The musings of Matt Clements
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2002.
Ok not really. I think this movie ranks as #2 on the all-time list for times shown on TV. #1 of course would be Shawshank Redemption which can be seen almost daily somewhere on the dial. It’s a good movie, but some variation can be a good thing as well. Luckily I haven’t really seen it as much in the past few months so it’s almost like I’m seeing it for the 2nd time.
“One ping only”
Often when I’m home I check to see what ESPN Classic is showing. I know it annoys my mom since she can’t understand why someone would want to watch a sports game that has already been played several years ago. I find it fairly fun to watch though. Right now they’re showing the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knickerbockers and the Indiana Pacers. Hearing an announcer say anything about John Starks in an excited voice is entertainment enough for me. The cheasy NBC graphics, the hairstyles, the younger-looking coaches, it’s pure gold for a sports fan. Plus it helps knowing the outcome, which gives you a completely different perspective from watching it live. I think I may watch the rest of this game.
I kind of feel bad that I haven’t really communicated with anyone since I’ve been home: either through IM, phone, or email. It’s just that being at home here kind of lulls me into inactivity. Michigan for me is kind of like a buffer zone; none of my school friends are here and the only people that I know are my own family. It can be good and bad, in this case (i.e. during this break) it’s kind of bittersweet because I want to spend time with my family since I haven’t seen them since August but I also want to see my friends in ON, both new and old. This will also be the last holiday season that we spend in Michigan (or at least the last one that I can forsee). Of course I could say that about every single day now until June so it gets kind of ridiculous. I’m not too far from Hamilton/Toronto/Waterloo, maybe 3 hours by car and I’ll be in ON for NYE, but still I feel the time keep on slipping (please don’t sing) and pretty soon I’ll be back at school. I guess my main concern is that I feel guilty being away from home and guilty for being at home. I guess it’s something that most people come to terms with and I don’t think guilty is the right word but I can’t think of anything to replace it with. Maybe it isn’t so ordinary; it depends on your relationship with your family and friends. I’m just ramblin’...
I haven’t really been into updating this journal this week, at least not as often as I have been the last little while. I could talk about how Lisa is driving us all insane or what I’ve been up to since Tuesday but instead I’ll talk about my fun with the Royal Bank of Canada (now RBC).
Everytime in the last 5 years that I’ve had to deposit money in a foreign currency (exclusively USD), I’ve run into problems. Usually these problems involve them wanting to put a hold on the cheque or money order. Most times that I need to deposit these kinds of cheques, I need access to the money immediately and no planning could have avoided my situation. A 30-day hold just won’t do in my books.
This time I needed the money so that I could pay my tuition on time so I called RBC’s toll-free number and asked what method they recommend for transfering funds so that my hold situation would not arise.
“Wire transfer”, she said. “The money will be there immediately.”Well that’s what I set up last Friday before I left Seattle. I was past their deadline so it would be put through Monday morning. I triple-checked all of the information that I gave to 1st Tech and they had my phone number here just in case anything went wrong.
Monday came and went and the amount I wired was deducted from my US account but there was no sign of it in my RBC account. Hmm…I was suspicious but not too concerned because of the time difference. I checked back on Tuesday, which I believe was still a regular banking day (or at least half of one) and still no word of my wire. This kind of made me concerned because the money was gone from one account and was “floating” somewhere in electronic form.
Since the 25th and 26th were holidays, I knew that today would be the first day that I would have to contact the bank regarding my concerns. I checked my account once again this morning and still nothing. I called RBC and was greeted by a very loud callperson. She informed me that wire transfers can take between 4 and 48 business hours to complete. For some reason, probably deluded by all of those Western Union commercials, I was under the impression that wire transfers were much more “immediate” than 4 to 48 hours. I guess I was wrong. She then proceeded to tell me that 48 hours from last Monday (the 23rd) would be next Tuesday. Even if you do include the two holidays, you won’t get next Tuesday no matter how you count. I hung up with her and proceeded to wait.
A couple of hours passed and I called back again, asking if they could confirm whether or not they had the wire at all. Sadly they could not. I got the same spiel about 4 to 48 hours for processing time and I was assured that it would be processed by Monday at the latest. There was really nothing I could do at this point but wait. So wait I did until I checked one last time tonight before dinner and lo and behold – my money was there. Huzzah! That was a great relief. Definitely a big load off of my mind. I’m not sure if I’ll go the wire route again; I’m starting to think that cash is the easiest and fastest way, though of course there’s more risk carrying cash around.
