Dust and Nations

Self-Confidence in a Cover Letter

2012-01-06T22:28:00.001-08:00

Today I had the wonderful experience of writing a cover letter in 5 minutes. The words flowed, the experience came together in a coherent picture of a young man who was ready to take on the world from his potential seat in a high-rise in downtown Calgary. I sold myself by identifying the right idiosyncrasies and painting them as exactly what the company needed. Lately, writing a cover letter has not been so easy.

There is something very disconcerting about not being able to write an effective cover letter about yourself. Human adults spend more of their waking hours working than engaged in any other activity (and for most of us, working surpasses sleep as well), and we define ourselves partially by our work life. So, when try you to sit down and put your good qualities on paper, and you fail, it does not feel good. You try to think of what would make you a good employee, and you come up short. What is happening is that, in essence, you have lost faith in yourself as a worker.

When you write your cover letter despite this feeling, your negativity will show through. For myself, I go through the rigmarole of stating my experience and how it ties into what the employer is looking for. Of course, this is what you are supposed to do, but it ends up looking uninspired. Instead of weaving a narrative about your experience, it ends up reading like a truncated list of unnatural connections between experience and expectations. With more and more companies using the Internet as their primary source of potential candidates, the cover letter is your first line of attack; it's the only place your personality can shine through. An uninspired cover letter doesn't exactly .. ahem.. inspire a positive response. So what happens is a self-fulfilling prophecy, where a lack of response to your jobs undermines the same confidence that you need to write a good cover letter. This is unfortunately the pattern I have been stuck in for a little while. Does anybody else know what this feels like?

Thank goodness then for the occasional flash of inspiration that allows you to rise above this. The cover letter I wrote today happened in a mere 5 minutes. I proofread it twice and then sent it off. I know it's good. I know it's good precisely because it only took 5 minutes. I had that sort of intense, pleasurable concentration you feel when you are doing something you truly enjoy. For me, that usually comes when I am wall-climbing, or reading an inspiring book, or even writing this blog right now, but today it happened when I was writing a cover letter.

That's not to say that you should write a cover letter in 5 minutes. Never underestimate the value of planning what you are going to say ahead of time, and even outlining your cover letter (or any formal correspondence) before you start writing. It only took my five minutes because I have been writing 3-6 cover letters per week for about 3 months now, and even though many of them were uninspired, I still have a good idea of what I want to say. In fact, I am sure that part of my inspiration came from all of the mundane practice I have had at writing cover letters over the past while.

The point of all of this is that even when we are caught in negative patterns, I believe there is always a way to overcome them. If the bad news is that sometimes we get trapped in these negative-feedback loops, then the good news is that chances are inspiration will come one day and help us out. But don't sit there waiting for it. Inspiration is not a flash of lightning that strikes, coming out of nowhere and changing your life forever all in one moment. Inspiration is the culmination of hard work and practice and hard work and practice. Whatever your goal is, whatever your current equivalent of my cover letters is right now, you have it in your power to succeed.

Down With Big Brother

2010-12-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

"Down with Big Brother" by Michael Dobbs is a book about the fall of Communism in the USSR and the empire at its periphery. Anybody who has hung out with me lately will know that I have taken a considerable interest in Russia and its history. You don't, however, need to have a special interest in Russia to make this book worthwhile. Michael Dobbs was a reporter in many of the countries of which he narrates the story, making the story at times very in-depth and personal, or at least as personal as one can make a story about Communist leaders and party-members whose power was traditionally derived from their remoteness from society. The series of ideological, economic, and reformist blows that Communism took that eventually caused it to collapse make for an epic story; so much so that I found it hard to believe that a lot of this took place in my lifetime.

The story starts at the beginning of the end; in 1979, the USSR took it upon itself to invade Afghanistan to prop up an unpopular government in a country with a long tradition of repelling foreign invaders. From there the reader is taken through a chain of events which are remarkable for the very fact that if some of these links did not take place we may still be living in a world with the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries under the yoke of Communism. It makes for an epic story, and indeed Dobbs' style of writing reads at times more like a novel than a historical account. Perhaps this is because Dobbs was a foreign correspondent in many of the scenes taking place in the novel. Perhaps it is because he wanted to imbue the story with the emotion he thought it deserved. Either way, it made the book a damn sight more entertaining than your average historical account, although I did worry at times at the objectivity of what I was reading. He is given to postulating on the thoughts and emotions of the people in the story, and attempting to explain the motivations of everyone involved. No trivial task, to say the least.

The book would have been less if he had not tried to get into the heads of his 'characters' though. Most interesting are Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, the last General Secretary of the USSR and the first president of its heir, the Russian Federation. Mikhail Gorbachev is the man who opposed the effects of his own well-meaning reforms, which eventually left him without a state to be the leader of. Boris Yeltsin was, despite his later propensity for dictatorship, the first man to stand up for the Russian constitution, and the man who dissolved the USSR into the still-existing Commonwealth of Independent States, not one country but 11 which are now able to pursue their own national interests.

This piece of history is the most dramatic change in the world order since World War 2. It is a story worth telling, and more importantly worth reading. Dobbs' version is a fine account, given to such such fiction techniques as speculation, metaphor, and narrating, but because of that probably among the most entertaining. Unfortunately, the editions I saw on Amazon were out of print, but if you ever see this book in a used book store, you can pick it up. And, if you live in Saskatoon, I will gladly lend it to you.

Stranded in Bialystok and Good Times in Vilnius

2009-06-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

This entry might be short. After all, there is not much to tell, and that in itself is part of what is to be told (?). Did that make sense? Read on, maybe it will make sense afterward.

So, we got to Bialystok, because we were planning to go to the Biewiczka (or something like that) primordial forest that straddles the border of Poland and Belarus. The first night we were there we went a-wanderin' down to the core area, where we saw a respectable church, and a palace, but nothing overly notable. We also noticed a large congregation of people in a park and ended up wandering through what turned out to be a ... household fair? There were tents devoted to furnaces, hot tubs, tools, etc. It was really just rather random, but we did get some enjoyment out of a lifesize foosball game, with people as the players tied to the poles, and the attractive girls some of the companies were using to get people to their tent. After a quick wander through there and the adjacent park, we went back to our hostel and read/putzed around until bed time.

The next morning is when we were planning to get up and go to the forest. We arrived with little time to spare, though, and could not find the bus that was supposed to be leaving to the forest. We asked about it but nothing ended up coming of it, so the entire reason we came to Bialystok was shot! Not wanting to let the time go to waste, though, we spent that day wandering Bialystok further, only to realize, a little bit to our dismay, that there is not all that much to see in Bialystok. We went to a mall that we found for a while and did some random wandering, and that night ate at a pretty good Italian place, but that was about it. You can imagine that by the next day we were pretty eager to move on with our trip. We got our train tickets to Vilnius and got onto what we thought was our train. Turns out we were wrong! So, after getting ourselves back to Bialystok from the random town we ended up in, I made some inquiries, mostly to people who did not speak English, and found out that the next opportunity we had to get to Vilnius was at 2am. The current time was approximately 11am. You can imagine how stoked we were!

Of this there is not much to tell. We spent way too long at the mall, way too long at the train station, and way too long in a park near the two. It finally got to 2am and we were pretty happy to see the bus roll around the corner. The nice thing about buses, too, is that you have someone to ask if it's going to the right place. You don't always get that on trains.

So I'm not very good at sleeping on moving things. Sometimes I can manage trains but not usually buses or airplanes. This was no exception. So after laying awake for most of the train ride I began to talk to the only other person awake, a middle-aged Latvian man. We talked for a while, and he mentioned many things about his daughters, seeing as how they were around our age and also in school. At the end of the trip, he invited us for coffee with his daughters. We thought this was a little random but accepted because he seemed like a decent fellow and we always like meeting locals. We parted ways to get some sleep and see the town a bit first, though.

Liam and I found our way to our hostel (after a little bit too much searching due to a faulty guidebook), and were happy to find out that we could check in early so that we could get to our beds for some sleep. We woke up and saw the sights in Vilnius. It's got a very pretty and extensive Old Town with more to see than many we've been too, and we also saw a massive Church made out of an old pagan temple and climbed to the top of Gediminas Hill, where we climbed further up a tower and got a fantastic view of the city. We then called the number the fellow gave us, which was his daughter's, and it was getting a little bit late now, so she told us we should come over for supper instead. They came and picked s up at our hostel a short while later and brought us to their house, where they had a veritable feast prepared, with turkey meatballs, sausage, potatoes, strawberries with creme fraiche, cake, coffee, beer and wine. We were a little surprised, but pleasantly so. They were also good people to talk to. Both of the older daughters knew four languages each, the dad knew something like six, and they had a lot to say on all kinds of subjects. I think at times I felt a little bit outclassed! Anyway, it was a great evening and the fellow dropped us off back at our hostel at the end.

The next day we got up and went to the Museum to the Victims of Communism. It is a really cool museum that tells the history of Lithuania under the communist yoke. The place is contained within the actual old KGB headquarters, and the basement still has all of the original rooms, where prisoners were kept, tortured, interrogated, and killed. One especially interesting room was just a lowered floor with a raised pedestal in the middle, where they would make prisoners stand, filling the floor with ice cold water, so that the prisoner could not doze off or they would step into the water. That night we went out for dinner with the girls we had met last night, but only after they took us around some other parts of the Old Town that we had not seen before, such as the University and the Presidential Palace. We got a coffee afterward but then the girls had to go so we went back to our hostel.

The next day was and the next entry will be about Klaipeda, a coastal city of Lithuania where we spent a few days.

Flickr Stream!

2009-06-14T08:50:00.001-07:00

I got my Flickr stream web address! It was just a small option that I somehow missed a million times.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/csaraka/

In Which Liam Falls Ill And Colin Must Explore Poland Alone

2009-06-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

So, where I left off, I had gone to Auschwitz. A very sobering experience, but that's all I will say in this entry because I want this to be positive! For due sadness, please see previous entry.

On the bus between the two sites at Auschwitz I happened to get talking with a girl there from New York, who came along with us (Me and the UK Army Girls) to our hostel where we found Liam. The three of us (Masha, Liam, and I) went and found us a milk bar to get the full Polish experience. A milk bar in short, is a cafeteria subsidized by the government, a sort of a holdover from Communist times, where you can get your fill of traditional Polish food for dirt cheap prices, as long as you can deal with people that only speak Polish, and some poor people asking if they can have your food (yes, this actually happened to us). The food was, as expected, mediocre, but it was so cheap and we left feeling satisfied, so we were not too worried about it. After that, we wandered around for a bit and stopped in for a drink at a cool little chill techno-bar thingy, but ultimately Liam and I ended up going home early, because Liam was getting sick and I was very tired from having gone out late then gotten up early to spend all day at Auschwitz. The next day, though, we all met up at Wawel Castle, a sort of quaint but ridiculously, eclectically styled castle. It's sort of a mishmash and very interesting for a morning. The best part, though, was a cave underneath the castle that opens up onto a ridiculously ugly dragon-insect statue-thing that is all sharp angles and has about 8 legs.

We wandered around Old Town for a bit after grabbing a bite to eat, until Masha went on her tour to the Krakow salt mines. By the time that came around, Liam was feeling like junk, so I tagged along with her, which I cannot say that I regretted at all. Not only were the salt mines interesting and a good way to spend an afternoon, but we also met some more people. I went out with Masha and three students studying in Sweden (but who were actually from North Carolina, Jamaica, and Australia) to supper at a quaint, cheap little place serving more traditional Polish food, at which I had more pierogies and shared some of Masha's smoked and deep fried camembert cheese with cranberry sauce. Now, that may sound odd, but it was actually delicious. Afterward, we went back and found Liam so that we could go for a drink, after which everyone headed back to their respective hostels, except for Masha and I, who were unwilling to call it a night. After a fair bit of wandering we managed to find a little house club tucked into a building south of Old Town, where we actually ran into a Kiwi fellow I met at our last hostel in Wroclaw. We all talked and had a few drinks and generally jovial good time until we were abruptly asked to leave at the stroke of 3AM.

The next day, Liam and I met Masha in the Old Town, which we hadn't actually given a proper go-round to. We went in the church there, whose name escapes me but which was beautifully gilded in a landslide of gold. We then met up with the group of girls from Sweden and explored the tower attached to the church... partially because Liam was convinced that there had to be a wizard at the top, or if not, that he should take up the post. We all got some good pictures up there. After that, we were all very tired, and made a half-baked effort to explore the city walls before the Sweden students had to go catch their flight. After that, the remaining three of us did manage to motivate ourselves to check out the Barbican, a fortification built to defend against assaults after the introduction of guns to the region. We were feeling very tired, though, and soon after split up along our merry ways, Liam and I to Warsaw, while Masha went to Berlin.

Unlike our last train ride, the way to Warsaw was very uneventful, but when we got there, we had quite a time finding the proper bus. We eventually figured out we were about 100m from the bus mall, where practically every bus in Warsaw goes, but I maintain that this was not well-signed at all. Somewhere in the 5 minutes it took to take the bus I managed to leave my coat on it. We then arrived at our hostel, which was OK but not the best, and we went to sleep slightly frustrated.

The next morning, we were of course perfectly content (because this is just the way you have to approach travelling I have discovered). Liam wanted to check out a vintage clothing shop, so we walked there, catching a few of the sights along the way, such as the Unknown Soldier monument. The vintage shop was super neat, and I actually got an old Puma shirt with stripes on it for pretty cheap. Not feeling very energetic, we got some supper from the grocery store, ate, and spent some time on the internet before going to bed.

