albums 1979-1989

"Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be; that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are til the bitter end. Inevitably irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing." - Jerry Seinfeld

So, another birthday. 33. Thought it would be fun (for me) to commemorate such a day by going through some of my favourite records, year by year. Well, it'll be broken up into three parts. Most of the albums aren't necessarily what I was listening at the time, particularly before 1990 because if I was three and listening to Social Distortion well.. actually that'd be awesome. Anyways, here are some records that I really like, other people may like, and other people may hate. Or something.. whatever.

1979: THE CLASH - LONDON CALLING. Released nine days after my birthday in the UK (January 1980 stateside) The Clash's third album "London Calling" saw the band incorporate funk, soul, rockabilly and reggae to their sound, making it a much more eclectic record than their self titled debut and sophomore release "Give 'Em Enough Rope." From the classic title track, to the reggae influenced "Rudie Can't Fail" to my favourite Clash song, "Death Or Glory," this record has a little something for everyone who likes honest rock music. The band followed up "London Calling" with the sprawling three-LP set "Sandinista!" then released their best selling album, "Combat Rock," in 1982. The band released a sixth and final album, "Cut the Crap" after the firings songwriter Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon in 1985. Strummer got into some acting gigs, scored a couple films and released three albums as Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros before passing away in 2002.

Honourable Mention: B52'S - B52'S. If the Misfits sounds like a soundtrack to 50's horror movies then the B52's debut sounds like the soundtrack to campy 50's sci-fi films. 

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1980: IRON MAIDEN - IRON MAIDEN. Is it punk rock? Is it metal? That the beauty of Maiden's debut. Sometimes it is hard to tell. "Iron Maiden" is the first of two albums with frontman Paul Di'Anno, who also appeared on the group's second released "Killers" before being kicked out for cocaine and alcohol addiction which caused him to miss gigs and promo appearances. Bruce Dickenson was brought on board in time for the band's third, and most reviled album "The Number Of the Beast." It is a great record, but lacks something the debut had. The bands first single, "Running Free" ranks up there with my favourite Maiden songs, and an all time classic party song. The songs are short (for the most part, and by Maiden standards) with only the masterful "Phantom Of the Opera" cracking the six minute mark, most songs hovering around four minutes. The albums closer is the track "Iron Maiden" which frequently closes out their shows to this day. Bruce Dickenson is good, there's no doubt, but no one can sing this song like Paul.

Honourable Mention: Joy Division - Closer. Their second and last album is pretty damn dark and brooding. Ya, brooding. I said it.

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1981: BLACK FLAG - DAMAGED. When I was 15-18 there wasn't too many records that I listened to more than "Damaged." Definitely Henry Rollins best moments with the band can be found on here, many of the songs re-recorded versions of tracks that had found their way onto singles and EP's with previous Flag vocalists (Dez Cadena, Ron Reyes and Keith Morris), but Henry took the songs by the throat and made them sound more menacing and dangerous that anything put on tape at that time. The opening track, "Rise Above" is pretty much a perfect song, in my humble opinion. Youtube the ridiculous video for the single "TV Party," as jokey as the band gets on the album. "Six Pack," already a Flag classic at this point, is a highlight as well as "Thirsty and Miserable," "Depression," and "Gimme Gimme Gimme." The track "Damaged I" while not my favourite on the record, is interesting because it is a telltale sign of the territory their music would tread with their slew of released in 1984 (the band was in legal battles for a couple years and were forbidden from using their name) so they released five albums in quick succession from March 1984-October 1985. Their work before and after "Damaged" is brilliant, but nothing they ever did was as great as "Damaged."

Honourable Mention: King Crimson - Discipline. Robert Fripp reformed his classic band with Adrian Belew taking over as frontman and they tread some new ground: 1980's production and prog rock. Sounds dated, but there's some great songs. 

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1982: THE CURE - PORNOGRAPHY. "Friday, I'm In Love" it isn't. I suppose the lyrics of that song weren't the most uplifting, but the music was sure poppy as hell. That doesn't really exist on this record. Robert Smith croons "it doesn't matter if we all die" to kick off the opening track, "One Hundred Years," just so the listener knows they will not be hearing anything overly sentimental, then completes the 1-2 punch with the excellent second track "A Short Term Effect," leading into my favourite song on the album "The Hanging Garden." Great pulsating bass line that gets stuck in my head for hours whenever I hear the song. The closing title track is the perfect ending to an album that was described as inventing "goth." While I offer no thanks for that, the album is great, front to back.

Honourable Mention: Misfits - Walk Among Us. Umm… "20 Eyes," "I Turned Into a Martian," "Vampira," "Hatebreeders," "Mommy Can I Got Out & Kill Tonight"…. need I say more?

