The soundtracks of our lives - a list

Best soundtrack from a movie I've never seen (who has?) - Salvation by New Order.
Best use of music in a film - Lost in Translation
Best soundtrack inspired by filthy lucre - Trainspotting 2
Great soundtrack/ bad movie - The Truth About Charlie

And here's one of the best "soundtrack scenes" from a movie - Belle and Sebastian's "Stars of Track and Field" from Pumpkin. Talk about screenwriting to fit the lyrics of a pre-existing song! It was awesome to see B&S get the exposure and as part of the larger story this scene is excellent. As a stand-alone music video it would be kinda lame.

Steal This Plan

My time-tested, fool-proof, guaranteed-to-satisfy-even-the-crustiest-curmudgeon four point plan of action for reducing your personal commuter ROAD RAGE footprint:

1. Witness an accident
2. Be in an accident not actually "time-tested" and probably not fool-proof… ignore
3. Witness a grumpy octogenarian flip the bird at anyone and everyone and realize: "hey, I don't wanna be like him when I'm that old and driving around all grumpy-crusted curmudgeony with my pork-pie hatted head barely peeking over the steering wheel".
4. Develop a fraternal kinship with your fellow motorist… abuse cyclists instead! They are the true devils of the roadway (not the commuting cyclists with their fancy helmets and pant-leg tucked-into-socks look, they have their lines to keep them straight - I'm talking about those spandexed-up guys with the short-brimmed little hats, skinny tires and linoleum unfriendly shoes).

There you have it, my (revised) three-point plan for making the world a better place. We all do our bit.

Oh, and ban dump trucks - except at museums or the circus or something cause my kids like looking at them.

Catatonia - "Road Rage":

If I was young...

I've been waiting for this video from Beirut for a while as "Elephant Gun" is a leading candidate for song of the year (so far) in my books. The music is inspiring :: the video a bit hit and miss. The interpretive dancing is kinda cool but all the flouncing about tends to be distracting (and the elephant snouts a bit literal). There is some redemption however when the walls fall away and the excellent trumpet playing is matched beautifully by the rolling natural seascape.

Perhaps better then to just sit in the dark and listen to this and imagine an Eastern European gypsy setting with horns, accordians, ukes and deep/ haunting vocals. And try not to think that Beirut is actually the work of one guy... who happens to have recorded this in his late teens... in his parents' basement. His name is Zach Condon and he's from Albuquerque. He's a high school dropout. And my life is all the better for it! Elephant Gun Video

Pssst... "Mr. Mayer" is a SPY

It's awesome to hear that the Life is Good unschooling conference video got some use. Now that i'm currently in St. John's surrounded by over 100 schooled 16 year olds and their adult chaperones, NOW and only NOW do I realize that it perhaps wasn't "normal" for me to take pictures and movie clips and edit the stuff together without EVER ONCE delineating between kid and adult. NEVER. Didn't cross my mind. Here there is a huge line drawn between the two - as if we all didn't know this already - but I just want to smack people in the head and leave the laptop open in a strategic spot with the Life is Good video playing for them to see. I'm currently surrounded by really great people, really bright and mature and committed 16 year olds - all of whom accept and encourage a massive line being drawn between the two groups. In fact, the term "boundaries" is the most over-used term I hear around here. "They gotta know their boundaries". Gotta "control" them. Gotta be controlled. Huh wha????

Okay - I've never used this term before, but I gotta say... "I love my TRIBE". And I miss them.

And I didn't even bring a camera to this thing!?!

I Love Blonde Redhead

Here's a posey video. I wonder how much $ this cost to make given it looks not all that expensive but features a well known person and was directed by a guy who makes videos for big name acts and who also does commercials for huge corporations. Kinda falls into the "hey, i could do this (if only i thought of it first)" category...

Miranda July in Blonde Redhead's Top Ranking

You are My Sock-Puppet Joy

Reindeer Section are a Glasgow super-group with members of Belle and Sebastian and Arab Strap (that's Malcolm Middleton in the red beard). But mainly its the side-project of Mr. lead-singer guy from Snow Patrol and the reason I post this video is not for its cutesy knitted love story (culminating in dismemberment!) but that SNOW Patrol segues nicely into the reality that it is SNOWING here in Newfoundland where I am stuck on 'the rock' and I needed to whine about that cause its not actually winter you know, its LATE MAY for frickin sakes!!!

The VIDEO is worth it though...

