Art, good art, at least, is borne from challenge. Tragedy. Loneliness. Depression. Trauma. Self-loathing.
This is why bands always end up sucking once they become rich. They retain the talent, but the art becomes so emotionally self-effacing that it loses its idiosyncrasies.
Are there good, happy artists? Sure, but they are exceedingly rare. Suffering simply produces a much more dramatic, engaging outcome.
So basically, if you're a great artist, more than likely, you will have to live a shitty life at some point. And maintain it, to some extent. A commitment to good art is a commitment to... a shitty life? Except, it's not shitty, I suppose. Your job may be. And your house. And your clothes.
But your life, if not measured in shitty things, in theory, may be exceedingly awesome. That's the idea right? Right.
One advantage of free time is I get to catch up on books, movies and music that I wouldn't otherwise have sought out and engaged. Here's some interesting items out now or coming out soon:
District 9
From Peter Jackson, the visual effects in this look absolutely amazing. And not only is it about aliens, but aliens in mechas. That's like putting a twinkie inside a joe louis. How can you resist?
Daybreakers
Vampire is the new teenage-wizard, dontcha know? Also, I can't help expecting a velociraptor to jump out during any scene, in any movie, that Sam Neill is in. Still, I am intrigued by this seeming genre mashup. The trailer is pretty amazing. Also, I love Kate Bush so much that even Placebo sounds good covering her. Brownie points.
The Hurt Locker
This is supposedly the war movie of the decade. I will watch it soon, as it's out already. This I swear. The tension is pretty clearly jacked up big time from what you see in the trailer. Reviews pouring in have been nothing short of stellar.
500 Days of Summer
This actually looks pretty contrived (The Smiths? And you work in a loft studio? Ok). But I tend to enjoy mildly emo hipster rom-coms (see: State, Garden; Kiss, Last; Real Girl, Lars). Where do I sign up for my hipster-douchebag tshirt?
Albums I am eager to hear:
Ohbijou - Beacons
The Most Serene Republic - ...and the ever expanding universe
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
I've been listening to a lot of upbeat summer music lately. Drake, Passion Pit, Au Revoir Simone, and some Bjork to put myself in vacation mood. Suggestions welcome.
Currently reading:
Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
Next Up:
TBA. Suggestions?
I just finished 'Omnivore's Dilemma' prior to my bi-monthly Canlit fix. It was interesting, definitely, but I feel you'd almost be equally educated by just going to watch FOOD Inc. It's essentially... the movie version, of that book. With some 'Fast Food Nation' thrown in. Also, I feel guilty about everything I eat now. Thanks, Michael Pollan.
Is it better, hypothetically, to always go for what you want despite knowing things probably won't bother working out? I mean, to grab for a cupcake, for example, knowing full well you're about to go on a roller coaster and won't return to said bakery in the forseeable future? Is that a sensical analogy?
Do you grab the cupcake, roller coaster eating be damned? Or do you simply move on, knowing it was probably for the best that you do not inconvenience yourself? Where do you draw the line between reasonable selfishness and selfish indignation?
I watched two horrible movies this week. Each featured a hot asian (mostly) girl who made the stupidity bearable, if not even somewhat enjoyable. If that makes me a sadist (or a pervert), so be it. What's really sad however is that both these girls were playing cartoon characters. I'm not sure exactly what that says about me, but I'm sure there's some sort of deep rooted symbolism there. It's probably not that deeply rooted, actually.
...or Chun-Li...
I must say that this is a tougher call than it looked on paper. I mean, Kristen Kreuk is so pretty. But Jamie Chung I would say has the nicer body. Less lithe and classical, but curvy Asian girls always get bonus points from me. KK is Canadian though, which is also a plus. But Jamie Chung is Korean, which I also approve of. Tough call.
I can't decide. I'll just bask in the presence of both, while at once thanking them for playing Japanese cartoon characters in horrendous hollywood films, and ignoring the fact they just set Asian actresses back at least five years.
For every step forward, two steps back. Somewhere, Maggie Cheung is cursing these two.
While I'm objectifying women, shout out to Grace Park. Hope you make it back to hottie relevance soon.
You know those relationships where a guy constantly hits on a girl only to be shot down every time, but it's almost a running joke, whereby even though we know the guy wants her, they remain friends and it's cute and funny how he doesn't stop his advances?