The next day Liam was feeling quite sick. We had moved hostels though, because we didn't like the one we were in. We walked over to our new hostel, which was thankfully very close, and because we couldn't check in yet, we left our bags with them while Liam sat in the common room for the day and I went to check out Warsaw. I mosied down to the Old Town of Warsaw, which contains a mermaid statue way cooler then Copenhagen's, the Pope (John Paul II) on a large pole, and other small charming things. I also had the privilege to see many exhibits devoted to Poland's 20th anniversary of democracy (because this was that day) and an exhibit devoted to the idea of coexistence (among religions, races, etc). I then caught a few random buses and trams until I found my way to the Palace of Culture and Science, a huge building built by the communists that apparently matches some other ones in Russia. It towers over most of Warsaw and offers a great view of the whole city. After that, I went back to the hostel to find Liam, and we went out for some KFC. Upon our return, we convened in the common room with other travellers to have a few shots of vodka with raspberry syrup and strawberries dipped in white chocolate, and other things, all to celebrate the anniversary of democracy with the owners/operators of the hostel. After that, we all socialized for a while, until some travellers went to sleep and some went out. Liam went to bed, as he wasn't feeling 100%, and I went out with a gaggle of travellers from various places such as Spain, France, England, and Iran. As soon as we left the hostel, we were offered free drinks at a small bar nearby, so we did and found out it was another karaoke bar. We all gathered around one microphone and sang Yesterday by the Beatles then went on our merry way!

The next day, Liam was feeling even worse, so we tried to find him a Polish doctor. Our first try, the hostel receptionist phoned for us and asked ahead, confirming there was an English speaking doctor there. However, when we got there it seemed that the English doctor (and indeed, all the English speakers) were no where to be found. We went back and talked to the hostel receptionist again, who called another place who set us an appointment with an English doctor. Liam waited around for the appointment, which was right by the hostel, while I went and checked out the Warsaw Uprising museum. The Warsaw Uprising was the Polish resistance to the Nazi occupation during the Second World War. The museum had a lot of information, but I did not know a lot about the Warsaw Uprising, and I found the events laid out in the museum to be a bit confusing in chronology. That afternoon, it was a bit rainy, so I went back to the hostel to wait it out and hung out with other people who felt the same as I did. That night, I went out with another Canadian we had met, as well as an Englishman and two Aussie girls, just to a nearby pub to have a few drinks.

The next day, Liam and I were off to Bialystok! But that is another tale.

In Which Colin And Liam Make A Quick Return To Germany Before Setting Forth To Poland

2009-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

So, after saying our goodbyes in Usti nad Labem, and heading, very hurriedly, to our train, we spent some time on the train before realizing that Liam had left his camera at Cody's house. After some colourful language and vocal self-loathing, we realized that it was not a Big Deal, and that Liam could go get it the next day, as we were only staying in Dresden that night, a mere hour or two train ride from Usti. Knowing this, and staying at a very nice but not particularly social hostel, we decided to get to bed early so Liam could go and do that, while I happily slept in. When I met him at the train station later, we then proceeded on to the closest interesting thing we could find, which happened to be the German Hygiene Museum. The German Hygiene Museum is an institution from before the war, has been moved and/or bombed a few times, and is thus comprised of two main focii: the history of itself (how meta!) and Health. The word hygiene, I think, is a bit misleading, because the museum covers all sorts of human health topics, including genetics, sexuality, body systems, body ergonomics, and more. The history portion is also interesting; my favourite fact is that, shortly before and during WW2, the museum shared Hitler's ideal of the Aryan nation. Perhaps not the most positive aspect of its history, but interesting nonetheless. Anyway, after leaving the museum, we proceeded to get drenched on our way back to our hostel, as the area of town had lots of development with little shelter. We grabbed our stuff and headed to the train station as fast as we could, but still missed our train. So, we spent 3 hours at the station drying off and waiting for the next train, to our next destination, Wroclaw (pronounced "VROH-swov," crazy Polish!). Maybe that's valid after you throw all of the accents in there...

Anyway! Wroclaw was good but nothing particularly notable or amazing. By this time, I, at least, was getting a little bit over the "go see Old Town, go see this Church, etc" routine, but we went through the motions, and though pretty, it had nothing over anywhere else we had been. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our time there, also taking in an Archaeology Museum and what I can only describe as a Polish, mass-karaoke bar, where we felt a little bit out of place, spending valuable brain power trying to figure out the Polish pronunciation so we could make asses if ourselves. After a few days we dusted ourselves off and headed to what I consider to be the most appealing bit of Poland, Krakow.

First, though, I have a note on our train ride to Krakow. Upon figuring out our train and getting onto it, we were confronted with shaved head, floor-licking drunk, singing Polish men. Not knowing what to make of this, we swiftly put them on Ignore. The train, though, was packed to the roof, and upon seeing a relatively empty bit of space where I could set my bags down and maybe relax, I headed over there, continuing to Ignore. This fell apart a bit, when one of them realized that I was an English speaker, and did not know Polish. He was standing out in the aisle, but promptly went into one of the rooms to have a quick conference with his mates. I was confronted by a different fellow, who spoke a fair bit of English. He was generally very friendly, and not that drunk, so I talked with him. I was then offered a shot of vodka, and a beer, and I took the shot of vodka, and turned down the beer. After being offered another shot of vodka, I instead diverted their attention to Liam who was a little way down that train, and who I imagined would be a bit more game for midafternoon drinking. He came, and much the same thing happened. This degenerated until Liam and I each had a few shots of vodka, and I was telling them that Liam could not have any more due to the fact that he was on medication. By this time, we had realized that these guys were 'friendly' in the way that social bar bouncers are friendly: perfectly personable as long as things are going their way. It thus fell to me to consume the vodka until I had had too many shots (and thankfully, their bottle ran out), and talk with them as Liam went into semi-comatose. Thankfully, the crew had been doing so much drinking that they all managed to pass out at the same time, and I told Liam that we were putting them back in Ignore, and getting to the other side of the train, where I spent the rest of the train ride sobering up and talking to an Aussie girl who had stayed in our room the night previous (because it was a dorm room. get your minds out of the gutter!) and a few much nicer Polish people. We later saw the Soccer hooligan crew leave the train, where they were monitored by policemen in riot gear. We breathed a sigh of relief, and then another one, when days later we found out that bands of these brigands like to find excuses to start fights with foreigners.

We arrived in Krakow, where I was absolutely famished, to the point where I bought the first thing I saw outside of the train station. This was a kebab, the popular street food in both Krakow and Warsaw, and the source of most of my vegetables for the past week. Upon finding our hostel, we were a bit hesitant that it seemed to be tucked into a back alley with nothing going on around it. When we went inside though, we found a great, friendly atmosphere, and a wonderful tongue-in-cheek communist decorative scheme, which consisted of communist posters and large red utilitarian spraypaint pictures on the walls. We went to our room so I could sleep off a bit of the vodka and met our roommates, three UK Army Medic girls. After sleeping for a bit then going on a mission to find some food, we returned with some drinks and some juice, including some Apple Beet juice, because apparently this was a good idea to me at the time. I had one sip and couldn't stand to take any more, and it became sort of the icebreaker for our night out with the girls. We wandered to a few Irish pubs and finally to a club where we danced like goofs. Especially me, as I was being dared to dance with a few Polish girls who were taking themselves way too seriously. It was good fun and we all got back to the hostel safe and sound.

I had found out that the girls were going to Auschwitz, so the next day I tagged along with them. Liam didn't want to go for reasons I am sure he would love to explain to you if you asked, so I needed someone to go with and it was fortunate that we found some people! We got there and joined an English tour. The tour was a bit irritating at first, as our tour guide was very soft spoken with a very heavy Polish accent, but soon after she either hit her stride, or I became accustomed to her voice, because it ended up being a very emotional and informative tour. The woman sounded at times as if she would cry, which of course choked me up, but not as much as some of the things they still have there. There are, for example, piles of personal items that came from the prisoners, such as a pile of shoes, a pile of glasses, a pile of luggage. One of the most disturbing, though, was the pile of women's hair. Walking through the gas chamber and oven chamber at Auschwitz-I was also very emotionally trying. The walls and ceilings are stained and scratched and the whole place feels so dark that it's all to easy to imagine the horrible things that went on there. It is definitely a place that you should go to, if you are in the area, though, because it's an important reminder that humans are imperfect and capable of atrocity.

I think I'll leave it there, because it's difficult (and feels a bit wrong) to find a positive note now that I've gotten into all the Auschwitz stuff. Next time I'll tell you about the rest of our time in Krakow, as well as Warsaw.

Prague, Kutna Hora, and Usti nad Labem (All in the Czech Republic)

2009-06-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have to apologize, because I have definitely fallen way back on these entries and have not had a chance to get my pictures up on to Flickr or Facebook. That being said, it's a bit cold out today so I have some time that I might use just to catch up. Hopefully my memory serves me well.

So we left off on our second full day in Prague. We decided to take advantage of the "free" (read: tips-based) walking tour. The tour took us through Old Town Square, Wenecesclas Square, and across the bridge to the area which holds Prague Castle, where my mom and I jumped off the tour (after tipping the fine fellow who served as our tour guide) and checked out the castle, while Liam jumped off a little while later to find the Franz Kafka museum. The castle is the largest medievel castle in Europe, very grand and a great walk. We stopped in at one of the restaurants, which was surprisingly reasonable and tasty for being in such a touristy area. The Prague Castle contains probably the most massive cathedral I have ever seen, done in a Gothic style architecture. Standing in front of it is very imposing; hopefully you will see what I mean when I get around to getting the picture up. I believe it was called St. Vitus' Cathedral.

After separating from my mom for a little while, meeting up with Liam, and going to H&M for a little while to find new shirts (I had no clean ones and was running a bit short on shirts as well), we met up again for a drink at a really fancy drink bar then went out for supper. We went to this packed Czech-food restaurant that a friend of my mom's had recommended. We were a little worried that we would not be able to get in, but after a bit of waiting we managed to get a seat, and oh boy am I ever glad that we did. We got some Moravian (Moravia is a region of Czech) red wine and our meals came. The meal was tres bon. I had, and this is going to sound weird maybe, sour cream and potato pancakes with saeurkraut and ham in them, served with a garlic aioli. If you doubt me that this is delicious, then you can go to Czech and try this restaurant out for yourself. It was so good! Liam had something called "Moravian Sparrow" which is actually a very nice pork and my mom had some (I think) venison goulash. All were delicious, and if I ever go back to Czech I will definitely be coming back to this restaurant. After supper, my mom was tired, and thus went to bed. We went back to our hostel where we ran into an American fellow named Trevor staying in our room and went out to a pub with him. The pub was nothing special, but I managed to convince Trevor he should hit on (err I mean talk to) two Czech girls that were standing close by to us. This ended up being a good idea even if neither of the single boys got anywhere, because they took us to another few places nearby that they liked, and we had someone to hang out with. We had a damn decent night, getting home in the wee hours of the morning after walking the girls to their night tram.

The next day Liam, my mom, and I all went to a small city outside of Prague called Kutna Hora, where we actually ran into the American fellow again. We were purportedly going there to see an ossuary decorated with the bones of 40 000 people, mostly plague victims of the time. The ossuary was pretty cool (Liam was uberexcited) but we realized that the place had a lot more to offer, so we got a shuttle up to the Church of St. Barbara, a church similar in style and size to St. Vitus in Prague, and walked slowly back through the town, enjoying the quaint atmosphere, which is actually a UNESCO protected site (the town, not the atmosphere). All in all, the village is very pretty, relaxing, and worth seeing if you are spending time in Prague. We came back to the city, and Liam and I went on a quest for a laundromat, which we never found. Instead, we tired ourselves out walking so much that we went and slept immediately afterward.

The next morning was interesting. I won't go into all the details, but basically I panicked because I was running out of money and we spent some time trying to figure out if we could work in Europe somehow. After talking with mom at lunch that day, I decided to continue on with the trip but keep my ears open for possibilities to go home a bit early or maybe work if possible. We said goodbye to my mom and decided to head to a city in Czech called Usti nad Labem to meet a friend of Liam's.

There's not too much to tell about Usti except that we met some pretty rad people there, had a few nights of free accomodation (thanks Cody, if you ever read this!), as well as internet and Smash Bros Brawl. All times had in Usti were great. One thing that I did experience here that I had not in Prague was the traditional manner of Czech pub-drinking. Instead of ordering your beer, you merely have to withstand it appearing in front of you like a dang ninja every time the beer you have gets low. If you want to stop drinking, you have to be alert and tell the waitress not to bring you any more beer, or put something over top of your beer mug to signal the same thing. It's an interesting way to do things, but kind of makes sense with the Czech style of beer, which is incredibly easy to drink lots of.

Next up was a quick stop off in Germany before we moved on to conquer Poland. Tune in next time!

Berlin and Prague Part 1!

2009-05-24T15:09:00.001-07:00

When we last left you, we were in Berlin. We had a few more days there which were filled with all sorts of awesome.

The first day after the last post, we decided to do a few museums. We started with the Pergamon Museum, an absolutely amazing museum containing all sorts of classic archaeological finds. There was not only the usual glut of Greek and Roman things, but there was also lots of history there from farther east, from the times of the Persians and the Ottoman Empire, among more. The Greek stuff was still amazing though; the namesake of the museum is the city of Pergamon, from which the museum had a huge frieze, of more than 80 metres. In case you didn't know, a frieze is like a relief sculpture that usually extends around a temple. This one depicted a myriad of gods and goddesses locked in a struggle with snake-limbed titans. Other highlights included a huge gate that served a market town connecting the east and west of its day, and a set of huge Babylonian gates. Really, I could go on and on about the things in that museum. It's amazing. If you are ever in Berlin you must go. We also went to the Bode Museum, a museum focusing on more 18 and 19th century artifacts. The museum may have been interesting, but the huge amounts of religious art depicting Mary and Jesus all starts to look the same after a while. It did contain a fascinating collection of coins from all eras of history and all manner of nations, but there were so many that even those became hard to focus on.

