Where Eagles Dare

Thanks to the power of the internet, I found an almost front row ticket to Sonic Youth, about 2 hours before the show, for face value (no service charges!). Totally worth it. Y'know I've listened to Sonic Youth for a long time, and they're still good. Not only that, but their music still feel relevant. They are still experimenting with sound, and making new records.

On top of it I'm always amazed at how they continue to attract new fans. The first time I saw Sonic Youth was Lollapalooza, I was maybe 16...but I managed to get up to the front, where I spent my time in between sets taking to a guy who was at least 45, and had seen them play in small clubs. Now when I go to a Sonic Youth show, its almost the same...except I'm older, but there's still an age range from 12 - 60 in that crowd. And I think that says that they are doing something right.

Plus they played The Sprawl. yay!




on a side note, i need to learn to take better concert photos. ;)

Started doing some basic compositions. After being somewhat benign most of the month of june:







yeah its real rabbit, from a jacket, and real bird bones (remember those?). i guess i don't need the teeth.

anyways. Its a start. Will probably do a bunch more before continuing. its probably going to take a lot of wax. and i have to burn that fur first. my cat is chasing jacket fluff around.

Oh hai. Right. I make stuff for a living. Sometimes, I forget that. :)

Today I went canoeing in the rain up in Bon Echo park. It was pretty fun. I saw swallows, and ravens, and petroglyphs, and watched rock climbers scale things. I learned some basic paddle strokes and found out that my left arm is way stronger than my right. The rain kept most people off the lake, so it was pretty quiet. I'm looking forward to more canoeing over the season.

Also i found out that, yes driving through city places like peterborough still makes me grumpy. dislike driving in city type places.

But other than that, yay canoeing.

I'm sorry for the note on your door indicating that UPS deliveries should go to the back of the house, but quite frankly is a small inconvenience, lest you have a delivery person ringing your door bell at some point this week. The fact is, if i don't stick it on the door...they just won't read it, which will most likely end in me having to trek to some outlet somewhere when, i was in fact, home.

Please stop removing it. Its a small thing, I know, but it'll be over by the end of the week.

The end.

Its on! This week!

I'm probably going to catch the FREAKY program this saturday at midnight.

And probably the Sci-Fi program this wednesday night.

Anyone else possibly interested? You can also have a look at the whole thing: http://www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com/schedule/schedule.php

Leave a comment and let me know. Both the sci-fi and the Freaky are only $10. Midnight screenigns are always fun.

spinach casserole

pints of beer

conversations about comfy chairs

kid koala

tons of dancing

texting

boy watching

clinton's and fried tofu

DDR in korea town

cat's rolly polly welcome home

sleep well tonight.

...oh btw. Kid Koala totally worked in some Autechre, and I was in heaven. That is all.

Cherry Tree in full bloom at night.

Raccoons in the alley.

Commenting on new glasses and typefaces.

Conversations about travel over Korean beer.

Clothing Swaps.

Ice cream in theaters.

Good company.

This was Sunday.

Tonight we shall sleep well.

So I've been participating in the latest round of the Artsy Games Incubator. So far its been fun, albeit, thinking in levels is really different to thinking in page layout. :)

Anyways, my friend Ryan decided to start up a blog about games and gaming in general in Canada called Aboot Play, and I'm going to be keeping a mini dev-diary over there.

They should roll out every few days or so. I'll probably be contributing a couple of other things about gamey based art / music / events etc. So if you know of something pass it on.

Or if you are interested in contributing something, you can either drop me a note: idoru00[at]gmail[dot]com, or get in touch w/ Ryan at: ryancouldrey[at]yahoo[dot]com


*ducks down back to work for the day*

is now! Seriously, there is so much awesome stuff going on in Toronto over the next few weeks. For starters:

FITC (april 25th - 28th) - Toronto's long running and always interesting flash / motion / design / tech event. I'll be on a panel about freelancing called Reality Cheque - running a freelance business, Monday April 27th at 2:30pm. Should be fun. :)

TCAF - May 9th - 10th at the Reference library. Seriously, if you are not going to this...WHY ARE YOU NOT GOING TO THIS?? The line up is steller, the people are awesome, and on top of it Kid Koala is opening the whole shebang on May 7th.

