Monthly Archives: March 2009

Currently Listening 03/29/09

by in brain matter, Music, Personal | Permalink

Hey True Believers!  While I’m still waiting for some first payments to come in before I can begin editing some things, I’ve been writing a lot more.  Either stories, reviews, cover letters (hint hint to employers) or anything that takes my fancy.  Now, when I write I usually have a movie on in the background or play some music to keep me inspired.  And of course when I’m NOT writing I like listening to stuff.

So here’s what I’ve been listening to lately.

small-mike41. WMBR 88.9 FM

MIT’s radio station.  Brilliant.  That’s all there is to it.  I can listen to this station for hours on end, and have.  It has the most eclectic mix I’ve ever heard on a radio station and is a welcome distraction from the crap radio that is produced here in Toronto (with the exception of CBC Radio 3 which I think might be getting shut down soon).  There are many shows on there and all of them are good.  At the time of writing this, the show Musical Dope is on (“I play what I like and tell you why it’s good.“), but I personally can’t stop listening to The Intercontinental hosted by Jesse Kaminsky, a man who knows his International music.  Listen to WMBR and you’ll discover types of music you didn’t even know existed.

wnyc-radio-lab_b758c0162. WNYC’s Radiolab

“Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Each episode is an investigation – a patchwork of people, sounds, stories all centered around one big idea. Radiolab comes out in seasons of 5 shows, and today is heard around the country on over 150 stations. “

I’ve made a habit of trying to listen to this show every morning.  It is just an incredibly smart show that helps answer the questions behind things like memory, laughter, space, sperm and race!  The combination of the one hour regular show and the 15 minute podcasts make for some powerful doses of knowledge.  Also it has the most amazing sound design I’ve heard on a show.  Just wonderful.  Listen, learn and love.

matronly_margaret3. The Children’s Hour Of Knowledge

Knowledge is half the power!

This show was introduced to me through Erika Moen’s site (she was a guest on it) and pretty much guarantees a few minutes of laughter out of me.  It stars Profoctor Davey and his Puppet Harvard graduate cohost Bongo McTweedlepant as they try (and fail) to answer questions sent in by children.  Puppet guests include Wolfman Mozart, Count F*ckula, Matronly Margaret, Appy-pop The Peppy Pink Pill, Herman the Oral Hygiene Zombie and Homeless Vetren Ghost of Bob Dylan,  it’s clear to show that this isn’t a kids program.

To All My Friends At The Junos

by in Music, People I Know | Permalink

To all my friends at the Juno awards in Vancouver this weekend, hope you’re having a fun time.  The parties that lead up to and follow the Junos are a hell of a lot better than the Junos themselves, so don’t party TOO hard.

…

Oh hell, party as hard as you want.  Free bar, right?  Just don’t accidentally elbow Randy Lennox in the face when trying to move at what will most likely be a very packed Universal party.

The Weird World Of Tom Kuntz

by in brain matter, Film | Permalink

chocolate-man-snack

Tom Kuntz is my all-time favorite commercial maker. He has done so many wonderful advertisements that add just the right amount of weirdness to my life.  Skittles, Fed Ex, Axe body spray, Netflix…all have been touched by Kuntz’s distorted fingers to create a world full of piñata men that strive to be treated equal, giant carrier pigeons destroying cities and pants-shittingly scary chocolate men getting laid.  It is a world that would be both amusing and terrifying to live in.

Because WordPress is being stupid and horrible, I will only post one commercial on here and link to a playlist of some of my favorite commercials he has done (along with one music video).  I strongly suggest you check them out.  Enjoy!

Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9B49550242C69427

Beautiful Fitness and Further Education

by in Film Work, Personal, Work | Permalink

Yesterday morning I had the great privilege of going to one of the locations of Christine’s Fitness to film the fitness test for 25 of, among beauty pagents, the most beautiful women in Canada.  This incurred the jealousy of many female-attracted friends of mine and I endured more than one joke about it.  But the fact of the matter is that the girls were wonderful, bright individuals who were very natural in front of the camera (a welcome change from many clients I’ve had that just couldn’t turn themselves off).  The whole thing was rather quick, but I believe I got enough good shots to create a video that will go on Christine’s web site.  I’ve imported the footage and should be ready to go as soon as I get the first half of payment.

With a lot of my friends either currently in or applying for university, the thought of furthering my own education has been a theme that has been going around in my head for some time.  Afterall, I wasn’t really satisfied with the education I did get, which aside from about two or three teachers was full of failures who took the option of teaching as a way to make some money and give their lack of talent more merit than it deserved.  I’m actually taking a good look at MIT‘s courses in Comparative Media Studies and maybe even Media Arts and Sciences (although that would require some extensive research before I even consider applying).   I don’t know.  I feel that the world has been changing in the past couple of years and I have this burning desire to learn as much of this new knowledge as I can.  MIT is well known for supplying this knowledge (and has an amazing radio station to boot).  We’ll see what happens though. If there is a chance that I can learn this stuff for free than I’ll take it.  Either way I have all the time to think about it.

A Beautiful Service

by in People I Know, Personal | Permalink

No one could have asked for a better memorial for my brother.  Almost 100 people showed up, completely crowding the chapel with people, many of whom spilled out into the hallway.  It was short and sweet.  We sang “All Things Bright And Beautiful” and songwriter and Sean’s godfather Jim Vallance gave a touching eulogy that I was expected to follow (I was so struck by Jim’s words I maybe said a quarter of what I was planning on saying).  My dad came up next giving his two favorite “Sean Stories” and my mom introduced one of Sean’s favorite singers, Colm Wilkinson, who sang “Danny Boy” with such a raw and beautiful passion that many people burst out in to tears.  The priest said a few words (and somehow developed an Irish accent) and we went to the reception where there was a HELL of a lot of egg dishes and some delicious Chocolate Guinness Cake.

