Straight to Hell Returns

Hmm. No sooner do I reminisce about Alex Cox's Straight to Hell than I discover it's been re-released (with extra footage to perhaps straighten out that narrative).

Here's the trailer. Looks way better than that grainy VHS copy I had, gorgeous in fact.

You can also check out a brief interview with Alex Cox talking about the new version.

Black Keys v. The Pogues

Take a moment to gander at one of the latest musical offerings from The Black Keys.

Yes, it's an homage to grindhouse films, but more importantly, it's a wink and a nod to one of my favourite films, Alex Cox's Straight to Hell featuring the likes of Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Dennis Hopper, Courtney Love, and famously, the Pogues as t

he deadly McMahon Clan. It's a great little film (though you mustn't let a little thing like a narrative keep you from enjoying it).

How to Avoid Traffic Jams

I saw this earlier today from Guy Kawasaki's Alltop and it's proof that my interest in parking lots has expanded to include traffic. Here are my top five suggestions to avoid traffic jams (some of which are listed below as well):

1. Live closer to where you work.

Some people consider this a luxury, but in reality it's about better urban planning. People shouldn't have to criss-cross the city twice a day.

2. Carpool. During the last major survey of car ridership (the 1990s GoPlan), vehicle occupancy was 1.1 passengers per vehicle. More people per car = less cars on the road.

3. Do not change lanes unless absolutely needed. As the graphic below explains, changing lanes is one of the leading causes of congestion.

4. Avoid left turns. It might appear to take longer but that's not always the case. Plus it cuts down on spillover from the lefthand turning lane plugging up approaching lanes.

5. Work off-hours. There's not a lot of compelling reasons for everyone work within the same eight-hour window, especially with the rise of globally decentralized office work.

(click here for image and article)

James Blake, The Wilhelm Scream

In their review of James Blake's self-titled debut, Pitchfork mentioned that Blake could be among a new crop of singer-songwriters to merge the bleeding edge of electronic music with traditional singer-songwriter tropes. It's a fair enough assessment, given that triphop is approaching twenty years of age as a genre (making it almost as old as James Blake) and there are those who trace dubstep, drum 'n' bass, and all forms of house music back even farther.

It will be interesting to hear what happens next.

Speaking of singer-songwriter electronic music collaborations, I wonder what Justin Vernon is up to these days?

Also, in case you're wondering what a Wilhelm Scream is...

Time, the Avenger and Devourer of Worlds

I'll be the first to admit that these are not the happiest of times inside my head. Yesterday I blamed my writing for taking me to places that tire me out emotionally. However if I'm truthful there's more to it than that. While I usually keep dayjob things to the fringes, I can't avoid the fact that my time in my current organizational role is coming to an end. There's a lot of uncertainty as to where I'll be posted (though thankfully it's certain that I will be posted somewhere) but the ramifications could end determining where I work for the next few years.

As soon as you start talking about things in terms of years, it starts to put other things into perspective - I mentioned on twitter earlier today that my online reading queue has 373 books listed as waiting to be read - most of which I can access readily. I currently read approximately 24-30 books a year, which I consider a good rate, but relatively inadequate to the task at hand. Assuming I can maintain that pace, and only add 10 books a year to my waiting list (woefully underestimating the amount of material I've racked up in the previous 10 years), it will take me anywhere between 12 and 22 years to catch up on my reading.

Let's not talk about the 800 films in my movie queue.

Nor the notes and sketches I've been developing for six novels.

It's hard to avoid the realization that even if I've only (and extremely optimistically) lived 1/3 of my life, I've probably already mentally made more plans than I can reasonably accomplish before I finish the other 2/3 of it that brings me to further realize what it is that I fear most: running out of time.

I'm not afraid of trying and failing, I'm afraid of never having the chance to try and fail, of just not getting around to it and putting things off, though increasingly it looks like I'm just burying myself under a pile of things.

I suppose I need to discriminate better.

(I've been listening to a lot of new Gil Scott-Heron remix album lately and that hasn't helped, especially "Running" with the lines:

To be running and not in fear
Because the thing I fear cannot be escaped, eluded, avoided,
Hidden from, protected from, gotten away from,

)

Words and Music (and Memory)

I've been doing a lot of writing lately. The good old hide in a corner pen and ink variety. Even though what I'm writing is fiction, a lot of it is inspired by ideas or experiences I've had, since Games of Chance has been inspired by my family, and the new novel is set in high school and based in part on my time at the Stampede and CJSW. Further, given that I listen to a lot of music, and listen quite constantly, I'm in the habit of using particular songs as a memory trigger, either because they remind me of a feeling or specific moment, or else I listened to it a lot during the time frame I'm trying to remember.

So yesterday's news that Tom Waits was going to be inducted into the rock n' roll Hall of Fame led to a lot of YouTube video and ultimately, stumbling across this particular Tom Waits tune. I played a lot of Tom Waits while in high school and working in the parking lot. I loved his narratives and characters. I don't remember connecting to any of these songs on an emotional level, but this time, hearing "Tom Traubert's Blues" dredged up a lot of old feelings and memories, particularly about some of the sadder moments I had been trying to figure out for the new novel. Writing those scenes while listening to this song (on repeat I might add), made me so depressed, I couldn't help but wonder if anyone would want to read it when I'm finished.

Hopefully it comes off better to strangers than it does to me.

Dispatch from the New Digs

The last two months have been quite busy, I must say, so apologies to those happening by looking for some interesting tidbits. I've moved, attended the Consumer Electronic Showcase in Las Vegas, as well as organizing inservices at my day job. February has found me presenting at the Teacher Convention but also somehow managing to resume swimming a few times a week.

Most promising though has been the fact that I've finally conquered a particularly troublesome plot restructuring in Games of Chance and am in the process of finishing revisions on the final chapter. I'm also considering a slight modification that could result in the formerly lost Russian chapter finding it's way back into the novel. I'm pleased to see that so many of you have stopped by to check it out.

Thus, it makes me happy to announce that while in Las Vegas, and taking a temporary break from Games of Chance, I started formal work on my next novel-in-progress. It had been originally planned as a love story based on growing up in Northeast Calgary, but it seems to have taken on a life of its own. It focuses more on my time at Calgary's downtown St. Mary's High School. It's still a love story, but the plot centers around the disappearance of the two lovers in the wake a teacher's apparent death. I'm over fifty pages in and hope to have a first draft done by summer.