Twosixsix Eataganza 2007

So as my roadtrip to visit all my friends starts to wind down, me and my boys decided to cook us up a nice dinner. But no, of course we couldn't just cook it up - we had to make it a Eataganza. Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

Gus Khouri for Liberal Candidate for Newmarket-Aurora

Hey, so I know it's been forever since I've posted anything and it's sucky that this isn't gonna be a real blog entry. I've been kinda roadtripping and visiting friends and just haven't had any time to jot down my thoughts. I have a strong feeling that lyricsOFtheMIND may end up being a podcast. It's so much easier to talk than it is to write.

Anywho, my buddy Gus Khouri is running for the Liberal Candidate position in the Newmarket-Aurora riding in Ontario. I made some campaign videos to support him. So here they are. Thanks for reading.

Gus Khouri on The Environment:



Gus Khouri on Foreign Policy:



Gus Khouri on Canadian Youth:

Ray of Light

I'm probably one of the biggest hypocrites when it comes to music. I'm always going around suggesting artists to countless amount of people. "Oh you should listen to this", "Oh have you heard their new album?", "You have to download this song!". Yet, when it comes to people suggesting stuff to me, I barely give it a thought.

Well, that's not entirely true. But it usually takes me forever to listen to anything that people suggest to me. And I'm always a little skeptical. I used to be a massive massive Dave Matthews fan (I'm still pretty damn big, but I used to be ridiculously into him). As such, the suggestions came flying in. Hey, you should listen to Jack Johnson. Hey, you should get into Ben Harper. And I gotta say - both those artists - yeah - not in my books of good music.

But among that style of music came the suggestion of Ray Lamontagne. And holy wah have I ever been missing out. I mean I listened to Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Damien Rice, Jason Mraz, Teitur - all these acoustic singer songwriters, yet somehow Ray Lamontagne never made it into my collection. And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure why I decided to start listening to him. It all started with Barfly - it was a pretty relaxing song that I'd put on occasionally at night or while I was cleaning up the house. Then recently, during my endless nights of editing - I decided to listen to his whole album, Til the Sun Turns Black. And again - holy wah! Every song just kept getting better and better until it culminated into one of the greatest endings to an album I've heard since, Eskimo. The two tracks Til The Sun Turns Black and Within You create this epic 10 minute or so ending that's perfect for late night whatevers.

I love albums that have a universal feel throughout. Obviously some albums are praised for their diversity and ability to hit so many different notes - and I respect that. But when it comes to tossing on an album, I want an album that I can listen to front to back and not have to change the mood I'm in. Teitur's Poetry and Airplanes and Damien Rice's O are perfect examples of these types of albums. And those albums are held pretty freakin' high in my books.

Ray Lamontagne's Til the Sun Turns Black now joins the ranks. Well done Ray. Thanks for reading.

Nothing Else Matters

Seriously. Nothing Else Matters.

One of these days, I'll stop promoting Apple products. But that'll be the day that Apple stops making products that blow my mind wide open. For you see, last Friday, I finally had the proud pleasure of spending 10 minutes with an iPhone. And being Canadian, that's 10 more minutes than a lot of my fellow residents.

Up to this 25 year mark in my life, I've always toted that the nicest piece of technology I've ever owned has been my Powerbook G4 - and if I ever get around to getting an iPhone, I'm afraid that title might be stripped from my 1-inch thin marvel of a computer. It's completely true what they say - once you get your hands on an iPhone, you'll get it. You'll get what all the hype is about. You'll get why it's been the most anticipated gadget of all time. You'll get why people overlook its many flaws. You'll just get it.

My first pleasant surprise was just how small the thing was. Not that it's any smaller than any phone in its class - but the images and the capabilities make you believe that this thing might be a behemoth of a phone. Quite untrue. When you hold it, it's just one of those things that just feels right. Almost similar to my first seating in a Porsche 911 - it just feels right.

And then it starts.

After reading countless articles and watching countless videos - you put all your iPhone knowledge to the test. You select the iPod app, you start flicking through the artists, you flip it sideways to enter cover flow, and start flicking through that, you hop into photos, and start pinching away, you enter safari, and start double-tapping your way through web pages. It's all there. Everything you've wanted to try just works so perfectly. It's such a pleasure to use.

And part of that is the screen. The animations that greet you with every action you take just make everything so much cooler. Almost like the first time you minimize a window in Mac OS X, your mind gasps a hint of giddyness every time you do something. Even the way the home menu reconstructs itself when you hit the Home button. Besides that though - the quality of the screen is just unbelievable. The black levels are nuts. It's almost as if the home menu is a sticker on your phone and not a screen.

The touch screen is just so absolutely responsive that it feels futuristic rather than primitive (as a lot of other touch screens in my life have felt). But I actually don't think its the response time that's making it so. Most touch screens that I've come across - subway stations, movie theatres etc, use CRT TV monitors - and the distance between the surface of the screen (and consequently your finger) and the actual pixels was always really far. The iPhone on the other minimizes this distance making a lot easier to feel just where it is you're touching.