This is common in movies and television shows, and sometimes comic books I suppose.
I can't say I actually know any relationships like this. I have had conversations with chicks where they complain about guys not being able to maintain friendships post-hook-up or even if there are attractions involved. This is definitely an anomaly. By-and-large I find awkwardness to be a phenomena afflicting females more than males. Thus the male tendency to take the much simpler route, and end contact with said female all together.
You see, I would say that 98 per cent of the girls I know would be unable to deal with a friend who constantly made their desires known, even in the face of futile odds. And not in a stalkerish way, but just enough that they were aware that if offered a booty call, they would have no hesitation accepting.
It would creep them out, and they wouldn't want to hang out with them anymore.
Then again, perhaps this is more telling of the company I keep. I have no clue whether this is normal in the global population, as I think its fair to say I keep fairly conservative friends.
The Raptors have transformed their team in a matter of weeks, with hardcore fans joyfully shuffling last year's 33-win stinker deep into the dark recesses of their memories.
We signed the biggest name UFA on the market. Drafted an athletic wing oozing with upside. Cleared up some cap space for a bench. Signed a rough back up big who hoovers boards with an attitude. Made an offer to a combo guard who can penetrate to play some back up at the 1 while spending time at the 2 in a small-lineup pinch, insurance should Roko Ukic not develop as planned.
In the big picture however, what are our expectations, and in reality, what has changed?
First off, the playoffs. Will the Raptors be a top 8 team in the East next year? Probably.
Are we a second round team? Probably not.
The question is whether fans are willing to accept this.
Let's look at it this way.
Teams that absolutely will beat us in a series: Cleveland, Orlando, Boston
Teams that are roughly on par with us: Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit
Teams that will suck next year: Charlotte, Indiana, Miami, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, New Jersey, New York
Basically, we will finish no worse than 8th, and no better than 4th. This I am willing to wager on. What that also means however, is that unless we finish 4th or 5th, we are destined to be bounced in the first round. The 6-7-8 seeds are a one-way ticket to the golf course for our team of soft-serve-shooters.
Will we be content with that result? From the perspective of a one-season improvement, perhaps. Personally however, I find this rather disconcerting, since all our players essentially are in the prime right now, meaning... unless DeMar DeRozan becomes a superstar, or MLSE is willing to trade for a superstar and go over the tax...
This is the best this team is ever going to get. Perhaps with one season playing together and experience they might climb a few wins higher and cement that 4 spot. That's a big if.
But honestly, nobody can argue the ceiling for our team is higher than that of the top three seeds in the conference. It's not even close. Our young players simply haven't shown the type of potential to explode into superstardom that defines a team on the rise.
We are a team on the minor slant upwards. And it's almost done slanting.
If DD or Bargnani become all-stars, I will eat my words.
Otherwise, expect another one and done, and another one, and another one for the forseeable future. Unless Chris Bosh leaves because he realizes the same thing. In which case, after this year we'll be back to square one. Personally, I'd almost prefer a mini-rebuild to raise the potential ceiling. But hey, that's just me.
Disclaimer -- for those of you who are banned from viewing YouTube videos at work, this will be a disappointing post unless you come back on your own time. Slackers.
Remember high school? It was good times. "Home work", part-time jobs, melodrama and skipping classes. But do you remember the soundtrack to all that?
In hindsight, trawling through popular music during that five year era is a veritable pantheon of pablum. Or more bluntly, it was a barren wasteland of musical talent. Think about what high school kids listen to today: Beyonce? Jay-z? Kanye? Panic at the Disco? Fall Out Boy?
These are actual BANDS! Artists! Compared to that, some of the crap being peddled to us in high school was downright absurd. I'm not bitter though, because at the very least it helps our generation identify with a completely unique era in pop-culture history. Morbid as it may be.
Sure, we all remember it as a time when boy bands (and to a lesser extent, girl bands and a seven member co-ed band) ruled the world. And yes, the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync are still to this day remembered somewhat fondly and with nostalgic relevance.
But what about all those other boy bands? I figured it'd be fun to take a stroll down memory lane. You probably have forgotten all these songs. Until now. I apologize, but... really. This stuff was popular once? It's a post that really just writes itself. Enjoy.
2gether
Technically, I think these guys were a a television show and not an actual band. Also, they were created to make fun of boy bands. Ironically, in their irony, they were one of my favourite boy bands.
