a broken lull.

true lies 2.

now, i enjoyed true lies immensely when it came out. but even back in 1994, my little 20year-old mind was shocked by the stereotypical depiction of the middle-eastern terrorists. there was un uneasy racist tinge to it.

and now comes this 5-star quote from jamie lee curtis herself that's made me admire her about the possible sequel that's been banging around for years [ from dark horizons ] :

Coming Soon spoke with Jamie Lee Curtis recently who touched upon the possibility of a sequel to the 1994 action/comedy and its not good news - "'True Lies 2' will never get made. Never happen. You know why? I found out why. Because terrorists aren't funny anymore. They never were, but, it was distant enough from our psyche that we could make it funny. It'll never be funny again. I just think that that is over, that kind of humor is over". Curtis went into detail that the project was pretty much all set to go right up till 9-11 happened when it fell apart, so what if they changed the enemy now to something else though as there's hints its still moving forward? "Unless they come up with some sort of businessman, make it about Republican businessmen who are evil, and then, you know, then we can make it. Maybe they'll make it about...I know, an American presidency, with kind of, I know, and we'll have the guy not be so bright, oh, that's great!...No, instead I think if they do that, then they'll probably call and say they have another idea, but based on the original concede, it'll be that somehow a bad guy group is doing something bad to humanity and the world".

Posted by Anonymous | 1:08 PM |

blame the cia. what? no? okay, blame the fbi, then. what? not yet? shit. blame that guy hadley. what? shit...

you've gotta read atrios [ eschaton ] this morning as he's got a ton of good stuff about the bush administration's actions (again).

: the joint inquiry could have no access to the president's daily briefing (back in august 2001).

: why does worldcom (and bushco) hate america?

ohmygod - hostages, we're taking hostages:

"On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in.""

go read the whole thing as the geneva convention gets dragged out once again to check if the u.s. is doing things they shouldn't be doing (in the past few years, has any other "democratic" government been under the microscope of international law as much as the u.s. has? one has to start to put the pieces together. i've never been as familiar with the geneva convention and international laws as i have been this year).

Posted by Anonymous | 10:10 AM |

blow-by-blow.

pfaffenblog - celebrating the deaths of 'brothers grim'? not so fast.

a must-read.
he also has a link to the bbc's blow-by-blow summary of the attack. surreal. and chilling.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:43 PM |

"work it."

this is cool news (from the official missy elliott site):

"Miraculously, Missy has still found time to hit the studio amidst all her exciting projects to begin recording her much-anticipated fifth studio album. The yet to be titled opus will once again feature the producing talent of longtime Missy collaborator Timbaland, and is scheduled to hit stores in November.

very cool.
thanks to my friend k i knew missy was back at the hit factory criteria (get a load of the studios!) in miami working on her next album - but i had no idea november was gonna be host to the great day.
there is a god. and he is kind.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:05 PM |

if you kill a mcdonald's manager, does the whole chain crumble?

once again, bushco's weak and thin hopes and dreams just won't come true.

somehow this is making bushco's faith-based type of government look bad.
somehow.

ps. btw, uday and qusay didn't 'die' (as so many reporters like to call it). they were killed. get your facts straight. it is important because even though you like to add 'evil' to every sentence involving the two brothers, they were still two humans beings and they were slaughtered (and let's not even begin talking about the possibility of capturing them for questioning). this was a lynching. and done on sickening international level, at that. i hope bush jr is proud -- ego comes out right before the fall.

Posted by Anonymous | 3:17 PM |

move along. nothing to see here. there's nothing of interest to you in those 28 pages. move along.

great entry on media whores online -- his friends, the saudis (you have to scroll for it, there's no specific link for the piece).

"The prescient warnings of the late FBI counter-terror expert John O'Neill, who died at the World Trade Center on September 11, were vindicated again yesterday. He tried to tell us that the U.S. government protected Saudi interests at our terrible expense, and the joint Congressional committee report – whose chapter on the kingdom was redacted at the insistence of the Bush administration – posthumously proves O'Neill's point.

The consensus within the intelligence community during the years leading up to 9/11 was that the Saudi regime would never cooperate with the United States against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. At least three high-ranking officials testified, according to the report, that such cooperation could not be expected because it would be "contrary to Saudi national interests," (...).

:: this is a government that bush considers our ally ::

Posted by Anonymous | 9:58 AM |

music | this is the new shit | 7.26

aphex twin - windowlicker
peaches - the teaches of peaches (expanded)
n.o.r.e. - god's favorite
t. rex - electric warrior (expanded & remastered)

Posted by Anonymous | 9:39 AM |

is it just me or are these strange times?

from this washington post article - white house, cia kept key portions of report classified:

"the cia refused to permit publication of information potentially implicating saudi officials on national security grounds, arguing that disclosure could upset relations with a key u.s. ally."

how are they an ally when they apparently had such a heavy hand in the 9/11 attacks (the very attacks that bush supposedly wants to exact revenge over so much that he feels the need to murder the world over) that the white house felt the need to take out a whopping 28 pages out of the report?

