May 5th!!!

A good day for everyone.

Shortcomings

Well not really but here are my fave EPs of 2008. No real order here, but kind of. There is only one specific spot on this list and that is the main reason it was created. We'll start off with a little old school death metal.
Bloodbath - Unblessing The Purity
A great EP from a supergroup of Scandinavian fellows from bands such as Opeth and Katatonia. In my opinion it would be better if Dan Swano was still in the band, but you can't win them all. If you like good ol death metal, give it a whirl.

Ankh Amen Ra - Face The Day, Come What May
Let's just say that I love hip hop. I also love Egypt, maybe even moreso than hip hop, even though I haven't been there. This dude pretty much combines them from the cover art to his name. It's a nice ep with chill beats and good rhymes and Ankh has his head on straight by not giving you the ol guns bitches and drugs gimmick that is so popular. I'm pretty certain it was a free download when he dropped it so check for it.

Reign Supreme - American Violence
I will always and forever have a spot for heavy hardcore in my life and Reign Supreme scratched that itch when I first heard them. There is more than noticable Figure Four influence here but they do it well and I'm pretty sure we aren't gonna be seeing F4 play anytime soon. Regardless, they have a full length coming out this year and my fave song is on there and I already have a spot for it on my best of 2009 list! ha.

Alpha And Omega - Devil's Bed
Now I will admit that I wrote this off when I first heard it. I gave it a few more listens and was really into it. At first it was a little too Blacklisted derived but I realized that I love big riffs and this EP has them all over the place. This is a perfect example of a reason to give a record more than one spin. Now go do that.

Trapped Under Ice - Stay Cold
This band got hyped pretty damn quick and with good cause. This EP brings it, so hard. It's good front to back and I realize that this is only an EP but there isn't a time when you really want to fast forward or skip to the next track, except at the end of one song that has about 30 seconds of dead air.

Aspirations - EP!
I remember Stu telling me to check out his other project not long after we finished up a little tour with Daggermouth. I didn't get around to it and just let it slip. I saw that Aspirations was coming to town and it was a good excuse to see a friend that I rarely ever see. I went down there and was hooked from the get go. I picked up the EP! from my man and was cracked out instantly. Audio crack is all this is, with a touch of party hardcore thrown into the mix. I know this is a friend's project and all that and I could be a little biased but it's just amazing. I defy you to find a song on this record where you aren't bobbin your head or tappin your toes or even wanting to dance. Here is a little rememberance of that fateful night where friendships were shared and new amazing jams were heard.
Only the records left.

Time For Art!

My friend Ryan is showing some of his creations next week...so be there.
And if you didn't read it on the poster...
Opening Reception: Thursday March 5 - 7-12pm at The Cre8ery, 125 Adelaide Street 2nd floor.
Featuring rtists: Krista Lawson, Kristen Lourie, Ryan Poworoznik, & Dustin Crawford.

Catering Weekend

This past weekend Rachel and I had the pleasure of catering the High Five Drive video shoot. The day started off earlier than most Saturdays, but that is understandable. I got to Chill's place to grab her part of the snacks for the day and I go outside to find my car has a flat tire. Needless to say I am quite enraged by this. Here is what caused the damage...
It's a good thing they had two cars around and I got to take Puddy's dad's ride for the trip. Sunfire's got a flat, now I'm ridin Neon.
Before I get to the actual catering business, I figure I should let you in on the secret of the winter claw that flattened my tire. After I did the snack drop off I went and put the donut on my car. I will also mentioned that my shoulder is messed up so I pretty much changed the tire with one arm on an icy ass street. A nice way to spend a Saturday morning. I then drove to the shop where I got my tires and the guy there takes a look at the claw and has a hard time pulling it out. He finally gets it out and is smiling a bit, then he says "I have seen a quite a few things in my day, but never this...it's a fork". A fucking FORK! Irony. Now onto what snacks got the neon treatment. To start the day off for the band and crew they got a nice fruit plate
as well as a plate of veggies
and the mandatory hummus.
When it was time to bring lunch to the shoot, I already had a full day under my belt and was tired from watching Mind Field the night before. I realize that when I'm paid to make sure people aren't hungry it's pretty serious so the show continued on and the "chicken" and wild rice soup showed up for lunch.
The soup was served with two homemade breads, onion dill and multigrain with cherries. There is margarine in a martini glass with that, you gotta look good.
Rachel took dinner to the crew on Saturday and I chilled at home in a barely awake state of being. She made a little more than was necessary and I had what was on the menu at my house for dinner that night as well. Seitan pot pie with rutabaga and sweet potato.
Sunday was the day of extras and there was more people around. A big ol pot of chili made the journey to the set. Here is Greg about to dig into the chili, which had my secret ingredients of liquid smoke and cinnamon, with some pitas to help fill him up.
All in all it was a good weekend and a great experience to cater a video shoot. A big thanks goes out to Jim for helping me get this gig as well as Greg and the rest of High Five Drive. Keep your eyes peeled for the video on their myspace page since what I saw looked pretty damn good. If you liked what you heard, get down to The Albert on Thursday and see them play with Sights and Sounds!

