I remember making the drive over to the combination prison/psychiatric hospital on the Dartmouth side and thinking this was the bleakest thing I'd ever done. My partner and I were anxious about everything. Giving the film the right treatment, meeting the patients, getting our equipment to work properly. It felt like the sun didn't shine once during the entire six week process.
This is my final project from journalism school, a ten minute documentary about patients at a forensic hospital in Dartmouth who make music - freewheeling, heartfelt, joyful, sad music. I remember making the drive over to the combination prison/psychiatric hospital on the Dartmouth side and thinking this was the bleakest thing I'd ever done. My partner and I were anxious about everything. Giving the film the right treatment, meeting the patients, getting our equipment to work properly. It felt like the sun didn't shine once during the entire six week process.
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By the Jesus the Western Conference is amazing.
This year's NBA is like a weather reporter in a hurricane. The reporter is the Eastern Conference and the hurricane is the West. When the depleted, tired Clippers rolled into Toronto last night I wanted them to go away, back to their destructive hurricane. From worst to first, this is the NBA's Western Conference: Utah There's not much jazz coming out of cold hard mormon country these days. By the way, did you know the mormon headquarters in Utah is one of the highest security places in the world; and all they have in there are records of people's lineage. That is 100% fact and it has no bearing on the Jazz, who are last in the Western Conference and in the throes of what is certainly a lost season for them. Sacramento There's more talent here than the record shows. DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins, Rudy Gay, That point guard guy? All good players. They're in dire need of a real leader. L.A. Lakers It's strange seeing a Lakers team without A-list talent strewn all over the floor. It's like watching basketball being played with scab labour. New Orleans After only 20 home games, the Pelicans' terrifying mascot "Pierre the Pelican" was given the boot because it scared too many children. Thank goodness. Anthony Davis has potential to become one of the great players in the next couple seasons. Denver Major ups and downs for the Nuggets this year, lots of injuries, accompanied by big losing streaks and big winning streaks. They sit below .500 right now but if they get healthy they could still muster enough for a run at the last playoff berth. Minnesota And speaking of playoff berths. Please Minnesota! Make it this year! I fear Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio will leave my favourite American Midwest city without a single playoff appearance. Rubio has real problems shooting the ball, but remains great viewing due to his unparalleled smoothness. He sees the court the way Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock sees London. Last night's win against Golden State was big as they've been famously unable to seal victories this year. Memphis This Memphis Grizzlies team is like an actual Grizzly Bear -ornery and powerful, but only if provoked. When they're healthy and their defense is working they're like those photos you see of Ursus Horribilis with a shredded pink salmon in its mouth. Also Marc Gasol, what amazing hands, good he's back to give these guys a chance to bump back into a playoff spot. Dallas There's a guy I know from Germany who calls Dirk, "The Ri-Dirk-ulous One." I say this under my breath in a German accent at least 50 or 60 times a year. Dirk remains an efficient player, and the Mavs are stronger than expected. The Texas teams have the strongest pool of coaches in the NBA. Phoenix Phoenix, where question mark players go to shine. Gerald Green especially. Too bad about Eric Bledsoe's injury, but there is so much upside for this team going down the road. I'm pretty sure they have the entire first round of next year's draft available to them. Golden State Every gym rat I knew growing up aspired to be what Stephen Curry is now. The guys I played with loved to shoot the ball and loved to attempt acrobatic, off balance layups. Unlike my peers, Curry can actually do these things. I think that's where his appeal lies, he has the same zest for the game and bag of tricks you find in any grungy pickup game. We see ourselves in his skinny frame and reckless style. The Warriors are less consistent than they should be, they underachieve when you look at the pieces they have, still, they're contenders. Houston Jeremy Lin, what happened to you? I remember when you were a skinny, nerdy guy. That was the appeal of Linsanity, the way it was brewed from the mind and body of a guy whose triceps didn't have nearly the same pop as his opponents'. I saw you on TV the other day, your eyes, once wide, were now cold, calculating your next enemy kill. Your face, once so humanly flush, coloured by a mortal man's effort, was evenly coloured, no tint of the everyman remained. Your game has improved Jeremy Lin, there is no doubt. But who are you? LA Clippers The addition of Hedo Turkoglu has turned the already strong Clippers into an even hahahaha just kidding. Hedo Turkoglu? Save the half a million and buy everyone on your long bench a Vitamix or something. A lot of people disrespecting Blake Griffin right now, be warned that on the day of reckoning Blake will show no mercy to those who did not stand by him through thick and thin. For real though, I'm naively hopeful that the Clippers can finally get themselves to a Conference Finals. It's a longshot. Portland I'm reading David Haberstalm's classic basketball book, "The Breaks Of The Game" right now which chronicles the 79-80 Blazers. Haberstalm's Portland bears a lot of resemblance to the comically alternate and liberal city it is now. Last week I watched a clip of Blazers forward Robin Lopez talk about how much he loves collecting graphic novels at Powell's books. Blazers players back then were of a similar mind; preferring SUV wagons and the outdoor lifestyle over the usual ostentation of pro sports. I can almost see a young Robin Lopez reading comics in the back seat. San Antonio The basketball fan's basketball team. A team where the players take real pay cuts in the name of winning. What else can you say about the Spurs? - they're the Stephen Harper of basketball teams - they hate the media, they're incremental, they survive. Oklahoma City Ever since their trip to the finals, the Thunder have gotten more and more ruthless. Watching Kevin Durant this season is scary, it's no longer enough to be good on his own merit, KD's game keeps evolving, now he finds any defenders weakness and uses it to his advantage. An MVP won't be enough for Durant, they need a championship, they need it this year. I know we're a hockey nation, but watch closely tough guys, basketball is on the come up in Canada. We have people getting drafted, our beloved Raptors are not unbearably sucky, our university teams have defeated such NCAA kingpins as the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs.
Imagine a future where basketball is our sport and Steve Nash is our Don Cherry. Instead of Kraft Hockeyville there will be Kellogg's Ballerville. But enough about the future, how is the NBA doing right now? As usual, I'm going to come at this with less knowledge than anyone in the biz, I don't watch much basketball. I do the best with what I have, and what I have is a nomadic lifestyle and a smartphone, which means box scores, recaps and think pieces out the wazzoo. Starting in the East, here is how the teams are looking in the 2013/2014 season. Milwaukee Way worse than expected is how the Bucks are doing this year. But they're interesting off the court. Larry Sanders hurt himself in a nightclub altercation (classic!) and, more heartwarmingly, player Zaza Pachulia bought the Bucks old floor and is having it set up somewhere back in his homeland of Georgia. Orlando Orlando started off pretty decent (I think) but now they are hurtin'. Rumours are that a deal between the Magic and the Raptors involving Terrence Ross and Arron Afflalo is in the works. I hear Afflalo's having a good season, but I'd love Terrence Ross to stick around in Toronto. Philadelphia Also got off to a way better than expected start but have since wiped out hard. Philly is a proud basketball city that expects more than this. The plan is to build on this year's stacked draft. Boston Kelly Olynyk - he's tall, awkward, has long hair and grew up in BC. Oh, and he plays in the fricken NBA for the fricken Boston Celtics!!! Man, I wish I was him. Sure, Steve Nash is from BC as well, but Olynyk is from BC. He's a radioactive version of any BC ski bum you see eating a hot dog outside 7-11. Being from Kamloops he probably actually knows where a place like Fort Nelson is. For all of us from the sticks, this us our guy, and to see him playing in the Boston Garden, it's a miracle, it's our unexpected offering to the basketball gods. Cleveland On the flip side of my Olynyk pride is Anthony Bennett, the Ontario native and number one pick in the 2013 draft. Statistically, Bennett is having the worst rookie season of any number one pick in history, which brings a sadness that borders on embarrassment. The rest of Cleveland isn't looking good either, if at all possible, avoid seeing or hearing anything about this team. New York Ahhhh New York, the city so nice they named their basketball team after socks. How many more years will I get mild enjoyment out of watching the Knicks suffer? Infinity years is the answer. Thanks for taking Andrea Bargnani off Toronto's hands New York. Charlotte Once again, Charlotte leads the category for, "Team That Should Be Moved To Vancouver," that's about all you need to know. Bring these guys to B.C. and keep Michael Jordan involved so there's a chance we'll run into him on Granville. Brooklyn The other day I caught a bit of a Brooklyn Nets game. Behind the game's analysts there was this guy dancing. I've never been more angry at something on TV in my life. So angry that I can't dissociate the Nets from this incident. The veteran presence and deep pride some of their players feel will carry this team to the playoffs, where they'll fight hard and go down with honour. Detroit Like the Bucks, more was expected from Detroit. I'd never seen coach Mo Cheeks before, and I loved it when he sat next to two uncomfortable fans on the sidelines. Given the malaise in Detroit, it's shocking there's still a team there, but there they are, billboards of player's faces looking down at the mostly empty freeways Chicago After Derrick Rose got hurt I found it hard to follow Chicago, it's too sad. You'll always have the 90s right guys? Washington It looks like the Wizards can say Avada Kedavra to their losing ways and Wingardium Leviosa to their place in the Eastern Conference standings. This year the Eastern Conference is a cesspool of losing records. Teams with a history of struggle and a discontent fan base are digging in their heels, despite being at or below .500, and making a run at playoff spots. Go Wizards. Toronto Remember that one guy on your high school team who was fairly athletic and skilled, only he was a total head case when it came to playing in actual games? The combination of teenage hormones, pressure of inter-school competition and hot girls in the bleachers made them an absolute wreck on the court? Hello Tyler Hansbrough. When Hansbrough is on the court you'll likely catch him punching himself in the head after missing a shot, or fouling somebody hard, complaining about the call, then looking at the jumbotron and nodding his head in reluctant agreement as the screen shows that he did in fact just haul somebody to the ground by the throat. I love watching this guy, but he's hurt his ankle. Get well soon Tyler! Elsewhere, this Raptors team went from being the NBA's version of the Saw franchise to a Disney musical in the last six weeks. They're winning games, they're sharing the ball, they're playing like a team who has a system and is going places. Of course they'd be going to places like the Pain Cave if they played in the Western Conference, but being a Raptors fan has been tough since .... well, with the exception of a couple years, ever since the inception