4 April 2008, early morning
I saw the Woodhands again last night. They were playing a set at the Wrong Bar to celebrate the release of their new CD, Heart Attack. I’m listening to the CD now, and it really is quite enjoyable, but you really need to see the boys play live: they are amazing. Dan and Paul are both very skillful musicians, and there is clearly a good chemistry between them — they both play off one another during the course of a song. This show I actually got to see what Dan gets up to when he’s on stage: I had a good view of his set up and what he does while playing. Sadly, I still have no clue how he makes all the sounds he does. There is some multitasking going on that I just can’t grasp. The dude can play a Keytar: I think that’s enough reason to see the band live. Paul rapped a verse from Triumph — fuck yeah — and he didn’t mess up like the last time I saw him do a verse from California Love. (Although, I actually think his messing up at the last show actually got the crowd even more hyped up.) As before, Paul played the shit out of his drums. The crowd was dancing and it was good. The show last night was awesome.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the opening act, Machetes, a 4 girl band that reminded me of something vaguely British, though I suppose that isn’t very descriptive. The girls looked like rockers, and rocked like a mother fucker. I can’t describe how disappointed I was to learn they didn’t have any music for sale. I’ll have to find out when they’re playing live next. Seriously, I was really disappointed they didn’t have a CD. Also, the lead guitarist had purple pants on which looked hype.
[1] Music | Life
1 April 2008, early morning
Cathy used to work at a small software company with a fellow, Darrin Rose, who decided one day to become a stand-up comedian. I’m not sure how you make that leap, but it seems to have been a good choice on his part: he’s quite funny. Rose, along with Graham Chittenden and Jeff McEnery put out a CD called the Very White Album. Cathy, Patrick, and I went to the CD release party last night at the Gladstone. All three dudes were quite funny. (The opening acts were funny too — bonus!) This was actually the first time I’ve been to a comedy show live. I need to do this more often.
[1] Life
29 March 2008, lunch time
These are my orange shoes. I bought them over the Christmas break. I’m wearing them for the first time today. It looks sunny outside, so it should be A-OK. I haven’t had white sneakers in a while now.
[3] Life
27 March 2008, early morning
Cathy and I went to a fund raiser for a theatre group our friend Yeena is connected to in some way. It was taking place at the Wrong Bar, which is out in Parkdale. Parkdale doesn’t seem to be quite the same place it was a few years back. The Wrong Bar is a really nice venue. It’s very spacious, with space for a stage at the back. There is a single bar in the middle of the venue. The front is wallpapered in this gorgeous felt lion print wallpaper, that reminded me quite a bit of the Rorschach inkblot paint job at the Drake. The two of us bought some beer, sat on a very tall bench, and waited for Little Foot Long Foot to start their set. There was a silent auction taking place, so while waiting I bid on a Spa package for Shima. Little Foot Long Foot’s set was quite good. It’s a two person band: there is a guitarist singer and a drummer. The place wasn’t that busy, which seems to be the case for a lot of these shows I go to. There is a lot of good music happening in Toronto, but I get the sense it goes largely ignored. It’s a shame. I bought the bands CD which I’m listening to now. I bid once more on the Spa package, and then Cathy and I called it a night. You need to walk way up Lansdowne to catch the Lansdowne bus back North up to Bloor.
[4] Music | Life
24 March 2008, early morning
The Spring equinox was on Thursday. It’s the tail end of March. This would be great if not for the fresh snow on the ground. And the sub-zero weekend weather. When people make fun of Canada, this is totally what they are laughing about. I’m so sick of the Winter. It is making me crazy. (And by crazy, I suppose I mean full of rage.)
[3] Life
15 March 2008, late morning
I’ll have to write up something longer about the inaugural Babylon Telecom event, but for now just know that I wasn’t lying when I said it would be hype like DJ Hype. The whole event reminded me a bit of Matt’s old weekly night Inner City / Outerspace at IV Lounge. There were a lot of familiar faces from his past events. I’m listening to We Love’s EP right now, and it is good.
[2] Life | Music
8 February 2008, the wee hours
In high school we shot yearbook photos on bulk rolled spools of Ilford ISO 400 B&W film. Sometimes we’d grab a roll to shoot our own stuff, there was so much of it laying around. I did this twice. The first roll I shot Rishi developed for me. The second roll I never got around to developing.
