Coldplay Makes Politicians Dance

Now, I've never been the biggest Coldplay fan. I never felt Coldplay adequately filled the gap left by Radiohead when they renounced their guitars in favour of robots. However, no one can deny that Chris Martin and co. can craft a solid hook and make a good video. The official video for "Violet Hill," the lead single off their new LP "Viva la Vida" is quite boring but the band approved, Mat Whitecross directed viral video is inspired. The video features stock footage of politicians like Bush, Blair, Castro, and Yeltsin dancing and rocking out. Almost makes them seem human...

Check it out:




Boring official video here:

Kingsley Amis sums up my worldview in one paragraph

Celebrated British novelist Sir Kingsley Amis, who passed away in 1995, has posthumously released a cheeky new book, Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis. In addition to sound drinking advice like "Up to a point... go for quantity rather than quality," Amis was somehow able to distill all my thoughts on social drinking in one short and succinct paragraph:

"The human race has not devised any way of dissolving barriers... that is one tenth as handy and efficient as letting you and the other chap, or chaps, cease to be totally sober at about the same rate in agreeable surroundings"

Well put Sir Kingsley, it does not get any more complicated than that.

The Return of Bond

As an enormous James Bond fan, I'm more than a little excited about the release of an all new Bond novel. Devil May Care was released last week in true Bond fashion with a military escort down the Thames accompanied by a leggy blonde, of course. The novel's release coinicides with what would have been original author Ian Fleming's 100th birthday. What particularly piques my interest is that the Fleming family commissioned a surprisingly literary scribe to update the gentlemen spy for a new age. Sebastian Faulks is best known for sprawling psychological novels like Charlotte Gray and Birdsong. Faulks, who considers himself a keen literary mimic, tried to write in the style of Ian Fleming, a roguish spy in his own right. The story takes place in Cold War stricken 1967 and is played out across two continents. I should pick up the book this week so I'll post a more detailed review once I finish reading it. Between last year's excellent "Casino Royale" and what looks like a promising new novel, a Bond renaissance could be upon us.

Miss Cellania has a good collection of James Bond lists and trivia.

For good measure, a classic Bond scene for "Goldfinger":

Don't Call it a Comeback!

Faithful readers,

I have returned from my self imposed hiatus to bring you the internet's tastiest nuggets. It has been approximately 9 months (no, I wasn't preggers) since my last post. Moving, starting grad school, and trying to make my way as a timeless, hopeless bachelor in Montreal left me drained and unable to contribute to the white noise of the blogosphere. I sincerely apologize for leaving you all without a lazy spiritual guide for so long and I really hope you forgive me. I have been given a second wind and I have this insatiable desire to write something that is not an essay on Canadian print culture. So, please check back regularly and leave your comments.

I swear, baby, I'll never leave you again,

Mr. Samurai Buddha

As a teaser of what is to come, here is a brilliant video of my humble neighbourhood by Montreal hip hop collective, Da Pimp Class. "Where U From? (An NDG Anthem) depicts Notre Dame de Grace in all its glory. I think my favourite line is when one of them says, "If pimpin's a crime, you better lock me up." I'm pretty sure "pimping" is a crime so he shouldn't be so boastful especially while strutting down the street with twenty of his friends who are nicknamed, of all things, Da Pimp Class. Not smart.

The Best of Phil Spector

Amazingly enough, the jury is still out in the murder trial of Phil Spector. California juries are obvously incapable of convicting celebrities, no matter how guilty they may be. Despite the man's obvious mental instability and violent tendencies, he was one genius of a record producer. So, in honour of what I hope will be his impending guilty verdict, I bring to you my top ten Phil Spector produced songs:

1) Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers

2) The Long and Winding Road - The Beatles

3) Instant Karma - John Lennon

4) To Know Him is to Love Him - The Teddy Bears

5) River Deep - Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner

6) My Sweet Lord - George Harrison

7) Be My Baby - The Ronettes

8) Christmas (Baby, please come home) - Darlene Love

9) True Love Leaves No Traces - Leonard Cohen

10) Rock N' Roll High School - The Ramones

11) He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) - The Crystals

12) Let it Be - The Beatles

13) Every Breath I Take - Gene Pitney

14) Across te Universe - The Beatles

15) Black Pearl - Sonny Charles and the Checkmates

16) I Love How You Love Me," the Paris Sisters

17) Not Too Young to Get Married," Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans

18) Walking in the Rain - The Ronettes

19) Imagine - John Lennon

20) You've Lost That Loving Feeling - The Righteous Brothers

Unchained Melody

Shows you can take away

French Director Vincent Moon has a knack for creating what he calls "the spontaneous music video" where he captures some of rock's most interesting artists performing in unexpected locales. He calls these videos "take away concerts." All of his videos can be found on YouTube or at his site, Blogotheque. Here are three of my favourites:

The Arcade Fire perform "Neon Bible" in a cramped elevator:



Grizzly Bear belt out an accapella version of "Knife" on the streets of Paris:



Sufjan Stevens performs "The Lakes of Canada" on a rooftop in Cincinnati:

The Prodigal Buddha has Returned!

Greetings Kids,


I hope everyone had a great summer. My summer was very interesting and one of immense personal change. I have moved out of my hometown of Toronto to beautiful Montreal in order to start my graduate studies in English. I've never been more excited/terrified. Anyway, I know no one particularly wants to hear about my personal life but I thought y'all would enjoy this little tidbit from my first week in Montreal.


I thought you'd enjoy this tidbit from my life. So, I was walking home late at night after having a few drinks with an old friend from high school whom I hadn't seen in years. Now, my neighbourhood is very nice but it has a certain criminal element that I love because it livens things up a little and gives me oodles of street cred that otherwise I would go without. My neighbourhood is called Notre Dame de Grace aka N.D.G. aka No Damn Good.

Anyway, like I was saying, I was walking home and I decided to cut through a dark alley for some reason. So, I'm strutting around like I own the town feeling pretty proud that I'm assimilating so well to my new surroundings. Then, as I round the corner onto my street I walk headlong into the handsome gentleman pictued below:


Yes, that is a grown man with a skull tattooed on his face. Needless to say, I promptly crapped my pants. The pants crapping was then followed by a fear induced vomit. After I scampered home like a little girl, I was on the internet and came across a list of the "10 of the Most Insanely-Modified Human Beings in the World." This skull faced gentleman, who lives in Montreal, was listed as #4. Weird, eh? I still have nightmares.
Anyway, I hope enjoyed that tale of my cowardice. Come back for some more posts.