Summer's always a busy time where people are coming and going from vacations and summer jobs and various activities here and abroad. Whether it's the Stampede in Calgary, one of the many festivals here in Saskatoon (like FolkFest coming up this week - I'll be dancing at the Greek pavilion), or jetting away to one of Saskatchewan's many lakes, there's always something going on. About a month ago, Darren, a friend of mine who'd moved back to his home town of Kamsack to work at Duck Mountain Provincial Park called me to invite me down camping. Given my large amount of experience camping, I took him up on the offer. Yes, a *lot* of camping experience right here. There was the time I camped on Pacific Ave overnight for Phantom Menace tickets (lots of fun), that time I slept in the backyard of our old Cochin cabin in the tent with some cousins, and I even visited with my cousins for a couple hours on my uncle's deck in Greece in the tent they were staying in when I was there in 2001. So needless to say, camping was a new experience.
I didn't really know what to expect. I somehow imagined it much more remote and disconnected from society. Sort of a spot in the middle of nowhere. Looking back, my expectations seem ludicrous given it's a park and on a lake, but I really did have this image of wilderness and wandering through it until we found a nice spot to set up our tent and rub some sticks together to make a fire. Instead of being off the beaten path, we were actually off a small gravel road. About a ten minute walk away from a public beach, five minutes from a little ice cream/burger shop (with a really beautiful young lady (yes, that's code for me being too old) working there), a five minute drive from the Manitoba border, and maybe ten minutes from Darren's home, which is actually between Kamsack and the park. Now it's important to remember that all these drive times are at-the-speed-limit estimates. I did no such thing that weekend. In fact, I made the four hour drive to Kamsack in 2.5. Highway 5 is really pretty and also fairly quiet so I had no compunctions about putting some distance between here and me as a friend of mine once put it.
So I showed up and by coincidence, Darren was just about to leave as I zipped by his place into the park, so he caught up to me (I had slowed now, since I had no idea where I was going) and took me right to the camp. I put up my tent, we created a fire with a little 'persuasion'. Darren almost lit the jerry can (did you know that the term 'jerry' was British slang for German soldiers, who were the first to use these cans) on fire - the nozzle was burning but luckily the whole thing didn't blow up in his hand. I hung out with him, Nathan, Rachel, and a few other girls who sort of came and went that night and awoke to a LOT of beer cans/bottles on the table. We had some muffins and orange juice for breakfast, went to the beach for a few hours (where there were more lovely and ... less lovely ... girls about) and off to the ice cream shop for a burger and cone. We visited the girls in the 'interpretive centre' and went to check out the bigger beach. We also popped into Kamsack and town to get pillows (which I had forgotten in my preparations) and some ice for our coolers. The weather all weekend was amazing, by the way.
That night we called it pretty early, the sun having sapped us, but I wasn't really tired, just exhausted. I read for a bit in the tent until it finally got dark around 11 and then I put my head outside the tent and laid there for about half an hour looking at the stars. We get a pretty decent view at home, but this was incredible. Incidentally, the first signs of impending winter have begun. The other day I came home and the northern lights were flashing in probably a 120 degree arc in the night sky over Saskatoon. They were probably the most incredible northern lights I've ever seen, very very bright and lively. Unfortunately, as with my photos of the night sky, these ones didn't turn out either. Monday I came home, but I went for breakfast and hung out with Darren at the beach and around the park for the better part of the afternoon. Just as I finished taking down the tent, the first drop of rain for the whole weekend fell. Talk about a great weekend for camping.
As for what is keeping me so busy, well, I'm not entirely at liberty to say, but what I can tell you is that I'll be dancing with the senior group in Folkfest again this year at the Greek pavilion (where else?). Which has meant some practice time and me realizing that the desk life is doing nothing for my fitness. I'm also revitalizing the mix for the deck, lots of new stuff to add and questionable stuff to remove. The problem with adding new stuff is I know that half of it will go from 'cool' to 'annoying' in the course of a year and require the job to be redone yet again. I'm trying to avoid the most annoying of the pop stuff and on the plus side it means getting to add some new indie stuff, so there is a rainbow at the end of the tunnel. Yes, that's right.
Soccer just wrapped up last week since we didn't make the cut for playoffs. Not because we're no good, no no, just that we seem to have a problem completing our plays. Our second-last game was a prime example. We spent 90% of the first half in their end (I want to say 95% but I'll leave a little room for error) and didn't score. We had quite a few good shots, but nothing. They, on the other hand, got two goals against us, and almost three. They had beaten John, who was doing time in net, and shot it and I was behind him to cover and running full tilt. At the last minute I knew I wasn't going to get to the ball in time and sort of dove in front of it and spun my body around. I went to grab the ball as I was laying right behind the line and the ball was ahead of me and about to cross the line, but instead headbutted it (ever seen an egg rolling contest?) and saved the goal. I looked up and shouted "No hands!" and was back on the field to run the ball up. Sadly, my antics were wasted and even more sadly, non-televised. Damn you TSN!
