it's the tops

for those of us who like to compile (and read) these things, here's my top lists for the year.


. FILMS. . .
#7 Orz Boyz
#6 Still Walking
#5 Synching Blue
#4 Heima, a light documentary about Sigur Ros
#3 The Savages
#2 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
#1 Lives of Others (ok, i know this film came out in 2007 but i only watched it this year)


. MUSIC. . .
#5 Black Mountain: In the Future
#4 Ladyhawk: Shots
#3 Fleet Foxes: s/t
#2 Elbow: The Seldom Seen Kid
#1 Radiohead: In Rainbows


. EATING OUT. . .
#6 2 chefs/aurora/medina
#5 Trattoria
#4 Chambar
#3 Grub
#2 Pied-a-Terre
#1 Boneta

this might be my favourite picture from 2008:

new max richter album

listening to his music instantly turns me into a romantic of the extreme type and i suddenly have the desire:
- relocate to paris, london or new york
- learn to sew
- have kids
- live in a high-ceiling loft with all white walls and spare vintage furniture
- learn to take photos using vintage cameras and make a living at it
- lose about 20 lbs
- go grocery shopping in a cute bike with a basket on the front

my current life is pretty fantastic but i also have these crazy romantic tendancies which, i think, are fueled by surfing too many design blogs written by women who have these fantasy-etsy lives (see here).

checkout max richter's website, it's so beautiful.
24 photos with samples of up to 1 minute of each song on the album.

24 postcards in full colour

m & m (mamm & mogwai)

i had planned on COMPLETING all rendering/exporting/compressing for the saturday mamm screening by friday night. yah, DIDN'T HAPPEN.

saturday morning____i've run out of hard drive space and all those hours of rendering/exporting friday night is wasted. then i notice that the music is out of sync on my montage. how did that happen? what the fuck? i quickly make adjustments. and start exporting again at 7am.

5:00pm____i'm rendering/exporting/compressing right up to the second that the taxi arrives to take me to tinseltown cinemas.

5:20pm____i'm at tinseltown, plug the PS3 into the projector. someone (peter, no not the ex) asks me "where's the analog audio out?" i look and there isn't one. HOLY FUCK. peter thinks we need an optical out and i convince him to use the 2 audio outs from the component cables and use connectors to connect them to the super long audio cords that will connect to the sound system. peter leaves and drives to get the connectors.

5:30 - 5:45pm___i've rebooted the PS3 about 10 times and it's still not connecting to the projector. i tell myself and the projectionist that rebooting is part of the setup process which is true but it doesn't take 10 reboots. finally, the ps3 menu shows up on the screen in the theatre. the projectionist jokes about playing some soul caliber after the screening.

5:45 - 6:15pm___we adjust the lens and setup the proper display settings. i'm getting comments that the image on the screen is still alittle blurry. the projectionist, who used to work at tinseltown, handles the stress easily and says: it's too late now.

6:15pm____they start letting in people into the theatre. i'm really nervous and try to remember if i've forgotten anything. the projectionist tells me: it's too late to worry, you can't do anything about it anyways.



6:45pm____lights go down and the 3 weeks of the stress and toil in trying to figure out how a) a PlayStation3 could be a player to a $12,000 projector and b) how best to accommodate 15 films of differing degrees of quality FINALLY COME TO A HEAD when i press the PLAY button on the PS3 remote.

i hyperventilate, scream "oh my god" and collapsed on the very clean floor of the projection area of tinseltown and forget to watch/listen to the audience for reactions to my montage at the start of it all.

9:40pm____house lights come up and they announce the winners. i leave the projectionist area and go down to say hi to a few of the filmmakers and actors.

then, i take a taxi to the commodore for the mogwai show. the mogwai show was my reward for making it through mamm.

10:20pm____i arrive at the commodore and find a spot leaning up against a column. i forgot to bring my earplugs but i'm okay with that cuz i'd rather listen to their unfiltered set than worry about losing some hearing. mogwai is so worth it.



mogwai is freaking amazing. but half way through their set, i'm suddenly hit with massive exhaustion. lack of proper sleep over the past 2 weeks (dealing with mamm) has finally caught up with me. i'm glad for the column that is holding me up. i look forlornly at the chairs off to the side but figure i'll just fall asleep if i sit down in one of them.

after the show, i'm really hungry and end up at a korean place with friends. i return home just before 2am.

i wakeup this morning at 11am and try to think of what to do the rest of the day.

the rains

rob and i attended the radiohead concert tonight at thunderbird stadium at ubc. it was a really great show. but not super awesome great; it didn't blow me away. i have to say that this year's best show is still the black keys show at the commodore, followed by the black mountain/ladyhawk show. but we had a great time tonight even though we were thoroughly drenched by the time the show was over.

some interesting things at the show tonight:

- is vancouver populated with giants and why are they standing between me and the stage?


