MGMT: Oracular Spectacular

Great electro-indie-pop band MGMT killer album from last year - Oracular Spectacular:

 

 

How did I miss these guys all year?

http://www.amazon.com/Oracular-Spectacular-MGMT/dp/B0010VD7EO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1230669760&sr=8-1

Aurora Barrel Aged

Good stuff. A gentle smoke, but rich. Smell is almost chocolate.

Brand: La Aurora Barrel Aged
Vitola: #4
Ring Gauge: 43
Length: 5.75
Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
Origin: Dominican Republic

Brand:
The Barrel Aged by La Aurora is a creation of one Jose Blanco. The Corojo Oscuro wrapper of this cigar is sealed within an oak barrel, which once contained Dominican rum. Wanting to try something different Jose first placed the wrapper leaves in barrels and allowed them to age for one year. Upon opening, the aroma was heavenly and the decision was made to let them rest once again.

There is some confusion on the total age on these cigars. Some sources say four years while other say five. In either case these leaves have undergone some serious aging and are ready to be smoked.

While the barrel aging process isn’t something new for La Aurora, from what I understand the 1495 and Cien Anos both utilize barrel aged tobaccos. The aging of the wrapper is uncharted territory for the company, but it seems to have developed a bit of a following.

 

http://www.stogiereview.com/2008/08/29/la-aurora-barrel-aged/

Joy Division

 

 

I've been watching this great documentary on Joy Division (simply called "Joy Division") on the PVR.

My intro to Joy Division was of course New Order, the band that the remaining members formed after Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980. I have most of their music and always thought they were perhaps the most interesting post-punk sound to come out of the UK in the late '70s. What I'm most fascinated by now is how their kind of post-industrial sound and striking minimalistic design and writing style have held up.

To the centre of the city where all roads
meet looking for you
To the depths of the ocean
where all hopes sank searching for you
Moving through the silence without motion
waiting for you
In a room with no window in the corner,
I found truth

The band helped form the melancholy of The Cure, The Smiths, The Sisters of Mercy and went on to create a niche for the "intelligent electronica" bands like Depeche Mode.

And their design ethic still inspires. Check out the cover to "Unknown Pleasures" released in 1979:

 

 

And the later precursur to the seminal New Order's "Substance":

 

 

You can see this ethos reflected in the writing style and cover art of bands like Coldplay even today, 30 years later.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_division

Elanor Rigby

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

Father mckenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working. darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Eleanor rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father mckenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

This song was written in 1966. Times have not changed.

Knights of the Round Table

Boys and Girls Club Safe House

Had a eye opening time at the Boys and Girls Safe House in Calgary over the past several weeks. Every year as part of a United Way drive we pick a project to have the team work on to make a bit of a difference in the community. This year we chose the Safe House:

Safe House is a nine bed shelter facility that provides short term housing and basic needs for youth who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The place was really run down when we found it. Old, moldy showers, stinky furniture, that kind of thing. We painted the entire house, replaced the couches and dining room chairs, put in two computers and a printer into the office so that the kids can work on their resumes, replaced much of the bathroom cabinets and fixtures, put in a TV... generally spruced up the place to make it more inviting.

Working with the kids were great. These are kids that go through more in a day than most of the bad stuff that we experience in a life time. Drugs, prostitution, poverty, homelessness, violence... you name it. And for the most part they are very sweet kids, but very suspicious of authority and rebellious. Shortsighted too -- it's hard to think of going back to school so your life can be better next year when you don't have enough to eat or a place to sleep.

One of the kids affected me deeply: a young girl, perhaps 15. She could have been Maya at 15. We gave all the kids blankets and she spent all day wrapped up in it huddled on the couch watching us work.

http://www.calgaryboysandgirlsclub.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=45&PHPSESSID=f9f189e2ab24df94fe6cb8c6ebf63d1e

New Trek Movie Trailer

The new Star Trek movie trailer is here. I have to say that I'm very disappointed.

They made Star Trek into a teen action movie. Complete with an angsty teen whiny Kirk. I'm trying very, very hard to keep an open mind on this one but given the shoddy job they've done on the Enterprise I have my doubts.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrek/