it's that time of year and i have fallen victim to the dreaded top 10 list as well. in no particular order....
1 - the beekeeper - tori amos
gorgeous tori, as usual. the album was built around the concept of female divinity and female archetypes. gorgeous.
2 - if god had curves - david usher
david's first album since his split from emi. a virtual songwriting clinic, his lyrics are becoming even more multi-layerd.
3 - pretty mess - bella
ordered this from the band after seeing a review of the disc on the sadly defunct music site - umbrella. it's been a disc i've listened to again and again.
4 - secrets of the lonely - chris koster
one of canada's most unsung talents. he is a true artist with epic songs, fantastical stage antics, the most interesting voice and the scruffiest hair.
5 - with teeth - nine inch nails
gotta give it to trent again.... thank you for continuing to make music that makes me feel.
6 - witching hour - ladytron
another one i just sorta stumbled across. dark electro pop... very evocative of joy division.
7 - set yourself on fire - stars
the montreal band that's actually a toronto band. once the dust settles on all the indie-hype surrounding montreal and toronto these days - i think this band will still be standing.
8 - surgery - the warlocks
it's just like surgery. admit me now.
9 -happenstance - rachael yamagata
this actually came out in mid-2004, but i only found it in december 2004... and listented to it A LOT in 2005. she's in the singer-songwriter vein and has the most deeply raspy voice.
10 - sadly, due to lack of money, there are quite a few things that i have not yet picked up, but plan to when i get some of that yuletide money rolling in... franz ferdinand, the libertines, neil young, stellastarr, imogen heap, controller.controller, and on and on.
[music | david usher, "white christmas"]
12.23.2005
the lightening of the dark
ok.... it's been a while since i wrote here... but believe me - i have spared us all a boring, whinging litany of how strange my life has become. to make it less long and more short for the month of december i have been doing some hourly-wage work for a company that processes A LOT of paper. a lot. and i've been doing exciting things like alphabetizing giant stacks of paper by company name and then taking a calculator and adding up all the totals of all the same-named companies together. urgh. i know - it makes no sense.
and this brain-rot has the unattractive side effect of hurting me. seriously. i have some sort of strange nerve/muscle thing happening in the left side of my rib-cage. i think the constant sorting of papers with my left hand has done this to me. yech. guys, be warned, excessive repetitive hand motion can lead to a searing and rather painful ribcage. who knew? on the bright side - my doctor gave me a prescription for tylenol 3. she wanted to give me 40 (?!?) for one week. i said i wouldn't need that many. 40. for one week. that seems excessive. maybe i'm just too squeaky clean.
right now i'm putting off washing dishes (so that the cat sitters won't think i'm a total slob) and then calling a cab to come pick me up to take me to the airport tomorrow morning. yes, that's right - i'm headed to edmonton. where they actually don't have any snow on the ground. here in toronto we have absolute mountains of the stuff. it's a total reversal of wintery-fortune. of course the nice weather in edmonton has made me pack much less wool and heavy-duty winter clothes. normally when i'm back home, i freeze the entire time and end up wearing layers and layers. hopefully my choices don't leave me missing the warmth.
earlier today i caught ed the sock's annual festival of frommage and this year wasn't nearly as cruel or cutting as it could of been. i think the videos are all just so bad that ed has lost the will to massacre. regardless, there was a great line that actually made me laugh out loud. it was during the review of gwen stefani's horrid video, "rich girl". ed said something along the lines of, "it's funny that they're singing about not having money when the budget for this video could feed a third world nation for a year, or pay for all canadian videos for one year."
blessed yule, merry christmas, happy hanukkah, joyful commercialism, or whatever it is that you may celebrate this time of year.
[music | stellastarr, "love and longing"]
and this brain-rot has the unattractive side effect of hurting me. seriously. i have some sort of strange nerve/muscle thing happening in the left side of my rib-cage. i think the constant sorting of papers with my left hand has done this to me. yech. guys, be warned, excessive repetitive hand motion can lead to a searing and rather painful ribcage. who knew? on the bright side - my doctor gave me a prescription for tylenol 3. she wanted to give me 40 (?!?) for one week. i said i wouldn't need that many. 40. for one week. that seems excessive. maybe i'm just too squeaky clean.
right now i'm putting off washing dishes (so that the cat sitters won't think i'm a total slob) and then calling a cab to come pick me up to take me to the airport tomorrow morning. yes, that's right - i'm headed to edmonton. where they actually don't have any snow on the ground. here in toronto we have absolute mountains of the stuff. it's a total reversal of wintery-fortune. of course the nice weather in edmonton has made me pack much less wool and heavy-duty winter clothes. normally when i'm back home, i freeze the entire time and end up wearing layers and layers. hopefully my choices don't leave me missing the warmth.
earlier today i caught ed the sock's annual festival of frommage and this year wasn't nearly as cruel or cutting as it could of been. i think the videos are all just so bad that ed has lost the will to massacre. regardless, there was a great line that actually made me laugh out loud. it was during the review of gwen stefani's horrid video, "rich girl". ed said something along the lines of, "it's funny that they're singing about not having money when the budget for this video could feed a third world nation for a year, or pay for all canadian videos for one year."
blessed yule, merry christmas, happy hanukkah, joyful commercialism, or whatever it is that you may celebrate this time of year.
[music | stellastarr, "love and longing"]
12.11.2005
the week that was
having a bit of a sleep in on a sunday morning becomes nearly impossible when you have a kitten. behind my closed door i hear the most pathetic mewing and scratching at the door and digging at the crack under the door. and you'd almost think that after a bit she'd get the hint and wander away. oh, no. not our zelda. she literally just won't stop. she goes on and on and on. so i finally get up, cuddle with her, feed her, play with her and then two minutes later she's upstairs doing the same routine on my roomie's door. there's just no winning with zelda. it's almost like she's saying, 'there's a whole day of fun and playing and annoying to do. get outta bed!'
this past week i've been feeling almost like i've been in career purgatory (yes, i have escaped my early catholic upbringing, but obviously, not completely!) i've been at an old employer of mine. it's a music licensing agency and there is a lot of paper there with unit sales, percentages and total amounts payable. publishing and copyright is quite a tricky thing to understand. i think it's the most least understood aspect of the music industry, in fact, i've worked for at least 2 different publishers who, i'm sure, didn't understand all the moving pieces either!
basically, this past week i've been doing whatever they needed me to do. which, unfortunately for me, consists of clearing up old projects that they haven't had the bodies to do earlier. so, i've been sorting 8 quarters (2 years) worth of royalty statements from zomba music payable to a large number of publisher clients represented by the agency i'm now at. and by sorting, i mean taking a stack of papers about 5 inches high and alphabetizing them by publisher name. and also making sure that any statements that total $0.00 are out of the pile and placed in a separate pile. then i need to photo copy them. and repeat this 8 times until all the quarters are complete. and just to further illustrate the tedium i'm now dwelling in, then i have to merge all quarters together and total all the totals. urgh.
at least i'm not 2 of my friends who called me this week to let me know that that they'd just been fired. one on tuesday and one on wednesday. and no, they don't work at the same company as each other, in fact, they don't even know each other. one had just started as an associate manager at a large tier one company in their online marketing department. after 3.5 weeks she was let go. turns out one week after she started, the hiring manager went to hr and said she wanted my friend to go. the for the next 2.5 weeks hr and the hiring manger's manager tried to keep my friend, but alas... it was not to be. sucks.
the second person to be fired (the wednesday gurl) was someone i worked with at a publishing company. she is from switzerland and about 1.5 years ago this company had gone to the trouble of completing all the paper work and going through all the legal fees of getting her to work for them. because she spoke 5 languages, she was doing all of their international licensing - and from what i could see, was quite good at her job. i haven't actually had the chance to talk to laura yet to get the details, but he message did say 'fired'. urgh. the place we worked was an absolute hell-hole. i left after 3 months and was very happy to do so. basically though, the owner was one of those folk who had worked in publishing for about 20 years (he was an entertainment lawyer first) and that i don't feel really understands the basic concepts of publishing.
a ray of shiney happy light happened on friday evening though. i had an interview at a record label earlier in the week and got a message back on friday. of course, i missed the call and now have to wait until monday to speak to them, but i'm hoping the news is that i'm on the short list and being called back for a second interview. the job would be incredible with new challenges every day and it would be very different than most things i'd done before. it would also include a car allowance. after living here in toronto for 15 years, it would be strange to finally have a car again. not to mention quite convenient for picking up groceries and such!
it would be scary working for a major label again (especially one that HASN'T merged yet), but at least you know that you are given a package if the wheels fall off! but then again, i am not trying to lend any negative energy to this... only positive thoughts. i know, sounds a bit like i'm cracked and some new-age believer-in-angels (for the record, i so am not!) but i do believe that if you make something your reality that it becomes your reality. so no more thinking that i have a black star following me and more thinking that i'm a force of nature that just can't be denied what she wants. ;->
[music | david usher, "white christmas"]
this past week i've been feeling almost like i've been in career purgatory (yes, i have escaped my early catholic upbringing, but obviously, not completely!) i've been at an old employer of mine. it's a music licensing agency and there is a lot of paper there with unit sales, percentages and total amounts payable. publishing and copyright is quite a tricky thing to understand. i think it's the most least understood aspect of the music industry, in fact, i've worked for at least 2 different publishers who, i'm sure, didn't understand all the moving pieces either!
