franky got mad, he nearly re-died

Sherlock Holmes: preview post

Well I got the complete Granada Television Sherlock Holmes featuring Jeremy Brett, and I plan on reviewing each episode and getting into some tangential topics in blog posts to come.

For those of you who don't know, this is the ultimate adaptation of Conan Doyle's stories.

To me, the opening theme is one of the most haunting/moving television themes ever, specifically the season 1 theme. (the themes have slight variations each season).

Choir of Choirs, Winspear Concert Hall

"you're like a saint song to me, i will try and sing it pure and easily"


This was the first concert I have attended here in Edmonton, the Choir of Choirs at the lovely Winspear Center for Music downtown. In celebration of the U of A's centenary, 5 of it's best choirs performed selections of their own and all together in a sort of voltron-like super choir with over 300 singers when all was said and done. The afternoon featured the Augustana choir, the U of A Concert choir, the Chorale Saint-Jean, the U of A Madrigal singers, and the U of A Mixed chorus.

Supporting these voices were a few musicians, the U of A Symphonic Wind ensemble, the University Symphony orchestra and Philip Chow bangin' on the concert hall's impressive Organ.

There was much to enjoy on this freezing afternoon, even the lousy song (the term "shit sandwich" kept running through my mind) was worth listening to for it's comic value. The composer who wrote the piece also presented it and spent longer than the song's length describing the deep philosophical mystery put into his composition. The guy clearly is a victim of highbrow Davinci codeism and years of grant based employ. One lady I overheard on the way out summed it up best: '[the song] wasn't so bad considering the whole place hated it before it even started'.

One of my favorite songs was La Chorale Saint-Jean's 'Je te retrouve':
Quand je pense a d'ou je viens
a cette route qui m'a conduit a qui je suis
Quand je pense aux jours passes
ton nom me vient comme un refrain que j'aime chanter
Quand je pense a tous ces gens
qui ont laisse un coin d'ciel bleu au fond de moi...

The Madrigal singers were a standout, mostly because of this one beautiful girl with long straight platinum grey hair (bangs) and glasses ('sup, shoot me a msg sweetheart).

While the orchestra were nice and the organ is supposedly one of the best (certainly the best in Edmonton), it was when the choirs sung unaccompanied that the afternoon really shone. I know that in small venues, watching small choirs, you can pick out individual voices, but in this concert hall with 300+ singers that was impossible. Even picking out the seperate voice parts (soprano, alto, contralto, etc..) was tough as the harmonization was so overwhelming and, I suspect, complex, with multiple melodies for each group. Closing my eyes and just listening to these voices one layered on the next was intoxicating, and brought tears to the eyes of several concertgoers at many a point.

All in all it was a nice afternoon, and I'm glad I went. Yet another solo adventure into the marvel that is Edmonton culture.

ANNE-SOPHIE ROCHAT Je me souviens

Anne-Sophie Rochat, C'est bien moi, Georges, we met in Spain, I don't know where you are now. Tell me! It was 2002, Camino de Santiago, I can't find you in Google. You were hiking with your friend Leanne and met me and Kiely, we spent some nice days walking together. You loved the cure even though you did not understand the lyrics. On avais les memes pantalons!!! Ecrit moi!

Bizous, Georges

ps. I'm hoping that you do a self-indulgent google search of your own name one day and find this, but if you are friends with Anne-sophie, you can contact me as well.

remember how it used to be
when the sun would fill the sky
remember how we used to feel
those days would never end

edmonton is a path

edmonton is a path, a temperature, a name...

I go to and from work, I dress warmly.

it's located roughly 5-60 hours from montreal

people are more inclined to say 'hello' or 'how are you' doing to strangers than I am used to...

I've had a chest cold for over a month, and I now sense shooting pain in my rib area from time to time...

had some crazy dreams about two guys I used to work with being serial killers and me accidentally discovering one of their burial sites and then having to act like I don't know anything about it for fear of them killing me, I had to send my dog back home for fear he dig up a bone or two and get us both killed...

That's about it.

"concerned hater" - Internet Star on the Rise.

"concerned hater", the moniker that I use on varied (read: rap) blogs is blowing up the spot.

Google that and you'll see that 2 of the top 3 entries are my own commentz, yea yeaay... contents somewhat embarassing of course...

some other jerk made a comment about indy rock, that's not me, but he sure did blow up the hits... the perils of meme life yo

on a somewhat related note, keep an eye on my youtube account for all your favorite needs: comedy, world of warcraft and art junk.

valentine's day: a preemptive strike

I'm a sucker, tagged a romantic, I miss valentine's day. An excuse to celebrate one's better half, maybe comment on a specific memory or two. Hallmark sells a bunch of stuff. Kids pass notes in school.

That was always stressful, you may recall elementary school and how kids would get a 20 pack of valentines, I choo choo choose you etc... Classes always numbered more than 20. I don't remember ever giving any, I imagine it would have been tough for some kids to decide who got one. Abberations in behavior would prove a point. 'I don't talk to you but I put your name on this and want you to have it' vs. 'I do talk to you but had too many names for my cards, you didn't make the list'. I do recall people with too many cards for names giving extra cards to you, to give one back to them. How cute. I didn't like it at all, 'why didn't sarah give me a card? or tanya?'.

I wonder what my parents are going to do for valentine's, they've been married a lot of years. Was there any great valentine's that they shared?

So why strike? Well, plain fact is I'm not going to feel lonely this time, this time I'm not going to even pay attention, I'm saving myself.

lovely old dresses

I wonder if it's living with my great aunt, or watching a Jane Austen television adaptation recently. I'm inclined to ladies in lace and petticoats, constitutional walks in the garden, summers on the sea... Holding hands, quill pens and junk like that, dusty old chests in the attic, platinotypes of the family, monographed hankies... fine china...

haha, I would surely make a mess of it all