As a Canadian, it is in my genome, the very blood in my veins, to go ga ga over donuts. Or doughnuts, as we often spell. This pretty much means that I go to Tim Hortons (aka. the late—bless his soul—hockey king of donuts) more often than is financially responsible, and eat more donuts than is medically safe. Some people can’t live without their Timmy’s coffee. I can’t live without my Timmy’s donuts.
That was until I dinking about on the web and found this photo string of indie donut shops in Boston. If there were more indie donut places around here, I think I’d have no problem giving up Tim’s. I’d also be morbidly obese, and likely become diabetic. But, strangely, I think I could live with that. Here’s why:
Inspired by the blog Awful Library Books, I thought I would post about an awful book cover that I found at the library where I work. Part of my job is to “rove,” which is another way of saying “walk around the floor and see if anyone needs any help.” Usually when I do this, I’ll approach people who are looking in the stacks and ask if they need any help finding anything. Sometimes, when we there aren’t many visitors, I’ll take some extra time during my rove to straighten up the bookshelves, pick up litter, etc. The place has gotta look pretty, don cha know. So anyways, it was a slow day and I was straightening some shelves in the 700s and I came across this little gem:
That’s right boys and girls. It’s Iron Chef: The Official Book (to differentiate between all of those unofficial ones out there). I didn’t actually look into the contents of the book, but who could blame me? I was simply awestruck by the cover. Who on this great, beautiful earth was in charge of the photography and cover design of this thing? Right, so I get the solemn looking Japanese dudes. They’re chefs, after all. They’re super focused and serious about their craft. I’ve got no beef with that. But the “main event” of this cover? I understand the guy is a foodie and whatnot, but what’s up with the love bites he’s giving that yellow pepper? And what on earth is he wearing? Is he some kind of Spanish matador? Is he getting ready for the gay pride parade? Why does he have my grandfather’s winter gloves on? And was the photographer short on powder or something? He’s so shiny you could land a spaceship on his forehead. OOOOOOOH! Take that iron chef! What?! What’s that you say?! Nuthin’. That’s what I thought.
RegularJOE, a.k.a Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a.k.a Tommy from 3rd Rock From the Sun has what will probably become one of my favourite websites, www.hitrecord.org. Remember a little while back when I was talking about that cool Johnny Cash video that I saw on AUX TV that turned out to be this huge collaborative effort created over the glorious interweb? Well, hitRECord takes this sort of stuff to another level. In fact, it’s been taking it to another level since 2005 when RegularJOE launched hitRECord. Essentially, the website is a virtual (but professional) production company that allows members to post their work—whether it’s video, audio, image, written word, whatever—and allow other members within the hitRECord community to remix it by adding new elements. And then that remixed work can be re-remixed, which can be re-remixed, and so on, and so on, to infinity and beyond!
Then, if a work (or “record,” as an uploaded work is called) has that little special something that could make some real moolah, RegularJOE uses his connects within the mainstream media industry and promos it. If the record makes money, he takes a 50% cut for the business, and the other 50% gets split up amongst contributors. Pretty neat-o, if you ask me.
“Morgan M. Morgansen’s Date with Destiny,” one of the short films created through hitRECord was even presented at the Sundance Film Festival. Take a peek-a-roo:
Now, I have always claimed to have very little in the way of creative juices. As I get older, I’m finding that some juice has started a spurtin’, but I certainly don’t have the kind of technical know-how to be able to edit someone’s video, or add my own musical track to an animation or anything. But what’s awesome is that there are so many people out there who DO have this know-how, AND have creative juices comin’ out of all orifices (yick. Sorry for any unfortunate visuals). So, when I see a site like this, and I see how the more mainstream media is picking up collabs like the Cash video, I can’t help but be so incredibly impressed and amazed by human invention: invention of the computer, of software, of the Internet, of artistic works, I could go on and on all day. And hitRECord is just another example of our ability as humans to do amazing things with one another: to make art, potentially thousands of miles apart. As Oprah is wont to say, this truly is a miracle.
I know this is a little dated, but I hadn’t had a chance to watch this video until today. On February 11th, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders played one another in New York, a game that fans speculated would be a fight-happy one due to events that occurred in a previous game, when Maxime Talbot injured Blake Comeau, and Brent Johnson (Pens goalie) literally broke the face of Rick DiPietro (Isles goalie). OK, so I can see why the Islanders would be motivated to crush some specifically selected skulls, and I would expect some jaunty fighting as well, just for good measure. But what happened on February 11th was a whole other animal of fighting. This wasn’t just fighting: this was rage-filled fighting. Rage-filled fighting that bred itself in practically every player on each team, as they fed upon the frustration and anger of one another. The result? A sloppy, sloppy mess of an NHL game.
When all was said and done, the Islanders won 9-3, there were 346 penalty minutes, and 15 fighting majors were handed out. Yeah, I meant it when I said “sloppy mess.”