3deep
Even 2gether had 2 hit songs. 3deep, despite being numerically superior, had only one. That's how bad they were. Even when it comes to bad music, Canada had an inferiority complex. Mostly, I remember wanting to start a band called 4shallow, just to show them up. That is all.
B44
Not only is the song incredibly perverted, but the three dudes look like child molesters in training, suffering from scurvy. Also, doesn't it seem implicitly racist to portray a black child playing with toys from a garbage can on the street? Either he's poor, or hallucinating from tainted meth. Perverts AND bigots. Yikes.
5ive
I only included them because they completed my pattern and also happened to be a one hit wonder. I only regret there wasn't a band with the number one in its name. I couldn't find the real video, which I recall takes place in a bowling alley
O-town
Created from the 'Making of the Band' tv show, their most popular song was one originally made famous by Westlife... another boy band. But Westlife was British, so apparently they don't count, and it's OK to pooch their act. BSB purists note: this is essentially the 'Get Down' video, except with less colour.
LFO
Stands for Lyte-Funky-Ones. References include Abercrombie, Footloose and... Family Ties?? There's no way they wrote this song. They can't possibly know who Alex Keaton is. It's actually pretty meta that they sing about that time back when New Kids on the Block was popular. One day, I am sure, no one will ever write a song about when LFO was popular.
The Moffats
I actually saw them live once. They were doing a gig at Playdium while I happened to be there. To be fair to them, at least these kids played instruments and wrote songs. They were just really bad. One of the brothers ended up in a band with one of my university friends' friend doing some sort of prog-rock thing in Boston. No, really.
Dudez A-Plenti
To anyone who thinks Andy Sanberg is original, I present exhibit A: Conan was pulling that shit way before that Natalie Portman stealing asshole wrote Lazy Sunday. To be honest though, Lazer Cats is some sort of epic bad assness. Props where deserved.
I am looking to hire someone with the means to obtain and stuff animals in fashions I choose, which will be Kung Fu for now. When I was younger I convinced a friend of mines dad to create two squirrels Kung Fu fighting. I still think about it from time to time and have decided to get my own Kung Fu animals, I understand this is a bizarre request. Serious inquiries only, please E-Mail me the species of animals you commonly hunt or can obtain and your rate for taxidermy of each in various Kung Fu poses. Mounting preferred. Once again I feel I must state this is serious. If you can show any of your previous work it will probably give you an edge on the competition. Please respond via/e-mail. Thank you.
Daughter getting morning after pill at RiteAid - m4w
Looking for the daughter half that was in Rite Aid with her mother (I assume) getting the morning after pill today in Finksburg. You had an amazing body and I would love to be the next reason you have to get another dose of said pill! Hit me up if you're looking for another go round.
hot homeless guy with beard and shaggy hair
you're young, hot, and homeless. you look to be about 20-25. you have brownish red shaggy hair and a nice beard. i could tell you were homeless because you were eating chips off the ground and you had urine soaked filthy pants on. i've always had a thing for the "starving artist" types and your homeless ruggedness is hot. i have seen you sleeping in one of the bus stops near public square. if you ever steal a laptop or break into a library or someone's home to use their computer, i hope you read this. ~Brittany R.
$30/hour: Personal Introduction Assistant / "wingwoman"
We have an opening for a part-time personal introduction assistant, aka a "wingwoman."
You must be classy and dress well.
Beyond that you must be able to do 4 things: 1) start conversations with beautiful women; 2) after that, remain totally silent, unless spoken directly to, but smile and look friendly while the man you are "winging" orchestrates the social situation; 3) socialize and block any man or woman attempting to interfere with the man you are winging and any woman he is chatting with; and 4) end any conversation you are having instantly at the direction of the man you are winging. These requirements are essential, not for everyone, and difficult to do well.
Now, this is a job (that's why you get paid), but it's very fun, and you may even make new friends, or even meet someone special, if it doesn't interfere with your primary employment purpose.
This job is not for you if you are uptight, frumpy, grumpy, shy, a man-hater, a debbie downer, a critic, a control freak, a pouter, a therapist, researching, writing an article, with the press, a prostitute, an escort, a relationship counselor, or a feminist with a bone to pick. Gack.