The day after that, after not doing anything overly interesting that evening (museums are TIRING), we hit up the National Gallery, with paintings by many artists, including Manet, Monet, and Beckmann. It was pretty ho-hum for me until I got to the top floor where most of the names I just mentioned were, along with some others. In fact, I am hoping Mandy keeps the post card I sent her, because I purposefully went and found my favourite painting in postcard form, and promptly forgot the name of the artist.

True to the 2-museum groove we had been cultivating lately, we spent that afternoon at the German History Museum. Since my WW2 and communist history is not fantastic, I started out at about 1919 and made my way up to about 1994 (which is about as late as the museum goes). Wow, you really take for granted how complicated everything involved actually was. I was very impressed with how unabashed the Germans presented their checkered past under the Third Reich. The facts are all there, not matter how horrifying they sometimes are, as if Germany has gotten them out into the open so that they could move on.

That night we went to go see Scraps of Tape, the Question and Division of Laura Lee, three Swedish bands doing a show together at a small club in a neighbourhood nearby our hostel. Liam wanted to see Scraps of Tape, and actually managed to get not only a street poster, but also all 5 of the bandmates signatures, a short conversation with each, and their complete discography (of the course the last came at a price). Their latest came in the form of a record, which was so much fun to mail... but more on that as we go on!

The next day, we went on our merry way to get our butts to Prague, only to run into a few snags. First of all, it was a holiday in Germany! Unfortunately, that meant Liam could not mail his record and had to carry it with us to Prague. Then! We went to go catch our train only to realize that the station closest to our hostel was out of operation for the day. In a panic, we took a "train bus," which basically took us to the next train stop, where the trains were running relatively normally. When we got to the main train station we had to perform a mad dash to our train headed to Prague.

Upon arrival to Prague we had a little bit of fun finding our hostel. The instructions on the website of the hostel gave only a metro station name, which I took to mean that the hostel was right outside that metro station. No such luck! After wandering aimlessly for a little while (but not too long because by now we have realized that it never seems to work) we dropped into a net cafe to grab the address of the place. After dealing with some mildly confusing signage, we did find the right street and address of our hostel, having walked by it a few times because it looked like an apartment building... which is basically what it was. We buzzed the hostel, got no answer, then I remembered... "Oh! There's something weird about this hostel." Wait for it... "Oh yeah, there's no actual reception. We have to get the key at the bar." So, going to a few nearby bars, we found the one who was holding our key, found out we were entitled to a free bar, then went back to the hostel and let ourselves in. It was literally an apartment building, and after climbing the whole building searching for it, we realized the 'hostel' was on the second floor, and was just basically a converted apartment. The nice part about this was that our room was huge; it had 3 beds, 2 couches, and 2 coffee tables, and there was room for plenty more. They also had free internets. Bonus! I spent the rest of the evening trying to get a hold of my mom, whom we were meeting in Prague, and had apparently planted at a cocktail bar nearby to her hotel.

We didn't get a hold of her until the next day, in the midst of our wandering around trying to mail Liam's record. We went to 3 post offices, who each told us to go to a bigger post office, but none of them had a record sized envelope or box. We eventually met up with my Mom, who is named Mary Ann, and with her assistance tried to track down a place where Liam could ship his record. Having no luck, we eventually all got stranded by some rain and hail, and my mom decided to treat us to a taxi ride to the Communist Museum. The Communist Museum is, if I remember correctly, the first of its kind to open after the Iron Curtain dissolved. The museum was not so remarkable for its artifacts so much as its clear, sober representation of the Communist Era, and the way in which it affected the Czech Republic. All of the writeups were extremely well done and paired with good visual aids, and a video broke up the exhibition quite nicely, depicting some of the police brutality that Czechs had to endure to have their demands heard. One particularly moving moment of Czech history happened when Jan Palach, a Czech youth, lit himself on fire in protest of the Soviet invasion intent on reversing some recent liberalising reforms to communism that the government made. The full story can be found at the link, of course.

That night, Liam and I decided to try and get a taste of Czech nightlife and wandered around the streets looking for a suitable haunt. After walking around fruitlessly for a good long while, we ended up at a somewhat unassuming pub that seemed busy enough that it might be decent. After wandering around the small upstairs for a little while, we noticed people were going downstairs and decided to check it out. Imagine our surprise when we found out that the downstairs was a dance club that was about twice as large as the upstairs! Having had a satisfying taste of what nightlife might be like in Prague, but feeling rather tired, we had a few drinks and soaked in the atmosphere (including the ubiquitous tobacco smoke) but then headed on back to our hostel to rest for the next day's adventure, which will be on the next post!

Dusseldorf and Berlin Part 1

2009-05-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

On the next stage of our trip we met up with some fantastic people in Dusseldorf, namely our good pals Rob and Sarah. We were there for 2 days, and there is not really all that much to see in Dusseldorf, so instead of being super touristy, we spent the two days chilling out and getting our drink on. We arrived at about 7pm or so to find Rob and Sarah chilling in one of the common rooms with some other people they had met, which included a Newfoundlander, a New Zealander, and a fella from Essex in Britain. So, we hung out with that crew and had some drinks in the common room, then eventuallz made our way to the Aldstadt (Old Town), which is a notable part of Dusseldorf for its Altbier, which is a special, dark and crisp beer served in almost every bar and restaurant in Dusseldorf, in its tiny .2L cups.

The next day, we slept in a little bit, then got up, had breakfast, and hung around for some more time (there was a lot of hanging out going on in Dusseldorf). By this time we had lost the Newfoundlander and the fellow from Essex, but gained an Edmontonian by the name of Max. So, the group of us went to the grocery store and picked up a bunch of fixings for a picnic, and went to a park in Dusseldorf to enjoy a few hours in the sun. That night we again went to the Altstadt for a lengthier evening of drinks. The next morning we sadly had to say our goodbyes, and we moved on to Hamburg, while Rob and Sarah went on to Bruges.

Hamburg was interesting. We got there, and after having quite a time figuring out the transit system and finding our hostel, we chilled out for a bit, then went to get some supper with an American guy we met. We went our separate ways, as he intended to see what the Red Light District was like, and we wanted to get to bed so that we could go see some sights the next day. However, we didn't have our hostel booked for the next night, and for the life of us we could not find a single hostel or hotel in town that had a vacant room. Not having anywhere to stay, we decided to go to Berlin early, which meant we had to leave the next day without seeing any sights. Not wanting to leave Hamburg empty-handed, we decided to check out the redlight district as well. It was interesting enough, skin bars and regular bars were interspersed with adult video and accessory shops. After having a curious walk around outside we decided to go into one of the normal bars to get out of the rain for a bit and have a drink. It was getting pretty late by this point so we decided to get to bed.

Next day, Berlin! We spent our first night drinking a few beers and other drinks with a couple of German engineering students we met. The next day, we started off by going to the Berliner Dom, a massive, opulent cathedral that is pretty impressive. I haven't been to see that many cathedrals, but I was certainly taken aback, especially at the detail on some of the sarcophagi that decorated the main area of the church. After that, we went across the river to the GDR museum, a hands-on, eclectic, and tiny museum that was devoted to portraying life under the Communist GDR (German Democratic Republic). It was incredibly interesting to see how Communism changed Germany and how the Berlin Wall affected the world. After that, we relaxed on a boat tour along the river, from which we got to see the National Art Gallery, the Haptbaunohf (main train station), the Reichstag (parliament building), and other things.

That night at around nine we went to go check out the Brandenburg Gate, formerly a sign of peace built by a Prussian king, it also served as a backdrop to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and is one of the most recognizable parts of Berlin. Nearby is the Reichstag, the parliament building that was burnt down by Hitler's party, then subsequently blamed on the Communists so that they could declare a state of emergency and claim power. The building was completely rebuilt and a glass dome was built onto the top, which visitors can go into to get a fantastic view of the city. This is exactly what we did, and not only was the city very pretty, but we also got a fantastic view of a faraway lightning storm for our troubles.

So far, Berlin has been amazing, and I have only told you about one of our days here. Coming up are our museum, zoo, and music adventures! But now I am leaving you so I can email someone positively awesome.

Long Overdue Update!

2009-05-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

Hey All. I realize that I am way overdue for an update, but life in Europe, as a wanderer is busy. I am taking advantage of Liam's hungover time right now though to get a post up.

I believe that I left off in Copenhagen. After leaving that post we went to the Glyptotek (which may not be exactly spelled like that), which is a phenomenal museum containing all kinds of really interesting things. It had some Egyptian mummies, some French Impressionism, lots of sculptures (of which my favourite were the ones sculpted by Rodan), and other such magnificent things. It was so large and contained so much that we actually couldn't make it through the museum all at once. Or at least I couldn't; I was getting sore and hungry so we did leave before seeing the whole thing, but it was HUGE. That, and I felt like I had seen enough to be supremely satisfied.

In the afternoon we took a fairly lengthy walk down to the part of Copenhagen which holds the Little Mermaid sculpture and an old fortification. Despite Liam's insistence that the Little Mermaid was very unimpressive (which is kind of true), we were in the area so we went to it. It wasn't overly amazing but it is kind of cool, as it's a sculpture sitting on a rock out in the harbour, as it were really a mermaid.

The next day we were planning to go to the National Museum of Denmark. Imagine our disappointment when we found out that, randomly, the museum is closed every Tuesday. Since we were leaving that day, not much could be done, so instead we took a walk through Denmark. It was a very nice walk; Copenhagen is a great city.

The very same afternoon we met up with Sarah, Liam's friend from his trip to Iceland last year, who took us by bus and ferry to Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark at about 250k. The city is very quaint and modernized, worth going to even just for a wander. Anyway, the first thing we did upon arrival into the city was go to a brew-pub/restaurant, which had great food and drink. I had some bratwurst and sausage and a light beer, and it was very satisfying. I also did not know I could enjoy saeurkraut that much. We were pretty tired so we didn't go out. Instead we grabbed a few beer and drank it at the waterline by Sarah's dorm.

The next day was probably the most frustrating in our whole trip so far. We got up a bit early so that we would have time to do laundry at a laundromat. When we got there, though, we realized that we didn't actually have any cash left, so we set out into the city, at this point without Sarah, to find an ATM. We came across 2 after not that long, but they were both offline for some reason. We then proceeded to get lost in downtown Aarhus for about 40minutes - 1hr. I consider myself to generally have a pretty good sense of direction, but the twisty streets in Europe really throw me for a loop. Anyway, after finally making it back and doing our laundry, we took our clothes out of the dryer a little bit earlier because we thought we were going to miss our bus if we didn't. Turns out we missed it anyway. So now we had our full backpacks in the heat, with some wet clothes, and we were supposed to meet Sarah at a certain time. So, we wandered around trying to find a taxi, which was surprisingly hard.

Anyway, we eventually got there, and all was well, and went into the museum by Sarah's work. It was a great little museum tucked away in the woods that had some really interesting stuff, such as a man preserved in a peat bog for 2000 years, and a huge archaeological find of Roman and Scandinavian weapons and other things from an ancient battle. That night, we met up with Poul, another person from Liam's trip, for a drink in a nice little pub. We went home a little bit earlier where I got my dose of American culture by catching up on the tv show How I Met Your Mother with Sarah before we all went to bed. The next day, we took the train to our next destination, Dusseldorf!

Train troubles

2009-05-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

We learned a lesson: always ask if you are not totally sure what the announcements say on trains. We took a train back to Oslo from Bergen, and halfway along the train stopped and we thought we had to get off and take a bus to Oslo due to construction on the lines. Unfortunately, our train was actually going straight to Oslo and the buses were for every stop in between. So, we eventually made it to Oslo but it was almost an hour after our next train left for Gøteberg. So instead of staying in Gøteberg for the night we stayed in Oslo. Unfortunately we are getting charged for our Hostel in Gøteberg. A word to the wise: becareful with trains and don't book ahead unless you have to!

We trained through Gøteberg and the rest of Sweden to a city called Malmö right across the sea from Copenhagen. It is a very pretty city of about 250 000 people right across from Copenhagen. A family friend of Liam's showed us around one of the newer, trendier areas a bit, told us a bit about the city, the area, and the changes that the bridge to Copenhagen has brought to both areas. Apparently it's now fairly common for people to live in Malmö, which is quieter and cheaper, and work in Copenhagen, because the train takes only 40 minutes, which for a large city is not that unreasonable a commute. Malmö sounds a lot like Saskatoon in that there is a University nearby and a big emphasis on research industries. I was really impressed with Malmö actually!

So now we are in Copenhagen and today we are going to the National Museum and the Glyptotek. We went for a wander around a fairly main stretch of shops in the downtown of Copenhagen, and stopped for a couple of beer, although we still haven't met many other travellers so we went to bed fairly early. Our hostels in both Oslo and Copenhagen only had people who were pretty much sleeping the entire time. Oh well, maybe we will meet people to drink with soon! Other than that the hostel we are staying at is very nice; it is very clean and seems well-run. It seems like hostelling must be a big industry here, though, because the place has something like 5000 beds. It's crazy!

This morning we went in search of a coffee shop from Liam's guidebook that sounded good. We sat down at a place before we actually realized that said coffee shop was closed. So, we just ate where we were. My meal consisted of a boatload of cheese and breads. It felt very European. It was very quaint; the place was outside of a very nice church, which brings me to the last thing I want to say on this entry. The architecture in Copenhagen is fabulous! I could probably walk around outside all day and be perfectly content just because the city has a great look and feel to it.

