Touch You Last

If I could swallow the soul of one other blogger and adopt their style, their genius, and their commitment to writing, I would swallow the soul of Pamela Ribon . (I guarantee that’s gonna get quoted out of context and end up sounding worse than it already does.) In case any of you haven’t checked out her site yet, Pamie writes for television, writes novels after hours, and still finds the time to blog like mad. It blows my mind, not just the sheer content, but the quality. If all she did was blog I’d still respect the shit out of her. What makes good blogging so hard is that our lives are fundamentally boring. Maybe at first you can tell all the good stories you’ve been thrilling friends and colleagues with over the years, but by the time those are blown you’re generally just talking about how you made a nice ham sammich the other night and sacked out with nine episodes of Veronica Mars. When all the flash is gone we’re left with mundane substance, how we fill up our days, and while m...

Over the past few months I’ve been eating up CBC Radio 3 ’s podcasts. I’ve written before about how I’ve come up lacking in the area of what-the-frig’s-going-on-with-music-these-days. Well, thanks to Radio 3, I’m feeling somewhat in the know—at least in regards to independent Canadian music. With 69 (hee hee) podcasts in the can, I’ve listened to a lot Canadian music lately, and I’ve come away feeling proud in a way that I haven’t felt about any kind of Canadian culture in a long time. I mean goddamn we’re good . I don’t know; I’m articulating this poorly. I can tell you why I love a book or a movie, but I haven’t found a way to do the same when it comes to music. Some of my favourite tracks right now: "Jaws of Life” – Wintersleep "Better Sorry Than Safe" - Two Hours Traffic “Do the Right Thing” – The Dudes “Our Love Will Make the World Go Round” – The Meligrove Band “If Rap Gets Jealous” – K’Naan Or you can just save yourself from car...

What are you listening to these days?

I really wish I had discipline when it came to this whole blogging thing. Audience aside, I need some kind of journal because I forget shit pretty much as it happens. I've looked back at my archives once or twice and thought, "Oh yeah. I went to Vancouver that time. How crazy is that?" Some weeks go by without a noteworthy thing happening, but others... well, they aren't life-altering, but you just start cataloguing the things you need to write about, and they keep piling up, and the weight of it just keeps you away longer. Whatever. Enough poor me . Here are a few things that have been going on over the past few weeks. More to come as I remember it: The McLean reunion took place in Formosa three weeks back. It was a vicious affair, with old feuds renewed, cousin battling cousin, and few of us leaving unbloodied. Actually, we just drank a lot, ate a lot, and had a good time. The 2007 Reunion is going back to Georgetown, and Bejing won the bid for 2008. Sar...

Where can an average dumbass everyman like myself learn the ins and outs of HTML? Or is HTML now a relic out of the early nineties? Is this CSS the kids keep talking about the way of the future?

Well it’s not terrible, but neither is it all that I’d hoped and dreamed either. The biggest disappointment is the template modification. They promised a new drag and drop format, which seemed perfect for someone like me (a total gonad when it comes to HTML). Problem is that that’s all it is: drag and drop. I can move my bio to the bottom of the page (whoop!), or swap the position of my links with the position of my archive (yowzah!), but I can’t change the graphic in my header or even frig around with column width. I’m gonna have to go ahead and learn something if I want to pretty up this site. Stupid Blogger, forcing me to learn stuff.

What is the longest car trip you've ever been a part of?

5. Chappelle’s Show: Season Two, “Charley Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Rick James” The skit: Cast member Charley Murphy (also Eddie’s older brother) relates the tale of the three times he was forced to beat the shit out of Rick James. The story and the reenactment are interspersed with clips of Rick James himself, disputing the incidents and offering his own take. Why it’s great: For the most part, I’ve tried to avoid the clips and episodes of TV that are universally lauded, but I couldn’t resist including this one. I think what surprised me most is that “I’m Rick James, bitch!” is the least funny part. (The slow-mo bionic kick is the bit that kills me in particular.) Clip: No problems getting this one. It’s everywhere. 4. Arrested Development: Season Three, “Mr. F” The episode: (This one’s doozy.) Michael has an important meeting with Japanese investors and needs them to believe that the Bluth Company has completed construction on homes it hasn’t yet begun building. The constr...