Apple letdown, D'oh

No new iPod announced today, bummer. New stereo and new Mac mini. Not much if you ask me.
MacRumors.com : February 28th Apple Media Event : New, Fun Products

Check out The Antipro

The Antipro is an old friend of mine. He's a freeleance photog/film guy, and his work is amazing. I've added him to the links side of the page.

View From the Sidewalk

This is Michael Brown's blog. Mike is homeless in Greensboro. Blogs ARE changing everything.
View From the Sidewalk

And speaking of techno rumours

This one has been kicking around for a bit, but is picking up steam as March 2nd gets oh so close. Make sure to check out the video.
Microsoft to unveil Halo-capable handheld device on March 2 - Joystiq

Just to get you salivating...

The "big" announcement is tomorrow. Will there be a new iPod unveiled? I doubt it. That's not to say I would love it if it did happen. I think we'll see a new laptop, maybe some new software, but that's about it.

On a related tech note, I got a new cell phone on the weekend. One of those RAZR dealies. So far, I love it.
Apple, the next new thing | CNET News.com

I'm not even sure what to say about this one.

CBC News: Crash kills police officer who shot Dudley George

RIP Don Knotts

ABC News: Actor Don Knotts Dies at 81

After 684 Posts...

My mom finally visits the site.  Here's what she says:

"viewed it. Great Work/ Love, Mom"

Awwwww!

London | Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe

Spacing Intern Program

SPACING INTERN PROGRAM

You may not realize it but the next Toronto city election is quickly approaching us -- we go to the polls on November 13 to pick councillors and the mayor. Spacing's Summer/Fall issue will focus on the most challenging public space issues Toronto faces. And we want to know where candidates stand on the issues.

This is where you come in: Spacing will run an internship program from September to the end of November for people who are interested in covering the city election. Each intern will have one or two beats to cover (green space, development, commercialization, etc...). In conjunction with the Spacing editorial team, you will identify parts of the city where your beat topic is a pressing election issue. You will go to debates and talk to candidates. You will file reports to the Spacing Votes blog. 

This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in city issues and journalism. This internship is geared towards students in journalism, architecture, urban studies, enviro studies, urban planning, anthropology. Depending on your availability, the internship can be part-time or full-time.  If you are not in school but still wish to take part you are still very much welcome.  Each applicant needs to demonstrate to us a good understanding of city issues and excellent writing skills. 

The first step is to find out how many people are interested in this idea. All you have to do is send us an email to express your interest in the Spacing Internship Program and we'll contact you about interviews, a resume, and writing samples in late March. We plan to start interviews in mid-April and to continue to look for participants throughout the summer. Please forward this to your friends who might be interested.

LINK: http://spacing.ca/election/
EMAIL: election@spacing.ca

The New Music Friday Vol. 44

Music news?  We don't need no stinkin' music news!  Sorry, nothing really to add today.  Rock on.  If I come across anything of note, we'll append this...

Blackout for Blackberry in the US?

All you business-types can feel your thumbs aching everytime someone mentions the name Blackberry. I know it. Well, Candian tech darlings and inventors of the Blackberry, Research in Motion (RIM), may be up against a wall in the US today.

Blackberry's are just a popular (if not more so) in the US with business/government types as they are in Canada. Today a judge will rule on whether RIM has to shut down service in the US related to recent patent rulings. Here's a link to story goodness in several forms.
Judgment Day arrives for RIM - Engadget

Damn

I was supposed to head down to the Choke video shoot today to hang out and grab some shots. Turns out I'm sicker than I thought. Truth Explosion Magazine will be there to cover the shoot, so look for some info on their site. Back to the sick room with me...

CBC News: CUPE calls off strike threat in Ontario

School Janitors will be on the job tomorrow after all.
CBC News: CUPE calls off strike threat in Ontario

Breaking News! St. Clair Streetcar Project is back on!

Here's the first of I'm sure many links to confirm the story.
CNW Group

Rick Mercer's take on the new Cabinet

This is freakin' brilliant.
Rick Mercer's Blog: Conservative Cabinet Revealed

New bike lane on Bloor

Nice.Spacing Wire|New bike lane on Bloor

Let the rumors begin...

