Thursday, December 23, 2010

From The Knowing That I'll Never Sing In Tune, Like The Rest Of You

On Canadian radio there is a law in place, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, that requires a certain amount (35%) of their content to be Canadian. On one hand this is good because it assures that young Canadian artists will have a chance for success and not be overshadowed by more popular artists from the United States. On the other hand it sucks because A) a ton of really shitty bands get airplay they don't deserve, because they are Canadian (I'm looking at you Hedley) and B) they get ahold of a decent band and just play the shit out of them. As as result, there's a lot of bands that are pretty fucking rad, but I can get turned off of because they are played on 102.1 The Edge so much.

Sidenote: The worst part of these bands getting played is the assholes that come to the shows. I don't want to sound like a cynical "I was there before you" jerk, but I've been following The Flatliners for a pretty long time now (I think right before Destroy To Create came out) and the shows have been getting kind of shitty lately because of the kids that come because they heard "This Respirator" on the radio. The pinnacle was the show I went to last week. It just sucks that all the "Moto-X" kids come to shows wearing Metal Mulisha and stuff because they haven't grown out of punk and started listening to dub-step and shitty hip-hop yet.

One such of these bands was Attack In Black. Their debut album "Marriage" came out and the first single "Young Leaves" received loads and loads of airplay. This is around 2007 and maybe into 2008 a little bit. I hated it. A large part of this was that it was on the radio every time I turned it on and was getting tired of it. This is also due to the fact that back in those days I barely listened to anything that wasn't ska or skate punk and hadn't gone through my enlightenment to good song writing (and hadn't realized that girls are the devil yet).

But, because of a compilation cd I had two Attack In Black songs on my computer that weren't "Young Leaves" (they were Marriage and Broken Things). After "Marriage" started to lean towards the folkier side of their music and put a ton of music that didn't get the attention that "Marriage" did. The overplaying of the single also obviously died down after a while and I found myself enjoying "Broken Things" a little bit (C'mon, try not to yell along to the "these are the broken things in my life" part. Dare you.) because I was starting to come around to better songwriters at that time.

So that track got a decent amount of play and earlier this year I finally got around to getting "Marriage". It is just a phenomenal album. Attack In Black was originally more of a punk band and have morphed into a folkier thing. I guess it's fair to say that this album is the middle ground between the two. What I like about it (a lot!) is that it avoids the Re-Inventing Axl Rose-era Against Me! stereotypes that usually plague the genre. Rather than sticking to the open C/G/Am/Em chord structure that everyone bastardizes, they do a bunch of cool stuff (drop D tuning!). It's really a rock-punk record that healthy Canadian folk influence. On top of this is a dude who is just in every way, shape and form and awesome song-writer.

The other day I was walking through the snow to the bus in a denim jacket and jeans combo (the "Canadian Tuxedo") with this album playing and I don't think I've ever felt more Canadian (re: like a hoser) in my life.

For your health:

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I'd Have The Strength To Face You Day

A ton of people I know always rag on Toronto being a shitty city that is nothing compared to the world's other metropolises. This was something that I was thinking about today

I journeyed downtown to buy some Christmas presents. My adventure today started on the corner of Yonge and Queen and consisted of a walk up to the ROM, through Queen's Park, across Bloor to Yonge and then back down Yonge to Queen. During this walk I realized that, apart from a black hole from a little north of College down to Queen on Yonge, this city fucking rules.

Walking up through Queen's Park you get to see the park itself, which is pretty awesome. It's also right in the middle of the St. George campus of the University if Toronto, which is made up of pretty old (or at least old-looking on the outside) buildings that both show the age and reputation of the university and the city.

The journey across Bloor is one if the most ritzy parts of the city, as most of the city's upscale shopping is there. Obviously it's not stuff that really interests me, but it is a part of the city that looks really sophisticated and nice.

Yonge street (minus the few abhor-able blocks that surround Yonge and Dundas Square) seems to me like throwback Toronto to me (like from the 60's and 70's) there's a ton of independent book stores, food places, comic shops, etc. Granted, there are a ton of McDonald's and other major chains, but they don't dominate the area.

And I think all of these things are pretty cool.