I made it home. It’s nice to be here, but it would be even nicer if Lisa was in a better mood. Man, she’s such a grump these days. The flight on Saturday was long, but enjoyable since I finished reading my Onion book. I’ll post something about that later. It was hard getting used to the ol’ EST again and I was up really late Saturday night/Sunday morning as a consequence. Since then I’ve seen Lord of the Rings and now I’m reading the book for the first time. I got the last of my Christmas shopping done yesterday (nothing like last minute) and now I’ll need to wrap it today. I’ve come to the realization that the bed I sleep in at home is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. Ever. It wreaks havoc with my desire to get up early some days (which isn’t too often), but it’s awesome when I just want to sleep in. I’m still waiting for my other box to arrive via UPS. It is guaranteed to be here today but I got one of them yesterday and foolishly assumed that they would arrive together. Anyway, I hope everyone has a good holiday/time off/week.
Today’s my last day at work. I’m pretty excited because I did really well on my review and I’m flying home tomorrow. In between, we’re going for Todai for lunch (as a farewell type of thing), I have to make a presentation summarizing what I’ve done this term, and tonight we’re partying. I have to be at the airport by 9:30 tomorrow morning so I could be a little tired on the plane, but it’s a long flight so I might have time to sleep. Our feature presentation on the flight is Lilo And Stitch, which I haven’t seen before. Oh well, I’m just excited to be finished the term.
Well no Messiah tonight, that’ll have to wait for another time. David picked up his new Infinit G35 Coupe tonight and Mat was taking it for a test drive when a little accident happened and Mat hit the guard rail. I don’t know how much damage there is, but enough for Mat to need to fill out insurance papers. Yikes! Oh well, this gives me more time to get the other stuff done.
For reasons that I’d rather not get into, I’ll be listening to streaming music until the term ends. I know I’m being over-dramatic considering the term’s over tomorrow, but still. Luckily there’s plenty of good stuff to listen to online, otherwise I’d be bored and that would really be a catastrophe.
I got caught today by ITG re: my MP3 transfers. Stupid stupid stupid stupid. I kind of figured I’d get caught, but luckily the guy was very nice and let me off with just a warning. I won’t make the same mistake twice.
Have you ever heard a song (in this case a remix) and absolutely had to get it very second? Of course you have, everyone who hears new music experiences this. Well it happened to me today, while listening to Gilles Peterson. The song? N.E.R.D.’s Provider off of their fabulous “In Search Of” album. Now the song by itself is excellent, but add in the Zero 7 touch? Magnificent I tell you. This absolutely makes my evening, listening to this song.
Today I bought the following items at the Company Store: – Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard – I don’t need the multimedia capabilities, but it’s way better than the keyboard I have now – Microsoft XP Professional – Microsoft MapPoint 2002 – the best map tool I’ve ever used – Microsoft PictureIt! Digital Image Pro – to make my pictures look even better than they do now
Now I just have to pack all of this stuff in boxes tonight, ship it tomorrow and get reimbursed (for shipping) on my last paycheck. Simple as pie.
This Talib Kweli song so rocks my ears right now. Such a great track.
When did Godspeed You Black Emperor become Godspeed You! Black Emperor? I always thought the exclamation point (!) was at the end of their name, not in the middle. Having it in the middle makes less sense. I’ll have to look into this one.
On a related note, they are planning on going on a North American tour next year. Hooray! They’ll be hitting Toronto for b2b nights at the end of March. I’ll probably see one of the shows, especially since I missed them the last time they were in Toronto last September. I’ll just have to remember to buy the tickets this time.
So this is most likely my last entry of this kind for the year. I don’t intend on getting any new music while I’m at home, so we’ll have to wait until January for updates after today.