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1983: SOCIAL DISTORTION - MOMMY'S LITTLE MONSTER. Social D's debut album was recorded in one session on Christmas Eve 1982, and doesn't have the greatest production. That doesn't really matter when the songs are this damn good. The album was recorded before Mike Ness was crippled by a heroin addiction. The album had been an underground hit, and since the album was self released then cheques came to Ness who used the cash to fund his drug habit instead of more pressings of the record which became out of print not long after its release until it was re-released by Triple X Records in 1989. "The Creeps" leads off the record and is a concert staple to this day, as are classic tracks "Another State Of Mind" and "Mommy's Little Monster," the album title track which received heavy airplay on L.A.'s KROQ radio. 

Honourable Mention: Pink Floyd - The Final Cut. Floyd last record with the classic line-up, considered by some as a Waters solo record, is very quiet, but listened to as a whole with lyrics in tow is outstanding.

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1984: THE REPLACEMENTS - LET IT BE. While the Beatles "Let It Be" is inconsistent with barely enough quality material to even be considered an album, The Replacements hit all the right notes with their third record. Growing disillusioned with the punkers, frontman Paul Westerberg sought out to make a record that was more honest and sincere. Don't kid yourself… there's some barn burners on here! Just listen to "We're Comin' Out" for evidence of that, but I don't think that's the point. "I Will Dare" kicks off the record with a great little shuffle and features a solo by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. The band's cover of Kiss' "Black Diamond" is actually better than the original, and among the best tracks on the the record. "Androgynous" is a song that is just Westerberg and a piano but is also a high point. And "Unsatisfied," excellent song, and the track on the record that made me just kind of get what Westerbeg was going for.

Honourable Mention: Husker Du - Zen Arcade. I guess the Replacements won the Minneapolis-St Paul indie album of the year. Husker Du gets the silver with this sprawling double album set chronicling a young man who runs away from home and whatever.. the concept gets lost but the tunes are great!

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1985: HUSKER DU - NEW DAY RISING. After putting out their best record the previous year, they follow it up with one almost as good, and fortunately, the Replacement didn't release a record this year. "New Day Rising" is more of a straight up punk album following the experimental "Zen Arcade." The intro to the album is the title track, which doesn't have too many lyrics other than "New Day Rising" has some killer guitar work and leads into my favourite Grant Hart penned Husker Du track, "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill." "I Apologize and "Folk Lore" are two excellent Bob Mould songs but "59 Times the Pain" and "Celebrated Summer," the most "Zen Arcade" track on the album. The band released another album towards the end of 1985, "Flip Your Wig" which proved to be their last album for longtime label after signing a major label deal. They felt they owed the label another album so quickly put it out. It wasn't their strongest material but a fitting bookend to their career on SST records before the tensions escalated (always a rocky relationship) between Mould and Hart causing the band to dissolve after two major label releases "Candy Apple Grey" and "Warehouse: Songs & Stories."

Honourable Mention: Slayer - Hell Awaits. Really, really, really GD heavy.

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1986: SONIC YOUTH - EVOL. They turned down the noise, and turned up the atmosphere on their first SST Record "EVOL." It shied away from their noise rock beginnings. The sole single from the album, "Star Power" is a great piece of atmospheric rock with Kim's vocals almost delivered in monotone, and is a song that Courtney Love has made her whole career out of ripping off. "Tom Violence" is one of my favourite Youth songs and Thurston's vocals on this track are amazing. Perfect way to lead off the record. Mike Watt, of the Minutemen, contributed bass on two songs "In the Kingdom #19" and "Expressway To Yr Skull," noting that working on this record made him want to continue him music career after Minutemen bandmate D Boon's death made Watt want to give up music. "EVOL" is not as recognized as say "Goo" or the classic "Daydream Nation" but is still my favourite Sonic Youth record.

Honourable Mention: Slayer - Reign In Blood. Really, really, really heavier.

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1987: DESCENDENTS - ALL. The final record before frontman Milo Aukerman left his band to continue his academic pursuits, and the remaining members, drummer Bill Stevenson, bassist Karl Alvarez and guitarist Stephan Egerton hooked up with vocalists Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds then finally Chad Price and performed as ALL for the next several years. The band took it's name from the Descendents presumably final release, and title track (1 second long) ALL. The band started as a surf rock trio in the late 70s, but soon joined up with Milo and releasing an EP then two classic records: "Milo Goes To College," and "I Don't Want To Grow Up" The first two are classics, with "College" and "Grow Up" among the best punk albums to ever come out of California. The band took a slight misstep with their next album "Enjoy." The album was almost entirely based around the idea of farting (seriously) even going as far as to use euphemisms for faeces instead of the song names on the back of the album jacket. Tough to take too seriously. The following year I don't think anyone would have thought that they would put out an album so introspective, so progressive and (thinking of another -ive word here.. can't). Every track is great, with the first proper song being "Coolige" which is as good as a pop punk song as they have ever written. "Van" is a little strange but fortunately the incredible guitar work keeps you coming back for more. "Ice Man," "Jealous Of the World," "Uranus," and "Schizophrenia" all show off their prog rock leanings, and show of their mellower side on "Impressions" and "Cameage." You would never know that it was Egerton and Alvarez's first outing with the group since this was their strongest and most impressive material they ever released.

