wash of a cold river in a glacial land

i like morning better than afternoon and night better than both.

at least in the morning i can imagine it will, at some point, get light out. the sun is becoming a very evasive fellow as the approaching winter solstice blots everything out. at least snow is bright and reflective. plus there's the golden (literally) time in the afternoon when the sun kind of skips over one mountain on its way behind another one. I think this happens at about 2. Official sunset is like 3:45 or something. I don't know when the official rise is these days, but it's like 11 am now and while i can see sunbeams in the western hills, i most certainly cannot see the sun itself.

perpetual darkness is not without its awesome benefits though, and is in fact highly conducive to:
-stars
-northern lights
-sneakin'
-seances (maybe?)
-long exposure photography (sometimes)
-ghost ships.....say what?!?!?
Okay, well it might not have as much to do with the levels of light as some of the other things on that list but they did just release pictures of a "ghost ship" on the bottom of Lake Laberge.
i very much enjoy that all ships that have sunk are"ghost ships". That is how it should be. Just like all abandoned houses should be called "haunted houses". Anyway this sweet ghost ship was a golrush-era paddlewheeler that sunk in 1901. Dawson's main man Robert Service even rapped about it. There is a video of the boat's mystical underwater secrets here. Perfect for the darkness. They even found boots! And axes! Land of death indeed.
also plus additionally the ship was called the A.J. Goddard, and even though there's an extra D, i feel 94% certain the boat is in fact the ghost of Jean-Luc, the French-new-waving the shit out of that lake.

That's another one for my list of things improved by darkness-- French films from the 60s.
I have been really enjoying re-visiting all the Godard movies lately. Vivre Sa Vie and Week End are my favourites right now, but really i like them all. Even the shitty 80s ones and the confusing Dziga-Vertov ones. When i was 19 i spent an entire summer, almost every night of the week, at the National Film Theatre (now re-named the BFI Southbank...gay).
They had a Jean-Luc godard season that year (2001 maybe?) and they played all his films as well as work by his influences and contemporaries. Anna Karina even introduced one of them. For realz. It was a formative experience for my film-watching and brain. I think it's probably why i like Marxism so much (that and the awesome powers of Saskatchewan, of course). The first one i saw was A boute de souffle cos this strange guy i worked with asked me. Then it spiralled into a borderline obsessive past-time of cinema-going. It just goes to show you that good things can come from having a crush on an Italian, apparently.


in closing, "a thousand miles from nowhere" is a hella-sweet song.
Also, Dwight Yokam is kind of a babe.

double true.

bust a "move"

things have been thinging around. this is essential to the continued vitality of stuff, and things.

i don't want to put the cart in front of the horse (unless the horse was better at pushing than pulling which seems unlikely) but i think i am responsible for Tom Allen's departure from CBC Radio 2 Morning. If you don't believe me, look at my previous post. Funny right? If i were a "big wig exec" (and god willing, some day i will be) i would've canned him too. Well first i would have laughed, then i would have eaten some pressed duck and wiped my face with a crisp Laurier, then i would've called him and been like: "Hey Tom Allen-- word on the blogosphere is that you stink. Hit the road. You're making this charming girl's mornings unbearable." Which is my rough assessment of how it went down.
Now i wake up to Bob Mackowycz. I like his Polish last name and laid-back attitude. The music is still kinda ballz, but nothing like the repetitive Groundhog Day nightmare of Tom Allen's hellish reign. Welcome Bob. Cut your fopish hair, but welcome.
So after concluding that i had not only bettered myself by ousting Tom Allen but probably the entire listening community, i was shocked to stumble across this on "The Net" (starring Sandra Bullock):

An Open Letter to Tom Allen:

For many years I have enjoyed spending the morning with Tom Allen. I have enjoyed his music, his chit-chat, his various features --- even his on-air flubs.
The best thing about Mondays was hearing Tom Allen again.

I was keen to see what Radio 2 morning would feature. Although I mostly liked the music Tom played, I am, sad to say, not impressed with the new show. I thought the new CBC was supposed to give us more variety and many genres. Not being a genrist, I am not sure exactly what a "genre" is --- the word does not appear in my Shorter Grove's, but my Canadian Oxford defines it as a kind or style, especially of literature or art. It was an early morning for me today, so I was only able to hear Tom's first hour. However, everything Tom played could be characterized as "Vocal solo (electronically amplified) over ostinato bass, late 20th century." Tom did his best to play various styles within that narrow genre, even singers in different languages. There was some variety in the instrumental accompaniment (although guitars and drum set were rather prevalent) and variation in the rhythmic pattern, but although I wasn't actually counting, I would venture that most if not all of the songs were in 4/4 time. So much for variety.