Everyone seems to hate their hometown. Sometimes Scarborough does suck. Warden and Kennedy station are never much fun. The Eaton Centre and surrounding area is a pain in the ass. But I really do think that the city I came from is pretty rad.

And yo, blogger. Let me put exclamation marks in post labels. It can really change the meaning dawg.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Like A Hand Grenade

I'm going to start writing in this thing a lot. I swear.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

They Got An Arsenal And They Ain't Afraid To Use It

'Tis the mothafuckin' season.

I hate traditional Christmas music. But I love it when bands I like use Christmas as the backdrop for a song about getting dumped.

Boo-ya.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

We've Got It Made

I am writing this blog off a note I left myself in my pocket that reads "TWY, coffee, vans, lib. BO". I'm a fucking scatterbrain with a wild imagination whose mind wanders all day long. So, whenever I have what I think is a good idea I try to leave myself a reminder of what exactly it was so I don't forget. What if it was a great and interesting idea right? Well I guess we'll see how The Wonder Years, a cup of coffee, my pair of green sk8 mids and the second floor of the library smelling terrible have in common.

Oddly enough, it's the University of Guelph's exam period. How will they tie in together? Join me on this wild ride and find out.

So yea, everybody is fucking freaking out because it's time to write finals. Every status is "Not enough hours in the day", "I'm fucked", "I hate school", etc. This kind of pisses me off. I mean, I understand that you want to do well in school and worry about your marks, but everyone is on finals right now. Nobody likes a whiner.

I guess I kind of posted one of these yesterday. Verbatim, mine was "

i wish i could throw all the different parts of art and archeology of greece into a magic bullet and drink it as a smoothie instead of reading it. that would be rad", though I think this was more me commenting on how early Greek art is a little dry and trying to be funny by referencing an infomercial that everyone's seen a hundred times at the same time.


But everyone seems to be rushing around campus, of course they don't have the time to get dressed, so they're in sweat pants and uggs (I think I'm going to mention this again later) and seems to have a "woe is me" attitude because they have 5 (or less) tests over two weeks.

So I was heading back to the library last night to continue my studying of Greek art and architecture. I had The Wonder Years' cover of Lit's "Zip-Lock" blaring and a large coffee and a grin a mile wide across my face because honestly, I felt on top of the world. I've never really stressed very hard over exams. It's actually pretty relaxing to me because there's no class to drag yourself to. Granted, I also only have two finals this semester, but it was the same when I had five. I guess you should take pleasure in the little things. I mean yea, cramming for the next 5 hours sucks. Knowing you're only getting 4 hours of sleep that night sucks too. But jamming to one of my favourite bands and enjoying a warm beverage in the cold weather sure doesn't suck. What's the point of life if you just think about how much things suck all the time?

Upon entering the second floor of the Guelph library, I was immediately hit with a wave of pretty intense body odour. This ties into people just wearing sweat pants and dressing like bums too. I know you want to maximize your study, but you can't take a ten minute shower to wash your hair and rub body wash on your balls? To me, it feels like you're just trying to make everyone feel sorry for you, "oh I have to study so much, fuck my life". It's the same for the clothes. Don't get me wrong, I fully endorse dressing like a bum. Do it all the time. But these girls spend inordinate amounts of time on their appearance for the rest of the semester and then as soon as exams hit they don't have enough time to do that because they need to go surf facebook for 5 hours in the library.

Seems pretty weird to me.

Damn I can be negative sometimes.

Anyways, I put my feet up in the library and immediately thought "Goddamn I love these shoes", in reference to the aforementioned green mids. They are my skating shoes, so I guess they recall that activity, but I just also love slipping on a pair of old beat up vans that have been broken in. Combined with The Upsides following the Lit cover in my Wonder Years discography and that coffee hittin' the spot, it made for a pretty good feeling.

Didn't mean to get so pissed off about people I don't know at the end, but you get what I'm saying right?

Everybody just calm down a little bit. Things are never as bad as you think they are.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Got The Time Tick, Tick, Tickin' In My Head

It is a really common thing that people wish on the time 11:11. I don't know why, but assume that it's just because it's the same number four times. People also point out when it is 12:34, since it's four sequential numbers. A time that I usually make note of (to myself, because nobody else would get it) is 7:17, because of the song "Seven Seventeen" by the band Hopesick.