So, off I go to enjoy it!

More Bergenization!

2009-05-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

I didn't get around to finishing and posting this earlier, so it is a bit mis-timed:

Well this is our last night in Bergen and since the internet is free here I figured I would give another update.

Tuesday was not that touristy for us. We woke up and made eggs and toast (very foreign, I know!). I did get to try Norwegian brown cheese though, which is sort of a strange cheese that is very sweet, so that it ends up tasting like a mixture between cheese and caramel. We were up fairly late so we got a late start, and by the time we finished breakfast it was probably 3pm. So, for the rest of the day we mostly just bummed around Bergen a little bit, having a look at the shops, including a very value-village style shop and a mall in the American style. We were pretty tired and nothing much was going on, so we watched TV with Carl and his roommates and went to bed pretty early.

We must have been jetlagged or something, because we still woke up pretty late, at around 12 noon. We went to an art museum in Bergen which has paintings by such famous artists as Edvard Munch and Johan Christian Dahl. After that, we met up with Carl who got us on a bus to a church in the forest called Fantoft stave church. It is a recreation of a thousand year old church that was made from all wood, without even any nails, then soaked in pitch to protect it from moisture. The church was burnt down a few years ago in an incident of arson, and unfortunately now they keep it fenced in and with cameras on it. It is really sad that someone would do this such an interesting piece of history - the perpetrator was a fellow in a black metal band who was trying to speak out against christianity by burning the church down.

Last night we went out with Carl's school friends. We hung out at someone's house for a while then went to a tropical style pub. Again all of these people were super nice and good to talk to, although there were a few people this time that had a little more trouble with English. We still got along well though. We moved on to a University pub, which was fun, but there was nothing special about it except when I finished in the washroom and came out of the stall to come face to face with a few of the girls we were hanging out with. Apparently, I did not get confused, and there is actually only one bathroom in the place. Anyway, we got very tasty sausages on the way home and went to sleep far earlier this time around.

We did something a little different this morning and went for a walk up the mountain beside Carl's house. The walk took a good 30 minutes of a nearly vertical walking, then we walked over to the next mountain and took a tram down. The view from up there is beautiful; you can see almost the entirety of Bergen, including the harbour and the university, and a handful of pretty churches. It's hard to describe so I will just put up a few pictures onto Flickr!

Escapement

2009-05-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is my review for Escapement by Jay Lake. This is a steampunk-like novel, set in an alternative version of earth, where the world is divided in half on the equator by a wall that is hundreds of feet tall, which no one in the novel has traversed. The northern half of Earth is codominated by the English and Chinese empires.

The book has 3 main characters, telling the story from each of their viewpoints. Each chapter contains a segment from Paolina, Al-Wazir, and Childress. Paolina is a teenaged misandrist from a colony along the wall with an extraordinary intellect (along with a little bit more). Al-Wazir is a Scottish-Arabian officer asked to command the defense of a camp along the Wall devoted to drilling through the Wall. Childress is a librarian from Boston who gets swept away by a Chinese submarine in a plot for her life.

The first thing to note about this book is that there is a book which precedes it, Mainspring, which I did not read. I am not sure if you would benefit from reading it or not, but I did not get the impression that I was missing a lot of story. You can certainly understand the plot of this book, but there may be some parts of the 'mythology' it is trying to set up that you will miss.

The world in which this story takes place is certainly very well thought out and imaginative. There are mythical creatures and places and all of them are interesting, provoking the reader's curiousity. The Wall especially makes you hungry for more information, which is presumably a good thing with more books to come in the series.

The problem is, as enthusiastic as I am about a great setting, it also needs a solid plot to move it along, or compelling characters. I really did not feel as if the book delivered on either of these accounts. The characterization was shallow at best. Other than her intellect and 'ability,' Paolina is little more than, as I mentioned before, a misandrist (man-hater). She seems to be singularly defined by the fact the she hates men and will not be controlled by them. The problem with this is it is not subtle at all. I rather felt browbeat with her hatred by the end of the book. Al-Wazir offers no depth whatsoever, and Childress is a little bit interesting, bringing in some theme such as bravery. Unfortunately, that makes her the exception rather than the rule.

The plot is unfortunately, similarly stagnant. Paolina and Al-Wazir are constantly in motion, and moving around Europe and the Wall, but the reasons are all sort of reactions, and there's no central problem or conflict pushing them along. Childress' story is incredibly remote, and seems utterly pointless until the very end. While this may sound harsh, and maybe it would not be that bad if the book had something else to offer, but I certainly had some trouble pushing ahead at points. I even have some trouble verbalizing the plot without giving spoilers, because really, there was not much until the very end.

The book was not awful. The setting is good, but the characters and plot are not overly interesting or dynamic. If the setting intrigues you enough, it may be worth it to pick up this book, especially since there are more books coming which may offer more. If you need strong plot or character to get into a book, this is definitely one to pass up. Even if you like a strong setting, there are books where you will get a more complete package.

Final verdict is a pass for most people! Go find something better. I don't think you will have that much trouble.

Arrival, Oslo, and Bergen!

2009-05-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

Here starts my posting about our epic adventure in Europe.

My adventure starts out on my own. My dad came and hung out with me for a bit at the airport in Saskatoon before I left. I flew to Calgary and spent time at that airport. Nothing to tell here, really. The plane to Frankfurt had a few things to tell about though. First thing, I was really surprised when the first airplane meal was actually really good! Secondly, I must have been much smaller the last time I took economy class for 8 hours, because I found the seats so frustratingly small that the only way I could be comfortable was if I was sitting absolutely still. I couldn't even reach under my seat very easily.

Anyway! I landed in Frankfurt, which is a very intimidatingly large airport. It took us 20 minutes to drive to the proper gate after we touched ground. I had a brief moment of panic when a flightdesk person said she could not find my last flight to sign me in, but luckily it was found easily by the next person I went to and everything else went off without a hitch. The Frankfurt airport has English everywhere and even makes their announcements in English as well as German, so I had no trouble navigating my way around the massive airport. After meandering a bit, buying a new book, and sitting down to read for a while, Liam found me, and we chatter and did more of the same. We weren't even on the same part of the flight, though, so on the plane I just tried to get comfortable and sleep. It didn't happen, as usual, so I touched down in Oslo very tired.

After checking into our hostel and dropping off our stuff, we first we had some supper at a 'Scottish' pub, where I had some sort of pizza with reindeer (it was okay). We walked a bit around downtown Oslo. We saw the City Hall, which is a massive building with very epic statues all around, the Nobel Peace building, and some other buildings. I really like the architechture and feel of Oslo. It was fun, even at how tired I was, just to spend some time in a city that is totally different from Edmonton or Saskatoon. Speaking of tired, I was being a whiner, so I convinced Liam to going back to the hostel (this was 5pm), which I promptly fell asleep. I woke up, raring to go at 8pm, because I thought it was 8am. This was really weird, but I felt like I had already been sleeping 10+ hours, so I figured it was 8am and that we should get going. Liam told me that it was 8pm, and I found myself both disappointed and maybe also a little bit relieved that I could go back to sleep (when I realized I was not actually fully rested). So, we slept until 6am, putzed around the hostel a little bit, then went out for a walk through the Oslo castle and military grounds, where we got various pictures with tanks and cannons and battlements and such. It was pretty cool. I don't know that much about tanks, but I was pretty sure I identified a Sherman on sight.

Then we checked out of our hostel and took the train to Bergen. The train ride was uneventful but absolutely stunningly beautiful. The mountains and fjords of Norway are very pretty, and the 6 hour train ride just breezed by with me switching between reading, listening to music, eating the snacks from the train cafe, and checking out the scenery. All in all, it was a pretty great, relaxing way to travel. I hope all of our train experiences are this positive.

Once here in Bergen, Carl (a cousin of a friend of ours in Saskatoon, Ian) met us at the train station and walked us to his house, where we dropped off our stuff then went back out for food, which was a sze chuan (apparently that's two words here) place. The walk to and from this place was extremely wet! Apparently, Bergen is one of the rainiest cities in the world, so I picked up an umbrella on our way back. This was lucky, because on our way to the bar later, it was raining even harder, and I still got pretty wet even with the umbrella. I had a few drinks to forget about that fact while we met Carl's roommates and other friends. Luckily, everyone here speaks English pretty well, and we only had a few times where there was a gap in understanding, and that was mostly from me using idioms and such, or just talking like I was drunk. Carl's friends were really nice and easy to talk to, and we had a great time with them.

Apparently, when Liam went out for a smoke, he met some guys from the Norwegian military who were just tickled pink to meet a Canadian, and talk about their posts. So we hung out with those two and the couple of girls they had latched onto (who ended up being way cooler than the guys). We went to another bar and played some foosball, had some more drinks, chatted, did all that wonderful stuff. On our way out someone invited us to a nachspeil, which is apparently the Norwegian way of saying afterparty, where the host is supposed to have drinks and food, and the conversation and partying is supposed to continue. At this point, it was Liam and I, the two girls we had met, Carl, and the dude that invited us to nachspeil. The nachspeil was honestly kind of odd, as there were no more drinks to be had, and the guy who invited us was kind of odd, and I wasn't hungry for any food. We didn't stay too long before we walked the girls home and then went home ourselves. We got to bed at the ripe old hour of 4:30am.

That brings us to today! I haven't even had breakfast yet. For the next post I should have some pictures, but until then you can check out our photostream at the 'Latest' RSS feed here. I am also not quite sure how to link to our photostream, but if you go on Flickr our name is liam&colin and the account name is colin_saraka . More details on this later. I am so hungry! Time to eat.

In The Works

2009-03-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

In the interest of gearing this blog more toward reviews, I thought I'd make a quick post on what I am reading, watching, planning to read, etc.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. Klosterman's voice is strong but the logical connections he makes in this book are actually rather annoying in how dubious and random they are. I was recommended this by a friend but I am having trouble finishing it. Part of it is that some (but not all) of the cultural references are lost on me, but even the ones that do reference things I know and know well have been mediocre.

No Country For Old Men movie. I plan to watch this some time soon to compare it to the novel. I hope it enriches my experience, but I'm not sure what I expect. The casting seems very spot-on, although I did see previews before I read the novel.

Escapement by Jay Lake. I'm not going to lie, I was definitely attracted to this one by the pretty steampunk cover. It could be terrible, who knows, but I thought I would give it a go.

No Country For Old Men

2009-03-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finished reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is generally regarded as one of the most important American novelists (although of course it depends who you ask), and No Country for Old Men is from 2005, and was adapted into the 2007 Coen brothers movie of the same name, which I have not yet seen.

The story is mainly about three characters. Ed Tom Bell is what I would call the main protagonist, and he is a sheriff in the county where the beginning of the novel takes place. Anton Chigurh is the main antagonist, an enterprising, sociopathic bounty hunter on the trail of Llewelyn Moss, a 30 year old Vietnam veteran who welds for a living. Carla Jean, Moss' wife, is also notable for playing a part in the development of the themes of the book.

The novel begins when Moss is hunting in the desert and stumbles on a drug deal that went sour, finding everyone dead except one person. He takes the money he finds and goes home, only to return when he feels guilty for not giving the man water. He gets noticed and enfolded into a war over the money that is never fully fleshed out. Chigurh and another party hunt him while Bell follows the path of violence that ensues.

The book is almost the opposite of the last book I read. It sacrifices brevity and what I would consider a well-developed, well-explained plot for the purpose of developing its themes and characters.

McCarthy intentionally omits most information about the parties which actually want the money that Moss carries. He also purposefully omits a few scenes, preferring to describe them using the aftermath, and this surprised me the first time it happened. I am not sure I enjoyed this method of storytelling, especially as one of the scenes done in this matter was particularly central to the plot. That, combined with his penchant for brief (note: not a brief book) and often idiomatic language, made it difficult to follow along with what was going on.

The character at the centre of this plot, Moss, is perhaps the most underdeveloped of the four major characters. Bell is a very philosophic protagonist whose ruminations on life and old age frame the book, and Chigurh is a delightfully efficient, ruthless sociopath. Carla Jean, while her scenes are brief, acts as a foil to the world-weary Bell. The most interesting parts of the book are the ones in which the characters are interacting; both the violence and the conversations are engaging and interesting, although you certainly get a sense that all of the characters like to be brief in their speech. The setting is also well done. The Texas-Mexico border almost acts like another character, and also a theme of the book; the land, the story, and the characters are varying degrees of harsh, unforgiving, and worn-down.

The theme of the book seems to me to be fear and acceptance of your circumstances and choices. Bell goes on at length about the choices he has made, the choices his father and grandfather made, and the enormity of the duty bestowed upon him when he became a 'lawman.' To be honest, it all went a little bit further than I cared to read about, especially with the last 80 pages or so devoted to scenes featuring Bell and his wrestling with these concepts; they weren't terrible but I just did not find them all that interesting. Chigurh is a more interesting philosopher but less utilized; I found the few scenes concerning his views very rich.

This is an incredibly hard review to sum up. I liked the plot, but I wish that it was focused on more. There was a lot of thematic undercurrent to the novel, but I could not bring myself to care all that much; whether this is the author's fault or mine is difficult to say. The characters were interesting and developed through the novel, but I felt Bell was overdone (and this relates directly back to his philosophizing). The writing style is frustrating at times, even though it did lend the novel a strong sense of voice.

Coming from a background of reading lots of fantasy, it's hard to jump right into a book that so neatly makes its plot a secondary concern. I did appreciate the strong characterization and setting, but I needed something more substantial to tie everything together. When I go pick out another 'fiction and literature' book, I think that I will probably be looking for something that promises a more intriguing plot.

