Circadian Shift

l love the sound of breaking glass
Especially when I'm lonely
l need the noises of destruction
When there's nothing new
Oh nothing new, sound of breaking glass

I'd sort of been pondering what my next upload to Circadian Shift: The Outpost was going to be. Listening to internet radio this afternoon provided me with my inspiration.

I love the sound of breaking glass
Deep into the night
l love the sound of its condition
Flying all around
Oh all around, sound of breaking glass
Nothing new, sound of breaking glass

There was some group named Dogs Die in Hot Cars doing a guest DJ set on WOXY. I know nothing about the group, but they did spin all sorts of cool "old" stuff -- Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, and Nick Lowe.

Oh all around, sound of breaking glass
Nothin new, sound of breakin glass
Safe at last sound of breaking glass

I posted another Nick Lowe MP3 on CS: The Outpost a few months back (it's gone now). The man really knows his way around a pop song, crafting sublime tunes with fine instrumentation and production values that often belie the darker nature of the lyrics.

I love the sound of breaking glass
Deep into the night
I Iove the work on it can do
Oh a change of mind
Oh change of mind,
sound of breaking glass
All around, sound of breaking glass

So, without further ado, here's some new tunage for your downloading and listening pleasure:

• "(I Love the Sound of) Breaking Glass" by Nick Lowe (MP3; 3,022 KB)

Enjoy.

Nothing new, sound of breaklng glass
Breaking glass, sound of breaking glass
Sound of breaking glass

Note to self: The $3.99 combo special at Burger King is really not a good idea. Particularly if you're attempting to get some studying done in the library afterward, and all you can do is sit there and try not to throw up. Get a salad next time.

BTW, are y'all remembering that there's Drive-By Linking on the homepage, after the regular blog posts? You can scroll down, or click the handy jump link located just below the blog title bar.

(Really gotta put them somewhere more visible...)

Another week blinks by...

As the background image to this week's mood board would convey, things were a bit of a blur.

I did manage to hit the Bloor Cinema to see a collection of short films that were nominated for Oscars this year, and you can see stills from two of the films on the board.

Ryan (pic stretched out across the top) won the Oscar for Best Short Film (Animated), and most deservedly so, as it's not only a visually stunning piece of work, but also an affecting look at the fragility of the human mind and soul. You can see some excerpts from the film (the whole thing used to be there, but it's gone now) and learn more on the website.

7:35 in the Morning (pic along the right-hand-side of the board) was nominated for Best Short Film (Live Action), and offers a quirky look at what could happen when everyday routine gets turned on its head. You can see the whole film on the website (needs the Quicktime plugin).

As for the other short films that showed in the collection, Roger Ebert offers a writeup.

Along the bottom of the mood board is a line from a track off the LCD Soundsystem self-titled double-disc set that everyone's been raving about. I bought it myself a couple weeks back, and wholeheartedly agree that it makes for some damn fine listening.

The other textual elements on the board are from my resume and from the table of contents to a help file that I was examining for a class assignment. Blech.

A couple things that didn't make it onto the board this week:

• "Reason is Treason" by Kasabian -- a darned catchy guitar-driven track that I've heard a few times on WOXY
• "I'd Rather Dance with You" by Kings of Convenience -- a very charming and quirky tune, heard on dirtyradio; you can watch the video here

Classes on Thursday evenings mean that I haven't been home to watch NBC's Brit-com ripoff The Office (is it even airing on a Canadian station?), but as this roundup of reviews would suggest, it's not as gawd-awful as everyone expected it to be. The folks at FC Now also weigh in with their own discussion.

A little while back, I procured (courtesy of a Chapters Indigo gift card that I got for Christmas) the complete box set of the original BBC version and have worked my way through Seasons 1 and 2 (but not the Special).

I like it (I think), but it hasn't induced any laugh-out-loud moments like other similarly-themed movies such as Office Space, or even the Beavis and Butthead compilation "Work Sucks" (which I have on VHS). In fact, some of it is downright painful.

