Flickr Opinion

I take a lot of photos when I travel, and I have travelled a lot. All those photos are sitting pretty on my hard drive, but should I get them onto Flickr? Obviously there are a tonne, so I wouldn't be putting everything up right from the get-go. I just sort of want a general opinion, 'cause I'm not sure if I want to put in that kind of effort, hahah. I'm very lazy by nature. So yah, to Flickr or not to Flickr? That is the question.

Oh, and that photo to the left is one of mine from Santorini in Greece. If you ever get the chance to visit that island, do it.

Music Monday: Bringing Sexy Back, Again

So after a lot of "softer" Music Mondays, I'm back with a dubstep track. If you don't like dubstep, then too bad. This is my blog, I'll play what I want.

You might remember me saying that I have seasonal music: acoustic and jazz in the fall and winter, more upbeat stuff in the spring and summer. Well, it's volleyball season, so that means I need to have a pump up playlist. Seriously. This playlist is affectionately titled "Wub Wub Wub" on my iPod and HTC. As the name suggests, it includes lots of wubwubwub, but also a significant amount of unstunstunst. I believe I have used those terms before on this blog. If you are unfamiliar with them, please read this post.

Anyway, I recently came across a real nice remix of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack," one of the big tracks of, oh, 2005 I think? Something like that. I think this is one of those rare occasions where I like the remix more than the original. The build-up is perfect, the wobbles (another contemporary music term, seriously) are spot on, and the drop is mad rad.

No video for this one, unfortunately. But I can do better! Below you'll find the streaming track and download, straight from Cry Wolf himself. Enjoy!

Does this make me... Published?

A funny thing happened last night. I got an email (that wasn't the funny thing). It was from an advertising agency based in Barcelona (that's the funny thing). The woman wanted to know if they could use one of my travel photos for an ad campaign in Spain. Seriously.

I've heard the horror stories of artists having their work show up on logos and shirts without their permission, which is why I was so surprised to be reading the email. In the age of SOPA and PIPA, who asks for permission these days? So of course I thought it was some sort of scam at first, but I wasn't being asked for any personal information, just a "Yay" or "Nay." So I yayed.

This morning I woke up to another email, from the same woman representing the same company. It had an attachment. What kind of attachment? A legal document for me to review, sign, and email back to them. I guess it's to ensure that I don't turn around and try to sue these nice people for using my photo.

So, yah. That's it. Apparently my photo (and name, in the small print of course) will be the subject of some sort of Spanish ad. I'm really fuzzy on details, but I've been assured that I'll be able to see the final product. Huzzah! Oh, and for those of you interested. this is the photo being used:

I'm not quite sure why they chose it, but that's probably 'cause I have no clue what the ad will be for. And if the photo looks familiar, you might have seen it on my Flickr account or as part of a Photoblog.

Music Monday: Contrails

It be Monday! And Mondays are good 'cause they be busy days. I like those now, on account of me not having much to keep me busy at the moment.

What makes Mondays so busy? Well, I play on two of my four volleyball teams on Mondays, but that doesn't come until the evening. Mondays are also homework days, since I only have classes Tuesdays and Thursdays and therefore leave any work I have to do until the last minute. It's how I roll.

And last but not least, Monday's are obligatory blog post days! Don't get me wrong, I love my Music Mondays, but it sometimes seems that they're the only thing keeping me in this blog game. Whatever. I'm fine with that.

So this week I've got a song by American indie rapper/singer Astronautalis, who I had the pleasure of seeing a few years back in Kelowna. Suffice to say I fell in love with his music from the first song, and I've been hooked since. This particular song is off his most recent album This is Out Science, and features Canadian Tegan Quinn of Tegan & Sara fame. Coincidentally, it was at a Tegan & Sara concert that I was introduced to Astronautalis. Enough out of me, check out the video for "Contrails" below.

Snow Days

Mother Nature has apparently decided that the West Coast hasn't had enough winter loving in the last few years. My hometown of Victoria has been hit with a considerable dump of snow apparently, as has Vancouver, and the weather conditions in Seattle, WA, have been granted an appearance on CNN.

Here in Kelowna, I'm sat at a chilly -20, though it "feels like" more when wind chill is taken into account. This might be one of the most hilarious parts of weather reports during the winter: on top they'll give the actual air temperature, and then below (usually in italics or a different colour font) will be the "feels like" temperature. Hilarious, but depressing.

All in all, though, I'm glad to be in Kelowna. Yes, it's a temperature difference of over fifty degrees from Singapore (aieah!), but people in this city know how to deal with winter. Victoria? Not so much. Cancel ALL THE THINGS.

Really, that's all I want to say. Doing that thing where I procrastinate from writing again. Heheh.

photo by me.