Honourable Mention: Def Leppard - Hysteria. First album I ever got, listened to it a million times. Guilty pleasure or totally awesome? Both! Listen to "Gods Of War." Love that song.

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1988: BAD RELIGION - SUFFER. Fat Mike dubbed it the album that 'changed everything.' Hi-fi punk rock. Sounded like an oxymoron at the time. Bad Religion had released an incredible debut full length called "How Could Hell Be Any Worse" but followed it up with an embarrassing keyboard heavy 1970s classic rock album, "Into the Unknown", dumbfounding their fans. Guitarist and Epitaph Records owner Brett Gurewitz joked that they "sent 10,000 copies of the records, and getting 11,000 back." Reception wasn't good, and little has done to change mass opinion about the album. It actually isn't that bad, but I could see why the folks at the time might be a little upset. Fast forward a few years. In 1985, they released "Back To the Known" which was a punk band with a rock influence to them. Songs were still aggressive but they did have slower tempos, and to be honest doesn't sound that much different from the late 90s Atlantic albums. Anyways, the band reconvened in 1987 and started recording "Suffer" in April 1988 at Brett Gurewitz's Westbeach Studios. The band rips through fifteen songs in under half and hour, with just one track, "Part II (The Numbers Game)" eclipsing the two and a half minute mark. The band plays "(You Are) the Government)," "Give You Nothing," "Best For You," "Suffer," "Do What You Want" at most shows to this day. I've seen Bad Religion play numerous times but I have never seen "1000 More Fools" or "Delirium Of Disorder" live which are standout track in my mind that don't get enough love. Is this their best record? Probably. Most influential? Definitely.

Honourable Mention: Dag Nasty - Field Day. What used to be my least favourite Dag Nasty is now my favourite. Funny what age can do!

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1989: OPERATION IVY - ENERGY. Never has an album mixed reggae, punk, hardcore and ska so perfectly. Including The Clash. While what they were doing was markedly different kind of ska-punk fusion than The Clash, the message wasn't too dissimilar. Operation Ivy existed for only two years but their only record is a landmark in the genre. Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman were playing guitar and bass respectively for a ska punk band called Basic  Radio and hooked up with vocalist/artist Jesse Michaels and Dave Mello to perform the first Operation Ivy show in Mello's garage on May 27, 1987 before playing at Berkeley, California's legendary 924 Gilman Street club the following day. The album, now reissued a couple times over, include their debut EP "Hectic" contains classics like "Knowledge," "Sound System," "Take Warning," "Unity," "Bad Town," "Caution," "Freeze Up"… nearly every track is a classic burst of energy and life. Jesse Michaels went on to sing for Common Rider while Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong formed Rancid following the disbandment. Rancid are OK and all… I like "And Out Come the Wolves" and "Let's Go" very much, but nothing they did ever came close to this record.

Liner notes in 1991 for reissue of "Energy" by Jesse Michaels: 

"Music is an indirect force for change, because it provides and anchor against human tragedy. In this sense, it works towards a reconciled world. It can also be the direct experience of change. At certain point during some shows, the reconciled world is already here, at least in that second, at that place. Operation Ivy was very lucky to have experienced this. Those second reveal that the momentum that drives a subculture is more important than any particular band. The momentum is made of all the people who stay interested, and keep their sense of urgency and hope."

Honourable Mention: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine. Only classic album they ever did. Not saying Trent isn't talented, but this just seems so much less douchy.

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End of Part One.

news feeds nov 27 #1

The Chris Farley off big city mayors has been removed from office and is currently receding back to his van down by the river. An Ontario judge has ousted mayor Rob Ford, who violated provincial conflict of interest polices. He allegedly used city letterheads to solicit donations for his football foundation. Pretty stupid move on his part, and while not as controversial as Marion Barry, former Washington DC mayor, smoking crack on video but it is still pretty untidy. The thing is, Rob Ford seems like a pretty fun guy. He like sports, he likes beer, he likes getting arrested in Florida. I'm not saying he's a terrible guy but you'd like to grab a pint with him not have him run a city that is home to 6 million people across the Greater Toronto Area. Ford has fourteen days left in office as of the ruling yesterday. Check out his football prowess:

