THE FIRST RULE OF BOOK CLUB...

I went out on a limb recently and placed an add on my local Craigslist page to see if any like-minded miscreants wanted to start a book club with me in my neighbourhood. As a result I met a co-conspirator named Kevin who came up with this great ad for our fledgling club that we can put in a few local coffee shops;

It's kind of cool really, as I have been lamenting the absence of the type of connections I had in days of yore; basically people with a wide array of interests willing to shoot the breeze about life, the universe and everything. It felt a bit risky putting the add out, though I am glad I did this and embraced a new way of finding kindred souls in the 21st century.

I am eager to see how my little experiment to start a book club from scratch will pan out. I am off to a good start really, and have already increased my group size by 100% (seeing as there are two of us now) and I am confident that beneath the orderly facade of where I live there are other like minded souls willing to read, talk and be inspired by the exchange of ideas.

FYI - the genesis for this idea happened a few months ago when I overheard two women conversing at a local coffee shop and I became mildly distraught over the commodified and purely transactional nature of their discourse (link here for my earlier post "Coffee Talk & Glossy Pamphlets") and I made a vow to wage personal war against relational mediocrity and find a meaningful way to simply connect with others over the love of ideas.

SAVING HIGH FIDELITY

In the name of preserving and promoting decent sound quality (i.e. not the crappy & highly compressed MP3 files or substandard CDs that most people listen to now) a number of artists are pushing formats that will enhance the experience of listening to music for those of us who give a damn.

Among them, producer and musician T Bone Burnett is promoting a new project called Code, which according to a recent article in Rolling Stone, "aims to do for music what THX did for
movie-theater sound".

Apparently the first "code albums" will be upcoming releases from John Mellencamp and Elvis Costello. In addition to containing a regular CD, these releases will also include a DVD with superior audio quality and range, as well as an AAC file ripped straight from the masters that will even give the iPod crowd decent sound quality.

For audiophile geeks like me this is welcome news, especially considering that the SACD format that I loved so much has died a slow and painful death. It is amazing really that as the ability to share and transport music has improved vastly, the quality has decreased proportionately.

I suppose that convenience of a having a gazillion songs at your immediate disposal comes at a cost, though I am glad to hear that there will soon be some decent options again for those of who are interested in sitting back and enjoying the experience of having a piece of music take us to another place.

FRIDGE MAGNET VOCABULARY

When my awesome nephew came for a visit last summer he left the following words on my fridge via our alphabet fridge magnets;


It still makes me giggle from time to time and I kept it on the fridge for a long time. I thought it was quite brilliant and I can envision this making it into the common vernacular. Here are a few examples;

Example #1: (14 year old girl) "Oh my God, Mr. Mason gave me way too much homework, he's such a turd map"

Example #2: The forensic nutritionist enhanced the resolution in order to get a more substantive reading on the corpse's dietary habits. From the analysis of the turd map it appeared that he had eaten a fair deal of corn at some point during the day prior to his accident.

Example #3: The directions he had followed from MapQuest were vastly inaccurate. After hours of driving aimlessly in circles he threw the crumbled paper out the window. It was a complete and utter turd map.

Anyone else have any other potential uses for this wonderful phrase?

(NOTE: I don't know if there is actually any such thing as a Forensic Nutritionist, though I sense a potential network pitch once CSI runs it's course)

COPYRIGHT COPS

Tragically, it looks like that behind closed doors the Canadian government is in talks to join the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The new plan would see Canada join other countries (including the U.S) to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.

According to the Vancouver Sun, because this falls under the category of being a trade agreement it does not require parliamentary debate, thus leaving all the poor plebes like you and I out of the debate. Hooray for democracy!

It is being speculated that if ratified this could empower border guards or other public officials to serve essentially as copyright cops, inspecting your MP3 players, laptops or hand held devices and having the authority to determine if there is material present that violates international copyright laws.

That's right, a cranky and over worked border guard could potentially confiscate your IPod because you had the audacity to rip a copy of an Abba CD you bought 10 years ago for your personal enjoyment.

The part I find daunting is how undemocratic these type of international agreements are. Other than a few elites in the entertainment industry, did anyone of us ask for this? I also know that these type of agreements are near impossible to back out of once you are signed on, so even if a more sensible government comes along we may be SOL.

Once again, it would seem that rather than embrace new technology and find ways to use it in a creative and innovative manner, the dinosaurs in the recording industry and other mass media corporations would rather see confiscations, fines and even imprisonment for folks who are merely using technology that has made it easy to enjoy their music or videos on a number of formats.