- there's always that guy that likes to wave his pointed finger towards the direction of the stage in beat with the song. it almost looks like when you form your hand into the shape of a gun and say "bang bang" except you wave the finger gun from the sky to the stage. there's always a guy doing that at every show. this guy seems to have the same physique: thin, muscled and wearing a pretty golf shirt.

- i wonder if being a concert designer has to be one of the coolest jobs in the world. radiohead utilized tube technology to create atmospheric environments.


- why do people sing along to all the songs? and sing it LOUDLY? there was not just 1 guy but i guess 4 of his buddies behind me who kept singing loudly (and off-key) to their favourites, especially the slow ones. dudes, sorry i paid to hear thom not you.

- you don't really notice you're getting soaked when you're standing still and surrounded by 20,000 fans. i only really noticed it when we were walking back to the car and the wet jeans, specifically around my thighs and knees, suddenly felt very heavy and seemed to be in partnership with gravity.


- rob's water repellent shell jacket wasn't very repellent.

and.... i'm back

i made a last minute decision to visit 'the centre of the universe' aka toronto this weekend to join in on some Hive happenings and hookups at the NXNE music festival.

thankfully, my dad was able to score me a standby seat on the 1:15pm flight to toronto on friday. as well, my bosses (aka the bestest bosses in the world) were cool enough to allow me to take a last minute "take the rest of the day off" request.

i landed at 9pm, took a taxi to The Drake where the Ten Kens were performing. i setup our hd camera and got ready to film some fine indie rockin'.

after the show, we (terry and i) hung out with the band a bit then headed for some barely passable poutine at a denny's wannabe place called fran's. i also made the poor decision of ordering a fran-sized caesar drink and float.

at 2am we headed back to terry's friend's place to access the interwebs for the purpose of trying to find a hotel. but the fact that i was entirely exhausted and hotels i called were booked up led to terry's friend allowing us to crash in his place.

i was so tired that the fact that my bed consisted of lawn chair cushions didn't bother me.




saturday morning consisted of brunch with Ten Kens then a significant walk through half of toronto to catch the 3pm performance of Monotonix at the record store, Sonic Boom.



we managed to catch the naked bike ride during our sojourn.


we also saw this awesome art/craft piece which would be a wicked name for a band.



HEAR THIS, HEAR THIS: Monotonix is insane.
insanely genius, that is.




after their 30 minute set, we (terry, myself and 3 of the Ten Kens) just stood outside Sonic Boom SIMPLY UNABLE TO UTTER COHERENT THOUGHTS. i'm not kidding. just watch one of their shows on youtube and you might understand a fraction of it. i filmed 2 of their songs and may put it up.



after this, we hung out with a Ten Ken briefly then, because we managed to find a 4 start hotel room at a deeply discounted price from hotwire.com, we spent the rest of the evening showering, lying in our beds and watching Pretty in Pink. we needed to restup because that night (technically sunday morning) we had to catch the 2am Ladyhawk show.

yes, 2am! yes, Ladyhawk!

it was one of the more crazy shows i've ever been apart of. the main problem here was that i was directly infront of the stage cuz i had this stupid idea of filming their show. i don't even know why i did it. like, don't we have enough footage of them?

anyways, it was crazy because of the mosh pit that kept slamming into me, because of the beer that people kept splashing into the crowd, because of the boiling temperature at the venue.

so we got back to our room just after 3am and crashed.

this morning, i got up, showered, took a taxi to the airport and came home at which time i strolled along commercial drive's car-free day.

i feel pretty lucky to have experienced such an awesome weekend.

status is: need more pillow time

for the past 3 days/nights, we've been coming home much beyond our bedtimes. here's a recount.

. . .TONIGHT. . .
rob and i just came home from catching no kids at the magnetic north festival.
THEY WERE FREAKING AWESOME.
we're talking high energy, tight playing and nick at his best. i've heard that nick rarely plays vancouver so it was a treat to see him live and really enjoying himself.

the encore was nick performing a sade cover. nick, julia and justin were simply brilliant tonight.