But, I should get doing all those things that are keeping me busy. See you in a week! Don't forget to check out the photo gallery which includes such greats as the Saskatchewan version of the Windows XP Desktop background (shown left).
It's been about as hectic a few weeks as I've had in a long time, so I'm sorry there's not been much to update on. Ironically, there's been very little worth writing, much less reading, in spite of this sudden deluge of activity, but I will continue anyway at the risk of boring you. First, most recently, and most excitingly at least for me, was the Canada Day release of our tenth FrankBlack.Net Podcast. This is a little radio show of sorts that I host with a friend from New Jersey, Brian, bi-weekly, and we talk about the latest news in the world of Frank Black, play tracks from albums and offer a little (we hope) insight, and thanks to his manager, Ken Goes, have a rare track to put on our podcast every time. Not to some of our favourite live recordings, covers, and tracks from Frank Black fans. We started with a surprising 1500 downloads in the first two weeks we played it and now coming ever closer to 5000 subscribers. So it was with some excitement that we released our tenth episode, and we went all out to make it special. It's hosted at a swanky penthouse party at the halfway point between Brian's home and mine, Thunder Bay, and the most exciting thing, at least for me, is the appearance and conversation with Frank Black at this party!
Yes, on July 19th, the day his new album, Fastman/Raiderman, that same day that the Edmonton Oilers lost Game 7 to the Hurricanes, Brian and I were chatting with him using VOIP. And this is largely thanks to his wife, before I go on, who helped us set up the interview with him and also was working on family friends Jack Black and John Flansburgh among others. Maybe in the future, but I digressed with the intent of thanking Violet, and will do so now. Thank-you! So, that done, we were chatting after a few initial technical difficulties, and chatting. We talked about everything from the new Pixies tracks that were recently trashed to his new album to his touring plans (with a band) to, well you name it. Spaghetti sauce. How songwriting is like making a sandwich. A very funny man and he entertained us for 2.5 hours before we finally let him go, and he didn't ask once despite a cold and, initially, the ruckus of kids getting ready for bed. If you want to listen, there are a few ways. You can listen/subscribe to the whole in iTunes, stream it from the web using Yahoo, or download the latest episode directly here. You don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast, just a computer with speakers or a CD burner.
In other news that's exciting for me and less so for you, my sister finally got back from Europe/Greece late last week. Her backpack weighs more than her I'm pretty sure, or at least is very close to being on par. Or at least, it weighed, she is hopefully unpacked by now. It's nice to have her back home though she probably wishes she was still there rather than taking a summer version of Math 110. We had to trade her for my uncle, unfortunately, he was here a month but I only saw him three or four times. We had a barbeque before he left though, and it was nice to have some family and friends out. We also got very lucky with the weather; it had been raining for weeks on end and cleared up just in time for us. We had the lamb and tzatziki roast and a bunch of other good stuff, which you can probably see in the pictures I took. Click on the image on the right to check out some more.
What else? Well, I've managed to get a few games of golf in this year and hope to do a little more of that this summer. Maybe this weekend I'll go with my dad. I went with John to his uncle's golf tournament a couple weekends ago, it was a 9-hole course in Watrous, and we had a good time. I wound up golfing with a relative of Brett's, what are the odds of that? Well, in case you thought that was a genuine question, the answer is, not very good. Not very good. But we all had a good time and a bit too much sun, hence to rosy hues. John also was good enough to invite me to his cousin's pool party on Canada Day, which was nice. They have a very nice backyard/pool, and we sat around, swam, and enjoyed the warm weather. His cousins seem like pretty cool people too.
Otherwise, nothing much to report. The family's doing well, the soccer team too, the weather's nice, and the skies blue. I've almost watched my entire Hitchcock collection, I am now a definite fan; if you ask me, dear reader, he was a brilliant man. But I don't intend to rhyme all day, so I will stop right now and go away. Well, stop anyway. I still haven't had time to look at making plans for Aus/NZ next year, and I know I'd better get my act together, so perhaps this week I will make an effort to do something towards that. I still want to look into that tour that Juaquin did of NZ. Oh, I've also been biking quite a bit trying and failing to get into shape. I should probably start biking to work, but it's a looooong trek from here to there, it's a good 45 minutes at speed and without too much wind, and quite frankly I have enough trouble getting up early enough to drive in. But I'm already rambling, so I will see you again, hopefully sooner than last time.Read More...