Thinking of shows that really do play a variety of "genres", I can think of Jurgen Gothe's "Disc Drive", and Robert Harris' "I Hear Music" (both of which have been sacked) and I was hoping that Tom's selections might be more along those lines. Or, going back in the mists of time, I remember Max Ferguson, Alan McPhee, and Clyde Gilmour, all of whom were unconfined by genrism.

And why does that kid keep interrupting with his announcements about the new Radio 2? I know it's not really a kid, just some actor imitating a teenager (did you by any chance borrow Gavin Crawford from 22 Minutes?), but he is getting rather annoying. I do enjoy deadpan parody as much as anyone, and he does have some good lines ("Opera -- in tempo and in tune"), but I must say it's not really that funny anymore --- indeed, it's rather sad. Promo-dude has been around for a while, but he used to at least have the courtesy to wait till the music was over before he cut in. Couldn't the producer make sure promo-dude waits his turn? I have a feeling he is trying to upstage Tom.

So, I don't know how much I'm going to listen to Tom in the future. Even the sparkle in his presence seems faded. I almost get the impression Tom is playing more music because he no longer knows what to say --- which is pretty heavy criticism for Tom Allen. Will there be any more "This day in...", or the Web Goddess, or Mr. Equipment, or any other of the little tidbits that made his show so enjoyable?

Music and Company was a great invigorating way to start the day. My first impression of Radio 2 Morning is that I am in some smoky coffee-house, feeling rather blue, and I might as well crawl back into bed.



What is this guy even talking about?
He starts out like he's Tom Allen fan #1 but it quickly becomes apparent that his critiques are more scathing than my own (in that they're sincere and earnest)!
I found his complaint about the time signature consistency interesting, but any credibility that could have garnered him was pre-emptively lost by his admition of not knowing what genre is (really?) and subsequently providing the dictionary definition...
Also, i wish i woke up in a smoky coffee-house every day.

I regret nothing. Tom Allen blows. Now he's gone.

Take that.

the door to the cabinet is to be opened using a minimum of 15 kleenexes.

i wake up to CBC Radio 2 each day that i wake up.
some nights i don't sleep, and in those cases i am not awoken by CBC Radio 2 at 7:30 a.m., but rather startled by it instead.

In either case, you might be wondering, "why would anyone choose CBC Radio 2?" and that is a fair question. It is worse than CBC Radio 1. Like a lot worse. In fact, it's so bad that i get out of bed just to shut it off. That's why i choose CBC Radio 2 for all my alarm clock radio needs.

The reason it's so bad might in fact be some programming mandate of which i am not aware, but until i crack that code, from my perspective CBC Radio 2 is so bad because Tom Allen is the host of the morning show. According to CBC's website, Tom is "a passionate music lover, storyteller, accomplished trombonist, writer and broadcaster" and his program features "singer-songwriters plus a little R&B, world music, classic pop... and his own inimitable story telling".
Okay.
So the genres listed are among my least favourite in all of the musical world, so it mightn't seem reasonable for me to complain about this, however it's not only that the genres blow. Oh no. Tom also manages to find the worst possible representatives of said genres. Also important to note is that Tom Allen plays the same songs every morning. Like the same songs at the same time. I only listen to the radio for the 5-35 minutes i lay in bed thinking about shutting it off, and i am often shocked terrified that I am trapped in some Groundhog day-esque nightmare, because the same shitty Coeur de Pirate song that was on at 8:12 on Wednesday morning will re-appear at 8:24 on Friday morning.
Who fucking does that?
I understand having favourites or classics on a given show, but unless Tom Allen has OCD unheard of since the days of Howard Hughes (which i doubt because that would be waaaaay too interesting), this is uncalled for. I could also maybe sympathize with the repetitiveness if it were awesome songs every morning. I could probably listen to Hall and Oates "I Can't Go For That" every morning, and I'm probably not alone in that. But we're talking about worldbeat bullshit and awkward romantic adult R&B. These are not "classics". They are songs that are so bad they wake me up.
I thought for a while that maybe that was the point-- songs so bad they wake you up. But then i started to listen to what Tom Allen was saying himself, his "inimitable storytelling", if you will.
It was then i realised that the point was not songs so bad they wake you up, and the Tom Allen himself is an ass-clown. He doesn't know anything about music, and knows little about anything else. Listening to him talk about Arctic Sovereignty almost made my head explode. He has a non-commital, vaguely liberal, politcally-correct tone that makes every "story" sound like a sermon at united church. Every now and then he treats the listeners to a stuttered anecdote (and i use the term loosely) about his musician days. Even those personal stories contain not even a hint of engagement. Tom Allen is like a toast sandwich with a crushed cracker filling.

