SOUNDTRACK: THE SWELL SEASON-Tiny Desk Concert #24 (August 10, 2009).
I was going through the NPR recordings that I’ve downloaded and discovered that I had four from The Swell Season. This Tiny Desk concert is the shortest of the four recordings (although it’s one of the longest Tint Desk concerts–most are about 10-15 minutes, this one is over 33 and has an encore!). Glen Hansard is charismatic and funny as he says he feels foolish playing just a few songs and would they mind if he played one or two more.
I usually prefer the louder Swell Season songs, but the quieter songs work well in this situation (especially when the NPR staff helps out with backing vocals). He plays the same songs that you’ll hear a lot on these NPR recordings (“In These Arms,” “Low Rising,” ‘Feeling the Pull” and the highlight of the show: “When Your Mind’s Made Up.”
I’ve liked this song from the first time I heard it in Once. Every live version I’ve heard is great. And this one is no exception. He brings so much emotion to the end of this song as it gets louder and louder and his voice (man he can hold a note) gets louder and more strained. It’s truly a great musical moment.
And, of course, Markéta Irglová is there as well. She only sings one song, but her gorgeous harmonies are all over the session (no piano, though).
This is the most subdued of the four concerts, but it’s a good one. (The NPR halls must have been ringing with his voice during this one!)
[READ: August 21, 2011] JPod
JPod holds a special distinction on this blog. It is the first book that I have read twice during my time of writing this blog. It’s also the only book that now follows this pattern: I read the book, I watched the TV show based on the book, I reread the book. So now I have the actors from the show in my head as I re-read what happened to them (hi Alan Thicke!).
I’ve been on this Coupland kick (which will now come to a halt for a bit, but will pick up again in the not too distant future) and since I just read Microserfs, I wanted to read this book right on its heels as it is seen as kind of a sequel (but not really at all) possibly because it, like Microserfs has Lego people on the cover.
So let’s get things out of the way first. This book is not related to Microserfs in any way (except that there’s a (different) character named Ethan, it’s set in a techie world of computer programmers and there are huge swaths of pages that are, if not wasted, then certainly not very practical in terms of reading–more on that). But there are no overlapping characters, it’s not set in the same country and there’s lots more violence.
The book starts off with a series of pages that tell you the book is not going to be terribly conventional. There’s a series of super large-font words (like in Microserfs) of random ideas. They’re followed by a break-free four-page rant (in a different font from the rest of the book) about modern life and technology. It’s hard to read, but it really conveys a sense of the world we’re entering.
When the book proper starts, Douglas Coupland is mentioned in the first few pages (in a very disparaging way).
“Oh God. I feel like a refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel.”
“That asshole?”
“Who does he think he is?”
Then the story kicks into gear. (more…)
Sarah and I watched a bit of the third or fourth episode of this show when it aired on CBC. But jumping into the middle of this show is difficult. The characters are established pretty quickly, their quirks are all explained in the first episode, and it’s a bit hard to care about them without knowing their whole story.
And it has now given me a new favorite actor of the month: Sherry Miller who plays Mrs Jarlewski is just fantastic. She’s like an older, subtler version of perennial favorite Portia de Rossi.
SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Static Box (complete) (2008).
I’ve decided not to review all of the volumes of this fabulous 
SOUNDTRACK: DANKO JONES-Never Too Loud (2008).
Danko Jones is a hard and fast rock band, with a one track mind and a straightforward sound. They deal in excessive cliches (album titles include: Sleep is the Enemy, We Sweat Blood, Never Too Loud, etc) and play mostly short songs. And despite all that apparent negativity, I enjoy them beyond reason.
I Just Read About That... 