It was a very tough battle, but thankfully after my one-year absence, Dynamite Dean and the Formidable Pylons are once again intimidating lesser pylons and soccer balls for profit. This is a co-ed rec league team, which in my opinion is the best way to have fun playing sports. No need to be good, no need to get stressed, just get out on the field, have some fun, run around, and if we win, great. If we lose but have fun, great. I'm telling you this in part because I'm excited to reincarnate the team and in part because perhaps someone from Saskatoon will read and be interested in joining. Soccer experience/skill not required, and I really need female players especially. In any case, it should be a fun season, there are a lot of teams this year! Hope to see you out on the fields, and here's the schedule for those interested (just leave me a comment here or email me). If you scroll down to the calendar on the left side of the page you'll also see that I've entered all the games in there.
Every game is on a Thursday night: June 8 - 6:00/Field 4 vs. VIDO June 15 - 7:00/Field 4 vs. Brokeback Mountaineers June 22 - 6:00/Field 3 vs. Quantum Tunnelers June 29 - 7:00/Field 3 vs. Team Chuck Norris July 6 - 8:00/Field 3 vs. The Chernozems July 13 - 6:00/Field 3 vs. Hanso Foundation July 20 - 6:00/Field 4 vs. Four July 27 - 7:00/Field 3 vs. Agent Orange Aug 3 - 7:00/Field 4 vs. PSA Aug 10 - 6:00/Field 4 vs. VIDO
Fields 3 and 4 are at the corner of Cumberland Ave and College Drive, Field 4 being on the west/closest to Dairy Queen, Field 3 on the east.
Well, okay, maybe I'm being a little overly boastful to call my hundredth host spectacular, but a cloned monkey with three arms made me do it. Knife to my ribs and everything. So, here we are. I can't believe you guys have allowed me to ramble on the internet for a hundred posts. Really, someone should notify the CRTC or, failing that, the good people at Shaw Cable. Perhaps there were no good people to be found at either place and so I am able to continue. In any case, thank you all whether you pop in once or check daily, weekly, or when I beg you. In honour of this, I'm hoping to offer a grab bag of random topics, one of which is sure to not offend you. Not the least likely is the resumption of my podcast.
The Podcast Returns Those of you who wrote me to continue my podcast, rejoice! As for the planet Earth, I suppose you can just wonder what the heck I'm doing putting together podcasts after the fantastic failure that was Episode 1. Well, I'll tell you. Over on FrankBlack.Net, my podcasting associate for the FrankBlack.Net Podcast and co-maintainer of the site came up with an idea. An idea to swap discs with other members of the forum. And then I came up with an idea. An idea to, instead, or rather also, record a podcast where we introduce people to the music and so forth. So, 'my' podcast is no longer mine at all except that I maintain the feed and came up with an idea. Now every week, at least for the next while, someone new will be publishing a podcast on Fridays, with music they like. Already, Kathryn has done a podcast focusing on the talents of Brian Eno and David Byrne. This week, I have a more eclectic mix of stuff. Next week, someone else will be posting theirs. Want it? All you have to do is add the following to your podcasting software (if you're not already subscribed to my podcast): http://dean.katsiris.com/podcast/feed.xml. If you have iTunes, it's as easy as selecting the "Advanced" menu, selecting "Subscribe to podcast" and pasting that link. I'm looking forward to some of the future hosts' shows. I've found out about some cool music from another mix like this I did a year or so ago.
Soccer and Lollies
So, the winter, the constant sitting at the desk, the getting out of shape, it's all done. Done, I tell you! Except for the desk, but now I will hopefully stop after work and get outside. Spring is here and it's glorious. There is magic (aka pollen) in the air, and I'm going to be so outdoors this summer that you won't have a clue how I still keep this thing up to date. I'm hoping to reinstate my team, Dynamite Dean and the Formidable Pylons, for a little summer recreation, and perhaps get some new players. Let me know if you're interested. I'm also thinking of doing an Ultimate Frisbee team this year. And some golf and tennis lessons. And biking. Yup, I love Saskatchewan summers more than I love taffy. Well, that's not true, which is part of the problem, I suppose. I need to work the taffy off. And other 'lollies' which is what the Australians like to call candies of any sort. Except, perhaps, for suckers and lollipops. Speaking of which, still planning on heading away this winter for a year there, but I haven't even begun to start looking at planning or tickets or tours. Perhaps I'll book it whilst biking on the Meewasin trail.