– Breakestra – The Live Mix Pt. 2 – Bogdan Raczynski – Thinking Of You – Dillinja – Cybotron – Mum – Finally We Are One – Mum – Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK – J-Live – All Of The Above – J-Live – The Best Part – J-Live – The Best Part (Reissue) – Nas – Illmatic – Prince Paul – Politics Of Business – Squarepusher – Do You Know Squarepusher? – Stevie Wonder – Where I’m Coming From – Underworld – One Hundred Days Off – Uberzone – Faith In The FutureTonight it’s all about rotisserie chicken. This stuff is addictively good. Make up some mashed potatoes and you have a wicked meal. On top of that, it’s free since Mat has some coupons that he picked up last week.
The last week of every term is always insanely busy. This term is no exception (surprise, surprise). This week I have to do the following things:
This was in today’s UW bulletin:
The first student to have an employer interview in the new CECS building, which opened yesterday, was Paul Graham, of 3B environmental-chemical engineering, who found that the waiting room isn’t exactly finished yet. Moments later, he was meeting with interviewer Vladimir Paserin of Inco Technical Services, Mississauga. Student and interviewer both got a handshake from Bruce Lumsden, director of co-op and career services, to mark the milestone. And yes, Graham did get the job.
I wonder if Bruce Lumsden encouraged the employer to give him the job, just so the first interview in the new building was successful.
My friend Jon finished school today. His last exam ever. Ok not really because he has all of his SOA exams to do, but it’s his last school exam ever. I’m so jealous right now, I wish I were finished school. Oh well, in four months I’ll be in the same boat he is in now.
Never go to a shipping outlet a week and a half before Christmas, especially if you have nothing to ship.
Know the rest? Such a classic mid-90’s track by Skeelo. I rented He Got Game on the weekend, and it made me think of that song. What did I think of it? I’ll say this – I watched the entire movie twice, right up to the last credit. Using Aaron Coupland as the score? Brilliant. Casting Ray Allen? Brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. On the weekend I finished The Virgin Suicides and The 25th Hour. Yeah I know they’re both movies. I also picked up The Tenacity of the Cockroach, The Onion A.V. Club’s new book. I’ve already read a quarter of it; the interviews are fascinating to read. I really should check out Mr. Show, I never had HBO so I completely missed its run. You can buy the 1st and 2nd seasons on DVD now so maybe I’ll pick that up at some point.
It’s my last week here. I can’t believe how quickly the term went. I’m really looking forward to going home though.
Google is such a cool company, especially their research labs. They’re always looking for ways to improve the searching experience. You want to know how searches for Las Ketchup have increased around the world? They have that information in the Zeitgeist. This week Google Labs unveiled two new tools – Google Viewer and Google Webquotes. Both could be pretty useful for some people. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also Froogle, which could revolutionize online shopping if it becomes well-adopted. I think Google would be a neat place to work, all things considered.
No matter what you thought of Kid Koala’s debut album “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”, if you bought the CD (and you really should buy CDs like this) you must have enjoyed the little comic book that came inside. In fact, Kid Koala himself says in the liner notes that you can consider your purchase a comic book with a free CD. I read on Ninjatune’s website that Kid Koala is coming out with a complete graphic novel in March. I find this very cool and can’t wait to pick it up. See the trailer (apparently books have trailers now) here.
I’ve always been in awe of DJs. Ok maybe not always, but since I’ve been interested in music. It’s such a unique skill and it can be applied to so many genres. It truly is universal. I’ve often thought about learning how to use turntables but there are two main reasons holding me back:
I think it’ll still be something I keep on the back burner for now; it’s not like I’m going to start this tomorrow. Another possibility would be having a radio show, but that takes a lot of time and you need to have interesting things to say in between tracks. The limiting factor here is definitely time; I just don’t have enough of it. That back burner is becoming crowded…
Everybody at work was talking about one Daniel Feussner today. If you haven’t heard this story, he’s been accused of stealing more than $9 million worth of Microsoft software over the past year and distributing it on the street or more specifically in the parking lot of Fred Meyer. This is a man who had a bank balance less than $2000 last year and his average balance was at $100,000 for most of this year. He bought a Hummer, a Ferrari, a 50-foot yacht, amongst other pleasure items. What an idiot – has the man never learned lesson #1 about embezzling? I will quote it for you here:
Lesson #1: Use more than one bank account.
