Belle and Sebastian

Just saw Belle and Sebastian at Massey Hall with my best friend Di. Such an awesome night. We missed the opening band Zeus which was fine as I wasn’t in an “opening band” kinda mood if you get what I mean.

Belle and Sebastian took the stage… All 12 of em’. It was a sight to see just the instrument changes. Stuart Murdoch and guitarist Stevie Jackson were an hilarious duo. They engaged the crowd by getting us to whistle and sing along.

Murdoch furthered the crowd engagement by dragging people up on stage to dance. Throwing nerf footballs into crowd, and awarding medals to a crowd of fans he brought up to dance.

During “Lord Anthony”, Murdoch asked if anyone had any cosmetics and after receiving some lip gloss he asked for mascara. During the song he went to the front row to a girl holding up mascara and had her apply it while he sang. It was hilarious and impressive, he never missed a beat.

My favourite part of the show was when he asked if anyone came to the show in a bad mood, a gentleman named David (not me) said he was and Murdoch asked if they could play him a song even if it was by another band. After some contemplating David requested the Kinks. After attempting a few songs they settled on “You Really Got Me”

It was a great night with an awesome friend, one of my top ten concerts for sure. Time to go listen to Belle and Sebastian BBC Sessions.

Till next time

–So

Struggle

I have been struggling all week to stay focused and on task. I am distracted by the slightest things, any reason to be off task, not doing my work and generally doing things I would probably much rather be doing. Now, I know you think “Well that’s most of us every week” – True, it is most of us every week but my focus and drive over the last month has been razor sharp and I have been more productive and moving towards a better direction for the last four weeks and this week I feel I am slowly sliding back down the hill I have been climbing. Or perhaps this is further validation that the things that need to change should change sooner rather then later.

So, I’m changing things up. Aside from writing a blog post mid day when I should be working and am now going to have to tack on an extra half hour to the end of my day, I am pursuing the things I want to do a little more aggressively, changing my perception of WORK and WORKING on the other things in my life that make me happy and will lead to success, because what is currently WORK is not WORKING and is more of a means to an end. Not to say that my tiny cubicle isn’t devoid of inspiration and excitement, I work on cool projects and with some great people, but the 10 years from now self won’t be shackled to a cubicle.

“Struggle as hard as you can for whatever you believe in” – Fortune Cookie

– So.

Pigeons Hate Music

Wow… as many of my readers know I hate pigeons and love music. Well here’s proof that pigeons are indeed evil and hate music… or maybe just the Kings of Leon.

Last night in Memphis, Kings of Leon attempted to take stage to rock it out, sadly the Verizon Amphitheatre has a pigeon problem and the band tried to play through a literal shit storm. After being hit by the damn little pigeons fecal droppings in the face, the band had to call it quits.

More reason to hate pigeons, an ever expanding list to add to. Check out the full story here.

Till next time.

–So

Recycled Vinyl

Wicked clocks made from recycled vinyl. Check it out here.

Great Ad!

In honour of Wimbledon and the marathon match that occurred, even though this video is starring Andy Murray and not Isner and Mahut who played an unreal 10 hours of amazing tennis,  it is still an amazing video and great ad by Head.

Virtual Friends

Remember Tamagotchi? The little virtual pet for those kids who didn’t have pets. Or when the internet first became accessible for most people and AOL was the big internet provider, they would send you that disc in the mail to try their services which included chatting with people? Or ICQ? Do you remember making fun of the kids who spent all their time on ICQ and the internet?

Now jump back from the past. 10 years ago, how much time did you spend outdoors playing or hanging out with friends? Now, how much time to you spend interacting with your “friends” only on Facebook, Twitter or through other social media streams?

I was recently writing with a “friend” on Facebook and realized I haven’t seen the guy in 10 years, yet we were chatting like we saw each other last week. A number of years ago two of my best friends and I had a rather involved discussion about friendship and what it is. We boiled it down to having “core” friends, those friends who you wouldn’t give up ever and if you don’t see them face to face on a regular basis it just isn’t right. Then you have “fringe” friends, these are the people you enjoying spending time with but if they end up drifting away as you progress through life you won’t spend days wondering what happened to them.

Now, though with social media and mobile chat like BBM (Blackberry Messenger for those not in the know) there is a new group of friend emerging. The “virtual” friend. Those friends who you communicate regularly but haven’t seen in years. Another term could be the “electronic pen pal”.

“Virtual” friends can be great, but it concerns me how socially inept people are becoming. It is creating a society of anti-social individuals. I know people who would feel more comfortable texting their conversations between one another at dinner. Our attachment to the internet and mobile devices is staggering. One of my favorite ads of the last few years, and those who know me well know I love ads!, is the Dentyne “Face Time” ads which encouraged people to disconnect for a while and re-acquaint yourselves with the people around you.

So that is my encouragement to anyone who reads my blog. This coming weekend, disconnect from the laptop, cell phone, work emails, etc. for an hour or the whole day if your brave enough and reconnect with a friend face to face.

Hope you have a great time.

Till next time.

–So

A Great Review

So Drake just released his much hyped debut album. When I say it was much hyped, people were comparing it to Jay-Z and Nas… really people?? But on it’s release a great review came out in NOW here in Toronto. So I am not even going to try and review it as NOW nailed pretty much my feelings exactly.

Check it out here.