Some Stories

Mean Girls...

2012-01-03T23:20:00.002-05:00

Just completed a 3 day 'text war' with a friend using all quotes from the movie Mean Girls. He finished out with 115 texts and I with 116...

except mine were all the same quote...

all 116 times...

because it's my favorite...

...yeah, it was totally "Boo, you whore" :D

Still...

2011-08-01T22:23:00.000-04:00

Admittedly I'm in a weird, conflicted mood. One of those ones where you know exactly how you feel but not how to express it. Either way it made me start searching through my music to find something to feed my soul. I started with Roam by the B-52's, then I desperately yearned for some New Wave and listened to some Pet Shop Boys, which naturally led me to their song What Have I Done To Deserve This featuring Dusty Springfield. Which lead to some more Dusty like I'll Never Stop Loving You.

God I love that song.

Listening to Dusty Springfield always makes me want to listen to Burt Bacharach which evolved into his collaborations with Elvis Costello and then made me desperate to re-listen to Elvis Costello's album North. Which I really, really love and would like to buy a copy of someday. If for no other reason then for the first song I ever heard off that album which is the song Still. Which I have put below. Now it's going to be put on repeat while I contemplate having a cup of coffee to help calm my thoughts before bed.

Day 'n' Nite: KiD CuDi

2011-07-31T22:27:00.000-04:00

Today's little visual study is of the music video for KiD CuDi's 2009 hit single Day 'n' Nite. As in the normal standard I've placed the full video at the end again BUT it's the quote un-quote censored version where they replace the word stoner with loner. Not a huge deal but one of note regardless.

The sequence of the couple morphing makes me think of the video for She's Got Issues by The Offspring.

I'm a huge sucker for Wizard of Oz refrences...

I love owls! And murals that look like the cover of a cheap romance novel that someone has self-published :)

Travis Barker!

The typography choice makes me think of old Astaire & Rogers movies...

If Pedro from Napolean Dynamite and Prince had a love child...

Sloan: The Other Man

2011-07-30T13:33:00.000-04:00

Another day, another quasi-visual study! This time it's a look at the music video for The Other Man by the Canadian rock band Sloan from their 2001 album Pretty Together. I haven't heard a Sloan song that I didn't like or love and back in the day I was all about this song! Who am I kidding? I am still all about this song and it's video.

The song was written by Sloan's lead singer Chis Murphy in the view point of -well- the other man, a very ballsy viewpoint to express. Apparently it was inspired by a real-life love triangle featuring Murphy, Andrew Whiteman (Broken Social Scene) and Leslie Feist. At first I was like "Who the hell is Leslie Feist?" But then I realised that it was the woman better known simply as Feist and sang 1234 on all those damn iPod commercials.

There's alot to love in this video like the colour pallet and temperature, the cinematic feel of the widescreen aspect ratio, and the the almost strange composition choices that would have left my old story board mentor screaming "You never compose like that! RULE BREAKER!"

Plus it's just hard not to love a song that so effortlessly manages to use the word 'unbeknownst' and in the appropriate context.

Full song and video

This is a song about an old Welsh witch...

2011-07-30T01:49:00.001-04:00

"She's not a person that half cooks anything, so her Rhiannon in those days was like an exorcism."

~ Mick Fleetwood source

The video quality isn't exactly the best, it chops off the first little bit of the song and then some super funky editing happens...when you see it you'll know totally know what I mean. But overall I'm in love with this because to me it really enforces the awesome Mick Fleetwood quote. Not to mention, also enforces the fact that Fleetwood Mac was pretty badass back in their prime. (Also I apologize for the terrible screencap at the very top, I only realize now that it looks like a young Carly Simon instead of Stevie Nicks...but I don't feel like changing it...too early in the a.m.)

Counting Crows: A Long December

2011-07-28T18:21:00.000-04:00

The following is a slight visual study of the 1997 music video for A Long December by The Counting Crows from their 1996 album Recovering the Satellites. Which for me was a pretty influential video in regards to my own work. It has always stuck with me and I also just love the song.

You can view the entire sequence in order at my Flickr set here.

And/or watch the full video below:

Currently reading: The Likeness by Tara French
Current song obsession at the moment: Helena Beat by Foster the People

Vonda McIntyre's - Dreamsnake

2011-07-17T14:47:00.000-04:00

Old article, but GOLD article. When I started high school the SDHS library had a really nice science fiction selection that exposed me to really fantastic classic and obsure science fiction that was published from between the mid 40's to late 70's. This book (Dreamsnake) was one of them.

io9 article from October 23rd, 2010

It is no longer in print but can be obtained online as the article states, and I recommd at least reading the original novelette "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" which as it turns out is also the first chapter of the novel. Though I believe it also stands quite well on it's own.

Dreamsnake and Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand on Book View Cafe
The price listed is $4.99 and is available in the following formats:
DRM-Free formats: EPUB/Nook/eReader, lit, lrf, MOBI/Kindle, prc, PDF, single-page html

Some stories...