Now just like all reviews of the iPhone, I must state - of course this phone isn't perfect. But tell me - what product is? What product in the history of man is perfect? If that's all that can be said about the iPhone - "it isn't perfect", then it must be that good to be even considered in that category of perfection. The keyboard - yeah - it's not great. It's useable, but in the short time I spent with it, I wasn't typing all that well. That recessed headphone jack - damn, Apple - why?

Whatever, you've all read the reviews. What I'm saying is that this thing is absolutely unbelievable to hold and touch. If you're at any degree interested in gadgets, you need to get your hands on one of these. Every other phone, every other iPod, none of it matters now. The only thing worth buying now is the iPhone. K, that's a bit of an overstatement. But if you're looking for the basics - an good MP3 player, and good Phone, and good Internet browser, and some other goodies - it can't be beat.

Thanks for reading.

Tis the season to be DVD-lly

Alright, so I counted my DVDs/Blu-ray discs the other day. And after about 6 years of collecting, it would seem that I've hit over 400. Hmmm, I guess I officially have a decent sized collection.

Having a collection is kind of bittersweet. You indulge in the greatness of owning so much, and can't wait for the next releases, yet at times, you really hate spending that much money. Sometimes you're just buying things to add to your collection - say like sesaons of TV shows where you bought the first season so you can't stop now.

Well, it's that time of the year again. The most bittersweet for any DVD collector - the fall winter season. Studios start to gear up for the Christmas season by releasing pretty much every show and movie you could want if every super ultra deluxe collector's director's cut version. So I thought I'd just take some time to mention some which I'll be pocketing at some point hopefully. Starting from last week.

Avatar: The Complete Book 2 Collection (Sept. 11th release date) - Ah, yes, the little pseudo-anime kids cartoon that could. My friend Brian who's always bugging me to watch new shows got me into this one. This definitely has it's kid moments that make it not the greatest show, but what's interesting is that it's one of the few kids shows that has a serious cross episode story arc - which keeps things quite interesting.

Family Guy Volume 5 (Sept. 18th release date) - Is there really anything I need to say about this. I mean this was the series that was revived because of its DVD performance. I will say this though that this box set does feature one of my favourite episodes of the series, "Peter's Two Dads".

Smallville Season 6 (Sept. 18th release date) - Oh still struggling to survive. This series is the only WB series that I used to watch that's still on. It definitely has its moments, but as a whole, I'm more or less watching because I've followed it this far. I must admit though, this season was definitely pretty good, and season 5 definitely had a lot of strong moments.

Doomsday: The Death of Superman (Sept. 18th release date) - This is the big one. This, in all honesty, is probably one of the most anticipated for me. For my regular blog readers, they know that I've recently gotten into the Marvel Animated Features - really high-quality 2D animated straight-to-dvd movies. This is DC's first jump into the ring and what a story to start off with. I wasn't a huge comic book reader, but this was definitely one I picked up, so I'm quite excited to see this.

Reign Over Me (Oct. 9th release) - Not a perfect movie by any means, but definitely worth a see. Suprisingly funny and heartwarming at the same time. Adam Sandler's performance is great, but not to disregard Don Cheadle's equally good. It's one of those nice hidden gem movies that's actually not that hidden.

Transformers (Oct. 16th release) - Ugh - why the hell did Paramount pull out of the Blu-ray camp!!!! This is the main reason I'm angry about that. Now I've got the contemplation of buying it on DVD, or waiting for some HiDef reconciliation. Anyway, there's a nice 2-Disc release of this coming out, so be sure to check that out.

Seinfeld Season 9 (November 6th release) - November 6th is a crazy day for releases. Starting with Seinfeld, this is a beautiful year because so many of the TV series that I collect are starting to wrap up. Seinfeld ends its DVD run with the release of the 9th and final season. For those lucky enough to not have been collecting this series, there's a complete series collection arriving in a sweet oversized black book.

Cosby Show Season 5 & 6 (November 6th release) - One of the great sitcoms that's great not only because of nostalgia reasons. This is one of those shows that when revisited is just as funny, just as good. My only beef is that I can't seem to find any of these box sets since season 3 anywhere in Canada!

Ratatouille (November 6th release) - Among the best Pixar movies (and that's saying a lot), and definitely the best Brad Bird film - hmm, maybe not:) Anyway, it's such an amazing movie, and being the first Pixar film being released on Blu-ray, this is definitely quite anticipated. Not too mention the great short "Lifted" at the beginning.

Pixar Shorts Collection (November 6th release) - Just as good as their full length features, the Pixar shorts always impress. From Gerry's Game, to Lifted, to For the Birds, I don't think there's been one Pixar production that I've been disappointed by. For the first time they're being all released together, and on Blu-ray nonetheless. Should be a good buy for sure.