He was (surprisingly) fired yesterday and you can’t even find his information in the company address book. His personal website (linked from the article) was the best though; he puts all of his purchases on display. One item that everyone found funny is that under “The Girl” on his website sidebar menu, there is no content. Well I hope this man enjoys his time in prison. It should give him some time to think about what he’s done…and how to do it better next time.
We had a team event today. We went to play WhirlyBall in Edmonds, site of the world champions for the last 15 years or so (simply amazing). Now I had never played or really heard of WhirlyBall before this week, but it turned out to be really fun. We had 5 teams going an my team actually won 1st place. As prizes we got our choice of t-shirts. We went undefeated and our strategy of using the 1-3-1 zone really paid off. Of course it also helped that we had the tallest guys on our team and we weren’t afraid to bump other people around. Yeah we were pretty ruthless but in the cut-throat world of competitive WhirlyBall, it’s necessary if you want to survive. After the championship game, we went for lunch. At a casino. It was a pretty sketchy place and we were making a lot of fun of the service. The food was ok, but considering how it was free I’m not going to complain.
Also, I put up some photos of our fun today. They are here. I didn’t take these, one of the developers has a new Canon S45 and is flash-happy this week.
If you’re interested in having your own WhirlyBall party, check them out here.
I was walking to my car from my apartment this morning when I saw one of my neighbours on his cellphone standing beside his car. He drives a new Acura 3.2 TL Type S with the nice alloy wheels. There’s something strange about the whole situation though so I look at the car. Hmm, it’s up on 3 bricks and all of the wheels are gone. That doesn’t seem right. Another victim of tire theft here in Redmond. Apparently the police were there earlier to take the owner’s statement. Poor guy, it’ll be hard to drive to work today without tires.
I think I might make this a regular post, that way I can see a chronology of the music I’ve obtained week-to-week. This week’s list is not as huge as the last post, but that one comprised several weeks of acquisitions.
– Common – Electric Circus – Eyedea & Abilities – First Born – Eyedea – The Many Faces Of Oliver Hart – Mos Def & Talib Kweli – Black Star (thanks Lisa!) – Peanut Butter Wolf – Jukebox 45’s – Sage Francis – Live In San Francisco – Sage Francis – Personal Journals – Sneaker Pimps – Bloodsport – United House Front – all available mixesJust came back from dinner. Yeah it’s kind of late for dinner, but I was busy up until an hour ago. I really should be at Belltown Billiards right now, but there’s just too much work to do. Anyway, I had my favourite fried rice dish – Yeung Chow. It’s so tasty; it’s even nice to look at – all colourful. Café Ori has printed on their menu Original and Oriental. Underlined I guess to make sure that you don’t miss the congruence with the name of the restaurant. At any rate, the food was good and the servings were enormous. Good for the price but now it’ll make me tired (which might be a good thing). I’d go back there again though – thumbs up® (I don’t want to be sued by Roger Ebert).
The end of the year is always a great time for me. It’s the time of year when every critic and their grandmother puts out a top [insert number] list of albums/concerts/movies. I’m not trying to sound cynical – I actually do appreciate these lists. It helps me remember the good things that I enjoyed during the year entertainment-wise. I’ll be adding to this plethora of lists at some point before the end year too, so don’t feel like I’m not participating in the fun. These lists are also great for discovering new music/movies. You might miss a genuine diamond of an album and that would be terrifically bad. I find it amusing when I’m reading someone’s list and most of the names I don’t even recognize. The world is indeed full of music; there’s too much for one man to keep track of.
Ok, you’ve been reading enough – here’s DJ Shadow’s new video for “Walkie Talkie”. If you saw him live this year the animation should look familiar.
I just read that Mary Hansen was killed in a cycling accident in London this week. How terribly sad. Read more here.
I’ve wondered what it takes to create beautiful music. When I took piano lessons, there were mandatory courses in music theory – analysis & counterpoint, composition, and the like. It was always difficult to come up with a good melody; much harder than playing a piece that’s for sure. I’ve even tried outside of a classroom setting, but it’s just not something that I’m able to do well. I guess I’m more of an interpreter than a creator. Lately though, I haven’t even been much of an interpreter. Maybe once I get back to Waterloo in the winter I’ll be able to find some time to tickle those proverbial ivories, but then again I say that every term and before I know it I’m swamped with work again. Bottom line though, I need to get back to my musical roots.