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Bush vs Clinton in 2016? While Obama is just starting his second and final term as American President, rumours are already circulating that Hilary Clinton may get the nod as the Democratic nominee in the next election. In the red corner, we have former governor of Florida Jeb Bush, son of HW and brother of W, who was governor during the Florida recount fiasco during the 2000 election. His brother George W. Bush won the election following a ruling by the Federal Supreme Court which stopped the recount proposed by the Florida Supreme Court. If nothing else, it would rank up there with the most exciting elections of all time and watching the two powerhouses go at it in a debate setting would be great. Jeb couldn't do a worse job than his brother, and he shouldn't be judged based on his last name but he has had his share of boneheaded moves. I guess what politician hasn't? Jeb is much more likeable to me, speaks much better than his brother, and has been critical of his own Republican party, even being accused of being Republican in name only. Which is my favourite kind. Well, the lesser evil. 

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More controversy out of the Two and a Half men camp. The 'Half' man of the equation Jake, played by Angus Jones says the show is 'filth' and if you watch it you should stop. He recently had a religious awakening and doesn't think his new found faith and his role on the show can co-exist. "Oh, I can be a Christian and be on a show like Two and a Half Men. You can't. You can not be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that. I know I can't. I'm not OK with what I'm learning, what the Bible says, and being on that show. You go all or nothing." CBS did not comment on the remarks made by Jones, but you have to wonder how many more changes the show can take after having to kill off Charlie Sheen's character following the actors 'winning' 2010 meltdown. Ashton Kutcher filled the void left by Sheen, playing an internet billionaire who just kind of shows up at the house then inexplicably moves in. The show has been on life support ever since, and this may be the final nail in the coffin. Or it will keep going and eventually be a one man show with Jon Cryer doing the Vagina Monologues.

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Veteran astronaut Captain Scott Kelly will embark on the longest mission ever for an American astronaut. He and Russian Mikhail Kornienko will go on the one year mission to the International Space Station to help scientists collect more information on the effects of humans living in space. Kelly has already spent more that 180 days in space already. There has only been four people to ever log more than one year continuously in space, with Valery Polyakov's 438 days (January 1994-March 1995) being the record. Kornienko has being in space 176 days total and has been working in the space industry since 1986. "The one year increment will expand the bound of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit" said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA headquarters. The mission takes off in 2015.

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One of the most influential bands in punk rock, the Descendents may be releasing new material sooner than later. Guitarist Stephan Egerton dropped the hint in a recent interview with Kill Your Stereo. "That is sort of in the works. We don't have any kind of a timeline set up for it yet, but everybody is definitely wanting to do it, and everybody is writing for it, so I'm very sure it will happen, and we're all very stoked to do it. We've been having a good time writing songs, and so I'd say we've got well over half of it written but not recorded yet. So unfortunately we can't follow a very strict timeline, the way we would if we were a full time band, just because it doesn't fit in for us. We have to sort of work around the rest of our lives, but I would like to think something could happen as early as the middle of next year." The band has released two albums since their reunion (shows here, albums there), 1996's "Everything Sucks" and 2004's "Cool To Be You." Their eighties SST Records material is among the most legendary punk music ever put to tape. If you haven't listened to the slightly angry "Milo Goes To College" or the progressive genius (and last album before their first extended break) of 1987's "All" you are seriously missing out. 

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"If you french fry when you should have pizza'd, you're gonna have a bad time!" - Thumper, super cool ski instructor.

news feeds nov 27 #2

Peep Show, season 8, has begun! The premiere aired on Sunday night. Season 7 aired in 2010 and there has been some changes! Jeremy looks older, Super Hans seems reputable (waiting for re-addiction to crack), and something really weird is going on with Mark's hair. Great episode though, with the Mark-Dobby-Gerrard heavy petting triangle in full swing. Mark is trying to get Dobby to move in with him but can't seem to get Jeremy to go, all the while getting a job interview(s) at the bathroom fixture company Super Hans works at. Great second act, won't spoil it. Oh, and Jeff is back! Son of a bitch. Anyways, the show airs Sunday nights in the UK and is available to stream state side by the next AM from your favourite streaming site!

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Sticking with the UK, this was voted the funniest Royal picture of all time. Prince Charles DJing with a guy who has a Daffy Duck tie on. Def news worthy.

