The new vegan and the health of my heart

I've been a vegan for a week. It's not easy, but actually not as difficult, nor as depressing as I thought it would be. I'm the guinea pig in my wife's nutrition experiment.

[If you don't want all the medical background you can skip the next 3 paragraphs].

What set this off a week ago was an appointment with my cardiologist to discuss my latest blood cholesterol levels. Basically they are not as good as he'd like them to be. By normal standards, my levels are very good. However because I've inherited my Dad's tendency to "naturally" have higher blood cholesterol levels than normal people, and he had a heart attack when he was about my current age, that puts me in a high risk category. Therefore my doc is pushing me to really low levels to reduce the risk of heart disease. He's talked about research that indicates there is certain reversing effects at LDL levels below 2.0 mmol/L. [note to convert the mmol/L measurement to mg/dL used in the US, then multiple by 40].

I started going to a family doctor on a regular basis in 1992. When I first got tested, my total cholesterol was 6.74. By following a recommended low fat diet I reduced my total cholesterol to a natural low of 5.26 in 1994. In 1997, I started to record the LDL and HDL numbers individually and the corresponding risk factor. My LDL was 3.99 and my risk factor ratio (total/HDL) was 4.87. My levels were hovering around those numbers (+/- 0.5) for quite a few years. In 2006 I complained to my family doctor that I felt some chest/muscular discomfort, maybe from over-excursion playing sports ? That's all it took for her to refer me to a cardiologist ! I did a full stress test (which I aced) and echo cardiogram (my "normal" functional heart murmur may have made an appearance) and he decided that diet was not making a big enough impact on my blood cholesterol levels and we agreed that I should start taking a drug to lower it. I started on 10mg of Lipitor and moved to 20mg/day within a year. I remember him saying that diet really only makes up a small portion of your cholesterol levels and actually said I could relax my diet a little ! Over the last few years the new low was a total of 4.55, LDL of 2.61 and a risk factor of 3.55.

My latest result from a few weeks ago was a total of 4.65, LDL of 2.9 and a risk factor 3.7. This doesn't seem to be good enough for my cardiologist and I must admit I've probably been relaxing my diet a little. The research and guidance suggests that people categorized as high risk should aim for LDL level below 2.0. He said to try harder on the diet and get retested in a few months. To me, that seems quite a jump, but perhaps not impossible. I've asked him on a few occasions how susceptible the results are to daily differences in diet and exercise, but he said the levels are quite steady - but he thinks I can carve off a big chunk in a few months ! However I am still wondering if my unhealthy Christmas habits and a potential missed dose a day or two before the test had inflated the numbers. So after chatting with my wife and relating the news with her findings from The China Study, I signed on to the vegan program (at least until my blood work). The theory (and evidence) in the study is that most of our (bad) blood cholesterol comes from animal protein. Now I'm pretty sure that's a big generalization, but don't worry, she'll be adding her comments and clarifications quickly after this gets posted. BTW the study focuses on cancer as well, so even though you may not have problems with high blood cholesterol, you may have concerns with cancer, but I digress.

So, back to being a vegan. In case you don't' know, this means cutting out any food that comes from an animal. One gray area I was happy to resolve was pasta. I think most dried pasta is not made with eggs, although some fresh pasta maybe. I may have cheated just a tad over the past week with a few slices of apple pie and some nibbles of high % cocoa chocolate. But other than that I haven't had dairy, meat or fish in a week.

My diet has been a lot of vegetables and fruit, beans, a few meals with tofu (which I must say I've been enjoying for quite a while now), pastas (already my favourite food) with tomato, pesto or oil olive, grains, nuts and cereal (now with soy milk). I tell you one thing - I makes a trip to the grocery store a lot simpler - you can cut out entire aisles and sections.

And I'm just glad that almost all of my regular liquid intake is already vegan, but first tastes of soy milk in my cuppa is a far stretch for an English lad. Beer and wine - bring it on.

I don't feel that I really need to eat meat or fish, but it's more a matter of finding enough tasty varieties of vegan food so it doesn't become too boring. I can probably do without dairy (although a yogurt based smoothy would be nice), but I'm finding that the majority of dishes I love like pasta, sushi, Asian and Mexican food, and hearty soups have meat or fish added to them. I can't say I'm craving a big steak or a piece of chicken, but I'm sure that day will come. What's a little sad is that I'm actually not looking forward to going out to eat. It will save me some dolalrs for sure, but I'm not really looking forward to my business lunch and dinner on Monday.

Now I've got to wrap up and find something for lunch.