Posted by Anonymous | 7:42 PM |

"it's the questions - the questions."

i really hope this one doesn't vanish into thin air -- a really nice catch by daily kos, bush disrespects flag.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:24 AM |

when you really, really, really want to annoy someone.

i present to you the chicken milk bomb. (i'd never heard of this. if anyone out there as some similarly mean pranks, let me know, alright?)

play nice and be careful.

Posted by Anonymous | 3:11 PM |

don't be like george w -- stay informed, educate yourself.

even though it's been edited and somewhat censored, do yourself a favor -- download the 9/11 report and read it.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:20 PM |

come on, people, you've got to stop sleeping.

some great news about that rolling stones show for toronto:

"muchmoremusic and cbc will air distinct, two-hour highlight specials of the molson canadian rocks for toronto concert beginning at 9 p.m. et on july 30, the day of the show."

and this is not just the rolling stones giving a show to give support to the city - this is an all-star affair: ac/dc, rush, the guess who, justin timberlake, blue rodeo, the tea party, sam roberts, the flaming lips, kathleen edwards, the isley brothers, sass jordan, la chicane, jim belushi-dan aykroyd with "have love will travel revue", and many more.

that's a pretty impressive lineup (even if you take out the usual out-of-retirement suspects), wouldn't you say?

Posted by Anonymous | 12:06 PM |

"how come the industry builds careers that don't last?"

the riaa has started sending subpoenas to some people. about 1,000 have been sent out recently. here's electronic frontier foundation's how not to get sued by the riaa for file-sharing. use it well.

you know, this new level of lunacy by the riaa is not making me want to buy more crappy albums. they should know better. and i'm not even a downloader - i haven't even downloaded a song in well over a year. but if i did, i'd do it to see if i liked the album. if i liked it, i'd buy it. if there was filler all over the thing like most albums these days, i'd pass. simple enough. stop being so fucking hungry. and give your artists better deals instead of taking all the money. stop holding them up as starving children. our issue is not with giving them the money (i'm more than willing to do so for an artist i like), it's with giving you - the rich owners - the money. you don't need it. they do. lighten up.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:51 AM |

ah, the joys of reading bartcop.

there's no link so i'm giving it to you whole -- read up:

"The Butcher's sons George and Jeb were believed to have been killed Tuesday in a raid by invading forces who surrounded the home of a cousin, a senior official said. Two other citizens also were killed.

The invading force has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to the Butcher's capture and $15 million each for his sons, who were top leaders in their father's evil empire.

Jeb was probably his father's successor, according to invading intelligence officials. He ran much of his country's security apparatus in the southeast part of the country, controlling several militias, internal security services and the military forces of the once-vaunted Republican Guard.

He was described as quiet, smart and level-headed, particularly compared to George, the Butcher's eldest son, who had a reputation for brutality, flamboyance and extreme stupidity. George had a reputation for killing while giggling. They said he made a game of being cruel, often mocking his victims by saying "Please don't kill me," just as he gave the order to execute them. The homeland had never known such cruelty was possible. George often wore a custom-made flight suit and then strutted around in it like he was 'King Shit," as if he were a legitimate fighter pilot. George controlled his father's Fedayeen, the paramilitary force that fought foreign invaders during the war; many of its survivors are thought to be part of the ongoing guerrilla campaign in Iraq.

sheeet. can you say priceless?

Posted by Anonymous | 12:11 PM |

"ooh, it feels so good when you let go of all the drama in your life."

holy shit. this from the new york post: $30m tipster can afford a bodyguard - and he'll need one.
it's an article about the guy who told u.s. officials about the hussein brothers. they were at his house.

a pretty normal article but one quote stood at me (nothing shitstorm-worthy, but still a bit disturbing to me):

"that's a lot of dead presidents - or, should we say, a possibly still-alive president, since the most common 250-dinar note is still being printed by the united states with saddam's face on it."

i didn't know that; did you?

Posted by Anonymous | 10:15 AM |

recommended reading.

some stuff i missed but am now catching up on, all thanks to josh marshall and his talking points memo.

the 16 words were not a fluke.
it is going to unravel like you wouldn't believe. and it will be beautiful.

some really good stuff managed to find its way into the oft-delayed 9/11 report -- and, yep, it's good.
star wars, episode iv: the cia strikes back.

ps. nothing's done and over with, of course, but in a country where ultra-conservative america seemed to have control over the media, it is getting sweeter and sweeter by the minute.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:45 PM |

"i wanna have me a phat yacht."

aw, shit, george...
george w bush caught in the act. damn, man. i wouldn't touch laura either but, shit, man, keep it under control, will ya?


