Wednesday, November 26, 2008

the purging of itunes

since my last post, i've had some confusion as to if Plants and Animals "Parc Avenue" and Cut Copy's "In Ghost Colours" came out in 2007 or 2008.

Turns out my iTunes thinks it knows more than I do, and in my haste to post the blog, i didn't take a second to double check. I also believe there were a few albums I in fact really did like a lot this year that weren't labeled in the player too... so maybe all hope is not lost (sigh, still not as amazing as '07 though.)

Therefore, it's safe to say these two albums are resting safely on my upcoming Best of 2008 list. More to come in the future...


P.S. -- Hooray! EDIT:: this link was supposed to go to -- this story. but hey, i'm all for promoting R3.

P.P.S. -- Saying goodbye to North America & hello to jolly ol' UK on January 6th!

Monday, November 24, 2008

getting into the ho-hum spirit

i'm staring at a half-finished essay on the effects of television onto children. i am waiting for pages of my newspaper to be finished; the last issue i will be contributing to. i've got one week left of Ryerson classes until my fourth year. i wish that caffeine would hit me when i drink it, not four hours later. every day i'm concerned over a summer internship. i must continue working on my final feature.

i decided to begin working on a 2008 top ten albums list, and when i spun through my itunes, i found that there were actually ONLY TEN albums i really loved this year. i'm saddened by this, but really, 2007 was so much better.

Here were my top 2007 albums, with no explanations, as my computer screen is stressing me out.

1. The Shins -- Wincing the Night Away
2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club -- Baby 81
3. Wintersleep -- Welcome to the Night Sky
4. Jose Gonzales -- In Our Nature
5. The National -- Boxer
6. MIA -- Kala
7. Arcade Fire -- Neon Bible
8. Coconut Records -- Nighttiming
9. Feist -- The Reminder
10. Of Montreal -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Now, here are my favourite albums of 2007 that I unfortunately discovered in 2008:
1. Plants & Animals -- Parc Avenue
2. Spiral Beach -- Ball
3. Cut Copy -- In Ghost Colours
4. The Cansecos -- Juices!
5. Office -- A Night at the Ritz

Really, all 15 albums were pure beauty and provided my only joy of 2007, it's safe to say.

You're going to have to wait for my fave 2008, basically because I'm going to need some time to get jazzed about them again.

Here, I'll leave you in good spirits with a trailer for a movie I watched last night & thought it was amazing, as well as below that, you'll find a bit from a movie I saw the night before.




Sunday, November 16, 2008

whatever it takes

Alright, so I'm at work bored... waiting on an article to be finished so I can layout the page & get back home to begin a new book (Londonstani ... prepping!) and then fall asleep.

UPDATE: I guess Londonstani is not what I remembered it to be when I bought it, so for me to say "prepping"... this is not true. It's about a South Asian gang-type in London, and I'm hardly near any of that. But... it's based in London! And this clever packet I got from my new school suggested me to read London-based books before I arrive. In fact, here's an excerpt:

"Reading a London based novel is a good way to begin thinking of the diversity of London life and its inhabitants, if not to predict your experience. A wide range of contemporary fiction set in London is available. These range from Zadie Smith’s White Teeth or Monica Ali’s Brick Lane bringing the city’s ethnic diversity into focus, to Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’ Diary, satirising a single London girl’s life, Tim Lott’s White City Blue, detailing the woes of a single London man, via urban fantasy such as Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere." /END UPDATE.

I forgot to mention in my last entry that I went to go visit the set of Degrassi (I guess because it's not exactly musically related.) But it was a ton of fun. Back in my high school days, I was pretty obsessed with the Toronto TV show, and when I found out I was moving here, I took it upon myself to make my goal be to get on their set. And lookie here, I did.


I went because I was writing an article for The Eyeopener, as four of the stars go to/went to Ryerson. Over a week's time, I interviewed all four (Evan Williams "Kelly", Nina Dobrev "Mia", Charlotte Arnold "Holly J" and Raymond Ablack "Sav.")