Mixtape Post

Another top list from 2008. I am a fan of hip hop and mixtapes are always around and pretty much online for free download nowadays. I can't complain about that. I didn't pick 10 tapes or anything, just some faves from the year. We'll start it off with Asher Roth, the new white rapper from the burbs. He's got good flow and picks some pretty dope beats for this outing. He also looks like Ben Turner so it pretty much had to make the list.
Next up is the Re-Up Gang. Clipse, Sandman and Ab-Liva make up the crew and always bring it on the mixtape with great beats and some classic/funny rhymes. If you like hearing some street shit, this one is for you. Oddly enough the first official Re-Up Gang was pretty much this mixtape over some original beats and it fell short. Grab this if you can find it. This tape was also played a fair bit when Scott and I drove from TO to Jersey on our weekend voyage at the beginning of 2008.
This was what I thought would be the best tape of the year. New cat Wale and a mixtape with Seinfeld clips sprinkled throughout, but it just got beat out in my books...you'll know when you scroll down. This mixtape is pretty much better than most hip hop albums you'll cop these days. Spent a few minutes rockin this joint while getting myself healthy in the summer and it more than kept me occupied on my walks.
Here it is, my fave mixtape of the year. Freeway - Month of Madness. Dude went in for 31 days in December and even dropped a couple bonus jams for everyone out there. The Philly Freezer is even rocking the Familia x Fifth Element/Rhymesayers collab shirt and MPLS is like my 3rd home so that is even more points for him. Once again you can get this free of charge on the good ol interweb so do yourself a favor and grab it, chill out for a hot minute and listen to it.
Just EPs and LPs left. I'm pretty much over being hurt every weekend. That's it.

Mindblown

Went to the Mind Field, new video by Alien Workshop, premier at SK8 this evening. Great vid...Arto Saari, Tyler Bledsoe, AVE and Heath straight killed it. Do yourself a favor and pick it up from your local shop. It was also a good night for seein bros that I haven't seen in a while. The camera stayed pretty quiet...
If you're wondering what this picture is about, keep checking Vandal's blog
for a closer look.

TOMORROW!

If you live in Winnipeg, be at SK8 tomorrow (Thursday Feb 12) at 8pm and peep the premier of...
You won't be disappointed.

We're Sendin Our Love Down The Well

Time for the weekly treat that accompanies Lost. A little toasted TLT with homemade tofu bacon and mayo.
A quote from the Sarde "I could eat 10 of these". That's enough right?

Late Start

My Top Ten of 2008 has been delayed an exceedingly long time due to other things taking up my time and being hurt and not wanting to sit at a computer. I'm gonna get the juices flowing and drop my fave song of 2008, along with a couple extras since one is usually never enough.

Here it is...Darkest Hour - Let's Go Caps!

This jam is the unquestionable best song for so many reasons but I will give you a few more gems to deal with since this might not get it done for everybody.

A close runner up...N.E.R.D - Anti Matter

I don't get tired of this song, I can listen to it everyday and it's still hot.

One more for the road...Jake One featuring Freeway and Brother Ali - The Truth

Two of the best MCs in the game over a nice beat, can't ask for more. Another jam I could listen to on the daily.

Coming soon: Top Ten Records of 2008, Top EPs of 2008, Best Mixtapes of 2008. Lofty goals it seems.

Feel like wasting some time?

Then why not hit up fmylife.com and proceed to waste said time. We've all heard it before and here is the besxcerpt from the site:

"Today, I went on a first date with an Egyptian/Cuban sorority girl. I asked her what language she was brought up speaking. She said that her mom spoke to her in Spanish, but that she only ever replied in English. I said, "Oh, kinda like Chewbacca and Han Solo?" FML".

And If We're Lost...

Then we are lost together, but we won't be hungry. A little nod to one of my favorite bands there, pick it up. A little food before the weekly Lost viewing. Tonight it was panko breaded tofu with wild mushroom sauce served on wild mushroom and pea risotto.
Just another day at the office. It's nice when someone comes over and gives you a reason to make something nice...not that cooking yourself a delicious meal isn't reason enough. Take care.

Super Bowl Baby

That weekend has arrived again...where a UFC event and the Super Bowl fall on the same weekend. Pretty much one of the best excuses to have some great food. The UFC shenanigans didn't get captured but whatever ya know. What counts is what is here and that is the super bowl snacks. I'm not gonna get into the super bowl that was marred by a myriad of terrible calls...but the Cardinals put up a damn good fight against both the Steelers and the Stripes. Food time. Frijoles et queso pupusas were first up and they were served with salsa, guac and nacho chesse sauce. There was sour cream as well for those that are into that sorta thing. A nice way to start.
Halftime showed up and that's when the nachos were fired up. Chips, then black bean and ground round mix topped with mozza and then broiled til nice n melty. Outside the oven they got the nacho cheese sauce treatment and then covered with green onions. There was salsa, guac and the sour cream for these bad boys as well. There was quite a bit made as you can tell...
Not pictured is the chocolate peanut butter banana milkshake that went along with the nachos. I think I'm still full from yesterday!