A decent summary of understanding Cholesterol is the brochure Living with Cholesterol from the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Lunchtime connections and commentary

• I'm tracking the Kaka mega football transfer story, FIFA player of the year in 2007 may be on his way to Man City from AC Milan for a staggering transfer fee ($200M) and salary (1M/week). He's good, but really, come on, is he (or anyone) really worth that kind of money ? [from Kaka story I spotted the reference to the Time 100 list - nice to see some global sports inclusion in the American mag list].
• Also on the list is Alex Rigopulos & Eran Egozy. These are not names that most people recognize, but they run Harmonix, the originator of Guitar Hero and now developers of Rock Band. I think the article in the Time 100 piece is a great take on the secondary power of these new music games - I believe they can and will actually lengthen the lifespan of classic rock, and music from many other decades and genres. I think that Kids (and parents) are getting a new (or renewed) passion for great old music and making sure rock 'n roll will never die. Since getting Guitar Hero and now Rock Band, my son has a great appreciation for classics such as Cream, The Stones and Cheap Trick, as well as rarer finds (Eric Johnson), punk (Sex Pistols), new wave (Talking Heads) and alternative (Beck).
• Steven Van Zandt. He wrote the piece above and his name is instantly familiar. BUT, I didn't know the guitarist with Springsteen was one and the same slick haired Silvio from The Sopranos. I always saw the name in the credits and thought I should know him, but dough-head me never connected the two. Well, he does look radically different in his two roles.
  

Blip.fm - another way to share and find new music

Hot on the tail of what-influences-your-music-choices, last week I dabbled a little with a new music sharing site called blip.fm. I wasn't immediately impressed, but today a few other friends joined on and if you know me, obviously I didn't want to be left out of the new community. It's like one of those things out of The Tipping Point, when there is a critical mass of users or content focused on something that is of particular interest to you - you can't ignore it for long ! You can find my Blips at http://blip.fm/pjmixer.

Blip has a few quirks, but it's method of sharing and streaming individual tracks in decent quality seems quite appealing. It services two audiences, of which I'm probably both. One, the ever-aspiring DJ who wants to be the first to tell his friends about some great music finds; and second, the person always looking for new music. From what I've been able to find out so far, it seems quite legal which is very surprising because you can preview the full version of any track in its library and search and skip through Blips to hear exactly what you're interested in. In that regard, it is much better than other streaming sites I've used like Finetune. However, it doesn't seem easy to get a good constant and stable themed stream going, and you're constantly being drawn from the latest hip track to old favourites and questionable diddies. If you blog a little about music or use Twitter for micro-blogging, then you can look at Blip as a micro-blogging site dedicated to music. The library is quite vast and I've found I few gems already.



This snappy player will likely be heading over to the right-hand column shortly. I'll be interested to see if Blip will become a music extension to this blog and if you'll jump into the Blip community. See you on the flip side.

Blip.fm - another way to share and find new music

Hot on the tail of what-influences-your-music-choices, last week I dabbled a little with a new music sharing site called blip.fm. I wasn't immediately impressed, but today a few other friends joined on and if you know me, obviously I didn't want to be left out of the new community. It's like one of those things out of The Tipping Point, when there is a critical mass of users or content focused on something that is of particular interest to you - you can't ignore it for long ! You can find my Blips at http://blip.fm/pjmixer.

Blip has a few quirks, but it's method of sharing and streaming individual tracks in decent quality seems quite appealing. It services two audiences, of which I'm probably both. One, the ever-aspiring DJ who wants to be the first to tell his friends about some great music finds; and second, the person always looking for new music. From what I've been able to find out so far, it seems quite legal which is very surprising because you can preview the full version of any track in its library and search and skip through Blips to hear exactly what you're interested in. In that regard, it is much better than other streaming sites I've used like Finetune. However, it doesn't seem easy to get a good constant and stable themed stream going, and you're constantly being drawn from the latest hip track to old favourites and questionable diddies. If you blog a little about music or use Twitter for micro-blogging, then you can look at Blip as a micro-blogging site dedicated to music. The library is quite vast and I've found I few gems already.



This snappy player will likely be heading over to the right-hand column shortly. I'll be interested to see if Blip will become a music extension to this blog and if you'll jump into the Blip community. See you on the flip side.

What influences your music choices ?

Just reading and commenting in Mark Evans' blog about how Radio 2 is igniting a renewed interest in music for him. Mark posed the question "The question is why Terfry’s show has inspired the consumer in me when there are services around like Pandora and Jango?". My comment... "Interesting note on why radio seems to drive some of our music choices over other non-personal channels. I actually just finished reading The Tipping Point and in the updated afterword, Gladwell provides thoughts on impacts of technologies on The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesman. It seems that we may be building an immunity to the huge volume of data we receive through new tech channels. I'd like to hear Malcolm's thoughts on the smaller community focus of web 2.0 being a better chance at building more valuable connections online."

