Zucchini Muffinpuffz

Needles and Feathers

2008-01-09T01:38:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, Emilie got a tattoo she had been waiting over a year to get, its on her other ankle and its a peacock feather. She had brought a drawing with her when she had made the appointment, though it was rather static and the tattoo artist made some fantastic changes to it. Made it more organic to follow the natural curves of the body.

This is a picture when he, Olivier the tattooer, finished the outline and we all agreed it looked great.

Random picture of where this was all happening.

The man at work.

The tattoo is meant to be black and grey but with touches of colour throughout the tattoo. This is when the black and part was finished. She was a bit of pain by this point, and it had already been about 3 hours and the top of the foot is rather sensitive.

This was the last part of the whole process, he was adding the few colours inside and highlights. The ink is quite bright when you see it starkly in their bottles, rather surprising actually, this was my first time in a tattoo parlour and seeing someone getting inked in real life and not just on televisions. I have to admit, I had never thought myself someone who would ever get tattooed, but being there, it's made me a little bit more curious and interested in the possibility of getting one. Just maybe.

When all the pain and waiting was over. This is the final product. Granted, its not a great picture and will hopefully snap some better ones when I see her next. She now has a nice piece of work and I believe is very happy with it. If your curious, we went to this place called Tatouage Iris, which is on Ontario St East.

My Second Life

2008-01-07T17:50:00.000-05:00

I've been really lazy lately when it comes to writing. I'm afraid to admit that I'm addicted to Second Life and making clothing. Which kind of freaks me out on some days, I often find myself running the program in the background but not actually participating in it. I recall watching, well I didn't actually watch it, but I remember hearing about several news programs talking about second life and different aspects of it, like whether it was unsafe for younger people, like teenagers. Though, I don't think there are any repercussions to it, its quite an interesting learning experience. Well, I have to say, for certain people it can be unsafe, but most keep it within the game. Of course, there are things that I even find weird and unsavoury but it all depends where you hang out and with who. Its also an interesting business platform, I've opened a little shop and sell some of my clothing, which isn't something I had planned or had the intentions to do several months ago, and now I keep thinking of bigger things, the next step so to say.

This is where one of my stores is, if your interested. It's called Issues with TACT. Kind of geeky with a mix of more classical fashion inspirations. If your interested in talking to me, the name is Marianne Stenvaag.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Esoterica/60/73/28

Childhood Nostalgia

2008-01-02T00:28:00.000-05:00

When i was a young kid, maybe 3 or 5, i used to watch a show called, Passe Partout. Its a little kids french show and its the cutest thing ive ever seen. Kinda weird and random... but cool none the less. Its funny that Lisa wrote a blog about Looney toons and animaniacs and how she used to love watching it as a kid because just today, i was at my great aunt and uncles house celebrating new years day. It was pretty fun. I watched tv for a little while and caught the show, Passe Partout and couldnt help but stop to watch the entire show. It was really awesome!!! I wasnt able to find the real thing, but i found a passe partout spoof!!!

Bye Bye

2008-01-01T20:01:00.000-05:00

Every now and then we come across figments from our past, sometimes by ourselves or by the grace of someone else. My brother sent me this, something from our childhood, an ultimate classic, the Looney Toons and anamaniacs.

Funniest Video Ever!!!!! (not recommended for children)

2007-12-22T23:25:00.000-05:00

Raw Sugar

2007-12-22T03:49:00.000-05:00

I remember reading and hearing something about the fact that one of my favourite bands, Metric was releasing an album that they had recorded back in 2001 but that was never released. Their first official album was "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?" featuring songs like "Combat Baby" and "Dead Disco" which is a crowd favourite at their live shows.

This new-old release is entitled "Grow up and Blow Away", I have to admit, I didn't place much thought into it until I heard the song "Raw Sugar" on CBC Radio 3 (why does this not surprise you? - because your addicted - ok maybe a little)and instantly loved the track. It has a much different vibe from "Live It Out", it isn't as rock inspired as that album, I found that many of the elements are traditionally found in pop, including a catchy hook. One of my favourite lines, which happens to be in the chorus is: "I don't want to die living in a high rise grave".

Here's a little clip from the song:

I think I should buy the disk and listen to some of their other songs and while I'm at it, I should purchase "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?" since I'm ashamed to say I don't own the CD.

My Birthday

2007-12-18T17:54:00.001-05:00

There are great birthday's, alright ones, and some that simply suck. I have to say that this year, it is most definitely the latter of the three. Things simply have not worked out the way I wanted to, first, there were some issues with my friend Emilie, so what we had planned unraveled rather quickly, so ended up staying home on Saturday night, and then on Sunday, the family and I were supposed to go out for supper, well that wasn't possibly because the massive amount of snow we got, so we stayed home once again.

Last night, Monday, I wanted to go see one of my favourite bands, Plants and Animals, and had been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks. So we catch the bus, after walking in knee high snow, only to realise afterwards that we could have avoided that by passing through the garage tunnel. Thankfully, the snow was plowed today and we now have a clear pathway. So we get on the metro, my brother and I that is, and we make our way downtown to do a little bit of shopping before the show, so we get off at the Eaton Center and I manage to buy something before the stores close, though not much else.

My brother spent his time the Game Workshop shop, which is basically where people play this thing called Warhammer and play with little miniatures. I don't really see the point of this game but my brother seems to enjoy it, so thats good for him. Though, it's surprising how expensive it is for just little pieces of plastic.

So we get to St-Laurent station just missing the bus by a few minutes, so we have to wait 15 minutes before the next one, so we decided just to wait outside, since it wasn't too long. Though, what we didn't know was that buses weren't being very punctual or predictable. So after waiting 45 minutes and no bus, we decided to just head home.

Little did we know, that once we got to Jolicoeur, that we would run into a very similar problem. We would end up waiting, at least in the cover of the station, which in reality isn't that warm but at least we had cover from the wind. I think we waited another 40 minutes to get home. The bus skipped through the regular route because many of the smaller streets had yet to be plowed properly.

We finally made it home around 11:00pm and in a bad mood, since I didn't get to go to the show and because of all the waiting. It was just no fun.

So tonight we were suppose to go out for supper, though, this has been unfortunately canceled do to the fact that my step-mom is stuck at the airport waiting for her cousin or something and she has the better of the two cars. The other isn't very good in winter conditions.

Happy Birthday to me!

All Can be Pickled

2007-12-17T02:12:00.000-05:00

I was actually at the Tate Modern when I was in London, it was actually the last place I visited, I'm ashamed to say that I wasn't paying too much attention to the art and sculptures around me, I was more then a little exhausted at the time, though if I was there now, I would like to see this. Kind of reminds me of Emilie's cow heart, though, just a tad bit grosser.

Damien Hirst donated 4 of his works, including a copy of his previous exhibition of a sliced calf and cow, named mother and child.

The video is for people with a strong stomach.

Of course, some people would argue that this isn't art, but just someone being sadistic and calling it art. Though I have to say, sometimes, thats exactly what art is, completely and utterly sadistic. Its a fact but we don't always notice. Works like these cause you to feel some kind of emotion, hate, disgust, sympathy, confusion and maybe admiration. Thats the purpose of art, to get a message, a sentiment out to you and make it what you wish.

The Birds and the Bees have gone wild!

2007-12-16T17:36:00.000-05:00

I can't even begin to tell you all how many times i've laughed in peoples faces when they say, "It's okay, i won't get pregnant because he pulls out before he cums". I'm sorry... but this is the lamest thing I have honestly ever heard. There should be a law stating that people who have not been properly educated on sex should not be allowed to have sex!!! Honestly. Anyway... haha enough rude-ness from me.

I had to register for my next semester at college today, and I had to pick a complimentary class. The course i wanted to take was "Psychology of sexuality", unfortunately it didnt fit into my schedule the way i wanted it to - seeing as how i wanted a 3 day weekend haha. Anyway... I ended up picking Sociology... which will be fun i suppose.

In talking to my boyfriend about how sad i was to not be able to learn more about sex - seeing as my knowledge on the topic of sex is... well.. fantastic... (I read too many sex-ed books) he told me about a funny video that his brother had shown him. I think EVERY teenager in... 7th grade should watch this video. In fact, i think that the school system should make it manditory to watch this movie. It's very educational... AND it's funny.

Enjoy everyone!!!

Youtube Scouting

2007-12-16T01:07:00.000-05:00

I was watching these video's and finding them kind of funny and while I was watching the 'Friends with God' one, I noticed the bedspread which happens to be the same one my parents owned a few years ago. This made me think that he might be from Montreal, he sure did sound like someone from here and not to mention the name Jon Lajoie.
Problems with God, imagine if he was your friend.

Just an average, normal guy.

But why not add Rapist glasses to your wardrobe.

Virtual Clothing Galore

2007-12-11T02:30:00.000-05:00

It official, I've been spending way too much time in Photoshop creating clothes for Second Life. This is a recent obsession of mine. It started, slowly, a few weeks ago when Chris was making some tattoo's and clothing for the game and I was mightily impressed by what he was making. This is when the idea of making my own clothes popped into my head, but I didn't act on it right away. It took a few more days, when I met someone how was attempting to make their own clothing as well and they referred me to a great website for SL tutorials. (Link)

So I tried my hand at making a simple black t-shirt, which, I have to admit looked like total crap but I was learning about the templates and trying to line things up, this has to be the hardest part of making clothes for SL.

After a frustrating couple of hours with unsuccessfully creating something decent. I tend to want to understand everything at once which never works out great, so I let it go and didn't return to it for a week. Now on this attempt I tried to understand the templates a little more and the alpha masks. So I made a copy of a corset from one of fashion books and turned it into a shirt. (More here).

Although, those were just silly attempts and I think I really have the hang of things now. I've made quite a few decent outfits. They look great, though I'm more then a little biased when it comes to my opinions of the clothing since I made them after all.

Here are a few of the outfits that I've made.

This was my first real try, I think it looks great. Kind of geeky looking but I love it.

This is my most recent try, it's hard to see all the detail on the shirt, but you get the main gist of things.

Every time I see this one, it almost reminds me of a racing suit.

This is the most colourful of the bunch. Kind of has a fun twist to it, and all inspired by the belt buckle.

There are several most outfits and I'm sure my list will simply continue growing. I'm considering opening a little shop up to sell some of these, that might be a little fun and maybe get some kind of business going. I think Emily is considering trying to make some clothing as well, she just needs to re-install it on her computer.

Though, I need to come up with a name for my venture.
Anyone got any ideas? I'm coming up empty on names.

And, if you were wondering that is my avatar in the pictures standing in my little forest. If someone was interested in contacting me or even buying one of these in SL. You can email me or IM me. My avatar's name is Marianne Stenvaag.

Heart to Heart Continued.

2007-12-07T16:36:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you aren't too freaked out by my crazy project. I really enjoyed doing this. As Lisa suggested, it's probably better that i explain my sculpture, rather than have her do it for me.

First off, i'd like to point out the somewhat obvious. What icon is used when thinking about emotion??? A heart obviously. People relate to the heart as the organ that makes us feel emotion.

When somone passes away, the emotions... the feelings that you had with that person are left behind. And so my project represents an urn with a preserved heart placed in the ashes of a loved one - Dont worry they are wood ashes..... So it basically just represents the preservation of the emotions and feelings you shared with that person when they were alive even though they've passed.

I used the hard edges and pointy-ness of the shapes at the top of the pedastal to show how we hold onto these emotions and want to protect them from people. The curvieness of the legs of the pedastal play off from the organic shape of the heart. I also wanted the contrast of the red of the heart against black of the sculpture to show the realness of the heart. To show that it was very much alive.

And lastly, the stitching in the heart represents how the heart used to be open... ready to create and take in new emotions, but now its been closed off because it can obviously no longer feel without its vessel. The stiching can also represent the healing process of someone after losing someone they cherish.

All Too Spicey

2007-12-07T01:45:00.000-05:00

When I was talking to Emilie, we ended up talking about concerts and shows, since I'm a big fan of going to see a great band. I explained to her how it was a little funny how over the past few years I've been moving my way down in venue sizes, my first show ever was at the Metropolis which is a good size venue, about 4000 people. After that show I attended a few at Le Spectrum which is sadly no longer existent and being replaced by a shopping mall, and then I went to the Medley, Le National, La Tulipe, the Main Hall, Ukrainian Federation which is rather large and now often end up is restaurants with back rooms for music or bars.

Though, I've never been to the largest venue in the city, the Bell Center which actually shocked her. The reason for this is because there was never anything I wanted to go see there but I might be going soon since Em is a big Mika fan and I kind of like him, so we are probably going to see him in January.
The conversation strolled along and she sprang on me that she would like to see the Spice Girls. Now, I will admit to the fact that I enjoyed the Spice Girls when I was 8 and listening to their cassettes on my little yellow radio and dance and sing along in my room but I never saw them live and kind of glad I never did. It would be embarrassing as a lover of independent music to say that they were my first show, but i can proudly say that it was Franz Ferdinand back in 2004.