Playing foos with Swaps just reminded of something else about the weekend. At the “Holiday” party on Saturday, there were foosball tables around to play. The first one we came across was free, so we decided to stay there. Oh boy – it turns out that the table was left-handed, i.e. your destination goal is to the left instead of to your right. After having played so much on “regular” tables, it was quite the challenge to play on this one. Steve kept saying that it should be easy for me. How wrong he was.
I’m really confused about the “new” Sneaker Pimps (maybe I should say their latest) album Bloodsport. It’s more in line with Splinter in terms of sound but more rock-ish. When I first listened to it there were period where I was really disappointed and others where it was ok. Maybe a few more spins (without the sugar thank you) might make the difference.
I’m a sucker for good songs. Most songs that I really like are associated with particular episodes/moments in my life. This one in particular will forever be associated with Summer 2000, when all of the fun with Kristin was happening. It all seems so remote now. It’s very strange how things that seem so important at the time can just float off into the ether, never to be considered again.
Last night was the Pearl Jam concert at Key Arena. It was the second of two benefit concerts and the 4th concert in 5 days that Pearl Jam has put on here in Seattle. The other two were on Thursday and Friday at the Showbox and were more of a pre-tour/warmup type of show. Anyway so it was me and Jean-François who got tickets to the show. We left work at about 5 since there was going to be a lot of traffic. We got to the arena just after 6 and the show started at 7 so we figured we were good.
There were two opening bands – Brad and Steve Earle. Brad had a bit too many ballads for my tastes and Steve Earle’s set dragged on for too long; I think the crowd was growing restless for Pearl Jam. At around 9:30, they came on. They definitely know how to play to the crowd. The people near the stage were going crazy; it would have been a lot of fun sitting down there. We had decent seats – we could see the stage and all of the band members but whenever Ed went to speak, we had absolutely no idea what he was saying. It was probably a combination of our placement in the arena and the poor acoustics in there. At the end of the first set I got to see a guitar being smashed. Someone in the first few rows got to keep it – lucky them. The band definitely made us work for the encore – we had to cheer for at least 5 minutes on our own before they decided to show up again. They played a few more songs, went off, more cheering, another encore and the show was done. For the recessional music, they played Brian Eno’s “An Ending (Ascent)” which is really a beautiful track. All in all, they played for about 2 and a half hours. I thought it was worth my $50. After the show we bought a couple of stickers (they were only $1) and went to Denny’s for some dinner. There are some weird characters at Denny’s at 1:30 on a Monday night, let me tell you!
And that was my evening.
Set:
1. Release
2. Breakerfall
3. Save You
4. Gods’ Dice
5. Cropduster
6. Green Disease
7. Lukin
8. Not For You
9. Black
10. I Am Mine
11. Love Boat Captain
12. Daughter/(War)
13. Even Flow
14. Thumbing My Way
15. Light Years
16. You Are
17. Insignificance
18. Rearviewmirror
Encore 1:
1. Last Exit
2. Brain of J
3. Bushleaguer
4. I Got Shit
5. Elderly Woman
6. Do The Evolution
Encore 2:
1. Yellow Ledbetter
2. Don’t Believe in Christmas
How about a picture of the poster?
Today for lunch Steve and I were treated to Dixie’s BBQ. Yep, we met The Man. It was quite the experience. First of all Dixie had a real attitude; it was like going to the Soup Nazi but with BBQ. I got the BBQ pork rib lunch special. They were really good. Then Gene came around with The Man. Steve was talking some smack and got a big heaping of it on his chicken. I played it cool; didn’t want to cause too much pain for my insides so I only got a little bit. But boy was that little bit hot! My mouth was on fire. Luckily they had a ton of peanuts on hand; they really helped. Gene came around again to see how we were doing and Steve talked some more smack. Poor guy. Gene put a lot of The Man on his cornbread. He should have ordered the lemon cake. Later Gene was behind Steve and he didn’t realize it. We asked him what he thought of the sauce. He said the bit on the cornbread did him in. Then he looked around and laughed when he saw Gene. Haha. Anyway, our insides are still burning. We are officially initiated to the Seattle experience now.
Well Saturday was another round of parties, 2 in fact. The first was for shipping Exchange and the second was the Enterprise Server “Holiday” party. They were both fun in their own way.
