Exam ✓, Cold ✓, 1 hour, It’s Friday✓+ Friday, Feb 6 2009

Fast actin'

Hello guys, sorry for the long hiatus. Let bygones be bygones!

Had I received a fortune cookie this morning that said, “This day will bring many challenges”, it would be one of the rare situations where ambiguous statements like that would perfectly apply. You see, I’ve had a nasty cold for the last few days which has been exhausting and Kleenex-intensive in addition to a midterm exam for my World of Chemistry: Environment course which I had tonight. I must say that with the help of the 3 R’s I have survived the cold:
Rest
Relaxation
NaRcotics
The picture of the day is a tribute to the various drugs that have helped me during this phlegm-y time in my life. The face outline is Cold-FX, or Ginseng. The two vibrant eyes are Sunkist Vitamin C tablets(500 mg a piece!). The nose, a night time Advil Cold and Sinus. Thank you fellas, you are the Elven cleric to my Orcish warrior! Anyways, I shan’t bore you any longer with the details of my illness.

As for what else is new… well it has been over a month, so I am gonna cut the ramblin’ and lay it out in list format

• Term II is well under way, my favourite course this term is probably also my craziest, Chinese Action Film. It is pretty sweet going to class and seeing a bunch of dudes duking it out with scimitars, quarter staves and always, their fists and feet, and then going to lecture and having a teacher talk about its historical/cultural significance. For an asia-maniac(with regards to games, movies, anime and noodles at least) like myself, it’s a good time for sure. Also, every film is so poorly translated it puts All Your Base Are Belong to Us to shame. Good times there for sure.
• This term has seen the emergence of a new musical genre in my iPod and speaks, Hip-Hop. That’s right, Hippity-Hip Hop, as the real g’s call it. It all started one January night where my friend Yaakov convinced me to see Notorious with him on opening night. Now, up to this point I knew only that Notorious B.I.G was a rapper. I did not yet know that he was a mad, rhyme spittin’ genius straight outta’ Brooklyn. And from Biggy on I was hooked. I mostly listen to A Tribe Called Quest, Biggy, Jay Z, and Tupac(don’t get me wrong though, East Coast(for rap, not in general) 4 Life!).
• I became the proud owner of the Xbox360. There was one being sold for dirt cheap on the McGill classifieds and I had to snag it. Currently I am playing Ninja Gaiden II and Gears of War through but there are many games and many possibilities ahead. I look forward to someday playing Fable II and Fallout 3, those games look delicious! If anyone out there has any game suggestions for me, shout em out loud, then type them in comments.

Alrighty, I am tuckered out. Goodnight!
sash

PS: cute/funny video

PPS: a cool example of when music and multimedia fuse for awesomeness(thanks Mica)

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Smooooooth Transition Saturday, Jan 3 2009

Kitty catches some Z's!

Don’t you just love it when from the moment you take off to the moment you touch down in a trans-continental flight you are fast asleep? I sure do. This flight definitely contrasted my earlier experience with Air Canada a few weeks ago. In the future I may just have to always fly sleep-deprived, seems to work wonders. Sleep has always been a fascinating topic, we discussed it briefly in my Intro to Psych class(mostly the importance of dreams) I definitely have some crazy dreams. I was on Digg a few weeks ago and saw an article containing 40 facts about sleep you probably didn’t know. Here are some of my faves:

The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses. We must fight to keep our kids off of rocking chair marathons. It is a chilling epidemic sweeping the Mid-West and portions of the South where handicraft-based artisan markets thrive and it is corrupting our children!

No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans. Hmm, personally, and without any scientific grounds to base this upon, I declare that animals do dream. All who challenge my theory will face me at dawn in fisticuffs.

Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep. I lie down for both.

Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain’s sleep-wake cycle. The human body is crazy.

Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode. Finally, an explanation for why Psyduck was such a useless Pokémon except for when he used his other, psychicly awesome yet dosey, hemisphere.

Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet. LIES! Lies and slander I tells ya!

Anyways, in other news, it’s cool to be back in Montréal. As soon as I touched down the city retaught me the meaning of cold. In a relative sense, snowy Vancouver was like Hawaii over the break. So I hitched up my scarf and made my way back to res. When I arrived, I found a ghost town, not a soul in sight. Luckily my friend Emmet from Molson was around so he came over, we got Pitas, then played games and hung out. Hopefully more people come back to res soon so we can all hop on some rocking chairs and get the party started!