. . .LAST NIGHT. . .
rob and i were extras in a scene for terry's feature film he is shooting this month. the film is called red rooster and it's looking very cool.

rob, kelly and i ended up as a 'party group' standing right next to the main actor. i knew i should have elected to be an extra that stands in the corner, next to other extras. so, because of where we were standing we had to stay longer so that when the camera films the other angle for that same scene, we're still standing there fake talking and pretending we're friends.

the 3 of us got up to no good during the in between take lulls. see rob and kelly affecting poses that are successful for picking up chicks/guys at a bar.

fun times even though we didn't get home until 1:30am.







. . .THE NIGHT BEFORE LAST. . .
tuesday night we caught the Black Angels at Richards on Richards and didn't make it home until 12:30am. i really enjoyed the first part of the show and there were many good moments but during the second half, i felt the songs sounding not very distinct.

but i'm glad i went.

emo

rob found this emotional performance by bon iver (another jagjaguwar artist) and i just had to share it.

i've been listening to bon iver quite a lot and have watched a few of his live performances but this one just blew me away.




right now we're busy packing for our trip to edmonton. we need to wake up at 4:30am to make it to richmond by 5:15am so i can park my mom's car at my parents' house and get a ride from my dad to the airport to make an 8am flight.

this sounds like the definition of pain. i think i'll drown my pain in a bacon mcgriddle tomorrow morning.

monster weekend of shows

this past weekend was so amazing i'm still processing it.

SATURDAY..........................
so how can the weekend go wrong when you start it off with some Ladyhawk opening for Black Mountain at the commodore?

you can't.
it's perfect.
life is perfect.
you don't even need bevvies to notch it up because it's so freaking awesome.

Ladyhawk was, as usual, super energetic on stage and cranked out the tunes.
they put on a great performance.
i haven't seen them live since last year and it warmed my heart to see them perform in such a large venue like commodore.
a good percentage of the crowd knew the songs and really got into them.

crappy photo of Ladyhawk



then, you freaking bring on Black Mountain.
these are people i've met at the hive and gone to their shows so it's so weird and wonderful to see them sell out the commodore.
and once they started playing, boy did all the herbal smokers start lighting up.

it was also kinda interesting to see such a different crowd. the times that i've seen Black Mountain or Ladyhawk in vancouver, it's mostly the indie scene. but the commodore show saw a good number of more mainstream/jock/frat boy types.

it was a little off-putting.

crappy photo of Black Mountain


SUNDAY..........................
then the next day, sunday, it's The Black Keys at the commodore (again).

the opening act was bad. terrible. it's a wonder that this act has won the favor of pitchfork.

but then The Black Keys are up and, holy smokes, i've never seen such 100% audience ferver. even before the two members come onto the stage, people are clapping and yelling and whistling.

The Black Keys are freaking overwhelming. the energy coming from the TWO PEOPLE on stage is huge like a wave.



after each and every song, people go crazy.
i'm not kidding. after every song.
it's like a standing ovation after every song.


they only play for 1 hour but it felt like 2 hours.

rob and i both buy tshirts and the cd like stupid, teenage fans.

it's all coming up roses

i had an amazing time at our lunar new year party.

here are some reasons:
1/ i didn't turn into a stress case even though 30 mins before the official start of the party i still hadn't started making the pork dumplings yet. my original plan was to make the 300 dumplings the week leading up to the party.
2/ in 2 hours, rob and i turned 3 pounds of pork into a large amount of pork dumplings. i think it was close to 300 but i didn't count them.
3/ i was coming down with a sinus flu but i didn't let it affect my ability to party until 2am.
4/ i finally had a party where i didn't run out of food or drink.
5/ i got to chat with friends i haven't seen in a while.
6/ i had a mild hangover the next day.

pictures will be forthcoming.

... ... ...
in the meantime, we're still playing the waiting game with film festivals. also, we received an email today from ladyhawk's USA pr chick that HARP magazine wants to interview us. hold on, it's not that exciting. the interview consists of 4 questions that we answer via email.

but it's still rather fun.

. . . . . .
in other news, rob and i will celebrating the DAY OF LOVE by attending a dean and britta show at richards on richards. these two were part of a music doc that chronicled the last tour of the band, LUNA. i highly recommend this music doc.

i'm smitten with The Black Keys

just last week, rob made me listen to The Black Keys.

i listened to the first 10 seconds of a song (don't remember which) and was immediately smitten with their zeppelin sound.

and just now, rob showed me their music video. now that's a freaking music video i can appreciate.

it's an understatement to say i'm hyper psyched that they're coming to the commodore on april 6th. only a mere 24 hours after ladyhawk opens for black mountain at the same venue. what a weekend that will be. i'd better book monday off.