You must be 18, usually 21 for the events we attend. All work is in public at cocktail parties, charity benefits, museum openings, and the like. You will be added to any list in advance, and any fees for the event will be paid. You are responsible for transportion. Subways are $2. Although many events have free food and drink, this isn't dating, so don't ask to be bought anything. If you do ask, by mistake, don't be grumpy and bring the mood down when the answer is a polite no, or you will be paid for the time you have spent and politely sent packing.
This job is definitely for you if you are easygoing, classy, dress extremely well, and enjoy many, varied, and sometimes challenging social situations.
Our roster of full-time wingwomen is full, but we do have a part-time opening. Yes we are serious. Yes we are real. You might even have the time of your life.
Fan mail, hate mail, and non-responsive replies will not receive answers, so save us both the time and don't bother.
Please respond with a photo and contact information to the craigslist email in this ad. Thank you for your time.
Compensation: $30/hour
This is a part-time job.
This is a contract job.
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
I was taking a dump in the unisex restroom. - m4w
I was taking a dump in the unisex restroom at conco. And forgot to lock the door. You opened the door and said "O GOD!" and shut the door. But before you said O GOD! I felt like we had a moment. I hurried and wiped. Pulled up my pants and opend the door. And you were gone. now the door to my heart is unlocked.
girlfriend forcing sale
Girlfriend said she is tired of my mustang parts and I need to make a craigslist ad...so here is it
for sale
1 nagging dream smashing man hater
make an offer or look in the free section if she keeps it up and gets kicked to the curb
Ok, I'm probably going catch a lot of grief here since almost everybody I know seems to love these things.
I don't understand the appeal.
The practicality is obvious -- when you're hiking, or doing sports. But as a day-to-day article of footwear, these don't strike me as a particularly well suited piece of equipment for the urban jungle.
One might argue that they combine the best features of a shoe and a flip-flop. I suppose that is a glass half full perspective.
Rather, I find they combine the worst features of a shoe and a flip-flop. They cannot be slid on and off due to necessary bindings/straps, yet despite that added effort, they do not provide the sort of protection from dirt and grime that a shoe covers you from.
Actually, to be honest I'm a bit biased, as I don't understand why you would even want your feet exposed to the world anyways. They get all dirty, you're unprotected, and you lose the all important ability to chase down criminals should a spontaneous act of courage be called upon. Sport sandals are a poor replacement for running shoes when hurdling cars, leaping from roofs and climbing chain link fences.
My question remains however, why would anyone choose to wear sandals over flip-flops of they were so inclined to tan their toes?
It’s easy to laugh at tragedy. Not due to callousness, of course, but because humour is one of the few ways humans can rationalize absurdity. Without Jon Stewart, for example, following politics would be entirely soul crushing.
Perhaps it’s unsurprising then that when watching local writer/poet Shaista Justin’s latest one-act tragicomedy for the Toronto Fringe Festival, you end up giggling more than grimacing, witnessing an awkward drama set at the brink of the world.
Aptly titled ‘Love and Human Extinction’, Justin’s tale picks up the story several years into the end times. Only three human beings remain following a mysterious and global culling of life, including all animals sea and sky. The trio, played with conviction by Jennifer Neales, Matthew Manhire and Damien Gulde, spend most of the play coping internally and as a group with their shared dystopian fates.
Neales plays the fragile Roberta, the lone woman on earth and, as such, the most popular person on the planet. Vying for her affection are Andy and Elliott, played by Manhire and Gulde respectively. Different as night and day, Andy clings to his belief that God has a reason for everything, while Elliott roots through what’s left of the world he knew, piecing together the past and gathering clues to figure out what happened.
Although the details of the extinction are mentioned vaguely during soliloquies and expository conversations, none of the characters actually know what happened and, more importantly, why it didn’t happen to them.
Indeed, despite the context of an entire world in ruin, Justin and director Saniya Ansari delve into three internal struggles to comment on the dysfunction of society, portraying the final people alive as too self-absorbed to even cohabit the same room.
"People are tired of being talked at -- they want interesting conundrums to think about," explains Justin in a release. "In my play, the worst has already happened, the debate about what could happen is over … I wanted to write about the actual consequences of our negligent behaviour towards the earth and each other.”
There’s no football-in-groin humour here, but witty dialogue and the surrealism of the entire premise provide ample comedic opportunities, both ironic and intentional.
