Calming Down – Putting Down Roots

The move is over.  Let the unpacking begin.  Thank you, my committed readership, for staying with us here at DWR during the transition to our new home.  It has been a wild and hectic couple of weeks.  I should be able to commit a little more time to blogging and finding the information I find interesting and sharing it with you.  With that in mind I’d like to share and and comment on the recent furor about Tom Mulcair’s comments about the “Dutch Disease” in Canada.

The noise generated by his comments are out of proportion to what his observation was:

“Mulcair claims that “Dutch disease” has hit the country, blaming energy exports from the Alberta oilsands for artificially raising the Canadian dollar and hollowing out the manufacturing industry.

Coined in an article in The Economist in 1977, the concept refers to the adverse economic effects that the discovery of large natural gas fields off of the coast of the Netherlands in the 1960s had on the country’s manufacturing sector.

The theory goes that a boom in a natural resource sector can lead to an appreciation of a country’s real exchange rate. That increase in the dollar value makes exports more expensive, and has an adverse effect on the manufacturing sector by making it less competitive.“

Okay, so it sounds reasonable so far.  Our dollar goes up and makes our manufacturing industry less competitive.  But what has got the defenders of corporatism all up in arms?   Mulcair takes his statement one step further…

“Mulcair said the problem is the government is not enforcing legislation that would include the environmental costs of exploiting natural resources.

“Those statistics with regard to the overall losses of jobs in Canada are irrefutable,” he said this week. “And they are directly related to the fact that we’re not enforcing federal [environmental] legislation.“

Oh snap.  How dare you mention that pillaging the land in the hog-wild foo-fur-ah that is Fort McMurray might be anything less than a calm nuanced approach to resource management is beyond the pale.  Fainting couches were needed *stat* across much of the Canadian media and parliament.

“I am wondering when the leader of the Opposition will apologize to western Canadians for suggesting the strength of the western Canadian economy is a disease on Canada,” Heritage Minister James Moore said in the House of Commons.

“He attacks western Canada, he attacks our energy industry, he attacks all of the West and the great work that is being done by western Canadians to contribute to Canada’s national unity. He should be ashamed of himself,” he said.

Yes, he should be ashamed for trying to keep the government accountable to for environmental legislation that is currently on the books, oh the villainy.  The tar sands have gained a love-halo that is growing in magnitude.  Speaking out against them is sacrosanct,with reasonable debate being drummed out by “it’s good for the economy!!!1!” and other nonsense.

Good On Mulcair for pointing out some of the problems with the oil-sands vis-a-vis the rest of Canada, the man is doing  his job as leader of the Opposition.

 

Another Light Blogging Week – Moving

What do you get when you cross moving to a new house, getting a new dog and still working fulltime?  Yes, sadly you guessed it a light blogging week.   Please accept my apologies, but unpacking is eating up all of my time thus the posts this week barring any works from the DWR stable of writers, are going to be short and sweet.  This fine Victoria day, please sit back and enjoy some humour at the expense of our beloved conservative government.

 

The Family Will Be Growing – The Shadow Knows…

Oh, I’ve just been full of anecdata as of late, but important events are important events.  Intransigentia and I have qualified to adopt a senior Shetland Sheepdog.  Shadow will be joining us on Sunday May 19th.  Let the dog-awesomeness begin.  Find your local humane services or Shares and donate some $$ or food to their cause, they are creating happy unions for people and pets across Alberta.

A poor quality picture is all we have right now, but rest assured gentle readers hi-res justice will be uploaded very soon.

 

War in the North – Happily Beating Down Orcs – For the Love of Co-op Gaming (Part 1)

I have a great many weaknesses, but one of the more prominent lies in the area of cooperative gaming.

Oh, how I miss the blocky good times.

I remember, back in the day, that occasionally Blades of Steel (hockey) on the 8-bit NES, a glitch would occur and somehow you and your friend could both control players on the same team.  It was chaos as the controls mirrored each other so the defence guy had to be careful not to interfere once he passed the puck out his area of responsibility.  It was often traumatically funny, with our pixelated little hockey avatars swooping around seemly at random, the game confused by two sets of input, while the computer went in and scored on us.  Oh the angst and thrills of victory (especially over the pink tinged Montreal Canadians).   In the same vein, Contra, another 8-bit classic we played to death as it was one of the first legitimate two player co-op games on the home console market.  Life was good, but things were poised to become great back in the summer of 1991.