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The 100th Grey Cup was played in Toronto over the past weekend with the hometown Argonauts defeating the Calgary Stampeders fairly handily to capture their first Cup since 2004. The trophy, handed out annually to the winner of the CFL's playoffs, was won by an Argonauts team that went 9-9 in the season before 50,000+ fans at the Rogers Centre. Argo quarterback Ricky Ray was key in defeating his former team, the Edmonton Eskimos before shocking the division champion Montreal Alouettes in a classic semi-final to advance to the big game on Sunday. It was the teams 14th Grey Cup. In a city with so much sports activity, we are starved for championships. We have a major league basketball and football teams, both of which are going nowhere, especially not to the playoffs. The Maple Leafs are hopeless and their league is on strike. The Blue Jays may provide some excitement in the coming year.. but a World Series team? Not so sure. Since the Toronto Maple Leafs thirteenth Stanley Cup in 1967, there have been two Blue Jays World Series championships (1992, 1993) and six Grey Cups (83, 91, 96, 97, 04, 12). 

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Despite both sides of the table being stubborn jerks something was finally agreed upon: they can't solve this. So the NHL and the NHL Players Association have decided to us the Federal Mediation and Concilliation Service with hopes of ending the lock out and salvaging some kind of season. The two sides are expected meet at an undisclosed location Wednesday with mediators, who at least should bore them into making a deal fast. "While we have no particular level of expectation going into this process, we welcome a new approach in trying to reach a resolution of the ongoing labor dispute at the earliest possible date," said NHL troll Gary Bettman's right hand manned, deputy commissioner Bill Daly. In old NHL game news, one year ago today the Leafs took on the Ducks on a Sunday and beat up on them 5-2, with Bozak scoring a pair, Joey Crabb, Clarke McArthur and Luke Schenn scoring singles, Schenn's on and empty new from his own end. Corey Perry and former Leaf Francois Beauchemin replied for Anaheim. Highlights below!

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Song.

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end transmission.

news feeds nov 19

Those NASA folk can see far. Scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore have used the Hubble telescope to 'scope' out a galaxy 13.3 billion light years away. It is the most distant galaxy ever discovered in the universe. The tiny galaxy, named MACS0647-JD (catchy name), may be in the early stages of forming a larger galaxy and is only 600 light years wide, as opposed to our own Milky Way's width of 150,000 light years. Light years are a unit of distance in space which measures the distance that light travels in a year, and since MACS0647-JD is 13 billion and change light years away the light were are seeing has travelled 13.3 billion years to reach Earth, back when the small galaxy was a mere 420 million years old, and could be drastically different, or not even exist by now. For us to see it what it is like today, we would have to wait another 13 billion years, give or take a million but unfortunately I am swamped this week.

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Internet wise asses are having fun with the Mayan calendar this year. "Dick Clark dies. Can't ring in the new year. Well played, Mayan, well played." They are slightly amusing at best, as most memes are. Hostess brands have filed for bankruptcy and will be selling off all their assets including the twinkle, which was said to survive a nuclear holocaust (and confirmed by an early Y2K Family Guy episode), are going to stop being made, sparking more meme concerns: "Dick Clark dead. Twinkies dead. We are really all going to die this year," "So, Twinkies, which were supposed to survive a nuclear holocaust, die 3 weeks before the end of the world? Well played, Mayans." Sorry, I got googling twinkle and Mayan memes and have digressed. Don't worry people Hostess is selling off it parts, which include Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's to the highest bidder due to the high brand recognition and the goodwill associated with the name. Twinkies alone has already made $68 million this year alone.. so snack on that for lunch! 

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They have found an etching by Surrealist Salvador Dali at a Goodwill Store in Tacoma, Washington earlier this week. The hand signed pieced was spotted by an employee familiar with Dali/water bongs and has been place on the Goodwill auctioning website. The price started at $999, an absolute bargain and has soared to $10,500 and there is still three days left to go. It ranks among the highest items ever sold on their site, already in second place but a long distance behind an original Frank Weston Benson watercolour that went for $165,002. Just because those places smell a little strange doesn't mean you can find great things. Last time I was there I scored a copy of Doughboys "Crush" on cassette for 30 cents! I just need to get a cassette deck...

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Rage Against the Machine are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the breakthrough self titled debut album with about 10 different reissues of the album. Not really, but it will be put out in the form of a remastered CD, a double CD and DVD, a box set with two CDs, two DVDs and an LP, a picture disc and an 180 gram vinyl LP. They have always been a polarizing act, alienating as many fans as they have gained, but it's pretty much undeniable how great the record was. The band only released two other proper albums, 1996's "Evil Empire" and 1999's "Battle of Los Angeles", with the covers album "Renegades" dropping in 2000. Rage Against the Machine was born when Tom Morello left his previous band Lock Up, and when Zack De La Rocha's hardcore punk band Inside Out was dissolved when their guitarist left the band to become a monk. Inside Out only had on official studio release, 1990's "No Spiritual Surrender" on Revelation Records which is six furiously intense songs, with Zach trademark rapping completely absent, and along with the first full length, might be the best thing he has ever done. Inside Out had finished writing their debut full length, but never had a chance to record it due to the break up, and was set to be titled "Rage Against the Machine," named after a song of the same name, and a staple in their live set. Rolling Stone has put up a demo version of 'Freedom,' the last track from the first record on their website HERE. And an Inside Out tune to check out:

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Speaking of Rolling Stone magazine, their legendary movie critic Peter Travers has ranked all the James Bond films worst to best to coincide with the release of the 23rd official Bond film, Skyfall. I checked it out last week, a thought it was great. Maybe a touch under Casino Royale but light years ahead of Quantum Of Solace. I can't really pick my favourite Bond film, or actor that portrayed James, but I do know my least favourite actor who played Bond: Timothy Dalton. His two turns as the British MI6 agent, "Licence To Kill" and "The Living Daylights" were definitely the low point of the series, so bad that they didn't make a Bond film from fall 1989 to winter 1995. It was somewhere during this point where I saw my dad's favourite entry in the series, 1973's "Live & Let Die" (he loved the sheriff), follow by "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball." I was ready for this guy from that Remington Steele show as Bond. I'm not sure if it was the impressionable age, the exotic locales shot with much more clarity (technology can be a good thing sometimes), the gadgets, the cars, Famke Janssen - I loved Goldeneye. When you add an amazing video game to a movie that was such an epic return I made it a point to see every Bond film I could, if not all. By this point, I've seen every one, including the spoof Casino Royale, where many actors - including Peter Sellers and Woody Allen - taking on the role of Bond. The only one I haven't seen is the Sean Connery non-MGM film "Never Say Never Again" released in 1983, the same year as the official "Octopussy." I haven't seen it not due to any kind of boycott, but simply that it isn't included in any of the official sets I've gotten. Would be nice to see Sean's last turn as James with a young Kim Basinger playing the Bond girl. For some reason, I've always had a soft spot for the 1985 cheese fest "A View To a Kill." Maybe it was because you got to see Christopher Walken (with bleach blonde hair) as the main villian with Mayday, played by Grace Jones as his sidekick, forming one of the oddest couples I have ever seen on screen (James also slept with her). It was Roger Moore's last time out as 007, and even he admitted he was "about 400 years too old for the part," and although he appears to be struggling at times, it looks like everyone is having a good time out there, especially Walken. The new Bond film, Skyfall, is playing 1,000 times a day in every theatre in the world so go see it, and you can check out Peter Travers ranking of the Bond flicks HERE.

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'CAUSE WE WRITE LOVE SONGS IN C, WE DO POLITICS IN G, WE SING SONGS ABOUT OUR FRIENDS IN E MINOR, SO TEAR DOWN THE STARS NOW AND TAKE UP YOUR GUITARS AND COME ON, FOLKS AND TRY THIS AT HOME!

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american league east 2013

Who became contenders overnight in the AL East? The Toronto Blue Jays. The team added $160 million to their payroll in a monster deal with the Miami Marlins before spending another $16 million on a two year deal for Melky Cabrera. He was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a banned substance in August after leading the National League batting race and winning the All Star Game MVP. A good player and above average fielder should be a good fit, especially since he will be hitting lower in the order. In the Marlins trade, the Jays picked up 2011 National League batting champion Jose Reyes, starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, both former all stars, catcher John Buck (two years removed from his career season with the Jays) and solid utility infielder Emilio Bonifacio. The trade is on of the biggest in recent memory.. well, this deal and the Dodgers-Red Sox deal when the Sox shed $250 million in salary shipping Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to the 'cash poor' Dodgers for Troy Loney and a couple minor leaguers. Either way the Blue Jays have positioned themselves to compete in the AL East, with the Yankees aging/looking to shed payroll and the Red Sox in shambles after a disastrous season in 2012. There has also been rumours floating around that there is some interest in former Jay Shaun Marcum, and apparently the feeling is mutual. If the Jays can manage to get Marcum back then their rotation in 2013 would look something like this 1-5: Josh Johnson, Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brendan Morrow, Mark Buehrle. That is really, really good, and would be among the best rotations in all of baseball. The only other big rumor floating around the AL East is that the Orioles are front runners in the Josh Hamilton sweepstakes, and if that deal goes down then the Yankees and Red Sox might very well be battling to stay out of the basement, while the Rays, Jays and Orioles will be fighting for a trip to the postseason. At the very least, the Toronto Blue Jays have put pressure on the rest of the division to make a move since there is no way Toronto won't be significantly better, despite the ongoing search for a manager (which is down to a few candidates: Former Rockies skip Jim Tracy, Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach, Jim Riggleman who last managed with the Washington Nationals in 2011 and current Jay coach and former Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu). And, as good as their rotation is, their starting nine ain't too bad either: 