But do you know what the worst part of all is?

He looks like this:
and i fucking know he's happy about it.

their realm is the lateral courses

now it's getting late

harvest moon tonight.
it is too overcast here to see it; damn.

today was also our first snow of the season-- hence the overcast sky.

october is the flagship of halloween. i don't know what to dress as yet.


ideas include:

(arranged largest to smallest)

No Jacket Required
(Not Phil Collins. Big difference.)

SATAN


Mac Tonight

So ya. Not too sure yet.

One thing i am sure about though-- i need to get winter boots, stat. In an effort to force myself to act i threw my old ones out. I might just end up wearing shoes with bread bags on them all winter. And that's 'okay'.

Dear media, shut up about super fruit.

Back in the day, the seminal goth rock band Sisters of Mercy made a t-shirt that said "fuck me and marry me young" on it. it is a lyrics from the song "Driven Like the Snow", which is featured on the fabulous album "Floodlands". i have the record.
i have been trying to find it since the internet was invented. if anyone wants to get me the best b-day present ever, steal that shirt from a skinny goth and mail it to me.

Or if you're looking for a gift idea that is less mysterious to acquire but much much more expensive, i want this painting by Kris Knight (weirdly enough he has a painting called "fuck me and marry me young"...hmmm):

i am worth it.


Norwegian crispbreads, German cheese, and Yukon tomatoes-- here's to living in a first world hell!

if there's nothing wrong with me...maybe there's something wrong with the universe!

every Wednesday at 7:30 pm a raging loud doomsday siren goes off at the firehall in Dawson.
i think it's to test it in case of real emergencies.

now i am used to it, but it used to make me think of zombies, wars, and all other sorts of impending doom.

i guess it is a strange aural fixture to have in a town.
very foreboding.

though i consider most things to be foreboding...except for cable tv.
You know why? because i can watch Star Trek at almost any hour of the day.


Holodeck, take me away.

soy super bien

i am eating manchego cheese. it reminds me of Spain even though it's really crap manchego cheese. It's the only time i've ever seen it here at all. Still pretty damned good.

cold like not-Spain in Dawson City tonight. decidedly not-Spain. Decidedly freezing at night and meant to snow on Sunday. I am not a believer, but i am not a non-believer either.
imagine if i just didn't believe in weather?
imagine.

i do not want to believe that it is so very very hot in Saskatchewan still. Makes me feel like that thumbs up i got from god in 2005 really meant nothing at all.
where's my 30 degrees in September?
where's my First Nations Summer, god?
Where?

Whatever. When it starts to be below zero every day then i can start to acquire frozen goods again. Not having a freezer is somewhat inconvenient for items like frozen green beans.
i rely on green beans heavily.
like second only to my cat. i just de-wormed that cat. more than i'd do for the beans-- do you see what i'm saying?

As you may know if you know me, i don't like to do things i'm not good at/don't know how to do, so it has taken me an excessive length of time to create a rapidshare mixtape for a contest. The mix itself was quick to assemble, but i had a profound fear about my potential failure in the uploading process. It turns out that it is so easy that a monkey could do it. Even a retarded monkey probably. If i could teach my cat to do it, i really wouldn't need anything else in the world because we would start a mixtape blog where i made the lists and Geddy zipped and uploaded the files. It would be called Cats: The Musical. Everyone would love it. Andrew Lloyd Webber would sue me. Good times.

Until then, however, perhaps i will just continue to make the zips and upload them myself.
This is my first one.
It's a mix tape featuring songs about buildings and food for a Conceptual Mixtape Battle created by my friend Mark over here at Markcomix.
My entry is plus de late, so it may not be in consideration for the elusive "win" anymore, but it's still a nice interaction of songs that really are all about buildings and/or food in some way. I though about lying and tossing a few in there that weren't just cos they would've sounded good in the mix, but i didn't.
Is it possible that after 27 years i may be developing morals?

Doubts it, Ralph.

the most beautiful thing.

heavy rotation

the best corner in town

in yon forest

i went to the forest the other day. i found wild poppies the day before and i wanted to find more.

this is where i went off the path.

some the trees were dead and looked like halloween.

i thought this looked a bit like a grave.

and then i saw the bone.

The tree roots were grown right around it.




this is what it would've looked like for the bone.




but then i took it home.

white garlands in the hall of my fathers

i can sense your presence in the vicinity

Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad.

http://www.legalizeit

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.

ghostbusters II

a show of hands