9 years is a long time to let a roll of film sit around. The only picture I can remember taking on this roll of film was of Matt’s sister Rachel. I remember her looking sideways and me snapping the shot. The rest of the roll is a blur. And so it remained till today.
On my snow day I decided to go downtown and get this 9 year old roll of film developed. The picture of Rachel is exactly how I recall it — well minus the harsh light and all the grain I guess; in my mind it had become this brilliant lost photo. The rest of the roll is a strange look back in time.
[5] Life | Photography
6 February 2008, early morning
It’s a snowday at work, which is strange, because I don’t see any snow outside. I’m not sure if they feel bad for making us trek to work the day it was actually snowing like a mofo, only to send us home when we got there. Word on the street is it will be snowing a lot later. I patiently wait.
Update: Yeah, that is a lot of snow.
[2] Life
22 January 2008, late evening
Looking through some old photographs, I stumbled on this picture of Liz, Matt, and Shima. They’re all wearing their planning shirts. (The t-shirts were for the FEDS campaign — which they won.)
[5] Life | Photography
17 January 2008, mid-morning
Yesterday evening was busy. After having decided to buy a Bessa I found one used on Craigslist going for $450: If that’s not a sign I don’t know what is. $450 may sound pricey for a camera without an LCD display and Mega-Pixels and all that junk, but you’ll have to believe me when I tell you that $450 is a deal. Still, being an avid negotiator I emailed the seller asking if he’d sell it for $400. He replied with $425 and we had a deal. I was off after work to grab my new camera.
I asked the seller why he was getting rid of the R2A. I think when buying used gear it’s good to find out why the person doesn’t want it anymore. (I have faith in people not to lie out their asses.) When I bought my 17-40L the seller wanted to buy some prime lenses to take photos of his baby indoors — clearly he didn’t need a slow wide-angle zoom anymore. This fellow was selling this range-finder because he never used it’s auto-exposure modes. Also, he already had not one, but two Leicas. Son of a bitch.
Actually no, the fellow was quite friendly. We met in the lobby of his building and he explained the ins and outs of the Bessa, and compared it to his Leicas. All three cameras had very bright viewfinders, though the 50 year old M3 seemed to be the winner in that department. The controls are what’d you’d expect from any old film camera. Of course, I need to grab a lens and start taking photos to really form an opinion on the camera. The R2A is a nice solid camera, but the Leicas he had were really something else: you could bludgeon someone to death with that M3.
After parting ways I was off to see Magneta Lane play at the Rivoli.
[13] Life | Photography
1 January 2008, the wee hours
Happy New Years everybody. I’m playing Bang! Right now and it is awesome.
[10] Life
21 December 2007, early morning
I’ve been looking for boots recently. Actually, I was willing to settle for anything remotely suitable for winter weather. This shopping has complicated by the fact I am also spending most of my time wearing some skinny jeans I bought a couple months back. It’s hard to find shoes that go with skinny jeans.
I hopped off the subway at Dundas West station, early for a dentist appointment. I’m not a skater, but since the Junction Skateshop sells shoes and is right next to the station I thought i’d pop in. It’s a cool shop: they have a lot of unique and limited run stuff. I tried on a couple different pairs of Vans, but had to run off before I could buy anything. The dude I was chatting with about shoes was nice enough, so I told him I’d be back.
There is a brief interlude here where I learn my appointment has been delayed. Rather than go back to the shop I decide to go buy a giant tub of detergent that I am way too skinny and weak to carry back to my apartment. Somehow I manage.
After getting my teeth cleaned I was back at the skate shop. This time I thought I’d try on some high top shoes. I’m almost certain I haven’t worn high tops since high school. I was torn between two pairs. The first was a pair of The Quiet Army / Telfords. The second were the ones I bought: the every so slightly more practical all-weather MJ-3 Highs. I am one step closer to my dream of becoming a skateboarder. I’m still undecided if I like the way they look with my jeans. I guess I’ll have to get used to it either way.
As you can see my life is very simple and uncomplicated.
[3] Life
19 December 2007, early morning
I just had the most awesome chocolate croissants from Ma Maison. My coworker brought some in on her way to work. I think I might like them more than the ones from Clafouti. Damn that was a good croissant.
