vanmega.com » home

Thursday, July 31, 2008

I'm not comfortable with that term...

Dammit, I wasn't going to comment on this Adbusters article... or at most I was gonna chime in with a TL;DR and leave it at that. But since the internets and tumblespheres are heating up over this and since the article has real holes... here's my 2 cents:

the article makes a few heavy handed assumptions: society can only have one - and only one - counter culture. A bunch of ill-dressed drunks in a bar is not counter culture... to me, people like cameronR with his bike valet thing for 10's of thousands of people appear to be engrossed in "authentic counter culture" (to use AdBusters' phrase)

it doesn't matter what scene/lifestyle someone identifies with at 17 years of age... they're going to be a useless little fuck. I'm sorry, we all were... in the 90's at 17 years of age I used fake ID's to go to bars, I wore baggy hip hop clothes, my biggest concern in life was getting wasted, looking cool, and touching boobs... pretty much exactly like the anecdotal example used in the article, which argues we're going to hell in a handbasket (on a fixed gear bike).

A single scene that's perceived as shitty or apathetic is not representative of a generation AND NEVER HAS BEEN. The mass majority of people in the world don't actually create change/art/greater good, it's a select few individuals who feel compelled to do so... these people span across sub-cultures... it could be someone who hangs at the Biltmore or someone who just hits the books at SFU or some suburbanite from Surrey.

elsewhere

How I Spread A Lie About Ghostface Killah, or Why You Should Not Trust Goddamn Wikipedia

[ perma-link ]

Monday, July 28, 2008

faux-reviewed: the weekend in rawk...

There were about eleventy billion bands playing shows this weekend in vancouver... I went to NONE of them. Why? Wedding errands kicked my ass. Don't worry... it's cool, Me and Tk always wanted to see the far obscure reaches of Surrey.

While I didn't see any shows, through the glory of Tumblr (which is way more enjoyable that regular blogging, BTW, and could explain why I'm wasting so much time on there) we can provide highlights. Isn't this ~~lazy of me~~ awesome? Anyhoots, to recap:

According to Quinn, Les Savy Fav w/ Jay Retard at The Commodore was awesome... not only for the music, but for the sad fights picked with the band

According to Charming Mandy, Shearwater at Zulu Records was good. Mellow, but good. Also, FREE BEER FOR ALL.

Oh, and the Pemberton Festival, according to Cam, it's totally overrated. So there's that.

elsewhere

free stuff from the go! team

[ perma-link ]

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

a reminder...

In case you didn't notice... this graphic is fantastic.

elsewhere

did the bush administration bankroll the dark night?

[ perma-link ]

Sunday, July 13, 2008

july mixtape = totally timely...

I could explain to you in great detail about how my hard drive crashed earlier this month and how I just finally recovered my music and in turn that's why this month's tape is a bit delayed... but you don't care... content, of course, is king. Heh.

Originally, I had planned to make a very sublime, very summery mix for July, but I'm not sure that happened. There's a lot of guitars and a bit of melodic electric stuff on this month's tape. Mission not accomplished... but this might be a good thing. I like how this tape turned out. Download/stream away:

click here to access this month's tape

As always, this is a limited time thing.

elsewhere & related

summer mix series - the website

Labels: mixtape

[ perma-link ]

Friday, July 11, 2008

all your early adopters belong to us...

(img source)

On the way to work today I passed my local Rogers store. It was lined up around the corner and right down the street. Looking out my office window now I can see another sizable line up at another Rogers store. Today must be iPhone day.

Blogosphere, can we please use this as a lesson in economics? For the past month there has been endless groaning and moaning about Rogers plans and pricing for the iPhone. People have cried out about the injustice of wireless monopolies. People have asked, "why is Rogers marketing the second highest costing iPhone plan in the world?"

Based on the line ups we're seeing today, the answer is "because they can".

I'm not agreeing with Rogers' approach at all... I think it sucks too! But I am kinda laughing at all the empty rants and threats about boycotts and fighting back when compared with the guys chanting "iPhone! iPhone!" at 8am this morning.

Updated/related:

Well played, someecards.

elsewhere

today is free slurpee day at 7-11

[ perma-link ]

Thursday, July 3, 2008

QUICKIE: a club called dixie...

Is this Big Man from Trapped In The Closet actually working as a stripper in real life?!?

If so... Tk, your staggette just got a whole lot creepier.

elsewhere

status ain't hood shuts down

[ perma-link ]

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

oh, hey... I'm not dead...

Wow. 2 weeks without posting. That's gotta be a record.

Anyhoo... contrary to popular belief, I did survive my stag in Vegas... barely, but I survived (18 hours sleep on Monday night!). Since it's in my life plan to run for (strata?) president later on, I'm opting to not disclose all the details of my trip online (a first?). I didn't get a chance to fire a bazooka as originally hoped for, but I did manage to get to a shooting range and fire a glock (Little Vicious style?). It was pretty fantastic... I felt like Jack Bauer... Jack Bauer with incredibly bad aim. Good stuff.

I owe you a mixtape... that should be up in the next couple of days. I'm still re-hydrating... hang tight.

elsewhere

Jerry Seinfeld as compared to my mother

[ perma-link ]

« read more vanmega »