I didn't realize that Vancouver was (again) the jumping off point for a large-ish band. I think it is amazing that Vancouver has been chosen as "that place" to get your tour rockin' and rolling. The pattern only became clear when I was writing down what concerts I had seen of late and both Spinal Tap and William Shatner started their tours here. I am not sure about The Police but, who cares, the drummer said some not nice things about Vancouver. He can rot, the jackass.

Gotta get some earplugs...

Actually, I don't recall the first time I saw it. I do remember when I saw the first film. It was at the Royal Theatre in Victoria during (what I assume) was the first run of the movie. The memories I have of that showing are somewhat scattered and fragmented as I was only four years old. Yet, I do remember the climactic battle at the end of the film and bouncing up and down on the chairs in the theatre. I also remember that it was the first time I fell in love with movies and Star Wars. Yes, yes, I am very much a child of that era and, if you had any sense at all, you were a fan of Star Wars.

What amazes me about the video is it brought up a lot of emotions of having been that young. We forget as we get older that we were once that young and things did amaze us that no longer amaze us as adults. It is incredibly sad and I feel a bit of a loss at not being amazed about the world any more. I suppose there are things that we all find on the Internet that still amaze us but I don't feel we are as engaged as we once were. Sharing links is no substitute for feeling that stories mean something and we can still be surprised. I guess that is one of the many things (other than space is dirty and stuff does wear out) I learned from Star Wars. It was my first experience with epic story telling and I am glad I was exposed to it when I was four rather than a cynical adult. Maybe I will try to be less cynical..star wa

As for the video above, the biggest question is if the film is fake. Does it matter? I don't care. I buy into it enough to remember when I was that young and experiencing the George Lucas movies for the first (or second or third) times.

A little unexpected news arrived the other day and I forgot to mention it. I am going to a Van Halen concert and, wow, does it make me feel old. I know, weird, right? Aren't they all old too and falling apart? And who is their lead singer these days...oh, it's Roth?! What happened to Sammy?

I don't go to concerts all that often. I tend to flake out about buying tickets because I am either not a fan of the ticket seller or I find out much too late and any tickets I could buy are too far away. I think the last big concert I went to was The Police back in the summer of 2008. I did go to see William Shatner more recently but I don't think that counts as a large concert. It will be a treat to see Van Halen in concert before they get deep into their BTO days.

But, truthfully, I thought Van Halen had fallen into that "we are done" category of band-dom. According to Wikipedia, it seems they really haven't been on concert all that often due to members dropping out (mainly issues around the main vocals) or rockers getting old. For example, one of the Van Halen brothers had hip surgery a number of years ago and it sounds like Eddie Van Halen is having arthritis in his hands. It just rings true with the whole rock scene. From my perspective, large hair bands or "huge" bands are becoming less and less these days. With so much variety available, it is becoming harder and harder to match the popularity of Guns N Roses or any other band from "my era". I lost touch with popular music some time ago and, with a few songs here and there, I tend to listen to orchestral music (especially soundtracks to films) most often. But, in light of this concert, maybe I should seek out some new bands or attend a few more contemporary concerts.

But, at the end of the day, it is all about fun, am I right? I am sure they will be great. New music, old music - bring it on.

Of course, I can't mention Van Halen without quoting something:

Bill
Ted, while I agree that, in time, our band will be most triumphant. The truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super band until we have Eddie Van Halen on guitar.

Ted
Yes, Bill. But, I do not believe we will get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant video.

Bill
Ted, it's pointless to have a triumphant video before we even have decent instruments.

Ted
Well, how can we have decent instruments when we don't really even know how to play?

Bill
That is why we NEED Eddie Van Halen! Ted: And THAT is why we need a triumphant video.

Bill, Ted:
EXCELLENT!

So, there you have it. I am sorry for those who would want to come along, but these tickets arrived unexpectedly and I think getting additional ones together may be a challenge. We could try? If you want to come, drop me a line. We should hook up. Oh, and I really need to get some earplugs. The Police were murder on my brain.

It is that time of year again when thousands upon thousands of podcasters decend upon Ottawa, Ontario to talk about their craft at the Podcasters Across Borders conference. Yes, thousands. Millions, in fact. I think last year, PAB hosted about 156,000,000 attendees. It was a blast!

Fine, fine.

In the reality where you exist (and I may only visit) there were about 100 people. The size of the conference is intentional. They keep it small because, really, how can you learn anything from other people when you are being pushed around by potentially thousands of people? The simple answer is: you can't. PAB is not about just being a conference. It is about actually learning something and sharing with others. I also think it is silly to have a conference of more than a couple hundred. When you are talking about learning, you can't do that in a hectic environment. There is too much going on. Not enough focus is given to the important bits in the name of sponsors or money or whatever. For example, Northern Voice, another conference I am involved with, grew to around 500 attendees but when we assessed the feedback, we were told that people who came had a good time but they thought it was too big. It had lost that "get together" feeling. The personal touch was reduced in focus. This year, we then cut it back to about 300 and we feel awesome about it.