Could this be the announcement of the new video Ipod? I doubt it, but that would be awesome (mine is almost dead).
Let the rumors begin... | News.blog | CNET News.com

David Schwimmer READS YOUR FUTURE !!!

David Schwimmer READS YOUR FUTURE !!!

Finch shut it down.

I liked a few songs of What it is to Burn, but whatever.
Finch

I wonder why...

this hasn't been in the North American media?
BBC NEWS | Americas | Doctors halt 'painless' execution

Truth Explosion Photo Issue Launch Party

The party that went down Friday night at the Berkley Church was a hoot. We arrived at about 9:30, and had missed the first band. We did manage to catch The Old Soul, The Cancer Bats and Magenta Lane's CD release. The bands were great (perhaps with the exception of Magenta Lane, just not a diggin' all-girl rock bands), but the free booze upstairs made up for it.

We didn't get a chance to talk to anyone from Truth Explosion about the party (heard Matthew Parrish was running around pretty busy all night) but a good time was had by all, even the underage kids! Here are a few highlights from the night in photo form. Click for larger images.

The Old Soul

The Cancer Bats

Magenta Lane

On our way out, we were lucky enough to run into Chris Hughes, guitarist for Moneen. We talked briefly about the new album, The Red Tree. Chris was super excited about the album, and getting the chance to work with new producers and pushing themselves into new areas. They were headed down to play in St. Catherine's with our old Edmonton friends Choke. Chris was nice enough to pose for this akward and dorky picture. Thanks Chris!

Give your head a shake at this...

It's so reassuring to know that two countries, despite all their animosity and sabre-rattling, can still set aside their differences and come together over real issues. Doucebags? Yes, I think so.

Street Prophets: US and Iran Join Forces In Anti-Gay Cause

New Gun's n; Roses Demo Tracks Online!

Ouch.
2TI :: Welcome back to 2000 Intentions :: View topic - IRS (Full), Better (Clip), T.W.A.T. and Stern comments (MP3)

The new Music Friday Vol. 43

So there was no podcast this week. No biggie, right? Hosting has been an issue for us. Hopefully, within a few weeks that should be sorted out to a more permanent (and paid) solution, so bear with us.

Very very little to mention this week:

- Moneen has released the name and release date for the new album. Entitled The Red Tree, the album is set to drop on April 11th on Vagrant Records.

- Truth Explosion First Annual Photo Issue release party is tonight at the Berkley Church in Toronto. Party starts around 8. $10 to get in. Come see the Daily Nar (just look for the shirt)!

- NOFX played a secret show last night, and offered up some little news:

"Pssst, the band is playing a “secret” show at Stinky’s tonight with Dead To Me and The Double D's. Seeya there. The real news is that we have a new mp3 available from the upcoming CDEP, Never Trust A Hippy. That thing comes out March 14th, to be followed by the release of the full length, Wolves In Wolves’ Clothing, out April 18th. What else is there…oh yeah, the new mp3 is for the song “Seeing Double At The Triple Rock”, which is an ode to D4’s bar and their kick ass bowling team. Carry on!NOFX"

- Matt Richmond, guitarist for the Video Dead, has posted some acoustic work here and here. As he describes it "Tunes from myself and Ian Blackwood. They're awesome, and you should listen to them over and over and over..Originals and covers of Always Outnumbered, Braid, and Hot Water Music..."

- Oakville outfit Rosesdead have posted some new tracks here. They are playing tonight at The Mod Club in Toronto with Silverstein, The Reason and The Stickup.

- Norma Jean have a new album, O God, The Aftermath. I dig it a lot.

- The New Music Friday also appreciates music in many different forms. For example, Danish National Radio now has 9 Mozart symphonies for your enjoyment here. I am listening to them whilst I write this. It's written in Dutch (or whatever they speak, I'm so ignorant and I appologize!), but I'm sure you can figure it out.

Muglets- Even better than the webpage destroyer!

Much fun and you can email them around! Destroy your friends/enemies credibility now!
Muglets - Customised online e-cards and phone pics

Revolution: Thy Name is Condi Part II

C'mon Condi, you can do it! Two days, two shots at Iran. I tell ya: this is a good career move. She's either:

a) Trying to start a war to prove she can roll with the big boys; or
b) Trying to stir the pot and get out before she has to fess up, because she finally been offered that dream job she wants (in case you're wondering, its, and this is no joke, Comissioner of the NFL).
BBC NEWS | Americas | Rice: Iran is terrorism 'banker'

I don't care what he says...