They're a pretty small band and broke up two years ago. But every time I see the numbers 7, 1, and 7 in that order it reminds me of them and makes me smile.

I wanted to put up the song, but since they were a tiny band, their songs never made it onto youtube. Check 'em out though!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

About Five Bank Accounts, Three Ounces And Two Vehicles

I am supposed to be writing an assignment right now, but instead I have decided on listen to Dr. Dre's "2001" and writing a blog instead.

I have had the prof for this class many times before (the faculty for Art History at Guelph is pretty limited) and am unsure if I like her. On one hand she seems to mark pretty easily sometimes (about 50% of the time), gives midterms that are very brief considering it's a third year class and her final assignments are never just your run of the mill research paper (they usually allow more room for creativity). On the other hand, she never seems to understand what I try to do with my assignments. (Her English is also sometimes hard to follow, though she wasn't born here and English isn't her first language, so that's bound to happen).

Alright, before I continue. I like to consider myself a creative individual. I play bass and guitar. I write a lot (between here and on my own). I like to write music a lot. I like to draw (not very seriously, but it is something that I really enjoy). I also think that I'm someone who stands out in a crowd. When I'm slouching in my spot on the couch, in checkerboard slip-ons, wearing a greasy tank-top, tight-jeans, some bright flip-up hat, listening to Anthrax and playing pokemon on my laptop, I get the idea that my closest friends kind of write it off as a "just Timmy being Timmy" type deal. Definitely okay with that, don't worry if you think that, I like it. But anyways, I think that "being Timmy" sets me apart from most people.

So this "being Timmy" is something that I've been trying to incorporate in my scholarly ventures more and more (such as that presentation that I mentioned in a blog not too long ago). This is usually easiest for me to do with the assignments that this prof gives out. For example, last year we had to design our own exhibition for a gallery and do a write-up about it. I chose to do mine about a fictional "Pez Exhibition" based around my collection. I thought it was pretty clever; a postmodern exhibition showing found items that show how "little boys don't grow up" (because I sure haven't). She did not. But she did think that another student's project showing her purse collection was clever.

I don't want to be "that guy" who always whines about how other people are getting the breaks and stuff and coasting through school, but I think that's pretty bullshit. I mean, I'm pretty sure the reason she didn't really like it was because she had no idea what Pez was before, and the exhibition seemed weird and she didn't understand it. But mostly what it boils down to is her just not being familiar with and not liking my interests, which I am trying to include in the project in order to make it distinguishable from everyone else's work.

So I'm pretty sure this is going to happen again. Our project for this class is to design a tour of a place for someone. I chose New York because it is pretty much the only place I'v travelled to (try and tell me you want a paper about Detroit with a straight face. Please try.). I decided to design the tour for my brother, because we share some interests and he would probably enjoy a trip to New York. I don't want to say that we're hipsters (but then again, is there a more hipster thing to say than "I'm not a hipster"? I still listen to The Hippos, so I think I'm okay) but we do like things that are a little out of the mainstream and "hip". For example, one of the spots I'm using is Washington Square Park. I guess "hipsters" would like the place because its location in Greenwich Village and how Bob Dylan used to hang out there and Jack Kerouac lived there (I also think this is pretty cool because Bob Dylan really rules a lot and On The Road is one of my favourite books. Fuck, I'm a hipster aren't I?). It's also relevant to us because a lot of important street skating went on there in the early 90's. So that's what I'm trying to get across in this project. Like I said, she probably will think it's dumb again, mostly because I mention skateboarding and The Ramones. It gets under my skin.

I mean if you want me to write about the same shit that everyone has been writing about forever, then give me a research essay. But if you give out an assignment that caters to personal interest, then obviously my personal interests are going to come out in it.

I don't really know where I was going with this. When I start writing with only a vague idea of what's going on a conclusion never seems to materialize.

Alright, I'm done.

My Wish-List Has Remained The Same

In my wild fantasy world where I have planned my entire life because I am extremely wealthy, I have a bunch of exotic pets. I think if I could domesticate them properly, I would have the best pets around (re: cutest). These are the first three that I would have:

Fox!



















Raccoon!















Ring-Tailed Lemur!