Part ‘Lord of the Flies’ mixed with a pinch of ‘Reality Bites’, the tiny ensemble cast entertain and enlighten in a tidy 40 minutes, waxing philosophical with enough gusto that you don’t notice the modest set nor care that Andy’s shotgun is a yellow super soaker.
‘Love and Human Extinction’ is fun and definitely worth checking out amongst a bumper crop of acts in this year’s Fringe. The play will have a six show run through to Saturday, July 11. All shows will appear at the Royal St. George Theatre (120 Howland St., Bathurst & Bloor). Tickets ($10) can be found at www.fringetoronto.com or purchased at the door.
You know how technology kind of creeps up on us, but becomes entrenched so quickly in our lives that we don't even remember what life was like before the internet or cell phones?
A similar phenomena is currently taking place in bars all over and having thoroughly listened to the Passion Pit album this week, I've decided it's time to extoll the return of white people to the dance floor.
Welcome. We've missed you.
You see, for the longest time, White people completely owned the floor. Waltzing, foxtrots, flappers, the charleston, the twist. Remember when Footloose came out? Disco? The hustle?
White people used to dance. In dance clubs. It was cool, and it was the cool thing to do.
But then... then came hip hop. Because hip-hop proved to be such a culturally embedded art form, white people never really were able to appropriate hiphop to the same complete extent that they consumed jazz, or rock and roll.
To this day, despite Eminem's best efforts and rabid consumption of hip-hop by white suburbanites, ownership of the music is still inexorably linked to black culture, and as such ownership of all dancing and dance-like movements (i.e. breaking, popping, locking, and various degrees of getting jiggy, leaning and nodding very, very slowly). The stigma of white hiphop has not been overcome, and as a result, white people are uncomfortable dancing freely, although they most certainly will try their best to emulate the actions of black people dancing -- mostly out of respect for the form.
But when you see white people dancing to Beyonce at a club, let's be honest -- that's not how white people dance. If you've ever seen the Chapelle show skit with John Mayer and ?uestlove, you'd know that in their natural habitat, surrounded by fellow white people with approved white music playing, this is white dancing taking its natural course:
Within the last two years however, slowly but surely, there has been a relatively new genre seeping into bars and clubs -- white dance music. And not European white, commonly referred to here as "Gino beats", or "Techno". No, I am referring to homegrown, North American music, made for dancing.
The sample above features a Santogold song, which is not prototypical of the genre I speak, but still somewhat relevant as according to the white-hipster rulebook (section 143.2d) she is an approved artist under the white-dancing protocol of 2003.
You see, what started with a few dance infused indie rock bands (the Rapture, !!!) and extended into djs (Daft Punk, Girltalk) has naturally evolved into a whole new genre that, although seemingly ubiquitous to us today, is actually quite new -- indietronicpop.
To be honest, the genre is so popular yet actually still so new that nobody has coined an all encompassing term yet, like how "Emo" came to eventually represent all melodic power pop punk and metal.
Helping to pave the way on the pop side of the equation was Dntel and Ben Gibbard, who together put out the Postal Service, a forbearer album that led hipsters to add synths and midi to all the folk songs they had been recording in Garageband.
Sometime in 2005, after Kanye West was awarded honorary hipster status, white indie artists became comfortable enough with certain minority artists (but not all. The list was essentially Kanye, MIA, The Roots, NERD and TV on the Radio, who don't rap, but were black and played indie rock. This strange juxtaposition helped join this bridge from the non-white side of the equation, as did Lupe Fiasco and Pharell, who liked to pretend they could skateboard -- a decidedly white hobby until about 3 years ago) to appropriate not the actual essence of black music, but at least some of the tools used to create it -- tools which could be borrowed and reutilized to form their own, more comfortably familiar beats.
Thus 808's and record sampling began to be common place in the vintage clothing crowd.
The movement began gaining momentum.
Now, we have clearly reached a tipping point. With bands such as LCDSS, Cut Copy, Justice, Hercules & Love Affair and Passion Pit, white people have finally found their way home.
Walk into any hipster hangout on a weekend now and the days of shoegazing, toe tapping and headnodding while leaning against a wall are long gone. No, today you will hear falsetto's blaring, synths, heaving bass and people dancing drunkenly and uncontrollably -- the natural state of a white person dancing (it's been downhill since Fred Astaire), emancipated from the coolness associated with dancing to hiphop, and the monopoly hiphop had on rhythm until just this decade.