Music Monday: Uummannaq Song

Music Monday didn't get the jump on me this week, and in fact the most difficult part of compiling this post was figuring out which song I wanted to feature. There were a lot, trust me.

In the end, I decided to go with "Uummannaq Song" by KT Tunstall. Why? Because it's snowing again, and that makes all the difference.

The song title references the Greenlandic town of Uummannaq, and the lyrical content is much what you would expect from a song about Greenland (that's the icy one, remember. Iceland is the green one. I blame the vikings). The chorus in particular grabs me: "I could live in this town / Five cold years before I / ... / Before I head for home."

Hey! That's what I'm doing! Well, sort of. I've been living up in the Okanagan on and off since 2008, so that puts me at about four-ish years in this cold town now. And if all goes well, I'll be living here another year, bringing the count to five cold years before I head for home.

I also chose to feature this 'cause it's all around awesome. I've had a soft spot for KT Tunstall since forever, but I only just recently got my mittened hands on her 2010 album Tiger Suit. Below I've got a live video, just to prove how rad this woman is. I like the studio version a lot better, but live videos demonstrate the skill of an artist in a more pure form. That's enough out of me. Have a good week!

on (My) Writing

I'm sitting here in a coffee shop, on a stool looking out the window. Not the same window that Declan looks out, or even the same city he looks at (that would be my hometown of Victoria, beeteedubs). But it's an identical set-up, really: laptop on the counter in front of me, bag on the stool to my right, big cup of coffee on my left. The only difference? I'm drinking a caramel macchiato, not a black double.

Oh, and I'm not writing. Technically speaking. Yes, I'm writing this blog post. I don't really count that. I mean writing writing. Like, Elsie or Red King or Oracle. I'm not doing that kind of writing.

It isn't that surprising, though. If you're a fellow Protagonizer, you probably know already that I like to start things. My profile says I've posted 38 stories. I can think of three off the top of my head that are finished: Crown'd, Errands, and Human no Longer. That's a terrible track record. But it's my style.

Now, I don't want to say that I'm never going to finish any of those stories you might have liked. Somehow I managed to wrap up Errands in seven months or so, whereas I've been coming back to Elsie for over three years now. By comparison, then, Red King is just a little baby! There's still plenty of time for me to write chapters in it, right? Right.

Write?

Right. I should get on that. And as a closing question, have you got any writing tips? Not, like, "make yourself a better writer" tips, but "progress at a pace you're satisfied with but still actually progressing" type tips. Or whatever, I'll take what I can get, hahah.

photo by ....Tim

Music Monday: Snow in the City

Kelowna is again proving itself to be a temperamental city. Right now it could easily be one of the first days of spring, if not for the relative cold. Really, today is a warm day at five above! That wasn't the case Saturday afternoon, where the first snow of the new year started to fall. It blanketed the city in white, about two inches of the soft stuff.

Now, I know that I complain about the cold a lot. That's because I'm an Island boy: it's expected of me. But I'll be the first to admit that there's something pretty and different about the first fresh snow. I actually don't mind it or the cold for that first day or so. After that, I'm like the rest of the populace and will be overjoyed when it melts.

Which it did, the next day.

So to celebrate the first snowfall of the year (and the mercifully short visit it made) here's a track by Snow Patrol. They're the Glasgow-based band of "Chasing Cars" fame, I've sure you've heard of them if you ever listened to the radio between 2006 and 2007. If not, then here's your introduction!

I've chosen the first single from their 2009 release A Hundred Million Suns, "Take Back the City." Why? First off, I like it. And that's a perfectly valid reason. Second, I spent the weekend finally getting back into the swing of living in Kelowna. Went to a cowboy/country bar (against my will, I must add), ate waffles at the Jammery, finally realized how terrible Rose's really is, and was reminded how much I love O'Flannigans. Oh, and I crashed on a few couches, 'cause why not?

Anyway, enough about me. Here's Snow Patrol, as promised.

Twenty-eleven, in Review

Another year has passed by, so it's time for another annual review! Here's a look back at what I've done over the last twelve months, or rather where I've travelled to, 'cause I've spent a lot of time up in the air since January 1st, 2011!

January was rather uneventful, but I managed to finish up my most recent tattoo. Soon after I blogged about a sort of realization I came to, about my self esteem and self perception. Not really heavy stuff, but personal stuff. Suffice to say I'm at a much better place now than I was a year or two back.

February marked the beginning of my worldly travels for the year, with a quick jaunt down to Mexico for reading week with a few friends. We may have only been down there a scant three days, but we stretched those hours to the maximum extent and had an absolute blast. Some people thought we were foolish for spending so much on so short a trip, but I can't say I have any regrets about going - even the unscheduled stay in Texas! I can still remember those buffalo hot wings. Mmmm.