Although I did comment back in November that I was getting some new (old) music from Radio 2, the vast majority of my music finds continue to come from reading reviews in magazines and then taking the time to sample a large amount of music. For instance, scattered around our living room are months of Q magazines with year-end US focused publications from Rolling Stone and Spin. I've been busy correlating many of the best ofs and making sure I didn't miss any gems in 2008. A found a few new ones just over the last couple of days from Rolling Stone. Mostly American artists like Blitzen Trapper, Conor Oberst and Girl Talk that haven't quite made the impact in the UK which is my primary source. There are plenty of online reviews (metacritic being a good consolidator) but music magazines remain one of the few hardcopy purchases I make on a regular basis - I love marking them up with check marks, c/o for "check out" and other personal ratings and comments.

Personal recommendations are almost always better than what you hear from mass market channels. You build a sense of trust with the person who recommends a good band or book, especially if you find one that hits the mark, is close to your tastes or perhaps they even begin to understand your personal tastes and they tailor their recommendations to you ! There must be a little gap in the web 2.0 weave for a little more personal recommendation. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook work to some degree, but there's room for improvement and readers should make a good effort to fuel the feedback loop. I pretend to be a source for recommendations and ratings for music (here and there) and movies via my Facebook page, and but then again it all comes down to personal preference and how specific your tastes are.

Can a good, reliable source influence your tastes ? I'd say it probably has for me over the years, especially with popular music in the UK. It's taken a while for me to trust the ratings in Q, but now we seem to be in sync. One other source I go to on a regular basis is IMDB for movies. I'd say the reader voting and reviews really do provide a good guideline for me and I can invest good time in any movie scoring over 7.

So where do you get your new music from ?

What influences your music choices ?

Just reading and commenting in Mark Evans' blog about how Radio 2 is igniting a renewed interest in music for him. Mark posed the question "The question is why Terfry’s show has inspired the consumer in me when there are services around like Pandora and Jango?". My comment... "Interesting note on why radio seems to drive some of our music choices over other non-personal channels. I actually just finished reading The Tipping Point and in the updated afterword, Gladwell provides thoughts on impacts of technologies on The Law of the Few: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesman. It seems that we may be building an immunity to the huge volume of data we receive through new tech channels. I'd like to hear Malcolm's thoughts on the smaller community focus of web 2.0 being a better chance at building more valuable connections online."

Although I did comment back in November that I was getting some new (old) music from Radio 2, the vast majority of my music finds continue to come from reading reviews in magazines and then taking the time to sample a large amount of music. For instance, scattered around our living room are months of Q magazines with year-end US focused publications from Rolling Stone and Spin. I've been busy correlating many of the best ofs and making sure I didn't miss any gems in 2008. A found a few new ones just over the last couple of days from Rolling Stone. Mostly American artists like Blitzen Trapper, Conor Oberst and Girl Talk that haven't quite made the impact in the UK which is my primary source. There are plenty of online reviews (metacritic being a good consolidator) but music magazines remain one of the few hardcopy purchases I make on a regular basis - I love marking them up with check marks, c/o for "check out" and other personal ratings and comments.

Personal recommendations are almost always better than what you hear from mass market channels. You build a sense of trust with the person who recommends a good band or book, especially if you find one that hits the mark, is close to your tastes or perhaps they even begin to understand your personal tastes and they tailor their recommendations to you ! There must be a little gap in the web 2.0 weave for a little more personal recommendation. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook work to some degree, but there's room for improvement and readers should make a good effort to fuel the feedback loop. I pretend to be a source for recommendations and ratings for music (here and there) and movies via my Facebook page, and but then again it all comes down to personal preference and how specific your tastes are.

Can a good, reliable source influence your tastes ? I'd say it probably has for me over the years, especially with popular music in the UK. It's taken a while for me to trust the ratings in Q, but now we seem to be in sync. One other source I go to on a regular basis is IMDB for movies. I'd say the reader voting and reviews really do provide a good guideline for me and I can invest good time in any movie scoring over 7.

So where do you get your new music from ?

Dream life

I just woke up a few minutes ago after a particularly vivid dream. The unusual thing about this dream was that I think I "remembered" and incorporated experiences from other dreams into this latest one. I know this is all sounding pretty weird and I'm trying to type before the dream memory evaporates...

In the dream...

I'm a Dad, same children, same wife, different home. I'm seeing my son off for his school day and he has a project due. He's done a particularly good job and I'm very proud of him and we're arranging lunch plans.

However, I'm in hurry because I have a university project due as well. I've completed the project, but don't feel I've done a great job and perhaps even missed some vital elements of the work. I'm going to the university to hand it in.

But I'm thinking about the other subjects I've been neglecting, especially my math course. I know that I haven't been going to many courses, incl. math and maybe history. I "know" that this has been going on for some time.