[1] Life
18 December 2007, mid-morning
My friend Linh’s birthday was this Saturday. I made it out to XO Karaoke Bar to celebrate around midnight. The snowstorm was just getting underway, but I didn’t want to miss the party. Linh took lots of pictures, which I’ll never get to see because they are probably on Facebook. God damn fucking Facebook. I think of all the stupid things on the Internet that I’ve signed up for — twitter, flickr, etc — Facebook has the greatest penetration amongst everyone I know. It’s pretty much the only service I can think of that would actually be useful because everyone I know uses it. It kind of sucks I hate it so much. Fuck you Facebook.
[6] Life
18 December 2007, early morning
I know there are some people out there that think snow is a magical beautiful thing: you need to ignore those people. Snow sucks. Next to the arctic temperature, snow is the worse thing about Canadian winters. In the city snow is white for a few moments, and then transforms into slush and ice and slushy ice. It is just a vector for salt and dirt to get on your shoes and clothes. Maybe if Toronto had the infrastructure in place to clear the sidewalks of snow I wouldn’t mind it so much. Perhaps snow would be something I’d look at fondly while walking down clear sidewalks. Sadly, Toronto doesn’t know what to do with all its snow, and I have to navigate through the ice and slush my fellow Torontonians have trudged through before me. Snow sucks.
[1] Life
16 December 2007, late afternoon
I’ve spent the day inside today. The city has been blanketed with snow. I can’t remember the last time we had a storm like this. I think it’s been a while since we’ve had this much snow before January. It doesn’t seem as apocalyptic as they were making it out to be yesterday, but it has been snowing non-stop since last night. The only good thing about the winter is watching the snow from the comfort of your home; also, coming in from the cold: nothing beats that.
[2] Life
30 November 2007, late at night
My friend Haruka attends a musical school here in the city. The last time I recall her singing was at a karaoke bar downtown; she was singing Rhapsody in Blue by Da Pump (Tomo was rapping). She’s come a long way since then, now attending a school where everyone seems to be some sort of freaky musical prodigy. Shima, Yang, and I went to a little show put on by some of the students at the school and it was stunning. I really don’t know where to start I was so very impressed. Really, the only thing disappointing about the whole night was that they didn’t have any CDs for sale. (At least they have some music up on MySpace.) I’m not sure when their next show will be, but it is well worth checking out. There aren’t too many venues to hear indie R&B in the city — let alone j-pop.
[6] Music | Life
20 November 2007, early morning
I miss my Dragon Beard shoes. They were easily the best pair of shoes I’ve ever owned, true works of art you could walk around on. My pair are more or less unwearable, they’re so beat up, but I can’t bring myself to throw them away. I feel like flying to Tokyo just to buy a new pair.
[2] Life
11 November 2007, late morning
It took a refresh of my profile, whatever that means, but my phone is now connected to the Internet via Fido and EDGE. I think the trick with Fido is to keep calling till you get a customer service rep that knows what they are doing, and isn’t afraid when you have a non-Fido phone. I’ll post about Fido’s EDGE speeds once I have used it more. EDGE isn’t slow as molasses, but it is certainly reminiscent of the internet via dial-up. Fido actually has proper 3G service in Toronto, so I’m going to have to see if I can find someone with a 3G phone so I can compare what the difference really is. For now I did want to say that browsing a handful of sites over the last couple of minutes has ate up a half a meg of bandwidth. Fido charges 5 cents per kilobyte if you aren’t on an internet plan, and 1 cent per kilobyte once you go over your bandwidth when you do have a plan. Their standard internet plans are lame. (And really, their 3G options aren’t much better.) I can see why Apple isn’t keen on releasing an iPhone here in Canada without a matching data plan to go with it: stories about people being bankrupt by their iPhones can’t be good for business.
iPhone | Life
8 November 2007, mid-afternoon
I called Fido twice to see if I can get my phone upgraded. The first time they said their computer systems were down and they couldn’t see what was up with my account. The second time, the lady on the phone couldn’t hear me. She said their was something wrong with their phones. Sometimes I feel like Fido is slowly crashing and burning.
Update: The story continues…
Ram: Can I sign up for your new 3G data plans if I am using a phone that uses EDGE?
Fido Lady: What’s Edge?
I shouldn’t be mean. She sounded like a sweet girl, and she did get me all set up after all was said and done. I have unlimited internet for the next 4 months, starting tomorrow it seems.
