Excuses

This version of 'Excuses' by the Morning Benders has captivated my inner romantic. Part Phil Spectors 'Wall Of Sound', part Frankie Avalon circa 'Venus' and featuring lush strings, the group gathered friends in the studio for this version. Blissful.

http://www.myspace.com/themorningbenders

Sustain

Toronto: Financial District (Before)

© Bill Ivy / WWF-Canada

Toronto: Financial District (During)

© Bill Ivy / WWF-Canada

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and in the space of three years has become a global sustainability movement. More than 50 million people across 35 countries participate as homes, skyscrapers, office blocks and landmarks turn off their lights. It's not a case of turning off the lights for 1 hour each year making a huge change but rather a reminder to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future.

In British Columbia the electricity load dropped by 1.04 per cent during the hour. From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. British Columbians saved 64.6 megawatt hours of electricity – the equivalent of turning off about 1.4 million lights. If the province implemented the same conservation measures for one hour every evening, the combined savings would be enough to power close to 2,200 homes for an entire year.

Boston.com has a number of great photographs from around the world, taken prior and during Earth Hour. You can see them here

To find out more about Earth Hour:

http://www.earthhour.org/

Roll With It

http://www.wartheband.com/home.html

Veritas

“Real friends are very special, but you have to be careful because sometimes you have a friend and you think they are made of rock; then suddenly you realise they're only made of sand.”

Maria Callas

Umbra

Juha Arvid Helminen is a Finnish photographer who has a keen eye for texture and unique tonal qualities. His work manages to be both beautiful and disconcerting. I'm particularly taken with his 'Black on Black' series which features a series of faceless, shadowy figures.

To see more of Helminens work go to:
http://immanuel.deviantart.com/

Others Promise Heaven

I find many things in the music of Amadou et Mariam: joy, sadness, humour and hope but there is something about their song 'Je pense a toi' that resonates with me. Such beautiful harmonization and melodies.

Je pense à toi, mon amour, ma bien aimée
(I think of you my love, my beloved)
Ne m’abandonne pas, mon amour, ma chérie
(Don't leave me, my love, my dear)

Quand je suis dans mon lit, je ne rêve qu’à toi
(When I'm in my bed I dream only of you)
Et quand je me réveille, je ne pense qu’à toi
(And when I wake, I think only of you)

Si je ne te vois pas, je ne peux rien dire
(If I don't see you, I can say nothing)
Je ne peux rien faire, je ne peux rien voir
(I can do nothing, I can see nothing)
Je ne veux rien savoir
(I don't want to know anything)
Mon amour, ma chérie
(My love, my dearest)

Certains t’ont promis la terre
(Some have promised you the earth)
D’autres promettent le ciel
(Others promise heaven)
Il y en a qui t’ont promis la lune
(Some have promised you the moon)
Et moi, je n’ai rien que ma pauvre guitare
(And me, I've nothing but my poor guitar)

http://www.amadou-mariam.com/

Abhaile

Market Place, Galway. Early 1900's

Feeling a tad homesick today, it being St Patricks Day and all. I love Canada but there are days where i miss the way things are done back home, not to mention the Irish sense of humour. The following are a tiny selection of images from the National Library of Ireland. Up to 34,000 historic images were made available to the public after the latest phase of a digitisation project.

Michael Collins. Circa 1914-1923

Children watching a Punch& Judy puppet show. Circa 1890-1910

The images include rural scenes, topographical scenes, candid street shots and historical figures such as Michael Collins, Eamon De Valera and Sean Heuston. Photographs have been sourced from various places including the Poole Whole Plate Collection, Keogh Collection and 76 images taken by medical student JJ Clarke showing Dubliners between 1897 and 1904.

Uileann Piper. Circa 1880-1914

Woman on O'Connell Street

Custom House Quay

To see more of the collection:

http://digital.nli.ie/cdm4/index_glassplates.php?CISOROOT=/glassplates


All Images: National Library of Ireland

Orbis Non Sufficit

"We’re living in a stylistic tropics. There’s a whole generation of people able to access almost anything from almost anywhere, and they don’t have the same localised stylistic sense that my generation grew up with. It’s all alive, all “now,” in an ever-expanding present, be it Hildegard of Bingen or a Bollywood soundtrack. The idea that something is uncool because it’s old or foreign has left the collective consciousness.”

Brian Eno 'The Death Of Uncool'

Image: Soul Ellis

Brain Food

In an ongoing effort to stimulate my remaining brain cells, i am constantly on the lookout for educational opportunities be it in everyday life or academically. However finances and time don't always allow for much of the academic side :)

I wanted to give you a heads up if you hadn't heard about the following. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are providing 1,900 courses for free on their website. They are offering materials used in almost all MIT courses including syllabuses, lecture notes, problem and answer sets, labs, readings and reading lists, videos and special features.

Subjects vary hugely and you can access everything from History, Comparative Media Studies, Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Media Arts & Sciences to Women's & Gender Studies amongst others. I'm in the midst of wading my way through 'Gender & Media Studies: Women and the Media', 'Human Rights in Theory & Practice' and 'The Supernatural in Music, Literature & Culture'.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste...

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

Image of Neuron: Green Spine

You're So Cool

"I kept asking Clarence why our world seemed to be collapsing and things seemed to be getting so shitty. And he'd say, "that's the way it goes, but don't forget, it goes the other way too." That's the way romance is...usually, that's the way it goes, but every once in awhile, it goes the other way too "

Alabama from True Romance