basically, this past week i've been doing whatever they needed me to do. which, unfortunately for me, consists of clearing up old projects that they haven't had the bodies to do earlier. so, i've been sorting 8 quarters (2 years) worth of royalty statements from zomba music payable to a large number of publisher clients represented by the agency i'm now at. and by sorting, i mean taking a stack of papers about 5 inches high and alphabetizing them by publisher name. and also making sure that any statements that total $0.00 are out of the pile and placed in a separate pile. then i need to photo copy them. and repeat this 8 times until all the quarters are complete. and just to further illustrate the tedium i'm now dwelling in, then i have to merge all quarters together and total all the totals. urgh.
at least i'm not 2 of my friends who called me this week to let me know that that they'd just been fired. one on tuesday and one on wednesday. and no, they don't work at the same company as each other, in fact, they don't even know each other. one had just started as an associate manager at a large tier one company in their online marketing department. after 3.5 weeks she was let go. turns out one week after she started, the hiring manager went to hr and said she wanted my friend to go. the for the next 2.5 weeks hr and the hiring manger's manager tried to keep my friend, but alas... it was not to be. sucks.
the second person to be fired (the wednesday gurl) was someone i worked with at a publishing company. she is from switzerland and about 1.5 years ago this company had gone to the trouble of completing all the paper work and going through all the legal fees of getting her to work for them. because she spoke 5 languages, she was doing all of their international licensing - and from what i could see, was quite good at her job. i haven't actually had the chance to talk to laura yet to get the details, but he message did say 'fired'. urgh. the place we worked was an absolute hell-hole. i left after 3 months and was very happy to do so. basically though, the owner was one of those folk who had worked in publishing for about 20 years (he was an entertainment lawyer first) and that i don't feel really understands the basic concepts of publishing.
a ray of shiney happy light happened on friday evening though. i had an interview at a record label earlier in the week and got a message back on friday. of course, i missed the call and now have to wait until monday to speak to them, but i'm hoping the news is that i'm on the short list and being called back for a second interview. the job would be incredible with new challenges every day and it would be very different than most things i'd done before. it would also include a car allowance. after living here in toronto for 15 years, it would be strange to finally have a car again. not to mention quite convenient for picking up groceries and such!
it would be scary working for a major label again (especially one that HASN'T merged yet), but at least you know that you are given a package if the wheels fall off! but then again, i am not trying to lend any negative energy to this... only positive thoughts. i know, sounds a bit like i'm cracked and some new-age believer-in-angels (for the record, i so am not!) but i do believe that if you make something your reality that it becomes your reality. so no more thinking that i have a black star following me and more thinking that i'm a force of nature that just can't be denied what she wants. ;->
[music | david usher, "white christmas"]
12.01.2005
the good and the not good
interview confirmed for monday afternoon.
data entry/filing work confirmed for tuesday (i need money, it's money).
another interview confirmed for the following monday afternoon.
divination tonight.
brunch with my old project management team on sunday.
art show on sunday, where i may possibly be doing some tarot readings for money.
these things are all good... yey!
and then i came across this bad bit of news. tim burton is amazing and i love his work (well, except for planet of the apes, but that's another story) but please... do not work with jim carrey. i really wanted to see the lemony snicket movie, but didn't. my cherished childhood memories of the grinch were dashed when the movie version starring carrey came out. i know, he's canadian and i'm supposed to like him just because of that... but seriously... tim. don't do a movie with him.
[music | the lovely feathers, "fudgicle"]
data entry/filing work confirmed for tuesday (i need money, it's money).
another interview confirmed for the following monday afternoon.
divination tonight.
brunch with my old project management team on sunday.
art show on sunday, where i may possibly be doing some tarot readings for money.
these things are all good... yey!
and then i came across this bad bit of news. tim burton is amazing and i love his work (well, except for planet of the apes, but that's another story) but please... do not work with jim carrey. i really wanted to see the lemony snicket movie, but didn't. my cherished childhood memories of the grinch were dashed when the movie version starring carrey came out. i know, he's canadian and i'm supposed to like him just because of that... but seriously... tim. don't do a movie with him.
[music | the lovely feathers, "fudgicle"]
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