The first party was at J & M Café in Pioneer Square. There was a draw for prizes, but only if you got there between 5 and 6. I really wanted to be in the raffle, but Swapnil was late getting back from the gym and we got there just after 6. However I didn’t count on the nice Betsy Speare, who still let us into the draw. Go Betsy! Yeah so they had an open bar, which was fun. We didn’t get blitzed or anything, but we had a good buzz by the time we left. We spent a lot of time talking to Rodney, who interviewed some of the interns in Waterloo. He’s such a funny guy, and the more he drank, the more he talked. As for the draw, Sandy actually ended up winning an mp3 player. Damn him and his luck! The other prizes were a Sony MiniDisc player, Canon Powershot A40, and an Xbox. Not bad if you ask me.
The party started thinning out so we went to the second party. This was one was much more extravagant. First of all, they held it at Safeco Field. Second of all, they had about 2000 people there. They had many different areas, including: – live DJ – 80’s cover band – martini bar/jazz lounge – pool, air hockey, foosball area – casino – batting cages – pictures in the Mariners’ locker room – food
We hit the food first. A funny thing happened in line though – some guy happened to get tangled up in this huge star they had suspended over the bread. He couldn’t get himself loose and managed to topple a big bank of lights. Of course they broke. The food was amazing though; the prime rib was so tasty. I had a glass of Merlot with my plate (I had to use up my drink tickets somehow).
After eating, we hit the casino. The chip values were way higher than at the party on Friday. The highest value was $250,000. One guy at the table across from us had a $2 million bet and won the hand. He actually broke the bank! We played some blackjack, ended up losing all of our money several times over (you could just ask for $30,000 any number of times). After that, it was high time for some dessert. They had a nice selection of cakes and bars. The coffee was way too hot though, you could barely hang on to the cup. We played some pool, foosball, and checked out the mascot’s lounge (almost stole his beer – tee hee!). We went into the room with the 80’s cover band (curiously named Mr. Miyagi). I’ve never seen a funnier sight before in my life (ok that’s an exaggeration). The first full song we heard was a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Just the comedy of hearing them sing this song was enough, but seeing the audience try to dance to the song made us break into hysterics. We had to get out of the room, it was way too funny. We checked out the Live DJ upstairs, but there were only 10 people on the floor. It was about time to leave anyway; the party was breaking up. All in all a very entertaining night.
Yesterday Sandy and I went shopping. It was supposed to be Christmas shopping, but we ended up buying more for ourselves. We did end up smelling a whole whack of perfumes though. Coffee beans were definitely our saviour in that department. It’s nice buying new clothes, especially when it’s clothes for yourself. I’m so impressed that I’m wearing one of the new outfits today.
Last night Sandy and I went to the MGS “Holiday” party. Though technically semi-formal, we wanted to go in style so we wore our suits. Oh yeah, we were kickin’ it up a notch. The party was at the Convention Center downtown. There were a whole bunch of events planned, including two plays – The Christmas Carol and Late Night Catechism. We were late for The Christmas Carol (and this theatre doesn’t allow late seating) so we went to see the Late Night Catechism. It was a very entertaining show. It probably would have been more fun had I not been in the balcony. It was fun remembering all of the Catholic teachings I never learned and the Catholic school I never attended. It didn’t really matter if you weren’t Catholic though, you could generally get the idea of her (the nun’s) jokes. After that was finished we had some food, which was decent. They had shrimp, some very tender beef, cheese & crackers, and lots of desserts. We were allowed two alcoholic beverages through the evening; I had a couple of gin & tonics, Sandy had a scotch and a glass of wine. I think he was disappointed with the alcoholic selection. I liked my drinks. We walked around some, talked to people Sandy knew, went to the Chocolate Vault, and then to the Casino.
Everyone at the party was given $1000 good only at “Wild Bill’s Casino”. They had blackjack, craps, and roulette. Sandy and I played blackjack, of course. I think the idea was to get the most amount of money and then they were going to give prizes to the highest winners of the evening. Well I would have done a lot better without that final hand. Here’s the scenario: – Playing two spots – $500 on each spot – Dealer shows Jack – I have 17 on each spot
And what does the dealer pull up? Why an 18. Yay for her. Actually she originally had blackjack, but we convinced her to draw another card since it was the last hand of the evening. Man why can’t Vegas dealers be that nice? Oh yeah…right. So I was cleaned out, ending up with nothing. It wasn’t real money so there wasn’t much to worry about.
