Heroes in a Half Shell...

TURTLE POWER!

You will watch this video because:

a) you were with me when I was one toe over the line outside of the Astoria after the completely amazing Clips/Woodhands show, yelling this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme line and having people call back the Turtle Power! part;

b) you've ever seen the original version;

c) you wish to finally settle the question of whether any words can sound soulful and sincere with the right delivery;

d) you deserve a mellow, turtle-powered jazz break (which, obviously, you do);

e) you are willing to indulge me in a musing on media;

Quod erat demonstrandum - you press play now.


0:54 to 1:20 will blow your mind and break your heart simultaneously

Friends, meet David Choi. He's a moderately talented aspiring singer from LA playing mainly acoustic covers of popular songs, and his own saccharine ballads. But what strikes me is that David Choi is so 2.0 it's 2.econd nature.

Witness davidchoimusic.com - re-launched recently, it includes a member's community, links to multiple networks (he has about 15,000 myspace friends) an active text blog, video blog and Twitter feed, a (currently empty) store and even a LIVE DAVID CAM. Yes, you read that right. He even accepted my friend request on Facebook within twelve minutes of sending.


Hidden Website Secret! You can softly caress David's pet hamster in real time by pressing control-shift-e repeatedly on his homepage!

I've recently the pleasure of hearing two of today's most relevant digital thought leaders speak: Chris Anderson at this year's Vidfest keynote, and Richard Edelman at our offices (full disclosure - both Vidfest and Richard Edelman are connected to my current place of employ.)

Both made speeches which included an identical statement: If you're under 25, you know this already.

The need for this sentence is interesting. It isn't necessarily generational, but the gap between those who are using the digital space and those who are learning from slideshows about it has never been more important.

Social media is so specifically about interaction, I wonder if it's possible to understand it without actually participating in it.

Long-time readers will remember that this site used to have a '10 reasons why this blog is better than your myspace page' sidebar. Then I registered an account for personal reasons. I loved it, and am now active there and on Facebook as well as peripherally on some other sites. Being open to new social networking ideas helps create smart strategies, organize life, and have a lot of fun.

But, if you're under 25, you knew that already.

iTunes by the Numbas

This little iTunes questionnaire comes to me by way of Sean Klassen via Kevin Broome, and is a cute little 'why not' meme.

This is my work iTunes library, which is fairly different from the one on my home laptop. I will repeat this exercise from home, and use it to draw over-stated conclusions about the difference between homeBeckstar and workBeckstar.

Here goes:

TOTAL LENGTH: 814 items, 2.2 days, 3.42 GB

FIRST AND LAST SONGS (BY TITLE):
-Abaixa E Pega :: Brazilian Funk Compilation [noted: the Alta Vista translator translates this as 'It Lowers and it Catches'. My hunch is that it translates more accurately to 'Drop that Booty and Get Yo' Man']
- 3030 :: Deltron

SHORTEST AND LONGEST SONGS:
- Vault Character :: Calvin Harris - 0.08
- Avalanches Mix for the BBC - 1:04:18

FIRST AND LAST ALBUMS (BY TITLE):
- The Action Packed Mentallist Brings You the Fucking Jams :: Kid 606
- 6 Feet Deep :: Gravediggaz
- (Z by Gonzales if we go by alphabet only)

FIRST AND LAST ARTIST (BY TITLE):
- Aesop Rock
- 1337 G33K B3AT
- (Zookeeper if we're going by alphabet only)

TOP FIVE MOST PLAYED SONGS:
Follow the Light :: Dungeon Family
Paper Planes :: MIA
I'm a Slave 4 U :: Britney Spears
Sweet Jane :: Cowboy Junkies
Tribulations :: LCD Soundsystem

SEARCH FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS. HOW MANY SONGS SHOW UP?
Sex: 5
Death: 3
Love: 31
You: 76
Home: 4
Boy: 16
Girl: 55
Robot : 4
Nerd: 23

FIRST FIVE SONGS THAT COME UP IN PARTY SHUFFLE:
- Side Effects (featuring Young Jeezy) :: Mariah Carey
- Solstice :: Pit Er Pat
- Civilization Day :: Quasimodo
- The Undercover (Remix) :: Encore & G Luv
- Crazy On You :: Heart

Have I told you about my newish co-worker Kevin Broome? Yes, check him out, but please don't leave me for his articulate, interesting, insightful and amazing blog. I loved you first readers! I LOVED YOU FIRST!!!!

Betweein Kevin and the other new playa on the work scene, Leigh Peterson, the digital/interactive department is off the hizzy with talent. Makes it fun to come to work in the mornings. Awwwww...

Monster attack!

My friend Rhya, who I've blogged about before, is profiled (with her fantabulous company - Monster Factory) on CityNews, as part of their 'Toys in Toronto' series.



Why would you purchase one of those cheap, tacky, made-in-China Ugly Dolls, when they can have a lovable, completely Canadian-made creation?

Go Rhy go!

Pour ma jolie Quebeçoise...

Flight of the Conchords. New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists. If you don't know - now you know.

This video is obviously the theme song for anyone who's recently moved to Montreal.



Or check out this amazing rap battle between Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros. You might want to say those out loud for maximum effect. Word.


My rhymes are so potent, that in this small segment
I made all of the ladies in the area pregnant

Marina's Stagette

Daaaaamn. Was Marina's stagette on Saturday night some ridiculous good times? Witness the following:


You want to touch the bride? Nobody touches the bride.