Lost Season 3 (December 11th release) - The show that was made for DVD. Seriously, this show is a billion times better on DVD than it is on TV. And talk about nice box sets. The packaging for these seasons is probably among my favourite. And who could forget that season finale. Damn!! I might have to go as far as saying that this is my favourite TV show of all time.

Frasier Season 10 (December 11th release) - If Lost is my favourite TV show of all time, then Frasier would have to be my favourite sitcom of all time. And this is the big one. I've seen every episode of Fraiser except for the last two seasons. And with the pre-release of Season 11 (the final season), Season 10's release marks the final releases for this show. It's gonna be a good day for DVD collectors - or at least me:)

And that's all I've got for now. I'm sure there's a whole whack more, but these are the ones I've had my eye on.

Thanks for reading.

In our bedroom, after the war

Oh I how love thee.

The Stars. One of my favourite bands to come along in the indie scene that I truly love. For those who don't know, the Stars are a band from Montreal that now falls under the monolith that is Broken Social Scene. Their first album, errr, first big album (Heart was really their first album...oh wait, I've just found out there was some album before that too:), whatever), Set Yourself on Fire, was simply amazing. The more I listen to that album, the more I appreciate it's arrangement, production, overall catchiness, and originality.

The thing that initially drew me in to that album, and probably most people, was Amy Millan's ever so sweet voice. Seriously, take one listen to anything that she sings and you'll be blown away. I've never been to any of their concerts, but apparently the crowd goes absolutely insane anytime she sings.

But their was a problem with that. You see, the Stars are made up of two vocalists: Amy Millan and Torquill Campbell. And up til now, the problem has been that Amy Millan has completely overshadowed Torquill. Most songs you'd be waiting for his part to be over to hear hers.

That's all changed though with their latest album, In our Bedroom, After the war. Thanks god for this album. I was in a music lull for a long time not finding new music for the life of me. Along came this album (not to mention the new National album), and I was back on track. I wouldn't say In our Bedroom is as good as Set yourself on fire, but it does definitely feature some of the best songs from the Stars - but even better, the balance between Amy and Torquill is the best it's ever been. I no longer wait for Torquill's part to be over. Quite the contrary. In songs like "In our Bedroom, After the war", a long grandiose epic of a song (not as grand as Sao Paolo by the Guillemots, but grand enough), Torquill is the only one who sings, with some harmony provided by Amy, and the song is amazing. Seriously amazing.

"Midnight Coward", one of my new favourite songs by the Stars, again, features such a good balance between the two. Torquill's part is just as good as Amy's.

These are only two of the tracks from this great album. An album that definitely gives shine to Torquill's talent. Of course it still reminds of of how good Amy Millan is, but then again, we never forgot did we.

Definitely check out the Stars if you haven't already. Thanks for reading.

Oh how I hate Thee

All these commercials that try to capture the essence of youth/gen-x culture. Oh I how I hate thee.

It seems that they're all cell phone related too. There are 2 commercials in particular that recently have me irking and cringing everytime they come on. One is the current T-Mobile, Sidekick commercial that has a bunch of teen/twenty some year olds messaging each other to congregate at at a grocery market to perform the oh so cool act of having a cart race. Ooooo, look at us, we're so rebellious, we're so cool, we're racing down the aisles of a grocery market, we're young and free, Ooooo. I think what would have actually saved that commercial would have been better music. It's not that the music is that bad on that commercial, but it's just not good enough to overshadow the stupidness of the commercial.

The second commercial that really annoys me? Well it's actually a set of commercials. It's for the Canadians - the Rogers My5 commercials. Man, are these ever annoying. Again, they're trying to capture the way teenagers actually act. Now, granted I'm no longer a teenager anymore, but still, these commercials just don't seem to come even close and manage to annoy at the same time. One of the commercials features a bunch of kids sending off their best friend to college and wondering who this girl "Ellen" is in his My5. Turns out to be his mom. Oh, how funny. How about the other one they had running where a couple of friends were playing rock, paper, scissors to get into their friends' five. They say something stupid about how Paper crushes rock or something like that. I couldn't be bothered with remembering how stupid the commercial was. Whatever, it just annoys me. I think what makes it worse is that this is coming from the company who not to long ago had a really sweet parkour commercial. Actually, what makes it worse than that is the fact that the equivalent T-Mobile My5 commercials are pretty damn good. Case in point, the "Why is my girlfriend in your 5?....Secret Lovers" commercial, I thought was hilarious.

I'm not sure why these things get on my nerves so much. I guess it's because I'm someone who really respects a good commercial. And I guess it's because I've seen good work from these companies in the past. And I also guess it's because these commercials think they're actually doing some good - it's not like their harmless. In my opinion, they basically fail miserably at what their trying to do; in this case appeal to the younger generation. Alright, I've vented. Thanks for reading.