Rock Plaza Central

I’ll go ahead and get the obvious out of the way . . . this song sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel, but don’t worry Rock Plaza Central have their own style and sound, just listen to other songs on their website. I tend to download a ton of songs from blogs and random sites and then give them a listen at a later date. Sometimes the bands are good enough to warrant checking out. This Toronto band definitely made the cut. Check out this tune….

Rock Plaza Central - My Children, be Joyful

Time is running out.

In about one month I will be moving to the other side of the globe for an unknown period of time. December is going to be my last chance to enjoy the best parts of being Canadian for a long while, like weather and politics. I doubt I’ll be able to talk about weather once I move to a country where the weather is exactly the same every day of the year. And I doubt people talk about politics when there’s only one party. I’m going to suck at small talk.

Joanna Newsom - Monkey & Bear

The new Joanna Newsom album is like a musical of sorts, but not a crappy musical like mamma mia. More like a Sondheim musical. Actually it’s nothing like a musical. The cyclotron has an MP3 to check out. Its worth the visit.

Amateur - Lesse Gjertsen

And supposedly he doesn't even know how to play the drums or piano. Greatest use of video editing since MI3. More info on Lasse here.

Peter Bjorn & John

This is the best mp3 you will download all week.

Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks

Massive Marketing Masters

We did it! Markstrat champions . . . of our class at least. A number of years ago A group of professors at INSEAD created a marketing strategy game called Markstrat. You are essentially put in charge of a company’s marketing division and have to compete against other classmates to increase your bottom line. My team, pictured above, won. Winning always feels good but this victory has an especially sweat taste.

Held the hand

A recent documentary has fully opened my eyes to Daniel Johnston. I’ve been listening to a number of his songs for years and didn’t know it. He’s worked with Yo La Tengo and Jad Fair and had his songs covered by countless musicians. Hell, Kurt Cobain used to sport a ‘Hi How Are You’ tee. Daniel is a little on the odd side and his music definitely isn’t for everyone, but a few little gems stand out as simply brilliant. The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a documentary worth seeing.

Download Daniel Johnston - Held the Hand

Singapore or Bust

In just under two months I will be calling Singapore home. Yeah, seriously, Singapore. The exchange program through McGill has an exchange deal with National University of Singapore and somehow I got accepted. In a few months this site is going to be littered with pictures of Asia.

Singapore is an interesting place, at least in text. The government is essentially a one-party system, but the members of the government are still elected. The government controls the media, the courts, and well everything except the economy, yet it is considered one of the least corrupt counties in the world. It’s a developed nation surrounded by developing nations and I can’t wait to get there.

Camping my way through the fall

For most people the idea of jumping in a canoe and paddling through Algonquin conjures up visions of summer time. For my team camping is a cold weather event. If it doesn’t snow we’re not having fun.

Marcus and I have started a tradition of camping amongst our friends. Every spring, before May 2-4, and every fall, around Easter, we make a 3 or 4 day canoe trip through back-country Algonquin. It’s a vacation for the mind when the seasons change. Check out some of the pics here.

The New Blog's New Post about the Blog Re-Start

After completely ignoring my old blog toronto.1051am.com for the past year and a half because of school and a whole bunch of other poor excuses, I figured there was no point paying for the site. Instead I’m moving here and getting right back into the blog scene.Go team!