Saturday, September 30, 2006

Liz's World of All Things Geeky

A couple of busy days with some news, but first-

Soundtrack of "The World According to Liz"-

Opening Credits: Little Plastic Castle-Ani DiFranco
Waking Up: Sunrise-Norah Jones
An Ordinary Day: Ordinary Day-Great Big Sea (because I'm a smartass)
The First Date: *ahem cough* Lightning Crashes-Live
Falling in Love: Between Us to Hold-Hayden
The Rumble: Not About Love-Fiona Apple
The Break-up: The Scientist-Coldplay
Getting Back: Ants Marching-Dave Matthews Band
Life's Okay: Sleeps With Butterflies-Tori Amos
The Mental Breakdown: No No No-The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Cruising: Girl Anachronism-The Dresden Dolls
The Flashback: Do You Realize?-The Flaming Lips
The Party: Jamie-Weezer
Everybody Dance Now: All These Things That I Have Done-The Killers
Sex Scene: Crash Into Me-Dave Matthews Band
Regretting: Red Rain-The White Stripes
The Long Night Alone: Each Coming Night-Iron and Wine
A Death: I Will Follow You Into the Dark-Death Cab for Cutie
End Credits: I'll Believe in Anything-Wolf Parade

So I went to a job interview for this cool night club in Hamilton (where, incidently, I unknowingly missed You Say Party We Say Die, Controller Controller and Stars while I was in Sudbury :p). I thought it sounded like a pretty sweet place to work, but as it turned out they wanted to "go in a different direction". My Dad said "What hire somebody incompotent?". I love my Dad.

Here's something awesome: Jedi Ka-nig-hats
Other possible dialogue:

"What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen death star?"

"Your mother was a fuzz-ball and your father smelt of bantha-fadder"

Vader: Luke, join the dark side and some day all of this will be yours!
Luke: What the curtains?



There's no redemption at this point. I am the hugest nerd of all time.

Ah yes and speaking of my geekdom, 3 points:

1. The answer to my previous entry about Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool was... a Simpson's trivia challenge in disguise! It's Lisa.

2. I got a webcam, and I am having far too much fun with it. Finally I've made the grand leap to the year 2001.

3. I plan to make a video entry soon. I will have some time off Tuesday evening, and heaven knows I have nothing better to do. Wednesday on the other hand :D ... well I might just have to leave you in suspense on that one!

Monday, September 25, 2006

False Alarm

The fire alarm just went off and I just successfully pretended that I knew what I was doing. The Fire Department was impressed and my boss actually gave me my first praise since I began this job. Aparently my handling of the false fire alarm was excellent. What they didn't see was the two-three minutes leading up to their arrival of me running around the building shutting doors and windows while trying to go through the fire alarm manual and remember what the hell I was supposed to do. None-the-less, I retract my previous statement about how boring this job is at night. May it henceforth remain as such.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Part the second

"How are you organizing them, alphabetically?... chronologically?"
"No. Autobiographically"
"That sounds..."
"Comforting? It is."

By the way, I should have explained first that a few people have been posting top ten album lists, and as the biggest wanna-be music nerd I decided to jump on the band-wagon. I do not pretend to know anything about music... well actually I do pretend, but when pushed I'm usually honest about my cluelessness. Anyways, favourite albums post 1990 are:

1)


Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes
1991
Key tracks- "Silent All These Years", "Precious Things", "Me and a Gun"
My aunt said she got tired of this album after playing it a million times over. I have yet to experience a similar fatigue. I'll just have to try for two million I guess.


2)



The Dave Matthews Band: Crash
1997
Key tracks: "Two Step", "Crash", "#41", "Say Goodbye", "Trippin' Billies"
You can file this under TMI if you like, but most of my adolescence was consumed dreaming that Dave himself would make love to me tracks 2 through 6. In fact that's pretty much still my ultimate goal in life.


3)


Weezer: The Blue Album
1994
Key Tracks: Buddy Holly, Undone (the Sweater Song), Say it Ain't So
This album is in the key of rock and goes out as a dedication to Rhonda from Adam. And for anyone other than Joe: the sweater song made a surprisingly good campfire sing-a-long for disenfranchised counsellors after our camp director banned "Red-hooded Sweatshirt".


4)


Radiohead: The Bends
1996
Key Tracks: "Fake Plastic Trees", "The Bends", "High and Dry", "Blackstar"
Actually I could have kept that list going. I know that OK Computer is the best known and mostly highly rated Radiohead album, and it probably is of superior musical quality, but I just can't tear myself from The Bends. I think it speaks to me lyrically more than any of the others, and I have the most fun listening to it. Anyone that doesn't know... secretly... I don't own it! I own every song and have played them in order on several occasions, but I don't have the actual album. Sigh. I don't think Thom Yorke needs my money THAT badly.

Hm, OK so blogger is giving me a hassel about uploading pictures, so the remainder of the post will have to be album coverless. I try not to judge an album by its cover however...

5)

Ani DiFranco: Evolve
2003
Key tracks: "Icarus", "Evolve", "Shrug", "Welcome to:"
Of all the covers not to be able to show, this one actually won a Grammy for Best Album Art, and deservingly. I think it's a shame however that it's musical merit was overlooked in favour of who knows what. I love Ani, and this album is the beginning of a jazzier sound for her with a new band. Evolve is an alltime favourite song of mine: "It took me too long to realize that I don't take good pictures 'cuz I have the kind of beauty that moves"


6)

The White Stripe: Elephant
2003
Key tracks: "Seven Nation Army", "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself", "In the Cold Cold Night" and the disturbingly addicitve "It's True That We Love One-Another"
When my friend Greg in first year started cranking the White Stripes in his dorm room I had no idea that lasting relationship that was forming. Not with Greg, I don't really know what he's up to right now, but rather with the White Stripes, who I understand were recently on The Simpsons.


7)


The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell
2002
Key Tracks: "Date with the Night", "Maps", "Pin", "No, No, No"
I went straight from a White Stripes addiction to a serious Yeah Yeah Yeahs addiction. A natural transition for many reasons. There are obvious similarities, also though, I attribute the recent rebirth of rock and roll in large part to both bands. This album is my "party album" I have been known to use it to get ready for a night on the town, or just to make life suck less. Some how it works everytime. They are now #1 on my list of bands I want to see in concert.


8)

The Shins: Chutes too Narrow
2003
Key tracks: "Kissing the Lipless", "Pink Bullets", "Those to Come"
The Shins have in fact changed my life. In so much as I am exactly 12% happier having heard their music, and an additional 16% happier having heard their music from four rows away. There is a point in nearly every song where they hit a note that gives me happiness shivers. I just realized that these are the silliest album reviews of all time. I really hope some day a Rolling Stone writer writes something like "the notes give me happiness shivers".


9)

Iron and Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
2003
Key Tracks: "Naked as we Came", "Love and Some Verse", "Each Coming Night", "Sodom, South Georgia"
And not just because I have an autographed copy! "Each Coming Night" is the most played song on my Windows Media Player playlist at 143! Which is actually a little disturbing. I got the song about 10-11 months ago, which means I play it roughly once every other day.


10)

Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary
2005
Key Tracks: 6-9 Are everything pure and wonderful in the world
It was hard sorting through all of my most recent album acquisitions. I believe a friend recently called it a "musical enlightenment". Via the Rootman himself I've been finding more and more current music that fits my taste and of all the albums I've actually been able to purchase this one amazingly stands out. I seem to end up making a lot of people Wolf Parade CDs when I play them "I'll Believe in Anything", which is simply an incredible song, and strikingly so right from the get-go. Time will tell if I ever get sick of it, but for now I'll keep playing the same disc every night


Runners-up:

Coldplay: Parachutes
Ben Folds Five: Whatever and Ever Amen
Fiona Apple: When the Pawn Hits...
Death Cab for Cutie: Plans
The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
The Dave Matthews Band: Under the Table and Dreaming
Radiohead: OK Computer
Greenday: American Idiot

and many more...

Saturday, September 23, 2006

"Oh that's so obvious... tell me Rob, how does someone with no interest in music end up owning a record store?"

I feel the need to do two top ten lists. I have an "all-time classics" list, which is full of albums that, well, the best way to explain it is that they make lists like this all the time for a reason.

The second list is everything post-1990, and is not necissarily what I deem to be the greatest musical acheivements, but just what I like the best.


Part I) My "all-time classic" favourites (in alphabetical order):


The Beach Boys: Endless Summer
1974
Technically not a "Best of". It is a compilation, and includes "Good Vibrations", "Wouldn't it be Nice?", "California Girls" and "All Summer Long". Yes, it's kind of lame to go with a compilation, but it's also kind of lame to put Pet Sounds on a top 10 albums list of all time.


The Beatles:Rubber Soul
1965
Somewhere betwenbeing a borderline boy-band, and popularizing the work of Frank Zappa, the Beatles recorded an ablum that is not only ahead of its time, but stands the test of time. I always compare this album to the White Stripe's White Blood Cells, and if I had to pick a genre I would call it "quirky-pop". "Norweigen Wood", "Drive My Car" are particularly addictive, and "In My Life" is always a favourite.









The Clash: London Calling
1979
Why yes I did just jump from The Beatles to The Clash. Thank you for noticing. The only majorly addictive Clash song this album is missing is "Rock the Casbah", but hey it's still solid listening. "London Calling, Jimmy Jazz", "Rudie Can't Fail" and "Lover's Rock" rock my world, in a very anti-rock kind of way. Never let it be said that I don't like punk music.




Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
1950
Ten points to anyone who can tell me what TV character has this as their favourite album. Actually, I feel a little badly that I have to go and grab this album to determine a highlights list ("Move", "Moon Dreams" for sure). I confess it has been a while as I've been off the jazz lately. I wonder what else I've been off of lately that would be lessening my interest in jazz
music...




Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
1974
I have a terrible confession. I used to hate this album. I loathed it. I would complain everytime my Dad put it on in the car. I also used to think that I would like to be an astronaut, that Step by Step was a good TV show and that I would marry Ben Affleck. What can I say? Live and learn, I now think pretty much the opposite on every point, thus: I LOVE this album. So much so that I would like to marry it. Don't even know where to start on highlights... "Idiot
Wind", "Tangled Up in Blue", "Shelter from the Storm", "Jack of Hearts"... it just goes on from there.










The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
1967
Not that I have to explain many of these, but least of all this one. Although I don't know if I can ever really fully enjoy the song "Hey Joe" for some reason or another. Though I must thank Scott eternally for bringing its context to my attention. Among the tracks of greatness, "Purple Haze", "Foxey Lady", sigh and yes "Hey Joe".






Janis Joplin w Big Brother and the Holding Company:
Cheap Thrills

Rosanne: We didn't have enough women musicians like that. Thank god for Janis.
Jackie: Oh yeah (sings) "I learned the truth at seventeen"
Rosanne: Not Janis Ian you idiot! Janis Joplin.

That exchange just always amused me a lot. I do like "At Seventeen" but it takes a lot in my books for anyone male or female to compete with Janis Joplin, and in particular "Summertime", "Ball and Chain" and one of my alltime favourites "Piece of my Heart". I want to be her. Less the Southern Comfort.




Van Morrison:Moondance
1970
Joe: Do we have a song?
Me: Yeah "Moondance".
Joe: Oh yeah, but every Van Morrison couple has that as their song.
Me: I thought that was "Brown Eyed Girl".
Joe: Every REAL Van Morrison couple.

I later settled on "Wouldn't it be Nice?", but for a while I enjoyed the most melancholically sexy music imaginable. How was I sad and turned on at the same time? I have no idea, but I still kind of think of a chilly october night in Peterborough everytime I hear it this album. That, and driving through Pennsylvania. "Moondance", "And it Stoned Me" (which I was told at age 10 was not about biblical stoning) and "Crazy Love" are favourites.




Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here
1975
I hear that if you start this album playing at the exact same time that the MGM credits start rolling and listen to the album straight through, while watching "Gone With the Wind" high, that "Gone With the Wind" is a much better movie. Frankly my dear Scarlett you'll enjoy "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", "Wish You Were Here" and "Welcome to the Machine" (a definite Radiohead precursor).




The Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
1980
Despite the superior album art of Remain in Light, the unbeatableness of an ablum that includes "Psycho Killer", "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place" goes unquestioned in my books. This album also makes it look as though I didn't overlook the eighties entirely, despite the fact that the songs were mostly recorded in the seventies.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Movie Madness

Well the film festival has come and gone. The last insane 7 days I've been on a "there are 24 usable hours in every day" kick. I think if I were going to do the festival next year I would take the week off of work. Hard to know if that would actually be a financial possiblity ever, but really necissary to fully enjoy the event. And to avoid severe sleep deprivation.

I did however get three very cool experiences through volunteering.

The first was a panel discussion on war and conflict in documentary film-making. My favourite topic brought up and explored was how much the camera effects what's going on and whether people behave differently in front of the camera- and thus what responsibility does the documentarian have? So difficult to say. Violence is often amplified in the presence of cameras, but do the cameras also make governments more accountable to acts of violence (ie: showing the coffins of soldiers draped in American flags/prisoner abuse photos swayed public opinion about the war). Also the issue of the documentary serving a wider political purpose or simply telling a story from the war, and whether it is just simply important to have as many perspectives and stories as possible. I will limit this to a short blurb rather than a giant essay.

Then I took in two and a half movies.

The first I only saw about 20 minutes of, it was a Chinese film called The Banquet, and I will refrain from discussing it at any length, since I was unable to watch more than the first sequence of events or so.

