more like space

no matter how much skill you may think the human brain possesses, most of the time, it is only going to be used to invent crap.

latest case in point is canadian, unfortunately... a camera that tracks eyeball movement from passersby in the vicinity of billboard, so that advertisers can test their efficacy and, one assumes, take steps to make their billboards more attractive (in the sense that they will attract more eyeballs, not in the sense that they look any better).

i'm going to state a fact that i would have believed to be obvious, but which has apparently escaped the brain trust at queen's university: most people passing billboards are driving CARS. we don't need to design better billboards to take their eyes off the road, because most of them are not that safe behind the wheel to begin with. i have to deal with this crowd, who are apparently convinced that they can talk on their cell phones and drink their starbucks while the car drives itself and, trust me, it's …

if this video, from 1944, entitled "private life of a cat", doesn't move you, you aren't even human.

should make for some interesting reading.

unfortunately, this all comes a little late for the people who were harmed by these activities. it must be nice to be able to release a catalogue of yur own criminal record and still get away with no consequences.

this is in response to pelao's question (see comments section from the review of 'racket' below) about which shows i've really enjoyed. here's a rough 'top 3':

#3- legendary pink dots, montreal, foufounes electriques, october 1995- first show i went to see that i really, really wanted to (where i didn't know the band personally). one of the most thrilling moments for me was at the very beginning, actually hearing edward kaspel's wonderfully cartoonish voice coming out of a human being.

#2- merzbow, toronto, the kathedral, september 2002- i was a little concerned this one would be a disappointment, but far from it. almost two solid hours of gut-shaking, teeth-rattling noise. perhaps the most memorable part was that it was beyond hot in the crowded room ad the combination of heat and sound caused a couple of people to pass out.

#1- current 93- toronto, the music gallery, june 2004- awe-inspiring chiefly because it did justice both to the power and t…

this is one of these revelations that's been forced on me recently. i was having an engrossing chat with one of my expanding circle of imaginary friends (those people you talk to all the time but have never actually met face to face) when it dawned on me. somehow, and i was never very good at it, i've completely lost the ability to speak to people i don't know in a casual way. (i say people i don't know, because after a certain amount of time, i'm no longer compelled to spend most of my time figuring out how they think.)

it's not that i'm anti-social, i think of myself as a fairly friendly person. but having the conversation about how your week is going, or what kind of job you have is quickly sliding from awkward to painful on my scale of human activity. i'll ask such questions out of politeness, and out of a hope that i can use the information as a conduit to a somewhat more interesting subject. i'll answer the questions myself, usually as briefly…

addiction used to refer only a a physical dependence on some substance, often caused by morbid overindulgence in a type of vice (often tolerated in limited measure, but held in suspicion), legal or illegal. in my lifetime, the definition has expanded to include various other sorts of behaviour compulsions, often with no physical link- gambling, shopping and even sex all have their addicts.

the most widely accepted method of treating these disorders has become so-called "step" programs, which guide the addict through a series of milestones until they are deemed to have regained sufficient control of their life. (although it's not strictly related, i'd like to add that i've always been skeptical about these sorts of programs, predicated as they are on convincing the addict that he or she has lost fundamental control of their life on a permanent basis, and must adhere to a set of restrictions in order to survive- essentially replacing one type of powerlessness with…

with the assistance of some friends, i have dreamed up some pretty bizarre advertising campaign ideas in my time, the kind of thing that no one in their right mind would use to advertise anything. however, as i get older, i'm beginning to think that these ideas were just well ahead of their time.

this afternoon, taking the subway home, i happened upon a new campaign from the workers safety insurance board of ontario. i can only assume that the imagery is meant to target teenagers, but the ads are a peculiar mix of gory imagery (severed ears with ear phones still inserted, young man trying to use a playstation with the bloody stump of a severed arm) and singularly unfunny prose. of course, it's just possible that the advertising world has run out of ideas and finally started to take advice from people like me, who would rather get a reaction than sell anything. (if you know what i do for a living, you can feel free to giggle at that.)

so it seems that i may have a brilliant fu…

review :: whitehouse :: racket :: susan lawly

flat out, a lot of long time fans were put off by asceticists, the last whitehouse album. fans who had been with the group a long time were shocked to hear the new direction that the band had taken, even incorporating (!) drumming, a thing most people thought they would never hear. i'm not one of those fans. i personally thought that asceticists was one of the best albums of 2006, i think that whitehouse defy the odds and continue not only to maintain their quality standards after more than a quarter century (how many artists can say that?). and i happen to think that the new direction, incorporating african instrumentation and percussion, along with the expected washes of power electronics, actually makes a fine extension, both thematically and sonically, of the traditional wh sound.

as with most whitehouse albums, 'racket' is focused and concise. every track is concentrated and warrants repeated listens just to unravel the…

review :: evil dead- the musical

when i was younger, and other people were able to set rules about what i could and could not watch on the television, i used to dream of having free reign on the movie channels, so that i could watch stuff that would scare me to death. we seek out our fears, conquer them and find new ones on a a regular basis throughout our lives and there is nothing so appealing, especially at a young age, as a fear that we are prevented from confronting.

of course, when i finally was able to confront those things that held the promise of so much fear, i found that almost none of them were truly scary. they were either bland, or they were comedic. yet somehow, the comedic ones became dear to my heart in a way that i could not have predicted. thus went my introduction to camp.

"camp" in this day and age has been so overdone that it is almost impossible to appreciate in the same way. what can you say when the most commercially successful endeavour of the ki…