Would I go see them now?

I'm not sure. I suppose there would be a nostalgic aspect to going to such a big commercial show. I'm not ready to jump on the band wagon just yet. I think I might need a little bit of persuasion.

If you need a little reminder, these are the Spice Girls in their classic (unfortunately) video for Wannabe.

I found this interesting article about them, well more about their voices. We all know that the pop world is plagued with lip synching and much more focus on what your seeing than what your hearing. Though, if you are listening in most cases when you see a band, you'll know that there are imperfections is a singers tone and voice quality. Of course, there are nifty ways of bypassing this trouble and keeping the voices sounding perfect using computers that will monitor their voices and adjust and implement their perfect previously recorded voice when they go off key.

I suppose, I don't really consider this kind of commercialized pop music actual music. Since there isn't any attachment to the songs, they just have a catchy hook and that's it. All stays flat, there's no depth or soul to those songs.

Heart to Heart

2007-12-06T20:39:00.000-05:00

Today I spent the day with Emilie down at Dawson College and I have to saw we had a good time. We spent one half of our time having a good time over lunch and other half wandering from art studio to art studio. It was nice to be in such a setting again.

When I was there, she was just giving in her sculpture for end of term and I was a little shocked and somewhat disgusted by what she was planning. Hopefully she'll post the meaning of her project in the coming days. I could explain it but its much better if it comes from the creator. Though, I am going to post the pictures that I took of her somewhat Gothic, ash and heart creation. Maybe I should just place a slight disclaimer about the project. It's not something for people with a weak stomach because of the cow heart which is all too real.

The following pictures follows the installation of the heart into the urn.

Unwrapping the heart, which was frozen and in a lunch box. Nice lunch.

A view of the ashes from above.

Clearing the frost from the frozen heart.

Gently, gently now, don't want to drop it and get ash all over the place...
Well that's kind of what happened.

View of the heart in the plexiglass.

Side shot.

Full shot.

And finally Em looking more than happy with her slightly dark and disgusting sculpture.
Very nice.

Christmas Wishes

2007-12-05T00:48:00.000-05:00

All I want for Christmas is...Money?

Yeah, thats right, I really have enough stuff to satisfy myself, I need the money for the trip I'm currently planning. I really have everything I need on the physical part of things, I have my camera, my bag, a good pair of shoes, decent clothes (could use updating, but no rush), plenty of books to read and not to mention a great computer.

I suppose what I would like is to spend more time with my friends and family.

I've been hearing a lot of different opinions lately, on how Christmas has become a rather stressful time for many and how we seem to accumulate more than we actually need or want. Just giving gifts because we feel compelled too and because of the pressure of society.

Its great when we give something to someone and we know for a fact that they'll love it, there's a certain sense of joy in that.

Well, just celebrate how you wish to celebrate.

Stars Aren't Too Bright

2007-12-02T19:18:00.001-05:00

Last night, I went to see Stars at Le National and the show was sold out. When I arrived, the place was already buzzing with anticipation while I was only demurely excited to see them play. I can for certain that this show doesn't top my list of favourite concerts, its not to say that it wasn't a bad show, it was decent for its size and type.

I suppose my real problem was that I was never that much of a Stars fan, they've released quite a few albums but I only really got into their latest album 'In our bedroom after the war' and even then, there were only a couple of tunes that caught my ear, notably Personal, Life 2 Unhappy Ending and The Ghost of Geneva Heights. They played two of those, and was glad for it because I barely knew the other songs. Since they have a long history of music in Montreal, they have a long standing fan base and with quite a few records behind them, there was a lot to choose from and of course some favourites.

There was an odd point in the show where the lead singer, when finishing began going down verbally on someone in the crowd, something along the lines of "You leave him the fuck alone" and "You know jumping is a sign of joy, so you let him fucking jump", I assume these were designated at a security guard trying to call someone down.

Something else of note was that they played the longest encore I've ever witnessed. Usually during the encore bands play about 3 songs but I'm certain they played at least 5 or 6 songs.

Overall, it was a good show, though I don't know if I'll see them again.

I took a few photos, but I wasn't standing very close, so the photos aren't great.

Stars in my Eyes

2007-12-01T06:15:00.000-05:00

I'm excited for tonight, I'm going to see Stars at Le National, it should be good.

I should post some pictures and maybe my thoughts on the show when I get back or within the next couple of days depending on my status when I get back.

Burst of Colour

2007-11-29T10:33:00.000-05:00

I was actually planning on today's photo session on images all relating to the word purple, but I came across some great colourful images that I just wanted to share. As usually I looked through countless Flickr galleries to find images that would fit the theme. Though, you might have noticed that the last photo essay I did also had to do with rainbow coloured images, well, the options where just great to refuse the kaleidoscopic display of bursts of colour.

Lights by Lady Vervaine

Gnomie Gnomes by Jek in the box

She Dances in Veils by RedHeadedBrat

Colours of the Rainbow by yellowrubberduck

Hello Everyone by yellowrubberduck

Norouz by alirezanajafian

Candy by Pink Sherbet Photography

Happy Girls under a Rainbow by Pink Sherbet Photography

The End of the Rainbow by Mactastic

Garden Shoes by Giamarie

Synthy Sounds vs Head Banging Vocals

2007-11-29T07:47:00.000-05:00

Of course, everyone might know by know that I listen primarily to independent Canadian music, and if you didn't know this, than you haven't been paying much attention over the last several months. There are many reasons as to why I enjoy this kind of music rather than what we hear on the mainstream stations, I suppose the main one would be because I've never fit in with the mainstream crowd and I decided I'd go out and look around to see what else was available. I preferred what I heard and saw, so I stuck with it.

I've been listening to a lot of great music lately, and wanted to share another of my finds. Both of these bands are kind of connected via their members but very different sounds. First off, is Shout Out Out Out Out from Edmonton, Alberta bring the vocoder back from the fringes.

"Shout out out out out = two drummers + four bass players + two samplers + five synthesizers + one vocoder. volatile dance music." Which is pretty much all you need to know, apart from the music is awesome and really makes you dance around. Oh wait, they already said that, no harm in repeating.Its very synthy, well how can it not be with 5 synthesizers, right.

I remember hearing an interview with them on a podcast from the folks over at CBC radio 3, and he said their music was kind of inspired from one of the member's dad's music in 80's. It's not the kind of music you listen to for beautiful melodies or sentimental lyrics, its really just dance your ass off kind of music (3rd mention of dancing). If you like bands like LCD Soundsystem, Holy Fuck, Tiga, you'll probably dig Shout out out out out.

If your into a more dark and moody rock with a bit of good foot stomping, then you'll probably prefer The Wet Secrets, which is a side project of Lyle Bell of Shout Out Out Out Out (I have no idea how to acronym that, SOOO?), you'll also find Whitey Houston and Trevor Anderson of The Vertical Struts in this formation. As most side projects are, then tend to become a little more than that with time, developing into full time commitments.

"Seven days, ten songs, and 21 cases of Stella later, five people took to the stage at Seedy's in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and played for just over an hour to an enthusiastic, dancing crowd. On March 24, 2005, a document of their experiment was released to the public as A WHALE OF A COW, a ten song, original CD recorded late at night during that fateful week of writing and rehearsing."

So what started out as a fast paced project, they now have a bit of recognition to what they created. I quite like their music and the little marching band look. In comparison to SOOO, they use some real instruments like trombones, trumpets, guitars, drums and there is a little bit of synth going on too. During some songs like "Grow your own fucking mustache asshole" and "Easy prey vs. Sex Manics", you just feel compelled to scream/sing along to them, to stomp your foot on the floorboards and to thrum your fingers on your desk.

So those are my newest finds for this week. Enjoy!

Flash Flash Flasheroo

2007-11-27T18:30:00.001-05:00

Alright people, so heres my newest blog post!!!!

While at school i sometimes have to go through long periods of waiting until my next class. To kill some time i visit several websites in hopes of finding some new exciting games to play! This game is one of my favorites!!!! It's called... Flash Flash Revolution!!!! I bet you all can guess what game it ripped off from!!! thats right people... Dance Dance Revolution is now made available to you for your fingers ONLINE!!! challenge your friends who live anywhere in the world to play you!!!! No more getting all tired from hopping around!!! No more twisting your ankle!!! Just use your fingers on the arrow keys!!! It's super fun and the website has many different songs to pick from!!! Go play Flash Flash Revolution!!!!

If you aren't into FFR, theres also the option of playing.... PacXon!!! Its a newer and cooler version of.... PACMAN!! thats right folks. No more being limited to going through a little maze eating yellow balls of glowing who knows what! The objective of the game is to trap the ghosts in boxes!!! I've personally never made it past level 13!!!! See if you can beat me at PacXon!!!!

I never really left

2007-11-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, just to get this straight, I Emilie Foucault, have never really left the blog. Like i mentioned maybe 2 months ago, i've been having rather large personal problems and was taking a break from blogging.... my school work is clearing up and my stress level is starting to get to a healthy level so i WILL be blogging very soon. I've got a few interesting topics i'd like to talk about. I give my greatest and most sincere apolagies to all our readers. Thank you for the patience!!!

Emilie

An Addition

2007-11-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

I've got some great news, someone is brave enough to join our collective, my good friend Chris who happens to live across the pond. He'll be displaying some of his own art and getting his ideas out there.

Welcome!

Collection Day

2007-11-26T01:44:00.000-05:00

Collection of random videos found across the spectrum of the internet.

It's a Woman Thang. I just like the feel of this video, colourful, cutouts and collages. All good fun, the song it pretty good too.

This is kind of a cool thing, called Women in Art. Where paintings of women in famous and not so famous works of art are morphed together.

Quarterlife, Part 1. This is actually really interesting, its about a girl who blogs about her friends, and they all find out about it which causes some problems. There are a few episodes. Check it out. Its like an online tv show.

Just a song that I love from a band that I adore. Monster Hospital by Metric, the video is awesome as well.

I seem to be a little tight arsed when it comes to art and photoshop. I know a few people who rather enjoy creating drawings and paintings in the such a program, it certainly has its advantages considering there's plenty of room for mistakes. But while I was looking for clips of Girl with a pearl earing, the movie, I came across this video which is someone recreating it in photoshop. Of course, the painting is a masterpiece and a Jan Vermeer, no one will be able to recreate it. The book is quite good.

The trailer for the movie:

Long Ears

2007-11-26T01:40:00.001-05:00

My neighbor has wind chimes on his deck, but the strange thing is that I can only hear them from one room in my house, which is the second floor bathroom. It's either I only notice it then because its quiet, no music or television. It doesn't really bother me that much I always think about it when I'm there and its the only time I hear them.

Help Wanted

2007-11-25T06:30:00.000-05:00

Well, since Emily has in fact ditched me with this blog, I'm looking for someone who might be interested to guest on here every now and then.

Just to understand, there's no money involved, all I need is someone who might be interested in helping me write on the blog, since I already have a solo blog, I don't really need two.

Just email me please.

The Animal Barn

2007-11-25T05:13:00.000-05:00

I’ve recently fallen in love with this band called Mother Mother, and I’m not the only one, it seems that people all over the place have become instantly obsessed with this band from Vancouver B.C. There’s just something that hooks you when you first hear their song Dirty Town, which is simply amazing, and with my somewhat lacking knowledge of making music, this songs baffles my mind when it comes to how they put it together. When I was listening to the album and came across the song Verbatim , I was quite surprised to find this kind of song on the album, it’s very different from the other’s and has a certain rap feeling to it, mixed with background harmonies and a wicked sense of humour.

I remember listening to one of the CBC Radio 3 podcasts, and one of the host’s was talking about this band and how their fans were extremely dedicated, when I heard that I kind of went “pfft”, but once I heard the Dirty Town. I honestly believed it.

They’re signed to Last Gang which is the home of some of my favourite Canadian bands like Metric and The New Pornographers. Like those two aforementioned, I’m sure Mother Mother will be just as big with their funky – god knows what to call it.

"On Mother Mother's Touch Up, you'll find a collection of catchy songs encompassing a brand of post modern pop music that defies formulaic approaches of contemporary songwriting. The genre promiscuity found on the album is held together by a signature sound of three unique voices that weave in and out of harmony and shared leads. Also vital to Mother Mother's music is its lyrical component, which describes in a wry, observational fashion the beautiful and beastly behavior of a socially inept world. Musically, the group is quite sharp, all having studied jazz and classical art forms. These traditional approaches combined with current pop and indie rock sensibilities make for a refreshing original sound, which is why Mother Mother is forging its own path in today's music scene. The live show is yet another component to the rising success of Mother Mother. With infectious stage chemistry and high energy, the five are able to recreate the essence of their recorded music while also bringing an element of spontaneity and abandon to each performance." (From website)

This is one band that I have to see live next time they come to town, there’s no way around it. I encourage you to take a listen on their MySpace page and take a look at the lyrics as well because they aren't obvious when you listen to them.

