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Sunday, February 27, 2005
For those not in the know, the new coolness on a Saturday night is not clubbing or pubbing or lounging or romancing... it is, in fact, going to ikea and making an ass of yourself whilst purchasing furniture named hkfstavhen (phlegm noise). Perhaps the whorst thing was that while at ikea we saw two other groups of 20-somethings running around the showroom with digi-cams taking photos of themselves in quasi-comedic positions. Cripes, the nerd apocalypse is coming.
elsewhere
ways she could have blinded me with science | i park like an idiot
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Thursday, February 24, 2005
rocktastic news!
The best concert of the year (until another concert comes along in a few weeks) has just been announced!
Hot Hot Heat with guests The Futureheads and Louis XIV will be performing at The Commodore Ballroom on Saturday April 9th. While it will be nice to hear HHH rattle off some tastey jems from their upcoming CD, Elevators, the true awesomeness factor of the show will be the throw-back rock stylings of The Futureheads. With this new show and the March 7th Futureheads show at Richard's Me and Tk will finally be able to realize our dream of hanging out with the band on a regular monthly basis. Best.
Sidebar: I know nothing about the opening band, Louis XIV, but here's an mp3...
Louis XIV - God Killed The Queen [mp3]
While we're at it, here's some faux-new Hot Hot Heat...
Hot Hot Heat - Ears Eyes Mouth (Demo Mix) [mp3]
Anyways... tickets for the April 9th show go on sale tomorrow, and can be bought here. See you at the gig - come say hi, we can all play hipster bingo together.
elsewhere
kitsilano blog | the big ticket | sideburns! | goulet?
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
ohsnapcrappycrap...
Remember those "vanmega best of 2004" CD's we were giving away in December?
Well it seems that I when I compiled the submitted names / addresses on to a spreadsheet diligence went out the window. Meaning, only about half of the disks were mailed out (which would explain the extra disks I have lying around). Sorry y'all(s) I just realized this oversight now. If you signed up and still want a copy of the disk please contact me, I'll have it mailed out by the weeks end. Alternatively, let me know if you prefer instant gratification, and I'll provide you with a link allowing you to download and burn the thing at your leisure. Whord.
elsewhere
friendster is the LA of online communities | 5 questions with dave chappelle
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Sunday, February 20, 2005
streaming goodie-goodness...
Hopefully, your work day just got a bit less productive.
As an experiment, I've set up a streaming media player for your listening pleasure. Theoretically, The player will be updated weekly and feature a selection of the latest and greatest indie-ish tunes currently on heavy rotation at the vanmega world headquarters. All you have to do is click on the player link and you're off to the races, everything should stream automatically. You can listen to the mix where ever when ever (assuming you have a PC and speakers), and you can jump back and fourth between tracks. If you wanna know more about the bands and stuff featured in the mixes, either keep reading the site ('cause the content seems to have a embarrassing tendency of gushing / promoting bands) or google 'em. Hoo-ray for everything.
Go!: access the media player here.
Thoughts on the streaming player idea? Feedback is welcome.
elsewhere
how to eat a sandwich | dave would love this | cord rock blog
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Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Gimme 15 seconds to tune my guitar...
Hell yes. Ted Leo + Pharmacists rocked my socks off.
elsewhere
pinder writes about a previous ted leo show in vancouver | bring the noise
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Sunday, February 13, 2005
It beats writing haikus and passing them off as gifts...
I'd just like to point out that valentines day is wiggidy-wiggidy-wack. But you already knew that. What is NOT wiggidy-wiggidy-wack is my valentines date for this February 14th. Tk, in her infinite bestness, has decided that on Monday night we're whippin' over to Richard's on Richard's to check out Ted Leo (pictured above) and The Pharmacists (not pictured above) deliver their brand of indie-rawk to the masses.
The best part is that the decision to go to the show was made on the spur of the moment, simply while listening to "Me and Mia" while plowing through rush hour traffic. Tk says that on that track Ted Leo sounds like one of the guys from The Housemartins, I say that track is a wonderfully well constructed piece of power-pop goodness. Either way, if you're not as fortunate as me, and are about to be suckered into a horrific and / or tacky valentines event, I highly suggest you download the abovementioned Ted Leo track play it for your date, and hopefully things will fix themselves up.