My wife returns home and I say that I've got something to talk to her about. My daughter comes in from the other room, curious to what we're talking about. I say this university thing isn't working out and I should give it up. I've got my bachelors degree and a job anyway, why do I need any more education ?

I can still see the house we're living in, the confusing time on the alarm clock in the bedroom - 12:38, the room I had the conversation in with my wife, the side story of a police officer checking bike racks and allowed "parking" times. But I also vividly "remember" the auditorium where I'm taking the math course, and I'm pretty certain I didn't dream that part last night !

The dream as I've told holds many clues to my feelings and experiences in my life today, some clearer than others. And there are some good mysteries in there too.

I have reoccurring dream themes quite often, but I don't recall I dream that "clearly" seemed related to past dream memories. Then again, maybe all this was a new dream - I should have recorded those old ones. On other occasions, I have managed to write down dreams when I first wake up. Sometimes the complex connections and bizarre content make complete sense in your cloudy head - just waking up state, but then when I review what I've written at some later point, the dream doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe that will be the case here and you've got this far, saying - what the hell is he talking about. I'm more awake now and going to make my breakfast.

Good morning.

Listening to RFK in 2009

I have to admit I don't know a lot about Robert F. Kennedy, but the little bits I've heard from my parents over the years, and what I've seen through historical movies (Thirteen Days) and now tonight in Bobby, greatly impresses me.

I found the playing of one of his speeches overlaying the closing scene particularly riveting. I did a little googling and found out that the speech was delivered the day after Martin Luther King's assassination, just two months before his own assassination. The speech talks to the problem of violence in America and provides some hope for what the world should, and could be. Maybe not as well known as King's I have a Dream speech and obviously not as current as Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia last year, but I feel RFK's speech about violence is still true to this day and one that we should all perhaps use as a warning on a global level. You can read the text of this short speech here.

On the Wikipedia page, I also found these other following great quotes, perhaps some guidance for our leaders and ourselves for 2009:

• "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."^[7]
• "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital, quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."
• "The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country."^[35]
• "Men without hope, resigned to despair and oppression, do not make revolutions. It is when expectation replaces submission, when despair is touched with the awareness of possibility, that the forces of human desire and the passion for justice are unloosed."^[36]
• "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were and ask why not."^[37]
• "Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."^[38]
• "At the University of Natal in Durban, I was told the church to which most of the white population belongs teaches apartheid as a moral necessity. A questioner declared that few churches allow black Africans to pray with the white because the Bible says that is the way it should be, because God created Negroes to serve. "But suppose God is black", I replied. "What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?" There was no answer. Only silence." South Africa, June 1966^[39]
• "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black." Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968 Announcing to the crowd that Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
• "Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it." From his last speech, June 5, 1968^[40]
• "Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws — but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted — when we tolerate what we know to be wrong — when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened — when we fail to speak up and speak out — we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice." June 21, 1961^[41]

Favourite lyrics of 2008

I'm still putting last minute touches on my Best of 2008 list, so for now, here are some of my favourite lyrics of the year (I'm sure I'm forgetting some).

You take the pieces of the dreams that you have
Because you don't like the way they seem to be going
You cut them up and spread them out on the floor
You're full of hope as you begin rearranging
(The Lovers Are Losing by Keane)

Got my dreams, got my life, got my love
Got my friends, got the sunshine above
(Happy by Natasha Bedingfield)

Revoluationaries wait
for my head on a silver plate
just a puppet on a lonely string
aah who would ever want to be king?
(Viva La Vida by Coldplay)

And sing that old song, how does it go?
Look out sunshine, here's the punchline
No one gets you anymore
(Look Out Sunshine! by The Fratellis)

You make me so much better
I hope I don't make you worse
(This is Happiness by Gavin Rossdale)

Safety pins holding up the things
That make you mine
(Shine On by The Kooks)

My heart beats fast
but the clock ticks slowly
You can be my one and only
As anticipation beckons
I feel the thrill of 30 seconds
(Thrill of 30 Seconds by Skint & Demoralised)

Forgot about the accident
The words you didn't say
Forgot to call the ambulance
To take your heart away
(Hiding Place by Serena Ryder)

For now I'm faking it
Till I'm pseudo making it
from scratch begin again
but this time
I as I not as we
(Not as We by Alanis Morissette)

No I don't want to battle from beginning to end
I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge
I don't want to follow death and all of his friends
(Death and All His Friends by Coldplay)

What do you want for tea?
I want crisps
(Never Miss a Beat by Kaiser Chiefs)

Photo Blog #7: Santa Claus is coming to town

Toronto Eaton Centre

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.

A big thank you to my blog readers, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Flickr viewers and Finetune listeners for being part of my online world.

