*sigh of relief*

Well, Radiohead started posting tour dates.

I'm relieved, because the earliest dates are in June of next year, which means (because I have full 100% intent to travel to see them) this buys me some time. Time to get more money. Said announced dates are in Europe, and I wouldn't expect them to come overseas until they're done over there.

So excited.

Excited and they haven't even announced any shows over here, heh.

Sit down, Fletcher

There's an ongoing raging debate here in Manitoba.

Run a new hydro line on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, swathing through virgin boreal forest. Or run a longer, more expensive route on the west side, saving said forest's virginity. The bottom-dollar says east side. That means your blue-faced conservatives like Mr Fletcher says east side:

"Taxpayers from B.C., Alberta and Ontario subsidize our quality of life in Manitoba dramatically, and if I were in those provinces, I wouldn't be happy if I heard that a province was unnecessarily spending hundreds of millions of dollars additionally on capital costs and foregoing billions of dollars in future revenue because of some ideological quirk,"

Shut yer pie hole, Fletcher. Wow does that statement ever stink of ignorance.

BC protects thousands upon thousands more hectares of temperate rainforest than we protect in Manitoba. Alberta has the insanely depressing tar sand industry. Ontario has other issues.

We in Manitoba? Well we have a lot of Boreal Forest that needs protecting. Oh yeah, and our lake is dying. Mhmm thanks for reminding us of that, Fletcher. Finally somebody with power has stepped in and finally said "NO!" It's time to recognize what is worth saving. The issues this creates by not going east-side, well there are other ways out of and solutions to those problems.

Every week I am reminded by a punch to the gut of a blue-faced conservative just how difficult the whole issue of climate change is to face. People like this make these changes and advances difficult.

"It'd be like heating your home with the doors open in January,"

Cause ultimately, it' s not about the power loss. Fletcher, if you didn't have your door open all winter we might not have to build the Wuskwatim dam. Why do we need this transmission line? Oh yeah that's right, to fuel our ever-growing, ridiculous obsession with consuming electricity without consequence.

Funny how everyone talks about how we're going to address future energy needs, but nobody talks about curbing the current one.


Man does Fletcher even realize how much of an effective party the conservatives could be for the environment? Why? Cause they get shit done. Harper is getting shit done right now. Look, he even helped approve expansion of protected areas in Quebec and other areas.

Seriously it's time for us to stop voting these uneducated, ill-informed dimwits into their seats. This is not productive, Fletcher. This is anti-productive. This is beating a dead horse that's been beaten 5 or 8 times already. Move on to something worthy.

How bout fighting to put money in the hands of groups that will do serious and large-scale projects to ressurect our dying lake? How bout going after the oil sands? How bout recognizing aboriginal rights? What's your plan Fletcher, for when climate change begins to destroy that Boreal Forest? Will you apologize to Canadians for your lack of foresight?

I thought these people were voted in to represent what is best for the people. But I guess they didn't think it'd be a good idea if they thought more than 10 years down the road.

Blue Bombers

Sorry for lack of regular updates the past few days. I haven't really had a lot of things to vent about.

That, and the whole city is a little Bomber-crazy right now. And I'm a little Bomber-crazy. Saskatchewan can go on home.

MMHMM

If any of you are wondering why I like Lefsetz's blog so much, this is why. And not just for music industry commentary, but life lessons from a seasoned veteran.

His words speak to me.

"I went to college. I certainly didn’t study business, they didn’t have it where I went to school. But where I went to school was bullshit. I wasn’t interested in what they were purveying. But now I have a university at my fingertips. It’s called the World Wide Web. And sure, I’ve been known to look at naked women online, but what’s most stimulating is observing the fast-moving culture, getting a pulse of what’s truly going on in this world."

Consider the future?

I probably see more car ads per day than anything else.

New car costs...15, 20, 30, 50 thousand dollars.

Why would anyone buy a new car now? Does nobody consider the future, past say the next 6 months or one year?