Back to PAB. I went to PAB last year for the very first time and I had a blast. For myself, it was a relief to be in a room with people who think very much like I do (or, at the very least, express themselves in similar ways). I was able to hang out with people I know, meet new people, and listen to seasoned podcasters from all over. We were able to hang out, talk about podcasting, but also get to know people better. You can't do that in conferences when they grow too big. People go to learn, hang out, and break out of their every day. To recharge. Essentially, PAB 2012 should be awesome and I am happy to say just how awesome.

If you're not going, you need to. If you have any interest in podcasting, come out this year and hang with me. We'll record stuff. Check out the sidebar for podcasts I am involved with.

I hope that got your attention.

I thought it worth a quick mention that I was playing around this evening with my phone and decided it would be kind of interesting to shoot a few photos of text. Nothing fancy or profound but I was looking around on HitRecord earlier and I was inspired to contribute to a Tiny Stories collaboration. But, I was really feeling terrible that I was not a better illustrator. There are so many great drawings in there and I felt like I sucked.

I mean, really, I do all kinds of graphic design but, when it comes to drawing by hand, my artistic skills are not as good as I would like them to be. I like to draw but I usually draw or sketch something and then import that into some graphic software. I then change and manipulate it from there.

Anyway, I like words. I like to mess with them, bash them around, and organize them in ways that make sense. Or don't. But, why not have some pictures of hand writing? My hand writing it somewhat interesting. So, I present to you the results.

I have been working a lot lately and have written a tonne of blog posts but haven't been able to finish all of them. Since I needed some obvious motivation to get back to my self expression, I took a bit of time to dig out a couple old unpublished blog posts that never made it to the site. This happens all the time with personal writing because there is always something that is either more important to do or life just gets in the way. Below is a lost post from about six months ago.

Do you ever feel like the world is full of idiots? Yah. I am having that overwhelming sense these days. It is like logic and conversation is on holiday.

I wonder what that would look like? What sort of conversation would someone have with logic? Is that even possible?

"Hey, Logic! Where have you been, man?"

"Obviously, I have not been within the sight of your ocular nerve endings."

"Umm, did you have fun... not being in my range of visual range?"

"Yes."

Okay. Maybe that wasn't the best example of how I feel about the world right now but I am overwhelmed with this sense that much of the universe is made up of chaotic thought that, when spoken aloud, sounds much like a feline being squashed but a overweight Dalmatian.

I guess I am being too harsh. I do wish I was not so critical of decisions made without logic proper channels of though being followed - no, really. But I can't help watching (what I perceive as a train wreck) people make assumptions about the world.

I am not saying that every decision I make is the best, I mean, how else to people learn except through trial and error. We can't. And must I let them? Yes. Yes, Shane. You must allow others to make decisions that you think are silly.

It looks like I was thinking about something I don't remember now. It seems I get into these rants (which I have become known for, it would seem) and when I realize I am ranting I tend to redirect them into the realm of the absurd. I think this freaks people out. I got from trying to make a point, vearing into what am I ranting about this for, and then detouring into something about monkey sports and rain clouds. No, really, I have done this.

Anyway, I am going to get back to catching up. So much to do... so much to do.

I thought of this little piece when I was trying to think about something positive to say about the world and where I think we may be headed. I don't think I was successful with the whole "being positive" thing but I think I was honest with it. I am often pessimistic about the future of humanity. I am not worried about the Earth at all. When the Earth decides we should get the hell off, it will get us the hell off and we wont' have anything to say about it.

We can do whatever we want to each other and blow ourselves sky high but the Earth, the actual rock that supports us, will go on living and developing and - who knows - there may be a dozen additional societies that follow us. But that is not to say that I want the Earth to kick us off. I want us to be responsible and take care of the planet we have. I just keep seeing too many examples of our brains not being connected enough to what sustains us.

=[]=

The morning sun hit the stripped side of the mountain. The light glinted here and there but the beauty was gone. Broken rock with ragged man-made fissures told the truth about what had happened here.

We had gone farther than we thought we would. Our ability to resist was tested and we had failed. The faces I could see, trickled as melded images into my mind. Fractured like the rock, I tried to make the pieces fit. I attempted to form them into some sense.

As I stood there, the orange flag I had been waving with enthusiasm (only moments before) fluttered slightly in the dead air. No one said a thing. We had pushed the world as far as it would bend. Greed and profit margins had brought us to this point. It was all clear now. It was like we had smiled at a soccer game only to watch - still smiling - as a plane crashed into centre field. Our smiles had yet to change.

The dust was settling as anyone would have thought it would. It slowly moved away from what we had done. It diminished and blew away (towards the North, I think). It moved lightly at first and when we could see what had happened. When we could see what happened. When we could see. When. We.

The rock had splintered and transformed in the violence. What had been a solid mountain of granite was now a crater of rubble and smoke. It was unmistakeable what the hole had done. The rock had moved aside and at the very centre - we could see stars.

It was more than thirty minutes before someone broke the silence.