Here, in three short videos, is an abbreviated evolution of hipster dance music.
Alright, so I was out of commission for the kickoff jam, spending my time sitting face first in front of a toilet instead of being up close and personal with surprise headliners Broken Social Scene and Feist. Plus, I also was too weak to go to any of the film, or conference events. Double bogey.
But after I managed to crawl out of my sickbed, NXNE was still a pretty awesome time. I was limited to only my venue since it was an extended call event (the bar served until 4am all weekend; both an awesome and terrible thing). Despite that, some really amazing, talented (and super friendly) musicians did make their way through The Painted Lady.
Highlights:
Midwest Dilemma
From Omaha, Nebraska, lead singer Justin Lamoureux channels a lot of his good friend Conor Oberst in his voice, right down to letting out quivering emotional screams. There's a lot of soul in the music, which is a mix of lilting orchestral ballads and foot stomping acoustic romps. It doesn't stray particularly far (aptly) from that familiar midwestern indie sound, but if you're into stuff like Bright Eyes, Tilly and the Wall, Sufjan Stevens or Jenny Lewis' solo ventures, you'd probably enjoy Midwest Dilemma.
What really came out live was how ridiculously talented they were. It's not every night you rock out a bar with a clarinet solo, but these guys had the folks (literally) dancing on the bar, clapping, singing along and the set ended with chants for an encore. Sadly, we had to say no due to the tight festival schedule, but I certainly wouldn't have minded more from these super friendly folks. On top of being warm, talented and endearing, the band said they were driving from the bar directly to a park north of the city (this was at 2am) to go camping for the weekend afterwards. In the words of Maggie the clarinetist, "It's cheaper and I've never been camping before! I'm stoked!"
You can't argue with any of that.
Michou
From Windsor, these guys were actually a replacement band after we found out one of our acts had cancelled and we scrambled to find someone to take her spot. Michou had just played a set at the Rivoli, and drove directly over and played the Painted Lady last minute. Definitely a different sound (our venue was mainly singer-songwriter type stuff the rest of the night) but some melodic power pop and folksy rock was a welcome change of pace, and the crowd appreciated the energy and volume from the five piece. Kind of a mix of Wintersleep, City and Colour, Cuff the Duke with some Death Cab thrown in (the lead singer even has a Ben Gibbard-ish voice thing going for him). Lots of great harmonies, clapping and xylophone. Great stuff, and they ride in a Starcraft van. Classy dudes.
The Painted Lady
The best part of the weekend though was probably the venue itself. I'd heard about the Lady from various magazines and newspapers, but this was my first time there. I must say, I fully intend to be back, and often. There are really only four staff who run the bar, and they live the kind of life you hear about or see on tv but don't imagine real folks live. The owners were born in South Africa, have lived in New Orleans, opened their bar here in Toronto (they live above it) and did all the decorating themselves. I was incredibly impressed by how cosy and intimate it was. They definitely spent there they needed to and not where they didn't, and as a result the place looks and feels very New York. It's got personality shining through everywhere.
On top of that, the staff are some of the nicest folks you'll meet this side of Kansas. They're hip, accommodating, hard working and easy going. All of them make the place one of the most popular bars on the Ossington strip with the place still filled to capacity with music blasting as I sat sipping my pint at 5am Sunday morning.
On top of that, it's pretty much directly across the street from Pizza Libretto. They're constantly adding live acts, hoping to get up to 3-4 music gigs a week. I told them I'd be back, and I hope to soon. Definitely a go-to place to hang and a great find -- the new bar, and new friends.
I felt pretty queasy while eating the strip actually, it was incredibly raw. I mean, I asked for rare but it was definitely blue.
And now, the toilet paper count is at 5 rolls. Vomit count at 8. Can't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time. I feel uncomfortable would be a gross understatement.
The VT incident was a glimpse, but right now in Iran, students and tech savvy reformists alike are using Twitter as the tool of choice for instant and first-person communique coming out of Tehran and the tumultuous protests going on right now.
I can't think of another situation where one was able, in real time, to access the thoughts, sights and messages of so many people concerning one event.
Can you imagine if this was possible during 9/11? People would be tweeting their location in buildings. Rescue services would be checking it for information. Pictures would instantly have been sent to the outside world.
