If you need to drop me a line for any reason at all, but you don't have my contact details to hand, you can do it right here. Even if the rest of my journal should get locked down this post will stay open.

Due to an initial mildly complex problem, and excessive tinkering after the fact, icememory.net died on its feet today. If you had content on there, don't worry. It's all backed up in flat files. I'll try to spend some time this evening getting it back up and running in a useful form, but if I can't get all the good stuff squeezed back into sql tables automagically, it may be some time before everything is available again. If there's a particularly recipe you want anytime before that mystical date, or some game reference stuff, let me know and I'll throw it in the epost. When it is all back up and running your passwords will need to be reset, but I'll mail you out new ones and reassociate the old content.

Either way, expect another update when it's all a-ok again.

*le sigh*

They remain my favourite band in the entire universe. Every time I see them, or hear them, or anything else, I get excited. Really excited, like the backs of my eyes are vibrating with it. Like the tips of my fingers go a little bit numb. Like I want to jump up and run around the block, even in knee deep snow. Like you could power small ex-soviet communities by hooking me up to a battered old generator.

65daysofstatic are back in the studio, and everything they are producing makes me like this.

Things I have found out, so far:
( Icehockey is awesome )

Myself and Mr. Rocket have invented a new colour. Behold, mortals, and tremble. I give unto thee...

PRUPLE.



Is it Purple? Pink? Red? Brown? Orange?
It is none of these things and yet MORE.

In case Mikki can't read my hand writing (as per usual):

( choons )

Right then. Livejournal. Nowhere near as dead as drama would have it, apparently, and neither am I! Folks keep on poking me to post some actual stuff rather than appearing in comments at random like some super snide spectre (try saying that five times fast!), so here I am. 2008 was a well funny year, with both glittery lights and gloomy bits in abundance. I don’t think I could summarise it even if I tried, and one of those meme things would just leave me (and everyone else) totally confused. So, let’s pick up with the relevant bits of 2009 and just go on from there, eh?

( I have been much more exposed to owls in 2009 than 2008. )

I’m working in Norwich at the moment, so obviously I’m very busy with work (*cough* yes, obviously *cough*) and (more realistically) going mental. To that end, I’m off out but there’ll be more coming soon LJ-land, and you can poke me with sticks again if it doesn’t!

Oh, and p.s. “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and The Machine is the best BEST track of 2009 and is utterly kicking my arse all over the show. Go listen to it, it’s awesome I tells ya.

Merry Chrimbloid one and all!

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

The Ursher Dow don't exist, but if they did, the Widow Queen would own them all. The Carney has it written down. If they were born they were born two years before the more numerous Dow as flickering alternatives, as rough casts. The Dow work hard in the circus for her. They are reliable and trusted, but the Urs are intangible things, wickedly strong for all their improvised lives. They are dim remnants of the King. Never really finished by him, the Urs hang on to power only through the memory of his life and hatred for the Dow. They appear, or maybe they don't, but either way audiences flee performances invaded by muscular shades in confusion and disgust. To this day it is an unspoken heresy for the court to speak of them. Their names have been confiscated. Were the Ursher Dow to arrive in full, were they to be tangible, the Widow Queen would surely have them burnt. As it is, money is returned. Nothing is said. And still the Carney whispers their name out of love for the King.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Carney

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I had a pretty odd idea for a way to get my writing kickstarted again last night. I realised that quite often, when I wrote about things that I didn't know about, I'd take wikipedia as a first pass into the subject and then go from there. I also noticed that the research process refined my idea of the subject in hand, so that I might start out with one idea, and wind up with something very different. This is exactly what happened with Nine Tales. So, I decided to invert the process, hit up the random page function of wiki, and see what I could make of whatever I was given. The above is just part of something very rough. I've not been writing habitually for almost a year, I have no real audience or aim with it, and it's really just practice. If it's indulgent, it's needfully so, and if you don't want to see any of this kind of thing in the future, feel free to skip anything with the Random Walks tag from here on out!

Just to expand on my earlier post about the state of Montreal Breakcore, although I'd be totally happy with just straight up crazy breaks, you've probably heard me banging on about my one true love of dance music, Raggacore. I realise that I've managed to do this for ages without really explaining what I mean by the term. Well... it just so happens that LFO Demon, a most excellent german breakcore producer, has a short introduction to the genre here.

Hit it up for some names and his lovely (and ever so slight) misuse of English grammar.

I tried Hardcore Underground last night, the local 'hard techno, breakcore, speedcore' night at Saphir's. I have to say, they have the speed and heft I'm after in a club night. I left at around 2.30ish, and while I was grabbing some snacks from the supermarket next door, I could both hear and feel the beat through the floor. Grazing in 4 Brothers to antisocially fast techno will go down as one of my more surreal memories of MTL.

The thing that made me leave early is that although I like speedcore, 2 hours of it is a little much for me. Maybe all the breakcore went at the start of the night, maybe I was just a bit wiped out post french classes, and maybe I'm just infatuated with breaks, but there's only so much of one beat I want to listen to in a club. At least, without that evil saw-wave bass I adore. I can't help shake the feeling that although speedcore is plenty aggressive, it lacks any real malice or will.

What I wanted was this, and what I got instead was all the oontz in the world.

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

I really, really, really hope that Obama can win this.
And that he survives long enough to make a difference.

In slightly less important news: eating left-over thai in bed is amaaaaazing.

Yesterday, I became so tired that it felt not entirely unlike I imagine brain damage must feel. Today I have a half day, and also sandwiches that I am eating verrrry slowly. I possess an office supplies catalogue that I am free to pick almost anything from at my whim. All the pretty colours are making the decision quite difficult. Even with the irony of an 86% recycled pen body filled with probably 100% toxic fluorescent yellow ink. Although today is a bit like being an out-patient, it's not a bad one.

Also, a shockingly hardcore but undoubtedly awesome webcomic type thing. Go make with the readings now!

While I'm at it, cute wallpapers for yoooooooou.

Damn, I've only just noticed that I can send posts to my LJ through Adium. That's absurdly convenient. Why did no-one mention this to me before?

Edit: for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about it means that I can message LJ as if it were an MSN contact.

Second Edit: of course, I've not stuck up anything here for months, so... yeah. Anyone out there, or are you all crashing over at Facebook's house these days?

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

Too quiet. I've looked up the date to see if it's a Canadian holiday I don't know about, I've listened really hard at my door, I've even looked out the window to scan the streets for signs of the coming apocalypse. Only moving cars assure me that anyone is still alive at all.

I'm not sure, but I think almost everyone is on holiday.

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

According to the great Wiki in the sky:

"In England and Wales 390,127 people (0.7 percent) stated their religion as Jedi on their 2001 Census forms, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion in the country."

Unfortunately, all religions occasionally suffer internal tension. I can only pray that the church recovers peaceably from this affront, and does not pursue a path to anger, hatred, and suffering.

Also, that Welsh Judges keep up their apparently high level of punnage. Thanks go to the Rocket News Network for pointing this one out.

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

I demand timely,
Haiku concerning a duck,
you have just one day.

Write me a haiku
about ducks, fast as you can,
here is one for you:*

"Cast red tinged feathers
A flightless dance upon wind
ducks fall from heaven."

no, you're not allowed
to use the ones you may have,
that is just cheating.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Example haiku provided by previous winner of glorious Duiku Speed Challenge!

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

If you ever find yourself looking out from a 7th story window, with a sky full of big fat snowflakes drifting past, hope that you have the instrumental arrangement of Rob Dougan's Furious Angels to hand.

The combined effect is just magical .

Originally published at icememory.net. You can comment here or there.

Which is how most of February has been. For the larger part of the month I've been chewing my fingernails about my immigration status, and whether or not I'll be allowed to stay in Canoobia. As it turns out, things are all good. Or at least, I'm told things are all good. I have yet to receive documentation that assures me that this is the case. For those of you thinking about immigrating anywhere- always ensure that your papers are in with plenty of time to spare! There's the vague possibility that I've had a week or two of illegal immigrant status which I'm sure will be marvellously entertaining if I -don't- get deported.

Due to this slight worry I've been confined to the country for the last two months, as there's been the vague possibility that once out, I won't be able to get back in as a working resident. This is a shoddy development anyway as it distinctly limits my wanderlust, but it also means no snowboarding, as the club has been going to Vermont a lot lately. Unfortunate as I've managed to get my downhill time from 45 minutes to 7, although only on one side of the board. I'm looking forward to trying the same thing on both sides as an ambi-turner while not scraping my face across 875m of mountain when they eventually return to the Laurentians or my passport is bang up to date. My first full mountain experience was certainly interesting. An unsuspecting gentleman hauled me up to the top where I promptly freaked out for five minutes (turns out I -am- still slightly scared of heights), before realising that there was no way down except strapped to a plank. Once I got down though I wasn't to be stopped. Mostly because I couldn't figure out the learner's slope ski-lift and had no choice but to go back to the top!

Since being kept from the slopes I'm sad to say that I've spent probably far too much time on WoW, due to the fact that it's bloody cold out. This rationale makes little sense when given the chance I'd hurl myself down a frozen hill at quite a few miles an hour. While I'm being terribly sad though- 1.) Karazhan is very silly 2.) I have realised that I'm never going to do -very- well at the game because I have things like a job, and a flat with my girlfriend. This isn't a jibe, but they are things to be thankful for 3.) Finally a Nobilis game! 4.) To all of those I've been abusing due to the rugby, don't be too worried. It's not like you're the only ones to get a kicking from Wales this year.

The only real instance of out and out awesome this month (apart from the rugby) has therefore been walking on water like Jesus. Except, you know, a frozen river. Not much like Jesus. I have been reading an awful lot of mythology though, so who knows what might happen come spring? Probably me actually writing something again. Buses are good for that, and I'm starting up the French classes again in earnest next week. I've also been eating far too much fresh mozzarella, which has provided me with plenty of original (read 'bloody weird') material. Otherwise it's been a very comfortable month, which is good to have once in a while, but does get me itching to be out and about.

The new music list is heaving most likely because of this little pause. Meanwhile... Back in Communist Russia, God Is An Astronaut, MGMT, Mono, Holy Fuck, The Miserable Rich, The Swell Season, the new Teagan and Sara album (which I like despite myself), Reverend and The Makers, Robyn (still, shhh!), and the astoundingly named ""Upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start". I've also been listening to a lot of the mighty GLC, because very little else makes me smile quite so fast.

If you see me on a bus, tapping my foot, come ask me what it is. It'll be good, I assure you.