Red Seas Under Red Skies

2009-03-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch is a fantasy-adventure novel, and the sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora. I had a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for genres which I could comfortably ascribe to it, and I found none. To be honest, it reads a little bit like an Indiana Jones movie in a fantasy book setting.

The book, of course, had strengths and weaknesses.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, which was indeed its greatest strength: its entertainment value. The setting, like The Lies of Locke Lamora, is a huge asset to the novel, and fans of a fully-realized world will not be disappointed. The new novel brings the protagonists to the different, but no less interesting, city of Tar Valon, which was built on a gigantic flower-shaped set of glass islands, left by the as-yet-unseen race of Elders. As a fan of setting, but having little patience for over-description, I appreciated Lynch's ability to tell me about the city (and the boat, in the second half of the book) without performing an infodump. We also get some very intriguing "past" scenes, where, supposedly, we are learning more about the characters. The past scenes, though, are much better in giving a sense of setting than they are of giving a sense of characterization, in my opinion. The action scenes and the minor political intrigue involved in the novel are both done well. I tend to get lost in the details of both action and politics, and gloss over, trying to get the essential points and move on, but I found here that I was willing and able to read the scenes. Part of this, at least with regards to the action scenes, may have been due to the 'Indiana'-esque nature of them.

What you won't find in this book is anywhere to hang your thoughts on. What I mean to say is that this is not a thinking man's (or woman's) fantasy. There is a few attempts at creating themes (one being the savage nature of man) but they are undeveloped and a little bit awkward and out of place in the otherwise light tone of the novel. The main characters are very likable, but very archetypal; You have the roguish Locke and the faithful Jean, but that is all you sign up for. There was a minor romance which attempted to bring out a little bit more of the character of Jean, but it ultimately fell a bit flat in my opinion. Also, Locke still quietly yearns over his lost love, with no more past given, and to no end. The minor characters were well imagined but ultimately did not develop. The plot is fun, but a little bit unbelievable given the characters. We have two adventurers who the author would have us believe are very cunning, but they show up in a new city just to get swept up in another persons plans, again, and the plot turns and twists are more due to luck and deus ex machina than to their own ability. The shallow characterization, unfortunately, made it hard for me to appreciate the ending (which is all I can say without getting into spoiler territory).

The first two books, unfortunately, are missing an overarching plot. This may be an asset to some people, as I'm fairly certain that one could buy this book and understand without reading the first, but it leaves me wondering how interested I will be in the third book, The Republic of Thieves. Lynch has mentioned that he will be introducing such a plot in this book, and his writing is entertaining enough that I will probably pick it up, but I might wait for the paperback, depending on what else is coming out around that time and how busy I am.

I know other reviewers like to give ratings, but I wanted to try this instead. I will give a quick list of pros and cons and depends on your views.

Pros:

Unique settings that are well described without infodumping

A strong sense of fun, and easy to read

Good action and good political intrigue

Cons:

Archetypal main characters

Weak characterization overall

Relies on a little too much luck and/or deus ex machina

Depends on your view:

Not a thinking novel

Episodic nature/no overarching 'series' plot

I welcome your comments and criticism. Am I missing talking about anything that you would like to hear about?

I watched Watchmen

2009-03-05T08:04:00.001-08:00

I saw Watchmen last night, and just wanted to get my first thoughts out on paper. I might go see it again soon, because I did enjoy it and I feel (or hope, you decide) like there is more there. Here are some criticisms:

i) I thought some of the lines were delivered very woodenly (especially by Silk Spectre II)
ii) I'm not really sure why it was so violent, or at least why it was so violent in such a cheesy way. The graphic novel was gory but in a much less campy way. The movie is an action-drama, and the campy violence took away from it. It made me think that the rest of the movie was taking itself too seriously, when in fact this is a serious movie, and those action scenes weren't taken seriously enough.
iii) I felt as if many of the scenes could have been cut by 2-5 minutes and still have the same effect. That might have left more room for some of the minor characters of the graphic novel, like the newsstand owner, the boy reading the comic book, and the psychiatrist. Maybe this wouldn't have translated very well to screen, but my point stands about the length of some scenes.
iv) The ending pulled a Return of the King and made me think it was going to end about 4 times. The very last scene was entirely unnecessary. People might bitch about the ending (it was changed from the novel), but if they didn't dilute it by having 3 or 4 conclusion scenes, I think it would have been very strong. As it was, it still ended up with the same effect as the novel.

That being said, it did have its strong points.

i) The casting was mostly brilliant. Rorschach, Night Owl, and Dr. M were especially well chosen (even if Night Owl was a bit less old and more alpha male than I pictured him - that's Hollywood). I was unsure about Ozymandias before the movie, but I ended up liking him.
ii) The movie stayed mostly faithful to the graphic novel, even if it had to leave parts out. I felt like it preserved the feel of it.
iii) The entertainment value was high: The special effects were very good, there is some very well-done humour peppered throughout, and the characters are likable.

All in all, I'm glad I went, and I might go again or wait until the video comes out. I might be posting some more thoughts of this movie in the future.

Too Zune?

2009-03-02T09:00:00.001-08:00

Recently, my iPod went the way of many iPods, and the battery died. I looked at my different options, including sending it away for a refurb (I believe this costs around $80), a new iPod, the Microsoft Zune, other mp3 players.

While sending your iPod away for a refurb is not a bad deal, I am going on a trip in only 2 months, and I just couldn't find the faith to believe that I could get through the process in that time. Also, I wanted to try something new. After looking at various players, a few stood out: The Cowon D2, the Sansa View, and the Microsoft Zune. I downloaded the Zune software, played around with it a bit, and tried it out on my home library (~5000 songs), and it was ultimately a very pleasurable experience. Part of the reason I wanted to move away from the iPod was due to the fact that the iTunes software runs like a hog on my machine (which, granted, is getting old). Ultimately, since the Zune software was such a breeze, and because I had been hearing good things about the Zune, I decided to get it.

Here's a link to the one I got, an 8GB blue!: http://www.zune.net/en-ca/mp3players/zune8/default.htm

The price wasn't too bad. I paid about $146 with tax at the Source. It was nice, not having to brave a Future Shop or Best Buy to get the product. Big box retail stores in Edmonton always scare me a little.

So I'll go through a bit of what I like and don't like about the Zune. I'm a fairly low-tech user, too, so don't expect benchmarks or anything. The iPod/iTunes comparisons are inevitable, so you'll have to live with that. I'll break it down into categories.

Computer Software:
The software sold me. While I kind of hope in the future they integrate it more into the Windows look, it is very pretty. It's easy to navigate and get through your songs in any way you wish. Getting album art and album information is very easy, and you do have control over what information it attaches to your files. You can also set it to create visuals out of what looks like stock photos of the band, and biographies, etc, stored somewhere in the Zune ecosystem. You get quick access to album reviews (although only one per album) and the links to other relevant information and context browsing are pleasurable experiences. I live in Canada, though, and I did have to set my computer region to USA to get this feature. I'm told that this region setting doesn't really affect much on your computer.
The shortcuts are a bit odd. Instead of the usual shortcuts - like hitting space to play/pause - we get weird ones like Ctrl-P and Ctrl-S (for play/pause and stop, respectively). They aren't that bad except that they go against what I'm used to (with Windows Media Player, iTunes, Winamp), which peeved me a bit. Not a huge deal, though.
Zune is a bit of a resource hog, but not nearly as bad as iTunes. Not even bad enough that I even noticed, really, and my computer is getting old and slow.
The other thing that I find a bit awkward in Zune software is the playlists. They are not that bad; I just wish that I had an option to be constantly displaying the playlist I'm playing.
No Linux support :( , at least not with major workarounds. I hope this is forthcoming but I won't be holding my breath. In reality, I'm on Windows 50% of the time, and when I go back to school it will be more like 80-90%, so this is not a big deal to me, but it would have been nice.
One last thing that I am really boggled that iTunes doesn't have: Zune automatically monitors your music directory (or directories) to make sure it always has your whole library. Why don't you have this iTunes?

Hardware:
You could make the argument that the iPod is prettier. Personally, I really like the Zune. It's got a very nice feel to it; it's not quite as curvaceous as the iPod, but I find the buttons to be even more minimalist, which is nice.
The headphones seem much better than the stock iPod headphones. They certainly don't sound as tinny. That being said, I didn't spend a lot of time with them, since I have (expensive) headphones of my own. Honestly, if sound quality is a big deal to you, you will probably still be paying for a nicer pair of headphones. No game-changers here, but it is nice that the stock headphones don't make your ears bleed (figuratively).

Device Software:
I'll confess I don't use playlists all that much; I'm mostly just content to listen to whole CDs at a time, or throw the device on random. These things are very simple, and the Zune software certainly handles them well. The Now Playing list on the device is nice to work with, although it would be nice to have some sort of way to arrange the list (ie change play order). As far as I know, though, the iPod doesn't have this either. Personally, I didn't miss it, but it did seem like something that would be easy enough to implement.
Getting around the device is easy and pleasurable. The look of the software is very nice, if not quite as flashy as the new iPods with cover-flow, etc.
One concern for me was moving away from the click wheel, which I absolutely love. I'm happy to report that the D-pad/touchpad combination used in the Zune is a very worthy substitute. To scroll the list quickly, you just brush your thumb up or down, once or a few times, depending on how quickly and how far you want to go. It feels like something that will get better the more you get used to it, but it is very easy to use even at first. If you're at risk of scrolling past the item you want, you can just tap the touch pad again to stop it. I found it very intuitive. You can also use the input as a d-pad, pressing up down left right and the centre for enter.
The FM tuner is a nice addition, even if I don't see myself using it all that much. It might be interesting when I go to Europe in the summer!
Unfortunately, since none of my nearby friends own a Zune, I can't expand much on the much touted "social." Suffice to say it seems like a nice feature, but watch out for your battery life if you keep wireless on constantly.
One final, niggling point is that the stock games that came with my Zune are way better than the ones that came with the iPod. I got a space-invader type game, a texas hold-em, a Sudoku game, and Hexic, a very nice puzzler similar to Bejewelled. Also, the touch pad is much nicer than the click wheel for controlling games (Well, with the exception of Zuma, which feels like it was made for the click wheel).

Syncing Experience:
Happy to say that syncing is super easy. I got a Zune which was unable to fit my whole library, but the option to try to sync my whole library was available. As it was, I was content to drag and drop, which was very easy. There are settings in there for on-the-fly file conversion, which sounds nice for syncing, but I didn't get to use it as (I think) all of my files are compatible with the Zune (including my iTunes Plus purchased files). You don't need to have your Zune plugged in to set up what you would like to have on there, either, which is nice if you have left your Zune somewhere or simply don't feel like plugging it in yet. The wireless sync, although I can't see myself using it a lot, was simple and intuitive. You just have to go to Wireless on your Zune and hit Sync. It does require some configuration first, but the Zune software takes care of it for you. One very nice thing here is that the software doesn't lock up when you are syncing your Zune, which is a nice change from iTunes.

I know a few things are missing from this review. That's mostly because I haven't had the opportunity to use them much. I did play with the pictures on Zune, and it seemed nice and easy to use, but I never really use this feature, and did not use it on the iPod either. Video, too, is something that I never used on the iPod (mostly because half an episode of South Park drained my battery from full to zero), and I haven't gotten around to using it on Zune, either. They are not important components of the player for me.

To summarize my main concerns:

Pros: Very intuitive and pretty. The touch pad is a great way to navigate a device like this. It's got an 'oooh' factor. Syncing is quick and easy. The device has a great form factor with a few more hard edges than the iPod (I liked this). Zune software is so much quicker than iTunes!
Cons: No marketplace for Canada. No cross-platform (yet). I wish I had the option to always see my playlist on the computer software and I still feel as if device playlists could be done better on both Zune and iPod.

Summary: If you're on a Windows machine, the Zune is a very nice replacement for the iPod, and I totally feel comfortable recommending it to people as such. Competition is a good thing, right? Best buy a Zune or a D2 or Sansa View, so that iPod doesn't become complacent. The Zune is one that you won't be disappointed with.

I welcome any questions about the device, even if it involves me going out of my way to test!

Thoughts on Smoking legislation

2009-01-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

This is edited from a post I made on a forum over at IMDB. I'm posting it here because 1. I rarely find a way to express my thoughts on this so clearly and 2. If anyone reads this blog, I want to hear thoughts.

The original post is here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/board/thread/124960066

Smoking is a choice. To be honest, though, it makes me sick just smelling it. In a bad moment (if I was already feeling a little bit nauseous), it can make me feel genuinely awful. I don't think I am the only one, and I do think that I have the right to take steps to avoid it.

How far I have to go to avoid is the main issue I am concerned with here. If I have to turn down nights with my friends (eg going to the bar or out to supper) to avoid it, that makes me rather upset. You could make the argument that I could go to a bar without smoking, or sit in the non-smoking section of a restaurant. It's difficult to come up with a right or wrong here. I turned drinking age only after my province banned smoking inside buildings, so I don't know how many bars were available to go to that did not have smoking, and I'll leave out an opinion on that. In restaurants, unless there is a separately ventilated area, telling me to sit in a non-smoking area is a very weak proposition. I can still smell the smoke, and I will probably come out of the restaurant feeling light-headed and nauseous. Truth be told, I think it would be very difficult to avoid smoking establishments if they were allowed. Smokers may declare that us non-smokers would have a 'choice' to go a non-smoking establishment, and complain that they don't appreciate having to go outside in the cold. They neglect to mention that they also have a choice; they can go outside to have their smoke or stay inside where it is warm. It's not a very nice choice, but then neither is choosing to stay home because your friends are going to a place that will make you sick.