i've been rather puzzled by the main reaction to the supposed killing of uday and qusay hussein yesterday. i mean, i would've much rather have seen them captured than killed. atrios has the most interesting post of the day (from my point-of-view) on the matter. i think they fucked up, really. and having your two sons killed and having the killers brag about it every-fucking-where kinda enrage you? and what about if you were saddam hussein? not that i care what he'd be feeling, but if i were the u.s. and didn't know where the fuck saddam actually was and what he was doing and who he was controlling, i'd have at least thought about some kind of possible retaliation from saddam for a minute before doing this whole thing.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:15 AM |

dylan vs. turin -- anyone?

okay. i don't know if this was talked about or not at the time - i obviously missed it when it came out way back in march but let me rant about it a little now.

i'm seriously hoping bob dylan isn't too busy paying royalties to notice that turin brakes owe him some fucking mad cash for ripping off one of the most recognizable songs in rock -- knockin' on heaven's door -- for their song stone thrown off the ether song album.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:28 PM |

the guys who used to be kings, 1983-1995.

the boys from metallica (whose current single, st.anger, is slowly starting to get to me) were in montreal for their 'summer sanitarium' tour this past sunday; and, well, they stayed a bit more. it seems they chose to shoot the video for frantic, the 2nd single off the new album, in montreal. it all happened in a scrapyard this past monday.

even though i hate the corporate fucks they seemed to have become these past few years (instead of recording actual music), i was shocked but proud of the fact that they actually chose montreal for the location of their next single off their 'comeback' album.

[ on-set report appeared minutes ago on musique plus ]

Posted by Anonymous | 7:30 PM |

"did you just soil your pant, sully?"

"yes" is the answer i've been looking for:

finally, at least one night where i won't have to sit through guests like jamie kennedy or nickelback to get to the good stuff.
this thursday night, carson's guests on last call will be angelina jolie and kenna.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:38 PM |

time for google to save the day?

lifted right off of atrios' eschaton because it's too perfect:

“within two hours [we] figured out [the niger yellowcake documents] were forgeries,” one iaea official told newsweek. how did they do it? “google,” said the official. the iaea ran the name of the niger foreign minister through the internet search engine and discovered that he was not in office at the time the document was signed."

Posted by Anonymous | 9:49 PM |

movies, now more than ever.

since yesterday i've been on quite the online dvd rental hunt. i don't know why but i got the urge to subscribe to netflix this weekend. i check it out and netflix still isn't operating in canada. so i looked up alternate rental places that are operating in canada. relay rentals seemed like the obvious one, with rentadvd.ca a close second. i asked around and did some research. relay rentals had the fastest service (by about a day) but it also had the smallest number of titles available (around 2,200). rentadvd.ca, on the other hand, had about 10,000 titles; and a shitload of criterion, which is where i fall in love.

so, the largest selection won and this morning i finally made the plunge. i'm now an official member of rentadvd. a happy one, at that.

i've been having lots of fun making up my queue list. this is where you come in and affect my life -- write down your suggestions for cool movies to rent in the comments section. huge thanks.


you know about spun, right? yeah, you do. jonas ackerlund film, billy corgan score, etc etc. well, as many of you know, the film's coming out tomorrow on dvd in two versions - r-rated and unrated director's cut. yeah. so i was at my video store and i see dvd cases for final destination lining up the wall. but no dvd's yet. that'll be tomorrow. then, unable to find the movie i wanted, i check out the horror/action section and what do i find? the spun cases -- with the dvd's right behind them! yep. i thought this was a mistake but no, they also had a bunch of nicholas nickelby's up too, and that's coming out tomorrow.

going to semi-indie video stores rocks.

so, i have the unrated spun dvd right here now. me very happy.
don't try and stop me from childishly gloating.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:53 PM |

argh! stop! you're hurting me!

is this the nail in the coffin?
(this really came out of left field - but it's also definitely a breath of fresh air.)

[ thanks to hesiod over at counterspin for the tip. ]

Posted by Anonymous | 1:19 PM |

priceless.

saw this today via chromaves.net:

will ferrell's address to the harvard class of 2003 (june 5 2003).

excerpt:
" i'd like to change gears here, if i could. talk a little bit about "saturday night live." now, during my 18-year stint on the show, i had the chance to play or impersonate some very interesting people, none more interesting than our current president, mr. george w. bush. now in some cases, you actually have contact with some of the people you play. as a byproduct of this former situation, the president and myself have become quite good friends. in fact, i might even call him a father figure of sorts, granted a dim-witted father figure who likes to take a lot of naps and start wars, but a father figure nonetheless. "

Posted by Anonymous | 2:51 PM |

"we tried but there was nothing we could do."

new daniel lanois tour dates are up. go check him out if he happens to pass by your neck of the woods.


the person who gave birth to the lame-ass copy control cd player is a dick. it's ugly, clumsy as hell, and you get irritating gaps between songs for no reason. i like my windows cd player just fine, thank you very much.