The video for their song Touch Up:

Keep The Dripping Mascara Away

2007-11-25T04:26:00.000-05:00

I usually try not to be prejudice about what of music people enjoy and about their style, but there's really one in perticular that bothers me more than most, you might think the obvious answer is rap, but it isn't, I have to honestly say that I don't mind a good rap song every now and then, though rest assured, its nothing like 50cent. The style I can't seem to wrap my head around is 'emo' music or style. I remember a few years ago, when Fall Out Boy released their first song and it was playing on this program called the Wedge on MuchMusic, I just didn't dig it. Once they hit it big, the myriad of other bands followed as record companies scrambled to cash in on this new phase.

A thought just came to me, I think I might know why I don't like that kind of music is because it just sounds like someone whining put to music.

So I ignore MuchMusic as much as I can to avoid listening to the crooning complaints of the countless emo bands out there and of course to stay away from whatever is popular.

Snowy

2007-11-22T16:49:00.000-05:00

I suppose to my surprise and slight irritation, its actually snowed over the past couple of the days, the first time it was just a light layer, the next it was melting snow and today there's a decent covering as you can see. Well, we seem to have a rather white November maybe this will carry on to December where everyone dreams of a white Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate.

Razzle-ology

2007-11-19T03:45:00.000-05:00

I remember a few years ago I watched this video from this woman called Leslie Hall which was about Gem Sweaters, which was about those horrible sweaters with the plastic gems on them. I actually one on, but it was for Halloween purposes only. Well recently I looked into her, because in the day YouTube did not exist, so it was a little difficult to find videos on the internet. It's no longer the case, and found her channel on YouTube. Here are a few of my favourites. Feel free to visit her website dedicated to these "pieces of art" called Gem Sweaters.

How we got out - or would be more aptly named gold spandex explosion.

The beginning of Gem Sweaters explained by Leslie herself.Its really just a bunch of silliness and she performs her song Ring a ding ding off her album Gold Pants.

The classic: Gem Sweaters. This is insane shit, kind of addictive really.

Ok, if you thought that was weird, watch this, and if you don't freak out, there's something very wrong with you.

YouTube and Memories

2007-11-16T04:20:00.001-05:00

These are the video's that Bob Wiseman suggests in a comment at the end of my post about him and Feist at the beginning of the week.

Though I wonder if he isn't just searching his own name...

young conservatives against the environment

Feist + Bob Wiseman you don't love me

start continue start again

The last one I've seen before, and reminded me of an old friend of mine who went to circus school for a couple of years and had become rather good and flexible. I remember once we were in Italy on our way to Pompeii, just sitting in the train, when she began eyeing the metal poles on the ceiling and then she was hanging off it and twisting and turning. Of course the people who weren't with us were more then a little confused, but it was amusing.

A Day For Colour

2007-11-16T03:45:00.000-05:00

Today's random Flickr search word was rainbow, and this is what I found pertaining the word. Hope you enjoy. I didn't have any rainbow inspired photos to post they're all from strangers, still - even more so - amazing.

Double Rainbow by cuibel

Balloon Festival by xanadubijoux

Plastic rainbow by ::sämyii:: HELP BURMA NOW!

I love you by thewhitestdogalive

Neon Rainbow by Crimsonhart

Rainbow row by opaquEpiphany

Rainbow string by knottynaomi

Rainbow hydrangea by riaskiff

Dawson City

2007-11-15T02:18:00.000-05:00

There are lots of great festivals during the summer and other seasons across Canada celebrating many different aspects of Canadians and the things that we like. I've been some rather strange festivals like "le festival du cochon de Ste-Perpétue" which is basically the pig festival, where people try to catch a greased up pig in some mud. I have to say it was certainly amusing. I don't expect everyone to have heard of this festival before because I certainly don't know some of the smaller ones in other provinces.

Although, recently, I've been hearing about one certain music festival which happens during the summer in Dawson City, Yukon. Through the grace of some podcasts from the people at CBC Radio 3, which is a great place to discover new and old Canadian talent.

I have to admit, when I heard Dawson City, the last thing I thought of was the one in the Yukon, but I was faulted and now know better but it still seemed like an odd place for a festival of its kind. Beginning with the fact that it's so far up north and the sheer remoteness of the city. Amazingly this doesn't deter people, since some willingly trek the few extra hundred or thousand miles to the tiny city just for this festival. Although many of the attendees are people from the area or relatively nearby.

I was impressed to learn that the festival's been going strong since 1979. The basis is similar to most other musical gatherings with shows over 3 days, with activities during the afternoon and evening taking place on several different stages.

"Over the years some of the country's brightest up-and-coming acts have shared stages with more established musicians in what is truly one of the most anticipated cultural events in the Yukon. Artists such as the Painting Daisies, the Mighty Popo, Veda Hille, and the Constantines have played alongside the likes of Jane Sibbery, Bruce Cockburn, the Rheostatics and the Barenaked Ladies."

People have claimed that this is one of the hidden gems of Canadian music festivals, in its tiny and particular settings, that its one of the most interesting places to see music.

It isn't industry directed like CMJ, Austin City Limits or even Pop Montreal which definitely has those elements of scouting and industry people comparing bands and figures. But it looks more like a place where its really just about the music and the people. I've never been, so I'm judging as an outsider and from the information I have about the festival.

It would certainly be something to try out.

Brief History of Astrology

2007-11-13T06:05:00.000-05:00

In correlation to a post from my other blog about astrology, I thought it might be interesting to explore the history and beginnings of this art.

We may think of astrology as an idle pass time, something that is nothing but silliness and why place our faith into the stars, the moon and the planets. But astrology is not a mere act of telling our fortunes, that is only a part of the larger picture, there was a time where astrology and astronomy were used unilaterally, with little discerning them from each other. The only differences were that astrology was view as a more philosophical occupation while astronomy concentrated on the mathematical, but if someone studied in one, there was a high chance they dabbled in the second. Of course today, the differences are rather clear and distinct.

If we go even further in time than the Renaissance, to our earlier ancestors we see that astrology, culture and religion are welded together. As people begin to track the movement of the sun, the seasons, the moon, it becomes an integral part of how they lived, dictating when to migrate in some cases or when to plant crops in other.

In some places of the world monoliths were erected to track the movements of the sun to predict the next equinox or solstice. In Egypt and in South America, pyramids were built according to these movements.

This is why in some of the earlier religions, we see gods representing many of the natural elements whether terrestrial or celestial. The sun god is predominant in many ancient civilizations and sacrifices were made to it according to the solar, planetary and lunar calendar.

"Mesopotamian civilisation emerged about 4,000 B.C. with the foundation of the first Sumerian city-states. Unity came around 1830 B.C. with the first Babylonian Empire, whose most famous monarch was the great law-giver Hammurabi. Around 1,000 B.C. Assyrian domination began, reaching its height in about 700 B.C., and in 612 B.C. the Assyrian Empire was destroyed by the Second Babylonian Empire, whose most well known king was the Biblical Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians were, in their turn overrun by the Persians, who dominated much of the Middle East and central Asia from 538 to 331 B.C. Each of these cultures was marked by an improvement in the quality of the astrology practiced, and the final invasion, by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., marks the crucial date at which the Mesopotamian culture came face to face with the Greeks, resulting in the birth of modern astrology." (Taken from Nick Campion's online astrology resource).

We also need to take into account the various kinds of astrology present in different parts of the world, like the Chinese Zodiac and Indian astrology. Many other cultures have similar systems but come under different titles or are considered elemental learnings but aren't classified under any specific category or many. We still follow the movements of the moon and of the sun for various reasons, the weather is a good example and it is used in tidal charts.

The idea is still there, the names have changed and new ones were appointed, and today astrology is mainly related to charts and looking into the future. Time moves on but our obsession with time and the future will never cease.

Is There a Concert in my Future?

2007-11-13T01:31:00.000-05:00

Over the past few days I've been debating whether to go see Stars play at the end of the month at Le National. I usually have no problem going to gigs alone, but it just isn't as fun, and I've been trying to get Emily to come with me since she never goes to concerts or shows of any kind except for school.

YES OR NO.
YES OR NO.
YES OR NO.

I really don't know. The tickets aren't too expensive, but I don't want to wait too much longer to buy some because I have a feeling the shows will be selling out quickly.

Ok, well I just checked and the show on November 30th is sold out, but luckily the second on December 1st isn't and decided to purchase a ticket. So that solved my problem quickly enough.

Anyways, it was about time I go to a show.

A Mysterious Message

2007-11-12T05:22:00.000-05:00

This is quite funny and somewhat mysterious, but early I received an email suggesting the following video by RockBob featuring Feist and Bob Wiseman.

Thanks Bob! Really liked it, it reminded me of some good old fashion art films. Where everything is slightly disconnected but works together as a whole. Or maybe, this is one of my dreams made into a video...

And thought while Feist was mentioned that I should post some of her videos, it's only appropriate. I'm pretty certain I might have posted some of these before, but no biggie, they're great songs and the album is fantastic. If you don't have it, shame on you, your really missing out.

1 2 3 4

My Moon My Man

I always thought it was strange that there were two different versions for the song Mushaboom, I remember seeing this one first, and the second awhile later. I still kind of like the first one better.

Version 1

Version 2

Of course, there's way more Feist and not to forget Bob Wiseman (myspace) out there. Keep checking Canadian music, it's the best out there!

The Politics of Green

2007-11-12T04:38:00.000-05:00

Should the crisis of climate change be the burden of wealthy countries?

Some people think so, and it's not to say that it hasn't crossed my mind once or twice, as it has for quite a few others out there. My own country is doing quite well right now, economically speaking, with the dollar on the rise and a hefty surplus in the bank.

What frustrates me with our current government; it seems to be that it is lacking initiative to get a concert plan in the works and in motion. Our prime minister has gotten into a bit of trouble with his ideas on the environment and what being green is really about and so do the leaders of several countries out there, notably our neighbours to the south, the United-States, who are at the moment in quite a few sticky situations. With their economy tumbling down the hill, the unilateral dislike of their president and the extremely unpopular war in Iraq, they have a lot to figure out and not to mention try to achieve some kind of environmental plan.

Even though we might dislike their way of doing things, but a lot of countries won’t budge until something gets done there because once they admit that Global Warming is real, it sends a clear message to the rest of the world. If one of the most stubborn and difficult countries is serious about the situation, then something must be valid in the whole idea of it all. Image is still everything and it’s probably even more important than before.

I think we all agree, with the sheer quantity of people living in the USA, 300 million and counting, that something definitely needs to be done there. There is no way around it or ever will be. Hopefully the elections approaching will bring some fresh air and a realistic view on the problem, with some actual solutions.
There are many countries in the same bunch as us and while the richer countries should be the ones that put the most effort into the crisis, but how do we judge with the smaller or poorer countries. This is where quite a few people get snagged on.

What if we take a country like China, where the economy has grown exponentially in the past decade and so has the number of people with money. This is good and bad at the same time. Because of the growth in population, this has meant the construction of new power plants to supply electricity to the quickly growing cities; these plants are mainly fuelled by coal, which is one of the worst polluters out there. We also have to think about the quantity of people who now drive cars instead of the long time traditional bicycle. This has meant an increased consumption of gasoline. Also, considering the magnitude of citizens, more natural land is being destroyed for rice patties or consumed by the ever approaching desert.

China is one of the most environmentally troubled areas. With the lack of infrastructure in place to even deal with getting clean water delivered among the inhabitants of certain provinces, it’ll be a long time coming before any kind of place is formed there.

Although, it isn’t all darkness, there is some hope in all of this, but you need to look very hard to find it. People and organizations alike are getting themselves involved in the issue, it’s something that whether you’re a conservative or a liberal, that we can rally behind as a united force. These issues are becoming increasingly heard in the main stream media, and regular people are being heard alongside scientists and researchers.

This wasn’t the case a couple of years ago, where it was almost a taboo subject, that climate change was just some huge political hoax, but now it is held in high regard but can still be a controversial subject when it comes to the schematics.

So if you can, try to do whatever is in your power to change.

Think Green.

The article about the rich countries baring global warming.

Rats

2007-11-06T17:52:00.000-05:00

I think we all remember those lazy high school days in biology, stuck between listening to the teacher talk about DNA or the digestive systems, and doing anything else but listening. I accidentally got stuck with biology as an option when I was in Secondary 4, at the time I was pretty pissed off considering I didn't have an interest in pursuing that specific career choice. I tried to switch the class for something else, but nothing could be done, so I had to do it.