So why do I watch it? My partner-in-crime "N" has this explanation:

"The situations are all truthful and realistic, yet, as a spectator, you can not be 'hurt' by all those situations, you are safe as an observer."

Makes sense, I guess. Your mileage may vary.

(I've tried to add to/elaborate on the above "paragraph" about a dozen times and still can't do it. Evidently something in my brain does not want to go there.)

Gonna try out something new here...

I had the idea a little while back of putting together a weekly mood board -- a visual representation of my week, things on my mind, music I was listening to, books I was reading, movies I saw, etc. Nothing too large or elaborate -- could be either done electronically, or scribbled/pasted on a 3x5 index card and scanned in.

So, here's my first go at it, cobbled together in Paint and Visio.

Thus depicted, going clockwise, starting from the upper-left-hand corner:

• "Monkey Gone to Heaven" by The Pixies -- The Pixies kind of escaped my notice back in the late 80s (hangs head in shame); just got the compilation CD and am getting to know them better
• The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby -- I like reading Hornby's work, I like short essays, and I too have bought more books than I have actually read, so how could I resist this; and it's darned funny, too
• "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" by Travis -- yep, it's been one of those weeks
• "Ladyflash" by The Go! Team -- have heard this song several times on dirtyradio, and it's more infectious with each listen; you can watch the video on the group's website
• Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy by Ann Rockley, with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning -- it's for a course

The background features text from a cover letter for a resume that I sent out. You can imagine how much fun that is.

Not pictured on the board: The Incredibles, which I saw on DVD -- very entertaining.

Some tunage for 80s fans:

• The Pretenders at Rock de Siempre
• New Model Army at Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again
• Romeo Void at Scenestars

Between doing the jobhunt thing, taking classes, and downloading MP3s left, right and centre, I haven't seemed to find much time to blog stuff. Sadly, the other blog has been neglected too.

A couple silly, unrelated tidbits...

Eva has really been into the latest Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim to Win" campaign and has even analyzed her success rates. I've bought at least a dozen cups of coffee from them since the campaign started (Tim's is presently the nearest caffeine purveyor in the vicinity of The Hovel) and haven't won squat.

Not to mention that rolling up those damn rims is bloody hard to do, making it all the more frustrating when your efforts turn up bupkiss. Fortunately, I've discovered a way to expedite the rolling-up process:

Yep, tear into that sucker with a pair of flatnose pliers, and your coffee-cup rim will be in the rolled-up position in no time flat. Remember: you read it here first.

I also wound up taking a couple online personality quizzes, thanks to maximum verbosity. For example, here's what kind of multi-side die I am:

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Somehow, I don't think I can incorporate that into the ol' resume.

Many thanks to C-Shift reader John S. for sending along these two goodies, which I have duly uploaded to Circadian Shift: The Outpost:

• "Oh Yeah" by Yello (MP3; 2,962 KB)
• "March of the Swivelheads" by The English Beat (MP3; 7,371 KB)

More alert (and older!) members of the viewing audience will recognize both these tunes from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Actually, there never was an official soundtrack release, so you'd have to do some scrounging to find all the songs featured in the film.

The Yello tune seemed to be darned near ubiquitous during the mid-80s (it appeared on a few movie soundtracks, if I remember correctly), and isn't too hard to find on CD. The tune from the English Beat featured here was an instrumental that appeared as the B-side to one of their 12-inch singles.

Links to the bands:

• the official website for The Beat (as they were properly known in the UK) has information, a complete discography, linkage, and more
• YELLOzone is a fairly extensive fan site with info, lyrics, and video clips; the official Yello site is currently a blank page

Addendum 06 March 2005: More Ferris Bueller soundtrack goodness! Thanks to Colin at Canuckflack for sending this in:

• "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (instrumental)" by The Dream Academy (MP3; 3,026 KB)

Yes, that is The Dream Academy covering The Smiths -- they did a vocal version of the tune as well.