Ted Leo + The Pharmacists - Me and Mia [mp3]
elsewhere
the many moods of mischa barton | see you in the pit
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Saturday, February 12, 2005
Quickie de jour...
Surfing the net over the weekend??? Good for you!!! Why do things like go outside or talk to people when the glow of your laptop screen can keep you warm and nurtured.
If you are surfing the interweb right now, I highly recomend you check out the latest content posted at Cord Magazine. Andy's put a sizeable rock and roll based update... uh... up, featuring the likes of Boy, The Marble Index, and The Waking Eyes. Ahhhh... Canadian content.
elsewhere
Corey, Felt Man | gorilla mask
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Tuesday, February 08, 2005
I'll talk extensively about all the things I could care less about...
The other night when we were watching the Superbowl I cheered for the Stamps and hoped that Walter Payton would make a return to the field.
But that's neither here nor there.
What was of interest was the new Blockbuster commercial cheesily telling the viewer that if they rent from Blockbuster in Canada, they'll never pay late fees. EVER!!
Sounds utopian, doesn't it? But upon further inspection it appears to be a completely half-baked move. Reading the fine print on this new policy details that if you keep a Blockbuster video for more than 7 days you're charged the full retail price of the video (and thus, you've bought the video). Blockbuster is quick to point out that if you don't want to buy this movie after all, you can return it within 30 days for a full refund. What Blockbuster is NOT quick to point out is that (1) for-rental DVD's usually have less features than for-retail DVD's, (2) you will be charged the price of a new retail DVD but will be sold a used rental DVD, (3) if you do return the DVD for a full refund you will, in fact, be only issued a store credit - meaning Blockbuster has gotten that money out your ass one way or another.
If you look slightly deeper this "no late fee's foreverandever" thing it gets dummmmmer. Internet point-of-rental based companies like Netflix - who already have no late fee policies - have seen strong growth over the last year, are beginning to cannibalize Blockbuster's sales. Blockbuster's quick fix attempt to curb this model doesn't actually counter all of the attributes that makes netflix et al appealing (ie: a fixed and transparent cost to the consumer regardless of total time of possession).
What's even more hilarious is that Blockbuster is estimated to lose upwards of $300 million in revenue from late fee's this year, in addition to this the cost of marketing and roll out this policy is estimated to cost another $50 million. Keep in mind the company posted a big fat loss last year.
After much debate while watching this commercial, we (the half-buzzed superbowl viewers) decided that Blockbuster firmly has it's head up it's ass, and that in Canada it should drop the "no more late fee's" horse-shit and that they should mimic the Movie Pass idea that they've implemented in the States. That is, a monthly flat rate rental / subscription service. Also, they should stock more copies of Back to the Future Part 2.
The point of all this being - what do you think? How fucked is Blockbuster on a scale from 1 - 10 (where 1 = Sylvester Stallone, and 10 = Gary Busey). Discuss.
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Note: I realize this post was excssively long-winded and nerdy, for those of you who come to the site for boobs, beer, and rock n roll let me assure that things will go back to normal tomorrow... in the mean time, allow me to dumb things down a bit and post this:
Ohhhh yeah. That's the stuff.
I'd also like to point out that LeftNutt have released thier second album for download. Go get it.
elsewhere
50 CENTS / MOVIE | doofyfuel <3's t&s
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Monday, February 07, 2005
Most important... [updated]
If there is anyone out there on the interweb that can help me out and / or clue me in on how I can get my hands on a digital (mpeg / avi / whatever) copy of tonight's episode of 24 in the next few days I would be eternally grateful.
There's gotta be an ftp or bit torret site out there that will host it. Seriously, someone hook me up.
email me at freestuff [at] vanmega [dot] com
Thanks, I lhuv you in advance.
Update: Yessssss.
elsewhere
Zombie Infection Simulation | this is awesum
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Friday, February 04, 2005
Bringing together the ying and yang of rich media...