Simpsons Movie
Speaking of summer, and next year, coincidentally, there is a Simpsons movie coming out. Now, I know that the show is one of my favourite of all time, and also that many have lost interest because the writing really went downhill after the twelfth season in particular, but it has come around again if the recent episode with Ricky Gervais is any indication. Of course, he also wrote it, but to be fair, the last few I've seen have been pretty funny. And so, I have some hope that this movie could be pretty darned good. I also hope to win the lottery, but I think the odds are a little better on the Simpsons movie. You can see the trailer by clicking on the image over there. Meanwhile, they've squashed rumours of renewing Futurama, another 'F' show (Family Guy, Futurama, and there are others) that Fox cancelled for no good reason. I don't know what's going on over there. They have brilliant people getting these guys signed up and then idiots deciding who gets to stay. "We're sorry, Futurama has been cancelled. Please enjoy the next five shows which are all from the World's Blankiest Blank" genre. Still, there are also supposed to be some straight-to-DVD movies for Futurama coming, and that's cool. I hated the show based on a few viewings but finally knuckled under (thanks Darren) and now love it. It takes some growing.
Spaced Extras
British media is so ridiculously superior to anything we've got over here that it's scary, possibly with the exception of the BBC, which, although it has some great programming, doesn't have anything that holds a candle to the CBC's efforts at promoting Canadian music. Well done! Still, the BBC did bring us The Office, a brilliant piece of work from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom are doing the second season of a newer show called Extras. Which, if you haven't seen, is (if you will allow) bloody brilliant. Hilarious. Ricky is a movie extra, which is a great role as he seems born to play the ambitious nobody who likes to think he's already somebody, and, well, hilarity ensues. Patrick Stewart, a man I never once considered funny, was on the last show of season 1 and made me split a seam. Which may be related to the whole taffy-love. Who knows? Another show I've heard NOTHING about over here is Spaced, which is probably the closest thing to Family Guy that any show with real people could get. It's not crude, but it does rely on quick flashes and wacky over dramatization/parody for its humour. Check this show out if you can.
Goodbye, Cruel Blog! And now we come to the least objectionable part. I will be back, of course, with a new post in a new week, but it's about time I got outside and more importantly, to the restaurant for the supper rush that I don't anticipate will materialize (unless I stay home). So, happy Easter to all and I'll see you on the other side of the bunny.Read More...
With our excursion to Nordkapp successfully completed, we were due south. Especially given that there are very few other directions we could travel from up there. So, in order to obey the laws of physics, we did just that. We took off in the morning to Rovaniemi, perched on the Arctic Circle in Finland. You may have heard of it... Santa has his village here. It´s a lot more convenient than the north pole and the reindeer are plentiful, after all.
The trip was long and sleep was taken by many on the bus. As usual, I had to stay away, frozen in terror (see photo). Today was my day as cookie (cook), and we did up a nice chicken curry that was both tantalizing and tempting. As always, the credit goes to Sean for his wonderful cookery skills. Aside for non-Aussies: Cookery n - Food obtained after a night on the town. The 'r' should be rolled as though you're a pirate. Anyway, we ate some food and then Darren and I got to work on the pool table. Now here's the part nobody will believe, but it's true. After a little warming up had taken place, I proceeded to do the following two feats in one evening:
1) Clear the table on my first shot. 2) Sink the 8 ball off the break.
Needless to say, the crew was fooled into thinking me some sort of Pool God, and who could blame them? Perhaps someday, I shall reign again. I should mention that when we first showed up, I took a walk along the water with the twins, the Spaniard, the Rob, and the nemesis (aka Lee). I also took another walk a little later with Catherine, though the mosquitos proved to be a little vicious.
We stopped the next morning at Santa's Village, where I treated myself to a new wallet given that my old one was unfit to hold even Canadian money ever again. It's nice and made of Reindeer leather, which also qualifies it as my first souvenier. We actually ran into the man himself at the village, Mr. Klaus, who was gracious enough to stop for a photo with Catherine, Emma, Belinda, Dave, and I, and then we headed off to Keuru. En route, we all wrote down and Chad read our trip highlights, which was at times hilarious and also very nice. Melissa had a certain indiscretion of mine as her highlight, which definitely makes a person feel good (thanks, Mel!). Mine was about the horrific movie in Nordkapp, which, really, was the hardest I'd laughed in some time.
That night, we celebrated Christmas a little early, and had a Secret Santa gift exchange which was a lot of fun. Would you believe that Jess & I bought the exact same thing!? I thought I would be the only one with a Scandinavia Disc, and certainly the only one with a Scandinavia 5 disc. Crazy! Plus we had a nice Christmas dinner courtesy of Sean. The night also marked the creation of Los Tres Amigos, and some horrifically amusing Mexican accents and ancestry. It's funny because something similar happened on our last trip, and neither time was it my idea. We all sported cheesy mustaches for the occasion. Finally, as with any Christmas celebration, there was drinking, and lots of it. Everyone had a good time, I think, whether it was plummeting through a veritable canyon between two boulders, shotgunning beer (and then reverse shotgunning them back again), or something else entirely, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