[11] Life
24 October 2007, early evening
I bought the PeepCode Rails Code Review eBook a few days back. It was a very impulsive decision. The eBook was $9, which isn’t much money in the grand scheme of things, and it seemed kind of cool. There was a time when I thought paying for an electronic book was the dumbest thing someone could do — I mean, really, it’s electronic, there’s nothing there. Actually, I still do feel that way to some extent, but I see buying this eBook differently: I think I’ve reached a point where I see purchases like this as some sort of budget philanthropy on my part. I think I’m willing to make the purchase because in my head I picture some dude trying to buy an iPhone or a new hard drive and I feel for them. I thought about all this while I bought TaskPaper a few moments ago. I’m hoping I use it a lot, but if I don’t, it really doesn’t bother me too much. I feel good making the purchase.
[ed. I was going to title this post “Why I have no money.”]
[4] Life | Technology
19 October 2007, mid-morning
There seems to be an obsession online with Pilot G2 Pens. Those particular pens come up all the time on sites like 43Folders and the Moleskinerie — even Daring Fireball has mentioned them. I quite like them and have used them in the past, but I think there are much nicer pens available. (Maybe it’s hard to find nicer pens in the US? In Toronto you can get all sorts of nice Japanese pens.) Of the pens Pilot makes, I prefer their Hi-Tec-C line. For a good while I would use their 0.25mm pens. They produce much finer lines then your typical gel-ink pen. The finest pens I’ve come across I found out about through Shima: the Sakura Pigma Microns. I’ve been using the Pigma Micron 005 which has a 0.2mm nib. It’s easily the nicest pen I’ve used, and it’s the one I am using right now. Shima keeps forgetting where she buys them though, so I’m not sure what i’ll do when this one runs out.
[3] Life
2 October 2007, early morning
My Field Notes finally arrived by way of one Tyler Rooney. When the notebooks were first announced shipping to Canada was stupid expensive, something like $19.50 for 3 day shipping. Now, I’d be cool with paying that much if the notebooks came with a picture of Mr. Coudal himself stuffing my notebooks into an envelope, but since it didn’t seem like this was the case, I asked Tyler to buy me a pack and send them to me. Of course, checking the web site now, I can see that shipping to Canada is now a much more reasonable $4.75. (Mind you, this is still 50% of the price of the notebooks themselves, so you really should commit and just buy 27.) I suppose that’s a long digression on shipping.
The notebooks themselves are quite nice. Their closest competitor would be the Moleskine Cahier notebooks, which are also a thin cardboard covered notebooks filled with nice paper. The differences between them are slight, so it’s probably a matter of taste more than anything else that will decide which brand you opt for.
- The Moleskine Cahiers are bound with string, while the Field Notes are stapled. I think the string is nicer, but i’m not sure that really makes any difference. I’ll need to use the Field Notes for a while to see if the staples fall apart.
- The Moleskines are also devoid of any branding, save for an embossed Moleskine logo on the back. The Field Notes have writing all over the front and back covers: the logo, details of the notebooks themselves, space to write your name and other details, and ideas for what to do with the books. I like all the Futura, but the blank canvas of the Moleskine leaves you room to be creative.
- The grid paper in the Field Notes is nicer than the lined paper of my Moleskine. That’s my completely unscientific take on things. The Moleskine paper is much more yellow, and the lines are a light somewhat thick gray. The Field Notes paper is much more white, with a thin brown grid. I think this is a big plus for the Field Notes.
- The Moleskine has slightly more paper, 64 pages vs. the Field Notes’ 48. The last 16 sheets in the Moleskine are perforated so you can pull them out.
I’m definitely impressed with the Field Notes. They are quite nice. If you are looking for nice small notebooks to write junk in they are probably worth taking a look at. Hopefully they start selling them in stationary shops soon.
[ed. I need to add a rabid consumer category to this site.]
[1] Life
14 September 2007, early morning
While waiting for Flash Point to start, one of my coworkers and I went to get some coffee; the third stayed behind to save our spot. When we got back, she nudges me and tells me to ask the newly arrived guy in front of us about his phone. He looks at her, then me, then takes out his iPhone.
— Has your life been reduced to showing strangers your cell phone.
— Pretty much.
Damn. I want the iPod touch all the more now. You feel like you’re playing with something from the future.
Life | Apple Computers