so i found a way to by-pass the whole thing if you want to listen to your favorite albums with your computer's cd player: simply skip track one and start playing at track two.
okay, so you wanna hear track one also? well, after you're finished listening to the album, just press play on track one and it should play fine. i'm sure there's a way to do this without going through the whole album first but that's how i found out about it this morning.

i'm sure the info was already out somewhere but i just felt like sharing.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:41 AM |

woohoo!: sit down. we'll stand up.

bbc news: "the united nations secretary general kofi annan is set to call for a swift handover of sovereignty to the iraqi people."

very, very cool.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:26 AM |

cue. creepy. x-files. music. right. fuckin. now.

s h i t .
take a good look at this.

i thought the u.s. government could do something like this. but the british?
if this turns out to be as bad as it looks (it's still way too early to make any judgements right now), the shit will really be hitting the fan. big-time.

***

okay. even if dr kelley wasn't murdered for talking about the sexed-up documents but instead committed suicide - it doesn't make it any less fucking creepy. if the reason for his suicide is the pressure he'd been subjected to recently by the british government, it still has the bloody fingerprints of the british government on it, hasn't it?

i really can't wait to learn what happened.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:17 AM |

with your own eyes.

you've got to see this. scott mcclellan, the new ari fleischer (who, btw, was on letterman last night and was still sucking and spinning for the bush administration. only this time he was doing it with a smile. letterman did try to get the good questions out, though. it looked like they'd trapped ari for a bit, there), is getting a great introduction to the white house press corps grillings (the good kind).

here's video (39:45) of it - 3rd one down in left column.

this is bad. i wouldn't want to be this guy - caught between the finally-hungry press on one side and the bush cabal on the other.
he's new, it's his 3rd day, he's not used to this, and one of the biggest scandals about the war on oil has finally blown open. this is good.

question: and so when there's intelligence in a speech, the president is not responsible for that?

priceless.
(finally)

Posted by Anonymous | 9:25 AM |

life is full of possibilities.

after pinning the blame on someone else like he always seems to do (this time, cia director george tenet), i thought it was pretty big of george w to actually say he considered himself responsible today. oh, no, he wasn't talking about the niger document or his state of the union address (both bogus claims). no, he was taking credit for the coalition that brought 'freedom' to iraqis and making the world safer. yeah:

"i take responsibility for putting troops into action. i take responsibility for making the tough decision to put together a coalition to remove saddam hussein."

that was pretty big of george, uh?
take credit, but never responsibility.

this doesn't even make you appear like you're a fucking leader, so stop trying, okay?

but two things:

one, he just put his neck out in a time of rising turmoil amongst his people as to whether the troops should be in iraq or not. pretty foolish; even for him.

two, can a foreign state now go ahead and attack the united states because they are 'an enemy' and are making the world unstable? seems like they can if you follow bushco's way of thinking. let me know when this stops being about empire-building.

ps. i was trying to get the president's email address so i could link it from here; here's the contact page. the first pulldown menu asks you to choose between: i want to write a supporting comment to president george w. bush and i want to write a differing opinion to president george w. bush. lmao!

guess which part of 'president bush welcomes your views, suggestions, and concerns' is false. lol
'by the people, for the people' my ass.
i hope you guys are getting tired of it.

in the meantime, here's cheney's email.

***

just thought about this.
everyone in the bushco camp attacked the airwaves this week to say how the niger document thing was only 16 words and wasn't the main reason for going to war, etc etc.

okay. first off, those are the first 16 words. don't think you're gonna be safe after that because there's also the al qaeda-saddam link that doesn't exist, the imminent threat, and on and on. try all you want to salvage this one, but you seem to be severely short-sighted. our case is not hinging on the niger document; this is just the beginning.

the whole case for war was bogus from the beginning. we've been picking away at it. now the press seems to be sniffing around (finally).

second, even if your whole case wasn't resting on the niger document, the fact is that you lied to the american congress and its people. that's a hell of a lot of people to make angry, isn't it?

and see how blair referred to 1988 iraq to 'prove' that they 'could' get uranium?
and then bush mentioned 1991 again.

it's been 12 years and a fucking world war.
and you haven't found one ounce of chemical, nuclear (bush still can't pronounce it right - he actually said nukular again this afternoon!), or biological weapons. bush reiterated that they did possess them in his speech this very afternoon; which i thought that was extremely foolish on his part.
they're so deep in pr mode right now that they can't see straight. good. make them think on their heels for a little while.

