Bring the sked

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Travel plans for the fall* are coming together. We’re very excited.

.:.

Our schedule for the next little while is becoming very clear. I actually don’t like having this many plans; I prefer to stumble into each day and do whatever, but that’s not in the cards right now. This weekend I have a paper to write for my course. Next week we have a busy social calendar and then I’ll finish off as much of my course as I can before we take possession of our condo on the 9th. Around this time the NHL & NBA playoffs begin. We’ll be cleaning, painting, etc. for the next two weeks (and ignoring most of the Hot Docs festival) until our actual move-in; a few days after the move I go away on course for a week. No sooner do I return than the social activities of May (the Santé wine festival, a reunion in Niagara-on-the-Lake with some Dal alumni friends, Victoria day, GB’s birthday) begin. June is fairly light, though I disappear for another course toward the end, and nothing’s really planned for July or August. I suppose I should be using that time to do the giant integrative paper that’s due in the fall, since September (between an abbreviated film festival, another week away on course and two weeks of vacation) is a write-off.

*Yes, we plan this far in advance. Make fun of us all you want; it was taking our time with planning and research that made the Rockies trip our best vacation ever.

[tags]vacation, sante festival, dalhousie university[/tags]

Let's all hate polar bear cubs

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I don’t think it’s any secret that I like animals. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m an animal activist, especially when people who describe themselves as such claim it’s better to euthanize this polar bear cub than to raise him in a zoo. Now, I don’t think animals should be in zoos in the first place, but if the cub was born in a zoo and was rejected by his mother, I can only think it would be better off experiencing a life of some kind than to be put down because it’s not living the predictable life.

If the question were whether we should be going into the wild to adopt abandoned bear cubs, I’d say no, that’s disrupting the natural cycle. But, as I said, I also don’t think we should be putting animals in zoos, so until that practice ceases I don’t think we should be euthanizing healthy zoo-born animals just because, all other things being equal, they’d die in the wild.

.:.

There’s a new crosswalk in the Annex. Why is this interesting (to me, anyway)? Because I (and many others) damn near died crossing the street there to get to the Dominion. I don’t get back up to that neighbourhood very much anymore, but at least on the few occasions when I do (like the occasional concert at Trinity/St. Paul’s, or when I want to trade some coins for cash) I won’t be muttering “This &%#$ intersection needs a crosswalk!” as I dodge Hyundais.

I expect a hallelujah from Duarte on this. Stanzi and T-Bone used to live over there too; I suspect they dodged cars there more than once. It’s like a Toronto rite of passage.

.:.

Actually, one good reason to go back to that neighbourhood: the Hot Docs documentary festival. If you live in Toronto and you haven’t been, you owe it to yourself to go. I’m bummed that we won’t really have time to see many films this year as we’re moving right in the middle of the festival. Too bad; I really want to go see the reaction to Let’s All Hate Toronto.

[tags]knut, polar bear cub, annex crosswalk, hot docs, lets all hate toronto[/tags]

Coming down the pipe

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

No, this isn’t another post about how sick I am. It’s about the music that’s waiting for me to preview in my download folder. I’ll try to check it out tomorrow at work; I have no meetings scheduled, so it should be a listen-to-tunes-and-get-shit-done kind of day. Fingers crossed.

  • Apostle Of Hustle . National Anthem Of Nowhere
  • Clinic . Internal Wrangling
  • Dalek . Abandoned Language
  • LCD Soundsystem . Sound Of Silver
  • Low . Drums And Guns
  • Ted Leo . Living With The Living

I’ve already taken quick breezes through the Apostle of Hustle and Ted Leo and nothing really jumped out at me, but I need to go back through them.

[tags]apostle of hustle, clinic, dalek, lcd soundsystem, low, ted leo[/tags]

Suck it, winter

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Today it was -10 with the windchill in Toronto.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be +6.

Thursday it’s supposed to be +18, but rainy.

Saturday it’s supposed to be sunny and +13.

It would appear that we are in, as Dick Cheney would say, the last throes of winter. I love seeing the little sun icon paired with a positive number in the weather forecast.

Now…to get healthy enough to actually get outside and enjoy said weather…

[tags]spring is coming[/tags]

Nice car, great architecture, pretty sunset, blah blah…hey lookit, our condo!

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Staying at home today. Feel as if my gastrointestinal system is under attack. Will try to gather enough strength to drag ass to the drug store and collect some supplies. #1 on the list: Gatorade.

.:.

Today’s picture over at Daily Dose of Imagery has a nice picture of our new condo building. Well, I guess the picture is of the red Mini in the foreground, but you can see our building in the shot.

[thanks Jen!]

[tags]gatorade, daily dose of imagery, spire condominium[/tags]

Shaved Head, one last time

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

It’s been a very sports-oriented weekend thus far. Tons and tons of March Madness basketball and some hockey games. Tonight’s Canadiens/Leafs match is pretty much make-or-break for both teams’ chances of staying in the playoff hunt. Montreal’s still without their #1 goalie, so if they lose tonight, I think they’re all but done for the year.