I just hope that when I get interrogated by the copyright enforcement officials, that the one playing the "good cop" lets me off with a small fine if I promise to burn him a copy of my Johnny Cash "Unearthed" box set.

Seriously though, the way this strips away personal liberties and erodes basic principles of democratic inclusion and accountability REALLY bothers me. If anyone know of any campaigns out there to fight this please let me know.

VIVE LES ZOMBIS!

I love Zombie movies. Any film that has reanimated, flesh eating corpses walking around preying on the living is fine by me. Of course the really good zombie movies have some social commentary, and the real horror is often how the survivors of the zombie apocalypse treat each other, with the zombie antics paling in comparison.

Of course the master of this genre is definitely George A Romero, and I am really jazzed because I just picked up his latest film, Diary Of The Dead on DVD, which is an attempt to rejig his Zombie franchise for the YouTube generation. So when the house is still and everyone else is sleeping I am going to scare my self senseless watching this. I'll probably post a review at some point this weekend.

To me the most frightening and compelling aspect of this genre is the way that the Zombies represent how the loss of individuality and free will is itself a form of death, even though we still walk around. This was illustrated most brilliantly in Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, which critiqued mindless consumerism through images of countless Zombies wandering aimlessly in a suburban shopping mall. I often have this image in my mind when I see hoards of people standing in line for bargains on boxing day.

I have a similar experience when I commute to work, and I see thousands of shiny metal cars driven by Zombies, talking on cell phones, drinking their coffee, always looking forward. I assume that if I avoid eye contact with them they won't realize that I am not one of them and hope that they won't come after me. I often listen to audio books in my car to stimulate my higher brain functions and remind myself that I am still alive myself.

Now please excuse me while I fight through the Zombie hoard on my way to work this morning. If I don't make it back, yet somehow you see me later on with a vacant stare, wandering aimlessly around a Best Buy, please proceed with caution!

GOING DIGITAL!

A few posts ago I waxed poetic about my nostalgic attachment to going to ye olde record store and picking up a new disc. Having said all that, there are moments when I am truly in awe and enamoured with the perks of how music is shared and expressed in the digital era.


Case in point, the endless array of free downloads that I peruse obsessively from up and coming indie artists courtesy of Pitchfork. More specifically, I was thrilled to download the latest Nine Inch Nails album that Trent Reznor decided just to release for free online. Admittedly I am not a huge fan, though as a result of this I am at least inclined to listen to and ponder this latest offering.

I love the fact that as a musician Reznor had the choice to release his music for the sake of it and just put it out there into the universe. It is actually an astute gesture from the perspective of self promotion and I am encouraged to see how some artists are subverting the traditional distribution methods and are getting their music out there on their own terms.

I also appreciate the creative commons license attached to this album, and the encouragement for anyone to remix tracks as they seem fit. It creates a stronger sense of connectivity and participation with the music that is an easily realized bi-product of this digital era.

This is the sort of thing that makes me giddy, so please excuse me while I go and try to free up some more space on my hard drive!

BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Last week for the first time since late last summer I took the time to hang my wet laundry on the clothes line. This was a good idea in light of the fact that there was an uncharacteristically strong and cold wind for this time of year. The items where dry within an hour, almost faster than the archaic dryer that I normally use.

Yes OK, I am blogging about laundry, not the most engaging topic I realize, though I have to admit that it was extremely gratifying not only to watch my laundry flap exuberantly above my head but also to slow down and take the time to do the "low-fi" version of something. I think that in the near future there will be more of this for many of us, at least I certainly hope so.

My clothesline is really high up and goes from the top balcony all the way across the yard to a very tall tree, and therefore my family's personal items can be seen for blocks away. In many ways it was as if the assortment of laundry were the flags and symbols of our little family clan; brightly coloured beach towels, bedsheets with dragons on them, and shirts of varying sizes, all of them with a story behind them, flapping strongly in the wind and adding a very humanizing element to the neighbourhood.

Its a simple thing really, but something I take pleasure in nonetheless.

I'M BACK!

I stepped away from the blogosphere for a few weeks, and now have loads of stuff peculating in my tiny brain that I will unleash in the coming days. The break was necessary and positive, though admittedly I am giddy with excitement at the prospect of posting again and catching up with some of my favourite bloggers.

More to come - you have been warned!