Today, I'm glad I went through the class and I learned a lot in the process. Although, I have clumsily forgotten most of the information, but I'm certain if I were to refresh my memory things would soon come back to me but the thing I recall the most was when we had a chance to do a bit of dissection. I will admit, I was really excited to get my hands dirty. At the end of the year, we dissected a rat, many of the girls in the class were somewhat more then skittish to pin it down - but not me - I was more then curious about what I was going to find inside. To identify the different organs which was the main task.

We all know rats are used most of the time in scientific and pharmaceutical experiments, though I never fully understood why rats, the only reason that I understand as to why we use these rodents is because they're cheap and reproduce quickly.

But there are many people that argue that using rats is mistreating animals and is inhumane. Well it is, from a certain standpoint, but I'm not all for rats all that much so I don't spend too much time thinking about it. And I know some people who have had some very bad experiences with them, so I tend to consider them more of a nuisance then anything else. I'm certain most people agree with me on that.

All in all, I can sleep soundly at night, and it doesn't weigh heavy on my conscience that I dissected a rat.

A Little Political

2007-11-06T02:08:00.000-05:00

Here's some political fun:

Saturday Night Live skit featuring Barack Obama. I didn't know this, but he actually has a whole YouTube channel to himself, where you can watch all of his latest appearances on TV. I suppose we really are entering a different time of politics.

There are some good candidates out there, and some not so good ones. But I quite like him and Hilary Clinton. I think some change will do the United-States some good. I think most agree that pretty much anyone will be a relief after President Bush, but they definitely need someone strong to bring their country back into shape and into the respect of others.

Here is a little Hilary vs. Obama. Warning, there's a lot of political talk in here, not redundant stupid humour.

This is kind of stupid, but its a Hilary and Bill Clinton spoof on the ending of the Sopranos.

A Shower of Gold

2007-11-04T03:48:00.000-05:00

It's safe to say that pretty much every girl out there loves jewelery, especially diamonds, but lets not forget gold. These have been the quest of Queens and Kings alike, and they would cross oceans, fight wars and plunder to get what they wanted. It was the absolutely proof and authentication of their wealth and power to their people and visitors. What better way was there to greet your newest ambassador with a large diamonds hanging at your neck or extensive collections of golden objects. People were loud and proud and had an irresistible urge show off. It was all about sending the right message, don't mess with us, we have power, have you seen our collection of gold plates.

Things aren't so different nowadays, people still express their wealth through different means, perhaps it'll be in the form of a big screen television or designer clothes, and it still does come in the form of a ring or a necklace.

What if you were exceptionally wealthy that something as simple as ring didn't cut it anymore but you needed something more extravagant to prove it. Well, this might be for you if you have a taste for the theatrical, a gold tunic made from Austrian gold coins or even a gown. The gown is worth approximately one million US dollars.

Interested in actually feeling like a million bucks, check out the dress itself below.

iTunes

2007-11-01T02:49:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of great bands that I like that sell their music on iTunes, which I have and use exclusively to transfer songs onto my iPod, but I don't really use it to listen to music on my computer, for various reasons I use Window Media Player.

Over the past few days, I've been considering creating an account and purchasing some albums from bands that are a little harder to find in most record stores, but the only thing kind of preventing me is that I'm not sure if I'll be able to listen to these songs in WMP and if not, that means that I need to transfer all my songs into iTunes.

Well you might be wondering, if you use iTunes for your iPod wouldn't you have your entire library in iTunes in the first place? Well no, because when I got my new computer, and since the other one was kind of broken, I didn't save my library, and when I uploaded my cd's, I did it with WMP for practical reasons because I wanted them to be mp3 files and not mp4 ACC files.

This made me realize that I wouldn't be able to play these files in window media player, and thats a bummer.

Maybe I should find a place that sells mp3 files...or convert everything to itunes again.

Happy Halloween! (again)

2007-11-01T01:53:00.001-04:00

Some Humor

2007-10-29T00:34:00.000-04:00

Again some random video's from YouTube!Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

The best 300 poof ever!

The worst way to buy guns.

Just a great song and video by Ida Corr vs Fedde Le Grand.

Franz Ferdinand Misheard lyrics for the Fallen, its pretty funny!

ARRRHHHGGG!! Quite the vacation, poor gnome!

Naked Gay Ted.

Hungry Cat

2007-10-26T20:56:00.001-04:00

This is so funny,its a very hungry and persistent kitten. It really wants its food NOW!

What Rhymes With Orange

2007-10-26T00:10:00.001-04:00

Another photo essay, this time about the colour orange. I was surprised at the size of the options for pictures out there with orange as a main colour. It was hard to decide and pick from the wealth of options. But I narrowed it down to the following. Most of them are rather different and fun, so enjoy some lovely photos.

Snow Patrol by Me

Orange day 109 by The Tidal Rabbit

Orange Cat by Pixel Packing Mama

Rocket Ride by solostandfound

Different light by sparkleice

Candle by disdatmac (debbie T)

Orange Berries by disdatmac (debbie T)

Orange Wall from sundaygirl22

The Hot Springs

2007-10-24T04:16:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of great indie bands out there, and I know I bring it up every time I do this feature but its true. Though the sad thing is many will break up because most are college attempts to pass the time. But they might have a little success, playing at local parties and college roundups, some even tour nearby cities. Although many, don't have the time to develop their true sound,so they stick to trends and get lost amidst the tidal wave of musicians doing the same. Of course, there are some who strive to stand you and they're the ones you remember.

One such band, The Hot Springs continually jump out at me as a great band pushing towards new means. Well the best way to describe them is through this:

"Leaving dance punk and current saveurs du jour in the dust, Hot Springs have completely reinvented themselves with their first full length: Volcano. The album dishes out a combo of perfect pop that sinks its fangs in, rock that doesn’t stoop to knuckle draggers, ballads that are fluff free, throws a flurry of psychedelia into the mix (guaranteed to leave marks) and, yes – you can even dance to it." From Myspace page.

And its all true. You just want to get up and thrash around, shaking your body to no end and dance your ass off. And they aren't one of those prissy bands, who are all about looks, they get down and dirty.

The thing I like the most of the Hot Springs, is not only they amazing music but Giselle Weber's different and intriguing voice. It sounds nothing like anything out there, that might sound strange, but there is something irresistible about her scratchy tone.

I remember hearing a couple years ago, on one of Andrew Rose's popcasts, where he played a song of Giselle rapping with Graham Van Pelt on a song called Crazeee Bitch. Well, you can hear it here. It almost doesn't sound like the same woman, but it is, but it proves that she is versatile, but you can hear the essence of the Hot Springs.

Their new album, Volcano is in stores now, and available on iTunes, and I'm seriously considering buying it right now, because I can't stop listening to their songs on on MySpace. And I suggest you take a listen.

They also have a show coming up on October 26th at Le National (1220 Ste-Catherine Est) at 9:00pm with Joseph Arthur. Tickets are 20$ adv. or 22$ at door.

Piece of Mind

2007-10-24T00:28:00.000-04:00

I believe I have spoken out about my odd sleeping habits in the past, though not in great detail, but they are very strange I can promise you that but I usually don't get more then 8 hours of sleep. We all know sleep is a very important factor to our well being and happiness. So I've obviously missed the point.

What prompted this admission, is that I was reading Scientific American, and noticed an article that links lack of sleep with psychiatric disorders. Which slightly alarmed me, so I was compelled to read it, because when I heard psychiatric disorder, my mind jumped to the worst, things like schizophrenia and hallucinations. But often times, these problems are usually things like anxiety, depression and phobias. It is common knowledge that trouble sleeping in synonymous with some of these problems, and it was never thought to be otherwise.

But in a recent study down at Berkeley University in California, have found that a considerable deprivation of sleep often causes the issues in the first place. They teamed up with researchers from Harvard University to conduct a study with 26 healthy students. Fourteen of those were severely deprived of sleep, having to keep awake for 35 straight hours. Their brain was monitored by MRI while they were shown 100 photos in which the subject matter became increasingly disturbing.

The area of the brain they were most interested in was the amygdala, which basically decodes emotions in relation to situations.

In the beginning, the patients, experienced normal activity for the inoffensive pictures but as the slide show progressed, and the intensity of the subject increased the sleep deprived participants, the amygdala showed much more movement then the person who was well rested.

They also checked other areas of the brain, and found that some also related to our emotions was showing some usual responses.

"The team also checked the fMRI readings to determine whether any other brain regions had a similar pattern of activity, which would indicate that the brain networks were communicating with one another. In normal participants, the amygdala seemed to be talking to the medial prefrontal cortex, an outer layer of the brain that, Walker says, helps to contextualize experiences and emotions. But, in the sleep-deprived brain, the amygdala seemed to be "rewired," coupling instead with a brain stem area called the locus coeruleus, which secretes norepinephrine, a precursor of the hormone adrenaline that triggers fight-or-flight type reactions" From SA.

Which means, that when we don't get enough sleep, we're bound to do something foolish and possibly dangerous depending of the situation. It also creates havoc with our emotions, swinging them back and forth, which leads to unpleasant situations. I suppose lacking rest, could almost cause you to act like a drunk - in temperament anyways.

Of course the researchers will be delving deeper into the mystery of the mind and how sleep affects our daily lives. These are some of the greater mysteries, and whether we will ever unlock the secrets our body holds remains to be seen.

Of course, sleep well!

Funny or Die

2007-10-23T00:48:00.000-04:00

I was looking for some video's to place and decided to look at an old favorite, Funny or Die. And just trying to find something funny to post.

A very very strange interview with John Mayer.

The audition from hell!

Tom Cruise being a cock-block.

Eva Longoria Sex Tape!

Some Swedish

2007-10-19T23:50:00.001-04:00

Words of Leisure is always a difficult feature for me to write, because I tend to restrict it to parties and fun, but when I was thinking of something to write, I couldn’t find anything worthy to write, so I didn’t, but that was last week. But this week I’ve got something in mind, and it came to me while surfing the internet and waxing my legs; what if I talked a little about relaxing and personal care.

Going to the spa is a big trend, and every year there are newer and more exotic treatments becoming available to women and men. Sometimes there are wide spread or more a local favourite. Of course, when you look at the lists of treatments, you read some and you wonder what it can possibly do to help you. Some claim farfetched miracles about weight loss or riding your body of bad waves. Of course the main reason for most of these is to relax and let loose.

I think one of the most common massages, is the Swedish massage, this is when you need a good rub down and get those kinks out. It’s a delicate balance of soft rubbing like on the bonier parts, such as your face, hands and feet, and much stronger rubbing on the denser parts, where the muscles accumulate stress, like the shoulders and the neck.

Of course the purpose of a massage is to relax your body, but it does have some other purposes, like helping to increase the flow of oxygen into the blood stream and discharged the toxins from the muscles. It doesn’t only have great physical effects, but it helps reduce stress and is good for your emotional state, and often recommended when dealing with anxiety and stress.

The massage uses some of these techniques: long strokes, kneading, friction, tapping, percussion, vibration, effleurage, and shaking motions. They usually placed in a certain sequence.

Effleurage: Gliding strokes with the palms, thumbs and/or fingertips
Petrissage: Kneading movements with the hands, thumbs and/or fingers
Friction: Circular pressures with the palms of hands, thumbs and/or fingers
Vibration: Oscillatory movements that shake or vibrate the body
Percussion: Brisk hacking or tapping
Passive and active movements: Bending and stretching

That sounds really great, plus it would get rid of that kink in my back.

Surprsing: The Coulours of Space

2007-10-18T16:51:00.000-04:00

I think most people's perception of space is of a never ending mass of darkness and black. While this might be true for a big part, there are amazing bursts of colour, and they are even more spectacular against the stark black backdrop. It has only recently come to my attention that there could be such patterns and vibrant colours, and as space photography improves so will our views of some of the unattainable places we could ever dream of. With space, the possibilities are endless as they are.

I don't think I'm the only when faced with a picture like this:

Makes you feel insignificantly small and uncomprehending about the world as we know it, and all that surrounds us. And it amazes me to think that we continue to discover new planets, solar systems, nebula's, clusters, black holes and star at an incredible pace. I suppose the only thing that limits us from exploring any further, is we need to wait for the technology to catch up with the increasing demand of researchers, scientist and of course astrologers.

Here are some rather interesting pictures of Galaxies and of Nebula's.

All of the photos, except one (which is from national geographic) are from the NSSDC photo gallery.

Immaculately Late

2007-10-18T06:40:00.000-04:00

I've running a little late on the blogging, but I've been rather busy these past few days, and since it was my brother's birthday yesterday,thought I could warrant a day off. But I really enjoy doing the musical feature, and always look forward to it, so decided to post this under it, even though I'm a couple of hours late. Well it is my blog, and I can do what I want.

So moving on to the musical part, I wanted to introduce everyone to some more incredible Canadian talent. This band is somewhat less obscure then the bands I was presenting during the Pop Montreal features, and they have some relations with psychedelic pop band The New Pornographers but I'm talking about indie rock trio Immaculate Machine.