Posted by Anonymous | 7:53 PM |

the liars' club.

blair gave a speech in front of his liar friends (black and white clips of klu klux klan meetings come to mind) in the u.s. congress, trying to convince everyone that their war on iraq was just and fair.

they even had wounded army personnel in the audience (well, at least one guy with a neck brace). everyone was cheering at every chance they got. but thankfully hillary looked like the only person who seemed non-plussed about the whole thing. probably the only one in there who sat there with a look of distrust on her face too. priceless.
i personally want to thank you, hillary rodham clinton.

something that irked me some while i was listening to the speech - blair said the spread of freedom is the best security, or something along those lines. it sounds like these folks' version of freedom is to put a blanket over the undesirable parts of this world and call it a day. that's highly superficial and artificial, at best, and just simply does not work. people are pissed for a reason. shutting them up with huge amounts of tear gas or artillery shells will do you no good. on the contrary, you are putting the lives of the very people you say you want to protect. terrorism is not dead. but you went after saddam and osama. we were told we'd be better off after this. seems to me nothing's changed. except for the fact that now the rest of the world hates you.

i really hope bush and his team get impeached after this. i really do.

and i really hope this speech (and the fact that tony came over to do it) in front of congress gets nailed by the semi-newborn press over here. grow some brains and do your job.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:55 PM |

so i was watching leno two nights ago...

when did taylor from hanson turn into ben from growing pains?

and i think they used the time off to switch zach with a darker, broodier, and more handsome young man.
(ha, the older one, even with all the wishing in the world, is still the geek of the band. a geek in itself is not bad; but a geek who doesn't wanna be a geek, that spells trouble. don't try so hard, dude.)

whoa (btw, i'm learning way too much about them this morning than i ever wished i could), did you know that taylor was married -- and had a kid?? the guy's barely 20. [ end of teenbeat rumor mill ]


looking up info on leonardo

i didn't know leo had been on roseanne. wow.
i knew about growing pains but not about roseanne. shit. and i used watched that show religiously, too.

also, he's gonna be in the good shepherd, a film directed by deniro. very cool to see them team up again.
it's also (executively) produced by coppola.

(what? supernova was co-directed by coppola? apparently it was an uncredited job. wow, it must have been a really bad film seeing as walter hill seems to be the one who directed it but he used another name for it. lol)

Posted by Anonymous | 10:17 AM |

"how you ain't got my shit when i let you hold it, man?"

this is unprecented and by now truly unhoped for - the shit is finally hitting the fan, folks.

inpiring. and it's fun to finally be on the 'good' side for once.
the press is finally waking up to these things. i know it's months too late but all i can say is 'thank god'.
better late than never; and it's not even late - this is just in time for the swing for 2004.
get ready. it's gonna be a truly fun ride.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:25 AM |

vcr watch.

life with bonnie repeat monday night (8:30 on abc) with david duchovny.

tobey maguire on leno wednesday night.

but the most surprising of all is this:
ari fleischer on letterman thursday night.

i cannot fathom what kind of treatment dave is gonna give him.
weird.
shit. it must be a quick kissing fest because he's leaving his job.
but letterman (the show) is highly liberal.

oh, i just found this:

online this monday

on his last day as white house press secretary, ari fleischer will field questions from the public as he hosts "ask the white house" on monday, july 14 at 5:15pm. you can submit a question now.

ah, of course you have to submit your questions in advance. no spontaneity from this administration. nope. too dangerous.
some anthrax could get leaked through these portholes (we call them computer machines), see.

Posted by Anonymous | 8:53 PM |

god, i hate women.

for they can be so totally, incredibly, frustratingly beautiful.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:04 PM |

"we didn't win this war, not at all," said reserve infantryman eric holt.

really interesting article over at the independent about troop morale and some goings-on that we're not hearing too much about over here.

[ pointed out by daily kos ]

Posted by Anonymous | 4:08 PM |

music | this is the new shit | 7.12

the black eyed peas - elephunk
wu-tang clan - wu-tang forever
wu-tang clan - the w

Posted by Anonymous | 11:41 AM |

a reality.

we got a date, folks! saturday december 13th 2003 is when david bowie is planning to stop and play in montreal.

no official word from the bowie camp but i've read that we should expect an official announcement this monday.

the info appeared in today's la presse in an article about montreal promoters.

Posted by Anonymous | 8:01 PM |

the george tenet show.

okay. so now they've thrown tenet to the wolves and i'm assuming they're really hoping this one sticks.
i hope the press and public won't be as gullible as we've seen them act since the ceo took office. please.

this is a whole bit of a mess and i hope we won't get sidetracked.
it does feel like the administration got sideswipped by this one, though (it has been 4 months since bush's speech to the american people in which he mentioned the (fake) niger document). so i do believe they didn't see this one coming. and since it is a big one - one that the press seems to have decided not to ignore this time - that it should ride a little bit longer than rover and rumsfeld would like to. and this on top of the now-burgeoning democrat hopefuls.

while george w bush is busy playing the role of the village idiot no one tells anything to, colin powell had this to say [ cbs.com ] : “i didn’t use the uranium at that point because i didn’t think that was sufficiently strong as evidence to present before the world,” powell said.

sweet, uh?
the information was not good enough for the world but good enough for the american people.
i'd be quite pissed right now if i were american.

and can anyone bring solid evidence of powell's (alleged) resistance over the use of the info before his big u.n. speech?