The second was Princess, a Danish animated film with English subtitles. This was a fascinating, uncomfortable and beautifully animated piece. A child is rescued from a life of abuse and sexual slavery by her priest Uncle. The pieces of her childhood and her family history are unvieled through a series of events and the videos made by the Uncle (which are shown as live action videos seamlessly woven into the animation). The story is complex and at moments completely appalling and at others immensely touching. I really enjoyed the opportunity to see the movie, even if the ending pretty much sucked the spirit right out of me.

The third was the film I watched today called Glue. Completely brilliant. I don't even have words. An Argentenian film with English subtitles, the director and lead actor were there, as well as one of the film's producers (with whom I got to speak!). The story is about a boy growing up in Argentina. His friends, his family, his coming of age/sexuality. Sounds all very over done in the west, but man oh man. Full props to Hector Diaz as the young man, he is so likeable from start to finish, very believable, and shows a maturity with his acting that is remarkable for his age. I laughed, I was geniunely moved. I laughed a lot actually. Talking with the film's producer, they don't seem overly conifident that it will get picked up, which would be a grave injustice. It is so wonderful, and I really hope to be able to purchase it in Canada at some point.


All in all I was kind of glad I went to see smaller foreign films. I will likely get a chance to see D.O.A.P. later, as it will almost certainly get picked up, and by the sounds of it so will the Australlian MacBeth (had I seen these two by the by, I would have watched films from 5 different continents!)

Had a fun time in Toronto, and as a matter of fact I will be back there tomorrow... surprise Sudburians, I'll be seeing you soon! Really soon.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Pictures to follow

It's 12:00 and I'm officially at hour 17 of 60 hours without sleep. I'm just about to hit that 20-30hour wall where I will be undoubtably aloof and useless (good thing I'll be at work most of the time). I'm still not totally sure what was going through my brain when I decided to volunteer for the film festival and continue to take regular shifts at both jobs, but here I am pulling an all-nighter only to hop on a TO bus in the morning and start right back up at the box office. Why might you ask would I partake in such an activity?

Today I arrived 5 minutes late at the volunteer office as a floater for the day (stupid GO transit). They informed us that there was a possibility that we could wait in the office until 11:30 without being assigned anything before they would send us home, which sounds worse than it is. I spent the first hour and a half watching High Fidelity and drinking some mighty fine coffee before volunteering for what I guess sounded to some like a boring job: Industry Initiatives.
I got the job of greeting guests at a hep restaurant downtown (where they schmmoooze with Canadian Film industry folks and network) and to seat guests for the panel discussions. Today's discussion (which I got to sit in on) was Documentary in War and Conflict. Life is good.

The not so good news of the weekend is that I can't see any of the movies I intended to see due to Sell-outs or scheduelling conflicts. None the less I intend to enjoy my crazy week, and if you don't here from me for a while... I'M LOST IN TORONTO PLEASE COME FIND ME!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Smooth Operator

Tonight I came into work and the new guy server (Ian) was in. I have to confess, I'm a little smitten. He's quite handsome and a sweet-talker. At any rate, we're chatting away and I'm helping him close off for the day, and he's very appreciative and we're mostly hitting it off. I manage not to say really stupid things I'm thinking ie: Him- "You're brave staying in here by yourself all night", My brain-"Well it is pretty dangerous mayber you should stay and look after me". Anyways, I'm in the kitchen polishing the silverware while he goes to punch out for the night. It's at this point that I look down and notice that my tube top has fallen down and is revealing a good portion of my bright red bra and a rather healthy dosage of cleavage.

Was I being too forward? I think his parting line, "Have a goodnight" speaks for itself.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Almost Famous

As an official volunteer for this year's Toronto International Film Festival I will be given a small number of complimentary tickets to attend screenings of countless incredibly cool indie films. Now before you think of killing me to take my place, please note that I won't be able to go to "Babel", "Stranger than Fiction" or the special pre-screenings of Michael Moore's new films in progress as I have schedueling conflicts. However, I am intending on seeing D.O.A.P. which is intriguing from an artistic perspective on so many levels, a modern adaptation of MacBeth that is supposed to be awesome and a number of other wicked cool movies. Word.



In other, let's say amusing, news, I decided to take my G1 written test and passed. I then learned that I could take my exit test for my G2 ANY TIME I WANT. All this time I thought that I needed to wait a year before I could take it again, but I can go and do my G2 driving test any time at all. I decided to wait until I've gotten comfortable driving again, as it has been a while. If all goes well I will be a fully liscensed driver again in no time.

That's all for the world of updates. It might be kind of random like this for a little while as I am now bouncing between 2 and half jobs and the Film Festival, but hey it's all good.