Music highlights of the year

The best songs (and albums) of 2008:

• Coldplay - 42 (epic haunting track), Yes (love the low tone vocal), Viva la Vida (track of the year) and Death and all his Friends (best rhythm riff of the year), album of the year and the best band in the world today
• Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss a Beat, best catchy song, incl. best lyric "what do you want for tea ? I want crisps", plus best small club concert
• Oasis - The Shock of the Lightning, still cheeky and still rocking, now with psychedelic backdrop
• The Fratellis - Tell Me a Lie, many fab tracks on the album, top band I still want to see live
  
• Glasvegas - Geraldine, you can feel the angst on the Scots' guitar strings
  
• The Dears - Crisis 1 & 2, dark and moody layers from Montreal, perhaps summing up the somber moods of 2008
  
• Beth Rowley - Sweet Hours, simply a beautiful voice
• Duffy - Warwick Avenue, tough job selecting just one track off this fantastic album, sadly, the wee gal isn't so engaging live
• TV on the Radio - Shout me Out, complex sounds massively varied across tracks and album
  
• Kings of Leon - Crawl (best guitar riff of the year - even versus AC/DC), wonderful, mature 3rd album from Tennessee boys, I'm converted and sold, hallelujah
  
• AC/DC - Rocking all the Way, the list really wouldn't be complete without wee Angus
  
• The Heavy - Our Special Place, eclectic album, better beats than sound-a-like Gnarls B
  
• The Streets - I Love You More (Than you Like Me), Brit rap joy, album also includes must-mention clap along track Heaven for the Weather
  
• The Killers - Human, quirky pop brilliance, looking forward to the big show in January
  
• Neil Diamond - The Power of Two, heart felt lyrics beautifully produced from old timer
  
• Jason Mraz - Lucky, super sappy duet with beach girl Colbie C
  
• Elbow - On a Day Like This (anthem of the year), pastoral, emotional with strings
  
• MGMT - Time to Pretend - thank you Strombo for the early tip
  
• Black Mountain - Queens will Play, retro rock done right by Vancouver scruffs
  
• Morcheeba - Thumbnails, deep late night instrumental electronica
  
• Thievery Corporation - Hare Krsna, surprise new inventive exotic grooves from one of my early electronica faves, looking forward to seeing them live in February
  
• The Kooks - Do you Wanna, sing it loud, straight up pop Rock
• The Last Shadow Puppets - My Mistakes Were Made for You, keeping Monkey fans happy with superb Turner lyrics
• Razorlight - Wire to Wire, passionate sounds from the rocking lads
• Travis - Chinese Blues, the album is still growing on me, great come-back-from-the-dead rich sounds
• Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, last minute addition - rating and classification not quite dry, tip from my bro and making a few critic best ofs, punchy indy tracks with weird hint of Paul Simon.
  

I started making the list thinking 2008 was just an average music year, but now having sampled all the tracks above again, I have to say 2008 was a fantastic year for new music.

As most of you know I'm a big Brit music fan, but surprisingly a quick tally across the globe shows a healthy 11 of the 26 artists coming from North America.

Some one-hit wonders of 2008:

• Ray Lamontagne - You Are the Best Thing, I love horns and a rough voice, may be more goodies on the CD, but this track is standout
• Black Kids - Hurricane Jane, gentle sounds with urban feel
  
• Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet about me, fantastic musical and vocal trip from a very young lady
• Sonya Kitchell - Here to There, beautiful Canadian voice rolled into a landscape piece
• Usher - What's your Name, guilty hip hop pop find from Victoria Secret show
  

Old stuff rediscovered and/or triggered by new releases:

• Joy Division - Atmosphere, early new wave beats with ill-fated lyrics
  
• Primal Scream - Some Velvet Morning, one of my favourite dance tracks but the Kate Moss vocals wasn't the kicker
  
• Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop, very catchy and toe tappin' tease
  
• The Wombats - Moving to New York, original version plus Paul Van Dyck Remix, nice find of missed hipsters of 2007
  
• Susan Tedeschi - Share Your Love with Me, you gotta have some lady blues in your mix
  
• The Dears - Lost in the Plot (best old track discovery), no that's not Morrissey singing
• Just Jack - Life Stories, great Brit hip hop chappy pop grooves

Concert highlights:

• Oasis (Virgin Festival) - lived up to the reputation and hype and then some
  
• Kaiser Chiefs (Mod Club) - lots of bawdy fun and bouncin', almost helped surf Ricky over to the bar
  
• Coldplay (Air Canada Centre) - magnificent show, energy, lighting and a lively crowd
  
• Morcheba (Opera House) - groovy scene showing class electronica performance with lots of guitars
  
• The Kooks (Mod Club) - always lots of fun, even with a broken ankle
  
• Duffy (Mod Club) - clean sounds from the tiny Welsh chantreuse, but I found her stage presence a little uncomfortable - still on the list because she just sounds fantastic
  
• John Mayer (Molson Amphitheatre) - for saying we were seated way back, the sound and performance was top notch
  

Apologies for the no-link post, but it would have taken me just too long to put it all together and I wanted to complete while I was in the groove. But you can listen to many of the tracks and artists on my latest Finetune playlist 2008 Big Update.