If you're like me, you spend your days reading blogs written by people who wear chuck taylors on the regular, and you've heard that The Arcade Fire recently played on Conan O'brien. While many avec blogs seem to be gushing about the performance, I tend to disagree. Yes, the band was going balls-out (that's a technical term) on stage, but their live performance didn't really transfer into the confined tv studio environment. The crowd needs to be more sweaty and actually involved, not 30 feet back sitting in foldable chairs. The band needs to be able to run-a-muck, not be obligated to stand still in order make a certain camera shot work. And the actual sound mix needs to capture everyone and everything on stage singing and screaming, usually without a microphone. With that said, the performance does have its moments, they actually start to warm up at about the 2:20ish mark. And the 2 guys on the left (yeah, I haven't learned their names) are going BANANAS the entire time wrestling with motorcycle helmets, breaking drumsticks, etc. Anyhoots, judge for yourself:
The Arcade Fire - Live On Conan [avi]
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As a palate cleansing alternative to the ghoulish indie-rock AF stuff, I'll offer up a video that's both the best and worst all at the same time, Eric Prydz's "Call On Me". The video is campy, right-in-the-face-hilarious, and uhhhh... hot - assuming a room full of girls in unitards and legwarmers trampishly aerobicising around to a remixed Steve Winwood vocal loop is your thing (I assure you, THIS is my thing). How do I know this video is a winner? Because before I wrote this post, the file got sent around on Bubbles' email lists and it's been viewed upwards of 6.5 million times (that... and because people started talking about this video a few months ago, yeah, I only joined the bandwagon now). Anyhoots:
Eric Prydz - Call On Me [wmv] [snsfw]
Update: This music video has been spun off into a full-on 70 minute work-out video. Now that is fucking brilliant.
elsewhere
there are a lot of daily show video clips here | whatevs.org
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Thursday, February 03, 2005
After tonight's show, the hearing in my left ear = gone...
Colin figures we've seen Tegan & Sara play live upwards of 13 times. My favorite thing about the t & s shows is that I never even slightly get tired of seeing them play live. With every single performance I take in, I find myself trying desperately to curb my gut reaction of screaming like an overly-excitable college boy. The other interesting point is that both tegan and sara seem to be growing up, they take their... uhhh... jobs more seriously, they seem to be more focused with delivering on stage. It's inspiring, and kinda important. It's funny, they've been doing this rock and / or roll thing professionally for upwards of 5 years... I personally, have never kept a job that long.
Anyhoots... highlights of tonight's show - a two way tie between a ramped up version of "Living Room" [very shitty low-res yet quasi-entertaining video here] and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (I know... I never saw it coming either). Either way, Tegan was lit up, it was her night, she owned the microphone. And the new guy they have on stage (some dude who plays lead guitar / synth keys / a shakey egg... all at once!) is the new james brown, as he appears to be the hardest working man in show business. Bless.
Quasi-related: Worst one-liner of the night... "I recognize you from the internet". Needless to say, this blog is shutting down by friday afternoon.
Most important factoid of the evening - I just got home from the show (it's 1 am), and have approx 3 hours of home work due at 9am... and I have 8 hours of class shortly thereafter. Needless to say tomorrow will be kinda sucky. That's right, I said "kinda sucky". What of it?!
elsewhere
the t&s video featuring the vanmega kids | other bloggers at tonight's show: jess, pinder
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Tuesday, February 01, 2005
mp3 round up...
aka: Why risk copyright infringement when everyone else already is?
- Torr has a gorgeous one-off Iron & Wine song titled "The Trapeze Swinger" for download.
- Flip the switch offers a full length remix of the entire new Chemical Brothers album for download.
- Warner Brothers offers the new Hot Hot Heat single Good Night, Good Night for download.
- Shakeyface offers a hip-hop/electro Megamix of DOOM!!! for download.
- Cerbus offers The White Stripes - The End Sessions (2002-06-08) for download.
- Hot-ass bonus: And we offer an older-school demo version of "Power Out" by Arcade Fire for download. (Which sounds substantially less chaotic that the album version)
elsewhere
burning pop-tarts | more mp3's here | and here
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