of the franchise. Let's enjoy this bit of a heartbeat the team has CPR'd into existence. Atlanta Speaking of heartbeats, what's up with the Atlanta Hawks? - for the second year in a row they're the most boring team in the NBA. Expect changes next year though, they've imported a coach from basketball's think tank, San Antonio. Also, their underrated big man Al Horford has to miss the remainder of the season with a pec injury. Maybe next year guys. Miami This is LeBron's league right now, has been for a couple years, will be for a couple more. Let's enjoy it. Miami's regular seasons have become nothing too exciting, evidence that the season is too long and there's not enough incentive to perform every night. But after three straight trips to the finals, they must be weary. However, as long as they have one of the greatest ever - a guy whole looks like he's only playing in the NBA while he serves out a suspension from the Intergalactic League of Superstars - the Heat are still the title favourites. Indiana A bit less consistent and proven than the Heat, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Pacers come out of the East this year. They were a game away from the 2013 Finals and they're significantly deeper now than they were last year. Also, I didn't know that the name Pacers comes from Indiana's history with both harness horse racing - which featured a pace horse - and the Indy 500, which requires a pace car. Western Conference coming soon ... It was the middle of the night and we were driving through a snow storm listening to Ryan Seacrest's top hits of 2013 countdown; visions of his spray tan and whitened teeth stood in contrast to the messy blizzard and smelly cab of my truck.
I flipped the radio off when Katy Perry's "Roar" came on, switching over to CD and the Police's Zenyatta Mondatta. "Ok," said Sue, "this is good, but we should check back soon and find out what's next on the countdown." It was a fair point, I was curious too, and Sue isn't really a hits-monger, so it's not like I'd been subject to this stuff any more than the average fun hating, hits despising man. Furthermore, the whole scene gave cause to reflect on what my top 10 songs of the year were, a collection that would feature a lot of new-to-me stuff as it's been my practice to find my new music at second hand stores these days. In no order, here are the songs that made me happy and sad, brave and nostalgic, primitive and sophisticated in the Year of our Lord 2013. The Police - Voices Inside My Head I bought Zenyatta Mondatta by the Police in late November and took to it immediately. ZM was the Police's "we were busy touring and we just threw together this record" record. This formula often means disaster, industry pressure nags a touring band until they chug out some noise. ZM is that record, only it's made by the Police, a trio built for the studio. Voices Inside My Head put me in a trance at least 30 times last year. Notorious BIG - Going Back To Cali (Viceroy Remix) In the summer we do fitness every day at work and most days a feeling of pukey dread infects me as I prepare to compete against my peers in a tough workout. One of my coworkers is in charge of music and he has a string of pop remixes that goes on for about an hour. This one by some guy named Viceroy was my favourite, it calmed me down and put me in a nice, happy-to-be- here state. Bryan Ferry - Oh Yeah More about this summer, I lived on my own in a seedy house, in a small room. It was like being 20 years old again, and I didn't like it. The mattress on the floor, the tiny room and the limited kitchen supplies are no longer fun. Sometimes after a hard day and lonely night I would put on this song. It made me feel like an enigmatic, elegant modern day bachelor, someone who enjoyed Frank Sinatra crooning and the haute couture of 1980s ballad production. Care for a drink m'lady? Earl Sweatshirt - Burgundy A banner year for hip-hop is what everyone said, and buying this Earl Sweatshirt album, at Future Shop Prince George, is evidence that something was up in 2013. Earl's "Doris" is a great album and I heard it just in time, I'm young enough to get the references he makes to Harry Potter and Snapchat. Moving to the end of my twenties I'm afraid my days of relating to hip hop are about to be swept out, so it was nice to connect once more. Big Star -Thirteen More music that draws obvious generational lines. Big Star is the second band of singer Alex Chilton. A guy born in 1950 and first successful with his band the Boxtops at age 16. Thirteen includes the line "Won't you tell your dad get off my back/ tell him what we said about Paint it Black." I don't know what exactly Alex is saying here, if he likes Paint it Black, or if he hates it. The point is, this must be the earliest reference of somebody being aware of the hegemonic baby boomer beast known as Classic Rock and, more particularly, The Rolling Stones. Foals - Inhaler I read about this group in Q magazine and accepted that I was the target audience for their particularly British brand of rock music. So I bought it, and it's ok. The whole album didn't stick, but there are a few great tracks on it. Inhaler sounds like what I always wished Janes Addiction had sounded like, it's an awesome, immense wave that takes forever to crash. Foo Fighters - Big Me The other day I put the Foo Fighters on when I was fixing my cheap bed and it was like Dave Grohl was pounding nails right beside me. They should play nothing but Foo Fighters at trades school. Talking Heads - Girlfriend Is Better Are white people funky? Was that sentence disgusting? Yes to both. David Byrne and the gang caught me this year with 1983's Speaking in Tongues. I'm on the edge of falling into the sweaty, intellectual male dominated pit of Talking Heads Super-fandom. Joe Nichols - Sunny And 75 The title of this piece is "Songs of the Year," lacking is the word "best," which means Sunny and 75 makes the cut. On a trip to the States late last summer I was exposed to hours of this song on country radio. At first I was unhappy that the guys in my truck insisted on country music. Eventually though, I gave in and sat in a semi-coma listening to country hits for three hot weeks. My feelings moved from disdain to acceptance to a slippers and nightgown in the asylum type of enjoyment. The songs painted beautiful pictures in my head, particularly this one by Joe Nichols. Bruce Springsteen - Tougher Than The Rest Before driving from Halifax to B.C. last spring I picked up two cassettes at the Value Village in Moncton: U2's Rattle and Hum and Bruce's Tunnel Of Love. Rattle and Hum is the picture of a band still maturing, leaving tiny Ireland and discovering big, varied America in the most insufferable Bono way possible. On the other hand Bruce made a record, right around the same time that was so lyrically dark and raw that it's hard to listen to. So we have Irish musicians making an American record. And we have the most American musician making a more personal, heartbreaking record. U2 sees America's wide open spaces as possibility whereas Bruce uses the space to get away from pain and loss, or to dodge responsibility. In the small space of my truck driving across the big space of rural America I found room for both, but when I think about those long days in Bruce's homeland, it's his sad voice that I hear the most. Sitting on the chairlift in the pouring rain over Christmas it occurred to me that lately skiing hasn't been the Sooooo Awesome activity it's been in the past. I only get out a few days a year and those days have been nothing special.
But later in the holidays I was lucky enough to hit a ski day so good that it made me reevaluate my thoughts on the sport and give cause to compare what's good about skiing and what's good about riding bikes. The two are connected in many ways, there's so much gear involved that they give the impression you can buy your way into mastery. You can't. It takes time like anything else. These thoughts swirled in my head as I rode the chairlift on my own and skied run after run of delicious powder. But without going too deep into how my day on the hill centred my shakras and made me anti-capitalist, I just want to talk about what elements of these sports are the most satisfying. Skiing and mountain biking aren't just different nominations of the same solo-sport religion; they're completely different sports that trigger different pleasure centres in the brain. Skiing uses man-made objects, like goggles and a jacket, to enjoy something that occurs naturally - snowy mountains. Skiers spend many hours plying their sport in unexceptional conditions - blah days at icy ski hills, or, for the more dedicated, waiting for the weather in the backcountry to become passable. But once in a while you hit on something sublime, and it's all built around those fleeting moments of ecstasy. My first few runs of that powder day were so good that every nasty minute from the past disappeared. The overpriced lift tickets, the sitting on the chair in the pouring rain, it didn't matter because slicing through fresh snow is unreal. It's like an imaginary match scraping against your chest, the fact that we've figured out how to use snow for fun creates a carnal friction. I didn't invent skiing, but a good ski day is like being invited to put a log on that fire. Meanwhile, mountain biking produces different feelings of satisfaction. Yes, it's outside, and it appears to pass through the same wicket of the primal pleasures of skiing, but there are different joys found in mountain biking. Unlike skiing, biking depends on man-made instruments and man-made obstacles. It relies (usually) on built trails to shoost people down the mountain. The bike is the steer and the trail is the belt tied to its nuts. Mountain biking is about angles and physics, making the bike do things it otherwise wouldn't do - hitting jumps at the exact right speed or skidding out just a little on a tight corner. A good bike ride feels like you've solved a bunch of math problems and then bowled a bunch of strikes - it's all about accuracy. Mountain biking and skiing are connected by the time it takes to get the most out of them. I got some riding in this fall, and I stole a few extra days of skiing this Christmas. The extra time meant a real sniff of the sweetness, the unique greatness, of each sport. |
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