Music highlights of the year

The best songs (and albums) of 2008:

• Coldplay - 42 (epic haunting track), Yes (love the low tone vocal), Viva la Vida (track of the year) and Death and all his Friends (best rhythm riff of the year), album of the year and the best band in the world today
• Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss a Beat, best catchy song, incl. best lyric "what do you want for tea ? I want crisps", plus best small club concert
• Oasis - The Shock of the Lightning, still cheeky and still rocking, now with psychedelic backdrop
• The Fratellis - Tell Me a Lie, many fab tracks on the album, top band I still want to see live
  
• Glasvegas - Geraldine, you can feel the angst on the Scots' guitar strings
  
• The Dears - Crisis 1 & 2, dark and moody layers from Montreal, perhaps summing up the somber moods of 2008
  
• Beth Rowley - Sweet Hours, simply a beautiful voice
• Duffy - Warwick Avenue, tough job selecting just one track off this fantastic album, sadly, the wee gal isn't so engaging live
• TV on the Radio - Shout me Out, complex sounds massively varied across tracks and album
  
• Kings of Leon - Crawl (best guitar riff of the year - even versus AC/DC), wonderful, mature 3rd album from Tennessee boys, I'm converted and sold, hallelujah
  
• AC/DC - Rocking all the Way, the list really wouldn't be complete without wee Angus
  
• The Heavy - Our Special Place, eclectic album, better beats than sound-a-like Gnarls B
  
• The Streets - I Love You More (Than you Like Me), Brit rap joy, album also includes must-mention clap along track Heaven for the Weather
  
• The Killers - Human, quirky pop brilliance, looking forward to the big show in January
  
• Neil Diamond - The Power of Two, heart felt lyrics beautifully produced from old timer
  
• Jason Mraz - Lucky, super sappy duet with beach girl Colbie C
  
• Elbow - On a Day Like This (anthem of the year), pastoral, emotional with strings
  
• MGMT - Time to Pretend - thank you Strombo for the early tip
  
• Black Mountain - Queens will Play, retro rock done right by Vancouver scruffs
  
• Morcheeba - Thumbnails, deep late night instrumental electronica
  
• Thievery Corporation - Hare Krsna, surprise new inventive exotic grooves from one of my early electronica faves, looking forward to seeing them live in February
  
• The Kooks - Do you Wanna, sing it loud, straight up pop Rock
• The Last Shadow Puppets - My Mistakes Were Made for You, keeping Monkey fans happy with superb Turner lyrics
• Razorlight - Wire to Wire, passionate sounds from the rocking lads
• Travis - Chinese Blues, the album is still growing on me, great come-back-from-the-dead rich sounds
• Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, last minute addition - rating and classification not quite dry, tip from my bro and making a few critic best ofs, punchy indy tracks with weird hint of Paul Simon.
  

I started making the list thinking 2008 was just an average music year, but now having sampled all the tracks above again, I have to say 2008 was a fantastic year for new music.

As most of you know I'm a big Brit music fan, but surprisingly a quick tally across the globe shows a healthy 11 of the 26 artists coming from North America.

Some one-hit wonders of 2008:

• Ray Lamontagne - You Are the Best Thing, I love horns and a rough voice, may be more goodies on the CD, but this track is standout
• Black Kids - Hurricane Jane, gentle sounds with urban feel
  
• Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet about me, fantastic musical and vocal trip from a very young lady
• Sonya Kitchell - Here to There, beautiful Canadian voice rolled into a landscape piece
• Usher - What's your Name, guilty hip hop pop find from Victoria Secret show
  

Old stuff rediscovered and/or triggered by new releases:

• Joy Division - Atmosphere, early new wave beats with ill-fated lyrics
  
• Primal Scream - Some Velvet Morning, one of my favourite dance tracks but the Kate Moss vocals wasn't the kicker
  
• Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop, very catchy and toe tappin' tease
  
• The Wombats - Moving to New York, original version plus Paul Van Dyck Remix, nice find of missed hipsters of 2007
  
• Susan Tedeschi - Share Your Love with Me, you gotta have some lady blues in your mix
  
• The Dears - Lost in the Plot (best old track discovery), no that's not Morrissey singing
• Just Jack - Life Stories, great Brit hip hop chappy pop grooves

