~gabriel » Entertainment

Nathan Rogers

gabriel — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:19:31 +0000

I figured I'd take a quick moment to share some of the music I've been listening to lately. Back in October I spent a couple of days in the Eastern Townships on union business. Because it's so close to the US border and CBC Radio 1 reception can be sketchy I usually find myself tuning into NPR Vermont and while I was driving back to Montréal on Sunday afternoon to catch my train back to Toronto I happened to catch a programme covering modern folk music. I immediately recognized Stan and Garnet Rogers when I turned the radio on, but jammed between them there was a Stan Rogers song I didn't recognize. I thought that was odd because as far as I know I own everything he ever recorded and the recording certainly didn't sound like a bootleg. As soon as the host came on after the set he explained my confusion by crediting Stan's son Nathan for the middle song in the set: "Jewel of Paris".

To say that he sounds eerily similar to his father is quite an understatement. I've done a bit of reading on his background and accomplishments as well as the requisite crawling through Youtube and Google to catch clips of my performing live. I'm sure he's trying to carve out his own niche, among other talents he is an accomplished throat singer who has studied with indigenous groups in Mongolia and Nunavut, but releasing a first album, "The Gauntlet", that is reminiscent of his father is not a bad way to start.

I can't find an online version of Jewel of Paris but here's a live cover on Youtube of Stan's famous "Northwest Passage" which is a good sample of his voice. Happy Winter Solstice!

Pioneer One

gabriel — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:49:25 +0000

I came across a link to Pioneer One last week and I downloaded it over the weekend. I finally got around to watching it this evening and I have to say that for a $6000 budget it's not that bad, in fact I'm sure hoping that it continues, I'm pretty curious about the plot. Anyway I won't bother repeating stuff you can just read on the site itself, but the idea of micro funded entertainment is really neat. I'll be following this closely.

A Couple Things

gabriel — Wed, 19 May 2010 02:42:33 +0000

I'm still plugging away at the Aubrey-Maturin series and I'm still enjoying it, about halfway through HMS Surprise. I mentioned it to a friend recently about the series and I agreed with her that it's probably a bit of an acquired taste but if you're in to sailing and/or military or historical fiction you should check it out.

Also, you should check out PBS Video if you haven't recently. Although some of the content is geofenced (and there are ways around that if you're creative) there's a lot of good stuff there for the watching. Lately I've been enjoying American Experience in particular, oh how I wish we had PBS in Canada.

Master & Commander

gabriel — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:52:50 +0000

I've started reading Master & Commander by Patrick O'Brian. I've long been a fan of Napoleonic War era historical fiction but for some reason I've never quite gotten around to the Aubrey-Maturin series. Though it's premature to give a real review, I can appreciate why the books were so well received critically. I've got Post Captain and HMS Sapphire on my bookshelf and I'm looking forward to some serious reading!

There Will Be Blood?

gabriel — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:06:58 +0000

I just got home from the late show of There Will Be Blood and I must say I don't think I enjoyed the movie. In fact it's the first movie I've seen since The Passion of The Christ that I didn't really feel good about sitting through. Don't worry, it's not as bad as The Thirteenth Floor or anything, but it really didn't make me feel good. Daniel Day-Lewis' character Plainview is simply too dark for my tastes, he's a genuine psychopath (probably in the clinical sense) and the acting is a bit too convincing for my taste.

That being said, the acting was excellent and the film, at least as a piece of art in the abstract sense, was quite impressive. I haven't read Oil!, though from what I gather Paul Thomas Anderson only borrowed loosely from Upton Sinclair's book so even if I had it might not have prepared me for the tone of the film. I'm a definite fan of Anderson and while I enjoyed his lighter fare (e.g.: Boogie Nights or Magnolia) much more than this film it has done nothing to lower my view of him as a screenwriter or director. I don't think I'd give it a recommendation but I certainly wouldn't discourage anybody from seeing it either. A+ in cinema, C for entertainment.

U2 Manager McGuinness Makes Total Ass of Himself

gabriel — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:16:50 +0000

I guess it's somewhat comforting to know that Bono isn't the only figure from U2 who has decided to devote his life to being a caricature of a twit. While I have some sympathy with the fact that there is a legitimate case that part of the digital music scene involves theft, every time some fool like Paul McGuinness shoots off his mouth and completely glosses over the real and very difficult issues surrounding digital rights and other technological "paradigm shifts" the issue is buried in yet another layer of total shite. For some reason hearing U2's manager demand that U2 is somehow being "hurt" by iPods and ISPs makes me want to gag.

Apparently the problem could be solved if we all just dropped our iPods and bought Zunes. I think the most galling of his ill-conceived rant is that he equates all of the various components of the digital music spectrum from ISPs, users, MP3 player manufacturers and Silicon Valley hippies as equally evil. I have all the time in the world to talk to small off-label artists who actually feel the pain in their wallets, but for the most part they are amongst the savviest and are benefiting the most from this shift in power and consumption trends.

Anyway, here's a link to a CBC article. Here's a link to Steve Jobs' somewhat more considered view on the topic for good measure.

The Comedy Network Online

gabriel — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:17:51 +0000

In case you don't know about it, you can watch a number of The Comedy Network's top programmes online by visiting: broadband.thecomedynetwork.ca. I don't watch TV much these days but it's nice to know I can find stuff like ~~The~~ A Daily Show and The Colbert Report without having to subscribe to cable.

I especially recommend January 22nd's Daily Show sketch on Iceland pulling out of the Iraq War.

New Bond Film Title Announced

gabriel — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:04:06 +0000

Not sure how keen I am on the name, but I'm always a little excited when they announce a new James Bond film. For some reason it's one of the few film things that instantly makes me feel like a 16 year old boy. I like the new Daniel Craig interpretation of James Bond quite a bit and I'm interested to see what his second take will be like. The new film is titled Quantum of Solace.