How long before operating a vehicle is beyond most people' s means? We all know oil is going to literally run out during our lifetime. Gas costs about a dollar per litre now, what will it cost in 5 years? In 10 years? Can you afford to fill your 45 litre tank at 100 dollars? At what point does transport by the current way it's accepted become too much?

The true scare of climate change, and the reality of how our society is dooming itself, will only become obvious to the masses when we run out of oil. I really believe that, everyone will drive and drive and drive their cars, and the next day, there won't be any more gas to go around.

I'm a big skeptic of hydrogen techonology. I'll believe it when I see it.

In the meantime. Why spend so much money, why commit yourself to a mode of transportation who's death is inevitable in the near near future?

Do Something?

Something that's been bothering me for awhile, been meaning to blog about it.

This is about an ad I saw for Lakehead University.

Now, reason it bothers me, is because I have no idea what it's trying to say. My first thought when I see this ad is conflicting. Is it saying I can help homeless people? Or is it saying that I can get a better life by going to school, that if I don't I'm doomed for poverty?

"Do Something." Do...what? Exactly? Help the homeless, or help myself from becoming one?

It became clear to me what the point of this campaign was when I saw a second ad that made much much much more sense:

Now, given that seeing these two ads here may obviously make you go "wow Graham you're a retard."

But truth is, I only just saw this second ad the other day, when I've been seeing the first one for weeks. When I first wanted to blog about this, I hadn't yet seen the Polar Bear version of this campaign.

A quick check to their website shows a few more images, and the "do something" slogan is appropriate. But seeing only that one homeless image suggests conflicting messages.

Anyways...your thoughts? Any? Should universities campaign at all? A university or post-secondary education isn't the only path to changing something in the world.

Why do they have to sell education? Is there anything they DONT sell us anymore?

New Killers? WHERE IS IT?!

I found out TODAY that a new Killers album drops. Pretty whack seemings how thats a pretty high profile bandwagon-type band.

So like most people I fired up the Myspace page with the Killers domain. Having a bit of an interest in the band, I got Sam's Town and although I liked a handful of tracks a lot, I thought the album was generally over-produced and lacking "it." Nevertheless obviously they are a band that still has a lot of development ahead of them and that alone makes them worth checking out, album to album.

Now the funny thing is....THERE IS NO MUSIC ON THEIR MYSPACE!

What in the fuck is that? If you want to listen to their music, by archaicly looking for some kind of audio link on the Mypsace page, you are directed to THEIR LABEL'S PAGE!

.....

WTF!!!

Do these guys have any control at all? Have they bowed down to suck the cock of their label?! In return for WHAT?! I haven't heard of this album yet, theyre supposed to promote it. I can't listen to it because tracks arent available on their Myspace, and at that their label only lets me sample TWO tracks!

Ri-fuckin-diculous.

If the Killers were either smart, and had any control at all, or both, they'd put their whole bloody album up on Myspace. But theres not even one song there! Not even their SINGLE!

That's too bad. Has the artist in this case, lost so much control they can't even get their music out to their fans? To the world? This next comment is directed to whoever is making the decisions, being their label, or if the band is still actually in control of their own bloody myspace page: if you expect to sell a decent chunk of records, good fuckin luck. Good fuckin' luck. Nobody is going to pay for a full album if they can only sample your single on your LABEL'S page.

Earth to bands thinking signing on labels is a good thing: it's not.

Earth to labels: it's not 1995.

It's not &*$(&*#ing Christmas yet

Got a few rants to get goin here. More updates tomorrow.

On thursday I saw a guy get on the bus with a cup of Starbucks coffee. I took notice that, it was the new Christmas-style cups. I then noticed that Tim Hortons also had their Christmas propaganda out. And now every bloody Best Buy and big-name retailer has thier propaganda goin.

It's NOT fuckin Christmas yet!

I know this happens every year but for fucks sakes already. Rememberance Day hasn't passed yet, and every company is blitzing us with their Christmas garbage.

How bout some bloody respect for our war vets?

You cant save the Christmas coffe cups and....bloody hell, they have SANTA in the MALLS already!!!! Yeah what fantastic values to bring your child up on. Beat the Christmas rush by seeing Santa IN NOVEMBER! Christmas is TWO MONTHS long not ONE DAY! Pathetic.

I bet people are out there shopping for Christmas crap already. And I bet theyre not even wearing a fucking poppy. It saddens me how many people don't. How many young people, my age, under the age of 30. And to see older people not wearing one, really saddens me. To see stay-at-home-moms running aroudn with their kids in a Christmas-themed mall a few days before November 11 and not wearing a bloody poppy.

You know, can't we have like, Remembrance Day weekend? Like grow some moral balls and say, out of respect for war vets, war victims, and our country's heros and all that stuff, we won't advertise for CHRISTMAS till AFTER November 11? Is that hard to do or what?

I mentioned to my cousin today, you know, why can't for one weekend, Tim Hortons and Starbucks have a coffee cup with poppies on it or some other Remembrance Day stuff. Just for one weekend. One flippin weekend. Is outright respect for these people too much to ask?

Wear a poppy. Seriously.

And maybe tomorrow, or monday while you're sitting at home, you can do some research on your country's contributions to the World Wars. Or maybe a local rifle regiment. With the Christmas Blitz in full swing I don't think I trust a newspaper to provide such info for me anymore.

It's a fucked up society yes it is.

Cheif Lyons

I atteneded a guest lecture today. On the subject of climate change but by an unusual guest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oren_Lyons

I'm not going to go into how accomplished this guy is, you can read it if you want to. I learned a few years ago to never pass up a special lecture by a native person. I'm still collecting my thoughts but I'm going to post this now anyways.

It amazes me every time, how incredible it is, that these people are so in touch with themselves, with their surroundings. They know something is wrong. They just know. Unfortunately nobody listens to them.

He had many many good points. But it wasn't about climate change per se...it was about how we approach it. Other factors. Personal factors. What drives leaders to make their decisions. Leadership qualities.

When a native person talks, they talk from their soul. Their hearts, their feelings. They know because they see it. Generation after generation after generation of knowledge has been passed down....and in one generation, things are no longer the same. They know something is up. They know the ice is melting. And there is no population on this planet that climate change affects more than native people, because they are the only ones who live that far north.

I really can't explain to you how amazing it is to sit in a lecture hall and listen to a leader of native descent talk about climate change. Because they don't talk about it from an economic point of view, or a business or regurgitate what their party wants them to. They talk about humans being part of the earth, that the earth is a living organism and we must respect it.

All these qualities that are so blatantly ignored by science and politicans. Science only provides cold hard facts, and politicians, well we know what theyre all about.

To tackle climate change, we just embrace and respect the earth we live on. That means we need to change the way we live, our very lifestyle. Respect the earth. Man you never hear that in any speech about climate change...it's always about emissions this, emissions that, carbon tax this, blablabla.

The most powerful part of his lecture? When he looked at a water bottle (given to the guest speakers), held it up, looked at it and said:

"You know...this is free?"

"They can sell you anything."

You know society is fucked when the water that comes out of the tap is perfectly drinkable, but they buy bottled water. That's more plastic, which means some or most of it will end up in landfills, that means they have to fuckin truck the water in from somewhere, when all you have to do is turn on your bloody tap. And you KNOW I could go on, and on, and on, AND ON about things we don't need. Things, products, useless, wasteful products that we don't need yet are convinced that we do by "they."

Is our society that brainwashed?

When will we wake up, as people, and pressure our leaders to take drastic change? Climate change is already evident. The recent fires in California and other countries in the world. Massive, of unvelieveable size. The Pine Beetle, sweeping across northern pine forests. The ice caps, giant chunks of ice falling away from Antarctica. Lake Winnipeg is dying as I write this. And these things don't get front page news, its in there somewhere. Like climate change is just accepted now? But there are still naysayers?!

Does Manhattan really have to go under water first?