Last night we took a break from the madness by having dinner and a beer at Volo, and watching a few episodes of Entourage. I haven’t been feeling great for the last 24 hours (don’t know if it’s the crazy weather changes or lack of sleep or what, but I’ve got a perpetual headache right now) so I don’t think the rest of the weekend will get much more adventurous.

.:.

One thing this tournament has reminded me of: I despise the word (and I use the term loosely) “stick-to-it-iveness”. I’ve heard it more than once*, and it drives me nuts. I have no problem with new words entering the everyday lexicon. What I do have a problem with is a using a disjointed mash-up designed for the addle-minded rather than suitable existing words.

Sigh…et tu, dictionary.com?

* It’s quite possible that whoever’s saying it is the same guy who keeps pronouncing “eschews” incorrectly. Somewhere that guy’s English teacher is cringing.

.:.

You may or may not know that the Rheostatics are, in my opinion, the most truly Canadian rock band of the past two decades (that’s right, more Canadian than The Hip); you also may not know that on March 30th they’ll play ostensibly their last concert ever, at Massey Hall. I didn’t get a ticket for that, but I did get a ticket for smaller show at their most recent and regular home: the Horseshoe. If you’d like a ticket of your own, you can get one from Six Shooter.

Anyway, the excellent Canadian indie music download site Zunior.com has something very cool on sale right now: a Rheostatics tribute album. It has songs by 13 artists, among them The Weakerthans, Weeping Tile, The Inbreds, Barenaked Ladies and Cuff The Duke. It only costs $8.88 and the proceeds go to charity; for a few extra bucks you can download the songs and get the CD. Quel bargain.

[tags]march madness, leafs, canadiens, sticktoitiveness, rheostatics, zunior[/tags]

Twit(ter)

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I just can’t get into Twitter. That’s not to say that I won’t cave some day, but I can’t imagine anyone being interested enough in my life to want a minute-by-minute update, nor can I imagine being that interested in anyone else’s.

I think it’s a way for people who consider themselves blog “pioneers” to create a new social stratum, now that every teenager, CEO and expectant mother has a blog.

[tags]twitter[/tags]

Words have taught me that words are folly and mad

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Now that I’ve given that Besnard Lakes album a few more listens I’d say they’re like a cross between Low and The Dears. If that helps you at all.

.:.

If brevity is wit, it’s also musical genius. Here’re my 25 favourite songs that clock in under 2 minutes. Note that there’s a ton of brilliant music that comes in around 2:05, but I was strict about it. Also note: you could make several albums out of Guided By Voices and Pixies songs that come in under 2:10.

  • Bad Religion . “Hear It” (1:52)
  • Blues Brother Castro . “Bonny” (1:47)
  • Blur . “Song 2” (2:00)
  • Change Of Heart . “Away Goodbye” (0:57)
  • Constantines . “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” (1:57)
  • Death Set . “Intermission” (1:55)
  • Deerhoof . “Our Angel’s Ululu” (1:37)
  • Evaporators . “Half-Empty Halls” (1:55)
  • Gord Downie . “Pillform 1” (1:44)
  • Grant Lee Buffalo . “Last Days of Tecumseh” (1:02)
  • Guided By Voices . “A Salty Salute” (1:29)
  • Matthew Good Band . “So Long Mrs. Smith” (1:40)
  • Mountain Goats . “Quito” (2:00)
  • Neutral Milk Hotel . “The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1” (2:00)
  • Nirvana . “Downer” (1:43)
  • Pearl Jam . “Lukin” (1:02)
  • Pink Floyd . “Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 2” (1:27)
  • Ramones . “Judy Is A Punk” (1:31)
  • Reindeer Section . “Will You Please Be There for Me” (1:49)
  • Royal City . “Under A Hollow Tree” (1:52)
  • Single Frame . “Mod Style ’68” (1:47)
  • Sleater Kinney . “Little Mouth” (1:44)
  • Spiderbait . “Buy Me A Pony” (1:46)
  • T Rex . “We Love To Boogie” (1:57)
  • White Stripes . “Let’s Build a Home” (1:58)

Bonus coverage: my 10 favourite songs over 15 minutes long:

  • Bob Dylan . “Highlands” (15:48)
  • Dandy Warhols . “It’s a Fast-Driving Rave-Up With the Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes” (16:06)
  • Godspeed You Black Emperor! . “rockets fall on Rocket Falls” (20:42)
  • Godspeed You Black Emperor! . “Storm” (22:32)
  • Spiritualized . “Angel Sigh / Sway / 200 Bars” (18:55)
  • Mogwai . “Like Herod (the Government Commissions version)” (18:25)
  • Mogwai . “My Father My King” (20:12)
  • Pink Floyd . “Dogs” (17:06)
  • Velvet Underground . “Sister Ray” (17:27)
  • Yume Bitsu . “The Frigid, Frigid, Frigid Body of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg” (18:29)