Random observations, teachings and musings of a well trained cubicle superhero.
http://j1.ca
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Death Set
Stream Album here : Morphius Records
Saturday May 17 Toronto @ Anti (formerly Spin Gallery - above the social)
The Death Set
Sunday 18 Toronto @ The Social
The Death Set w/ Bonde do Role
I dunno...some of it is unlistenable, some of it too poppy and catchy...but there's something to be said for the live show. Take 'Down with Webster's live show at the Sound Academy. I loved it, rushed home and thought I bought the wrong album. Some bands just weren't meant to be listened to easily on a sofa. It should be thrown at you, along with elbows, legs and beer bottles. If you've ever see the Toronto band Bush League, you know what I mean.
The date is a long way off, but set your blackberries. this one will sell out.
The Toronto Star:March 30th
• The Death Set, Worldwide. This whole shouty-lo-fi-punk-with-drum-machines trip has gone on long enough that it must mean something when a band gets you to pay attention to it again. The Death Set makes me think of Wire as rambunctious teenagers with a slightly less arcane sense of humour, and I like that. Out April 22.
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/407208
Thursday, March 20, 2008
http://www.markverhaagen.com/
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mr.Scruff @ WrongBar
Thu Mar 27th 2008 22:00
Toronto
After 2 great gigs at revival, i return to play in the small but perfectly formed wrong bar. really looking forward to it, as my recent toronto gigs have been fantastic! they also have a funktion one sound system, for a proper musical experience..
Thursday march 27, 2008
Wrong Bar
1279 Queen St. W.,
Toronto, ON
M6K 1L6
10pm-3:30am
Ticket prices:
Adv: $15
On Door: $20
Ticket outlets - rotate this, cosmos, play de record, delphic, soundscapes
Online @ milkaudio.com
$15adv/$20door
Toronto
After 2 great gigs at revival, i return to play in the small but perfectly formed wrong bar. really looking forward to it, as my recent toronto gigs have been fantastic! they also have a funktion one sound system, for a proper musical experience..
Thursday march 27, 2008
Wrong Bar
1279 Queen St. W.,
Toronto, ON
M6K 1L6
10pm-3:30am
Ticket prices:
Adv: $15
On Door: $20
Ticket outlets - rotate this, cosmos, play de record, delphic, soundscapes
Online @ milkaudio.com
$15adv/$20door
Monday, March 17, 2008
Happy St. Paddy's
Friday, March 14, 2008
March 14. 2008
I dig on Digg - What's the sense in social bookmarking?
Jay, a.k.a. “The Cubicle Superhero”, is a self-professed tech junkie with a passion for music and culture Email Jay
I've got cool friends. I'm not bragging, just the opposite. I'm so painfully uncool that I try, at every opportunity, to surround myself with as many hip, talented and clever people as I can. I hope to effectively leech as much cool as I can off them as possible.
Effectively that's what the subject of today's story lets us do; leech off the cool finds of others, for our own amusement. Back in August of 2005, at the urging of the aforementioned cool friends, I attended a "meetup" for fans of a TV show then called "The ScreenSavers," which (at that time) was co-hosted by a dude about my age, Kevin Rose. I had the pleasure of hoisting a few with Kevin afterwards while talking about a "little side project" he had been putting together, Digg.com.
Fast forward to 2008, and a post to a major technology blog, "TechCrunch," suggest that both Microsoft and Google are positioning themselves for a buyout of said project. Given that a previous offer fell in around the same amount, this totally believable (but later debunked) rumour quoted a potential payday just under 300 MILLION dollars. Jeez.
So what's all the fuss about? Call it social media, collaborative web-crawling or shared bookmarks. There are a few major players in the game: reddit.com, digg.com, stumbleupon.com, de.licio.us and the uber-leet slashdot.org. Incidentally, de.licio.us, was acquired by Yahoo! in December of 2005.
The concept is deceivingly simple. Let's say that through the course of normal browsing you happen (stumble if you will) upon something you think is cool and you'd like to share with your peers. Through a simple web interface any of these sites will enable you to note this site to your own online list of bookmarks, with a brief description. This basic functionality is somewhat like Rogers Yahoo! Bookmarks. Your friends can now browse your bookmarks and share theirs' with you.
This is where the fun begins. Digg, Yahoo's MyWeb and the brand, spanking new Yahoo! Buzz take this concept further by rolling in a ranking component.
Digg has moved ahead of the pack, defining itself as an Internet destination by publishing the "most dug" sites to the front page. Subscribed users can click through the sites their friends have added to their personal Digg pages and provide their opinions by choosing Digg or Bury. A dig votes the site closer to the popularity list, and closer to the front page. Buried behind that front page lay the pages listing less dug sites. Any user can select the "Bury" option to push the listing lower in the rankings. It's mob rule on a grand scale and it packs a punch. The "Digg effect" can cripple servers with sudden unexpected traffic spikes associated with a top ranking.