Megan and I emit alien light vectors.


Rhy, Rhy, Rhy. How can you be so very awesome?


Meena works the crown. Note the careful placement of capuchin monkey and green pepper. All Beckstar, baby.


If it were anyone but KT, I would be all 'Greatest! Photo! Ever!'. Instead, I'm all 'What's that? Katie took another totally amazing party photo? Cool, now who wants toast?'


Gorgeous D, displayed by gorgeous M.


Lady E and the Bridesmaid Power Squad. represent. whut.


Beckstar and Bridestar. Woot!

August in Vancouver - raining cupcakes

Cupcake addiction? Let's not go there.

My girl Marina is getting married next weekend and, as one of the bridesmaids, my job this weekend was to send her off in a drunken, hedonistic fever. Obviously, to the Beckstar, this means a cupcakestravaganza.

For you, woeful readers... I document it all in a photo essay.


The all-important 'pretend the fructose is a huge pile of cocaine' stage.


The setup for candying edible flowers - lazy variation: use of feather in place of paintbrush. Hey - whatever works, right?


The beautiful end result of project flower candy.


Mixmaster Beckstar.


Tasting of batter is extremely important at regular intervals. This is all entirely standard, and should not be questioned.


Enjoying a fresh warm batch of cupcakes. Is there any finer pleasure?


My signature recipe - cheesecake cupcakes. Drooooooool.



Batch 2 - Pineapple Coconut Cream Cheese Cupcakes. Fuck yeah!


And the gorgeous vanilla sisters. Can I get an amen?

Harry Potter! The end of an epic...

So last night we went to the Harry Potter book seven launch! Woohoo!!

I've just finished the book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - and witnessed memorable characters and worlds find their fate written, their destiny sealed. I'm going to discuss it in full, spoiler-y detail right now - but I'll mask the text. Highlight it with your cursor if you're sure you want to read it:

Loved it! The resolution of many of the plotlines happened along the lines I expected, but wasn't sure. Some key points:


1. That Snape betrayed Voldemort out of love for Lily. Plausible. Awesome. As we saw in Book Five, his worst memory may not have been the day he was humiliated by James and the boys, but rather the time he called Lily a mudblood. And this explains why Dumbledore trusted him so deeply. And his death was pretty much a given. Poor, poor Snape. In many ways, I'd consider him the real hero. And the epilogue? When Harry admonishes his son (Albus Severus Potter!) for speaking against Slytherin? So good.


2. That Harry was a horcrux. How you like that? This one was ultra-controversial. The pottercasters were sharply divided over this question, although the scarcrux theory, as it had been called, explained so many things it seemed like the right fit. To whit:

• Harry's psychic connection to Voldy


• Harry being able to open the Chamber of Secrets, when it was restricted only to the Heir of Slytherin; Harry being, of course, the "Gryffindoriest Gryffindor who ever Gryffindored"


• Harry getting some of V's powers - parseltongue for example


• The sorting hat's ambivalence about putting Harry in Gryffindor versus Slytherin

3. Harry Lives! Of course he does. Puffaw. Seriously.


Good book, poor Snape, yay Harry. I also liked it when Neville kicked ass at the end. Woot! I did think it would be cool to know more about their lives at the end - like what jobs they had - but it was pretty awesome overall, most definitely.

The launch party, at Vandusen Gardens, was pretty fun to. A long lineup, but well-organized event with great energy.


The crowd. Evidently something like 4,000 people were expected to show. That's over $125, 000 in book sales from attendees alone.


Here I am! Rock you like a Pottercane!


LJ believes that the movies are as good as the books. I say books win no question.


Marina, almost as excited as I was.


Clau, another old school Potter fan.


LJ examines our key to Grimmauld Place.


When the book tents open, the crowd is suddenly dense, swaying, reeking of teenager.


Eventually we approach book flaps number nine and ten.


Victory! We have the tome!


Victory yes! Sweet victory!

Canada Day in the U.S.A!

No real story here. We went to Portland, we had good times.

These pictures are from a fantastic little diner in Olympia. Milkshake for the road? Yes!

Federally Mandated Beckstar Photo Break

Today's episode will be particularly fruitful, as I haven't been posting photos regularly.

So without further ado...


Erin and Dale got married!


More fun at the ErinDale wedding.


Damn I'm a beautiful bride. This one from the out of control stagette.


A week later? It's the inestimable Blondicorn (Sam)'s birthday!


And we developed the power to astrally project.


An art party occurred. Randy (artist) is on right. His stuff is really good.


Springtiiime... and the living is easy.


My brother got grills. He's the coolest. If you don't know, now you know.


My good friend Kermit rules. Here he is stuffed to the grills with my sushi pillows.

Valentine's Day 2007...

More details, and more funny, to follow...

I'll just leave these ambiguous and odd photos for now.

Erin + Dale: Argyle Extravaganza!

Saturday night saw us toasting Erin and Dale's engagement, an event which happened about a year ago, but which is obviously worth celebrating at any time!


Awww... such a lovely couple!


A small part of the infamous Argyle Gang, repping their pattern.


Eileen and Brandi share a laugh.


Eileen and Robin share a moment.


Here I am fearing Erin's alleged giant head.

Their wedding is going to be be even more fun, so... yay! Any event with a cupcake-pyramid cake is obviously tops.