Hotdocs - April 30th - May 10th. 2 weeks of solid documentary programming. And the Canadian premier of Objectified. I am so excited to see that film. Helvetica was wonderfully done, and I'm expecting the same here.

ToJam - May 1st - 3rd. I'm not participating, but I know people who are. And I may do some random interviews and cake drop off. Hey programmers need sugar.

Refresh Events #7 - April 20th: Mobile and Augmented reality talk + toronto tech industry shennanigans.


The Hand Eye Society gathering #2 - April 23rd - The last one was super fun. I am expecting this one to also be like that. Come out.

Rated-R gathering - April 24th (the central) - Eric / Mara are organizing a show for the fall and having a get-together on friday. Drop in, say hi.

Lady Sovereign - May 1st (Lee's Palace) - Do I really need to explain why you should go to this show? Nope, didn't think so.


...wphew! :D

Just a note to let you know that if you happen to be passing by the Linux Café over at christie and harbord, that I have some of my art up for the month of April. I like the Linux, so I'm happy I could put it in there for a bit.

I think I'm going to hit up some other cafés / bars in the hood for this kind of thing. It seems pretty laid back. And I like that when it comes to hanging art.

Hey internet,

I'm looking for some freelance design work over the next couple of weeks. Mostly in the realm of web design / layout or some CSS work. If you know of anything drop me a note. Thanks!

No negative internetting for 1 week. This means:

-no bitching
-no out right ranting
-no grumply put-downs
-no ripping on work stuff.

I need to detox. i think this will work. At the end of it, I will buy myself a nice glass of scotch and see if I can extend it.

I have discovered the joy that is a lamb burger. They are tasty, tasty things. Lemme tell you.

Today I went snow-shoeing with naseem. Little too slushy for it, but man was it ever pretty out! And it was fun! :) I was also reminded that Tetley's Bitter is a very good beer.

Bwaahahaha,

http://tinyurl.com/cqazly

Oh nerds in Pittsburgh. hehe.

Me: Hey Internet

Internet: Hey Nadine. What's up?

Me: Can I ask you something?

Internet: Sure.

Me: Am I negative?

Internet: Hmm. You're kind of negative.

Me: Damn. Really?

Internet: Well, ok you're not really negative on the inside. I mean if you were really a totally negative person, you'd probably have no social life, no close friends, or activities you enjoy. Plus I've seen you snort laugh waaay too much to cast you as a negative influence.

Me: Hmm...

Internet: You do rant a lot though.

Me: Yeah I know. I think that's mostly frustration though.

Internet: Yeah but it probably doesn't help work too much.

Me: Probably. I just, I get so tired of the same round abouts and red tape that bind my industry together. Its like the whole structure is built to drive you nuts after a while.

Internet: yeah but you find red tape everywhere. Every industry has their version of red tape. At least you know when to say yes, and when to leave at this point. Think of how it would be if you didn't have that experience.

Me: True. That is one stage I don't really want to relive. Though sometimes I still flail.

Internet: Bah you are human. Humans flail. Trust me on this one, I have access to so many email servers. You should see the shit ppl flail about...

Me: ...anything good?

Internet: OMG! YES! This girl from kansas, she totally caught her boyfriend cheating on her with her sister...

Me: Uh...this isn't a locked post.

Internet: oh shit. ok well i'll tell you later. But anyways back to negativity. We've all got our days / weeks etc. Ride it out.

Me: Yeah its not always a ranty landscape. Though maybe there's a better way to do it, or form it. So its more of an opinion and less of a spew.

Internet: Sure, working on your delivery is a place to start, as long as you remember one thing...

Me: What?