Out on the streets, it's very different. If I can hold my breath walking past a smoker, or give a wide enough berth that I don't have to smell the smoke, then fine. It's annoying but manageable. I don't think this needs to be regulated, because it is a manageable annoyance.

I think that the burden of inconvenience should lie on the smoker. Smokers have a habit that can potentially make others ill or at least uncomfortable, and they should be the ones to have to inconvenience themselves when they need to sate the habit.

I think that although there may be a better solution for putting a blanket ban on all buildings, but I do not have it. To me, it would be a great step backward to start allowing smoking in bars and restaurants again, because it might make it difficult to find places that I enjoy. With smoking inside buildings banned, places do not have to play popularity games to find out whether a smoking establishment is more profitable than a non-smoking establishment, which may or may not end up in most/all places offering smoking.

There was some mention of anti-smoking advertisements in the thread. I really cannot agree with anyone who says these are unnecessary. Even if you are a smoker, knowing the full health detriments of smoking, are you going to encourage other people to smoke? Commercials such as those are efforts to stop people from make bad decisions that will leave them with a difficult, unhealthy addiction. They are meant to inform people, in response to a culture that encouraged smoking as cool without shedding light on its detriments. You can argue that everyone knows that cigarettes are unhealthy, and that may be true, but people need reminders, and it's not just about information; it's about culture. The government ads are attempting to foster a culture where smoking is known for the unhealthy habit that it is: a culture of health. This is not a heinous thing for a government to do. It's the same as the government commercials encouraging people not to drink and drive, or to steal copyrighted material (not that I'm trying to open up a bag of worms here; that's another debate).

Group Mentality and a Death at a Major Retail Store

2008-11-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the new low in American consumerism

For those who don't feel like going over there, an executive summary: An employee of a Wal-Mart in Long Island was trampled to death by customers, who unhinged the door to the store to get inside.

What the fuck?

When did it become worth it to subject yourself to such a hostile environment to save 100 bucks on something you don't need? I don't think the employee wanted to be there that day.. no one wants to work the big retail days. Why? Many of the people are rude and impatient, and do not give a damn about the people working there. That's been my experience.

I work at a retail store, and I am very thankful that I live in a place where the rude, obnoxious customers do not become feral, mindless beasts when they decide to camp outside a store waiting for the price cuts on items they really don't need. If these people were waiting for water while their stomach distended and mind wandered from dehydration, maybe I could forgive them, but they weren't; they were a group of people waiting to get in line and pay for such items as digital cameras, HDTVs, laptops, iPods. Words cannot express how disgusted that makes me.

First of all, is your time and health not worth more to you than the money you save camping out in front of a Wal-Mart? If you have that much time and need money so badly, why are you not getting another job?

Secondly, if you're that desperate to save money, why are you buying such things? I can't emphasize it enough that these items are non-essential. Go, pay your bills, feed your children, and rethink spending seven hundred dollars just so you can save one!

The article above has a lot on the fault of Wal-Mart, which is correct to a certain extent, but no matter the situation, people should be able to control themselves; someone should have stopped and picked the fellow up. No one did; no one wanted to give up their precious deal, because they didn't stop and think about the damage being done.

Sure, it's about group mentality, but that is far from an excuse. Mosh pits are sometimes dangerous places to be, but if everyone has the same attitude (ie have fun but no one gets hurt), then people are fine. If you fall down in a mosh pit, people will A) Form a ring around you B) Pick you up and C) Ask you if you are okay. Hell, I've seen people do that when someone loses a shoe. That people can't do that when a person is being trampled to death is pathetic and disgusting.

More First Impressions: Funeral for a Friend & A Static Lullaby

2008-11-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

In a throwback to about 5 years ago, two of my favourite bands from back then have released new albums. Unlike a lot of the music in the same vein (which I guess you would call post-hardcore or some such nonsense), these bands have stayed with me and progressed enough that I think it would be criminal to lump them in with some of the other bands in the genre.

A Static Lullaby - Rattlesnake!

Well, you can tell from the title that this one is going to be a little bit more fun. I am not really sure how to describe A Static Lullaby, except that when they started, they were fairly indistinguishable from other bands such as Story of the Year and ... damn, do you know what? I really don't remember a lot of bands from back then. It just goes to show you how forgettable some of that music was. Anyway, they were screamy, a little bit hard, a little bit punk, but mostly screamy. For their second album they went fairly lacklustre (IMHO), but for the third they pulled out all the stops and decided to make something unique to them.

Their third album was dark and heavily themed. It still contained a lot of screaming and a little bit of the 'whiny' (though I do not mean that in a band way) contrasting vocals characteristic of their earlier albums, but stepped up the hard. The lyrics were heavy with dark themes of sexuality, and relationships that I didn't think came across in a cheesy way.

I guess I should talk about the album I am reviewing here. They seem to have kept the momentum from the last album going, while moving a little bit into the territory of Everytime I Die, with heavier, riff-driven guitars and plenty of chorus vocals. This is most obvious on the first track, but the whole album bears the influence. There has been only one stand-out, a song called the Prestige on Track 5, which seems to be about being a demon or the devil or something. It has a great, repeated lyric, heavy breakdown near the end. Other than that, there are no standouts, unless you count the cover of Britney Spears' Toxic; it seems to be just a really solid album, and therein lies my main issue. I wish the songs distinguished themselves from each other a bit more. That may be a first impressions thing though; sometimes when albums seem all the same, that just means it takes time to appreciate the nuances, a wholly rewarding experience.

I guess we'll see if that's the case. In the mean time, for a first impression, I will give this one a rating of...

7/10

Funeral for a Friend - Memory and Humanity

I am writing this one during my very first listen to it, so it really, truly, is a bonafide first impression.

The great thing about this one is that I think it could have very wide appeal. It's balladic, hard, and has some great guitar. I am wary of albums that I like so much on the very first listen, though; sometimes you get sick of them pretty fast. It really is a great album for them, though, falling somewhere between their first and second albums (this is the fourth) in terms of the sound.

To me, Funeral For a Friends strength has always been how tight their sound is. Every single instrument is there for a reason and contributes to the song. It just all sounds so .. deliberate. No one instrument in the band is really that unique, but they combine them together so well. Bah, I really need to practice my ability to describe music; this is tough.

I am not sure what else to say, but if you are a fan of this sort of music, this is one of the most worthy releases I have heard in a long time. I can't emphasize how much FFAF has borrowed from the strengths of each of their previous albums. My only critique here is that there is nothing really new, just reimaginings and recombination of what they have done before. The result, though, is a very strong album, where they seem very comfortable with their sound and do it well.

9/10.

The Devil's Delusion

2008-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

Found on Amazon.ca, on the summary page for The Devil's Delusion by David Berlinski.

I was poking around in books that were giving the religious response to the 'New Atheist' works of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc... I was trying to find one that I thought would be a well-argued, but not petty, response to these best-selling books (of which I have only read one - The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins). Well, maybe my first mistake was clicking on the link for a book called The Devil's Delusion (already sounds horribly reactionary, doesn't it?). Apparently Dawkins struck a few nerves (it is rather an inflammatory title), as there is also a book called The Dawkins Delusion somewhere out there.

Anyway, I came across this list of questions and answers, purportedly meant to summarize the contents of the book. I am going to list them all and provide my own (probably long-winded) comments:

"Has anyone provided a proof of God’s inexistence?
Not even close."
Presumably this book is at least somewhat a response to The God Delusion, so shouldn't you rather address Dawkins' position that the burden of proof should reside with the religious voice?

"Has quantum cosmology explained the emergence of the universe or why it is here?
Not even close."
I believe, and Dawkins and Carl Sagan would appear to agree with me, that not knowing something is no reason to apply an arbitrary solution to the problem. Call me a proof man, but I'm hedging my bets until reality is revealed conclusively. I will take that to the grave, too, and it does not bother me.

"Have the sciences explained why our universe seems to be fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life?
Not even close."
Not much to say about this one, except that I hope the author at least has the sense to acknowledge or address the anthropomorphic principle.

"Are physicists and biologists willing to believe in anything so long as it is not religious thought?
Close enough."
This is offensive; I am sure many scientists are trying to reconcile their beliefs with their studies, and falling on both sides of the fence.

"Has rationalism in moral thought provided us with an understanding of what is good, what is right, and what is moral?
Not close enough."
I fail to see how this is an argument in the favour of God.

"Has secularism in the terrible twentieth century been a force for good?
Not even close to being close."
This discourse must be interesting. I don't agree but I would be open to reading this component. The answer is incredibly snarky, though, and does not reflect the attitudes of an author I would enjoy.

"Is there a narrow and oppressive orthodoxy of thought and opinion within the sciences?
Close enough."
The question is too broad (within the sciences at large? why not just address your 'New Atheists?') and the answer doesn't even really fit with the question. I think you would find many scientists much more receptive if you brought them evidence; reproducible evident would be event better. That's how scientists think. It's not close-minded; it's the way we test the world, so that when we declare something, we know that it will stand up to reason. We wouldn't be anywhere today (in terms of knowledge) if people were not questioning, and questioning is not a close-minded thing.

"Does anything in the sciences or in their philosophy justify the claim that religious belief is irrational?
Not even ballpark."
I'm tempted to just say 'what?' but I think that would not do this question justice. I think that, depending on how you define rational, religion could be claimed to be very irrational, but so could atheism. Firmly believing something, or disbelieving it, with no proof of either position, is something that I consider irrational. I can elaborate on that if anyone desires, but this post is getting to be long.

"Is scientific atheism a frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt?
Dead on."
Well, my intellectual contempt stems from poorly framed questions such as these, which would appear not to directly address any of the points made in the book this one is named after. I sincerely hope that this is not the author that has written this summary, and that this part of the summary does not reflect the contents of the book, but I will not be buying the book because this is the way it has been represented. If you want to write inflammatory books that are meant to raise people's ire and bring this debate down to schoolyard scraps with words, that's fine. I just won't buy your book, and will probably think less of you. You are, after all, just proving Dawkins right when he believes that religion can not be debated.

(All quotes taken lovingly from Amazon.ca , Amazon.com, Inc's Canadian website)

Internet Awesomeness

2008-11-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

So, webcomics are officially the worst time-suck on the internet. Worse than facebook. Seriously. In that line of thought, look at these comics which I found to be gratuitously humorous.

Duty Calls on xkcd
The Annual Brain Flush on Wasted Talent

Oh man, do these ever hit reality right on the mark.

Skeletal Lamping

2008-10-31T09:31:00.000-07:00

Of Montreal recently came out with a new CD called Skeletal Lamping. If you heard Hissing Fauna, Are you The Destroyer? then I think you will know exactly what to expect with this album. If you've never heard Of Montreal before, get ready for an album that you will either love to death or hate with a passion (screaming to yourself what the f!@# is he singing about!?).

Just to be perfectly clear, he's singing about being a 40 year old black man who was a woman who was a man, and who also used to be in an Ohio Players-like band in the seventies called Arousal. That's right, understanding the lyrics to this album is not simple for us single-gender folks, but they sure are fun. I don't really know what he is trying to get across, because I'm not really a lyrics person anyway, but they took some of my favourite songs from Hissing Fauna and extended the concepts into a whole album.

Expect lots of very effeminate male singing, lots of 'deep' sounding electronic beats, glitzy keyboard, extremely catchy but not pop-structured songs. Despite all the electronics, the album keeps an organic feel to it, not sounding too slick. They use repetition to great effect and the lyrics are very strange and fun. That being said, some people will probably just find it too weird to enjoy; they throw some random screams in the songs for musical effect, the band mates occasionally ask questions of the singer (which he answers), and they have song names like 'Triphallus to Punctuate!.'

So far I have really been enjoying this album. Do yourself a favour and at least give it a listen. If you don't like it, I would still encourage you to go to one of the band's live shows; they are by far the most interesting band I have seen live. I am not even sure I would like Hissing Fauna and Skeletal Lamping if I had not seen them live first. It's a psychedelic ride, with people in shiny suits dancing around and reading newspapers, and cannons that shoot glitter. The lead singer, along with the rest of the band, looks like a peacock trying to get your attention, all decked up in bright colours and metallic eye-liner. It's weird, but by god, is it ever entertaining.

First impression: 8/10

New Music

2008-10-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

This may be old news to some people, but there is a lot of exciting music coming out or which has come out recently, and I thought I would mention it here. Since I haven't mentioned my musical tastes anywhere on this blog before, let me just say I listen to a great many things: electronica, pop, pop-ish folk, rock, indy, classical, hardcore, metal. My tastes tend to be broad, and I tend to pick only a few things of each genre.

My tastes tend to run in phases; for example, I'll listen to all electronica for 2 weeks, then move on and listen to a bunch of my old emocore stuff. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of more popular music in the pop/rock/alternative genres, and that's definitely going to be reflected in this list. Here are some new albums that I think are worth noting, and my first impressions of them:

Keane - Perfect Symmetry:
First Impression: 5/10
After Keane's first two albums, you would think that you knew what to expect. In this case, you would definitely be wrong! This album utilizes a lot more electronics and is much more synthy. It gives it an 80s feel, and the songs are catchy, but I don't know how I will feel about it in the long run.
If you have not ever heard of Keane, they were generally considered 'piano-rock' and their music was generally characterized by pop-structured songs, with prominent use of the piano and the singer's strong voice, and glossy, clean production. This album is much different though. I would recommend starting at their first (and still, arguably, best) album, Hopes and Fears.