Nineteen years ago,  Electronic Arts (back when EA was just another good budding developer) released NHL Hockey.  My best friend and I had been waiting for this game to be released for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis for about a year.  I can still remember coming home from school and seeing the large cardboard box wedged in the mailbox.   My pulse still quickens at the memory.

 

Co-Op + Playoffs = Awesome!

You see, EA Hockey was not available in Canada(!) when it was first released, I sent away for it, buying directly from EA via snail mail.  We got our copy an entire delicious month before the rest of Canada had retail access to the game.  EA Hockey was innovative for its time, the first game featuring a top down vertical play action, but more importantly, you could choose to both play on the same team.

Sweet Mother of Jebus, but was it fun!  The Edmonton Oilers, back in the 1990 still featured amazing talent and my best friend and I relished making the one timer players, and those oh so sweet cross ice passes from Messier to Kurri, not to mention those wacky breakaways with the speedy Petr Klima.  EA did not get the license from the NHLPA so the avatars only had numbers, but that was fine, back then we knew all the numbers for the Oilers.

Oh, Mega Drive, with the crappy homemade s-video to RCA converter.

I’m sure, if I found my school records, I could track the dip in my academics when that first game was released.  I’d do it again though, in a heart-beat as those were some great times for me on the video game front.  Yes gentle reader we’re getting to War in the North, but know that the road getting from there to here passed through many a classic co-op title – Streets of Rage 1,2 (especially 2), 3, Double Dragon (sega master system), Contra, of course the EA NHL and NFL games, Altered Beast, GOLDEN AXE 1,2 (Oh how I miss you sweet barbarian princess),oh don’t forget NBA Jam (boomshakalaka!!).

After about 2003ish, gaming companies finally got the idea that people like playing on the same team together and titles began to pour out – Soldier of Fortune 1,2, Serious Sam, Team Fortress, SW Battle Front, Counter-Strike, Diablo 2, and of course the current pinnacle of co-op shooter gaming Left for Dead 1 and 2.  (I realize this is far from comprehensive list, add your favs in the comments).  The number games now that feature co-op gaming are simply too numerous to list here,  however it is nice to have your particular gaming addictions properly fed.

Having played the Lord of the Rings games for the original xbox (and being a Tolkien fan, pre-movies) the idea of entering realms from the fantasy series has always been particular appealing.  As a side note, I always wonder why developers try and take a game based around a successful and wildly popular co-op mechanic and make it into a turd-a-rific single player experience; yes I’m looking at you Golden Axe: Beast Rider.

Back to the LoTR though, on the PC-gaming front not much has been done (well) with regards to cooperative play until now.  The Lord of the Rings: The War in the North fills out the cooperative role nicely so far (I’ve only played 2 of the 8 chapter of the game).  Like its Mega-Drive predecessor LotR:WiN is based around the singular concept of finding neat new ways to put the pointy end of your sword into nearest Orc baddie.  I was leery of purchasing the game reviews were mixed at best.  What won me over was the price drop from $50down to $20 dollars.  Twenty dollars is the sweet spot for purchasing most computer games, as they tend to disappear from shelves and not return until a “new and improved” gold edition (for more $$) is released later in the year.  Anyhow, for forty dollars, even lacklustre hack and slash is fairly good deal.

Economics aside, I did feel a certain amount of trepidation due because this was one of those “gut-purchases” more than my usual “brain-purchases”.  Hmm…how does it look?

Yah, okay…I’m sold.  It is as fun as it looks (so far).   Seeing that this is already some eight hundred words, I’ll continue this nostalgia/anecdata/game review in another post when I have more of the game under my belt.

 

What being in a choir means to me.

  I love choir.  The people, the music, the practising and the good stress of being put in a position where one has to focus and do a myriad of things well.  How am I standing? Is my posture correct, is my belly loose and larynx low?  Am I breathing correctly?  What is the next pitch I need to come in on, is my counting accurate?  Why are the damn alto’s out of tune *again*?

Very stream of consciousness I realize; but it is what goes on when you are singing.  When performing though all those thoughts(hopefully) melt down into just two.  “Am I producing a beautiful sound?”, and “do I have a connection with my conductor?”.  Life is good when singing if these two conditions exist.

I’m still learning about singing and getting to know my body and how it reacts.  The rub is that singing, in theory, is a uncomplicated process.  The problem is that we have learned and habituated to a whole passel of bad habits that need to be unlearned so the natural tone and splendour of our voice can be unlocked.