I’m thankful to all friends and family who made it out for this.  Seeing you all there and hearing more laughs than cries did us all good and really helped us with our coping.  And I know that Sean would have loved it.

Although I have the video of Colm singing in the chapel, I’m not sure I’m allowed to post it.  So here is a clip of him singing it in a concert:

Service Details

by in People I Know, Personal | Permalink

Sean Dylan LeBlanc service details:

March 17, 2009

JERRETT FUNERAL HOMES
660 KENNEDY ROAD
TORONTO
PHONE (416) 266-6604
(Just south of Eglington on the right side. There’s a big plaza available if there is an overflow at the home itself))

6 PM VISITATION
7 PM: FUNERAL SERVICE
FOLLOWED BY A RECEPTION

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to:

The Safehaven Project for Community Living
1173 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario
M6H 1M9
t. 416.535.8525 // f. 416.535.9782
admin@safehaven.to
http://www.safehavenproj.org

You should know that 96¢ out of every $1 donated goes to the children housed in Safehaven’s homes. Sean lived in a Safehaven home for nearly 15 years (10 minutes from our house). We had him at the cottage on holidays and most weekends. We couldn’t have got by without Safehaven and their incredible caring staff.

Finally, we’d like to thank the music industry for its support. Over 500 emails and support from the leading artists in the country themselves.

Thank you,

The LeBlanc Family

R.I.P. Dear Brother

by in People I Know, Personal | Permalink

R.I.P. Sean Dylan LeBlanc

My brother Sean passed away this morning. Over the weekend he had a pretty bad flu which later on developed into pneumonia. He required assisted breathing but it didn’t work out and he kept slipping. He passed away gently and quickly with mom holding his head.  He was 19 years-old.  For those that don’t know, Sean was multi-handicapped from birth and was given a life expectancy of 3-6 years. So he metaphorically gave the finger to those doctors. To have him as long as we did was nothing short of a joyous miracle.

The family is still in shock.  It’s been…a very numb day.  Filled with lots of phone calls and e-mails.  The parents will be meeting with the funeral home tomorrow to determine a time for the memorial.  We’re hoping for next Monday night.  As for final plans, we’re going to cremate him and…either bury the ashes, or scatter the ashes, or bury AND scatter the ashes…we still have to figure that out.

I’m thankful for two things. The first that it was a quick death. And the second that it happened on a day that was a real sunny break from the gray weather we’ve been having this week. As I looked up at the blue sky I couldn’t help but think that the clouds were parting just for him.

To those that phoned, e-mailed, texted, and commented via twitter, I thank you.  More news will come as it arrives.

Finishing Up The Work

by in Film Work, Work and tagged , , , | Permalink

Alright, so I’ve been busy with a bunch of things…lots of cutting, converting, uploading, cutting, converting again, motre uploading…you get the idea, has been going on and I’m finally able to show some of the (uncut) footage from the Folk Alliance Conference. Just two acts, mind. And these videos will only beup temporarily. I just wanted to let you folks know that I’m actually doing something with my time.

1. BOP Ensemble

2. Lynn Miles

More will be coming in the next week.  I still have a recording session and an edited video of the conference itself coming up.

Help Hollis Hawthorne Get Home

by in Personal and tagged | Permalink

Just forwarding this along.  Anything can help.  The longer it takes the more likely a chance it will be for her to die in a rat-infested hospital.  I only barely sort of kind of know of her but still…a good cause.

This is Hollis Hawthorne.  She’s a performer, cyclist, and activist who lives in SF. I only kinda sorta barely know her through mutual friends, but by all accounts, she’s just the most radiant, beautiful person. She moves in many of the same circles I do, and has donated her time to many of the same nonprofit events.

The entire Bay Area circus/green/burner community is horrified right now… late last month, Hollis was traveling by motor scooter in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India when something terrible happened. Some sort of freak hit-and-run accident that wasn’t her fault left her bleeding out on the side of the road with her boyfriend Harrison frantically performing CPR for 20 minutes before a van of German tourists picked them up and drove them to a hospital. According to her best pal Eliza, Hollis was wearing her helmet and driving very slowly at the time of the accident. Now she’s in a coma in a rural hospital with a serious brain stem injury.

According to Harrison, who has been with her from the moment it happened, “there are huge rats scurrying around on the [hospital] floor. I am sleeping on the ant-covered floor outside her room as I am not allowed in and the water they have used for many procedures is not even purified.” When Hollis’s mom flew in from Tennessee a couple of days ago with emergency support from the US consulate to see her own daughter, the orderlies were dismissive and curt. “They are not observing her brain pressure and have done nothing to alleviate the swelling in her brain. These are things that can make or break her early on in her recovery and healing process.”

Through a series of fortuitous connections, her case has been reviewed and accepted by Stanford Medical; one of the best hospitals in the world. As a charity case, even! (Just like me and most other starving artsy fartsies I know, Hollis has no insurance.) All we need to do is get her there. The friends and family of Hollis are reaching out to everyone they can to raise funds to get her on an I.C.U. plane (aka air ambulance) to fly her back to California.

This is truly a matter of life and death. They need move her as quickly as possible. Before that can happen, Friends of Hollis must raise $150,000 dollars. They’ve already raised approximately $40,000, and more is pouring in all the time, mostly in small denominations. Can you spare a dollar, or five, or ten? It adds up more quickly than you’d think!

Yes, I know, life is risk, and life is uncertain. Life is also precious. If, in some small way, we can help someone in our community to come back from the brink, we really should. Click here to help, and please spread the word, if you can. This is what the internet is for.