As you may or may not be aware, I use MPD as my desktop audio player (for mobile solutions such as my laptop, I use Rhythmbox or VLC). Futhermore, I use Sonata as a graphical interface for MPD -- managing playlists, controlling playback, album art, etc. However, sometimes I find it more expedient to run a simple command like mpc play instead of switching to a mouse. In order for the mpc command to work properly ...More »

Today is April 5th, 2009. More than that, it is the first day of Summer here in Central Ontario. "Wait a second," you're saying, "I thought the Summer Solstice wasn't until June 21st (05:45, to be precise)?" While you would be correct, this is not the definition of the first day of Summer that I use. Instead, I use the first occurrence of my family's "boat!" meme. To summarize, whenever we see a boat (on a ...More »

Warning: This post relates to the latest developments of Battlestar Galactica (season 4.5) and is not spoiler-safe. I recommend against reading this post until you have finished watching episode 4x17 -- Someone to Watch Over Me. Music First off, a note to the music in this episode. Holy crap! I am always a sucker for piano, and Mr. Bear McCreary certainly doesn't disappoint in this episode. The opening piece in this episode -- which I shall dub ...More »

Hi, honey. Guess what I did at work today?I wore a bomb. A nuclear bomb in a field of flowers. Today marks the end of my latest stint of nostalgic sci-fi viewing as I finish off The Peacekeeper Wars, the capstone films to the series Farscape -- which is, I might add, one of the best sci-fi television shows ever to grace the air waves. Forget Vala, Claudia Black's performance as Aeryn Sun is far more ...More »

A while ago, I speculated on the possibility of a forthcoming live recording from Matthew Good. I'm a little late bringing you my overwhelming joy with this news, however we are indeed getting a Live At Massey Hall recording. Basically, the release is going to go something like this: October 7th — iTunes release (first 12 tracks) October 7th — Physical release pre-sales (through maplemusic.ca) November 4th — Physical release (all tracks) Naturally, I am very excited about this, as ...More »

I know that I haven't been around much lately, but don't worry, I'm working on a couple posts regarding A) my new apartment and B) my new M.A.Sc. position at UTIAS/SFL. In the meantime, I nearly fell off my chair watching this video: I don't know what they were dangling to make that cat come forward, but given the size of its pupils I can't believe its entirely a responsible thing to be doing =P More »

I have lost faith in the human race. From the BBC: A man on a Greyhound bus travelling across the Canadian Prairies has killed and decapitated a fellow passenger. An eyewitness said the victim was stabbed 50 or 60 times by the man sitting next to him, who then severed his head with a large knife. […] "When we came back on the bus… he was cutting the guy’s head off and pretty much gutting him up," Mr Caton ...More »

Recently, Matthew Good has been experimenting with some possible redesigns for his blog. In addition to a more artistic air, Mr. Good is attempting to bring more focus in the design to his musical endeavors. This includes a more prominent media player, recent del.icio.us links, and a notification area in the header: Several months ago, Matt commented that he was considering recording the Massey Hall show (from his recent full-band tour) to release as a live ...More »

No, seriously. I got an e-mail today from UTIAS indicating that three resident professors had requested interviews with me for a Master's degree program. I have to contact them within the week to set up interviews via phone or in person (the latter is more likely, since it's only about an hour from Peterborough to Downsview). This will make it difficult to be up at the cottage working on our construction projects, but that is ...More »

The latest media update at the Firearms 2 website includes a second gameplay trailer (see below). Check it out, its going to be a great game: More »