Undoing the naturally wrong way is the complex part of learning to sing.  It’s hard and frustrating and I love it.   But that is just the technical/mechanical bits about why I like singing.  We have not even touched the really important features of singing which transcend the mere production of notes.

We sang Libera Me from Faure’s Requiem at the annual Kaslo singing work shop.

The Latin text with English translation.

VI. Libera meBaritone solo Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda Quando coeli movendi sunt et terra Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem	Deliver me, o Lord, from everlasting death on that dreadful day when the heavens and the earth shall be moved when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire
Choir Tremens factus sum ego et timeo dum discussio venerit atque ventura ira	I quake with fear and I tremble awaiting the day of account and the wrath to come.
Dies illa dies irae calamitatis et miseriae dies illa, dies magna et amara valde	That day, the day of anger, of calamity, of misery, that day, the great day, and most bitter.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine et lux perpetua luceat eis	Grant them eternal rest, o Lord, and may perpertual light shine upon them.
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda Quando coeli movendi sunt et terra Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem.	Deliver me, o Lord, from everlasting death on that dreadful day when the heavens and the earth shall be moved when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

When you sing a work like this, you cannot help but be moved and drawn into the music.  Once you get past worrying about singing the right notes and counting (hopefully you’ve practiced and are doing it right) the magic begins.

Listen again to the soloist set the hauntingly rich sombre tone and establish the theme for the piece: “Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda…” (Deliver me, O Lord from ever lasting death on that dreadful day…)  You become part of something bigger, something more important in which you play but a small part.  Harmonies resonate and surround you, the audience leans forward. There is no going back now…

Singing a part becomes more like weaving a tapestry, with you adding your fine thread to the work producing beauty, artistry and to borrow a term from the woo world, raising *Wind Horse.  I apologize in advance to my rationalist readership, yet I cannot find a better description of being in choir while singing a pulchritudinous work that enlightens not only the audience but the members of the choir as well . It is sharing beauty on such a grand level, it humbles one and yet, increases the yearning to do and share more.

I’m so grateful and lucky to be able to participate in a choir and I believe that it is an experience that should not be missed by anyone.  So, get out there people and join your local community choir, you’ll be so much richer in experience and joy.  That is all.

(*)WINDHORSE:  the experience of raising windhorse, ["Ta"]: raising a wind of delight and power and riding on, or conquering, that energy. … The personal experience of this wind comes as a feeling of being completely and powerfully in the present. The horse aspect is that, in spite of the power of this great wind, you also feel stability. you are never swayed by the confusion of life…excitement or depression. You can ride on the energy of your life. So windhorse includes…practicality and discrimination, a natural sense of skill. This quality is like the four legs of a horse, which make it stable and balanced… you are not riding an ordinary horse, you are riding windhorse.”

The DWR Friday Classical Music Interlude – Purcell’s Scene of the Drunken Poet

This Friday’s interlude is a bit different only because I can say that I’ve also sung what you are about to watch.  The Scene of the Drunken poet is not only comedic, but musically interesting as well. Listen in the chorus parts while the sopranos, alto’s, tenor’s and basses play with the melody line in quick succession.  Let me assure you, it takes a fair amount of practice to get your notes to fall in the right places.

The Arbourist’s Kaslo Summer Vacation – The Pictures

Summer vacation is never complete without a trip to Kaslo, British Columbia.  Packing up the fiancee and parental unit we embarked on the 12 hour car trip (Oh, and a stop off at Radium Hotsprings as well) to the funky/quaint town known as Kaslo.  It is a week of intensive learning, singing and general revelry.  This year, as last, was a good time.   Let the photoblogging begin!

Getting to Kaslo from Alberta requires a ferry ride. Woo!

In a valley surrounded by mountains and lakes (Kootaney lake in photo), oh the horror.

The Moyie, one of the largest paddle wheel boats in existence. Now a museum.

Kaslo is a hamlet that sees some rain, evidenced by the mossy roof.

A sample of the flowers at the Kaslo townsite.

Ah, singing central, everyday from 10 till 3 of drilling and singing and more singing.

Our trusty steed and lodging for the week at Kaslo. The local ravens decided that our jeep was a great place for their bird-doo.

The beach was a five minute walk away from our lodging. It was lovely, except for the rain.

One of the singers brought her Shetland Sheepdog "Mcduff" along for the week. And as in most cases, the experience is always enhanced when dog is added.

Looking North at the continental divide on the Kootenay ferry, and so endeth our Kaslo trip for the year