Posted by Anonymous | 2:33 PM |

finally! (?)

the miami herald - u.s. report on 9/11 to be 'explosive'

am i dreaming? the article says that the findings will be made public in the next two weeks (!!).
are we talking about the same commission here that the bush administration has been incredibly successful in keeping in the dark?

if this is true, it will be amazing shit.
i can't wait.

george w bush, goodbye.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:01 PM |

"a game of chess...is like a sword fight - you must think first...before you move."

let's hope this is either a joke or he changes his mind (scroll down a bit to witness the horror).

this is one ugly-ass cover.

still, september 15th is the date, folks.
looks like 'close your eyes and listen to the music' is the message.


well, i'm off to my mom's house to enjoy her pool before i leave for work later on today.


i'm gonna do like kyle and ask you to recommend me some albums to listen to - and tell me why you find them interesting.
it's always fun to discover some new stuff so no one should get hurt here.
huge thanks.

now, have a great day and enjoy yourselves.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:30 AM |

"i'm a puppet, cutting strings."

the car's okay!! yay.
fuckin-a!
what was wrong with it, you say? the little muffler thing between the pipe and the actual muffler at the back. it had rusted and the pipe fell out because of it. so we got a new one and installed it in under an hour. i had to max out my credit card to pay for it but thank god it wasn't too much 'cause i didn't have anything left until tomorrow. lol

so i have a purring car now :)
thank god and it feels great.
i wanna do something now.


btw, the kenna album is actually growing on me, and i haven't even listened to the whole thing yet.
it's not what i was expecting.
it's more backstreet boys meets the savage garden singer.
but now that i have my car back i think i'm more open to it than before.

correction - i was just listening to the kenna album in the car and it dawned on me: it's not backstreet boys meets savage garden, no (the pop-y melodies are what threw me the first time); it can be more accurately described as duran duran meets depeche mode. yes.
so there you go.
and enjoy.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:58 PM |

"nobody wants to really know".

some mysterious stranger sent me this mikey bustos link (for those of you who don't know about mikey, he's a canadian idol contestant whose audition i saw on tv the other week and he simply blew me away. i'm not following the show much but i definitely want him to win just so as many people as possible can hear him sing). go check out his links section for other mikey sites.

more power to you, stranger.

Posted by Anonymous | 3:29 PM |

car goes 'tut-tut'.

well, i'm gonna go see my car guy later this afternoon. i wanted to see if i could at least drive it there so i checked it out this morning and it runs fine, so it must not be the axle thingy. looked under the car as it was running and saw that there's this one pipe that runs the whole length of the car and seems to go into the muffler. well, that pipe looks like it's out of whatever other pipe it's running into. so i'm thinking this is it. i was semi-happy to see that. it could've been the axle and thus, a lot worse. thank god.

hopefully they can fix it in no time without too much work or whole new parts.

any advice?

Posted by Anonymous | 12:57 PM |

deep hit of morning sun.

i just started listening to primal scream's evil heat. and the opening song just fucking rocks. loud, in your face, but also very restrained. exactly what i needed.

see, this afternoon i was leaving for my mom's house (and pool) but the car's usual quiet rattling underneath, near the muffler (i suspect the muffler's a bit loose), just got louder and jarringly scary. so i came back in the driveway.
i made an appointment with the garage. the only thing they could give me was tomorrow late in the afternoon. i took it but i'll have to call in sick at work since i was working tomorrow evening.

but i really need to get this fixed.
i'm hoping it's got nothing to do with the axle (pleasepleaseplease) because that would be a bitch to pay up for. thank god my pay's thursday morning, but still...
i've thought about it and i think it was still making the noise when i had the car in neutral. i don't think the axle gets any work done when it's in neutral, does it?

any car people out there would like to give me their quick assessment or suggestions?

thanks.

Posted by Anonymous | 4:28 PM |

"dance you fucker dance you fucker don't you dare"

who woulda thought a song called myxamatosis would be my favorite song off the new radiohead album?
i fucking love it.


i need some prince music.
last night on musique plus, the vj played her choice video and it was prince's get off. i was immediately brought back to a long forgotten time in my childhood where i actually had two prince tapes (diamonds and pearls and the love symbol album) - who the fuck lets a 12-year-old buy those kinds of things??

anyway. i remember listening to it for weeks while playing with my legos all day long. it was a trip. so i guess my music-listening experience started way back then, uh?
last night i found out i knew all the words and could sing them along with the video even though i didn't consciously know what was coming next. it's an amazing feeling. like your childhood opening up again.

and how amazing prince's music really is.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:18 AM |

music | this is the new shit | 7.07

kenna - new sacred cow

ps. i couldn't believe i was actually able to find this album.
this was on my list but i thought it'd stay there for a few weeks and then i'd give up and maybe look it up again next time i'm down in montreal. but i actually found it in my favorite record store this afternoon.

