I've been waiting on you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ee4bfu_t3c

If you haven't listened to Future Islands yet, click on this link and be riveted.  Their Letterman performance really gave them some momentum.  Their album Singles taps into this idea of re-purposing 80's sounds and instrumentation into something fresh (kind of like Destroyer did on the Kaputt album).  Plus, the lead singer is channeling something intense when he performs.

Some people are giving the band flack, saying the only reason for their popularity is the spectacle of (googled his name) Samuel Herring's dancing.  Well, it definitely helps.  If it helps expose people to the music, why not?  A lot of bands are kind of bland when it comes to the performance side of things.  I remember seeing Broken Bells, and the whole band just kind of...stood there and played. No real crowd interaction, just looking at their instruments.

Can't Sleep...

It's 3:05 on a Saturday morning and I can't sleep.  Might as well get used to it: the baby will be here in 4 weeks.  Anyway, I've always been an insomniac, so now that can be harnessed for something more than meandering blog posts.
Most parents will tell you about an epiphany, where the reality that they were having a baby fully manifested itself.  I imagine it's an intimidating moment for most people.  It's ridiculous, but that moment happened to me today when we bought diapers for the first time.  Diapers are now a commodity.  Soon I'll be comparison shopping diapers on amazon and trying to score the best deal.  I'll discuss diaper brands and their respective quality to cost ratios with other parents.  This is a picture of the diapers:

84 diapers for $9.99.  I wonder if this is a good deal?  Can you buy diapers at Dollarama?  This is something I'll have to look into. 

Changes

I haven't posted on this blog since we left Korea.  Moving halfway around the world can be distracting. But no, that's not it.  I'm just not blog material.  Social media has never resonated with me, so I'll just have to try harder.
Big changes.  Son on the way.  Career change.  Halfway through life (according to Statistics Canada at least).  And things make less and less sense (which is okay).  Here is an ultrasound picture of the wee baby Logan. 

Why Logan?  It resonates more than the other names.  That's it.  It also belongs to an X-Men character and a really tall mountain which is cool.  I seriously entertained the name "Magnum" for a while, but then people reminded me that this is not what a rational person would choose.  He looks sort of alien in this pic, but it should be interesting to see his reaction when he sees this years from now.
I'm not a teacher anymore, which feels like the right thing.  The thing with teaching that started to wear on me: it's the sales pitch.  When you are teaching people that are motivated to learn and willing to meet you halfway, it's the greatest job in the world.  There's a kind of magic in that connection.  It's almost addictive in its own way.  But when you have to teach people that don't meet you halfway, it's like sales.  You're constantly fighting for the attention of your students and some people have this "take it or leave it" attitude that sort of wears you out after a while. 

Random Frank Zappa quote: "You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream."

Random Photos

 Coba in vertigo...

 Colin in vertigo...

 You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave...

 My Korean cousin Min Woo.  This picture has not been altered in any way...

The actual tree of life, I shit you not...

Whooooooah!

MBV

After 22 years, My Bloody Valentine finally release their 3rd album, m b v.  No one else makes music like this, well worth checking out.  If the first listen doesn't resonate with you, give it a few more chances.  There is so much going on in one track that it takes a while to process, but when it all comes together, just imagine Christopher Walken saying "Wow!"  Link to the track "new you" below.

http://youtu.be/VpoOjoiYcWY

DOOM aka MF DOOM aka Viktor Vaughn aka King Geedorah

Been listening to a lot of DOOM lately (all caps).  This guy is a prodigy: rhymes, creativity, vocabulary, obscure references.  What other artist can change his name every album or send body doubles to perform at his concerts and still be successful?  If you want to check out his back catalog, do a google on Viktor Vaughn or King Geedorah.  If you want to go back to the beginning, try KMD (he goes by the name Zev Love X).

Mr. Hood

Vaudeville Villain

Take Me To Your Leader

DOOM uses some really unorthodox samples.  Check out this link to see how he sampled G-Force ("Gatchaman" in Japan) for one of the tracks off of Take Me To Your Leader.
http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/36988/King%20Geedorah-The%20Fine%20Print_Bob%20Sakuma-Score%20From%20Gatchaman/