After our casino fun we went up to the karaoke room. It was nothing if not entertaining. We didn’t sing, but there was enough horrible singing to listen to. By far the best highlight of the karaoke experience was during the interlude between two singers, “I’m too sexy” was played, causing one large man to run onto the floor, start dancing, tear off his shirt (literally) and dance around topless. Man what a sight. After that the party was essentially finished, so we went home. All in all, it was more fun than I expected to have.
I just went to the fridge at work and picked up one of the new official 2002 Christmas Edition Coca-Colas. This isn’t the biggest news in the world and I’m not even being serious about my excitement. I just happened to have my digital camera here and took a picture. So…enjoy!
Back in high school I had this friend Ben who’s nickname was Dunch. It was a coined word that was supposed to represent the meal between lunch and dinner and Linner just isn’t a winner of a nickname. Anyway, that’s what I’m waiting for right now. Steve ordered some teriyaki from Fugi’s (which after 4 months I’ve finally been able to go there when they’re open). They have a good lunch special that’s just under $5. They give you a lot of food and it’s very tasty. I’m currently on a 3-day streak with this food. A little obsessive? Maybe.
I found out on the ninjatune website that they’re releasing the next installment in the Solid Steel mix series. This one will be by Hexstatic. This news excites me to no end; I love Solid Steel more than a crackhead loves crack. This is by far the best part of the whole blurb on the release:
And now we’re cooking. You’re up on the sofa naked enjoying yourself despite your natural reticence and then we drop the bomb(shell) on you. Hexstatic made the mix partly on CD decks. And before you scream blasphemy (spittle showering us and the soft furnishings) we point out that St Josh of Davis has already endorsed them and anyway, Hexstatic haven’t just used them like the old 1200s but have actually explored the technological pwossibilité (as they say) of the form. Check for the crazed time stretch effects they have coaxed from these black boxes and shout through the wall at your neighbours, “Ooh, they’re not just entertainers. They know their shit, too.”
I picked up The Hours and The Virgin Suicides yesterday at Barnes & Noble. I started reading The Hours; it looks like it’ll shape up to be an interesting read. It’s also getting much acclaim (well the movie version is), so if I see it, it’ll be nice to have something to compare it to.
So this is my first listen to the new Groove Armada album. I was reading on the BBC’s website that they wanted to dispel that whole “chill-out” typecast they’ve been stuck with. They’re tired of having “At the River” appear on countless compilations. They think they’re more than just a laidback sound. I think they’re right.
Though not as cohesive as the last album, I still like quite a few songs on Lovebox. “Final Shakedown” in particular is a great track. The whole album is more up-tempo, which suits me just fine. It’s great for picking me up in the morning.
Get more Clements slogans here.
I have a serious addiction to music – I always need new albums to listen to. Here are some of my most recent acquisitions.
One of my favourites is definitely the Akufen album (My Way). How did something this good slip under my radar all year? It baffles me.
I just had a nice conversation with Sam, who graduated from high school with me. I haven’t really spoken with him for a couple of years now and it was weird hearing what everyone is up to. People traveling around the world, getting married, having kids, working in exotic locations, etc. – Westdale graduates are definitely some of the most spread out around the world that I know of. Watch out though, we may be taking over your town next.
Why do the British get to be so spoiled when it comes to good radio shows? From Gilles Peterson to Coldcut’s Solid Steel to John Peel to the Breezeblock, there are so many to choose from. Luckily we still get to hear it on the Internet, otherwise I’d be one music-deprived little boy. Ok not really, but it adds so much more to my musical repertoire when I listen to a show.
Steve and I play this game sometimes where we pretend we’re back in Toronto or Waterloo. We’ll listen to Z103, hear the traffic reports and worry about how it will be a long ride home across the 401. We’ll talk about going to a particular club downtown or to a restaurant for dinner. It’s silly, but I guess it helps us deal with being homesick.