This marks a pretty powerful point for social media, with the U.S. State Dept. even admitting it pressed Twitter to hold off on a scheduled maintenance to allow Iranians to continue using the site as a point of reference on source of information.
Ingenuity has allowed many Iranians to continue using the site through proxy servers, getting around the general bans the government has levied against cell phones, text messages, email, facebook, blogs and even twitter itself.
Yes, 90% of the comments I receive in twitter are asinine. But when something like this happens, the potential of not just the internet, by social networking is plain to see.
If McLuhan's global village was a tribalized network of communities that redefined individualism, social media has perhaps ushered in a evolved state of the village -- one that modifies what we deem individual but more importantly, what we consider to be our tribe.
I am fascinated by what's going on in Tehran. The political repercussions of the reformist backlash cannot be understated -- the potential for change is most definitely in the air.
But perversely, I am even more fascinated by what's going on on Twitter.
As important as the tool has become, I truly believe at the end of this, the true winner will be the mainstream media. It may not look like it now, because compared to Tweets, the 6pm news is painfully outdated and slow to react to breaking events. But the vetting process of true journalism cannot be undervalued.
It's great to get breaking news from the mob. But the wall of noise eventually gives way to deeper questions -- who can you trust? what information is accurate?
Unlike a lot of others, who believe social networking is "the new journalism," I think that's simply not true. Journalism will always be sharing of stories in an accurate, timely fashion.
Twitter is but another tool. But perhaps one of the biggest we've seen in a generation.
O yonge fresshe folkes, he or she, In which that love up groweth with your age, Repeyreth hoom from worldly vanitee, And of your herte up-casteth the visage To thilke god that after his image Yow made, and thinketh al nis but a fayre This world, that passeth sone as floures fayre.
And loveth him, the which that right for love Upon a cros, our soules for to beye, First starf, and roos, and sit in hevene a-bove; For he nil falsen no wight, dar I seye, That wol his herte al hoolly on him leye. And sin he best to love is, and most meke, What nedeth feyned loves for to seke?
The Love Unfeigned Geoffrey Chaucer
You know how people often say they could fill a book with the things they don't know? Well, I'm going to try and do exactly just that. Start blogging about things that I don't understand.
To start things off, I've selected poetry. I know cool people like it. Jewel likes it. Billy Corgan writes them. They're supposed to be deep, and beautiful.
To me, they are mostly gibberish. Why is poetry popular? What differentiates good poetry from bad poetry? How do you make money as a poet? What is a poets creative process like? Is a creative process even productive for poems?
All questions I frankly could care less about, but would probably listen to answers to if the person telling me was hot.
When you're having a conversation (and I use that term incredibly loosely) on Facebook, at what point does one just stop replying? In my mind, wall-posts are essentially online versions of small talk. Which is why the internet is great. You can stop the small talk without saying anything, and not have to deal with awkward silences or making an excuse to go talk to somebody else.
But the other side of the coin is when you're talking to actual friends, and frankly, I don't particularly like replying to any messages at all. I barely post on other people's walls, and if I do I almost never expect a reply. So to have to then REPLY TO THAT REPLY is just way more effort than I normally would like to invest in Facebook.
Moreover, how much is too much use of these programs? Is there a hard cap on how many Tweets per hour one should submit before it simply becomes asinine? How often you should post on people's Facebook walls? How many photos in an album you should have witty comments for? (Clearly you can't comment on all of them, or that's just sad).
I'm not sure, but I think I just might be virtually-socially awkward. I just don't know the common protocol for these newfangled internet things.
Then again, it could be argued I'm just socially awkward. Period.
The funniest thing about this is that I actually had a conversation with a friend who suggested I make a men's makeup tutorial video. Sadly, I was beaten to the punch. At least I was right in thinking there isn't much to say about the topic though. Concealer and lip balm. Check.
In completely unrelated but completely awesome news, most people (and by most, I mean 4 of the 5 people who will read this) know I have a celebrity crush on Reese Witherspoon. If Natalie Portman were to ever reject me, I would totally settle for Reese. I'd be a great stepfather, I know it.
Anyways, as if she wasn't cute, stylish and endearing enough, she is currently practicing with the UCLA Women's softball team to train for a movie role where she is a softball player.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I stood slack jawed, standing in the hallway of the Richard Ivey School of Business having just left my first ever university english class.