LF: Melky Cabrera

CF: Colby Rasmus

RF: Jose Bautista

1B: Adam Lind/David Cooper

2B: Emilio Bonifacio/Maicer Izturis

SS: Jose Reyes

3B: Brett Lawrie

C: John Buck/J.P. Arencebia

DH: Edwin Encarnacion

live from the north

Just spent three days relaxing in my hometown, Meaford, about two hours north west of Toronto. Pretty sleepy, quiet community that, for the most part caters to seniors. While walking around downtown I noticed a number of businesses were shut... and not just one or two but there is 7-8 empty storefronts on the main section of main (Sykes) street. There are some stores that have survived for a long time, mainly because they are types of stores that are key to the survival of a small town's downtown core. There's not too many Canadian downtowns without a drug store, bank, hair dresser, book shop, convenience store and a department store. One issue is that there isn't much for the young folk. Kids are covered with the toys in the department store or the great Eco-friendly toy shop Evolve on the main drag. Kids of the high school variety have a much tougher time taking anything away from the downtown, with no clothing, footwear or entertainment options whatsoever. Since most high schoolers will not run the risk of appearing untrendy, they drag their parents to the upscale shops in Collingwood. The parents, through no fault or malicious intent, now shop in another downtown, helping them prosper while their own towns DT closes up another storefront. 

A building that always caught my interest was the old Capitol Theatre. It was never an actual theatre since I've been born, but was a movie theatre for years before finally shutting its doors for good shortly before the advent of the DVD. The building is incredibly old and definitely needs some TLC, but the box office and classic 40s Hollywood marquee still exist (and the building is currently completely vacant omit an apartment above the front of the building. Not sure what I would do with it but picture Coyote Ugly (not really). It would just be sweet to have a place in town to shoot a game of pool, some food, have open mics, show some old movies and spruce a great building and space up! When I was growing up it felt like we did all our shopping 'downtown' and I remember it being super fun.. Maybe it was the age I was at or maybe it is because I've grown to see how depressing it has actually become. The town offers a lengthy Georgian Bay waterfront, but other than summertime frolicking there isn't much to do and that's a shame.

Will fix margins, spell check, add photos etc when I get home but am currently writing this on the way back to Toronto so I'm just trying to not get car sick while I type this.

news feeds nov 5

The election down south is just a few days away and the race is too close to call. Obama and Mitt are neck and neck going down to the wire. Not that it matters, and it shouldn't sway voters, but Obama is getting way better celebrity backers. If you listen to what any celebrity who isn't schooled in such affairs, and don't take it as opinion, well, just.. good luck. I'm not saying that nothing good comes out of it though. Will Ferrell will do anything to get your vote. Jay Z has 99 problems and a Mitt ain't one. I don't live in the U.S. so I don't care all that much, but since they are right in our backyard (or front yard?) what happens down there will affect us somehow someway eventually so I have to care just a little bit. I don't know the fine print of the candidates platforms, and I couldn't make valid arguments one way or another for either candidate anymore than the candidates themselves can find a solution to the perpetually slumping American economy. I'm just saying, if you can give Bush eight years, you can give Obama the same.

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Canadians get to revel in the release of the latest polymer bank note, the $20 bill! On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada will begin circulating the new $20 bill, the most widely circulated of all bills in the country. In late 2012, the Bank of Canada issued the $100 bill as a polymer bill first, ahead of new $50 note unveiling in March. The 10$ and $5 bills will be issued in the new format by the end of 2013. There has been criticism of the new bills. They do not tear, that comes as advertised, but they do appear to melt, or fuse together, like if you have two notes in your wallet and you sit on the bus or something. Just don't roll like a hustler. There is also reports of optical lens in bank machines not picking up the new bills, dispensing money unknowingly to super stoked and potentially dishonest customers, causing major headaches for some retailers. The bottom line is it doesn't look like Monopoly money anymore. It looks like plastic Monopoly money. 

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Gross and inappropriate alert.

Want to bone Justin Beiber? Who doesn't? At long last, a Biebs sex doll is on the market. The plastic, bi-sexual (really?.. it's a doll) blowup sex doll was made by Pipedream Products and is available for purchase on Amazon, prices ranging from $20-$138. The description is the best part since you can't make this stuff up: "When he's not busy beating up paparazzi or beating off, he's up to his high-tops in hot Hollywood tail! But the Beave-ster doesn't have this effect just on women - he turns straight men gay faster than you can peel his skinny jeans off! So what are you waiting for, inflate this lil' pricks ego even more and have your very own Beaver bash!" Justin's name is actually used, it is cleverly disguised as Just-In Beaver, I'm just going to assume to avoid legal issue. Ya, so… ya. Enjoy?