It is true that they have several connections with The New Pornographers, like they share the same label, Mint Records, which is based in Vancouver, and Immaculate Machine (Myspace) are from the island: Victoria B.C. In 2004, after self releasing two LP's and touring the country, the began to see their efforts amounting to something as their songs reached #1 on college radio stations in Halifax and Victoria.

They have recently released a several full length albums since then, Ones and Zeros, Fables, and a French translation of some of their songs. Which I must add, are really good for French songs, and you still get the feel of the original version. I believe the reason for the French album is because they were bored, and one of the member's has a degree in French translation and literature. Seems like pretty normal thing to do.

There's something really funny related to the variety of language's where a radio personality Grant Lawrence at CBC radio 3 teased them about the French LP, and where in a side note said that their next album will be in Chinese. So the band took it as a challenge, and recorded a version of Dear Confessor in Mandarin, thanks to one of their friends. You can listen to the exchange between Grant and the band in one of the CBC radio podcasts; the name of the podcast is #125 Language Arts. You can download the pocast via Itunes or through the website, under podcasts, sub-category The CBC Radio 3 Podcast with Grant Lawrence. Its the most recent episode.

And there is a funny cartoon, explaining all that happened on the Immaculate Machine's website.

And you can listen and download the version off the Mint Records website, which is equally exciting. The version is really fun to listen to.

And speaking of podcasts, CBC Radio 3 released a live session of the band playing, and they perform some of the francophone versions of the songs. To find this, you can simply look for it on Itunes or go to the CBC Radio web page and go to concerts and sessions, click G-L, and you'll find the Immaculate Machine live session.

So as you can surely tell, this band has a great sense of humor, and have some spunk to them, which they bring to their live shows and performances. They've come a long way from playing songs in sports bars to regulars for no money, to touring across Canada and all over the world with a successful album behind their back.

Here is the video for Broken Ship: Its kind of funny and weird.

Planks and Falling

2007-10-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

We've all seen the scene of the man walking the plank in his underwear, being forced to by his evil captors. Well something of the kind happened in Australia, when a man trying to build a plant bridge to his neighbor, fell nine stories, and lived, amazingly.

Though, that seems really odd to me, why would you want to build a plank bridge to their neighbor's flat in the first place? And plus the man was 35, old enough to figure that it wasn't such a good idea. Honestly, a little wood bridge across open air? Didn't turn out too good.

I Want shoes!

2007-10-15T22:18:00.000-04:00

Since I did a little bit of shopping today, and bought a really nice pair of shoes, it made me want to watch the SHOES video, you know the one. My dad even knows it. Its pretty funny considering everything. And a video like that sprouts up a lot of parody's.

The original shoes video:

A parody about Brains:

Of course some parodies are a bit worst then most, like this one, which the only reason why you laugh is because its so stupid:

I know everyones already talked about this!

The Little Blue House Down the Road

2007-10-11T05:19:00.000-04:00

I was going through my gigantic semi-organized amount of links, and came across this charming little online shop called the Blue House, which is full of eclectic fun. Their slogan is "things we make, and things our friends make" and "the people who make stuff co-op", which I find kind of a cool idea. I remember thinking it would be neat to have a similar co-op about art and artists, where people support each other, gives creativity a chance.

As the site explains what the blue house is a kind of indie eBay, where people who have something to sell can post their stuff online, and make a bit of money. The actual website doesn't receive any of the profit made from the sale, it all goes to the artist or label. There is a very large indie music section, with cd's from Bob Wiseman, David Macleod, Final Fantasy, Green Go and Orillia Oprey. I know all of those artists/bands and I've seen some of those during the festival.

Though the section that I find the most interesting is the buttons and posters section, there are some really fun and interesting items in there. The pins are just so cute, I would, if I could, buy all of them, and pin them all over my jacket and bag. They just have a great sense of humor to most of them. And the posters and prints are great, original, and remind me of old-school concert posters, which is something that's slowly disappearing which the advent of the internet. You no longer have to stare at phone poles and the side of buildings to know which bands are playing where, its much easier to find gigs from your computer.

Nonetheless, this site has a lot of cool stuff to offer, and if you think that something that you make could be sold to their little collection, they would love to hear from you, and remember, you get all the profit. More info on the Blue House.

The painting is from Emma Kidd, thought it was charming.

CBC Radio 3

2007-10-10T19:07:00.000-04:00

Its can sometimes be a challenge to find new and interesting music, and I've talked about this once before. Though its a chore to listen to the radio to find new tunes, but there are some online options, like the BBC radios and the Canadian version, the CBC. Most people don't always think of the CBC as a place to find good and interesting music, the only thing you need to know, is where to look. And if you enjoy indie music, the best place to find it, is CBC Radio 3, which is on the forefront of budding bands from across Canada.

The goal of CBC radio 3 is to promote and encourage new music from across the country, though you can't get it through regular radio, you need satellite, but the good news you can listen to it online at no cost. And with New Music Canada its often the starting point for many new musicians, you can sign up to it, and submit your songs. They also have strong ties with small festivals, like Pop Montreal and the Dawson City festival.

The very cool thing is that they often have sessions with bands which is often coupled with videos of them playing and they also have podcasts, which I haven't really checked out yet, but useful on the go. They have one of the best podcasts featuring new music from Canada, this is important for fans and for musicians.

Here's a quote from the website:

Radio 3's podcast is truly unique: it's full of amazing, 100% Canadian music from new and emerging artists. This is great news for music fans, and it's even better news for independent Canadian musicians. We are extremely excited about the potential for exposing Canadian artists to a wider international audience and are proud to be one of the top podcasts worldwide.

With over 3.8 million downloads since June 2005, the CBC Radio 3 podcast features host Grant Lawrence introducing audiences to an hour of the best in new Canadian music every week. Find out why Exclaim calls it "Canada's most important podcast" and why Spin magazine called us "the top podcast in Canada".

This is the kind of thing that I love, and its important for music and festivals and people.

Pickling you Pickles

2007-10-09T22:28:00.000-04:00

I love eating pickles, and while I was eating some the other day, I wondered whether pickles are still considered a vegetable. I wasn't sure about this since they are pickled cucumbers, which have been cured in brine. But are they still an appropriate vegetable?

Well the news is that pickles contain little nutrient, so they don't actually qualify as a nutritious snack, but the good news is that they are a fat-free, a low calorie and a very tasty snack. The only thing you need to watch out for is their very high sodium content.

For example, one large dill pickle, contains 1700 milligrams of sodium or in other words 70% of a normal days intake of sodium for an adult. So its best not to eat a ton of large pickles in one day, or to eat pickles everyday, because it might cause an imbalance in your body.

Though, they sure are tasty, especially the little gherkins. Since there are so many different kinds of pickles, from spicy ones to sweeter ones, it all comes down to the spices included when pickling them.

One year, my dad tried to make some, on a whim, it didn't turn out to good, since he didn't have any idea how to do it or get any instructions. So if your interested in making your own, you might want to check out this page, it gives a comprehensive guide of what you need to pickle your own.

Blog Update

2007-10-09T02:23:00.000-04:00

Things are going back to normal this week! Stay tuned for the features and other things.

All the Kings Men and Women

2007-10-08T18:48:00.000-04:00

There's this show that kind of sparked an interest in me called The Tudors, well if you hadn't already guessed why I would be interested in such a show about Henry the VIII, then I'll tell you, I love history and all the drama and back stabbing in that period is honestly more interesting then most day time soap operas put together.

The Tudors is an Emmy award winning show and features King Henry VII and all the trials and tribulations he goes through, not to mention the beheading of two of his wives. Whether the show will go as far as that, is another story, but I watched the first episode online today, and it was really good. Of course, Jonathan Rhys Meyers looks nothing like Henry VIII, first of all, he was what was to become known as the Tudor colouring, rosy skin and the famous blondish/reddish hair. Though, I don't think I mind the historical inaccuracy too much, considering how good looking he is.

The series is going to filled with passionate love stories, amazing betrayals, and of course a insurmountable amount of violence, which was the case at the time. You have to pay attention to the characters, because they all play different roles, all chasing their own ambition, trying to get a piece of the King, while some are trying to dethrone him.

Some of the big players are Queen Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Thomas Boleyn, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Howard and a handful of other players in the dangerous and sneaky game of rising to the top. (most pictured above)

You can watch the episodes online after they've aired on the CBC Tudors website. Just have to click Watch Episodes.

This is a funny trailer I found from Showtime, which is the owner of the show.

Here is one about all the king's women. And he did have quite a few mistress's and not to mention wives.

And a little bit of a promo.

Pop Weekend 4

2007-10-07T23:51:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, I went to see a screening of a few Film Pop documentaries, the first was Super Amigos and the second was Girls Rock. Both we're excellent and despite touching on different subjects, they both touched on similar themes, that helping in anyway is important.

In Super Amigos, we met several different characters, all taking inspiration from super heroes and from Mexican wrestling or Lucha Libre. Super Barrio, Super Gay, Ecologista Universal, Super Animal and Fray Tormenta are real life masked Super Heroes who fight against evil slumlords, homophobia, pollution, animal rights abusers, and poverty. They do the work that the council wont, protection people and the environment, through sometimes brutal and graphic ways, but sometimes that's what people need to make things move along.

The girls rock film was to simply to it into one word, inspirational, its amazing how young girls can really inspire you. The movie was all about young girls going to a all-girls band camp actually its a Rock and Roll camp, where they learn how to play instruments, write songs, work as a team, and at the end of a week, perform one of their songs in front of 600 people. Which must be nerve racking. But the most important thing that these girls learn is to be themselves and to help others. In the photo above, is Palace, one of the little girls featured in the film.

After the girls rock film, two great all girls bands played after in coalition with the movie, Kickers and Pony Up. Both bands were great, really energetic and awesome. Its band like this that prove that girls can do it just as good as guys. And my whole night seemed to be focused on a similar theme. After that show, I walked down to this place called Les 3 Minots, and saw a bands that I had never heard of but their name attracted my attention, Mixel Pixel, isn't that a great name? Anyways they were really good, kind of reminded me of Metric, same kind of style and the band featured two girls. (The photos are of the girls of Pony Up!).

Lastly, I went to Les Saints, to see French singer and electronic superstar, Yelle, she was great, really got the crowd dancing, though it seems like a good place to go dancing. It was good, danced and danced, until I had to go, which was 2:30am. Over all it was a great POP Montreal day, and my finale.

Pop Weekend 3

2007-10-07T23:51:00.001-04:00

Today is the very last day of the Festival, and I have to say I'm quite partied out after last night. I'm still debating whether I should go out after our Thanksgiving supper or if I should just stay home and relax with my extended family. I'm not entirely sure whats going on today at the festival, there's the closing party which I'm sure is bound to be incredible, and a few interesting looking gigs, but theres not much that would get me to leave the comfort of my home.

On Friday, I went to the Grizzly Bear show, I have to say I didn't like them very much, their sounds was too lucid for my taste. It was almost like there were no lyrics at all, only "Oooohh" and "Aaaahhh's". The only part of the Grizzly Bear set that I liked was when Owen Palette (above) played violin for a song that one of the band members great-aunt had written. But I really enjoyed the two opening bands, which were Plants and Animals, and Yeasayer.

Yeasayer (pictured above) opened up the show, and I was a little unsure at first of what they were going to sound like, but it was incredibly good. It was kind of like watching watching some kind of ritual, and the music played well with that theme, and the dancing. Almost like the lead singer was trying to convert us to his religion: of music. I think they've been getting a lot of buzz lately for their song "2080" which is the one I remember the most from the show, you can listen to it on their myspace page, click the link above.

And Plants and Animals were brilliant as usual. Its a shame that they didn't have time to finish their set, they only had one song left, and they were asked to finish early. A real shame. They played one of my favourite songs "A l'oree des bois". Wish it was on their EP that was just released and that i bought, but there's "Faerie Dance" and a couple of newer songs. And the EP is made in Canada which is great.

Staturday was a crazy day, and I'm still recovering from it, and no its not because I drank too much. I had only on drink, and lots of water.

Pop: Day 2

2007-10-05T01:48:00.000-04:00

Well, the Final Fantasy show was sold out, so that was kind of a bummer, but of course, there are so many things going on, that all I needed to do was wander into one of the countless venues! Since I was in the neighborhood I went to check this one place out, which I was a little curious about called Cagibi. There were a couple of artists playing there, and a few I had heard of through various means. It was certainly different from last nights adventures, there were quite a few solo acts playing, or sometimes called experiments. I was going to go to the other show down at Club Coda, but I was surprisingly tired, and decided to catch the last metro of the night to get home.

I think it was a fair trade.

But luckily some of the bands I missed are playing again during another night, which is great. So October 4th, day 2 of the festival was good, didn't see the shows I wanted, but thats ok, discovered some new bands and talent. And I can always see the other ones next time they come through. I saw Mark Berube, Xander Singh, David Macleod and These Hands, in the quaint and cozy back room or Cagibi.