Not long after the suspensions were handed out, Mario Lemieux commented that he felt the League didn’t do enough to “protect the integrity of the game and the safety of our players.” He even went so far as to say that he would have to consider if he even wants to be involved with the NHL anymore after what happened. Bold statement, if you ask me. Let’s consider a few details:
1) It was the actions of Talbot and Johnson—who play for the Penguins, the team that Lemieux principally owns—that mostly incited the events of February 11th.
2) At the end of the game, the Pens had 6 players left who had not been escorted off of the ice.
3) Suspensions totaled 23 games, and players fines over $100,000. The League also fined the Islanders team an additional $100,000 for failing to control the conduct of their players.
4) Eric Godard was one of the suspensions (in fact, for the most games, which was 10) who received said suspension for deliberately leaving the Pens bench to join an on-ice fight. I guess Godard wasn’t there when Lemieux held his “protect the integrity of the game” Lunch n’ Learn workshop.
I don’t know. Seems to me that, the Islanders got the brunt of the disciplinary measures despite the fact that the Pens were at least equally to blame for the violence that occurred in the game. And, if you ask me, there were plenty of disciplinary actions taken in response to the February 11th hoe-down.
In other words, much to my chagrin, I agree with Don Cherry.
Recently, the infamous Lady Gaga was on 60 Minutes and was interviewed by Anderson Cooper. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t exactly consider myself to be a fan of Gaga’s music, but having watched the brief interview, I kind of understand more about who she is and what her goals are in regards to her life and work. Frankly, I think she’s providing us—everyone in the western world, at least—with a commentary on ourselves. I like her references to the “sociology of fame,” and how she uses this to make herself a “professional famous person”…who just so happens to know how to sing.
As a big fan of Shad K, I was excited when TSOL was released last year, and the boyfriend and I even managed to catch his show in T.O. Not long ago, a fourth music video for the album was released, for the the song “Keep Shining,” a personal favourite. Here’s what video director Sarah Michelle Brown had to say about the video on Shad K’s Bloggy Blog:
To me, the “Keep Shining” video is an ode to the strong and often under-appreciated spirits of women. This video was designed as a candid and thought/emotion-provoking concept. My goals were to create a candid and uplifting experience that featured a wide diversity of women and girls and to also unearth what I felt lay beneath the lyrics: A call to claim one’s voice. Early on, I realized a key to this concept: Shad barely appears in the video. The ladies own the lyrics. For me, it’s as if Shad is saying “take it, own it, your voice belongs to you.” It was my intention to show strength, vulnerability, joy, catharsis and reclamation of the spirit of all those who appeared in these 3 minutes and 44 seconds. My hope is that it will speak to women, girls, men and boys and everything in between. Let’s all “Keep Shining”. — Sarah Michelle Brown
Much to my dismay, I’ve never really been an artsy person. Well, let me be a little bit more specific with that statement. I adore art, all kinds, really. But I’ve never really had any artistic talent, so to speak. I always sucked in art class, I never could draw, and I have a limited “vision.” That said, I’m very much an artsy person when it comes to enjoying the arts and appreciating them, but I’m very un-artsy when it comes to the actual creation of art.
But one day I decided to take a look into card-making. Really, making cards is just like having little canvases to work with. It’s nice because, at least I find, one does not get overwhelmed with the pressure to try and fill up a big space with creativity. The card is the perfect size for those of us who get creative brain cramps fairly easily.
Once I got into card-making, I began to give myself more space to experiment and try new things. Below are some cards that I have made, that I thought I would go ahead and share.
I came on here today to simply post a video that I saw on AUX (yes, yes, AUX again. There will be many AUX inspired posts) that I thought was cool to share. Then, I went onto YouTube to grab the video to embed, and I realized that there is much more to this video than simply the video itself.
However, I will give you the gist. The Johnny Cash Project dedicates itself to the creation of the music video for Cash’s song “Ain’t No Grave,” which can be found on his last recorded album. Begun by Chris Milk, The Johnny Cash Project exists on a website where individuals can take an individual frame from the music video and, through specialized online software, edit the look of that frame to a desired look. Each frame is thus different from one another, and is compiled with the other frames and strung together for streaming. The result is an artistic tribute unlike any other. Not only is the video itself something to behold, but so is the idea that through the power of technology these fans, most of who likely don’t know one another, were able to put together something so unique and meaningful. I am often so disenchanted by the content that exists on the Internet and the behaviour people exhibit on it. This project, however, shows that it does have some pretty significant redeeming qualities. Enjoy.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won against the Florida Panthers last night by a shootout. The winning goal was scored by Colby Armstrong, who deked, then re-deked, then deked out his own deke, all while barely moving. Gotta give props.
Sorry, can’t embed the video since it’s not from YouTube or Google Vids (I’m just too cheap to pay). But the link is still worth checking out, don cha know.
Other Famous Colbys
Colby Cooper – Chief of Staff to Condoleeza Rice
Colby F. Rodowsky – American novelist of children and young adult books. Notable book, Not My Dog.
Colby H. Chandler – Previous CEO of Kodak.
Colby the cheese – It’s cheese. Similar to cheddar but not, so don’t get confused.
Sublurbanite