On a Wednesday, accompanied with my photog pal Andrew, we trekked an hour out to the North York set to hang out during lunch time with the cast & crew. We sat in their set's cafeteria, saw all of the rooms they film in (for the most part like dorm rooms, class rooms, bed rooms, fun rooms), and hung around on the school's famous front stoop looking over the fake street set where the crew gets to park their cars in order for it to look real. It was scary quiet as it was their last day filming, but still the high school girl in me was just too excited. Seeing things up close that I've seen on screen for years, and being able to report on it, just redeemed my love of Toronto & of journalism.


Anyways, for the story, go here.


Saturday, November 15, 2008

hey stranger

In terms of where priorities lie, I'll never get it point straight.

Since September, like everyone else, I've been coordinating trying to get good grades in university, do well at my job, see my few different groups of friends on a regular basis, be a good girlfriend, a good roommate, and write. But what's happened so far is I've gotten alright grades, managed to hand everything in on time, do an alright job at the Eyeopener but not as well as I had hoped, rarely see my friends, have actually been a good girlfriend and roommate (i hope), but I've barely been writing, for Chart, Round Letters, or for my own.

Enough with my pity party.

Nothing's terrible, I'm just tuckering out. However, I do need to buck up though, as I got my final yes to move to LONDON, ENGLAND! I'll be leaving this continent for one I've always longed for in January, and will not be back until May. But rest assure, I will be bringing you hopefully just as many musical musings from the good ol UK. I'll miss my precious Canada and just as precious national musicians. I hope they come visit and play some gigs I'll be able to show you. But, the great British bands I will see! Hooray.

Anyways, in the time since SPIN video #2 (haven't heard back, by the way, in a while..) I've seen Wynton Marsalis, Of Montreal, Shout Out Out Out Out, and Sam Roberts. I've also volunteered at Canzine and now a whole new world is open for me.

Of Montreal was pretty good, but not as amazing as they were a year ago at the Opera House. Kevin Barnes gets more insane with age. He stripped down to bare a shiney orange speedo capped off by a huge purple belt for most of the show, while back up dancers were grinding up on one another and the rest of the musicians just having this slightly brainwashed smirk on their faces. Needless to say, it was still enjoyable. But I really can't handle all ages shows. Insane fifteen year old emo kids don't really know much about Of Montreal, I'm sure, and when it came to songs like "Disconnect the Dots", hardly any of them knew what to do with themselves.



Shout Out Out Out Out was pretty fun, even though I was by myself. You can check out my review for it here. And my photos for it here (apparently more people hate my photos than they like them...). Also, if you haven't listened to Not Saying/Just Saying, do it. RIGHT NOW. and proceed to have a party.

Of course Sam Roberts was awesome, seriously. I was a little miffed at paying 40 bucks to go see him instead of seeing a free Spiral Beach show that night, but I guess it all worked out. I'm still sad I missed SB but i hope they come to London when I'm there. Anyways, The Stills opened, and they actually really weren't good. I saw them a few months ago at the Horseshoe, and that show rocked. But this, I don't know whether it was the venue (haha, read this), or just first-show of the week jitters, or something. I just couldn't jive to it, and the guys in the bands seemed to be making a lot of egotistical moves. The music's still good, so they can pride themselves on that. Anyways, SR was awesome, but I've got to say, the two times I've seen him free in Buffalo were way better. But whatever! Played moreso off of Love at the End of the World, but a few classics like of course "Mind Flood." Yesterday, two of my roommates and I went to go see the band play a small set at Sonic Boom, and that pretty much made my day. So close, so awesome, and they genuinely looked like they were having fun playing the songs and talking to their fans.




Canzine was awesome, I met all of the really amazing people from Broken Pencil, bought some amazing little treasures, and felt to be a good part of something so creative in Toronto.

Till next time (hopefully not another month later...) This week I'll be going to see Winter Gloves and Levi Weaver. Also, I hope to get another BestFirst in soon. However, this might not be a while because as my priorities lie, I've got to get to work on a big English paper, my final feature on a sweet coffee shop, as well as a few other deeds.

Here are some more videos:

Cadence Weapon -- "Black Hand"

Wintersleep -- "Weighty Ghost"

Woodhands -- "Under Attack"