Another note, Cagibi, is in fact a very lovely and eclectic vegetarian restaurant, with affordable food. It looks like a great place to hang out with friends, write or read a book. Its at 5490 St-Laurent.

My Pop: Wednesday

2007-10-04T02:01:00.000-04:00

POP Montreal has started, POP Montreal has started, POP Montreal has started!!!!

I think you got the point.

But its nothing more then true! I got back something like an hour ago from the first day of concert going and I'm thirsty for more! If you'd like to know more about what I did, visit this Insomniac Press or click here.

But what am I going to see tomorrow? In fact I already know, and looks something like this. First I'm going to check out Final Fantasy (22:00) along with Basia Bulat (21:00) and Oh Bijou! (21:00) at the Ukrainian Federation (5231 Hutchison). This should be a nice mellow show, full of melodies and soul.

Afterwards, depending of the time, but I'm pretty certain I'm going to check out a show at Coda (4119 St-Laurent) where Mixylodian (22:00), Magic Weapon (23:00), Mahjor Bidet (24:00) and We're Marching On (1:00).

Of course there are countless shows going on during the festival, so have fun, be safe and party!

What is It?

2007-10-02T14:00:00.000-04:00

Answering the query I left at the end of the Flickr Genome about RSS feeds and what and how they work. Since the internet is such a big place, combining Java script, HTML, flash, and CSS, theres a lot to go around and to understand. I have basic comprehension of these, except for RSS, for the simple reason I had no reason to use it, but after looking it up, I might be partial to using them.

From what I read, using RSS (Rich Site Summary) can in fact simplify your life in more ways then one. Its a great way to keep track and receive notifications of updates from blogs, papers and various other websites without actually visiting them manually. There are different ways to subscribe to feeds or channels, but most of the time you need some kind of intermediate program.

There are quite a few options when it comes to tracking your RSS feeds, there's Google Reader, Blogline and My Yahoo which are online alternatives. If you use Firefox you can use they're Live Bookmarks service which does the same. All of these are relatively similar, since they all will alert you when your favourite page has something new to divert you.

You can subscribe to this page or Insomniac press.

Late Nigths and Early Mornings

2007-10-01T04:52:00.000-04:00

I'm in a blogging kind of mood, so I'm going to do the Video Post right now, so you'll have plenty of time to watch them during the day.

There are plenty of good late nights talk shows out there, and even a few good day time ones as well, and I scoured YouTube for some good moments from some of these shows!

Of course the iPhone is the talk of the cell phone industry at the moment and thats means that people love to make fun of it. Here's a humorous example from Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Another Conan video, where is jacket is mysteriously too big.

Conan vs. Chuck Norris:

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Iranian President on Homosexuality

A little bit of Carson with Ellen Dancing:

And MySpace letters:

Here's a little Ellen and her singing with slash:

And then some Animals:

How about a little Craig Ferguson. This guy is crazy and sometimes very dirty.

About James Bond and Gadgets:

His problems and talks about the heart:

Blog Update

2007-10-01T04:31:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say sorry for the lack of updates from Emily, she's been rather busy with school and everything, and I sometimes have a hard time managing both, but I'm determined to let neither die. So I'm basically running two separate blogs by myself for the past month and a half, and on some days its a real killer to keep track and find enough interesting stories to satisfy myself and the blog. Its hard work, but I enjoy it, its quite fun and its oddly rewarding. If ZM and Insomniac were combined, I have written about 60 posts in September, thats a lot, some are quite long and researched.

I'm going to see if I can convince Emily to post a story every now and then, but I don't want to nag her about it, but I think I would appreciate it greatly if she could put something up every two weeks or something.

On the days where I feel a little lazier and don't feel like looking up an immense amount of information, I usually go for something I know about or something easy like video's or photo's.

And I just finished rearranging some of the labels, because some were better utilized when paired with something similar, so its a bit more specific but still very topic orientated. Like I placed Technology and Electronics together, since they're very similar but different all at once, though it'll be easier for me, and for people to look through the labels.

Sorry about the moaning and complaining. Just wanted to share that, if you hadn't noticed.

The Flickr Genome

2007-10-01T03:48:00.000-04:00

If you've ever used Flickr, you know all the possibilities and challenges that occur when using it. If you're in the dark about Flickr, I'll explain briefly what it is and what it does. Flickr is a great way to share photos only for free, you can store up to 200 photos and have a monthly limit of megabytes which you can upload on a regular and free account. Which is a great deal, of course you can upgrade to a Pro account which lifts all restrictions about storage and limits which is worth it if your planning to store most or all of your photos online, whether publicly of privately.

I have the basic account, and its been working fine for me over the past few years, though at times I would have liked to have had a larger amount of storage and would like to have a pro account in time. I use Flickr for two reasons, the first is to share photos with my family and friends and to store pictures for the blog, so I don't use up all the Blogger limit which is only 1Gb.

Oddly enough, while I was using Flickr, I found something interesting about Flickr. Its basically a map of all the possible uses the photo hosting site, and its pretty amazing when you look at it. And once you've taken in the immense possibilities, you start to find yourself in it and how you use Flickr. The graph is by Soldier Ant.

Click for bigger picture, of course to see better!

On a side note, does anyone understand RSS feeds, because I honestly don't, maybe I should blog about what it is, for my better understanding and yours. (Noted)

Pop Montreal #6

2007-09-29T17:57:00.000-04:00

While I was searching for yet more bands to go see during the Pop Montreal Festival, I found something that caught my attention rather swiftly. Before talking about that, I just wanted to talk about how I choose what bands to talk about, well it isn’t a very scientific way, it functions more along the way of scanning the schedule and look up bands whose name attracted my attention or sometimes there are names that I’ve perhaps seen or heard before. Sometimes you find something amazing and other times, not so much, but the whole point of this festival is to discover previously unknown groups.

Now, moving on to the actual bands that I wanted to present to you and all of them will be playing the same night, October 3^rdat La Tulipe (4530 Papineau), first off is Miracle Fortress one of the many Graham Van Pelt projects, sometime he plays the shows alone or with his crew which are Jessie Stein, Jordan Robson-Cramer and Adam Waito. I’m not sure how to describe them; it’s a light and fun sound that you just can’t help smiling to. They’re a favourite of PopMontreal and a Montreal staple, just one of those bands that you have to see.

Then at 22:00, we have Born Ruffians (pictured above), from Toronto but have been getting quite a bit of attention from the UK and the US. Their unique sounds it bound to get your attention, a mix of boisterous pop and with a good helping of rock; the perfect blend to get you moving.

Lastly the headlining band, Caribou, which I find is a bit of an odd name, but it’s one that I’ve heard quite a bit these days. I think the best way to understand them is what Pop wrote in their band bio: Caribou gallops into POP behind a gem of a release on Merge Records, Andorra, (his third full length offering of psychedelic bleep rock fuzz n’ pop) and is pretty much guaranteed to leave you with cartoon stars and tweety-birds fluttering around your head. (from POP Montreal)

The following video is for Melody Day from Caribou.

Since there are barely any days left before the festival, I’m pumping up the POP Montreal related posts. So get ready to listen to a lot of music! And of course to remind everyone who doesn't have their passes bought to get that done before the 3rd, or else it'll be too late, and for those of you who do have one, make sure to plan out your days with efficiency.

The show including Miracle Fortress, Born Ruffians and Caribou, starts at 21:00 at La Tulipe on October 3rd.

Me

2007-09-29T01:48:00.000-04:00

While reading the blog, I realized that I'm actually pretty lame in more then one respect. I play way to many word related games then is cool, and I think the fact that I write a blog actually marks me as weird. And since I love Brotherhood 2.0 which is the emblem of nerdfighters.

Oh well, I don't really care, its me.

Its the Weekend!

2007-09-29T01:18:00.001-04:00

We're Friday today, the start of the weekend for most, and time to relax and have a little fun. I just spent a couple of hours playing Scrabble with my brother, which he used all his letters twice giving him a bonus of 50 points. Its amazing doing that once, and even more so twice. Oh, I forgot to mention, we were playing Super Scrabble. Though, with sheer effort and brilliance I was able to catch up by making a series of strong words and combinations right down to the end. Since our scores were so close, we decided to arrange it to finish in a tie, so no one was upset. The final score was 624, which is pretty darn good.

So playing board games and card games, notably poker, is a great way to have wholesome fun with family and friends. Its not something people think of doing very often, but it can be quite a lot more fun then going out and getting super drunk. Its a good way to bond and have a good laugh. Especially when playing poker, depending with who your playing with, it take certainly take interesting twists.

Another thing which is easy and fun to do, is checking out a movie, whether old or new, whether at home or at the movies. Enjoying a bowl of popcorn and a good movie, theres nothing better then that. Last Friday, we saw Good Luck Chuck, which was well worth the time and money, it was really funny and witty, and theres lots and lots of sex.

So enjoy your Friday, and your weekend! Don't always have to get pissed.

PS: Emily, we still to battle each other out in a game a Scrabble.

The Colour Blue

2007-09-27T17:01:00.000-04:00

Another photo essay about colour, I've done green and pink, and now its time for blue. All of these photos were sourced from Flickr and all the authors of these photos are stated beneath every one.

Turquoise by Viton

Milky Wave by Viton

Looking up he say the light by Dappers

Julian at River I,Puzzled

Peacock Offering 2t

Post No Bills by f-l-e-x

Blue Flower by Firenzesca

By Maulopes

Pop Montreal #5

2007-09-26T18:10:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks, the music during this feature has been a relaxing sort, and decided to find something that would make you want to dance and rock out. I think I found some good options.

There is a show going down on October 5th at the Academy Club which has a more Rock theme to it. The headliner is the Zoobombs playing at 1:00am, a thrilling Japanese import, bringing excitement and new sounds to everywhere they go. I've heard they put on some of the best shows out there. And the great thing about PopMontreal, is that if you miss a certain show, there are some bands that will be playing during the afternoon specials, and the Zoobombs are one of them. They will be playing at Le Divan Orange at 15:00 along with a few other bands. Get ready to shake and dance your ass off.

Also playing during the Oct. 5th show, a band worth checking out and haling from Toronto. Uncut brings their own energy and soul to every show, making your skin tingle and your body sway unconsciously. They play before the Zoobombs at 00:00.

Also playing during the same show are The High Dials which is quality pop-rock and Syme which reminds me of sitting in a peaceful and beautiful place with a sense of heightened awareness. Syme starts the show off at 22:00 followed by the High Dials at 23:00.

Of course to find and discovery a myriad of artists and bands, along with FilmPop events, visit the PopMontreal page and/or the PopMontreal Schedule.

Need Distraction?

2007-09-26T03:03:00.000-04:00

I have recently renewed my passion for a certain word game aptly called Bookworm. It has to be one of the best puzzle/word game out there. I just love it, and truthfully I have become more then a little obsessed with it. Its not one of those games where you want to stop in the middle of level 17, even though you can easily leave the game and come back several hours later, and be able to catch up. The worst thing is if you know someone who plays the game as well, even if its on a different computer, you still feel the need to beat the other, whether its in word length, or word points or overall score, this game is pretty competitive.

I remember playing the other day for several hours straight because I wanted to see how far I could get, and that point was when I was overwhelmed with fire tiles coupled with some terrible letters was caused my demise.

Here are my best scores:

Top Classic Score: 614 250
Longest Word: Filling - 7 letters
Best Word (points): 6 300

In my opinion those are pretty good. Though I haven't scanned much of the competition out there, and I'm pretty certain there are plenty who have gotten far greater scores then that.

And if your willing to try to beat my score, then you need to play Bookworm, you can play online for free but the downside of that is the fact that you can't keep your scores. So thats kind of a bummer. Or you can buy the game, or you can try to download illegally via something like Ares which could probably be done. I got mine via a friend of a friend.

You can download a trial version via Popcap or Yahoo Games. Though I think it comes to the same.

Mummies

2007-09-25T22:14:00.000-04:00

When someone says mummy, the first thing that should come to your mind is Egypt, since their mummies are the most famous, but some might not know that there are many different kind of mummies from many different parts of the world. Mummies are sometimes deliberately made, while other times, they are purely accidental.

Some of the more well known preserved bodies are known as Bog Mummies, and as the name states they are from the bogs found in North-western Europe, predominately Great-Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, northern Germany and Denmark.

They expect that the bodies found in the bogs were extremely unlucky, though they surely didn’t just fall into the bog and weren’t able to get out, so historians and specialists suspect that most were either human sacrifices to ward off illnesses or to celebrate military victories. Of course, the most spectacular thing about these mummies is the sometimes incredible state of preservation, where sometimes clothing and hair are still clinging to the body. The one fleshy skin takes on an almost leathery appearance, becoming a dark brown tint.

