Weblog and Playground of Gord Fynes

WELL, IT’S NOT EVERY DAY that I get to see the word FUCKING in, of all places on-line, the Globe and Fucking Mail. Then again, it’s an interview with Sebastian Bach, so I really shouldn’t be all that surprised. Frequent G+M‘ers: you now have to register to read articles on-line.

But hey, it’s free.

WITH NEXT TO NO KNOWLEDGE when it comes to PHP, a lot of patience and understanding with the wife and boy being out of the general home computing area for long periods of time, multiple windows open on the desktop which are tabbed through more often than the wind audibly rustles leaves in the trees outside my window and fine scripting on the part of the developer, I can now say that I’ve finally managed to get PhotoStack happening for the photos section of this website.

While I’m still wrestling with a few back-end features, things should look okay for ya. For the time being, use your brower’s back button to get back to this page.

Yes, some photos are larger than others.

THE EVENT I’D BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO for the past month was the Toronto debut of Norwegian electro-jazz collective Jaga Jazzist at the Harbourfront last night as part of the Beats, Breaks and Culture: Toronto Electronic Music Festival. Without a doubt, the best live band I’ve seen this year, and not just because they’re one of my favourites. I took the wife and the boy with me; her, because she loves the band too, and well, it was the closest thing we’ve had to a date in a while; him, because he’s a fan of “Kitty Wu”, the opening track on their disc _The Stix_. He likes some of their other stuff too.

We arrived a bit early so that we could grab a bite to eat and nose around some of the stalls set up. We wound up meeting the group’s drummer/bandleader, Martin Horntveth, and let him know of the little fan’s appreciation of the Wu. Just to give you some insight on the boy’s ear, a live version of said song appears on the group’s recently released _Day_ EP. Within the first minute of hearing it, he lets me know that “this is a different version.” Sniff, sniff [dry away the wee tear]. That’s my boy! The coolest was that our pre-show meeting was announced to the crowd and “Kitty Wu” was dedicated to our wee man. Does that rock or what?

On the way back to the car, a stray balloon was adopted and brought home. His master decided to name it “Cat Willie, the green balloon.” In fun, dad-like fashion, I brought out the Sharpie, drew a face on it and had ‘im talkin’ trash to great laughter. Sadly, the family’s new addition had quickly deflated overnight. Time to buy a bag of party favours and brush up on those silly cartoon faces I used to draw all over my notebooks in grade school.

BEING ON VACATION THIS WEEK, I’ve been able to catch up on watching recent DVD rentals by mail after the household has gone to sleep for the night. This would be because a) I’m able to watch them uninterrupted b) most of ’em would not be suitable for a three-and-a-half year old to watch c) the sooner I watch ’em, the sooner I get new ones and d) my wife didn’t really express a great desire to see most of ’em anyway.

Last night, I finally got to see The Weather Underground, which I’ve been meaning to see since it was in theatres last year. During some of the interviews with former members, I found my thinking swaying back and forth from the “yeah, you tell it like it was man” to “these guys were fuckin’ terrorists.” A very potent political and thought-provoking presentation that is more valid now, especially since Iraq, as during the Vietnam War.

Happy Birthday Nico!

Having turned 34 last month, I’d joked with my wife that I can now say I’m in my mid-thirties. I figure “mid” to be from about 34 to 37-ish. As I don’t drink that particular brand of beer, I refuse to call this period my Carlsberg years.

I’ve been mentally compiling a list of things that tell me that I’m older/more mature than years past. This will probably continue until I get either bored or fed up and just accept that age is inevitable. So far:

* I’m jogging and exercising because I REALLY would like to get rid of the spare tire that I was proud of having in my early twenties.

* Not so much in the warmer (ie. sweatier) months, I’ve been tucking in my shirt for work, which then accentuates my gut (see first point).

* I’m eating Bran Flakes and drinking V8 juice, and not just for the healthy benefits. I actually enjoy their tastes and prefer them over other drink and food stuffs in the same categories.

* In bed by ten, up by six. That’s PM and AM respectively. Just about every day of the week. Weekends included. Ten or twelve years ago, it would be AM and PM on the weekend.

* I tend to buy beer at the Liquor Store more often than at the Beer Store.

* Tim Horton’s medium coffee with double cream instead of regular (cream and sugar). No donuts.

* Green tea, no milk, no sugar.

* When I open my mouth to scold the boy for something, my Dad’s voice comes out. I know, I know. Payback’s a bitch 8)

* I actually shop around for gas.

Whew, glad to have finally gotten that off my chest.

UPDATE: I’m now adding titles to the posts since the CMS already has a date and/or time stamp feature. Just in case you’re wondering why older posts appear to have been dated by the Department of Redundancy Department.