I was watching some of the Real World Las Vegas last night. It was kind of exciting because I got to see a lot of things that I experienced on the weekend. My favourite part about watching the show is at the end where they announce the winners of the Cheap Slots game they have on the website (here in fact). Tagline = Are you ready to get cheap and slotty? Well at least MTV realizes the character traits of their cast.
You know you’ve listened to an album a lot when you can assemble the track order by memory.
I heard a Joe Jackson song on the way to Avis this afternoon. Joe Jackson always makes me think of my dad. It’s definitely new wave music, but it’s so good. I wish I had more of his body of work to listen to here.
On an unrelated note, I decided to pull out of the intern trip to Whistler this weekend. The conditions up there are terrible for skiing/snowboarding right now and I could better put my time to use here in Seatown. Plus this means that I get to the Christmas party at Safeco Field on Saturday. Open bars rock.
So as I mentioned before that I had to return my car today. I had a 2001 White Cavalier coupe (or coupé if you’re fancy) up until now. It was a good car, the only complaint that I had was that it was 2 doors. This wouldn’t be a huge problem back home but here it seems that all parking spots are so tiny. There are a lot of compact-only spots and it seems that SUV drivers don’t heed the clearly marked sign saying COMPACT. This of course makes getting in and out of my car very difficult. My new car is a 2001 Red Cavalier sedan. Now I can move about with ease (and style).
Lesson learned: never, ever drink a Starbucks DoubleShot® after 10. I couldn’t fall asleep until 2:30 last night.
I did some grocery shopping last night. It’s nice to have some essentials in the house again. You can’t beat eating breakfast in the morning.
Today I changed my contact lenses. There’s nothing more comfortable (besides not wearing any at all) than a new pair of contacts.
Last Tuesday I finished Trust Me. It was a very good collection of short stories. I think I’ll read more Updike in the future. I also started and finished Shampoo Planet. Man I love reading Coupland. I’m putting the rest of his works on my Christmas list.
Watching the Roast (or R*@$T!) of Chevy Chase and The Daily Show last night reminded me how much Stephen Colbert makes me laugh. The Roast wasn’t that good, the one they showed later of Hugh Hefner was much better (and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel).
I flipped to USA around midnight and what did I hear? DJ Shadow’s “Blood on the Motorway” track. I always like hearing underground artists in a movie or on TV. They were using DJ Shadow’s track as the background for an overly-dramatic scene in Robbery: Homicide Division. That was an enjoyable 5 minutes.
Last week I also rented a couple of movies – The Princess and the Warrior (or Der Krieger und die Kaiserin) and Ratcatcher. The first movie was really enjoyable, much like Run Lola Run was although the tempo of the movie was much slower. It’s interesting because there were so many coincidences in the movie and I was talking last week about how life is chock full of them. Ratcatcher was pretty good as well. I’m not sure if Sandy likes my choice in movies, but whatever, I’m the one who paid for them, not him. 
After watching Bravo’s Page to Screen on L.A. Confidential last night, I think I want to read some of James Ellroy’s books.
I just got a call from Avis regarding my rental car. Apparently the license tags expired. A month ago. It’s a good thing I wasn’t pulled over.
I’m listening to the Saint Germain Café, the self-proclaimed “Finest Electro-Jazz Compilation”. If it wasn’t so good I’d complain that they’re just trying to cash in on the appeal of St. Germain’s music to sell compilations. Actually I still can complain about it. They’re pandering to people’s ignorance about so-called “electro-jazz” music.
Most people know that there are a lot of items that you can buy in American grocery stores that you just can’t find in Canadian ones. There is so much selection for candy, cereal, drinks, etc.. However, the opposite is also true; there is a group of items (albeit much smaller) that you can only find in Canada. Examples include Smarties, Shreddies, Kraft peanut butter, and Humpty Dumpty chips. Living in Michigan, my family certainly misses certain things and up until now we had to bring it to them. Now there’s this site, where almost everything missing down here can be had for a reasonable price. A godsend to us transplanted Canadians, indeed.
I uploaded my pictures from the weekend. You can find them here. They turned out fairly well I think. I didn’t have a chance to take pictures of the Luxor though; ran out of time.
Oh man what a weekend. I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’m back now, stronger than ever. I’ll post a summary of my weekend later, but here are some random thoughts I wrote down.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Recent Comments