The daily barf

Work is dead slow at the moment, so I've been spending a lot of time scanning job boards, trolling hockey forums watching early '90s can-rock videos on the You Tubes (see below) and reading food and home design blogs.

Now, it's no surprise to anyone who reads blogs (including this one, which absolutely no one reads) that a certain amount of self-absorption is a prerequisite for the gig. But some of the shit out there really takes solipsism to a new level. Let's put it another way: If I see one more whimsical blog by some skinny, middle class white chick with a bird tattoo and an Etsy shop who takes over-Photoshopped cutesy pictures of her beardo boyfriend and herself, her "outfits" and various babies/pets, my eyeballs are going to crawl out of my asshole. Also "thrifting" is not a word. You privileged fucks.

Hey remember these guys? Bubbles!

The bright side

The good thing about being bald is that I never have to worry about getting a stupid haircut like a Mullethawk or, let's be honest, every haircut I ever had when I had hair.

Flotsam

Fictional band name du jour: 
Cold Concrete Canyons

Listening to:
Wire "Red Bark Tree" (2011) (particularly "Bad Worn Thing")
Jonathan Fire*Eater "Wolf Songs for Lambs" (1995)

Reading:
Lucky Peach Issue #1

Feeling:
Guilt over not going to the gym/being fat. Also: gassy.

You're dumbstruck baby, now you know.

The National to headline ACC show

Not sure how a band with such an intimate sound (one better suited for late nights around the dinner table) will pull off a show in a hockey rink, but I'd like to find out. Love those guys. Wish this shirt was still in stock.

Fall wish list: head to toe

Top to bottom: NY Cosmos New Era fitted (I'm partial to the all black everything version), Long sleeve stripe crew neck sweat shirt from Norse Projects, Levi's 511 Commuter Jeans, Vans LPE Chambray

Ephemera

Favourite English names:

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (celebrity chef)

Benedict Cumberbatch (actor)

Fictional band name du jour:

Land Battles

Current listening:

The War on Drugs – “Slave Ambient” (2011)

Band of Horses – “Infinite Arms’ (2010)

The Walkmen – “Lisbon” (2010)

Crystal Stilts – “In Love with Oblivion” (2011)

Reading:

As per my last update to my 2011 reading list, I've been on a good run this year. I should point out that the seven books I've checked off to date are by no means the complete picture. Right now, I'm taking the harrowing journey through Cormac McCarthy's gore-soaked classic "Blood Meridian" and started another Lethem (his breakout novel "Fortress of Solitude" which I can't say I'm enjoying so far). I've also knocked off more Hornby ("A Long Way Down" which is one of his better ones, even though it further exposes his inability to write in different voices); "Bruno, Chief of Police," a delightful summer read about a small town French cop and epicure penned by Martin Walker; and, uh, the first book of the "Hunger Games" trilogy.