For some reason, Neptune wants Goldilocks and the Three Bears; I think because she’s seen it referenced to on TV, or I mentioned it and we’ve never read it. I’ve promised her that we would go out to the store and find it. I thought this would be an easy task, considering the title is [...]
Christmas Day Eve: On our drive back from Murray’s brother’s house on the south shore, we were listening to NPR, which for some reason we can do in Montreal because we’re so close to Vermont. Anyhow, the radio hosts were discussing how the price of commodities like corn and soy are rising because they are [...]
I saw this in an email sent to Murray last week, but I wasn’t sure if it was one of those velvet-rope, for your eyes only things or something else. What’s the protocol on stuff like that? Anyhow, David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars is an informative and practical take on [...]
The snow melted a little over the past few days, so the weather station is working again. There was so much on the roof of our garage that the weather vane part was snowed in. That said, now it is snowing again, because we can usually rely on a white Christmas in Montreal. So this [...]
I am so into the Automotive X Prize. If you haven’t heard of it, the X-ers manage a foundation that awards multi-million dollar prizes to anyone who can successfully complete their challenges. The automotive prize goes to the first team to build a super efficient, clean and affordable car. The website lists an intriguing quote [...]
This past Tuesday, after the second big snowfall, I insisted that Murray accompany me to Ikea. Trips to Ikea must always be planned thoroughly: the day of the week and time of day must be carefully selected, otherwise the place is too crowded and I can’t stand being in crowded places. Our time at Ikea [...]
I grew up mainly listening to my parent’s collection of gas station promotion tapes, a series called Solid Gold where each tape showcased about a dozen songs from each decade. I’m pretty sure this is a Canadian thing, maybe even just an Ontario thing, but it seems anyone who blogs about these Solid Gold cassettes [...]
Recently, I assumed responsibility for The Dears online stuff. This mini-renaissance we’re in is so intense and kind of extreme that we decided to tear everything down and rebuild it simply. The obvious sites to get a makeover were thedears.org and our MySpace. I know a bit of HTML so tearing down our website and [...]
Sometimes I think I really take my neighbourhood for granted. Since it’s basically a ghetto, and drug-dealers live a few doors away, I tend to undervalue the quality of life here. But a little excursion beyond Park-Ex’s boundaries opened my eyes.
So earlier this week we had something like 35cm (14″ 
of snow dumped on the [...]
Two weeks ago, Murray moved the recording into another studio. Today he finishes working there, and he’s completely exhausted. The other day he was lying on the couch, barely awake, saying: “It’s weird being so tired and so inspired at the same time.” The songs are perpetually shape-shifting, taking new unexpected directions with every element [...]