Since the bog preserves artefacts, it sheds light on different periods in history; the range is between 8000 B.C. to the early medieval period. So there is a lot to learn and discover.

Mummies are usually caused by extreme environmental surroundings, as in the case of Ötzi who was named after the Ötztal region where he was found. After a number of tests, this particular ice mummy is assumed to be 5 300 years old. He was found with several artefacts which have been of great value to understand how people survived in the intensive cold.

Since his discovery in 1991, scientists and researchers have been puzzled over the cause of death of the ice man, but the mystery seems to have been solved, in 2001, when the body was handed over to the new custodians they decided to run another battery of tests, and that’s when they discovered the previously unseen arrowhead embedded in his shoulder, which would explain the cause of death.

If you’ve never seen the ice man, it’s quite a sight; the skin resembles lacquered as worn leather. And the body is perfectly preserved, as is the case in most bodies found in similar situations.

Though natural mummification is a rather rare occurrence, though it does happen, and we can only hope to find more and intriguing discoveries to help us understand our bodies as well as our environment. So it is crucial that we continue to research what we have in our grasp.

YouTube and Emotions = Disaster

2007-09-24T18:08:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks, this guy called Chris Crocker posted a video on Youtube where is crying over Britney Spears's recent tribulations, this is rather old news, but I finally watched the video since everybody has been talking about it. Its pretty disturbing to watch someone who is so distressed about someone who he has never met, but has obviously worshiped his entire life. This is distressing to me, because it shows how our society has been slowly - or on second thought quickly - become obsessed with the ongoing battles that the Hollywood stars go through, and since they are after all, only human, we can't expect the best and reasonable out of them. Its definitely not worth crying about in my opinion. But this guy apparently likes wasting precious time crying and trying to obviously protect this fallen star. Well, I'm torn, I'm not sure whether its funny to watch or worrying.

Since this guy has certainly attracted quite a bit of attention of the media and of my secret brother John Green, thought I would post some of the parody sketches that have been plaguing YouTube. Some are funny, others not so much.

Attacking the Mother(board)

2007-09-23T13:03:00.000-04:00

I think this news article might interest Emilie, who has been having some trouble with her computer lately. Its about hackers and viruses and how they get in, in the first place. Most malware, viruses, trojans and other computer illnesses find their way in through the internet, like instant messaging, websites and most commonly attachments. I have had my share of viruses on my old computer because of a lack on proper protection. But like condoms, there is always that 1% chance that something could slip through. Though, your better off taking any chances because being infected means that you could lose memories and important information like credit card numbers and bank account information. Those are things that you don't want in the hands of someone.

Lately the virus that has been going around is one which infiltrates itself via instant messaging, asking you to download a zip file, which in fact releases the virus into your computer. So if someone messages you asking you to accept a file, decline first of all, and ask the person. Because it is bad form to demand someone to download a file, when your not even talking with them.

This Reuters Article as more information on virus and how hackers do it.

So watch out where your cursor is going, and don't click on anything suspicious or even better don't go on the internet at all, but then that would certainly cause some kind of problem. You' be terribly bored.

There is really nothing that is fool proof against computer malware, you just have to equip yourself as best as possible. Apart from that, you'll never be 100% safe, but you can get close to that. As virus software evolves, so will the viruses, and unfortunately that means shelling out 90$ to update your software. Well, I'd rather pay that then lose all my information and have to pay the same thing to get my computer cleaned out. Think about that. Its a security blanket, knowing that most things can't penetrate your PC.

Oddly enough, most of this blog post could be read as very dirty if you simply change a few words. I swear I didn't do by purpose, ok, well maybe just a little.

Going Back More then a Decade

2007-09-20T21:32:00.000-04:00

Today, thought we would go back in time, to my childhood, and how movies were delightful back then. I remember some my favourites which are timeless classics. Though to be honest, when I look back some of them, they are quite strange, like The Little Mermaid and Jungle book. And most of them have songs in them or musical bits, and we will looking at some of the memorable songs from those movies.

This is a song, that I'm pretty sure everybody knows (I hope so) and its from the little mermaid, Under the Sea. This song stays suck in your head for days! And I remember a few years ago, it was a craze!

In Mary Poppins which is a musical in its own right, has a handful of great scenes and songs. Though this movie is quite a bit older then I am, I still enjoyed when I was a child, and I still do!

My mom tells me this was one of my favourite movies when I was a tiny tot, I think she said I would watch this movie every day for a couple of weeks. This is one of the good songs from the flick, Bare Necessities, and its a bear singing.

What about some working dwarfs, like in Snow White, I almost forgot about this one, and its odd because I don't remember the song being this long. The hi-ho part only begins half way through the video.

You can't help but smile at these videos, they are pure classics and will stay so for ever, even with the new technology, you can't recreate the joy and pleasure in watching these simple films. I just love it.

And if anyone can think of other memorable songs, please send it to me.

Pop Montreal #4

2007-09-20T00:47:00.000-04:00

There are some really great bands playing at the festival this year, lots of local acts and bands from afar. The following acts, Katie Moore, The Watson Twins and Magnolia Electric Co. will be playing on Wednesday October 3rd, at La Sala Rossa, the fun begins at 9:00 pm.

Katie Moore , home grown talent and she will be kicking off the show with her soft folk orientated tunes. She often collaborates with different bands in Montreal many with Warren Spicer (member of Plants and Animals, Timber! and Orillia Opry) and is a member of Socalled. This is her first solo project, and she has recently released an album. And as is stated on her website, "Katie is most excited about singing her own songs."

The Watson Twins, not Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and the Watson Twins, just the twins. But the band as we know them now were born of the collaboration. Their sound is a cool blend of country and delicate modern melodies. Their routes plainly obvious in the soulful, melancholic, and raw sound. Since the release of southern Comfort, a self released EP and they have received some attention for it, and they should expect adventure and a promising future. Myspace page.

The headlining act, or the last act playing during this show, is the Magnolia Electric Co and it follows the mood of the previous bands. This band has been around longer then the previously mentioned, but I can't find much information on the band itself, but the music is indie/folk. Myspace page.

Sorry, I'm a little late today, its more like Thursday at the moment, sorry.

Lemmings vs. Wendy's

2007-09-19T16:51:00.000-04:00

This new Wendy's commercial confused the hell out me at first, and the first thing that came into my mind were lemmings and their suicidal tendencies. Check this little video, its damn funny.

Left Hands

2007-09-18T18:17:00.000-04:00

Its always a been a mystery what causes left handedness in people, and I think it still is to most researchers and scientists. But there is something that I have noticed, is that left handed people tend to be rather good at art and drawing. Over the years, I have met quite a few people with artistic skills who were left handed, Emily is in fact left handed while I am right handed. Though being called a left hand no longer as any connections with the devil as it did until only recently, and to be a true left hander you need to use your left hand for not only small motor functions such as writing and sewing, but for large motor functions such as swinging a bat or throwing a ball. Of course it can also be told in spontaneous movements like waving.

It is suggested that between 8% and 15% of the population is left handed, and it is more likely from males then females to be left handed. The route cause of left-handedness is most likely caused by a genetic factor. Strangely, one of the genes they discovered which is linked with lefties, is also linked to psychotic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

The interesting thing is that the number of left handers seems to decrease with age, 2% of 20 year olds are left-handed, while only 5% of 50 year olds and less than 1% of people over 80 are.

Though a recent study and research suggests that during the end of the 19th century or at the term of the century, there was a apparently a significant drop in the number of left handers. They analyzed some film footage and photographs taken of factory workers waving and/or working.

The number of southpaws seems to have started waning between 1780 and 1830. He speculates that the trend may have something to do with England's Industrial Revolution, which occurred around that time and brought with it the rise of factory work on machines—designed for righties, of course. (Scientific American )

Boredom

2007-09-17T21:33:00.001-04:00

My brain feels like mush today, I honestly don't feel like doing anything, except maybe watch a movie. Oh, maybe I should, but I don't have anything that I haven't seen. Oh well.

The Prison Break episode was great, though I frankly can't remember what happened in the last episode, and they didn't do a recap of what had had happened, I don't remember who has the money, I think I need to find a way to re-watch it.

TV Land

2007-09-17T19:29:00.000-04:00

Since September marks the beginning of the new fall seasons on televsion, though I would post some little snippets and commercials. Ok, I will not be posting anything about Lost or Grey's Anatomy simply because I don't watch those shows. Never got into them.

I'm going to start it off with a family favourite, Prison Break, which premieres in 30 minutes. They're in their 3rd season, and things are getting tough for the boys who are now stuck in Panama after missing their chance of escape at the end of last.

Its oddly quite difficult to find the commercials.
Here is another show that I quite like, called Bones, and which oddly plays on Fox as well, and its quite entertaining, funny and smart. What else could you possibly need.

To be continued...

Across Canada

2007-09-15T16:43:00.000-04:00

What started as a simple afternoon with a friend (Emily) became a sort of brainstorm session about our future and possible trips. I think we have decided on going across Canada, visiting the west of the country, a place I have never been in my life. We would be going through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, stopping in every province on the way.

Its going to be difficult because the sheer size of the country is certainly an obstacle. Though we should definitely be able to make it across and reach Vancouver.

Hopefully.

This is going to a different experience for me, since I've always traveled alone, except for family vacation, and the odd school group trip. So I would be doing this adventure with Emily.

Sorry, Again.

2007-09-15T00:28:00.000-04:00

Oh geez, I've been a bad blogger these past few days, its because I've been really, really busy! Sorry, I'll make it up to everyone.

E is for Emily who choked on a pear

2007-09-12T22:11:00.000-04:00

This is wickedly funny and somewhat disturbing, I don't think is a good way to explain the alphabet to your children, but it certainly is an entertaining one, a bit frightening in all honesty.

A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.

B is for Basil assaulted by bears.

And it goes on until Z. View here.I remember the first time I had seen these, it was on Antiques Roadshow (yes, I do enjoy that show) one day, and they were talking about some of the Edward Gorey collectibles, like the books, engraved drawings, prints and stuffed animals. You first look at the books in an untold horror but when you delve into the macabre humour, you can't help but laugh at how outrageous it is. He was simply determined not to fit in, and be himself, when in high school, he painted his toenails green and walked down a busy street. Not exactly the most normal thing in the world. His original works are actually worth a lot of money, well, especially 1st editions.

If you would like to more about Edward Gorey, this site has a very good biography about him, and there is also the Goreyography which houses many examples of his work.

Pop Montreal #3

2007-09-12T19:52:00.000-04:00

PopMontreal is barely a month away, and there are still of bands that have yet to be announced, over the past few weeks I have brought some of the talent that will be performing during the festival and today I will do the same.

Grizzly Bear, like many bands playing started out with some home recording and playing a few local gigs now and then, when someone finally placed some interested in the music the band begun to really take shape and they now call Warp Records home. They’re sound is dreamy and welcoming, almost unintentional even though the band places a lot of attention into their sound, but when listening to their songs, you feel transported and welcomed.

Grizzly Bear do not skimp. They're remarkable not just for their attention to detail but for their concern for how a song FEELS: flush with heart and melancholy, their music is seductive and intimate, deep with hazy-eyed choruses, whistles, piano and banjo. They know melody and ambiance are necessary complements. This is experimental mood music with love for classics and standards. It's the kind of stuff you yearn to crank up when you're lying in bed on a Sunday. (From Website)

They play during the festival on October 5^th at 19:00 at the Ukrainian Federation, tickets are available now, or you can purchase a pop pass. They are playing with Plants and Animals (a favourite of mine) and Yeasayer.

The Old and The Older

2007-09-11T18:21:00.000-04:00

Its always amazing to find animals that can outlive humans, not only by a few years, but by decades and at times, even half a century or more. There aren't many species that cans survive that long, and I only knew of a few, like the giant Galapagos land tortoise and the sperm whale, but today I found a new one to add to that list, the Bowhead whale which is found primarily in the arctic ocean of Canada and off the coast of Alaska, but only in specific locations. The reason I know this, is because I was watching Animal Planet earlier this afternoon and was astounded at the majesty and grace of these animals despite their enormous bulk.

I do not advocate whale hunting in any way, shape or form, but it is a tradition for the Inuit people, who count on the meat of these animals to the entirety of a few village and to last them through the long and bitter winter of the northern territories.

But as scientist discovered from taking the ocular device, freezing it and sending it to be analyzed my biological chemists in San-Fransisco to determine the approximate age of the whale, and to my amazement, the conservative estimation was 170 years old. Can you believe that? But people are still somewhat skeptical about the estimations, and there is some debate about the technique.

And once I heard that, I googled the type of whale to find out more, and stumbled upon this article about a bowhead whale on CNN. How a hunted whale, once carved out and divided among the villagers, they had found something lodged within its blubber, which is up to 20 inches thick, and what they found is a 19th century weapon, to the astonishment of everyone who was present and to the scientific community. This of course cemented the possibility that certain whales, and the bowhead specifically have lengthy lives. This particular specimen's age was estimated to be about 130 years old.