By then, THEN what? The entire way of life of northern people, who DEPEND on snow and ice cover, for their way of life, as wella s all the other creatures that inhabit the arctic circle?

Cheif Lyons said that we, us, HUMANS, we ARE the environment. The collared schmoes doen't understand that yet. Like we're separate. Segregated from the rest. Which of course can't be farther from the truth...We can exhaust our resources, knowing full well they are finite, just to make a profit today. These people don't actually go out, and experience "nature", experience reality. They don't see it for themselves. They don't see the glaciers underneath their feet in Greenland dissapearing. They don't see their actions and the true, real, consequences they have.

A consequence-less society. Heh.

So do you pretend it isn't happening? Do you pretend that it's all bogus? Do you run mega corporations, just to make a profit tomorrow? What about 20 years from now? You don't think you'll be fucked? Greenland, when the glaciers are gone, won't want anybody coming in and taking their resources. You can bet your life on that.


After the lecture, another native man stood up to ask a question/say something. He choked through it, introduced himself, and once he was able to stand on top of his emotions and use them to powerfully convey his point, everyone was behind him. He was worried, he lived in the city, he felt it inside him, that something was wrong, that he felt he had to do something, and that he tried, but he wasn't sure if he was doing enough, or the right thing. He was DETACHED from nature by living in the city. He FELT IT!

No white man anywhere can relate to this. So why do those in power disregard them? It seems as if people think the natives are archaic, backwater customs and they should get with the times.
Really it's so cathartic and reassuring to listen to someone speak like that, it makes you wonder why the fuck people don't listen to these guys. Would you believe, that when Canada became a country all those years ago, in the 1800s, on of the Chiefs involved in the talks voiced his concern about water quality. Over a HUNDRED years ago. They didn't listen to them then, bloody hell the white man must have thought these guys were crazy to think that all taht water couldn't possibly go bad.

Over a hundred years later we still arent listening to them.

Over a hundred years later, we still haven't learned how to live WITH the earth and our surroundings. We haven't learned that we are living beings just as everything else on this planet and that we can't disrespect that fact anymore. We had our fun for some 75-odd years. That's all we get.

That every action carries a consequence. Every tree you cut down, every mile you drive in your vehicle, every natural area you mow down, every creek you bridge, every river bank that collapses, every chemical you spray on your lawn, every piece of plastic you buy, every bottle of bottled water you drink, every light bulb you turn on. It all has a consequence.

When will our generation realize this and stand up? It's us young kids that have to convince everyone of the dire needs of our times. The 40 and 50 somethings don't truly believe it yet. And theyre the ones running companies, running governments.

When will we live WITH the earth?

I challenge thee

I challenge my blog viewers.

To, while going through your daily routines, to not purchase anything with any sort of plastic product associated with it. For a week. This includes all food items. No plastic wrappers or packages.

Bet you can't do it.

Music ADD??

So I've noticed this girl on the bus I take to school.

She's one of those music people...you know the way they dress and stuff...the dark plastic frame glasses, the jeans, the belt, the all-star shoes, usually dye their hair and stuff. Wear a bunch of badges on their jacket or something. Always listening to music, likle you never see them without headphones in their ears.

Well she sat beside me the other day. Being a music geek myself I glanced over to her iPod of course to see what she was listening to. Saw her flip past several bands that I also like.

Thing was she never kept on one song for more than 30 seconds I'd say.

She just kept flipping and flipping. Every couple songs she'd stop, listen to another 30 seconds and skip to the next one. As if she lost patience or lost interest in that song. She probably went through hundreds of songs per bus ride. I've seen her do it ever time I notice she's on the bus.

I just really can't understand that at all. Can she really say she enjoys music? Man what a terrible way to experience it. You barely even get into the song....some truly amazing songs have drum intros longer than 30 seconds. Some songs don't even get into a groove for over a minute. If you only listen to experience the hook, and then get bored of it and leave, what are you listening for honestly.

I'm sitting here right now spinning vinyls...sometimes I really think if the change in the way we consume music in this time period is really for the better.