Archives by Month - January 2008
All this odd weather has provided for some nice photo opportunities though. The sunset shot above was taken on a day that started off wet and cloudy, then turned to clear and sunny, but it always remained very crisp and cold. Everytime I look at the colours of this photo it reminds me of the sharp bite of that day's temperature.
On my walk home from work that day I saw some sea otters playing on the docks in the Inner Harbour. They were climbing around the kayaks beside that restaurant down there. Unfortunately all my photos of the critters were too blurry or obscured by kayaks and other harbour items. There was no clear shot of the little guys and they moved really fast. The shots I did get mostly show fur balls or tails and heads sticking out from behind polls. Nothing good enough to post on the old blog.
Asuka and I have started looking around at condos to purchase. We know what we want, and what we can get, and now we're just looking and waiting for the right place to pop up on the market. We want to stay walking distance from downtown since we both work here. It's hard finding nice places in this area that don't cost a fortune though. Actually, it's hard to find nice places anywhere in this city that don't cost insane amounts, but the downtown area condos definitely cost a bit more. We're patient though, and I know something right will come around eventually.
It will be great to finally become a property owner, for investment purposes, to stop wasting money away every month on rent, and for many other reasons. But I'm still feeling a bit nauseous at the idea of owing decades of income. I don't like being in debt, but, how else can anyone own property in this city these days? I still have the distant dream of winning the lottery sometime soon. I guess I should get around to buying some lottery tickets so that dream can come to fruition.
Check out the tracklisting and download the mix below. Please leave any feedback and suggestions you have for the show in the comments section.
Inspiration tracklisting:
1. Planet Funk - Inside All the People (Tenax Club dub)
2. Deep Josh & Angel Pina - Movement (Original Mix)
3. Aaron Perez, Christian Alvarez & Andy Lee - Gossip All-Stars (Christian Alvarez & Andy Lee - Soulmates)
4. Michael Jackson - Rock with You (2K3 mix)
5. Decaff, Roland Clark - Helpless (Hot 22 Vocal Remix)
6. Kathy Brown - Get Another Love (Warren Clarke Club Mix)
7. Yass feat. L.T. Brown - I'm Free (Main Mix)
8. Jellybean Soul Presents Feel The Spirit - New York House (Bongo Rock Mix)
9, Victor Soriano feat. Samilla - Find You (Angel Pina & Deep Josh dub mix)
10. Orlando Vaughan - Better Than Never (Original Mix)
11. The Girth Presents Cross Bronyx Expressway - The One
12. Tonrausch - Lovely Day
13. Johan "Yogi" Willenberg - Feelin' So High (Papp's NeoDisco ReEdit)
Vibe: Upbeat and Funky House
Date Recorded: January 2008
Length: 74:33 min
Download: (Right-click and Save As)
• CD Cover
• Tracklist
• 128 kbps MP3 (70 Mb)
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Asuka and I watched a couple of movies this week. One old one and a new one. We saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets in the theatre and it was pretty good. If you can put aside the somewhat contrived story, it manages to be fairly entertaining, much like the first one. I know that doesn't sell the movie very well, but I guess I just really enjoy those world-travelling, mystery-seeking and treasure-hunting style movies. It's somewhat akin to Indiana Jones in that sense. Searching for historic or fictional artifacts of legend with a somewhat believable story is interesting to me. I'm not quite sure why, but it's probably also why I like TV documentaries that explore the possible real histories of legendary stories, people, and artifacts.
The older movie we saw was Origin: Spirits of the Past, which is an anime from Japan that came out about two years ago. The story follows a theme similar to a few other Japanese animes (such as the Final Fantasy CGI film) where essentially there is a constant battle of balance between nature and humans. In this film, the setting is in the distant future where a scientific project has gone wrong and the planet is in ruins, the forest has a strong spiritual power, and people live in a struggle to survive. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I often like stories that involve nature in a spiritual sense. And when that blends with science and technology, it usually makes for an intriguing setting. Of course, all of that is meant to be a reflection on our current relationship with nature, and after watching the movie it does make you think a bit.
Anyways, I'd recommend both movies for an entertaining watch. There are a few more movies I want to see in the coming weeks too. Both new theatrical releases, and new DVD releases. So you might see a few more recommendations in the near future.
This Saturday we are taking a day trip to Saltspring Island for a new photogroffee adventure. My friend Jason and his girlfriend Uma (who are both originally from the island) will be taking us to some interesting places for photo opportunities. It should be a fun excursion, but I'm very much hoping that it doesn't rain. We'll make the best of it either way.
I also updated the new layout slightly. At first I had the new sidebar protruding out of the main layout a bit to the right because I thought it looked interesting. Although, I do remember thinking that maybe it looked a bit odd when I was first designing it. Anyways, I've now had a couple people ask me if the layout was broken. So I guess the protrusion did look odd to someone who didn't realize it was designed that way. I've now updated the layout to make the sidebar fully contained within the main area. I think it looks better now that I've done it.
My holiday was great. I relaxed, spent time with my friends and family, did some cleaning around the house, bought some new clothes, and did a lot of sleeping in. But it's good to be back at work too. Sleeping in is nice, but I prefer my body to be on my regular internal clock.
Davin is spinning at Hush this Saturday, along with Adam Freeland from the UK. It should be a great show! So I'm already looking forward to the weekend. I'm glad to be back at work, but coming back mid-week is a good way to ease back into the swing of things. And an exciting upcoming weekend makes that even more true.
I've started working on the second Home with House episode by figuring out a theme and picking some tracks. I'm keen to get back on the decks. I should be ready to start mixing it sometime next week. So stay tuned for some new photos and music soon!