CNN was on several TV's overhanging the dimly lit linoleum hall. Hushed voices and wide eyes mingled reacting to the stuttering commentary coming from the television as dozens of us stared in awe at the unbelievable sight of an airplane smashing into an iconic New York landmark -- then horror as that landmark came crumbling down to the earth. It was hundreds of miles away, but we could feel the dust flying at us through the screen. The fear at least, was most certainly palpable.
Before 9/11 however, there was 6/4.
As much as one act of terror defined a generation (and many to come), on June 4, 1989 an act of courage inspired the world.
More iconic than the tallest building in the world, selected as symbols of capitalism, one Chinese student stopping a battalion of tanks by himself idealized notions of freedom, democracy, humanity and self-determination to a world in the grips of political conflict.
Blood was shed that day. On a pivotal moment that to this day defines the Chinese government and to a certain extent, it's people, freedom lost the battle in Tiananmen -- but it won the war.
Five months later, the Berlin wall would come crashing down. Two years later, the Soviet Union would be no more.
We speak often of tipping points, and in this age of over-saturated, over-analyzed, over-blown media coverage, hyperbole is part and parcel of information dissemination.
I was seven years old on June 4, 1989. At the time, the events were lost on me, the symbolism and gravitas of the situation blissfully irrelevant compared to the opportunity to stay up late into the night to watch TV, even if I didn't know what we were watching.
Little did I realize the world I woke up to the next day would never be the same. Even 20 years later.
I love China. Most would probably not suspect this, but I am proud of my heritage, proud of our tradition, proud of my family's roots and lineage. It is for this reason that we privileged enough to live here in Canada shouldn't ever, ever forget 6/4, and what it means as a moment in humanity shared not just by our home country, but inspirational to people all over the world.
Most importantly however, is that there is still much work to be done. Those who would purposely choose to ignore history seem to be ignorant of the fact that they are setting themselves up to repeat it.
Hopefully next time, the pendulum will swing the other way, and yet another date will go down in the annals of humanity not for tragedy, but for victory.
Perusing the new Globe&Mail today (side note: love the site, hate the long loading times. Lots of potential but the back-end clearly has some loose ends to tie up), and stumbled upon this story out of the Vancouver desk about Marriage stability and children. Here's a quote:
Today's parents seem prepared to set aside all kinds of pleasures to nurture a child – from their sex lives to careers, not to mention happy-hour beers – but there's one thing even the most kinder-friendly couple is loath to give up: their marriage.
And when one child rocks the marital boat, a growing number of couples are sticking with just one to keep their union strong.
That doesn't make them wimps, though. In fact, research suggests that children are more taxing on marriages than they used to be.
Essentially the article discusses how many modern couples are stopping at one child because having children is so stressful, and after struggling in their marriage to raise one, many don't want to go through it all over again and again. It actually goes so far as to posit that happiness is inversely proportional to how many kids you have, citing a 2005 study that determined mothers with one child were happier than those with multiple children.
There's nothing wrong with this story. It's well written, and although it's based on some entirely anecdotal quotes backed by "evidence" of studies that are as dependable as a GM stock option, these are more symptomatic of a leaky premise than they are of shoddy writing.
I guess upon reading this, more than anything one has to reflect on the cultural context from which this story was made possible. Clearly, nobody would have written this article in 1940, even if they had the concrete backing of a Danish sociology professor circa 2005.
Attitudes surrounding the entire concept of marriage and family, and the many interrelationships that compose those two entities, seem infinitely more complex these days than they once did. And for the most part, those complications stem from a forward march to break down what were once the most concrete of human connections; your spouse and kids were once inescapable, really, but we have moved into an era were if something doesn't quite work for you, it's completely possible to move on.
I am not casting judgement. I simply find these paradigm shifts fascinating. The implications of familial relationships, if you think about it, really has a hand in almost all the cultural and social evolutions of the last 10-15 years, both in the liberal movement and the aggressive partisanship rift that ensued.
How have social values changed? What is important to us now, asides (and likely after) ourselves? How much of every decision we make every day is painted by these broad cultural engravings and, looking back, how did today's seemingly quaint ideological cliches dictate the ebb and flow of generations past?
When it boils down to it, I guess after reading that article, I really was left wondering only one thing:
Why are these parents having kids in the first place?
I have a feeling if they can answer that question honestly, then deciding whether or not to have another one shouldn't be a very difficult question at all.