As Digg grows, it has become more than a place where nerdy web surfers hang out to share cool sites. Digg founders are now planning regular Digg townhall meetings, where subscribers can meet up in person or virtually through online discussions. Just want the gist? There's even a rogue, beer-fueled video podcast listing the top websites dug that week. Admittedly, the language is R rated at moments, that is, when the language is intelligible at all. Ahh beer.
So many sites doing the same thing, what makes them different?
What makes de.licio.us different, besides its sparse appearance and strange name, is that it was the first to allow users to add the site to their de.licio.us bookmark list and add tags to help them search them out.
Tags are very useful and function like key words. If you had a list of 1,000 links, it would be very difficult for you to find a specific link. What can you do? Well, create a tag so that you can search for it easier.
Let's say you wanted to bookmark this super informative article on one of these sites. You would copy and paste the address and then you can add tags to help you find it. "Cubical Superhero" would be a great tag, so when you type it in, Tech Mates would appear so you can refresh your memory with my pearls of wisdom.
This tagging system now is available on most of these social bookmarking sites, making it easy for Joe Average to hang out with the coolest sites on the web that interest him.
Stumble Upon lives on your computer in the form of a toolbar, making it super easy to add sites. The real power of this service is the stumble button. After telling the service a bit about yourself and your preferences, clicking Stumble will randomly take you to a page that somebody else had "Stumbled Upon" that matches your interests.
Reddit, owned by Wired Magazine, seems to follows the same style guide as de.licio.us, and is a simple site where users submit web pages and can move it up and down the list through their votes. No comments, no tags, a great site to discover random websites.
If you're as painfully uncool as I am, then check out these sites so you can run with the cool crowd for a bit and leech off their finds.
Effectively that's what the subject of today's story lets us do; leech off the cool finds of others, for our own amusement. Back in August of 2005, at the urging of the aforementioned cool friends, I attended a "meetup" for fans of a TV show then called "The ScreenSavers," which (at that time) was co-hosted by a dude about my age, Kevin Rose. I had the pleasure of hoisting a few with Kevin afterwards while talking about a "little side project" he had been putting together, Digg.com.
Fast forward to 2008, and a post to a major technology blog, "TechCrunch," suggest that both Microsoft and Google are positioning themselves for a buyout of said project. Given that a previous offer fell in around the same amount, this totally believable (but later debunked) rumour quoted a potential payday just under 300 MILLION dollars. Jeez.
So what's all the fuss about? Call it social media, collaborative web-crawling or shared bookmarks. There are a few major players in the game: reddit.com, digg.com, stumbleupon.com, de.licio.us and the uber-leet slashdot.org. Incidentally, de.licio.us, was acquired by Yahoo! in December of 2005.
The concept is deceivingly simple. Let's say that through the course of normal browsing you happen (stumble if you will) upon something you think is cool and you'd like to share with your peers. Through a simple web interface any of these sites will enable you to note this site to your own online list of bookmarks, with a brief description. This basic functionality is somewhat like Rogers Yahoo! Bookmarks. Your friends can now browse your bookmarks and share theirs' with you.
This is where the fun begins. Digg, Yahoo's MyWeb and the brand, spanking new Yahoo! Buzz take this concept further by rolling in a ranking component.
Digg has moved ahead of the pack, defining itself as an Internet destination by publishing the "most dug" sites to the front page. Subscribed users can click through the sites their friends have added to their personal Digg pages and provide their opinions by choosing Digg or Bury. A dig votes the site closer to the popularity list, and closer to the front page. Buried behind that front page lay the pages listing less dug sites. Any user can select the "Bury" option to push the listing lower in the rankings. It's mob rule on a grand scale and it packs a punch. The "Digg effect" can cripple servers with sudden unexpected traffic spikes associated with a top ranking.
As Digg grows, it has become more than a place where nerdy web surfers hang out to share cool sites. Digg founders are now planning regular Digg townhall meetings, where subscribers can meet up in person or virtually through online discussions. Just want the gist? There's even a rogue, beer-fueled video podcast listing the top websites dug that week. Admittedly, the language is R rated at moments, that is, when the language is intelligible at all. Ahh beer.
So many sites doing the same thing, what makes them different?
What makes de.licio.us different, besides its sparse appearance and strange name, is that it was the first to allow users to add the site to their de.licio.us bookmark list and add tags to help them search them out.
Tags are very useful and function like key words. If you had a list of 1,000 links, it would be very difficult for you to find a specific link. What can you do? Well, create a tag so that you can search for it easier.
Let's say you wanted to bookmark this super informative article on one of these sites. You would copy and paste the address and then you can add tags to help you find it. "Cubical Superhero" would be a great tag, so when you type it in, Tech Mates would appear so you can refresh your memory with my pearls of wisdom.
