Podcasts

If you're into podcasts and are looking for some recommendations here's what I've been tuned into for a long while (in no particular order)

Grantland 
Specifically Andy Greenwald,
Do You Like Prince Movies,
Girls with Hoodies,
Hollywood Prospectus

There's a really great one about the career arc of film director Steven Soderbergh

If you're into Football - they have plenty to offer on that subject matter as well). Great website overall.

Tim and Sid
(From Sportsnet- their entire show is carved into 1 hour episodes each day)

Spark
CBC's Tech podcast with Nora Young

Eli Glasner
CBC Movie Reviewer

Get-It-Done Guys' Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More
(Stever Robbins)

Hockey Central
(Sportsnet)

Pensions Plan Puppets
(Leafs)

TedTalks
assorted collection of Ted Talks

Stuff You Should Know
How stuff works website

Documentary of the Week
BBC Radio

Day 6 

(CBC Radio)

Paris Letters

I just completed reading Paris Letters - One woman's journey from the fast lane to a slow stroll in Paris.

Without being preachy the author Janice  MacLeod describes how she took many of today's practices of minimalism, journaling  and slew of other self discovery tools to centre herself and find clarity in her life.

As she eventually reveals to herself that the rat race isn't for her she sets her eyes on the lights of Paris. Not to vacation but to live there.

A daunting and ambitious notion. But with any goal - they all begin with the first step.  In her case she asked herself - how much would I need to save in order to live for one year without working?

This was followed up by - "where does all my money go now?"  This to me was the most intriguing part of the story. 

The film Fight Club has a line that says
  "the things you own end up owning you".

Janice instead of trying to figure out how to afford the life she currently has while away instead tackles the problem by being subtrative.  "How can I reduce my cost of living so saving enough is more attainable?" 

So begins her relentless attack on her consumerism ways.  She starts to widdle down her belongings. Her goal - she'll be able to pack her belongings into one suitcase.

The rest of the story is just as inspiring.  It's light but has enough substance to make you wonder "what if".  

A good recommendation for anyone looking to make some changes in their life - big or small. 

Nuisance Bears

From www.tbnewswatch.com

A recent article Bear Visit was posted in the news which has re-ignited the Bear Hunt issue.  I'm not going to weigh into the hunting debate.  I'm not qualified to do so.

However the point I'd like to make is the issue of urban sprawl.   Instead of the city continuing to develop more and more sub-divisions which I believe stresses the road/water/electrical infrastructure, why doesn't it start building 'up'?

I think its time for Thunder Bay to start building decent sized apartment and condo buildings in the city.  If the Ring of Fire ever gets started - Thunder Bay would surely see some rise in population.  They need to live somewhere.   I'd hate to see more urban sprawl.

It's a chicken and egg scenario. The bears aren't a  nuisance - the people building houses 'out there' are.  Bears and other wild life are part of the surroundings and should be considered part of the deal.

Leafs Re-Boot

Leo Komarov - www.canada.com

I was so happy with the Leafs when they competed in the playoffs two seasons ago.

I told my fellow hockey fans that I didn't expect anything from the Leafs except some building blocks and a taste of the playoffs.  It was a young energetic team that was gaining valuable experience.  They were great days to be a Leafs Fan.

I was happy to see them win 1 game in the series.  I really liked the 'lunch bucket' attitude they had. They had lots of grit, for-check and toughness.

This was a team to be proud of - they left it all out there and played for each other.

All other teams hated the Leafs.  Not because of the cliche 'leafs suck'. But because the Leafs broke other teams.  They were tough to play against.  With 1 line of  skilled players (JVR/Boz/Kess) and 3 lines of fast, pesky, grinding players with some fists to back it up they were formidable.

That all changed last year when the 2nd line was gutted (Grabo/MacArthur/Kule) in favor of Kadri and Lupol.   Those 2 were decent but their lack of production put more strain on the top line to score.  Kadri didn't live up to the hype and the pressure put on him.

Not signing Leo last year lost the Leafs more grit.

The Lunch Bucket hard working team transformed into 1 line of skill that scored almost every goal on  a 2 on 1 breakaway.  Leafs couldn't keep the puck in the offensive zone because they no longer had any grinders.

That meant more D-zone time which is where it all fell apart.

The balance was lost.  Sure the D was a disaster, but had the puck not been in the D zone as much - I think they could have held back the 12 game collapse.

I sincerely hope the 'brass' is trying to re-capture some of what they cut last season and make this team worthy of pride again.

Sure - leadership is important - but so is some of the lunch bucket effort.

Cosmic Seam Is Tracked

Our first song is completed and no more is to be recorded for it.  It is ready for editing and mixing.  We spent the last session adding a few sprinkles of guitar notes here and there.

Of possible interest to the audio geeks - we borrowed a technique from Mutt Lang and Brian May.  You see some of us have been on a Def Leppard Hysteria kick for the last month and we've been watching a lot of the behind the scenes action of how that classic album was recorded.

One little nugget we came across was recording little guitar noodles. Mutt Lang made them track each  note  separately. The result of this time consuming process was that no note would be cut off or muted if it was on the same string.  Each note would have the same sustain.

I had a little 3 note run we wanted to record with this technique.  To make it official - Mike dug out an original Rockman X100 guitar amp simulator - the same one they used for the recording of the guitars in Hysteria.

To take a it a step further - we did it twice.We ping ponged the notes so each note is either left channeled or right channeled (ala Brian May).

Once that was completed - there was one 'space note' we needed to end the track with.  Ken was up to pluck harmonics on both low and high 'E' strings.  One set of notes.  Pretty easy right?  Unless you were up against a practical joke that would make it near impossible to get it right.

You see - we had a separate track up in the mix that made some guitar noise shortly after the spot where Ken had to hit his mark.  Every take - he thought he screwed up.  I figure this went on for about 8 tries before he caught on.

Let's just call it studio initiating.

Oh yeah - I snuck into the studio early in the week to lay down the bass tracks.  It didn't take Ken long to figure this out upon playback.  He was crushed - but as always - a good sport about it.   I think he's earned his lumps and is now fully and completely a studio musician.

Prep work for the next tune has already begun and Mike hopes to have the drums tracked for next week's session.

Quick and Dirty London Fog

A friend of mine got me hooked on London Fog tea.  It's professionally made from a local sandwich place - Bean Fiend.  I"m not sure where he sources his ingredients, but its fantastic.  A problem I run into is the craving for this London Fog and the inability to simply go to Bean Fiend and get a cup.


So what's a  guy to do when he wants his fix and Bean Fiend isn't possible?

Try and make it myself.


So here's what I use when i'm in the office/home for my London Fog fix:

• Tetley Earl Grey "specialty tea'
• Nestle Coffee Mate ' French Vanila'

That's it - well hot water if you want to get picky.   I was using milk originally, but it was missing that sort of sweet and vanilla taste.

I happened upon the office coffee maker and there just happened to be the coffee mate.  It's no Bean Fiend London Fog - but it'll have to do.

Dubai vs The Orb

There's an aerial photo of Dubai making its rounds on the Internet today.  The man made palm tree developments in the sea reminded me a lot of The Orb's remix album Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond the Call of Duty.

Could the Engineers been late 90's electronic aficionados?