Till’ next time,
sash

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A new quest Wednesday, Nov 19 2008

ipod headphones

As I sit here enjoying my strawberry yogurt and feeling the bacterial cultures replenishing in my battered intestines I came upon a realization. My musical repertoire has ceased to grow! Since grade 12 I’ve pretty much been listening to the same small, yet rocking, little group of bands and artists. Indeed, if one were to look back upon the history of music which I listen to there would be clear and sweeping phases. I had my early, pre-teen Our Lady Peace phase, then I discovered the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a phase that exists to this day, then I had my Mars Volta phase, my Pearl Jam phase, my NIN phase, and most recently my Sufjan Stevens phase. I’m jonesin’ for a new phase, a new artist to memorize verbatim, read up on wikipedia, draw a picture of, and basically devote my undying fanhood to. So, I have decided to leave it to the experts and listen to every single album, start to finish, on the Time Magazine Top 100 Albums of All Time. I think it will be fun! Here is the list. Wish me luck, cause I am a picky johansen when it comes to my tunes. Those crossed out are albums that I have listened to already at some point in my eighteen years.

The List:
2000s:
The Essential Hank Williams Collection: Turn Back the Years – Hank Williams
The College Dropout – Kanye West
Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964 – Same Cooke
Elvis: 30 No. 1 Hits – Elvis Presley
The Anthology, 1947-1972 – Muddy Waters
Kid A – Radiohead
Stankonia – Outkast
Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea – PJ Harvey
The Marshall Mathers LP – Eminem

1990s:
Sunrise – Elvis Presley
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams
Ok Computer – Radiohead
Time Out of Mind – Bob Dylan
Endtroducing… – DJ Shadow
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory – Oasis
Live Through This – Hole
My Life – Mary J. Blige
Ready to Die – The Notorious B.I.G
Slanted and Enchanted – Pavement
The Chronic – Dr. Dre
Achtung Baby – U2
Nevermind – Nirvana
Out of Time – R.E.M
Phil Spector, Back to Mono(1958-1969) – Various Artists
Ropin’ the Wind – Garth Brooks
Star Time – James Brown
The Low End Theory – A Tribe Called Quest

1980s: (This is gonna be painful)
Like a Prayer – Madonna
Paul’s Boutique – Beastie Boys
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy
Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A
Document – R.E.M
Paid in Full – Eric B and Rakim
Sign O’ The Times – Prince
The Joshua Tree – U2
Graceland – Paul Simon
Master of Puppets – Metallica
Raising Hell – Run-DMC
Legend – Bob Marley and the Wailers
Purple Rain – Prince
Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads
The Great Twenty-Eight – Chuck Berry
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Back in Black – AC/DC

1970s:
London Calling – The Clash
One Nation Under a Groove – Parliament/Funkadelic
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols – The Sex Pistols
Rumours – Fleetwood Mac
Hotel California – The Eagles
Ramones – The Ramones
Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder
Born to Run – Bruce Sprinstein
Horses – Patti Smith
Red Headed Stranger – Willie Nelson
Call Me – Al Green
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
Exile on Main Street – The Rolling Stones
Talking Book – Stevie Wonder
The Harder They Come – Jimmy Cliff and Various Artists
Blue – Joni Mitchell
Coat of Many Colours – Dolly Parton
Hunky Dory – David Bowie
Led Zeppelin IV (a.k.a Zoso) – Led Zeppelin
Paranoid – Black Sabbath
Sticky Fingers – The Rolling Stones
Tapestry – Carole King
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
Who’s Next – The Who
After the Gold Rush – Neil Young
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band
Moondance – Van Morrison

1960s:
Abbey Road – The Beatles
Bitches Brew – Miles Davis
Stand! – Sly & the Family Stone
The Band – The Band
Astral Weeks – Van Morrison
At Folsom Prison – Johnny Cash
Lady Soul – Aretha Franklin
The Beatles(“The White Album”) – The Beatles
Are You Experienced – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You – Aretha Franklin
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
The Velvet Underground and Nico – The Velvet Underground
Blonde on Blonde – Bob Dylan
Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
Revolver – The Beatles
Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan
Otis Blue – Otis Reding
Rubber Soul – The Beatles
A Love Supreme – John Coltrane
Live at the Apollo(1963) – James Brown
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music – Ray Charles
King of the Delta Blues Singers – Robert Johnson

1950s:
Kind of Blue – Miles Davis
Here’s Little Richard – Little Richard
Songs for Swingin’ Lovers – Frank Sinatra
In the Wee Small Hours – Frank Sinatra

Needless to say, I have lots of work to do. Oh and I almost forgot, in musical news, I am seeing Sam Roberts this Friday night at la nationale! This will be my 3rd time seeing Sam Roberts perform, each time better than the last. The first time I saw him was on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Canada Day. The second time was at Pemberton Festival last summer. Unless something has gone horribly wrong, I imagine he won’t disappoint. Anyways, I gotta get going on these albums. I figure I will go from the 50s on, to get the chronology of it.

Tah tah,
sash

*Update: Once I have listened to an album, I cross it off the list.

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wow Thursday, Oct 2 2008

les feuilles rouges

simply put, wow

sash

———————-

pics de la journée:

l'arbre jaune

geometry man!

ferrier building

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