If you get hired by a law firm to "provide advice to companies" on how to approach government; or for your "wealth of experience and connections", that makes you a lobbyist. You can play with the words all you want, but that's what you are.

Boy, for a party that campaigned so hard on government accountability, that's three strikes in less than one month. Let's recap shall we.

1. Appointing an unelected citizen as a cabinet minister, after a sketchy Senate appointment.
2. Having a cabinet minister that jumped ship from the Liberals at the 11th hour, thereby becoming an MP that no longer represents the wishes of those who voted for him.
3. Having a party insider, election campaign orchestrator, and former MP become a lobbyist despite your party's key campaign promise to bring in legislation to counter that sort of thing.

Yeah Stephen, I'm counting.

CBC News: Former Conservative MP denies he's becoming a lobbyist

Strikers! Start Your Engines!

I don't want to use the term "sour grapes", but... Sid, c'mon buddy.
CBC News: CUPE threatens Ontario strike over pension changes

Revolution: Thy Name is Condi

Honestly, I can't think of a better way to provoke some sort of "international incident" then waiting for a time when Iranians couldn't be any more pissed off at the West; THEN announce this.
Rice Is Seeking Millions to Prod Changes in Iran - New York Times

Top 10 Web Moments of 2005

Top 10 Web Moments of 2005 - Download Squad

Top 10 Web Moments of 2005

Top 10 Web Moments of 2005 - Download Squad

Conan the Politician?

Follow up to recent story: Conan has now met with the President of Finland.
Conan, Finn twin meet at last

Franz Ferdinand in Playboy

Relax, Relax. They are answering questions about file-sharing and music downloading. Some excerpts are below.
Right Thoughts...not right wing, just right.

Urban Legends For V-Day

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Love

Juliana Theory concluded

truth.explosion.magazine. News: It's sad, but well over due. Juliana Theory call it quits

Angels and Airwaves (finally)

Hear what Tom DeLonge (formerly of Blink 182) has called "the best" music project he's ever been involved with. I may beg to differ. Hear "The Adventure" now.
purevolume%u2122 | Angels And Airwaves

Bush is on top of it.

"Sir, Cheney's done it again".

Link to story in title.

Conan O'Brien: Finnish Minister?

In our on-going coverage of all things awesome that Conan O'Brien does, he is now in Finland to ask the President if he can have a Cabinet post. Take note, Stephen.

1010 WINS - ALL NEWS. ALL THE TIME.: Conan O'Brien in Finland Seeking Cabinet Post

Ezra Levant, lord have mercy.

"Hi, I'm a dick."

Ever wonder what a shit-disturber looks like?

Author, Lawyer, Conservative, and all round Jerk-Off Ezra Levant decided that Canada needed to be directly involved in the whole Muhammad cartoon scandal. So, in his infinite wisdom, he defends his magazine's decision to reprint the offending cartoons (the Western Standard).

No stranger to public Jerk-offedness, Ezra feels he's not doing anything wrong, because we insult Christians all the time, and "they don't bomb embassies and behead journalists". Genius.

Hmm, I think your "American Idol" may have something to say about that.

Back to women's half-pipe, which is pretty kick-ass, by the way.

Podcast update

Just a quick note to let you know The Daily Nar is out of town this weekend, so the podcast will be done and up early next week. Podcast 3,4 and 5 are still up for your listening pleasure.

New iPod?

No this is not the "actual" ipod, but it's a damn good mockup. We can only be so lucky. New iPod

Ali G vs. The Beckhams

Ali G is rad. Nuff said, 'ight!

The New Music Friday Vol. 42

Very little to report today:

- As reported last week, both Mastodon, Bracket and Bigwig have released new albums this week. As well, In Flames new CD/DVD release Come Clarity is out. Down By Law has also re-released Fly the Flag, their second to last release.