Internet: Don't loose that ability you've gained to just be upfront about stuff. Too many people worry about if they're being diplomatic enough and they end up flip flopping all over the place. Listen, know your red tape limit, be good with it.

Me: Its a deal.

Internet: Good. Now, I gotta go sort out that CNN streaming feed issue, you believe that shit?

Me: Well the facebook integration was neat, but yeah kind of choppy on the uptime after a while. Three cheers for ustream. That was pretty smooth all the way through.

Internet: I hear that.

I've twittered for about a year or so now, and sometimes when I tell people about it they give me a funny look. :) But yesterday twitter proved to be one of the most useful things i've signed up for.

Last night Toronto had a spotty city wide blackout that resulted from a flood at the Dufferin Sub Station. Almost right away people on my twitter list started tweeting that they had lost power and asking what was going on, within an hour of message passing, tweeted reports, and a suggested twitter channel (#darkTO), toronto twitter users knew what was going on, why it was going on, and where.

Twitter pretty much broke that story, before the news media did. In fact the news media was watching one of the hash tags people where using. On top of that, twitter users were quite quick to pass on updates and ttc info regarding the black-out, which was really helpful.

People who still had power even offered up space in case anyone might need it.

It was a good moment for internet user driven media. It also highlights social media networks as a real system for delivering news. On top of it, it was nice to see Torontonians offering help and reaching out to their neighbours.

High-five to twitter!

So i went looking for headphones, as my current ones are being held together by a jerry rig of duct tape and and a paper clip. Classy, I know. I am all about the CLASS.

And I found these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014IPE4Y/sr=8-1/qid=1231426134/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1231426134&sr=8-1

they're nice. Miguel has a pair and I figured I would look them up. Also if you order from the US, you can get colours they don't have here like red or pink (i'm thinking pink...or brown, yeah i know i'm such a graphic designer).

Here's the thing, yesterday they started at: $33USD, by 1am they were $31USD, now they are $37USD.

Sorta messed up. I feel like I'm looking at an ebay item. I'm generally aware of the exchange rate, but that kind of fluxing makes me worried.

Sweet, Sweet Heart Killer by Say Hi To Your Mom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBrTP2VqTl0

Ahh pretentious vampire love songs with good catchy riffs. lol.

Bubblyfish doing a cover of sweet dreams. Awesome.

Internet: Hey Nadine.

Me: Oh hey internet, what's up.

Internet: Not much, just some cron jobs. You?

Me: Nothing today, plotting on groceries, having some insomnia lately.

Internet: Yeah, I've noticed, i think it might have to do with those private posts you keep making.

Me: Oh for the...don't read my private posts.

Internet: Hey, don't blame me, they're written ON ME. I can't help it.

Me: Pfft. Fine....

Internet: Seriously though, you seem to have a lot on your mind. Its no wonder you can't sleep.

Me: I guess, its the same crap I've had on my mind for like 2 years though....what am I doing about work, why do my personal efforts seem stuck, where is my personal life going...etc. etc. Why do I feel like I'm constantly ending up in the same spot.

Internet: Well you are.

Me: what?

Internet: Seriously, you are in the same spot now as you were, oh i would say back just before 2006.

Me: Great. Just great.

Internet: With one difference though...

Me: What?

Internet: Experience. Look, life is not linear. As someone who runs cron jobs and back up programs, i can tell you...shit. is. not. linear. You will repeat the same steps over and over. You will try and fail, and move ahead, then fall behind, then run around and around. but in that constant repitition, and constant finding yourself at square one again, you gain the experience from the last round.

Me: Which means i can do the repeated things i know are going to happen again faster...

Internet: ....and have more time to explore new things that weren't in the last round.

Internet: get it?

Me: I think so.

Internet: You're slow to grow. Accept that.

Me: Oh thanks.

Internet: But then some of the most coveted things in the world, grow slowly.

Me: Ok.

Internet: Ok?

Me:.....ok.

Me: so...what should i do today.

Internet: Whatever you want.