I Just Have to Blog About This

Well, it is Bob Dylan's birthday today, and I happened to come across this tribute. I would've put "Tangled Up In Blue" #1 and "Went to see the Gypsy" would've been on my list, but other than that, I can't complain. I mean, how can you? 65 Dylan songs? "Forever Young" isn't on the list, but it should be. Happy Birthday, Bob!

Ms. Jackson - by the Vines?!?!?!?!?

Yes, I was as skeptical as you are right now. But take a listen and then tell me that you hate it. I have a little bit more respect for The Vines than I did an hour ago.

Go Sabres Go

Late Strokes Review

So Bonnie and I went to the Strokes on Tuesday at the Civic Centre here in Ottawa. Most Serene Republic was the opening band; I highly recommend them if you are enthralled by recent ensemble acts like Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene. If you feel that a trombone has no place in rock music, Most Serene Republic isn't the band for you. Their opening act was pretty good, but not so good that we were underwhelmed by The Strokes. Such is the dilemma of the opening act. I bet if you upstage the main show you're on your way out after the show. Anyhoo, The Strokes came on to polite applause and proceeded to blow everyone out of the water with sheer volume (my ears are still ringing just a tiny little bit). The songs were great, of course, but at times the volume caused the music to blend into a noise that sounded curiously like the noise caused by those homemade kazoos of wax paper and toilet paper rolls we used to make in elementary school. When I could make out the individual instruments or Julian Casablancas (attired in a not-too-subtle Ramones-esque leather jacket), the result was, as Barney would say, legendary, topped off with some pretty kickin' concert tees - Bonnie and I each picked one up and immediately put them on - just kidding!! That act was reserved for the myriad high schoolers in attendance. Overall, I give the concert four toilet paper roll kazoos out of five.

Go Sens Go

Since the inevitable disappointment of games 1 & 2 (I didn't watch game three), I have developed a sense of the desperation of Ottawa fans. When the Sens finished first in the east, I thought, "they're unstoppable"; of course, I was mistaken. And everyone here in Ottawa old enough to remember 2004's excruciating loss to the Leafs knows how mistaken I was. The Sens choke when it comes to big games. Have you seen Alfredsson's play lately? Neither have I. He's been virtually invisible. Ditto Heatley, Havlat, Chara and Philips. Actually, I have noticed Philips, but only because he's been making mistakes every time he touches the puck. Anyhoo, at the end of it all, I am calm and collected, resigned to the fact that the Sens, and Sens fans, will have to wait until next year. I'm just hoping that they can make it resepctable: going out in six games isn't as bad as going out in five. Here's to hoping.

Music Review Mayhem

A couple of weeks ago I posted about music blogs, and here's another one to add to the list: Almost Cool. From reviews to extensive comment rolls to numerous links, this site will keep you occupied for hours. And, if you click back to the home page, there's a link to a blog that is almost as cool. Enjoyable reading, though I daresay these people are music snobs. Not like us, of course. ;)

Welcome to the Blogosphere!

My dear Amie, along with her bf Tim, have started a blog called Dis Aliter Visum. I believe that this roughly translates to "I Love Ponies!!!" It's a great read, so check it out and leave weird, anonymous comments in Latin for Amie to translate.

Living With War

Neil Young's new cd comes out on the 9th, but you can preview it via streaming audio here. It is vintage Young, rockin' in the free world, daring critics to speak against him. It's audacious and raw, as all Young albums are, but it is also refreshing - I guess you're never too old to protest the president (one of the songs is titled "Let's Impeach the President). Along with Pearl Jam (released yesterday) and Bruce Springsteen, May perhaps be dubbed "Protest Month".

PS the Pearl Jam album is pretty good.

Let's go Oilers!

Like most of you, I am hoping for the Flames to finish the Ducks so that we can have the first Battle of Alberta in 15 years. But a Flames victory is more or less expected; an Oliers upset of the Red Wings most certainly was not. Who is more dominant than Chris Pronger? More consistent than Ryan Smyth? More surprising than Dwayne Roloson? Yes, the Oil have injected this year's playoffs with giddiness, the likes of which we have not seen since les Canadiens went up 2-0 on the Hurricanes (and have, subsequently, lost four straight). It should be a fantastic second round, and outright incredible if the Flames can pull it out. So get on your Flames gear and cheer them on tomorrow night! (I'm looking in your direction, Chubby).

Hutty.ca

Today we recognize a mainstay in the blogosphere, hutty.ca, which will soon begin a hiatus of undetermined length. It was a brilliant run of consistently funny and meaningful posts (except for that Saget one. That was just crude). But let us not mourn, my friends; if anything, let's remember the good times:

1. The Walk Light: "My comic moment of the week -- Having just pushed the walk-light at the corner of College and Fieldhouse Drive, waiting to cross the road, a man walked up behind me. It was obvious that he had seen me push the walklight but insisted on pushing it himself (forcefully). So, I turned to him and said, "what, you don't trust me?" He laughed (awkwardly)."

2. The Dangers of Moving: "As Craig tried to attach a final bungee chord to a hook on the truck it slipped out of his hands, flew across the width of the flatbed and struck me, unsuspecting Dave, directly above my right eye. This sent me to the ground in a small panic, as I couldn't see. However, I discovered that I couldn't see because I had blood running into my eye from a two inch gash between my eyebrows (I've posted a photo in the gallery for a visual representation)."

3. Bring Ikea to SK?: "My suggestion yesterday that that Saskatoon federal election candidates should campaign to bring better movies here (so that we don't continually feel like we're waiting for the future to arrive), was a joke, partly. However, less of a joke would be campaigning to bring Ikea to Saskatchewan. I've had umpteen conversations with friends/family that complain that "we don't have an Ikea." It's quite disturbing, actually, how much this plays into our cultural psychology. Like the movie thing, we see ourselves as perpertually culturally behind and waiting for the next trend to arrive"

4. Should the reading age be raised?: "I chuckled when I read an article in Maclean's "Stop him before he votes". The "New Macleans", as it, like the New NHL, has come to be known, seems to publishing anything and everything to create buzz. Virtually every article in Maclean's now simply takes a side and defends it, letting the other side air its concerns in letters and in the blog-mad world wide web. It's opinion dressed as news. Which certainly isn't "wrong" or without a long history of yellow journalism as precedent. And for a magazine that's attempting to reinvent itself, it's actually quite a brilliant strategy, especially, I would argue, in the hypertext age where sometimes you have to scream to be noticed and 'linked'."


5.Pushing Boundaries Since 1912: "After not publishing the muhammad cartoons, the Sheaf, the University of Saskatchewan student paper, decided to publish a cartoon featuring Jesus Christ that's arguably way more "offensive." Jeremy Warren, the Sheaf's news editor and a friend o' mine, resigned over the paper's decision not to publish the Muhammad cartoons. He now has more on the ironies and paradoxes of the situation."

This last one is my personal fave. You presented the facts and let the readers decide. I had fun, in hindsight.

Hutty.ca, we shall miss thee.

"Wonderwall" Day

Everyone knows that I am not the biggest Oasis fan, but tonight I listened to "Wonderwall" for the first time in a while and I liked it - I liked it a lot. So maybe do yourself a favour and listen to "Wonderwall" today.