This tagging system now is available on most of these social bookmarking sites, making it easy for Joe Average to hang out with the coolest sites on the web that interest him.
Stumble Upon lives on your computer in the form of a toolbar, making it super easy to add sites. The real power of this service is the stumble button. After telling the service a bit about yourself and your preferences, clicking Stumble will randomly take you to a page that somebody else had "Stumbled Upon" that matches your interests.
Reddit, owned by Wired Magazine, seems to follows the same style guide as de.licio.us, and is a simple site where users submit web pages and can move it up and down the list through their votes. No comments, no tags, a great site to discover random websites.
If you're as painfully uncool as I am, then check out these sites so you can run with the cool crowd for a bit and leech off their finds.
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Thursday, March 13, 2008
Crazy time with Jtron
It'll be interesting to see how much of this weekend I actually attend, but tentatively, here's the lineup....starting tonight..
Thursday
Poursuite @ Harbourfront Worldstage 9:00pm
Marcelle Hudon (Quebec)
This Montreal artist, known for her work on popular television shows, is an innovator of puppetry and integrates it into all aspects of her work. Equally at home in the visual arts as in the performing arts, this master puppeteer is a formidable manipulator of fictions. She takes an intimate approach to material and motifs by creating enchanting portraits through puppetry, live music, live video, and shadow play.
Friday
Cooped @ Harbourfront WorldStage 8pm
Spymonkey (UK)
Premiere Dance Theatre
Jaw-achingly funny! — The List
Engaging, ridiculous and very very funny… — Montreal Gazette
A fawn-like heroine, a sinister estate owner, a smarmy lawyer and an eccentric butler converge upon an English country house, and surprise…mayhem ensues! Spoofing the pulp romance novella, this pop culture parody is rife with sight gags, naughtiness (…and nudity!), slapstick, and hilarious musical numbers that bring this gothic thriller to life.
P-Tapia's 90th Bday Party at Tattoo
Concept: Collaborating club kings Charles Khabouth (Ultra Supper Club, The Guvernment) and Nick Di Donato (C Lounge, Velvet Underground) aim to please Toronto headbangers with this ode to a grittier era when men rocked tight leather, worshipped hairspray and bit off bats’ heads with abandon. Not that the venue itself has much of a filth factor: chic booths border a large dance floor and stage, where the likes of Dragonette have already performed.
Crowd: Neither as goth nor as grunge as one would imagine. Instead, Abercrombie-bedecked guys and gals unleash their inner Ozzies to a roster of rock usually reserved for retro night. Putting the sound quality of your old cassette collection to shame, classics from Zep, Guns n’ Roses, Daft Punk and Joan Jett blend with newer offerings from The Strokes and The Killers.
Cocktail: The Jäger Bomb—a shot of Jägermeister dropped into a tumbler of Red Bull—is a saviour for the weary and whiplashed.
Tattoo Rock Parlour, 567 Queen St. W., 416-703-5488. $5–$10. Tuesday to Saturday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m
>from Toronto Life
Saturday
Unsung Bboy Battles @ The Brigantine HarbourFront 4pm
Aba Entertainment (Toronto)
March 15
The Brigantine Room
Devoted to hip-hop culture, specifically the break-dance element, this local company stages "battles" to highlight Canada's hidden talent. These performances showcase this remarkable discipline that combines artistry and athleticism and prove that Aba Entertainment is changing the face of Bboying in Canada.
aba-ent.com
Mike Doughty's Band w/ The Panderers @ Mod Club
Mike Doughty's Band will embark on a six-week North American headlining tour in March, supporting Doughty's new album Golden Delicious. Kicking off March 12 in Northampton, Mass., the tour continues across the United States and Canada, stopping in Toronto this Saturday March 15th. Led by Doughty on vocals and guitars, the band also includes John Kirby (Black Eyed Peas) on keyboards, Pete McNeal (Cake, Jem, Gary Jules) on drums and Andrew "Scrap" Livingston on bass
NOËL NANTON @ TOI BAR
(NRK, Honchos Records)
Noël counts Osunlade, Joe Clausell, Masters at Work, Nick Holder, Anthony Nicholson, and Moody Man among his many inspirations. He has been making music with the same keyboard for the past 12 years (Ensoniq EPS 01) to achieve a sound he describes as 'kinda raw and dirty.' "An ideal house track is deep and soulful. The percussions alone should be danceable," says Nanton. Nanton's full-length album, fu.cha cul.cha (NRK/Honchos Records) is a mixture of live and sample-based deep house music with afro-latin-carribean-jazz twists. fu.cha cul.cha debuted to rave reviews from music magazines around the world including IDJ Magazine and Mix Magazine. Recent projects include remixes and original tracks featuring vocal garage music, live sounds and broken beats. He continues to work with top T.O. talent like Nick Holder, Sandi Flores, Sködt McNalty, Jenny Katz and Sacha Williamson.