Concert highlights:

• Oasis (Virgin Festival) - lived up to the reputation and hype and then some
  
• Kaiser Chiefs (Mod Club) - lots of bawdy fun and bouncin', almost helped surf Ricky over to the bar
  
• Coldplay (Air Canada Centre) - magnificent show, energy, lighting and a lively crowd
  
• Morcheba (Opera House) - groovy scene showing class electronica performance with lots of guitars
  
• The Kooks (Mod Club) - always lots of fun, even with a broken ankle
  
• Duffy (Mod Club) - clean sounds from the tiny Welsh chantreuse, but I found her stage presence a little uncomfortable - still on the list because she just sounds fantastic
  
• John Mayer (Molson Amphitheatre) - for saying we were seated way back, the sound and performance was top notch
  

Apologies for the no-link post, but it would have taken me just too long to put it all together and I wanted to complete while I was in the groove. But you can listen to many of the tracks and artists on my latest Finetune playlist 2008 Big Update.

Reporting live 3 days ago...

This "live report" at 4:26pm on Friday, December 19th got lost in the mash of the tech transfer circus...posting so I can document this weather related little adventure...

Trying to get home.

Subway cars are jammed packed, it's going to be a nightmare for those commuters transferring to surface routes - I'm lucky I just have a nasty 10 min walk home in the blizzard. But still, I'm sure driving is worse. Dumb thing is, I actually chose to go to the office, rather than work from home today - I chose poorly.

Blackberry shot from the office at 1:30pm on Friday

Sears helping us remember our soldiers overseas

I stumbled on a special event at Sears on Tuesday. It was a presentation for Operation Wish with Sears Canada CEO, store manager and husband and wife military captains on hand to talk about the program and give people a chance to sign the banners that will be sent to our troops in Afghanistan. I signed a simple greeting of Thank you. Stay Safe. Although Christmas is supposed to be a time to think of others, our busy personal lives and precious family time normally take precedent. Take a moment to think about how lucky you are that you're safe and have the comfort of a home around you. Over the next week or so, contemplate the lives of those less fortunate or the brave troops making huge sacrifices for the greater good, maybe it will help put things in perspective. If you can do more, fantastic, but reserving a little place in your hearts and minds for others is something we can all do.

Make my day, shoot someone

I have been seeing signs for "Pixels for Pistols" around town over the last few months and got a bit of a clue as to the details behind the program. In today's Metro and saw some great news...Police trade digital cams for 1,900 guns !

I never would have thought such a simple, yet generous program would have such a large impact.

So make my day - shoot someone... shoot a friend laughing, your sibling teasing your Dad, a beautiful face of a girl on the street, or an old man whose face tells a thousand stories. I believe in shooting a lot and often, photography is a fantastic hobby, I love discovering great photography and love sharing my own shots.

Some links you might enjoy: Flickr portrait photographs; all my posts about photography; my page on Flickr; Digital Photography School blog. I have lots more, just let me know if you want some specific pointers.

Cheese.

A TTC rant - and not an obvious one

Why is it taking the TTC sssssssoooooooo long to repair the down escalator at the Eglinton Subway station ? I'm close to actually finding out what bureaucratic pin-head is behind this shameful example of incompetence and putting his name publicly on the virtual wall-of-shame. All public transit believers pay good money to take "the better way" and we patiently tolerate an occasional break in service. But this ? Come on red hats, get your act together. I photographed this same elevator debacle back in May and I'm sure we're past its anniversary. The result is the same - hundreds of people forced to navigate down a narrow, two-stage, side stairway. while others try to come up the stairs against the flow (either healthy types looking to burn a few extra calories, or those wanting a 6" short cut, or those not seeing the fully functional up escalator).

Yes, the sign says "maintenance", but I'm not sure what kind of maintenance takes over a year !

This is what makes YouTube so much fun

Excitement in Canadian Politics

Yes, your read that title correctly, there is actually something to get excited about in Canadian politics. There's even a live blog happening right now...

If you've been following the political crisis going on here in Canada, perhaps you'll agree (or disagree) with some of my thoughts on the matter...

• If the opposition parties really want to form a coalition, why didn't they do that a few months ago so we could vote on it during the election ?
• Can we really feel comfortable with a coalition (or even an opposition party, i.e. the Liberals) who don't appear to be very comfortable with their leader
• I've heard that the Conservatives made a similar move with the Bloc Quebecois some years ago, but they are playing on our short term political memory and saying support from the Bloc creates a separatist agenda - I don't buy that
• Who's telling the truth - have the opposition parties really made any realistic and specific recommendations to the government on dealing with the economic crisis ? Harper says they haven't, Layton says they have. Interesting and ironic side note that Harper was supposed to be in Woodstock this morning for the opening of a new Toyota plant !
  