Aside:
Some may view my ratings as rather harsh, mostly because I believe people are too free with their 8's 9's and 10's when they rate things. It is also a first impression; sometimes these are the albums that really grow on you over time. Also, since I believe you can't remove context from the rating of an album, Perfect Symmetry suffers from the much stronger (IMHO) first two albums by Keane. Now, back to the main event...

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night:
First Impression: 7/10
I am a relative newcomer to Kings of Leon. I only just heard of them soon after Because of the Times came out. A lot of people really liked Because of the Times, and so did I. Only by the Night is a very worthy follow-up to that album. The singer has improved on his unique but strong voice. It also has very clean production, which I thought worked well. If you liked Because of the Times I can almost guarantee you will like this album.
The band combines mostly minimal rockin' with very front and center vocals and some electronic effects. The singer is one of my favourites these days; he has a very high energy voice that sometimes borders on a screech... but in a good way.

Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns:
First Impression: 8.5/10
Let's get one thing clear here. Snow Patrol is not really doing anything new to them. They play sappy pop-rock with a heavy emphasis on relationship/love themes. However, this is exactly why I love them, so I don't mind. The album is so overwhelmingly catchy (not unlike their first two) that you just can't but let it help you feel good. They do enough differently that it doesn't sound exactly like Eyes Open/Final Straw. So far there are no big stand-out songs, but only because the whole album is very strong. This is another one where the production is clean. I'm noticing a theme here... Oh well, like I said, my music habits tend to run in phases.

I am interested in production mostly because Liam despises overproduction. It's when he started mentioning it that I started to notice it at all. As much as Liam decries overproduction, I don't find the production over-done on any of these 3 albums. I think it makes it easy to appreciate these bands' ability. All three use traditional rock-song structure, and the music here is more about appreciating the quality of pop/rock songwriting and vocal talent than doing anything that much differently.

I will also be giving these short 'first impressions' reviews on Bloc Party's new album and Of Montreal's. I was going to do them now, but I don't think I've listened to them even enough for a first impression review. I suppose that sounds counterintuitive, but I was so distracted when listening to them, I didn't really absorb any of the music.

Updates (to what!?)

2008-10-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

If there's anyone who reads this blog; here are some personal updates, and some pertaining to the blog!:

I changed that layout a little bit, and you can now subscribe to us with the button on the side. If you don't use RSS feeds, try it out. I use Google Reader, and it such a glorious time-suck that it has effectively replaced Facebook as my primary procrastination tool. Firefox by default will ask you what you would like to subscribe with and Google Reader is a choice on there. Internet Explorer and Opera both have their own built-in RSS Readers, which I don't really like. I don't know what other browsers do. Anyway, that should get you our very infrequent updates!

That being said, I would like to update this more often, and in the interest of that, I've bought a notebook for recording my random thoughts during the day in the hopes that more of them will make it onto this blog! The notebook I got is this nifty little unit called a Moleskine, a fantastic little notebook with a nice leather cover with a strap for holding it shut, a ribbon bookmark, and full of a bunch of reference information. Apparently, these notebooks are a little bit of a hit among creative types, and there are a few internet sites devoted to them. Here is an art site devoted to art drawn in Moleskine notebooks: http://www.skineart.com/.

I am planning updates to the layout of the blog, depending on how long it takes me to relearn HTML. This prefab layout, while my favourite one, is pretty drab, and I want to mess around and get something a little bit more interesting online! The chances of me finding time to sit down and learn HTML in one day is unlikely though, so expect small, incremental changes. My recreational attention span is even worse than my attention span at work. I am also trying to learn how to create programs in PyGTK for Linux, and have my attention further divided by rec soccer, Ian Esslemont's new book (which is fantastic!), and Warcraft 3 (how do I still enjoy this game so much after 5 or 6 years!?). I also seem to lose a lot of time to poking around on my computer in Ubuntu.

Which brings me to my next point! For computer nerd types who like to try something new. This October 30, Ubuntu comes out with Intrepid, the latest version of a Linux operating system which is almost fully ready for casual users. I have been using the previous version, Hardy, on my laptop for 4 months now, never looking back to large, bloated Windows Vista. I still use XP mostly on my desktop, because I like using iTunes for my iPod and Warcraft 3 doesn't run that well on Ubuntu. However, out of the box, you can use Ubuntu for office applications, internet browsing (with Firefox), and listening to music (with Rhythmbox, a music player very similar to iTunes). I would recommend giving it a try. There's a link on the sidebar (which also counts down to the official release).

That's all for this post. I had more but it was all music related and this post is getting long, so I am just going to post another one.

Jacket Weather II...

2008-10-08T23:37:00.001-07:00

Jacket weather...

2008-10-08T23:17:00.000-07:00

Travel diary excerpt - 18 August, 2008 - Faeroe Islands:
It's my last day in the Færoes, I am watching little wisps of mist slowly affix themselves to the bus window. The mist is thick and the visibility poor. In my few days in Tørshavn, I have become acquainted with the narrow and winding streets. I am not sure I will see them again, but I would like to; Klakkur still awaits my return. The sea is vaguely visible from the road, it seems to be seething, swelling, tumultuous. A force, a foe, to this Prairie boy. The fog finally clears and I can see blue sky, across the water, an island is crested with a brilliant white swath of cloud. We drive by some small industrial complex, to its use, I have no no useful thoughts, it fascinates me none-the-less. We then head into a tunnel, it defeats the Færoes to biggest and constant obstacles - its mountains and the North Atlantic. Through the tunnel - the fog has disappeared and the sky is cloudless, a beautiful clear ultramarine. They are gathering hay in the fields, and small lakes add additional colour to the greens and greys of the mountains. Again a tunnel, yellow and white dance across the crack in windshield, as artificial lights guide through this sub-abysmal cavern.

Life is..

2008-10-07T11:40:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder at this very human tendency to want to reduce all things great and small to a width no wider than that of a clever sentence.

I'm guilty of it; you're guilty of it. How many people have you seen with tags like "Love is a battlefield" or "Seize the day." Sometimes the sayings are just complete clichés. Sometimes they are poorly disguised versions of the same thing you have been hearing for years. Sometimes they are actually pretty clever, but still trying to stuff meaning into a container that is just not big enough. How can you possibly fit the meaning of life into one sentence? How can you explain love to someone with but a few choice, clever words? I use life and love as example, because they are probably the most commonly victimized concepts in this phenomena, but it could be anything, really: Death, the finance market, the bar scene, music, art, sports.

Why do we do this? There's so much going on behind every word we speak, let alone every emotion we feel or sensory input we experience. I don't know about you, but the idea that so much meaning can be expressed through a few words is intriguing. I use "seize the day" as an example. First of all, that sentence should not mean anything. It doesn't make sense, seizing a day. You can't seize a day.. it's an abstract concept, incapable of being grasped. We all know what the sentence means, though, and if read at the right time, these three little words can send people into fits of guilt, or joy, or amateur philosophy, or promiscuous sex-binges.

You can take those three words (or two for the also-common 'carpe diem'), filter them through millions of people, and get a different result each time. We pack meaning into these little sentences, not unlike a computer putting a file into an archive. When we send these bits of packaged information to other people, though, they are unpacked in an entirely different way. They are modified and applied to each person as befits their experiences, and their world views. They were generalized only to be once again made specific, and they bridge the gap between two humans, two humans experiencing the subjective world differently.

In essence I think that these phrases are appealing because of their succinct generality; we love them, because we get to unpack them and apply them at will. We love them because in our differences, we can still rally behind these general phrases, and be inspired by them. I think it's an art in and of itself to come up with phrases that apply to so many people.

"Seize the day" means different things to different people, but I think most people will pretty much agree that the day should be seized. Other sayings are less universal ("You laugh at me because I am different, I laugh because you are all the same" rings pretty hollow to me, for example), but are still rally like-minded people, even though the meaning is slightly different for each of them. In some cases, I have seen the same phrases being used to rally people behind completely conflicting ideas (think Einstein and his definition of 'God' and the fact that his quotes are used by both theists and atheists). In closing, I would like to prove that last sentence by quoting a man whose general philosophy I disagree with, even though this quote rings true to me:

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." - Carl Jung

This has been my latest bout of caffeine-fueled, amateur philosophy. Thank you for tuning in. I welcome your comments, criticism, and discussion points.

-------

On a related note, Chuck Norris is trying to sell me a gym machine. What do I do? I don't think I could live through one of his kicks...

Pathways and noways.

2008-09-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

-Excerpt from travel journal - Færoes continued, 15 August, 2008:
Woke up early to ensure I did not miss the bus... too early, so I lounged in bed. Then I had a 'breakfast' of whatever had accumulated over the past few days. I was once again early for the bus, I smoked, and listened to José González - Broken Arrows, repeatedly. It suit the moment well. I was sad to leave Klaksvík, as I had never climbed the 'cairned' mountain [Klakkur]. That goal shall wait. I will return - with someone close to me, and we will take it together. Klaksvík was lonely insular place, so I was otherwise not too regretful in leaving. The tunnel to Estruoy was a blur, but a memorable one. It is definitely an achievement for such a small nation. The village of Leirvík preserved some of the most substantial Viking Age remains I have encountered so far, with intricately constructed walls to at least three feet in areas. I spent an hour sitting in the long hall. Overhead, birds fought and flew; the mountains bore silent witness - as they have for æons. At one point, a passenger plane streaked across the sky, leaving a smoky stream in its wake. The contrast of one thousand years was never so marked as then! The soundtrack, Last Days - These Places are Now Ruins, pitched perfectly to the situation. However, my contemplation was crashed when I realised I should make it back to catch the bus. With a few moments spent capturing the beautiful church against the majestic mountains, I was still too early for the bus. I spent 20 minutes in relative silence with a middle aged woman, while village folk occasionally noticed a foreigner in their midst. The neutrality of the Færoese population perplexes me. Is it shyness or disinterest? An hour later, after fighting off sleep - unsucessfully, on the bus, I was back in Tørshavn. And again, alone in my loft-dorm. I set out to experience the only mall in the Færoes. A reasonable, and relatively good grocer allowed me to stock up on supplies. A cheap meal for the Færoes fueled my lust for the night life of the Færoes.

Everyday II

2008-09-18T23:08:00.001-07:00

12 August, 2008, excerpt part II - The Færoes...
-The mist has ringed Tørshavn - if it was not already isolated enough, it now seems to be the only semblance of civilisation left in this world. Perhaps, it is the sheer cost, or just the pace of life, but everything here is all the better when savoured; nursed even - the rain, walking, scenes, beer, books, desolation, sound, etc. The city is small and the streets narrow, but it would assuredly take a lifetime to appreciate every crack and corner. Dostoevsky lends himself well to the islands, but the people seem unconcerned with philosophy. This is not out of arrogance, I suspect, but simply, there is no need. They have 'living' philosophy, it is in the very stone and soil. Life is life - best appreciated as such. The sky is uniformly grey and blends into the mists that skirt the high ground. Truly, there seems little difference between the two; there are no borders here. Fences are but temporary.

Everyday

2008-09-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

Further travel excerpts: 11-12 August, 2008:
Tørshavn - raining and dark, three days of drinking and partying, only to end in this self imposed exile. The flight was okay, and the bus dropped me off in good order - albeit tired. I was left entirely to my own devices to my hostel, and then to find the room. After an hour of complete frustration in this warren, I discovered the room outside! the area it vaguely indicated. It appears to be some variety of attic-cum-loft-dormitory. It is sparse, but more than adequate. I am alone with my thoughts and ghosts. The sea is rough, but the lighthouse is shining into the harbour.

*I woke up to that 'photograph' (Tørshavn harbour).

Is There a Ghost?

2008-09-14T16:42:00.001-07:00

Further travel diary excerpts: Thursday, 8 August, 2008.

The car ride to Þingvellir was breathtaking - like being surrounded by a landscape of watercolours. The mountains; a dark blue against the grey sky - the features of the foreground seem to be more like suggestions than visual reality. The car is silent other than a slight purr, and there is also the patter of the rain. Despite the rain, the lakes and ponds are still, and they loom at the road's edge in mercuric glow. The land is seemingly devoid of life besides the occasional horse in the distance. Odd it seems, for such an otherwise 'lush' valley. We all seem to be lost in our respective thoughts, unsurprisingly. This will outlive us, but life goes on.

Steel Doesn't Decide to Rust, It Just Does.

2008-09-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from my travel diary - Iceland and Faeroes 2008.

I am trapped on an island. There is eight of us; conversation has run dry. The radio has been turned on to fill the silence. I hope the boat arrives soon. It will be a strange night, I expect.

Evolution of Thought.

2008-08-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Sounds pretty serious doesn't it? Well, maybe it is. I just wanted to get a few of my thoughts out, both on evolution and the supposed state of decline of the planet. Now, don't get all up in arms about the word 'supposed' in there. I am definitely for doing what we can to help the environment, but I am not sure that it's the end of days quite yet.

I believe that we evolved into what we are today. The various components of the biosphere exerted pressure on our ancestors; they had to defend themselves from predators, fight over resources, and compete for the best mates. That's what I believe. At some point, though, we ceased to genetically evolve. Now, instead, our technology and patterns of thought are forced to evolve to accommodate our changing surroundings. I will explain what I mean in the next few paragraphs; after that, anyone who thinks differently or the same can feel free to comment. Please, read the whole article before doing so, though. Also, keep in mind that much of it is conjecture. I haven't sourced anything because this is all my own rambling, based on a general sort of knowledge that I've built up over the years. It's liable to contain a few fallacies, and you are welcome to point them out.

Over time, we developed the ability to synthesize concepts in our mind. We used these concepts to build tools, start fires, and other things that the early human accomplished. With these tools we improved our ability to hunt and forage and find shelter. With fire, we cooked meat and kept warm and staved off predators. With the ability to think, we had gained an enormous evolutionary advantage over other animals. I would like to propose that, at this point, if you could narrow it down to a point, human thought began and, more importantly, began to evolve.

Thought continued to make our lives safer and more efficient. We began to realize that delegating tasks to different members of our social groups made the tasks essential to survival more efficient (though, this isn't actually a concept novel to human beings). People split up and began to specialize. Not very much at first... perhaps we first split into hunters, gatherers, and preparers of the food. Then the hunters split into hunters and trappers, and the food preparers became also the keepers of the shelter and starters of the fires, and bearers of water. We changed, adapted, realized more efficiency, discovered new ways to keep ourselves alive. All through thought. In some small way we were probably still evolving physically, as the tribes with the stronger arms managed to survive drought, but the main benefactor of the concept of evolution was the concept of thought. Ideas were tried, and those that failed were discarded. Those that worked were passed down through the generations, and improved upon.

The evolution of the idea of foraging gave us mining. The evolution of the idea of a fire gave us energy. The idea of sheltering ourselves from the elements gave us the idea of clothing, and the idea of protecting ourselves from animals and other humans with walls. The idea of separation of duties gave us trade gave us numbers gave us money gave us math gave us science... you get the idea, and it's not quite that that simple, but you can see how our progress became more about evolution of thought than physical evolution.

I am getting tired though. In subsequent posts, I would like to put forth my idea that physical evolution is all but nonexistent for human beings. I would also like to talk about why I think that, because of our move from physical evolution to evolution of thought, 'Mother Nature' has lost the ability to control or contain us. I might tie what I have been calling the evolution of thought to memetic theory as well. We'll see. It's my blog so I don't have to decide quite yet :).

Yes, I'm an atheist.

2008-06-20T15:34:00.001-07:00

There you go, I said it. And not just to a friend, or someone who specifically asked. I said it out loud (in a way, since I don't think anyone actually reads this blog).

I said it because I am now proud of it. Not that I was ashamed before, but it just was not something that I felt comfortable advertising. Now, I am proud of it. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins is to thank. While the book is not perfect, and some of the man's arguments go over my head, I am glad that my mother decided to get me the book. I was not even really aware that my mother was an atheist (perhaps she's not exactly atheistic; I guess that is a conversation I should have with her some time!), but all of a sudden this book arrived by way of Amazon.ca one day. One and a half years later I finally picked it up, and I am glad that I did.

The book is incredibly dismissive of religion. Granted, that is its purpose. This is the first atheist book I have read, (I might look up the other two of the 'Unholy Trinity,' as the religious folk kindly refer to three authors, including Dawkins, writing similar material), so I am not really sure if atheist authors normally pussyfoot their way around arguments, trying to be respectful of religion even when dissecting it, but Dawkins does not do that. He is incredibly dismissive, to the point where I could see many religious people being insulted. For that reason, I would not recommend this to any religious people but the very thick skinned and open minded, if indeed any other pious person would even pick it up. What I am trying to say is that I do not think this book will convert anyone. It is not saying 'look, I understand that you believe this, but look at it this way,' it is saying 'I do not see how you believe this; look at all the problems with it, and all of the elegant simplicity of this other way.'

Because the book is so dismissive, it works better for a strictly atheistic reader. While I am not the type to tell people that their religion is wrong, I daresay I have a little bit of ammunition for any zealots who have the gall to call me out on the debate. It has bolstered my atheism to a full out conviction; I believe this, I definitely believe this, and I do not think anything short of a miracle (literally) will change my belief. In a way, it's a support. My everyday surroundings do not put a lot of religious pressure on me, but I still feel like I sit at the fringes sometimes; such is not the case. There are people out there - quite a few, in fact - who share my beliefs and have good reason to. That makes me feel good, because I, like most humans, am a social creature, and I feel better with some sense of community.

If you're an atheist already, or perhaps even sitting on the fence, give The God Delusion a try. I think that it will bring up some things you have not though of before. At the very least, you will probably find some of Dawkins' tangents and anecdotes very amusing.

Is there anything as insulting to your life as boredom?

2008-06-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Time, like matter, possess a duality. Like matter, at once a particle and a wave, time is simultaneously a point and a line.

Boredom is a state which confuses the two. It's not like living through time as a moving point, when we remain unconcerned with the past and the future. It's not like time as a line, where you plan the future with the experiences of the past. Boredom is a point wondering where its line is. Living in a stand-still while the past closes in on you and the future looms over you, threatening you with its presence but holding back, filling you with both exasperation and desire.

On both sides of the spectrum, that of time as a line and time as a point, is where passion rules. At one end, the satisfying passion of tackling your immediate problems or sating your impulsive cravings. At the other end, craving the future and the excitement it brings. It could also be a baleful passion, the despair and hopelessness of losing something you can't fathom living without, or being haunted by the decisions you've made. Boredom is in the middle of the spectrum of time at the opposite of passion, where your senses are deadened, and time can't be distinguished.

Is it it any wonder that boredom is a bitter beast? At best, it's a sleepy reminder that life, at times, must stop and take a breath. At worst, it's an insult to all that makes your life coherent and bearable.

Saskatchewan Circles

2008-05-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

Where From Here?

2008-05-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

When I woke up Marie had gone. She'd told me her aunt expected her first thing in the morning. I remembered it was a Sunday, and that put me off; I've never cared for Sundays. So I turned my head and lazily sniffed the smell of brine that Marie's head had left on the pillow. I slept until ten. After that I stayed in bed until noon, smoking cigarettes. I decided not to lunch at Céleste's Restaurant as I usually did; they'd be sure to pester me with questions, and I dislike being questioned. So I fried some eggs, and ate them off the pan. I did without bread as there wasn't any left, and I couldn't be bothered going down to buy it.

-Albert Camus - The Outsider

Insomniac

2008-04-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

I sometimes wish I was

-just a conscious thought

Away from my whiskey crutch

And the hunger pangs

that keep me awake

Sleepless nights from

that familiar ache

In my right side

Where the drinks

go to die.

Those feelings would

just flow forever

With no embodiment

but then I suppose

They'd never be freed

in this written catharsis

In this rather peculiar form.

Catacombs and Contemplation

2008-02-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face--forever."

George Orwell

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin." H. L. Mencken

Lund Domkirke

2008-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

Where Ruminations go to Die

2008-01-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

Where Ruminations go to Die

The slowly opening eye

through the filthy stye

the strangled sinuous trees

overhead they freeze

motionless, and vivid

The maker's mark

was but a pock

from whence below

the staggered beat enveloped

All was lost

the sense of purpose

flinching and trepidatious

they sought refuge

The familiarity of frequencies

was blotted out by blackness

the melancholy

palpable, lingering in the air

The anoxia, the sickness

atrophy in the slackness

there, an overwash of silt

it buried nothing but our guilt

The embers were spilt

but nothing further built

there ceased the tribulations

of what was furtively a failure

Yet still, the striving

nothing was to thrive

and despite this cohesion

the vernacular ceased

Suffocating it was pulled,

under by the remorseless muck

choking and sputtering

there was only a languid breath

All that was left

to suck the final syllable

where white pine coffins

were draped with staccato thoughts

Bleached memories

as bleak as the orbits,

that are now gazing back

once orbs that observed

this same lichenous life.

All word and visual craft are property of Liam Lanigan (2008), use only with permission.

Book Review: Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb

2008-01-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

This is a book review for the novel Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb. It is the first part of the fourth fantasy trilogy Megan Lindholm has written under the moniker, the Soldier Son Trilogy. It is also the first to be placed in a different world.

As Hobb aficionados will attest, characterization is what she does best. I do not think that fans of Farseer and Tawny Man will be disappointed by Nevare Burvelle, the protagonist of this new series. The trials and tribulations that he faces and that forge him involve the reader every bit as much as those that Fitzchivalry faced.

Any apprehensions a fan may feel at this being placed in a new world can be immediately discarded. If anything, this world is more successfully fleshed out than the Six Duchies is in the first trilogy. The social situation is every bit as intriguing. The magic, or at least that which has been hinted at, is every bit as mystical as the Skill and the Wit were. I look forward to seeing how Hobb will take the loose ends she has created in the society and weave them into a story worthy of her former offerings.

The book flows much like Assassin's Apprentice, where most of the book consists of the learning experiences that the protagonist goes through. It may try the patience of newcomers to Hobb, because, while the book contains rich storytelling and presents a memorable character, it takes a very long time to introduce a clear beginning to the trilogy's story arc.
Having experienced the same flow with Assassin's Apprentice and to a lesser extent with Ship of Magic, I was expecting and the experience has been a very pleasurable one. I admit that I have not quite finished the book yet, but I just got up from a great reading section and felt the need to share my elation.

Even while a concrete beginning to the over-arcing plot takes a long time to flesh out, there are hints and mysteries peppered throughout that will have you almost salivating for more, if you do not find the book too slow. The book leaves you anxious to know more at every turn, and involves you with Nevare in a way that is almost unparalleled by any other author out there. Certainly, Hobb's characterization is stronger than any other fantasy I have read.

If you are a long time Hobb fan, I think you will find this novel a more than welcome addition to her repertoire. It is altogether different and yet maintains the strengths of her former writings: Strong characterization, an undeniable 'page-turner' quality, and a rich world that is full of mysteries to be unraveled.

If you are a newcomer to Hobb, this is as good a place to start as at the beginning of Assassin's Apprentice. If you have the patience to stick this book out, I think you will find it very rewarding. Hobb ranks as one of my all-time favourite authors, fantasy or no, and I think that it is high time you came and fell into one of her worlds.

Hot diggity

2007-12-29T14:29:00.001-08:00

It appears I have had no inspiration for a blog lately. Wait until I get tired and stressed and then I will probably vent on here. I apologize for the inactivity, but life has been simple lately. Maybe I need to watch an inspiring cinematic adventure.

Requiems in black and white II.

2007-12-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

Requiem for Reactor 4:

Makers of artificial suns

For our phlegmatic races

There standing solemnly

The Malignant megalith faces

Cinder grey sarcophagus

Hiding the uranium umbrage

Leeching Life from desecrated soil

Retching bile upon the wretched

Carried by the winds

Smothering the impoverished land

Eight centuries of life

Replaced with eight hundred years of death

The spirits of dwellers under cellars

The poisoned roots of the church

Searching through the darkened crypts

And the final tolls of souls

Graveyards of ghost-ridden machines

A thousand open doorways

Grimacing at empty streets

In the silence you can almost hear their whispers

At night, the woods glow crimson

Sacrificial blood, perhaps

To the red stars

And bronze cast Anti-gods

Poisoned, all your beasts

Polluted, all your streams

Palimpsest, a realm now for Death

Progress? only in your feverish dreams

(Dedicated to the Earth the sufferance of the Chernobyl disaster that befell on 26th April, 1986)

An accompaniment to the photos.

All word and visual craft are property of Liam Lanigan (2007), use only with permission.

Requiems in black and white.

2007-12-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is Love

2007-12-12T22:34:00.000-08:00

I have decided to create a new blog. The name, 'Dust and Nations,' is from a song by Thrice, and is intended to provide a little bit of the mood you might get in the blog, though I don't want to restrict it too much. This blog is intended to be 'free form' and I hope to see a little bit of everything here: poetry, editorial, prose, photography, artwork (if any of my writers feel so inclined - I am not a good visual artist).

So, just to get things started, I've chosen a favourite post of mine from a blog that I used to post on. You can check it out at jorbrugund.blogspot.com. I intend to write new material, of course, but the inspiration has not yet come and I want to get this blog off the ground. So, without further ado...

-

I'm not feeling my usual bout of ingenuity tonight. Something's keeping my thoughts to myself but I still need that connection. Her eyes meet mine but all I can think of is to let my sight travel down to her waist and back. Oh well, it seems to work. She turns toward me.

All around us the chatter is going on; people are prattling perpetually about people's shirts, people's problems, poetry and popping pills, practically anything and everything you can think of; It's just a din, though. Like an amplified chatter of crickets shaping around vague renditions of words. There's constant sounds of the house creaking as too many people with nowhere else to go course through it. Every straight line between two doors consists of a two way river of people, every one of them jerking and twisting their head around, trying to assess people to go associate with for a few minutes before they most tactfully move on. People are filling their drinks every time they pass the fridge. There always seems to be someone emptying their drink so that they can go grab another one. Someone keeps changing the song.

She takes a few steps toward me, still locked in eye contact. I take a sip of beer, and it's so cold and refreshing tonight. I can't help but smile; mind so simple. I take advantage of the natural grin and throw in a small nod over at the party idiot, trying to bong five drinks or something silly like that. Everyone watches the first few seconds and cheers him on, but they quickly move back to their all-encompassing conversations. The house groans again, like it's complaining about all the people moving through it like ants. She doesn't break eye contact, but she returns my smile. She's suggestive.

Today I was sitting alone in my basement. It was snowing outside for a bit, then the sun came out. The snow turned to ice rain turned to rain turned to hail returned to snow. It was a strange day. A song plays through my head; one I'd heard tonight, before the party, that had pumped me up for it. I mouth the words a bit to myself and take another sip of beer. I'm starting to lose my sense of taste; I lean on the couch leg behind me.

A few more steps toward me and I glance over at a girl close to me. She is laughing so hard her face is red and she splashes her drink onto her shirt. Her friend fell; but she gets up and moves on with the partying, using the small incident as an ice breaker and a boast. I sigh, roll my eyes, and look back to the beauty approaching me, she's noticed my observative, reflective daze and the party goes silent. It's that kind of constand noise that drowns out all other sound and leaves you alone.

Our lips meet before we do.