- Moneen and Choke have announced dates for their upcoming Canadian mini-tour:

02/24/2006 - Collingwood, ON @ The Village at Blue Mountain Events
02/25/2006 - Sault Ste Marie, ON @ Oddfellows
02/26/2006 - Thunder Bay, ON @ Warp 9
03/01/2006 - Regina, SK @ Distrikt
03/02/2006 - Saskatoon, SK @ Louis Pub
03/03/2006 - Edmonton, AB @ The Power Plant
03/04/2006 - Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
03/06/2006 - Vancouver, BC @ Mesa Luna

- Refused have announced a retrospective DVD. From Burning Heart Records:

In this undaunted documentary, Refused guitarist Kristofer Steen retraces the steps of how punk rock’s brave new sound forged it’s way through the swamps and swill on their last campaign in Europe and America, rushing like mad dogs to meet with their inevitable doom.

- The Canadian Music Week band list has been released. See it here. The shows start in 20 days.

- The Letter's Organize are looking for someone to design a new site for them:

Oksy here is the deal. We hate the website we have now and need a new one bad! We don't want it to flashy just a soild great website that can explain our band. heres the thing we have very little if any money so if you want anything we have for free and we will get you money for the services somehow. Just hit us back!
thanks
the letters organize

www.thelettersorganizeband.com
it's gross i promise!

Stupide ? Oui, je pense ainsi.

CBC News: New parliamentary secretary to Francophonie can't speak French

First Step in online domination complete.

Love reading my website, but hate typing in the long address (thedailynar.blogspot.com)? Well, starting today you can just hit up www.thedailynar.com . This is the first step in redeveloping the site into something a little more professional. Enjoy!

City's future under Harper looks bleak

TheStar.com - City's future under Harper looks bleak

McDonalds is worse than you think

I haven't eaten at a McDonalds in at least 5 years - here's yet another reason why.NewsAdvance.com | AP News

Will the real Video Ipod please stand up?

Now THIS idea is what we've all been waiting for in a video ipod. I'm excited too, since my two-year old ipod is totally on it's last legs.
Think Secret - True video iPod to sport 3.5-inch display, touch-screen click wheel

Happy Geek -Time Corner: Rogers and Traffic-Shaping

Time to dork out and rant a little. For a while now, Roger's High-Speed Internet has been actively "traffic shaping" speeds for its customers. What this means in laymen's terms, is that Rogers can tell what you are doing with your connection, and uses software to kill it.

My case and point: I use Bit Torrent to download television shows that are not on the air in Canada. Until Rogers began aggressively traffic-shaping in my Toronto neighborhood, it was a breeze. I could download a pretty decent-sized file in less than an hour. And all was good. Now, my high-speed connection has become about as useful as a carrier-pigeon at the North Pole. My downloads have dropped to less than 5.0K/sec (that's slower than a dial-up connection, non-dorks). Unacceptable.

The argument that this is mainly used to curb peer-to-peer filesharing (e.g. BitTorrent, Napster, Emule, etc.) because it hogs the bandwidth. Unfortunately, this is the lamest argument I've heard for a number of reasons:

1) File sharing, in Canada, is perfectly legal. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled on a few occasions that the sharing of files regardless of their type in Canada cannot be stopped or even reported by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to those that would like to take legal action.

2) Customers have paid for a level of service that is not being provided. Roger's charges a lot for high speed services (all three levels), and as such promises to deliver your content at a certain speed. Traffic-shaping denies paying customers what they paid for, an internet connection at a certain speed. Why pay top dollar for the fastest connection (which is what I do), when I can only have this speed when Rogers determines I deserve it?

Its like ordering a pizza with extra cheese, paying for it, and then getting a pizza with even less cheese than normal. THEN having the pizza guy tell you "sorry, if we'd given you what you ordered, you would have used up all our cheese. So you can have this instead."

3) It's not customers hogging the bandwidth, it's Rogers. According to unnamed insiders, Roger's new Home Phone service works over the same transmission lines they use to distribute high-speed internet. I can only assume that Rogers grossly underestimated the hit their bandwidth would take sharing home phone and internet (and digital cable?) all on the same pipe. The point is: Rogers screwed up and overestimate how much spare room they had, and now we all must pay for their mistakes.

