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My friends' band is on the CBC Radio 3 Podcast this week so you should check it out. They're called Beija Flor and are called "The most exciting band to come out of Calgary Alberta since Chad Van Gaalen". I think he meant Jann Arden. So insensitive. Anyway, download it for free, buy their album, and enjoy the sunny weather.
Current Music:
Beija Flor -- The Quiet One
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Propagandhi last night was amazing. I realized I've been listening to them for 14 years. I have listened to no other album more than Less Talk, More Rock. It was dripping with heavy, heavy irony as all the frat-punks put their fists in the air at precisely the wrong times and told them to shut up and sing when they were talking about the mildest of issues. It's not the band I hate, it's their fans. But they seemed to have a good time by outright mocking the crowd, but everyone was too busy moshing to notice.

It's strange to feel like you are one of the few people in the crowd that get the joke, but then again I was wearing a collar. There were a few old-school stalwarts there which was good to see, but on the whole everyone else had just got back from the Rise Against show. Man, I'm old and cynical. But Propagandhi still rocks harder than anything else in this country at least.

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Someone asked me where my list was for this year, so here it is:

Let's face it, objectively, 06 kind of sucked for music. TV was the new movies two years ago, but apparently it's also the new music. Even Pitchfork agrees. All the best music either was copped from other stuff or sounded like it was from a different era/century. But as all the philosophers agree (Nietzsche, Kundera, ABBA), "this history book on the shelf, it's always repeating itself". I guess it can't be Nashville every year.

1. Girl Talk -- Night Ripper (the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts)
2. Beirut -- Gulag Orkerstar (indie rock album of the nineteenth century)
3. The Hold Steady -- Boys and Girls in America (maybe getting old in a prairie town isn't so bad)
4. Maritime -- We, The Vehicles (brain tumours+bad band break ups=wicked second albums)
5. My Chemical Romance -- The Black Parade (queen lives)
6. The Knife -- Silent Shout (wtf do they put in the water in scandanavia?)
7. Brand New -- The Devil and God are Raging Inside of Me (also wins worst title award)
8. The Prize Fighter Inferno -- My Brother's Blood Machine (prog rocks answer to the postal service)
9. Cat Power -- The Greatest (i guess the greatest means number 9)
10. Ghostface Killah -- Fishscale (how did i miss wu-tang?)

Movies:
1. Children of Men
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Deja Vu

Songs:

1. Sexyback --Justin Timberlake
2. You and I Are A Gang of Losers -- The Dears
3. Space Between Stations -- The Hold Steady

xo

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Children of Men is seriously (seriously!) one of the best movies I've seen in years. It's way better than you think.

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I'm having a housewarming/seasonal celebration. There will be good times and great oldies. Please come for 5 minutes or 5 hours. BYOB and BYOSO /F(Significant Others/Friends). I'm moving in with Jeremy Barretto. At least come to hang out with him! Here are the deets:
 
housewarming + birthday + solstice + hanukkah + christmas + you
= A party for all occaisions | 8PM Thursday December 21 | 101 1626 14
Avenue SW
 
xo dave
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FTR: only doing this cause megan did. hopefully you all have seen D*ck in a Box by now.

1) Where did you ring in 2006?
went to the hockey game and then to steve and reggie's. woke up in a 2 year old's bed.

2.) What was your status by Valentine's Day?
long distance styles

3.) Were you in school (anytime this year)?
finished a master's degree in french history

4.) How did you earn your keep?
student loans FTW, sold booze, sold textbooks

5.) Did you have to go to the hospital?
je ne l'aime pas.

6.) Did you encounter the police?
it's funny. while in toronto, i didn't see any cops. maybe like 3 in a year. strange, eh? except for when they would show up when brazil played in the world cup

7.) Where did you go on vacation?
prince edward county, edmonton, carolina (through new york, pennsylvania, virginia, and west virginia. there's a west virginia! who knew?)

8.) What did you purchase that was over $500?
nothing, but i spent 200 bucks at ikea the other day. does that count?

9.) Did you know anybody who got married?
Mike and Raisa. gong show city

10.) You know anybody who passed away?
friend's mom. very tragic and sad.

11.) Have you run into anybody you graduated high school with?
i saw someone today working for this high tech stock company. i was the wine delivery guy and her boss had three (3!) computer screens at his desk. i guess this is a year survey, not just this week. suck it up.

12.) Did you move anywhere?
back to c-spot

13.) What sporting events did you go to?
a dozen blue jay games. game 5 of the stanley cup finals (piso FTW), the raptors. flames a couple of times. (worst team ever)

14.) What concerts did you go to?
s-loads. last week: the hidden cameras, the blood brothers, guns n' roses/skid row/helmet, coheed and cambria/fall of troy

15.) Are you registered to vote?
Yes.

16.) If so, did you do your patriotic duty on Nov. 7?
yes, voted for the NDP cause i thought they had a chance to win cause the liberal candidate "came-out" and this was supposedly a bad thing with the local portugese population, but he still won

17.) Where do you live now?
sunAlta

18.) Describe your birthday.
went to b-city for a sea of is show. most people didn't know it was my birthday.

19.) What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2006?
got a blackberry

20.) What is one thing you regretted this year?
not keeping in touch as much as i wanted to

21.) What's something you learned about yourself?
sometimes hanging out with yourself is wicked

22.) Any new additions to your family?
jeremy is my new roomate

23.) What was your best month?
summer time. carolina, procrastinating, t-o in the summer

 

24.) What from pop culture will you remember 2006 by?
Dick in a box

25.) How would you rate this year with a scale from 1 (shitty) to 10 (excellent)?
8

Current Music:
Hold Steady
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Dave Eggers new forward for the 10th Anniversary of the book can be read here. This is the best book I've ever read, and if it was 1000 pages longer, that would still be true. You should read Eggers' take on it. He says, "And yet the time spent in this book, in this world of language, is absolutely rewarded. When you exit these pages after that month of reading, you are a better person. It’s insane, but also hard to deny. Your brain is stronger because it’s been given a month-long workout, and more importantly, your heart is sturdier, for there has scarcely been written a more moving account of desperation, depression, addiction, generational stasis and yearning, or the obsession with human expectations, with artistic and athletic and intellectual possibility." Apparently the new edition will be cheaper (though no less long), so I suggest you pick it up. Post-haste! 
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Guess who I just sold wine to? Hint:

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Since Fantasy Sports is the new Online Poker, and Lost is the new Televised Poker, I thought we should do Fantasy Lost. Who will die first? What's Fenry's real name? Who will get together first? Who will meet Jack's dad in a flashback first? Is this season going to suck?
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I would estimate that 98% of people I know can't wait til Wednesday. So here is some fun stuff to tide you over:


and Chuck Klosterman's new article LOST vs SURVIVOR. "Lost may be the the best drama in television history, but it's nowhere near as important as that other desert-island classic"
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