2011-04-02T13:20:00.003-04:00

"Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity..."

~ Gilda Radner

Yeah, I'm terrible with passwords...like really terrible...but that's okay! Because I remember this one now!

So until I can post something proper here is a picture I took of some random graffiti

Book Covers Because I Love You...

2009-11-09T12:00:00.006-05:00

Okay, really - really long time, no post. Definatly my bad - BUT - to help make things better I scanned a few of my favourite book covers from my personal library today to share :)

First up is The Secret of the Vineyard by Monica Heath
There is no info on the artist but this is from Signet Books first printing, dated November 1968

Ghost of Conquina Key by Jean Bellamy
Once again no artist info but Copyright is dated 1970 by Lancer Books Inc.

House of Distant Voices by Evelyn Bond
Copyright Belmont Productions, December 1965

Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat
From the 1973 reprinting says that it is Illustrated by Charles Geer but no indication on whether that includes the cover illustration or not.

The October Country - Stories by Ray Bradbury
From the 1975 reprinting

One of my personal favourites the cover to The Wall by Mary Roberts Rinehart
From the Fourth Printing - May 1970

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
from the 1972 reprinting

One of my other favourite covers Chateau in the Shadows by Susan Marvin
From the first printing September 1969

Dorothy and the Scarecrow

2009-03-14T16:37:00.002-04:00

Dorothy and the Scarecrow, originally uploaded by Marina Loram.

Found this fantastic Wizard of Oz inspired photograph on Flickr today on Marina Loram's photo stream. I really love this!

The Railrodder...

2009-02-10T14:07:00.004-05:00

Back when I was in early elementary school they used to show us old National Film Board shorts on days when the weather was far to bad to send 6-10 year olds outside for recess (one of the joys of living in rural Canada). One of these films that always stuck with me was one I never knew the name of but always told myself I would find out one day and watch it again.

After getting the most recent NFB e-newsletter I saw a very familiar image and was instantly happy. Availible for free viewing online and starring Buster Keaton I am happy to share with you The Railrodder.

Wil Wheaton vs. Elvis

2009-02-04T16:40:00.004-05:00

Let the Colbertification Begin!
Originally uploaded by WilWheaton

WTF???

How this manages to be awesome yet slightly distrubing is beyond me.

The Obligatory New Year's Message...

2009-01-01T03:13:00.007-05:00

Happy 2009 to Everyone!

To mark the start of the new year I'm listing out the first 25 songs I listened to in 2009 courtesy of the random playlist order settings on my computer. Some of them seemed rather fitting of the occasion, so I figured that I would share. Enjoy!

1. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Neil Diamond (Hot August Night album version)

2. Volare - Dean Martin

3. Guess I'm Dumb - Glen Campbell

4. Strangers in the Night - Frank Sinatra

5. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

6. Tallulah - Sonata Arctica

7. Whiskey in the Jar - Metallica

8. Life Fades Away - Roy Orbison

9. Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger

10. Love Song - Sara Bareilles

11. The Saga Begins - Weird Al

12. Babylon - David Gray

13. Bad Bad Boy - Haywire

14. I Want To Break Free - Queen

15. Knowing Me, Knowing You - ABBA

16. Believe It Or Not - Joey Scarbury

17. Tell Her About It - Billy Joel

18. Denial, Revisited - The Offspring

19. When It's Over - Loverboy

20. Bye Bye Baby - Bay City Rollers

21. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon

22. Wouldn't It Be Good - Nik Kershaw

23. Girls Lie Too - Terri Clark

24. Worst Hangover Ever - The Offspring

25. Showgirl - The Better English

Photo taken in my grandparents old kitchen when I was much younger

"Why not" is a perfectly good reason...

2008-11-20T20:22:00.012-05:00

So its been over a week without a post, bad me! I know! My schedule is kinda kicking my ass right now, but no worries I've been rambling in my notebooks whenever I have a spare moment and probably have about 3 posts worth of material built up. I'm just happy to be working from home right now instead of commuting back and forth to Mississauga everyday. Not that I really minded the commute, but it's winter now...in Canada at that...enough said.

One thing I will admit is that every morning when I'm having my cereal is that I like to turn on the T.V. and either pop in something like The Smurfs or set the station to Much More Music.

So I like nostalgia for breakfast - sue me.

I am a child of the '80's and really do love a lot of the music that came out of that period of time, more then that however I love the videos made to promote those songs. There's just something about them that seem so creativity uninhibited. Like this one, Blue Monday by New Order:

Take On Me by A-Ha:

and the still stunning video for Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer:

le sigh

I wish that pixilation was more commonplace, but at the same time part of what makes the Sledgehammer video so effective is that it is a combination of pixilation, stop motion, and clay animations. It makes me wonder if the Brothers Quay and Aardman studios were ever collaborators on another project either before or after this video?

Hmm, something to look into...time to go make coffee...

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