(and yet, i still can't find the goddamned mogwai album.)

(and why is chad hugo called chase chad all of a sudden? i haven't looked inside the booklet but it's written twice on the outside of the album. chase chad is his publishing entity.)

Posted by Anonymous | 10:38 PM |

gangs of new york | martin scorsese

i'm not sure how i feel about the film. i just gave it a spin tonight on dvd.
so, the following is stream of consciousness only. bits and pieces pieced together for your enjoyment or (mis)information.

i know i'm not made for long movies anymore. i can't stand them, for some reason.

but the beginning's really good.
but it's a shame we got to go through 2 hours of 'character' stories to get to the really impressive 5-minute finale.

daniel day-lewis is good, but i thought he'd chew more scenery than he actually does.
and is it just me or was he channeling deniro in some scenes, there? i think he inspired his performance on the scorsese deniro.

what is curious to me is how leonardo really didn't bring much of anything new to the table. i love the guy but he didn't do much of anything in this film. and he's the supposed protagonist. of course the story's got a much larger scale than him but he wasn't given anything to do, really, except plotting a bit of revenge for his father's death (and i use the term 'plot' in the loosest sense of the term).

the music was good. especially in the opening battle scene. i didn't check the exact credit for the piece out but robbie robertson was the music guy, so i guess some thanks go out to him.

am i the only who saw a little harvey in this film?
i didn't read up much on the exact stories behind the film but the movie did have that hacked up feel about it.

i liked the story, or what the story tried to convey - so congrats to martin scorsese for having enough guts to tackle something as big as this - but, as a whole it didn't work for me.
too much side stories that had nothing to do with the actual gangs, racism, or immigration.

scorsese does score some points for the sheer amount of 'realistic' violence in the film, though. it needed to be there and they brought it. thank god for that.

Posted by Anonymous | 10:19 PM |

where i end and you begin.

i just discovered dubyaspeak this afternoon and he's got some really cool dubya quotes.
here's one that just about floored me:

" You know I could run for governor but I'm basically a media creation. I've never done anything. I've worked for my dad. I worked in the oil business. But that's not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office. "
-- Dubya in 1989

Posted by Anonymous | 3:14 PM |

terminator 3 might not be as bad as i originally thought it would be.

still waiting for the original english version to come to town. weird that that one didn't get picked up first but someone didn't think things through and now all the theaters are booked. i think this week is when we'll be able to get it.

but in the meantime, take a look at what james cameron had to say a little while ago:

This isn't a man whose going to whitewash his opinion either, take for example his reaction to "Alien 3" - "Hated it. Simple as that. I hated what they did.... I couldn't stand Alien 3 - how they could just go in there and kill off all these great characters we introduced in aliens, and the correlation between mother and daughter. It stunk, but hopefully I'll get a chance to rectify all that". You mean the talk about him being tied to "Alien 5" is true? "To an extent. yes. We're looking at doing another one. Something similiar to what we did with Aliens. A bunch of great characters, and of course Sigourney. I've even discussed the possibility of putting him [Arnold Schwarzenegger] into the Alien movie".

(now, unless arnold acts as a gaffer, i don't want him anywhere near any alien movie. just go away.)

now the first part is boring but i put it there just so you could get the part about him wanting to correct it next time.
isn't that cool?
up until now i was only aware of ridley scott being interested (and somewhat close to being official). but this would be super-cool.
oh, maybe he'd only be there as producer.
but i want another james cameron alien. this news is both terribly unexpected and incredibly exciting at the same time.

well i just checked out this cameron fan site, amazing cameron, and the last bit of news (dated june 1st 2003) mentions a rumour about cameron and ridley possibly teaming up for something. oh well.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:59 AM |

wild horses.

i'm actually looking at getting into the rolling stones this morning. i never thought that day would come.
see, i really hate their 'classics' - they've been hammered into our psyche so much. i can't stand them no more. can't even remember the first couple of times i even heard them. but last night around 2 am i caught gimme shelter on cbc newsworld. and i watched. and watched. and watched. i finally put an end to it around 3:30 and went to bed - but not before making sure to tape the rest of the film.

and one of the first songs we hear in the film is wild horses. at first i didn't recognize it at all but i loved the way it went. and then came the chorus and i recognized it from the garbage version and i nearly pissed myself as i remembered the rest of this beautiful chorus. and the stones version has a weariness to it that i couldn't help but fall in love with.