Do not miss this rare appearance by one of Toronto's house music heroes.
Along with Residents:
PATRICK PAREDES (Sustainable Recordings)
BASIC SOUL UNIT (aka Stuart Li, LOTD)
JASON ULRICH (LOTD)
March 15th, 2008 at Mod Club Theatre in Toronto.
Thursday
Poursuite @ Harbourfront Worldstage 9:00pm
Marcelle Hudon (Quebec)
This Montreal artist, known for her work on popular television shows, is an innovator of puppetry and integrates it into all aspects of her work. Equally at home in the visual arts as in the performing arts, this master puppeteer is a formidable manipulator of fictions. She takes an intimate approach to material and motifs by creating enchanting portraits through puppetry, live music, live video, and shadow play.
Friday
Cooped @ Harbourfront WorldStage 8pm
Spymonkey (UK)
Premiere Dance Theatre
Jaw-achingly funny! — The List
Engaging, ridiculous and very very funny… — Montreal Gazette
A fawn-like heroine, a sinister estate owner, a smarmy lawyer and an eccentric butler converge upon an English country house, and surprise…mayhem ensues! Spoofing the pulp romance novella, this pop culture parody is rife with sight gags, naughtiness (…and nudity!), slapstick, and hilarious musical numbers that bring this gothic thriller to life.
P-Tapia's 90th Bday Party at Tattoo
Concept: Collaborating club kings Charles Khabouth (Ultra Supper Club, The Guvernment) and Nick Di Donato (C Lounge, Velvet Underground) aim to please Toronto headbangers with this ode to a grittier era when men rocked tight leather, worshipped hairspray and bit off bats’ heads with abandon. Not that the venue itself has much of a filth factor: chic booths border a large dance floor and stage, where the likes of Dragonette have already performed.
Crowd: Neither as goth nor as grunge as one would imagine. Instead, Abercrombie-bedecked guys and gals unleash their inner Ozzies to a roster of rock usually reserved for retro night. Putting the sound quality of your old cassette collection to shame, classics from Zep, Guns n’ Roses, Daft Punk and Joan Jett blend with newer offerings from The Strokes and The Killers.
Cocktail: The Jäger Bomb—a shot of Jägermeister dropped into a tumbler of Red Bull—is a saviour for the weary and whiplashed.
Tattoo Rock Parlour, 567 Queen St. W., 416-703-5488. $5–$10. Tuesday to Saturday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m
>from Toronto Life
Saturday
Unsung Bboy Battles @ The Brigantine HarbourFront 4pm
Aba Entertainment (Toronto)
March 15
The Brigantine Room
Devoted to hip-hop culture, specifically the break-dance element, this local company stages "battles" to highlight Canada's hidden talent. These performances showcase this remarkable discipline that combines artistry and athleticism and prove that Aba Entertainment is changing the face of Bboying in Canada.
aba-ent.com
Mike Doughty's Band w/ The Panderers @ Mod Club
Mike Doughty's Band will embark on a six-week North American headlining tour in March, supporting Doughty's new album Golden Delicious. Kicking off March 12 in Northampton, Mass., the tour continues across the United States and Canada, stopping in Toronto this Saturday March 15th. Led by Doughty on vocals and guitars, the band also includes John Kirby (Black Eyed Peas) on keyboards, Pete McNeal (Cake, Jem, Gary Jules) on drums and Andrew "Scrap" Livingston on bass
NOËL NANTON @ TOI BAR
(NRK, Honchos Records)
Noël counts Osunlade, Joe Clausell, Masters at Work, Nick Holder, Anthony Nicholson, and Moody Man among his many inspirations. He has been making music with the same keyboard for the past 12 years (Ensoniq EPS 01) to achieve a sound he describes as 'kinda raw and dirty.' "An ideal house track is deep and soulful. The percussions alone should be danceable," says Nanton. Nanton's full-length album, fu.cha cul.cha (NRK/Honchos Records) is a mixture of live and sample-based deep house music with afro-latin-carribean-jazz twists. fu.cha cul.cha debuted to rave reviews from music magazines around the world including IDJ Magazine and Mix Magazine. Recent projects include remixes and original tracks featuring vocal garage music, live sounds and broken beats. He continues to work with top T.O. talent like Nick Holder, Sandi Flores, Sködt McNalty, Jenny Katz and Sacha Williamson.
Do not miss this rare appearance by one of Toronto's house music heroes.
Along with Residents:
PATRICK PAREDES (Sustainable Recordings)
BASIC SOUL UNIT (aka Stuart Li, LOTD)
JASON ULRICH (LOTD)
March 15th, 2008 at Mod Club Theatre in Toronto.
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