January 2007 Archives

I saw Paradise Now, last night. It wasn't bad at all. I really liked the way it was shot and the way the lead character was played by Kais Nashif. Anyway, it's worth renting.

Support Merge Records and pre-order Neon Bible. I just purchased the deluxe CD version and they say it will arrive "...on or around March 6th...". My earlier experiences ordering from small labels causes me to translate this bit of dialogue as 'you will receive this before the 6th, rock on'.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

The basic CD is $10, deluxe is $15 and the LP is $18. The LP comes with a coupon to download the mp3 version of the album, so it's an absolutely wicked deal.

-Sudoku! - MSNBC.com
-Sea Sends Distress Call in One-Note Chowders - The New York Times
-You May Kiss the Chef's Napkin Ring - The New York Times
-Harvard Experiences Sculpt Obama Appeal - The New York Times
-An Unlikely Alliance - Newsweek
-UAE Beats Americans' Environmental Harm - Associated Press
-Industry Signals Bush to do More on Warming - MSNBC.com
-Exxon Cuts Ties to Global Warming Skeptics - MSNBC.com

Finally, feel free to dream about your next vaccation, at Forbes Traveller

Have I been hiding under a rock, or something? Oh wait, I was in the Dominican Republic... It looks like The Arcade Fire have gotten off their collective asses and released the first single from their soon-to-be-bought-by-many album. Has it really been two and a half years?

The song is Black Mirror, the album is Neon Bible and how do I find out about this? Where else but from the hipster audio-only music channel on my cable box, at 5 in the morning!?

"Hmm, this is a catchy tune... Sounds kind of famil... OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!"

Either none of you cared to tell me about this, or none of you knew. If it's the former, I despise you and if it's the latter, check out the website, for a pretty decent stream of the new single. Me likey.

You can also find the video from the website, of Win making fun of Richard, on YouTube. Looking at the tracklist, I'm super excited that they've recycled and polished No Cars Go, for the album. It sounds great.

Anyway, its due out in about a month. Let's all hold hands and thank the lord for his bounty.

So I don't know who saw it last night, but GWB let us know all about how things are going down in his neck of the woods. I have to give him points for a speech well-delivered. Obviously I didn't agree with everything he said, but he did say some things of note. In particular, I liked the mention of an attempt to eliminate earmarks. This is a clearly needed and from a cynical point of view, why fix the problems on your end, when you can chastise the Senate for problems on their end! Still, it was good to highlight a problem that has grown exponentially during the Republican 'revolution' of the mid-nineties and up to this year. It seemed that just a little bit of civility returned to the house chambers. Although the applause was often still partisan, GWB's speech wasn't so divisive as to sharply highlight the differences that exist between the parties. Speaker Pelosi had a meeting earlier on in the day to insist that all democrats in attendance, be good. On the flip side, President Bush was gracious in his pre-speech comments to Speaker Pelosi and although it took a midterm election drubbing and his lowest approval ratings to date, his speech was somewhat conciliatory as he seems to be aware that more than ever, he is on weak footing.

In more important news, not only is 24 is back (BAUER POWER!), but Prison Break and Heroes have returned from their holiday break as well. Not to harp on and on about my newest friend, but life truly is better in high definition...

I don't know how long this link is going to stay free, but check out the Globe and Mail's article on movie piracy in Canada.

So I've been taking a look at the stats for the site and noticing an unfortunate trend. People that are looking at the pictures over in the Phlog section, are only looking at the first page of pictures. Despite both dialogue and visual aids, a lot of you bastards aren't paying attention to the notice page before you get to the pictures.

So if you just clicked that link, you'll notice two things. I wrote out instructions on how to navigate the page. Of course, I realize that a lot of times people aren't so much into reading per se, so I put up a visual aid as well, so people could just look at the picture and understand what to do.

Still not working.

The point is, you've gotta scroll up to see the navigation to get to the next page.

I don't really have the time to make it more logical at the moment and I understand that it's a bit funky, so my apologies.

It's been awhile since I've updated the site, so a belated Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you. I've just returned from the Dominican Republic, so feel free to check out some pictures from the trip. Below are some links on the environment and Iran.

-Ancient ice shelf breaks free in Canadian Arctic - MSNBC News
-Climate 2006: Rhetoric up, action down - BBC News
-U.S. moves to list polar bears as threatened - Associated Press
-Scientists: Holiday spices impact Puget Sound - Associated Press

-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Iranian Paradox - Time
-Ahmadinejad and Thin Ice - Newsweek
-Tally in Iran Vote Spells 'Setback' for President's Hard Line - New York Times
-Iran: A Brewing Battle of Heavyweights in Tehran - Newsweek
-No nuclear halt, warns Khamenei - BBC News
-Iran's key nuclear sites - BBC News