And it's not just the grey-area of filesharing that's being affected. There are numerous reports on Apple's forums of serious problems customers in Canada are experiencing downloading podcasts and purchased music through the companies iTunes software. That's right, Roger's is screwing with Apple. Free tip: Apple doesn't not take kindly to being fucked with. They have the reputation of suing people for a lot less. Don't screw with a service people are paying for.

So what can we do about this? Believe it or not, there are a few options; although their effectiveness may be questionable:

1. Use a file sharing program with encryption. Bit Torrent clients like uTorrent, BitCommet (not as effective anymore), and Azureus have beta clients with encryption that can hide whatever blizz-blazz Roger's can see that triggers the death of your connection. As these clients move into major release, more and more people will begin using them and the situation should get a little better for us. I recommend you download the beta version of the latest uTorrent, and in the options set your port to 1720. There is a pretty good forum available here, that has been following the problem across Canada and offers some good suggestions (some work better than others depending on where you are and your own situation, so its a trial and error sort of thing).

2. Complain directly to the Office of the President of Roger's Cablesystems. As recommended at DSL Reports:

If you are unhappy with Rogers, please forward your complaints to Rogers executives directly. This will ensure your comments are heard and taken into consideration for future policy changes.

Mail a formal letter to:

The Office of the President
Rogers Cablesystems - Rogers Yahoo! HiSpeed Internet
855 York Mills Rd
Don Mills, Ontario
M3B 1Z1

You can use this address also to complain about the performance issues and other problems that you cannot get resolved through customer service channels.

When writing, to ensure that you are listened to, explain your issue carefully, directly and as simply as you can. Don't rant. I am sure they ignore rants!

Probably like a resume ... you have no more than a minutes reading time to make an impression that they will want to read on and treat your complaint seriously. Rants are too hard to read.

3. Switch to Bell Sympatico High-Speed (if available in your area). Bell doesn't offer quite as high a speed as Rogers, but the prices are cheaper, the deals are better, and NO DOWNLOAD RESTRICTIONS or TRANSFER LIMITS. I hate to say good things about Bell, but they actually give you what you pay for in this situation.

This situation is totally unfair in my books. Roger's is taking advantage of customer ignorance, and in some situation, the fact that customers have no other alternatives. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Roger's has to be held accountable to its customers. You pay for a service, so demand it. Enough people complain, the media takes interest. Media takes interest, things will change.

Oh Snap!

"You get what you pay for", or more to the point, don't pay for, has never been more true.

You have to admire Mr. Harper, he hasn't waited to start giving us fuel for the pyre. Here's a free tip: even GW waited a year before actually doing something stupid.
CBC News: Vancouver Liberals want Emerson to repay $97,000

The Who are back?

Anyone who liked the Sneaky Castros is probably reallly excited right about now.
Independent Online Edition > News

Take That Queen Street West

Ahh, I love the smell of inevitable backlash against the gentrification of a neighbourhood in the morning. Funny video too.DropShots Day

Hold on I'm fixing it!

Re-upping the podcast, check back in 30 mins. Sorry!

UPDATE: Should be working now.

The New Music Friday Podcast Number 5 is now online!

Get it while it's hot! This weeks episode features Mastodon, The Vandals, Mae, Minus the Bear, RKL and more. Plus info on shows and news!

Getting the podcast is easy. Get it from the link in the title of this post, or from the right menu.

If you use iTunes, just drop this into the subscribe to podcast menu:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/thenewmusicfriday

Thanks to Truth Explosion for help on some of the news!

The Downing Street Memo

Here's one you'll not hear in the mainstream press: make sure you download the Friday edition of Democracy Now! The show focuses on the recent outing of the aforementioned memo; in which President Bush expresses his desire to bomb Aljazeera offices in Fallujah. According to the memo, UK PM Tony Blair agrees with Bush.

You see, the Bush administration hates Aljazeera a lot because, despite all efforts, they cannot control them. Aljazeera has a nasty habit of being in the right place at the right time for the truth. In fact, in a the recent a massive assault the US conducted on Fallujah, Aljazeera was there televising live the huge scale civilian casualties. This prompted a nasty phone call from Donald Rumsfeld, which allegedly included a number of threats. In fact, the US would not agree to a ceasefire until Aljazeera left Fallujah.

