list some praises of the conservatives:

- i agree with the idea of fixed election dates, the conservatives themselves put this one through, once every four years. to quote Rob Nicholson, the conservative who put forth the bill: "fixed election dates will improve the fairness of Canada's electoral system by eliminating the ability of governing parties to manipulate the timing of elections for partisan advantage." (of course, despite this, they called an election one year early, at the party's advantage)

- they switched Rona Ambrose as environment minister. when asked to address the issues of logging in the area of the endangered species, the Spotted Owl, in August 2006 she stated that although the population of Spotted Owls in British Columbia is only 17, she does not feel they are threatened and therefore they do not merit any special protection.

- this one I'm being honest about, i am happy that the government apologized to the Aboriginal community for its role in the rural schools. although it's symbolic, it is something no government has done in the past, and i'm happy as a canadian to know that even though i disagree with the government, that at least once and a while, they seem to do the right thing.

---------------------------

well, on the flip side, i'd like to talk a little bit about the idea of voting "strategically". in my opinion, this just lends further support to the bipartisan system that exists, there will never be any other parties in power besides the conservatives or the liberals. despite the fact that on the political spectrum, they are holding hands on the right of centre. if you choose to vote "strategically" in your riding, and you lose, not only did you not vote for the party that won, nor did you vote for the party of your preference, taking away from their popular vote, which in the case of the smaller parties, can determine whether or not they have funding for the next year. for example, Saskatchewan is a conservative stronghold, as is Alberta. there is the common conception that they will represent the west better than the liberals will, and i somewhat agree with that. so a strategic liberal vote in the west means your vote will not change things (except for Goodale, a bang up guy, and has kept his seat for 15 years now). so, vote what you agree with, as strategy will only result in disappointment (my opinion).

i'm done ranting, but my prediction is that the conservatives will retake power, with a minority gov't, the greens will get 1-3 seats, the NDP will gain in seats, the liberals will decline in seats, and BQ will take the same.

anyone want to start a pool?