• I'm still confused on what justification is required for the Prime Minister to ask for a prorogue parliament. Is it just a legal wiggle to bide time ? And what about the fact that Harper already delayed the confidence vote last week ?
  
• I'm still uncomfortable with this idea that the coalition is suggesting that they are "re-configuring" their seats to create a majority coalition without any public say. That just doesn't feel right or democratic.
• I actually found myself liking Jack Layton during his press conference last night, I can't say I support his NDP agenda, but in coalition with the Liberals and the Bloc, he may be a more interesting choice as a leader than Dion. Could Layton (or for that matter Dion) really put aside their partisan agenda in favour of a united opposition. It sounds nice, but it's still a big stretch to actually seeing how it would work.
  
• Although a few months ago I was thinking it was nice to have a wide variety of political parties, I'm beginning to understand the benefits of having just two or three choices and actually creating a government that can get things done.
  

I'd love to hear your thoughts and arguments.

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When did consumers change from heterotrophs to wasteful shoppers ?

Good title eh ? What the hell is a heterotroph ? Hah, got ya !

I found this word as I was considering the word consumer. You do a Wikipedia search for consumer and you get the typical economic explanation. But what about the other meaning of the word ? It took a while to notice the single-line redirection right at the top in italics ! This is perhaps an example where Wikipedia's focus is just too narrow, and can unintentionally steer our thinking to unquestioned elements of today's society, rather than be a tool to open up our minds and take a fresh look at the world. But I digress...

So, I looked on an online dictionary for the word consumer. I thought I was out of luck, but there is was at the bottom of the list.

A heterotrophic organism that feeds on other organisms in a food chain. Herbivores that feed on green plants and detritivores that feed on decaying matter are called primary consumers. Carnivores that feed on herbivores or detritivores are called secondary consumers, while those that feed on other carnivores are called tertiary consumers.

So, then I looked for heterotrophic on Wikipedia. So, apart from learning a cool new word for the day, what does this potentially tell us ?

I agree that modern humans are much more than heterotrophs, but carelessly re-using the word that fundamentally drives our survival as a word to designate "buying something" is perhaps an indication that we've taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way. (sidenote#1 - ok, the definition of consumer in Wikipedia does actually start by talking about "using" rather than "buying", but I'm sure you'll agree that's how we normally think about a consumer today; sidenote #2, in software tech talk, we often refer to an application consuming an object; sidenote #3 - blogger even thinks heterotroph isn't a word).

I found a brief excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism that gives some insight into this new use of the word.

The great turn in consumerism arrived with the Industrial Revolution. While before the norm had been the scarcity of resources, The Industrial Revolution created an unusual situation: for the first time in history products were available in outstanding quantities, at outstandingly low prices, being thus available to virtually everyone. And so began the era of Mass Consumption, the only where the concept of consumerism is applicable.

It's still good to keep in mind that since consumerism began, various individuals and groups have consciously sought an alternative lifestyle through simple living.

But as you can read from this, there is a glimmer of understanding that we don't have to be this way and in fact, total, unabated consumerism is wasteful and harmful in many ways.

With the Christmas season bearing down hard, good intentions for charity and the simple life, not to mention the dreadful state of the economy and darkening skies in the future, I thought I'd try and provide some simple guidelines for our shopping decisions. I thought about a fancy flowchart, but perhaps the following step-thru guide does the trick. So you think you need to buy a new item and you can afford it, should you buy it?

1. Are you replacing an item you already own ? If no, skip to 8.
2. Do you use the current one ? If no skip to 7.
3. Is the current one broken, worn out or unreliable ? If yes, skip to 15.
4. Is it killing the environment or making you sick ? If yes, skip to 15.
5. Is it hideously out of date and makes your family disown you ? If yes, skip to 15.
6. Is it the reason your good friends don't call you any more ? If yes, skip to 15.
7. You don't need a new one.
8. Do you really need more than 1 of these items ? If no, return to 2.
9. Is the new item going to save you lots of extra time and/or money ? If yes, skip to 14.
10. Will you use it more than once a week (average) ? If no, skip to 16.
11. Will it increase the chances of sex with your spouse ? If yes, skip to 14.
12. Will it prevent an massive argument with the family ? If yes, skip to 14.
13. Will it make you sing, dance and/or laugh ? If no, skip to 16.
14. Buy it.
15. Buy it and recycle the old one
    (or at least dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way)
16. Don't buy it.

I admit, this is slanted towards by personal beliefs and provides just enough justification for staying up to date, stylish and entertained. It is work-in-progress, and will likely change, once I break it. In addition and to close, I should probably build a similar guide for reducing the amount of unnecessary or excess stuff in my life.