A few weeks into March I participated in the Cut for the Cure, a UBCO fundraising initiative (started by some friends of mine a few years back) for the purpose of cancer research. This time around I actually shaved my head, which wasn't as terrible as I imagined it would be. In fact, I think I managed to pull off the look and since my fear of having an odd-shaped skull didn't materialize. Huzzah! I may or may not shave the ol' noggin again this year.

Nothing happened in April, apparently. No blog posts, no trips: only one exam and a few papers.

After moving back to Victoria in May, I barely had enough time to unpack before jumping a plane to Turkey. I was there for two weeks with my family, and had an absolutely amazing time. I still miss Turkish food (especially Turkish breakfast, those Mediterraneans know what's what) and long to go back one day.

June was my only full month at home for the summer, and for the most part it was fairly laid back. I met up with lots of friends for coffee, put in some time at the Gap, and celebrated a very low-key 22nd birthday.

However, I also went to Vancouver for a big concert, Janelle Monáe and Bruno Mars. Mars was good, but I was there for Janelle. Boy, did she deliver! Easily one of the highlights of my concert-going experiences.
 
July took me and two bags across the Pacific Ocean to Singapore, my new home for the next five-ish months. I had been to the city state ten years earlier, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Nevertheless, I fell in love with the city almost immediately, and count the journey as one of the most important parts of my university education. 

I met a tonne of rad people out in the tropics, some of whom I hope to see again soon. Despite being so far away from home, I still managed to fall in with a Vancouver crowd (figures), so I know I'll be seeing them again in the near future.

In August I did the first bit of my Southeast Asia travelling, a short ferry from Singapore to Indonesia. It's one of those trips that, while it was difficult to enjoy it at the time, will always be remembered with much laughing and inside jokes. Like, "We are just so cool."

The month also marked the beginning of my classes at NUS, my first Singaporean club experience, National Day celebrations, and a music festival. Not bad, eh?

September took me to the island of Borneo, to Sarawk province and Brunei Darussalam. Although I went alone, I joined up with some other backpackers to see the various sights in Miri, Mulu, and Bandar Seri Begawan. The jungles and mountains were a welcome change from urban Singapore (even though the meaning of "urban" in Singapore is a whole lot more green than in North America). 

When I came back from Borneo I attended the F1 Grand Prix and saw Linkin Park in concert. Another full month.

Compared to other months, October was a little more quiet. I took a relaxing vacation to the tropical island of Tioman in Malaysia, where I took full advantage of the sun to get my tan on. Long story short I fell asleep near the equator and got a sunburn. Surprise, surprise.

I also checked off one of the big Singapore Bucket List items: swimming in the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool. It was rad. Mad rad, even. 

By the time November rolled around I still wasn't tired of flying around the world, so I went to Macau and Hong Kong. Macau exceeded my expectations, Hong Kong didn't live up to them. I ate lots of food, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes downright strange; went to a few theme parks; toured each city by foot to a point that I forgot what exhaustion was; and took far too many pictures in Disneyland.
 
Well, by December I really was tired of all the travel, but I still needed to see so much. Somehow I managed to fit a week in the Philippines, two days in Siem Reap, an afternoon in Kuala Lumpur, a day in Singapore, and countless hours in airports and airplanes into the sixteen days before I went back to Canada. It was quite the whirlwind, and I'm still not quite sure how I survived it. A fine end to a great year, I must say.


photos by: vcateyesv, me, me, kanikey, Janelle Monáe, me, me, me, me, Ed Coyle, Ezyan Y.

Music Monday: Back to the Cold

Monday has caught me off-guard, it was completely unexpected. As was last Monday (hence the lack of MM post), likely because of the whole holiday-on-a-Sunday thing. That, and I moved for the second time in as many weeks.

This time I went from Victoria to Kelowna, which, despite the significantly shorter distance and travel time, was much harder than Singapore to Victoria. I was only five months in Singapore, and the overseas travel really limited what I could take. No such luck with Kelowna, I'm not even sure when I'm moving back to Victoria. So a lot of stuff had to make the move.

As such, I'm pretty much choosing a song at random to feature today. Well, not completely at random, there was some method to its choosing. It's a track by the Delgados, a now defunct Scottish band that was one of my faves back in high school. I still like them now, but I don't listen to their music often. The song? "Coming in From the Cold," which I'll be doing a lot of now that I'm in the Okanagan. As usual, there's a video below. Enjoy, and happy New Year! Oh, and P.S., the album the song is off of is called Hate, I'm not angsty, hah.