Advice For Young Mothers To Be

The Veils performing Advice For Young Mothers To Be. Doo-waps, big hats, babies, pink fuzz box, and one CRAZY right leg on Mr. Veil himself. Kinda turns into a bizarre Philly creamcheese commercial by the end though. VIDEO

Aaaaahhh

Here I am at 5 weeks without coffee... what an idiot. And its not helping with the furrowed brow sneer thing either. The same day my soccer teammate thought I was injured (apparently I sport a perma-scowl while playing), a bum outside my office says to me, after asking for change, "don't look so glum buddy".

If only he had called me "chum" instead!

The Headmaster Ritual

So, the other day some judge ruled against a high school student who sued for monetary damages after being disciplined and then mercilessly teased for using the phrase "That's so gay". Hmmmmmm.... but then the judge feels compelled to write, in her 20-page ruling: "All of us have probably felt at some time that we were unfairly punished by a callous teacher, or picked on and teased by boorish and uncaring bullies, unfortunately this is part of what teenagers endure in becoming adults." Well, I've met a few teenagers and their parents who severely question this authoritarian based viewpoint and all that is misguided and dangerous about such "rites of passage". Thankfully though, Mozzer endured it all and had these gems to contribute to the betterment of my world:

The Headmaster Ritual (The Smiths)
Belligerent ghouls
Run Manchester schools
Spineless swines
Cemented minds

Sir leads the troops
Jealous of youth
Same old suit since 1962

He does the military two-step
Down the nape of my neck

I wanna go home
I don't wanna stay
Give up education
As a bad mistake

Mid-week on the playing fields
Sir thwacks you on the knees
Knees you in the groin
Elbow in the face
Bruises bigger than dinner plates

I wanna go home
I don't wanna stay...

Barbarism Begins At Home (The Smiths)
Unruly boys
Who will not grow up
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not settle down
They must be taken in hand

A crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking...

Video Gorge Dump Roundup

Two videos from the year so far...

I'm from Barcelona by We're from Barcelona - a nice way to check out what the cool young Swedes are modelling these days (mullets and slippers apparently!) :: watch
Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John - awesome whistling :: watch

Some of the better music videos from 2006...

Naked as we came by Iron and Wine - great filming :: watch
Leave before the lights come on by Arctic Monkeys - prefect acting :: watch
Dayvan cowboy by Boards of Canada - archival footage :: watch
In context by Field Music - sharpie deluxe! :: watch
The Owl by I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - unbelievable :: watch

Guilty Pleasure

Sometimes I get confused and actually like this type of music - you know, the type that gets 8.5 million views on youtube. Eh ghads, what's happening to me!? But hey, if its good enough for my wee friend Finn - its good enough for me (well, no... I won't be watching "Batman Scooby-Doo" again anytime soon Finn!)...

Grace Kelly by Mika

Hey...

The Beautiful South

Hull's finest musical export, The Beautiful South, have called it a day. Around since the late 80's, they broke up due to "musical similarities" (haha) way back in FEBRUARY. Geesh, where the heckfire was I? We got totally into these guys back in the mid-90's when we were touring through the Lake District, Northern England and you couldn't go anywhere without hearing "Carrying on up the charts". More Brits own this album than... oh I don't know... microwave ovens or something. Its hugely popular anyway.

Thank you Paul Heaton: England's hands-down wittiest master of rhyme EVER. Lyric excerpt from "10,000 Feet" below (song on the right in the Jukebox):

Cos when we're finally up there
and the engines have been stopped
the landing won't be fatal
if love's parachute's been dropped

Click here to see what is probably their last ever video: Manchester. Fitting really since both the song and the video have British stereotypes at their core and TBS were very true to their home in everything from their name to their laddish culture. So, until their reunion tour/ album in 10 years or so - that's it.

More Then and Now

Some of our alder trees - before (vertical) and after (horizontal) the winter storm.

Then, Then and Now

We once cut Fergus' hair (my idea). Auntie Jamesie made us sign a release. I forgot to get Gillian to sign one for me and have been paying for it ever since. He's gone from "what's your daughter's name" to "he's such a boy!" and back again. Oh what a bore life would be without the banal quotes of the uninformed. He's totally cool with it and nothing else much matters. He's on the right path, though, in becoming the son and heir of nothing in particular cause I'm the least recognized/ remembered person I know. My friend Wendy thinks its her but do her co-workers re-introduce themselves on a semi-annual basis? Last weekend I tried flagging down my Mom from the side of the road as she drove past at a mere 20 km/hr. "oh, I saw someone flailing about but didn't know it was you". Overall, I think its great and get perverse enjoyment out of it but just once I'd like Maurizio and Massimo at the Italian deli to at least greet me with a "hey guy-who-comes-in-here-once-a-week, what can I get you today, we have some of those roasted peppers you like" rather than "hi sir. whatta you like". Maybe my current one-haircut-a-year mantra, courtesy of my sister-in-law deserting town a few years back, has something to do with it.

Cool Name... Shame About Les Tunes

I was going to put a song from punky Quebec rockers "Les Breastfeeders" in my playlist but I didn't cause they're not that good.

Music Videos :: New

Low's new video for "Belarus" featuring winter sports (what else!?!). Minimalism at its most snowy... featuring the triathlon-inspired sport-of-the-future: x-country skiing/ walking/ factory working.



New one from Manic Street Preachers (with the Cardigans) - Your Love Alone is Not Enough. I love these guys. What happened to Nina Cardigan's hair?

Open Your Heart

Check out the ace roller-skating in Lavender Diamond's new video Open Your Heart. These guys, who opened for the Decemberists on a recent tour, show off their street-dance n' egg-holding credentials! and... the object of egg-affection is wearing one funky green sweater.

Woe is me

This is what Youtube told me after I signed up. Oh, and apparently my listenable playlist is showing up now over on the right. Do me a favour? If its working, listen to "bird girl" by Antony... and weep.

Circa 1995

Here's the image from the front of one of our wedding cassettes. Apparently I was 12 when I got married (that would make Tiki 13). We (or rather, "FIL") paid a guy many, many dollars to literally stand behind some shrubbery and flip pre-organized tapes in a machine. And then he made off with my originals! The pic shows what we were heavily into at the time: ourselves, our dog, Canada Day, the Pogues (Fiesta), James (the daisy; the lyrics) and Morrissey (actually I'm alone in worshipping at the shrine of our Mozzer). The first four songs at our wedding, i think, were: find the river (REM) :: fiesta (the Pogues) :: sometimes (James) :: throw your arms around me (Hunters & Collectors).

Ya Ho

James, the band, have recently come back into my life courtesy of Zenmomma Mary. They were never far off as, like the Smiths, they permeate my soul. Listening to "ya ho" the other day it occurred to me that way back in 1988 Tim Booth was a radical unschooler. Are these lyrics not a metaphor for schools vs. living in freedom without fear or what? The "tribe who drowned in a grave of gold" indeed. Okay, maybe it’s a tiny bit of a reach, but nifty nonetheless...

I nearly died when you jumped in/ But you had to drown before you could swim :: All the people on the beach, they were so impressed/ That they wanted to join you but no they wouldn’t undress :: Oh let that wetness splash their skin/ So they prayed for a whirlpool to pull you in :: So they looked away and they tried to pretend/ That it was for you, but no it wasn’t for them :: So the fear of sinking remains in place/ But it’s the fear of failure that’s a real disgrace :: Head in the sand, sea out of reach/ Swept away by the games of the beach :: Those people sat and watched your stand/ And the weight of their fears pulled them underground :: Will anyone learn from the stories that are told/ Of the tribe who drown in a grave of gold :: Let me be the one to take a cool long look with eyes prised wide/ To face those fears from which I hide

Pretty Vacant

Our kids don't go to school. Our kids don't have to ask to use the can. Our kids don't get told they can't leave the room and must pee in a corner. Fergus chooses, sometimes, to have "private time" in the corner... but he wears a diaper for this (and not one of those "i'm a crazy astronaut driving 2,000 miles without getting out of the car" ones). Here's the exaggerated example.

Balloon Video II

The Shins have a new video for Australia. More balloons for Fergus (liberated ones at that!).
Go here and click on "media" for other Shins selections. You may want to stay here a while... some good uns such as the "tour rural America with yer grandpappy" stylings of "Past and Pending". Hey - the Shins are from Albuquerque and now live in Portland. Two of my new favorite places.

Diana at Life is Good '07

A glimpse at Diana signing "skyline pigeon". Powerful, Emotional, Beautiful.

Tiki's 40th <2006>

Featuring music by Amy Steinberg (listen/ download here).

Music Video - Malcolm Middleton

"Balloon movie" currently popular with 3.5 year old Fergus. Suitable???
Malcolm Middleton was the guitarist in now-defunct Glasgow band Arab Strap. That's not M.M. in the video and I'm not sure what its all about... but its cool and watch for his pained expression after being hit with flying spaghetti.

Purpose

To smooth out the furrowed brow. To transform sneer to smile... or whatever.
Family :: Music :: Videos ::

Start

Here's a somewhat recent family photo. I'm suffering a bit from hat-head, but hey - at least Fergus is wearing pants!