I hope, that we can live with them, let the young grow old and prosper within our seas.

The Thoughest Thing Out There

2007-09-11T17:58:00.000-04:00

Test your knowledge with this Impossible Quiz, I bet you can't get to the end of the 110 questions. I know I can't, even after doing it at least a dozen times. I got to question 50, and thats pretty darn good in my opinion, though I would like to get a little further I will probably try a little later on, that is until I can't stand it any longer.

Its the Impossible Quiz 2. I'll give you a hint for one of the questions, the answer is Chris, he is the creator of this evil quiz!

Good luck to you all, see if you can get as far or maybe further.

Movies

2007-09-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

Some upcoming movies hitting our screens in the next few weeks.

Mr. Woodcock, in theaters, 9/14/2007, Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan Sarandon:

In the Valley of Elah, in theaters 9/21/2007 Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron.

Resident Evil: Extinction, in theaters 9/21/2007 Cast: Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps.

Minimize Me

2007-09-09T02:21:00.000-04:00

I need to post this, I've got an Ipod, and so does Emily, though they are quite different. I have the first generation Ipod Mini, which still works like a charm despite having dropped it least a dozen times. And Emily has the third generation Ipod which were the last to be released, though I just got drift that there is a new version being released and it now has integrated video and vivid colour. Now this new version, makes my old one, which still has the grayscale menu and the back light which is turned on manually. Yeah, its old, I got it in 2005 but as I said earlier, works just like the day I got it.

This new design varies a bit from the previous versions, it isn't as high though its a little fatter. The reason why for this deviation is to allow for the new LCD screen which is 2 inches in diagonal, perfect for streaming video. The new Nano, will be available in 4GB and 8GB, and if were to get one I would go for the 8GB especially if your thinking of stocking it with videos. The screen isn't much smaller then the regular Ipod and the features are similar, though of course you get much more space in the original Ipod which has disk space of up to 160GB. I'm not sure if its thiner then its predecessors, but its 6,5mm thin which is amazingly tiny. The price is decent, for the 4GB its 170$ and for the 8GB its 220$ (prices rounded off).

Its very eye catching and it makes me want to ditch my old one and swap it for this new and improved version. It comes in several different colours, the 4GB only comes in silver, but the 8GB comes in silver, black, red, pale blue and pale green.

The thing that I like the most about apple is that they rework and are always striving to improve their products and often take chances and push the portable audio/video players to new extremes. It forces other companies competing in that market to look outside the box. But so far Apple with its Ipod has been able to outshine most of the product out there, and dominate the market. In other words, Ipod is Apple's superstar, because without it Apple would have turned into dust.

Here is the a commercial for the Ipod Nano which features a video from Feist, a favourite artist of ours here at ZM and it is for her song 1234 off of The Reminder which is in stores now along with the new Ipod.

My Apolagies.

2007-09-08T15:49:00.000-04:00

First and formost, I would like to apolagize for my recent absence. I have been a let down to this blog, not to mention a let down to my best buddy Lisa. I'm currently sorting through some personal issues at the moment and will have to go on a leave of absence. I dont know for how long I will be gone, but rest assured because I will be back.

My sincerest apolagies.

Emilie

Oops

2007-09-07T22:00:00.000-04:00

Sorry Folks, I need to refresh my brain.

Last Day

2007-09-06T18:13:00.001-04:00

Day 2 (continued):

The show was awesome; it was a big production so it had all the bells and whistles. The fancy set, costumes and special effects. I will admit, it’s a bit weird going to see something as large as the Phantom of the Opera alone, though it didn’t bother me too much considering most of my attention and everyone else’s was on the stage. Let’s just say it isn’t a good idea getting a drink during intermission, since I had to finish it rather quickly, though the show seemed much better afterwards. Or that might have only been the alcohol.

Day 3:

I guess this day was pretty boring in comparison to the others. It consisted of checking out and wasting time at the Rideau Centre while I was waiting to go to the train Station.

Though something kind of funny happened, when I left the hostel I noticed a guy sitting outside and writing down in what I’m going to assume is a journal, and then later on in the day, when I was waiting for the bus he got in after me, and happened to be going to the train station. I had to exchange my ticket for an earlier time, and that went ok, despite the small fee I had to pay.

When it was time to board he got into line, then after that I lost track of him, but when we arrived in Montreal we were going the same way, until I turned onto a different street.

After that, I joined my dad at his office and waited for my brother to arrive so that we could go have supper before the orchestra began. We ate in the food court at Complex Desjardins, and then fooled around at bit.

The Montreal Symphonic Orchestra was quite a different experience to what we usually do as a family, but it was spectacular. I can’t really comment on the quality of their playing or the rightness of their tune since I’m really no good at music, though I love it. It was a great experience, and was surprised to find out that for 3 of the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pieces were to be accompanied by a Contralto (operatic singing) and it was treat to hear.

And that is the end of Art week for me; though maybe I’ll find something else to visit in the near future.

The Morrow will be Better

2007-09-05T23:40:00.000-04:00

I have to say I'm completely bushed, and as much as I would like to give you all my thoughts on the shows I have seen in the past 24hrs, and all the things I have done including my last day in Ottawa, I don't think I have enough energy at the moment. Though, I'm sure after a good nights rest, I'll give you a better account of things then I could do at the moment, see you all tomorrow with that post!

I really am looking forward to my comfy bed...Ahhh...

Message For All

2007-09-04T17:50:00.000-04:00

The features has been suspended for the last few days because of the special Ottawa reports, thank you for your comprehension.

Management.

Day 1: Continued and Day 2

2007-09-04T17:30:00.000-04:00

Day 1 (continued):

The light show was pretty awesome, and I went with someone I had met in my room. We had a good time. I took a video of the light show, and just waiting for Youtube to upload it.

Day 2:

Today was all about the Art.

I got up kind of late, because I had a hard time falling asleep last night, and so my day started off a little slowly. After breakfast/lunch, since it was about noon, which I had at a nearby second cup after visiting the bank for some more liquid funds, and found the Ottawa headquarters of Scientology, so that was cool. After that, I walked past the United-States Embassy on my way to the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) to see what I had come to Ottawa to see, Renoir’s Landscapes, and it was worth every penny.

I even splurged and took the audio guide as well because sometimes it really can help and brighten up your experience because it explains things that the signs don’t, so the 5$ it cost was well used by the end of the exhibit.

The paintings were every bit as spectacular as I thought they would be, and it shows the experimental side of Renoir, how he didn’t stick to the normal rules of landscape painting. He would often break most of them for the compositional side as well as from the colour side. Some of his paintings feature at most two different colours, like blue and green, but in every shade possible. Or they would look almost unfinished but when they were, with the back coat showing through making the paint look transparent with an almost watercolour aspect to them or with thick smudges of paint applied with palette knives.

While looking at some, you could almost feel yourself standing in the field or surrounded by a dense forest. He was a very gifted painter and landscapes were his outlet to attempt new things and maybe adopt some of the other painters techniques like from Monet, Manet and Cezanne.
After the Renoir exhibit, I wandered a bit through the Canadian contemporary collection and spotted some neat paintings from various artists and how lucky we are to have them. They are a testament to Canada and its people.

Since it was about 2:30 when I left the museum, I walked around a bit, finally returning to the Rideau Centre; I bought a few little things, and ate an early supper since I was starving.

At the moment, I'm just relaxing before going to go see The Phantom of the Opera at the Arts Centre. Talk about that later.

Ottawa Part 1

2007-09-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

Things went better than expected today, the train was on time, I didn’t have a problem finding the bus to get to the hostel, and then decided on going down to parliament since it was in my view and walked around the grounds before deciding on going on a tour of the Centre block, and I was lucky since it was the last tour of the day and the guide was good. Not super funny or anything special but she had charm and explained things properly.

It was good since I wasn’t shy and happily responded to her questions and asked one myself when we were in the library, which is an amazing building. I asked which the oldest book that they had was, and it was a book of the new world which dates back to the 15^th century. And the most valuable book is worth about 14-15 M$, that’s a hell of a lot for a book. The buildings themselves are beautiful and are a perfect example of gothic revival which occurred during the 19^th century. The library which amazingly survived the fire that destroyed most of the centre block is in my opinion is the crown jewel of the parliamentary buildings. The cravings on the exterior and interior of are exceptional, from the senate rooms to the House of Commons and of course the library.

After the tour, I wandered around nearby and got something to drink because I was damn thirsty because of the hot weather, and was set to go and explore some more. I walked past the Rideau Centre, where I had had lunch while waiting for the proper check-in time, which is a maze in itself, and deserves a closer look. I walked through Byward market, and spotted some interesting things, like in front of The Aulde Dubliner there was a street artist, and he was drawing in chalk a reproductions of some Italian paintings, which the artist’s name has escaped me. Oh, well. I had supper at the same Irish pub as aforementioned.

I read a bit since I had no one to talk to, and then wandered back to my cell.

That’s my day.

Mass Plague Graves

2007-09-03T11:28:00.000-04:00

Venice one of the most romantic cities in the world, and a place of marvellous architecture, though it is also a city of the dead. On Lazzaretto Vecchio, a small island in Venice’s Lagoon, mass graves were discovered when the foundations for the new archaeology museum were being constructed. This seems oddly appropriate since they uncovered something that will surely be on exhibit in the newly constructed museum.

In the 15^th and 16^th centuries Europe was devastated by plague and every city had to fend for themselves when it came to trying to keep the plague under control. This island is said to be the very first quarantined area, also called a lazaret, where anyone who demonstrate symptoms were sent to the island. This was a very effective method to control the disease from spreading and from taking more victims.

There were no exceptions when it came to the quarantine, whether you were rich or poor you were sentenced to the lazaret and all lived and died in the same squalid conditions. If you lived you were a lucky one.

The death rate was so high with up to 500 deaths a day, the Monatti or corpse carriers had no time for a proper burials the graves were nothing more than large holes where the bodies would be dumped off their carts.

But it was all for the sake of the city, without Venice would have remained devastated and its role as an international port would have been forever damaged. But it got back on its feet because of its ruthlessness towards the sickness and it probably minimized the amount of dead.

So far they have discover over 1 500 bodies and 150 boxes of artefacts like combs, buttons, pottery, coins and jewellery. They expect there are thousands of other bodies peppered throughout the marshes.

This is just the kind of thing that you can stumble upon in Europe or anywhere else in the world. The newly discover bodies and artefacts will be on display, or at least a selection of them.

For more information on the story please visit National Geographic.

References Of Note

2007-08-31T21:43:00.001-04:00

There’s always a ton of interesting things going on in the city, and well, honestly it’s hard to keep track of. Though there are some tricks for staying in the loop, some are simple and require only a few minutes of attention, though others require a bit more digging.

The following are in the order from easy to effort;

The Hitlist at the Hour, gives you a comprehensive though restraint view of what you could be doing this weekend. At the moment there’s this weekend and the next, you it’ll give you a bit of time to prepare.

Of course, you can flip through the pages of various Newspapers such as The Gazette, where they have a weekend life section, which gives you some ideas on what to check out, though, you should also take a look into the arts and life section.

Though, if you’re more interested if there are any music gigs you might want to check out, I would suggest three different sites, all have different level of acts and performances. You have BSTB (Blue Skies Turn Black), Pop Montreal, GEG (Gillette Entertainment Group).

And of course taking a look at individual venues listings are a big help like Metropolis, Le National, La Tulipe, La Sala Rossa and not to mention the Bell Centre.

Oh, not to mention, you can also scour ticket vendors like Admission or Ticketpro which cater to most venues in Montreal.

And when you find yourself looking and inspecting these often, well then you know you’re quite a party person. Have Fun!

The Challenge

2007-08-30T16:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, there's a good chance that I'm going to do the toothpaste challenge on Saturday with my brother, we might video tape it. Should be interesting. Wish us luck.

Green

2007-08-30T15:03:00.000-04:00

Again for Wildcard day, I decided to do a photo essay on green. Pictures taken from flickr, that had green in their tags, there are some very beautiful and strange photos that come up, all I can say is enjoy the pictures.

Forest in Glencoe by Moi

Peace by Andre [zensiert/censored]

Green rails by Les Jours Heureux

Daymar Flowers by chimdachimp2000

Green Uniforms by Kookoo!

Green Rickshaws in traffic by Uncultured

One of my pictures

Smile and Show me Those Chompers!

2007-08-29T22:16:00.000-04:00

I was thinking the other day while I was brushing my teeth and thinking how I need to make an appointment with my dentist, I was wondering what would happen if I continually brushed my teeth until I finished the tube of toothpaste. I don't know if doing this would have any serious repercussions on the health of my teeth but its just an interesting thought.

If I did attempt this, I would get a regular tube, not an extra big one...

Should I try this.

I don't know, what do you think?