the song appears on sticky fingers. actually not a studio album but an outtakes comp.
and i remembered the stones remasters that came out earlier this year - that's when i saw the light.
i'm looking up info and reviews on them. mainly the more weary and honest albums around the sticky fingers/exit on main st time.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:04 AM |

daniel lanois | july 3rd 2003 | sherbrooke, quebec

this is for those of you (who i honestly thought were none - thanks for the comment, sharon) who wanted to know how the daniel lanois show went and wondered where the hell i'd gone.
after the show i emailed two of my friends with the story of the show; after writing the story down twice i just felt drained and didn't wanna write it out anymore. i mean, how much can you say about a show to someone who wasn't there?

but here's the next best thing - the quick and easy version of the show.

update: i'll add to that 'review' that daniel was one of the coolest person. unassuming, charming, funny (he wears dickies), and just plain cool for a guy who could pull off being a snob by now. he seemed genuinely surprised and touched to see us all there and had fun and enjoyed the evening.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:37 PM |

jolie louise.

okay. i must admit that i'm beginning to get into stephen malkmus & the jicks' pig lib. but that's after about 4 days of listening to it to try to get into the groove of it all. it's not an easy task. the disc ends as soon as i get into and there seems to be only 5 songs on the whole damn thing, vocally-challenged as it seems to want to be.

but right now i must say i am liking it.

tonight: i am going to see daniel lanois play our little city. the venue seats about 500 people.
i am very happy about that.
seems every album i love ends up being produced by the fabulous d (u2, peter gabriel).
and he produced my very favorite heartbreak album of all-time: luscious jackson's fever in fever out.
i still can't listen to the damn thing now. even two years after the fact.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:05 PM |

choking you

so, by now we know that george w bush said the following:

"There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is, `Bring 'em on.'"

okay. incredibly stupid thing to do.

but then i also found something else in the sentence that followed that stupid line:

"We will deal with them harshly if they continue to try to bring harm to the Iraqi people."

okay. first - the people doing the shooting are not harming iraqis right now. the us army is.
is george w really that inept and/or a blatant liar? they're killing us troops.
why does he keep trying to sell this as fighting for iraqi freedom? don't turn this around on us.

second - don't try and separate these shooters from the 'good' iraqi citizens (i really hope the bush administration is keeping the 'saddam loyalists' line for the american people - even though that is sick in its own right - because if they really believe that the people doing the shooting are really only remnants of the baath party, then they're really inept at their jobs). the people doing the shooting are mostly pissed off iraqis protecting their own asses (since you can't seem to do a good job of it) who want the damn occupation over - get it?
if another country waged war on you and won and were roaming the streets day in and day out, and kept coming into your homes to see if you had any type of weapon, and couldn't get your electricity and water running after two months, you'd also want them out.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:27 PM |

please come back in, mr president.

i really can't believe bush actually said this.

doesn't he get how stupid he is?

but this is also why i love it when he goes out on his own. we gets gold, people.
hopefully this will run in the mainstream press as well.

Posted by Anonymous | 2:27 PM |

oh my fuck

i just turned on the tv and guess what i stumbled onto?

vancouver just got the 2010 winter olympics!
and this, the morning after canada day!
we rock.

i'm sitting here listening to the prefuse 73 album. and i'm really liking it. a lot.
more than i expected to because the only reason i got it is because of the praise it's been getting and i've been starving for some good electro/beats lately and i couldn't find anything and this seemed to be at the top of the list. so i got it.
but i didn't expect to really like it.
but i've been listening to it since yesterday - about three times through by now - and i really dig it.

pick it up.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:58 AM |

do your thing.

hey, if you want to ask virgin to please release the smashing pumpkins's final show (as was the original intent over two years ago) on dvd, go sign the petition.
thank you.

Posted by Anonymous | 12:29 PM |

guess who's birthday it is today?

happy canada day, everybody!

help us celebrate by listening to one or more artists from the following shortlist:

blue rodeo
the tragically hip
gordon downie
bran van 3000
kevin parent
daniel lanois
avril lavigne (yes, you can listen to her if you want to)
celine dion
godspeed you! black emperor
nelly furtado
k-os
bryan adams (bah, he's okay)
glenn gould
groovy aardvark
melissa auf der maur
rufus wainwright
kid koala
rush
chantal kreviazuk
nickelback
jean leloup
ariane moffat
daniel bélanger
yann perreau
dumas
vincent vallières
esthero
do make say think
julie doiron
dj maüs
the dears
sam roberts
leonard cohen
neko case
the new pornographers
neil young
the band
big wreck
sloan
manitoba
sarah mclachlan
joni mitchell
alanis morissette
our lady peace (if you want to)
ramasutra
silver mt. zion
tiga
amon tobin (he does so count - he's been a resident of montreal for the past two years)
mara tremblay
david usher
moist (if you really have to)
shania twain (if you really have to care)
the barenaked ladies
the guess who
sum41
gordon lightfoot
the tea party
garou (but don't listen to the abominable, celine-inspired first album)
54-40
randy bachman
bachman turner overdrive
diana krall


[ canehdian.com is a good starting point for info on canadian artists ]

Posted by Anonymous | 10:16 AM |