Not Good
A few weekends ago, we went to a restaurant that my family frequents at least weekly. We’ve never had any major issues… indeed, we are almost always treated to fantastic food with great service in a lovely environment. This time around, it was much the same… until Amber took another bite of her sandwich and discovered two things: one, it was missing one of the main ingredients, and two, there was an entire bread tag embedded inside.
Restaurant Mistakes
10Feb10My Favourite Films of 2009
07Feb10
2009 was a great year in film. There were enourmously huge blockbusters, quiet indie films, a Tarantino flick, some great comedies, and some amazing animation. Unfortunately, I’m once again catching up before the Oscars air. There were a lot of films that had limited releases that I just didn’t get to see yet, and several of those films are nominated.
This year’s Oscars are also quite interesting. There are ten best picture nominees, though it’s sort of easy to tell which five are the “gimmes” and which would’ve been the top five. That said, it’s going to be one of the most difficult set of predictions that I’ve done yet… Enough Oscar talk, though. Here are some movies I enjoyed in 2009:
My favourite films, in alphatbetical order, are:
(500) Days of Summer
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Avatar
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Star Trek
Up
Up in the Air
Miramax Films 1979-2010
05Feb10
I was sad to learn that Miramax films is no more. Thought it hasn’t been anything near the powerhouse it was when the Weinstein’s owned it, it is still sad to see such a great company close its doors.
Miramax has been responsible for some incredible and important films over the past twenty years. I have fond memories of that big, block-letter M logo fading in at the beginning of some of my favourite films.
Here’s a list of a few films that stand out to me:
Continue reading ‘Miramax Films 1979-2010′
Reactions to the iPod in 2001
29Jan10Came across this link on MacStories’ twitter feed. Funny to look back at some fanboy reaction to the iPod.
One of my favourite posts:
I have no use for an Mp3 player.
My house has a CD player.
My car has a CD player.
My Mac has a CD playerI don’t use headphones.
The iPod requires me to change my lifestyle to meet it’s needs…
I need round holes, not square holes.
For $99 I might buy the toy, for $399? Why?
Doesn’t a Mac with a CDR undermine the need for most of this? All that’s left is the number of songs you can play and the ability to listen to all of them with headphones anywhere. Do I really need ALL my songs ALL the time?
uhm, no.
Won’t last. Another Cube.
currently listening to…
26Jan10
Hey Rosetta - “Who Is At My Window Weeping?” | itunes
From their new Red Songs EP. Great dark celtic feel. New album should be amazing.
Matt Morris - “Bloodline” | itunes | youtube
First person on Justin Timberlake’s label. He and JT did a great version of this song on Ellen.
Nikhil Korula Band - “Stay for a While” | itunes
Great acoustic track. Heard it on Greek, of all places. Haha.
OK Go - “This Too Shall Pass (Live Video Version)” | youtube | mp3
The album version is good, but this one is just plain better. They make great, original videos.
Mgmt - Oracular Spectacular | itunes | youtube 1 2 3
Somehow I am only now listening to this record… “Electric Feel,” “Time to Pretend,” “Kids,” and “The Youth” are fantastic. How did I miss this?
John K. Sampson - City Route 85 EP | itunes | mp3
Trio of songs by the Weakerthans front man, about his hometown Winnipeg.
Laura Veirs – “July Flame” | mp3
Great track. A bit of Feist and Amy Millan in there. Some great production as well.
Wintersleep - “Early in the Morning” | itunes
Recorded for Welcome to the Night Sky, but it didn’t make the final cut. It appears on the UK version of the CD, however. Live version is available on iTunes. New album in a few months!
Postdata - Postdata | website
New album from Paul Murphy from Wintersleep, with his brother Michael. A bit Tom Waits, a bit Thom Yorke, a bit Wintersleep…
Apple Desktop Background
25Jan10New posts here are coming soon. In the meantime, here is a desktop background I made today:
(Click to download a 1440×900 jpeg.)
Slacker
17Jan10I haven’t updated this blog in a very long time. I’ve been using tumblr here and there, and twitter seems to take care of some things I would normally blog about. But I think I will still post here from time to time, maybe more often than once a year… who knows. :p
- Radiohead – Kid A [2000]
The record that really shook things up. OK Computer had set the bar for what alt-rock could be. A lot of people were expecting a continuation of that record, but what they got what something completely different. Kid A was built from the ground up, with keyboards, an Ondes Martenot, strings, and a few bleeps and blops for good measure. Because of Kid A, when Radiohead release records all bets are off – expect the unexpected. The gloriously delicious unexpected.“Strobe lights and blown speakers, fireworks and hurricanes. I’m not here. This isn’t happening.”
My Favourite Films of 2008
15Jan09Oh boy. My favourite films of the year. I love this time of year, but it’s always difficult to try and make decisions when I’m still watching films from 2008, and catch up on all the ones that I’ve missed.
I will never understand why huge, Oscar-worthy/nominated/winning movies are not released until after the year in question has ended. They play at some festival somewhere and that is enough to be eligible, but then the Golden Globes and the Oscars come around and most of the public hasn’t had a real chance to see them!
I digress… 2008 was full of great films, and here a few of my favourites:
My Favourite Albums of 2008
04Jan09It has been an interesting, if slow year in music. There were only a handful of records that really rocked my world and will continue to be played ad nauseam. I will remember the shows more than the albums – Summersonic, Bob Dylan, Neil Young + Wilco, etc.
I am excited for 2009 and the records and tours to come, but there were definitely a few albums that I would like to list, and here they are:
