Cheers Queen Vic - may I amuse you ?

Raising a glass for Victoria Day here in Canada - the first of our good weather long weekends (well deserved I must say).

Just a few tidbits of entertainments stuff for the week.

Best new music find: the new Manic Street Preachers' album, fantastic single "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" with Nina Persson of The Cardigans, is on short rotation and lyrically embedded in short term RAM. Anthem worthy, rock sensibilities, and a little Robbie vocal-like.

Latest album that keeps getting better after every listen: Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare, 'nuff said. Note that all their lyrics are on the official web site.

Best ending for a TV series: Sopranos ? (not yet, still a few episodes away, but building...). Life on Mars ! I wanted to write some thoughts on the final episode but didn't want to be a spoiler (even thought of burying it with an old date stamp to avoid an accidental glance for regular readers). Let's just say that I think the ending was well done and enough for some analysis over beers. I hope I haven't set expectation too high !

New TV still awaiting the vote: Durham County and The Riches. I think Durham County is leading this one. Both shows provide some real intensity and darker sides of society. And interestingly both have some "life frightening" teenager stuff. On screen dramatic content featuring pre-teen and teenager angles is starting to grab my attention with two kids closing in on this much anticipated "joyous" time of life.

On a similar theme, best DVD rental of late: Deja vu. If you're a fan of movies tackling the elements of the time dimension, you'll love this one. Apart from a mind blowing story, there's also great stunt and fx work and of course superb acting from Washington.

Sports: Capt'n Canada Steve Nash out of the NBA playoffs but VC killers Cavs now top fave for PJ; Sens finally have a chance at Stanley awaiting Ducks or Wings (M&D losing sleep and finger nails with every game); Toronto FC still entertaining but suffered a disappointing loss on Saturday; FA Cup rather disappointing, but I'm looking forward to the Champion's League final on Wednesday (conflicting with new ulty season starting on Wed too).

The Joy of Live Entertainment

Really excited.

Still feeling the sun on the face from watching the Toronto FC win their first game in MLS this afternoon. What a cracker of a game.

Bonus weekend as we saw the Arctic Monkeys last night. What a cracker of a show.

Just two of a good run of live entertainment I've enjoyed recently and a reminder to all about the joy of seeing sports, music, theatre live !

The only downside of this form of entertainment is the cost. Build in parking, pre-drinks, snacks, babysitting, souvenirs, more snacks, taxi fare onto the high price of event tickets and too much of a good thing will buy you a ticket to the poor house. But if you can pick a few choice events throughout the year and offset all that money you're saving my buying your music cheap from Russia, then it can be very well worth it ! Even if you can't get a ticket to that exclusive concert or can't afford the hundreds of dollars for seats for a legendary sports team (Leafs, Yankees, ManU, Cowboys, Lakers) - then setting yourself up with the good (and quite affordable) home audio and video equipment can create an experience that comes close to watching sports or concerts in person. The difference is that when you're at the arena, the concert hall, the stadium you have a feeling that the performers and putting on the show just for you ! Although I don't think I've ever experienced a video reproduction of theatre that comes off right (still waiting for a newer version of Les Miserables) !

When it comes to sports, almost every time you get to see sports live it's a thrill - witnessing the speed of the play, the distances, the off-ball movement etc. Most of us don't get to experience the truest and highest level of sport live - the World Cup, a Wimbledon final, The Ryder Cup. With sports on TV, you just have to make sure you're tuned in to the events that mean something, e.g. any north American major league playoff series (right now quick switching between NHL and NBA playoff games), the majors of golf and tennis, Champions League and of course the Olympics. The setup should include appropriate menus, drinks, pre-game events, the right company and then just turn it up !

A few pointers to some great DVD concerts: Vertigo 2005: U2 Live from Chicago and Diana Krall: Live in Paris and then just ask my Dad for his pics - he loves watching them ! Some great HD stuff on Austin City Limits these days too.

With the danger of sounding like we're out every week, living the high life and loaded, I'd love to share a few wonderful shows that have collectively caused me to bring this message to the blog - get off the couch and go out a see something live !

We Will Rock You . If you ever loved Queen, a must see.
She Stoops to Comedy at Woolly Mammoth in DC. A great example of how wonderful small-venue-local-theatre can be. My sis-in-law is working on a lot of the marketing for the new hip and highly original Dead Man's Cell Phone at Woolly Mammoth (I love that name).
Kaiser Chiefs at Koolhaus.

And the very clear memory of fantastic events I shared with many of you in years past including: the SARS Benefit concert with 450,000 of my closest friends in the summer of 2003; Bjork's North American debut with the Sugar Cubes in a very steamy Kensington Market underground bunker; The Cult; The The At Fed Hall, University of Waterloo; Coldplay's Buzz gig in Toronto in 2005; seeing Diana Krall in a small jazz club; seeing Micheal Imperioli play off-Broadway in Aven'U Boys.; being in the right time at the right place to see George Carlin do a practice set at The Improv in Greenwich Village; and finally seeing Nigel Mansell winning the British GP in 1992. I know as soon as I post this, I'll think of another one.

Quick finds and "changing facts"

While enjoying another delicious bowl of soup from the Soup Man, I was doing a little paddling around the "interweb" and thought I'd read up a little about my home town Coventry. Most of what was covered was familiar but an interestingly historical note seemed to be missing. Brave as I am, I quickly tested the theory of wikipedia, I created a wiki user and I EDITED the Coventry entry ! I also found out that one of my favourite Brit actors was born in Cov - Clive Owen, well what do you know !

From Coventry I moved over to Bedworth, where I grew up in England. (in)Famous people include: Pete Doherty, well what do you know and he went to the same school as my Mum - well, different years; and Selwyn Froggitt - well, the actor !

Dogs - the good and bad

Great story I read on the way to work this morning showing why dogs are such great pets and part of the family, but also another example of the horrible side of dogs.

Tiny terrier sacrifices its life to save five children from pitbulls

Brits and Bobs in Spring

Movies

An Inconvenient Truth
Great, important movie, well delivered, beautifully filmed. The evidence is very clear. No one should argue with the answer. Hot current event rating. Canadian government warning of massive recession (Times Colonist) if we are to meet Kyoto levels versus saving the planet and economic side benefits (Suzuki).

The Matador
Brilliant movie that I missed first and second time around. Lots of layers and perfect timing.

Hot Fuzz
Much anticipated new film from Simon Pegg. I don't think I can wait for this one, solo outing this weekend perhaps. Repeat laughs of the brill Shaun of the Dead.

Music

Back to basics. I'm noticing that there's lots of new music that is doing a pretty good job of putting a fresh coat of third millennium paint on some classic music genres. Some examples: Fratellis (including a T-Rex redo on the Hot Fuzz soundtrack); Christina Aguilera (belting out some 50's big band-like tunes); and pyschedlic era apers like Joss Stone; The Shins, Magic Numbers and and James Morrison. And yes, all of these are on regular rotation and come recommended.

Can't wait for factor: Arctic Monkeys. Next week I think.

Electronic sounds of note: DJ Champion and the new LCD Soundsystem.

Is it me or are the lead singers for the Brit bands sounding more like the guy from the pub than a mid-western neutral sha-la-la voice of the past ? Some examples: The Twang, The Arctic Monkeys, and The Kooks.

For tracks from all these artists, a few surprises, current rotation and some guilty pleasures listen to Replanting the Seeds on tunes by PJMixer.

TV

A good manageable amount of decent TV on these days. New series of Sopranos and Entourage are the big highlights, new finds of 30 Rock, Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and The Hour are wonderful and crowd favourites like House rock on. Some catching up to do on Like on Mars.

Sports

Too early in the NHL playoffs right now for me, but will stock up on beer for later rounds. NBA playoffs start tomorrow for my Raptor lads against sulky Vince Carter. UEFA Champions League semis coming up soon and new home town MLS team Toronto FC off to a tough start (although they just grabbed a few new players, including Danny Dichio). (Quiet mention here that watching all the sports action at home has jumped up a few notches on the entertainment index since I finally got my fab HD TV). Thoughts of golf beginning to take up brain cache.


Weather

Look like spring finally has arrived (he says over the cacophony of birds chirping in the background).

A sad day

Could there be a more opposite of themes for consecutive blog posts ? The magic of Disney to the horrific reality of the troubles in the world today. I had debated on delaying the Disney piece and not post on the day after the Virginia Tech tragedy, and wondered what feelings should be the first viewed by regular readers. Perhaps this is the logical sequence. A short lived magical moment cut short by horrors of the modern world. How can you escape back to magical places of peace when your mind is troubled by the craziness in the world or fumbling in the dark for some explanations for what is happening today.

I think it's hard to avoid but one thing struck me as soon as the media learnt the identity of the shooter, he was immediately referred to by his race, Asian. Later on, more details became available - he was from South Korea. A legal resident in the US.

Still puzzling on why this is sticking with me. What does it say about the way we understand and feel towards one another ?

The international media focused very quickly on gun control in the US. I don't think I've heard or read a US news source even mention this yet. The US focus seems to be on the poor security measures at the school.

Will a few days distance on this latest tragedy open up a few more minds to the reasons why a person can so easily end the lives of 32 other people. Isn't there some low level genetic fibre that has hard coded the value of human life into everyone ? If not, maybe we should design and build one.

These are some of my first thoughts I've assembed today and written down. Probably a little raw, but typically the most honest !

The Magic of Disney

A long time overdue, but the fact that our trip to Walt Disney World (WDW) in January is still present in my RAM is a pretty good indication that it's worth writing about.

The adjective that keeps coming to mind that best describes WDW is magical. Disney delivers the experience so well that you can actually forget where you are. A true cure for the constant nag of your Blackberry, the water damage in your 70 year old house, or the untastly thought of facing the Amex bill on your return. This is all possible of course if you can find your inner child and let your imagination have a little bit of an unbridled vacation too.

I'm sure most of you have heard how well designed and managed WDW is. The fact you don't see Disney employees loitering around or moving to and from their stations, how clean the place is, the impeccable timing and ways to make the best of your time, like FastPass. All this contributes to keeping the magic alive. My only complaint really was the difficulty in finding good mid priced grub and perhaps a lack of any convenient nosh when you most need it (which was only really noticeable in the Magic Kingdom). Very good food if you're willing to step up a notch.

You walk around the parks, transplanted into whatever magical fantasy world the Disney imagineers have concocted. Whether it be a western town with an seemingly impromptu sing along with Woody from Toy Story or stepping into 1950's Hollywood at Disney MGM Studios. The atmosphere is also appropriately staged with music and "cast members" who are always in character. The whole meet-your-favourite-character was something quite new for me. I remember having my picture taken with a few classic Disney characters when I visited WDW when I was a child, but timed character appearances, photograph and autograph sessions are now a major feature for young visitors (and some older big kids). The characters now extend to all the classic princesses which of course was a major attraction for my little girl, some of the Pixar creations (you gotta see the green soldiers from Toy Story) and even live-action heroes and villains like Luke and Darth Vader (as Stars Wars is a Disney MGM movie). Part of the game is putting a name to the more unusual characters and finding out that Mary Poppins is quite strict with all little boys and girls. (Even writing this now and stepping into the Disney web site for a few references I can easily get swept away into the magic - it's like a some intoxicating drug without a Jim Morrison soundtrack).

If you just have a brief browse through the Disney web site (if you're patient enough to get some of the latest plug-ins) you'll get a good impression on how good Disney are at creating a magical, imaginary world.

Of course Magic Kingdom was, well, magical, but my movie fan side really liked Disney MGM Studios and the live stunt show was superb. This park has a the full spectrum of old Hollywood with the latest in animation and CG. The park actually hosts active studios and a few animators we met had recently worked on Meet the Robinsons. Sidenote: the new Pixar movie Ratatouille looks a winner for grown ups with all the fine dining references, looking forward to seeing this one. One of the attractions at MGM has to be the quietest place in WDW - a learn to draw studio. We sat thru 3 simultaneous sesssions, luckily getting the chance to draw 3 different classic characters. The sessions were ran by Disney animators - great stuff, my Donald effort is above.

It's easy to pick on the money grabbing big business side of Disney, but seeing some of that old video of Walt and his dream, being entertained by Capt'n Jack (the third Pirates movie is coming out next month), watching your daughter pretend feed spaghetti to her toy Lady at Tony's, coaxing your son on to the fastest ride of his life (Epcot Test Track), giving Baloo a big hug, or being enchanted by Belle, it's a lovely feeling to have. Simply magical.

Another mystery solved

Don't you just love it when you find something you've been looking for. The more important the item, the bigger the joy !

I was about to head to bed when I thought I'd have one more look.

I lost my passport about 3 hours ago.

I did have a backup plan for my visit to US in a few days, but I felt kinda queasy all night wondering where the hell I'd put it.

My logic went something like this...

Check usual place where we keep all of our passports. Not There. Double-check the draw. Think. Check work bag. Double-check. Look for hidden pocket (as this is a new bag). Think. Maybe in unchecked pocket of old bag when I did the bag move a few weeks ago. Not good enough. Need to know where it is now. Check a lot of shelves, nooks, draws. Check usual place again. Take out all the other passports and double check (George Carlin had this great old bit about losing stuff yeah found it first time). Leave it be for a while (knowing backup plan was about 90% foolproof). Still bugging me. Think. Do loop again. Noticed a folder that was in the old bag. Nope. But, the envelope next to it with old receipts that I took from the old bag - jackpot. Logical.

Another mystery solved. Good night.

A life's Work

I was at a retirement celebration for a customer of mine on Wednesday evening. Along with this ladies her very impressive 40 year business career, her impact in community shows the great things people can do with their lives outside of their 9-5 jobs.

On the subway ride home, I'm thinking to myself, I'm almost half-way through my career (that is if I retire at the ripe of age 65), so what will people say about moi.

I'm not expecting to necessarily have a huge business successes of someone like this person, or even as large an impact on the community, but one thing she said gave me a little hope that my work life is more than just a way to earn a living, keeping your brain active or even providing some value to your customers. She said that the most important thing from her work life that she'll remember is all the great people she met and worked with !

This however, raises a few questions for me (working in a remote office*) or for people who work as sole proprietors. Are the relationships we have with our local customers become as valued as the work colleague ? It also raises the question of whether you should make friends or build strong relationships with people you work with.

This event also reminded me of my father's retirement last year. Without getting too personal, one thing that I said in my congratulatory speech was how he was a man who truly loved his work. And then, relating back to what I heard this week from this lady, was how work ultimately has become her life. This however seems to go against the principles of working to live ! But you can't argue, that to get the most out of this short life, enjoying your work makes it all the more better.

I find that hearing about the joy of their working worlds when people retire, provides some inspiration in my life. I enjoy my work, I can honestly say I consider many people I've worked with as friends and I'm certain I'll look back on the past and have very fond memories of the cast of characters I've worked with. Maybe a few will remember me when it's all over as well.

* business term, a remote office is an office in a separate city from HQ, normally dedicated to local sales activities and usually only having a handful of non-conforming-like staff. It is not remote in the sense of the outback, Siberia or the Arctic. Quite the opposite, the remote office is quite often situated in downtown urban areas.

Quite the ride

no, I'm (still) not talking about Disney (yet).

DB sent me this link from YouTube the other day showing a test drive of the fastest production car in the world - The Bugatti Veyron.

407 km/h, 253 mph.

I'm sure he was going to run out of road - they only had 5.5 miles of straight !

Lots of great F1 comments too.

I didn't know Stephen Fry was a race car driver !

Thoughts of the day

Keeping or putting life in balance. I think it's important to notice that sometimes you get out of balance, you become more self focused for a few days, you neglect work responsibilities a little too easily, you forget about that house fix up item. These imbalances are ok on occasion, but it's important to recognize them before they start negatively impacting the people you care about or worse, they become chronic.

Talk to people like they are children. Well that may be a bit of a stretch, but my wife just handed me a book that I'm instantly enjoying, it's called How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. The interesting thing is that I think you could easily improve your relationships with your family, friends and even business people by following some of the ideas in this book. After all, adults have feelings too.

A crazy language

I don't think I've included a forwarded joke verbatim before, but this one is worth posting. I'm sure there are lots more content on this fascinating topic, thanks to Mr. Manitoba for forwarding this one.

Alrighttty now You Think English is Easy???

Can you read these right the first time?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"

________________

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP."

It's easy to understand UP , meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.

We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car . At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP . We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost a quarter of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so......... Time to shut UP .!

Oh...one more thing:

What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night? U-P

A public apology on behalf of all loudmouths

Although I haven't specifically been called a loudmouth, I think I occasionally inhibit the charms of such. My specific style also seems to have a annoying element of selfishness to the point of being oblivious to the contributions and comments on others.

I apologize.

Unfortunately, alcohol appears to be a catalyst for this behaviour (like it is for many unpleasant characteristics). So the evening social is a perfect setting to view the loudmouth at his best.

To give you a Being-John-Malkovich-like perspective, from the mind of the loudmouth, it appears the conversation is just ripping along, everyone is laughing and enjoying themselves and you just happen to be the centre of attention. Well, there's the rub, you shouldn't be (at least not for more than your fair share). Everyone should enjoy being the centre of attention at some point in a social evening.

Unlike this blog, which seems to an acceptable forum for a loudmouth, being one amongst valued friends and family is unacceptable.

In the fine words of Del Griffith "The last thing I want to be remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth... You know, nothing grinds my gears worse than some chowderhead that doesn't know when to keep his big trap shut... If you catch me running off with my mouth, just give me a poke on the chubbs...".

Making the most of digital music

O recently asked me for advice regarding digital music. I provided some comments (actually in person) but since then there's been a few other occasions that suggest I should write some of this stuff down.

Finding music

Read this blog. Well that's an ok start if you like the same music I do, otherwise here are a few ideas:

• Hardcopy. Music mags, local entertainment weeklys, etc. My fave is Q Magazine.
• Your local record store. Most have sample stations these days and a great way to hear stuff on the way home from the subway. Most will let you listen to a CD if you're still unsure.
• Full content streaming audio. 2 flavours - online radio stations (my fave is Virgin Radio) and streaming music sites like Pandora. I just found (via a tip from the Post) a new one of this type called finetune that I've been spending too much time on today. Check out pjmixer on filetune to listen to an extended collection of my best of 2006. This may now be the best way for me to share music with friends and family.
  
• Radio and satellite radio. Make note of those tracks that you hear on local radio rotation every 60 minutes (if you can stomach the advertising) or tune you cable box or satellite radio receiver to one of hundreds of finely tuned stations.
• Online sample sites. This is your last stop before your online or full reality CD purchase. Most music download sites offer 30 seconds of high quality sample of any track you can buy (if 30 secs is enough of a sample for you) or some offer lower quality full samples. Some online music sites like Q also offer samples.
  

Format and quality

There are a plethora of formats to make your digital life confusing these days, incl. music. I prefer to keep it simple with mpeg (MP3). AAC and WMA are the others you bump into and are typically associated with specific vendors, AAC with Apple/iPod and WMA with Microsoft/Windows Media Player. MP3s will play on all personal players and on home/car systems when burned (copied from the computer) on CDs. More info for geeks. Once you pick a format, then choose the quality that fits your listening style. I choose to rip (copy music from CD to the computer) and download at 192 kbps. Some say 128 kbps is CD quality but I disagree. Test the quality differences out yourself wherever you listen to music. Note that the higher the quality the bigger the file, the slower the download, rip and burn. Interestingly ACC offers better quality at smaller file sizes (better compression I imagine) and some download sites vary the cost with the quality you choose.

Buying music

I've covered this topic on quite a few controversial blog posts already, so I don't think I need to say much more. Usual suspects are: iTunes (although there continue to be problems with the proprietary nature of their downloads); Napster and Puretracks (in Canada). However most put DRM in effect and limit your sharing and copying. As one cynical person said, it's like buying a CD and about a year later they come into your home and take the CD back. No big secret that I buy my music online from the controversial Russian site allofmp3.com (which has no such limits and is much cheaper that other big players, although it's tagging is a little weak), and honestly, I don't feel too guilty about it. I go and see a lot of concerts, I buy music DVDs blah blah blah...

Organizing your collection

This is easy for some people, but very difficult for me. A few things I do in keeping my music organized:

• When ripping your favourite older albums to your computer, I only pick the tracks I've come to loved over repeat listening - say 5 or 6 tracks. If you always skip track 11 on that Flock of Seagulls classic, then why rip it and have it pop again when you're least expecting it.
• Make sure track, album and artist are correctly tagged.
  
• Choose a limited set of genres that make sense to you. For instance, I am way too heavily weighted on Rock/Pop. Note that genre tagging on the file does carry between players.
• Rate your music so you can create best ofs easily and remember which tracks you like more than others when tackling more obscure named album tracks.
• Add one more categorization - upbeat and mellow. You may need to dig a little deeper into the player to find out where to do this, e.g. I use Grouping within iTunes.
• Start creating playlists, then begin to combine them for more intelligent mixing - this could itself turn into a whole other subject in efficient and effective playlist management.
  

A few years ago I was using Musicmatch but I moved to iTunes when I got an iPod. Both are very good players with their own pros and cons. If you're a iPod user, then iTunes it is.

[finishing this up on day 2 - taking a little longer than planned to get thru this one, and I'm still probaly going to miss some crucial element - drat !]

Playing digital music

There are many possibilities these days on how, where and when to play and listen to digital music from iPod equipped family cars to mobile phones to the comfort of your very own living room couch.

One simple, and key piece of connectivity gear that is a must-have is a micro-RCA cable. On the micro jack end it plugs into the headphone thingie on all digital music players (incl. a computer itself) and on the other it has stereo white/red RCA jacks to plug into your your existing home hi-fi system. Note that you don't necessarily need all those special cradles and base stations to have digital music playing through your hi-fi.

The variables of home design, budget, equipment, technical savvy will come into play when trying to optimize your own digital music listening system. My solution at home is quite simple and reasonably effective:

My home computer with about 3,000 tracks of digital music is located at the back of the house on the main floor. The living room with my hi-fi system is in the front of the house on the main floor. I have a second pair of hi-fi speakers mounted high on the back wall of the kitchen connected to my hi-fi with speaker cables partially hidden under the floor when the basement was renovated. I have a long (20' perhaps) micro-RCA cable connected to the sound card jack on the back of the computer to my hi-fi. One trick here is I have a "y" connector between the cable and the computer so you can simultaneously hear the computer speakers and the hi-fi. Note that this isn't usually possible if you just use the front headphone jack on the computer. I use iTunes to manage the music and Suze uses Musicmatch to create playlists against the same source music.

Problems: Windows alarms, email notifications etc will be heard on your hi-fi. And if the kids want to play a computer game, you're out of luck. This is where you may also need a more portable back-up plan. Burn come MP3 CDs from your computer on a regular basis and play them directly on your newer model DVD or CD player (most newer model portable CD even play MP3 CDs) connected to your hi-fi. Or synch your portable music player and connect that using the same cable or a handy second one directly to the hi-fi.

Next move for me is adding a third pair of speakers for the deck at the back of the house this spring. The neighbours will love it ! However, complexity comes when adding a third pair of speakers to a standard hi-fi receiver. Extra box probably involved to handle the connections and potential circuit overload.

My home theatre is a completely separate system in the basement that has no connectivity to the computer but does include a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs. It's currently pining for a sexy HD TV.

Making the most of digital music

O recently asked me for advice regarding digital music. I provided some comments (actually in person) but since then there's been a few other occasions that suggest I should write some of this stuff down.

Finding music

Read this blog. Well that's an ok start if you like the same music I do, otherwise here are a few ideas:

• Hardcopy. Music mags, local entertainment weeklys, etc. My fave is Q Magazine.
• Your local record store. Most have sample stations these days and a great way to hear stuff on the way home from the subway. Most will let you listen to a CD if you're still unsure.
• Full content streaming audio. 2 flavours - online radio stations (my fave is Virgin Radio) and streaming music sites like Pandora. I just found (via a tip from the Post) a new one of this type called finetune that I've been spending too much time on today. Check out pjmixer on filetune to listen to an extended collection of my best of 2006. This may now be the best way for me to share music with friends and family.
  
• Radio and satellite radio. Make note of those tracks that you hear on local radio rotation every 60 minutes (if you can stomach the advertising) or tune you cable box or satellite radio receiver to one of hundreds of finely tuned stations.
• Online sample sites. This is your last stop before your online or full reality CD purchase. Most music download sites offer 30 seconds of high quality sample of any track you can buy (if 30 secs is enough of a sample for you) or some offer lower quality full samples. Some online music sites like Q also offer samples.
  

Format and quality

There are a plethora of formats to make your digital life confusing these days, incl. music. I prefer to keep it simple with mpeg (MP3). AAC and WMA are the others you bump into and are typically associated with specific vendors, AAC with Apple/iPod and WMA with Microsoft/Windows Media Player. MP3s will play on all personal players and on home/car systems when burned (copied from the computer) on CDs. More info for geeks. Once you pick a format, then choose the quality that fits your listening style. I choose to rip (copy music from CD to the computer) and download at 192 kbps. Some say 128 kbps is CD quality but I disagree. Test the quality differences out yourself wherever you listen to music. Note that the higher the quality the bigger the file, the slower the download, rip and burn. Interestingly ACC offers better quality at smaller file sizes (better compression I imagine) and some download sites vary the cost with the quality you choose.

Buying music

I've covered this topic on quite a few controversial blog posts already, so I don't think I need to say much more. Usual suspects are: iTunes (although there continue to be problems with the proprietary nature of their downloads); Napster and Puretracks (in Canada). However most put DRM in effect and limit your sharing and copying. As one cynical person said, it's like buying a CD and about a year later they come into your home and take the CD back. No big secret that I buy my music online from the controversial Russian site allofmp3.com (which has no such limits and is much cheaper that other big players, although it's tagging is a little weak), and honestly, I don't feel too guilty about it. I go and see a lot of concerts, I buy music DVDs blah blah blah...

Organizing your collection

This is easy for some people, but very difficult for me. A few things I do in keeping my music organized:

• When ripping your favourite older albums to your computer, I only pick the tracks I've come to loved over repeat listening - say 5 or 6 tracks. If you always skip track 11 on that Flock of Seagulls classic, then why rip it and have it pop again when you're least expecting it.
• Make sure track, album and artist are correctly tagged.
  
• Choose a limited set of genres that make sense to you. For instance, I am way too heavily weighted on Rock/Pop. Note that genre tagging on the file does carry between players.
• Rate your music so you can create best ofs easily and remember which tracks you like more than others when tackling more obscure named album tracks.
• Add one more categorization - upbeat and mellow. You may need to dig a little deeper into the player to find out where to do this, e.g. I use Grouping within iTunes.
• Start creating playlists, then begin to combine them for more intelligent mixing - this could itself turn into a whole other subject in efficient and effective playlist management.
  

A few years ago I was using Musicmatch but I moved to iTunes when I got an iPod. Both are very good players with their own pros and cons. If you're a iPod user, then iTunes it is.

[finishing this up on day 2 - taking a little longer than planned to get thru this one, and I'm still probaly going to miss some crucial element - drat !]

Playing digital music

There are many possibilities these days on how, where and when to play and listen to digital music from iPod equipped family cars to mobile phones to the comfort of your very own living room couch.

One simple, and key piece of connectivity gear that is a must-have is a micro-RCA cable. On the micro jack end it plugs into the headphone thingie on all digital music players (incl. a computer itself) and on the other it has stereo white/red RCA jacks to plug into your your existing home hi-fi system. Note that you don't necessarily need all those special cradles and base stations to have digital music playing through your hi-fi.

The variables of home design, budget, equipment, technical savvy will come into play when trying to optimize your own digital music listening system. My solution at home is quite simple and reasonably effective:

My home computer with about 3,000 tracks of digital music is located at the back of the house on the main floor. The living room with my hi-fi system is in the front of the house on the main floor. I have a second pair of hi-fi speakers mounted high on the back wall of the kitchen connected to my hi-fi with speaker cables partially hidden under the floor when the basement was renovated. I have a long (20' perhaps) micro-RCA cable connected to the sound card jack on the back of the computer to my hi-fi. One trick here is I have a "y" connector between the cable and the computer so you can simultaneously hear the computer speakers and the hi-fi. Note that this isn't usually possible if you just use the front headphone jack on the computer. I use iTunes to manage the music and Suze uses Musicmatch to create playlists against the same source music.

Problems: Windows alarms, email notifications etc will be heard on your hi-fi. And if the kids want to play a computer game, you're out of luck. This is where you may also need a more portable back-up plan. Burn come MP3 CDs from your computer on a regular basis and play them directly on your newer model DVD or CD player (most newer model portable CD even play MP3 CDs) connected to your hi-fi. Or synch your portable music player and connect that using the same cable or a handy second one directly to the hi-fi.

Next move for me is adding a third pair of speakers for the deck at the back of the house this spring. The neighbours will love it ! However, complexity comes when adding a third pair of speakers to a standard hi-fi receiver. Extra box probably involved to handle the connections and potential circuit overload.

My home theatre is a completely separate system in the basement that has no connectivity to the computer but does include a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs. It's currently pining for a sexy HD TV.

What's real anymore ?

That's probably too big a title topic to cover thoroughly right now, but as before maybe this is just post #1 of something I'll keep coming back to !

A recent article whose bi-line was Ads posing as blogs creating generation of skeptics caught my attention on the weekend. It talks about companies posting content to sites like YouTube in a stealth marketing move. This is just one of the latest examples that threatens to erode the integrity of the entire internet (if there every was any in the first place). How long will it be before people just don't believe anything they read on the internet ? Could it be possible that a marketing villain could even bias even well known facts by bombarding sites like Wikipedia with marketed infused falsehoods ?

My Dad's spidey sense kicked in when he first began to surf the net - "how do I know that the information I'm reading is true ?". I don't think I ever gave a thorough answer, but relied on "you learn to trust certain sites, e.g. The New York Times". However, with the amount of reader and viewer created collaborative content these days, even traditional respected sources must fear some degradation of their online integrity.

YouTube combined with powerful photo, audio and movie editing tools of today can easily create this same problem with images and sound.

There is talk about technology playing a role in fighting this problem and I think it may be possible. I work for Entrust who happens to be the first company selling Extended Validation Certificates for internet sites. In layman's terms, how you learn to trust e-commerce web sites will change over the next 12 months as smart online users will look beyond the simple lock and look for indicators of higher levels of trust validation, e.g. your address bar turning green in IE7. It mention this because I don't think it's much of a stretch to think of root anchors of trust (the BBC perhaps in combination with Entrust) providing some validation on the integrity of online content. Make sure I can credit for this idea if one of your geeks runs with this ! See our company web site for more info on EV Certs.

Do you trust my content ?

Check point - 100 posts

I just saw that my last post was number 100. Got at least one new post in the hopper for tonight while watching the Grammys. Currently watching the pre-red-carpet show and liking a few snippets from recent PJMixer faves Ok-Go, Gnarls Barkley and yes, Christina Aguilera. Interesting segment on big TV shows fueling the music scene, incl. K.T from Grey's Anatomy.

More posts on (now blogger categorized*) music, movies, society, controversial corner pockets and more.

*Should I go back and index the older posts ?

One thing that bugs me...

...people who are in the way, more precisely, people who are in my way.


It's like some people are still little kids, completely oblivious to their surroundings. You know, when you son is goofing around, walking backward showing off to his little sister, and is alerted at the last minute to the fact that he's about to plow into into a bunch of old ladies coming the other way !

The blockers typically fall within the following demographic categories:

• Teenagers. Caught up in their own mini ecosystems of he said / she said.
  
• College students. Nothing is more important that solving world peace and having a cigarette directly in front of the main entrance to your office.
  
• Visitors. See that map over there on the wall ? Give it a try.
• Shoppers. Don't these people know that there are people actually trying to get somewhere not just exercising their ICollectMoreMilesThanYou Visa card?
• Old people. God bless 'em, they're just slow.

And then there's the blocking technique or positioning:

• You're on your way to a meeting cutting through the department store and you come up behind the 5 person wide trolling shoppers. Hit the breaks before you step on their trailing scarves.
• You excuse me / excuse me past chatty teenagers on the escalator only to me met at the top by a gaggle of visitors who haven't got a clue which way they are going. Watch out the bodies are starting to pile up !
• You're rushing out of the subway station, spinning through the exit turnstiles and immediately blocked by the after-school-stand-in-circle-crowd discussing how unfair Jenny Petriedish's biology test was.

Here are the rules:

• In North America, like driving, walkways follow the stay-on-the-right rule.
• When on the escalator, stand on the right, walk on the left.
• When traveling along a walkway, do not just stop. Perhaps take a glance around and slowly make your way to the side of the walkway to evaluate your next move, check your map or to kiss cute Johnny Pencilcase from Math class.
• Heads up please when you're walking and talking on your mobile phone or texting on your Blackberry (I must admit I'm a little guilty here - see funny from Rick Mercer).
• Please put the tunnel-vision parka hoods down when you're inside. Maintaining a good amount of peripheral vision is key.
• If you walking your pet or perhaps even have you children on a tether, don't let that tether out more than 12 inches in crowded places.
  

I imagine a corollary to this post is how to handle crowds in unavoidable situations such as airports, the Santa Claus parade, Walt Disney World (no, I haven't forgotten about writing about our trip), Christmas shopping, rock concerts, the loo during intermission of a hockey game, the subway at rush hour (my next stop)...

Heads up !

Music and movie tips

A few for your entertainment dollar...

Death Cab for Cutie. Raved on my close buddy Eek (sp). Immediately appealing, gentler tunes, deeper lyrics lying undertone.

Muse. Passed this band up for a while, but this latest album has something ! #2 of the year as ranked by Q.

The Automatic. Catchy and corny, esp. Monster.

Arctic Monkeys. But you've heard me rave before.

Ok, it's getting too late now, getting pissed off with finding the right links, incl. The Editors - All Sparks (Cicado remix) - absolutely love this track, sorry allofmp3 not cooperating tonight.

Starting to warm up to Hot Chip (big in the UK last year).

Trying to get my head into new Nora Jones and Carli Bruni.

Looking forward to new Kaiser Chiefs album as we have tics for the show here in April.

Re: movies. Odd mix these days. A soccer lady friend had recommended It's all gone Pete Tong and I just saw it this week - loved it, Ibiza tracks, Brit edge and deeper thoughts.

Also caught most of Green Street Hooligans about football hooliganism on the UK. Interesting perspective.

Just picked up a version of The Professional on the way home. Great buy, $8 for the remastered DTS version on Superbit. If you've never seen it, great movie, Reno just phenomenal.

And the Katrina movie. Already referenced.

Why music is better than the movies (and maybe TV)

With music, it can be all around you. Especially if you're an iPod or you're home wired. You groove, you dance and you sing (badly) while doing important stuff like doing the dishes or tidying or filing a mound of financial receipts.

With movies, to get the most out of the experience you really need to "buy in" to the movie. That means focus, that means few distractions. Hence the problem, you need to set time aside for a movie.

Well, some TV can be enjoyed "in the background" (especially repeats of Seinfeld or Friend) or "a glance every 3 minutes" for the less intense shows.

And if you've been reading the blog who'll appreciate how important music is (in my life). But then again, don't most of my grand visions come from movie inspirations ?

Q.E.D music is better than the movies.