Twenty years ago, I bought Century Days by Milwaukee band Die Kreuzen, one of my favourite hardcore outfits from the Midwest. The cassette that I bought then, which I still have mind you, has been one of the most often played tape I have bought in my entire life. I think only Young God's Eau Rouge and Bad Brains' I Against I have been played more often. The diversity of the music, and the intuitions they pointed to with every single note they played -- be it grunge, post-rock, or emo -- is there, a bridge between straight-out one-two-three-go hardcore (their first record) and progressive music that would become the mainstay of American and Western kids all over the planet. Heck, the guitar player's sound even predates Piggy's trademark signature wail!

And, yes, vocalist Dan Kubinsk is wearing a White Zombie t-shirt and, yes it's his fault I started listening to that NY band the same year... Enjoy "Stomp", L & G.

En fin de semaine, je me suis dit que j'allais avoir le temps d'aller chez un concessionnaire Dodge/Chrysler, histoire de voir ce que je pourrais dégoter comme véhicule automobile potable, et, en arrivant là-bas, je me suis immédiatement retrouvé devant la voiture de mes rêves.

Après avoir hélé un vendeur, j'ai pu négocier un prix, tout en l'amenant à plier sur quelques accessoires pas piqués des vers.

...

NOT! Je vous ai eus, hein? Avouez-le!
Pensez-vous VRAIMENT que je vais gaspiller mon oseille dans un truc pareil?
Un char! Aussi bien vider mon compte bancaire et donner le peu que j'en sors à un inconnu dans la rue.

Avec la moitié du fric pour un bazou j'ai 10 panneaux solaires pour m'éclairer et chauffer mon eau en cas de panne de courant. Et au moins les panneaux solaires dureront VRAIMENT dix ans, eux.

Je m'attendais pas à grand chose de cette soirée, sinon de découvrir enfin dont le duo Fuck Buttons, et surtout l'artiste appelé Caribou, étaient capables sur scène. C'est la première fois que je me rends à la Tulipe, l'ancien Théâtre des Variétés tenu longtemps à bout de bras par Gilles Latulippe.

Croustine et moi avons réussi à nous trouver des places assises derrière la fille qui s'occupait du light show. Les Fuck Buttons se sont placés face à face sur scène peu après, devant leurs ordis respectifs... Après une première moitié de spectacle réussie, dont le paroxysme a certainement été la "danse du singe fou" interprétée par Andrew Hung. La seconde moitié du spectacle a failli m'endormir, tellement j'ai pas eu de surprises comme la première partie. Dommage, sur disque ils arrivent à mieux.

Caribou est une toute autre affaire. Déjà, avec deux vraies batteries, et trois guitares, ça s'annonce mieux. Le groupe démarre le set avec une pièce sur l'album paru en 2005 (que je ne connaissais pas encore) et puise essentiellement dans son dernier, Andorra, dont les "highlights" sont certainement 'Melody Day', 'After Hours' et 'Sundialing'. Avec deux batteries en prime, ça donne le punch que ne possède pas du tout l'album, et donc l'intérêt d'entendre cette puissance supplémentaire, et la joie de voir deux batteurs compétents s'en donner à coeur joie dans un face-à-face de débandade percussionniste époustouflante.

Seul bémol c'est lorsque le bassiste a décidé de chanter 'She's The One', c'était carrément raté. Sinon un excellent show et une occasion de donner un peu plus de foin à un doctorant en mathématiques au talent musical indéniable.

After Gary Gygax, I have lost another major source of inspiration. Arthur C. Clarke, the man who co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick, definitely one of the greatest science-fiction motion picture of all times, passed away last week in Sri Lanka.

I really appreciate Arthur C. Clarke not only because his stories are REALLY science-fiction and not science fantasy. Meaning that they are more rooted in science than, say, Frank Herbert -- although Herbert's Dune remains one of the few well thought-out universe populated with interesting cultures -- and his philosophical attitude denotes a true attachments to science.

I guess the one book that really did it for me was The Songs Of Distant Earth, a novel cast in the distant future (about 2,000 years) and tells the story of the end of Humanity and its simultaneous rebirth on other planets, and the difficulty entailing the colonization of other planets. I really appreciated his attention to Human emotions and his descriptions of a space elevator.

Well, you will be sorely missed, Mr. Clarke.

OK, OK I admit! The Go! Team has finally won me in. Since they've added a live drummer I really can't get their songs out of my head. Especially this one:

Some eggheads at the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) -- or rather at a "think tank" associated with the MIT -- have come up with an idea (what else) to solve the problem of city gridlock by "reinventing mobility". The guys behind the idea have it under themselves that it would be nice to be in a vehicle that finds other vehicles like itself so that it would fold itself nicely into an array not unlike shopping carts, but with a powerful computer. The same dudes have also devised the machine so that it will run on a rechargeable battery. And you could just rent one with the "swipe of a credit card and drive away".
Isn't this just swell?
I mean, everybody would just jump with glee at the idea of driving a device that looks like a cross between a golf cart, a shopping trolley and a Smart, that you would pay with your overloaded piece of plastic! No wait, it gets better... the device hasn't been BUILT yet. It's just an idea. Isn't this AMAZING? Their pint-sized car is sure to sell like scented condoms in the toilet of a gay bar, acoording to them.
The only problem i see is that there is a similar device, about the same size, that is much better in terms of parking space _and_ EROI (Energy return on investment). It is an individual vehicle, does not need oil, coal or batteries to power itself (although it could have such a system installed alternatively) and can be parked anywhere. Even in your own house!
And, guess what, everywhere in the world, there are dozens of facilities already equipped to build this device, very cheaply, with recycled material!
That device is called a BICYCLE.

So, next time eggheads from a "think tank" associated with the Massachussets Institute of Twits are trying to sell you an idea based on a pre-existing device but without the Jetsons-y retro-futurist style as eye candy, just nod and smile, then back away slowly...

Oh wait, the best part about the MIT is this quote from August 2004 : "For the next 25 to 50 years, the oil available to the market is for all intents and purposes infinite" (MIT economist Mortis Adelman)

I really like Caribou. Mathematics and Music go hand in hand. The guy behind Caribou is the living proof. Here's the latest video for you people who must rely on visuals to interpret calculated soundwaves. I'll see them at La Tulipe on March 23.

I was saddened but not suprised to hear about Gary Gygax's passing today. Mr. Gygax had been burning both ends of the candle for quite some time. For those of you who are non-geeks, are under the age of 18 or have been living under a rock for most of the three latest decades, E. Gary Gygax is the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and the main man behind the whole role-playing game as a business.

He left a successful career in the insurance trade to launch what would be a very lucrative endeavour, although he would be quickly set aside by more greedy "associates" as it often happens in the world of business people. But Gygax remain to this day an inspiration for a very significant number of individuals.

For me, Gygax and his game has helped shape the person that I am today. My interests in languages, cultures, weaponry, warfare, the Middle Ages, myths, and even ecology arise from years of playing in and creating a fantasy setting for the role-playing games that he and his followers would design all through my teen and young adult years. Gygax and D&D have also an indirect influence on my main career choice : translation. The French translations of D&D issued in the Eighties were so lame that I started to work on my very own translations, sparking an interest that would linger and eventually bloom. Monster names in French sounded awkward if not downright corny or laughable. Weapon names were often inappropriate.

I guess another positive point to mention is how it has allowed me to enlarge my circle of friends, and keep me from getting into deep trouble and, some would even say I have averted suicide partly because of RPGs.

So, thank you very much Mr. Gygax.

Now, where did I put my Rod of Resurrection...?