The reason you will not hear about this in most mainstream media is twofold:

1. It involves the US. While they have called the existence of such a memo ridiculous, they have not actually denied the memo exists, that still doesn't mean we'll ever get the truth out of them. The media bends over backwards to make the current administration happy, else be cast into the back of the Humvee.

2. The UK government has enacted it's equivalent to the "reasons of National Security" rules in order to keep it out of sight. In fact, any media that releases the memo (should they even get their hands on it) will immediately face jail time.

But the story has gotten out. A few rouge MPs in the UK have seen the memo, and talked about it. It is rumored the memo has been distributed to some bloggers, but no publishing has been seen yet.

So check out the radio show it's excellent. It also features an interview with the President of Aljazeera, who himself has been on a mission to release the memo, or at least get an answer as to why they would want to destroy his station.

Jason Sears Passes Away

Jason Sears, founder of the infamous RKL (Rich Kids on LSD) passed away Jan. 31st. RIP http://www.tardcore.com/jason/
ENOUGH FANZiNE | punk, hc, emo, ska music magazine and more

The New Music Friday Vol. 41

- Managed to hit up the SFH/Sneaky Castro's at sneaky Dee's last night. SFH played pretty good, with bass player Warren Kinsella taking over the vocal duties for most of the songs. I slipped on the streetcar on the way home and broke the bell cable. We'll have some pics up later.
UPDATE: Some selected pictures are up on Warren's site.

- Smashing Pumpkins are back together- more or less. Billy Corigan and Melissa Auf Der Maur (rawr) have been working together on material that will form the new album. Look for something at the end of the year.

- Thursday's new album (as yet untitled) will be hitting stores May 2nd.

- 2006 will be the year of the festival. New festivals (to us at least) are Download and Bonnaroo 2006. And lets not forget Warped Tour '06, Lollapaloza, Taste of Chaos and the half dozen others.

Download Festival will feature The Prodigy, Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine. Bonnaroo's list is huge, including Radiohead, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Bright Eyes, Son Volt, Blue's traveler, Medeski Martin and Wood and many more.

- From Truth Explosion Magazine:
Julien Temple, who put together the Sex Pistols documentary The Filth & the Fury, has begun work on a new movie about the life and career of the late Joe Strummer (The Clash). Billboard.com reports that "via a slew of archival audio and video footage, interviews donated by journalists and recordings of Strummer's BBC Radio show, the Clash legend will essentially narrate the film." The full article can be found HERE.

- This week's (and next's) new releases include new albums by Bigwig, Bracket, and Mastodon(!).

The podcast should be done tonight to tomorrow and up by Saturday, so stay tuned!

American Idol Contestant Does Silverstein

Funny story: That weird kid on yesterday's American Idol was actually trying to sing Silverstein's "Smashed into Pieces". Silverstein, for those who don't know, are a Burlington band that recently signed to Victory Records and have had quiet a lot of success in the US as of late. Incidentally, Bill Hamilton, the bass player in Silverstein, is the brother of the singer in my last band, Justin Hamilton. Small world no? Bill did a bunch of really nice promo pics for us too, which no one will ever see. Except these ones:




Here's the kid

Amazing Music Archive

ETree Live Music Archive. The archive promises "community committed to providing the highest quality live concerts in a lossless, downloadable format" and already plays hosts to live recordings from Fugazi and the Minutemen. And a lot more. Here is a list of bands that so far have recording uploaded.
Browse Top Level > Audio > Live Music Archive

It's a funny thing...

...waking up early. Being "employmently unencumbered" as I find myself lately, one tends to drift wake-up time towards the later half of the morning/noon hour. However, today I was awakened at 8:45 (all office folk may gasp now) and unable to get back to sleep.

I find myself:

a) with nothing to do
b) a strong desire to do something

That being said, I've been on a mission. Thus far I've done the dishes, dusted and cleaned all the wood, taken out garbage/recycling, swept and washed the floors, watered the plants, cleaned the living room, and almost finished my laundry.

But I know it won't last. The worst part is I'll probably crash just in time to miss the Gomery Report Extravaganza and wake up just in time to run out the door to my fancy diner at Jump (part of the Winterlicious thing).

Vangel: life before a real website

Should have linked Vangel a long time ago, sorry. Good info for T.O. hip hop and rap schuff. You know what I'm saying?
Vangel: life before a real website