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Phone photographers, at long last, Instagram is available on your desktop in the way of actual profiles. You still have to take the pictures from your phone, but others can view your photos from any device. Instagram said it will be launching profiles for all users in the next week with your (or my) address being http://instagram.com/[user name]. "We're launching Web profiles to give you a simple way to share your photos with more people and to make it easier to discover new users on the web, " the company said in a blogpost. Instagram was launched in 2010 and currently has 100 million registered users. On September 6 this year, a deal that had been in the works since April finally closed, with Facebook absorbing Instagram, and its thirteen employees for a $1 billion cash and stock deal. The program allows you to upload photos from your phone, then apply a filter to it, all while confining it to a square shape similar to the Kodak Instamatic and the classic Polaroid photo with the white border. 

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Have you lost weeks of your life to Civilization 2? If not, you might not want to read on due to the degree of nerdiness. Anyways, I played this game for hours at a time in my early teen years, on the family's first (at least fully functional) computer, a Pentium I with a whopping 75MHz clock speed. Didn't matter, the game ran, and I could stream albums with my Real Media Player. Wow, did the Real Player ever sound like crap. I listened to Offspring's "Smash" and Propagandhi's "How To Clean Everything" about a million times while playing until the early morning hours. Then I just stopped playing for whatever reason (girls), and didn't play it for probably ten years until I saw it floating around a newsgroup, so I immediately downloaded it. There have been many a sequel to Civilization II, played 'em, but for some reason CIV2 hass the perfect mix of simplicity of graphics and complexity of game play to make it my favourite. There is a gentlemen over on tumblr who has been playing the same game of Civ for 10 years. He swears that he does have a life, and has other games on the go, but always goes back to check out his game that he has played all the way until the year 3991 (the game stops keeping score/ends in 2020 if you don't land your spaceship before then). He goes by the tumblr handle Lycerius, and said his world is down to three nations, dwindling resources, and is severely polluted from all the nuclear wars. "Peace seems to be impossible. Every time a cease fire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons. Even when the UN forces a peace treaty. So I can only assure that peace will come only when they are wiped out. It is this that perpetuates the war ad infinitum." The war has been going on for 1700 years (in game time), and the constant nuclear bombardment has melted the worlds ice caps over and over making it impossible to farm on. Game creator Sid Meier had this to say of the gamer: "There's no way we could have tested for this. I can't say that we ever though anyone would play a game of Civ for that long. It's exciting a fan of the series would dedicate 10 years to playing one continuous game." Once he is done wiping out the wretched American and Viking civilizations he plans to rebuild the World. "My goal for the next few years is to try and end the war and thus use the engineers to clear swamps and fallout so that farming may resume. I want to rebuild the world. But I'm not sure how." 

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Bad Religion's sixteenth full length, "True North" is slated for a January 22, 2013 release through guitarist Mr. Brett Gurewitz's Epitaph Records. The pre-sale is up on the BR site and they also released a track from the album as well. "True North" has 16 tracks so fast, melodic punk rock with not one of the track eclipsing three minutes. Bad Religion's last album was 2010's "Dissent Of Man." In other Los Angeles 1980's punk band news, the Descendents have a documentary coming out chronicling the bands history. It covers the bands early surf rock days as a three piece, the bands Milo-led lineup, the break up/re-group as ALL, then the reformation of the last (and classic) Descendents lineup. The band has released six albums as the Descendents, eight as ALL, and one as Tony All (original Descendents bassist Tony Lombardo's songs with Stephan, Karl and Bill as the backing band). Here's a trailer for the documentary "Filmage: The Story Of the Descendents/ALL":

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Seminal New York indie band Texas Is the Reason is set to play at Lee's Palace in Toronto on March 8, 2013. The band reunited earlier in the year to play the Revelation Records 25th Anniversary Show apparently sparked something in them and have lined up eight shows, most on the east coast omit shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles to close out the mini-tour. The band formed after Norm Arenas left former Youth Of Today vocalist Ray Cappo's project Shelter and teamed up with former 108 drummer Chris Daly to form a group that would leave behind the macho attitude and the religious preaching (Shelter and 108 were both Hare Krishna hardcore bands) of their former projects. The band released one full length "Do You Know Who You Are" after which the were heavily courted by major labels. Tension mounted within the band and they dissolved on the eve they were supposed to sign their first major label contract. Daly went on to play in Jets To Brazil and Arenas DJ'd in Chicago for a few years. Here's a song from their first EP:

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There is still a hockey lockout on. One year ago today, Tyler Seguin sniped his first career hat trick at the ACC against the Leafs scoring three goals of irony as the man he was traded for, Phil Kessel, sat on the bench watching. Bruins 7. Leafs 0. Compared to that score, the lockout doesn't hurt so much.

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