26.12.08

Lenny and the Money. Halleluah

via MBV

Lotsa drama over in the UK over Lenny's Hallelujah. X-factor winner Alexandra Burke makes a mushy ballad outta one of the most brilliant songs ever (the video is also really lame). Of course, Jeff Buckley fans won't stand for it. I agree, Buckley's Hallelujah is probably one of the best songs I have ever heard. I bought the Grace album on vinyl just for this song and it's absolutely stunning, you can hear ever note in every instrument and the man can sing! If I didn't have to keep getting up to reset the needle I'd put it on repeat all night. But also KD Lang gives it a pretty descent treatment on her Hymns album.

From The Times: Hallelujah hits number one and two slots in Christmas charts (with lots of links to different covers... including a torturous rendition by Kermit).

Also... SkyNews has a wonder piece on the controversy. I love how the English can be absolutely serious about absolutely anything.




21.12.08

Canada on the Radio

More Intelligent Life presents a nice profile of mainstream Can Con bands.

There is no particular Canadian sound. Even as media ubiquity shrinks
our world, the sheer geographical vastness of Canada makes such a thing
improbable. What we are seeing—and hearing—is a new-found confidence.

The Economist. Who knew?

5.12.08

Jaffee!

A March 2008 compilation of Jaffee MAD Fold-ins. Interactive.

Is this it?

I can't remember how I got subscribed to Jack Cheng's Blog, I think it was this recent post on "Maxing out your triangle" (summary: the best things in life let you learn and make lotsa moula while you enjoy yourself - thanks for the advice!!). In any case in my moments of procrastination today I started going through some old posts.. lots of get-what-you-want, get-it-now go-get-it got-to-get-happy babble which kinda put me off. For example, this post: "The Illness"

Tomorrow you visit the doctor and find out you have a life-threatening illness. There’s no cure. Nobody knows how much longer you have to live. It could be a few weeks. It could be a few months. It could be a few years. Possibly longer. The only thing that’s certain is that you will die. You won’t experience any physical pain as a result of the illness. One day you’ll just go to sleep and you won’t wake up again.

If this happened to you, how would you change your life? What would you do right away? What would you do after that? The answer to those questions is what you should be doing right now.

Thanks for the advice!! It sounds alot like "live in the moment" "live like it's your last day" but I'm sure it's completely different. Living my life like I only have a few months to live is not going to help me live it if I don't have only a few months to live! Why is that so difficult to understand?

"If my grandma had wheels she'd be a tractor"

You can't say Canadian politics isn't exciting. The West (read Alberta) will always always hate the liberals (and why not the NDP while they're at it) and this only gives them more fodder.

It's unbelievable what has happened in the past week in Canadian federal politics! The opposition (Liberals) plus the NDP and the Bloq will unite to bring down the Conservative minority government. It was overly obvious when Harper called the snap election in October that if he had any chance of renewal it would not come about when Obama was in power in the US. Somehow, I fell that election, having ripples the world over, would lead to more candians voting Liberal. One only has to see the kind of commoradery that Mulroney and Regean had or Chrétien with Clinton, despite their differences, it only serves Canada well for her PM to have good relationions with the American president. Hence, it was Harper's best bet to get the Canadian election over with before the American.

The worst thing is that Harper is such a two-faced politician. A few years ago he threw a coalition with the Bloq on the table when the Liberals were the minority government, much to the dismay of many Canadians, and now he berets the Liberals and NDP for making a deal with the devil when actually the coalition is only between the Liberals and NDP and the Bloq has agreed to support them in a non-confidence vote! And then he goes on to say that what they are planning is unconsitiutiona and illegal. Somehow I never heard the word coup in any discussions, I don't see how making a coalition is illegal. Now we have to wait unti the 26th of January since the GG has suspended parliment! oh Stephen!

3.12.08

2008 Recap

20 Great albums and tons of MP3s at This Recording - an early best of 2008 recap. How good do I feel having seen Lykke Li on Saturday in Köln, awesome! I just wish people would learn to relax and dance!


1.12.08

The German Care Package




Next Year I'll be travelling home and I have to seriously think of what to get some friends from Germany. This isn't that easy actually, but I've come up with the perfect solution: The German Care Pack. All my favourite little things of Germany in a bite-sized package:

Cookies/Cakes:

Printen
Marzipan potatos
Marzipan pigs
Spekulatius
Zimtsterne

Clothes:
Cologne Scarf
Die Maus pin

Food:
Alnatura Zartbitter Choco spread
Alnatura hefe brot aufstrich
Honeywaffles

Product:
Welede mositurizer
Kölsch glass
CD with German schlager, karnival, folk, and pop hits.