A tour through my Blogroll

I've got a touch of writer's block today, so this seems like a good time to peek in on some old and new blogs I read:

A good deed is its own reward for Accordion Guy in a sweet story about karma, Craigslist, two sweet girls in love, and of course, playing Fatboy Slim songs on an accordion. Accordion Guy and Very Well Red (aka Mrs. Accordion) respond to an ad “Be A Part Of Our Wedding”. Read how it all unfolds here: Accordion Guy: A Craigslist Wedding


Townie Bastard is keeping me up to date on life in Iqaluit, where even he is wavering to the temptation of the iPhone. Mac Whores Unite!


I’ve fallen for the voyeuristic charms of Seen Reading. The Toronto-based site’s premise:

1. I see you reading.
2. I guesstimate where you are in the book.
3. I trip on over to the bookstore and make a note of the text.
4. I let my imagination rip.
5. Readers become celebrities.
6. People get giddy and buy more books.

She left off #7: Readers of the blog keep checking to see if they’re Seen Reading.


LORD OF THE WINGS, patron saint of all things wingy, has a great spicy wing recipe, courtesy of the show License To Grill.


Impulsive Buy is always good for a laugh with reviews of new products, mostly things that haven’t (and shouldn’t) make it up here to Canada. Among the hits lately:

Clamato Energy Drink
“as appealing as combing the armpit hairs of a juiced up Eastern European female bodybuilder with a voice that sounds like James Earl Jones.”

Jalapeño SPAM – a review that reminds me of Simpson’s episode where Homer Simpson eats insanity peppers and goes on a vision quest.

Dawn Simple Pleasures Dish Soap, with an air freshener in the base
“I could see the Dawn Simple Pleasures as a bachelor’s dream, covering the stank caused by a few weeks worth of dishes in the sink. Of course, the bachelor’s rule of dishwashing is, “If it don’t stink, just leave it in the sink.”

"Arcade Fire Stole My Basketball"

Ah to live in the age of the internet and blogging, where someone can take a beef with an indie rocker, spin it into a blog, indie rocker's brother counter-blogs the beef, music bloggers have fun with the whole thing.

The story goes that while on tour, Win Butler of The Arcade Fire got into an altercation at a basketball court. Win is then accused of stealing some guy's basketball. Guy then blogs it (the site appears to be deleted, but it was arcadefirestolemybasketball.blogspot.com). Win's brother Will defends Win at arcadefiredidntstealdudesbasketball.blogspot.com (also deleted last time I checked)

The whole point of this post though is to point you at this funny comment thread at "Stereogum", where comments have been piling up as bloggers try to top each other with malicious indie rocker slights. My favourite so far:

"The Decemberists trained a falcon to crap on my head at my wedding."

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get that printed on a t-shirt before I hit some NxNE festival shows.

Source: EW.com - Frankly, I would have pegged them more as badminton types

The Decemberists: Offical Website

How to Comment or otherwise tell me to shut the hell up.

I noticed this on a blog I started to read this week Moviepie Musings and thought I'd use it to remind people how to comment on posts without registering with Blogger.

1. click on the "comments" hyperlink at the bottom of the blog entry on which you'd like to comment

2. type your comment into the text box

3. when asked for your identity, simply select "other" -- this opens two new fields: one for your name (or handle or however you'd like to be identified), and one for your website's URL (if you have one or feel like putting one in...it's not necessary)

4. then click "publish your comment" and presto! you did it! hooray!

It's quick, easy and completely anonymous (i.e., in case you're worried, we can't trace you or anything). So, please, comment away!

while I was out

While dealing with the triple decker combo of new job, moving and a jittery internet connection, some of you have passed the time wandering through my blogroll, just to the right hand side of this post. This is some of what folks have been up to:

First off, congrats to Broken Engine on the birth of his son, Maxwell Knight. All the best, and the baby has a pretty cool name: perfect for a spy or superhero secret identity. You know, practical stuff.

It's a regular meeting of the Blogeratti (Blog-ioso?) withLogan's Dave visiting Toronto, hosted by Naked KnitGirl and Accordian Guy.

Jen at No Such Nonsense went to see Poison this week, for a night that was part nostalgic rocking out whislt throwing the horns, and part gawking at the crowd. I thought I heard Cinderella opened. I suppose Ratt wasn't available.

Life never seems to slow down for the Waghorns at Our Little Institution, who have the culture shock of moving from Ottawa to Virginia. Some it's not culture shock, some of it is good old fashioned "Are you frigging kidding me?" shock.

Whoo hoo Jacquie's back to blogging at artifacts! Jacquie's always made an effort to read and comment, so make sure you pop in and take a look around her place. Help yourself to the guest soaps too.

I hope to be back up to speed starting right about now, so keep checking back.

These are the people in my blogger-hood

A little glimpse at some of the folks in my blogroll. Make with the nicey-nice and check them out.

Jen Dzuira's McSweeney's submission on mind control
Wow. Now that would be a Happy Meal.
Also check out some of the more absurd replies to her article from some folks who may not be aware McSweeney's is a humour site, and then read up on her recent wedding at CBGB's. Scan down the page for various posts on the subject, but damn that's what a wedding should be like. There are people living cooler lives than mine. This is one of them.

Our Little Institution
In which the lovely Waghorn couple move from Ottawa to North Virginia, and weather the transition without resorting to pharmaceuticals, whiskey, or firearms. Dealing with everything they've been dealing with would drive me to at least 2 out of the 3.

a girl i used to know
If my career counselor had offered a position that entailed rescuing abused dogs in Australia, living in a seaside Sydney, and taking photos of cityscapes and clouds in my spare time, I'm pretty sure I'd apply.

Naked Knit Girl
Maria covers such randomness as life in Toronto, a love of chicken wings, late-night cooking and knitting. She makes it all work quite well, thankyouverymuch.

clara*s victory dance
This is Clara. Everyone wave to Clara. She likes Toronto, Terry Pratchett books, Bruce Campbell, and finding humour in the absurdity of life. That makes her good people in my book.

Random Acts Of Reality
A blog based in London, England, written by an E.M.T working for the London Ambulance Service. He kills far less people than I would have. This blog is a great insight into the insanity that Ambulance Services deal with, and why nobody would blame them for dipping into the anti-psychotic meds.

LORD of the WINGS (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the suicide)
If you like wings in Toronto, you should check out Jeff's blog. It's all about the wings. No, seriously, it's just about chicken wings. Some great tips, recipes, and recommendations to be found.

Dear Apple, Make Me an Offer

Had a long couple of days, I'll post my "first day of summer" (June 21st) post Thursday. They don't call it the lazy days of summer for nothing. No, seriously, too tired to copy the post from my notepad to the computer. See the little time indicator down there? This is why I need a MacBook, I could have done this live earlier from wherever I was.

Dear Apple, if you're reading this, if you can give me a pretty and useful MacBook, I will write so many nice complimentary things about it. It could be a marketing project, give a blogger a free MacBook and show how easy it is for a PC owner to switch to Mac. I could blog about it. I can be bought, I can be a corporate shill. Just imagine it:

the2scoops
brought to you by Apple Macbook

All right, look away, you shouldn't see me like this. You can't judge me. Who are to judge? You... you... Judgie McJudgerson!

If anyone finds my scruples laying around somewhere could you just preserve them in gin and give them a good home?

Zach Braff.com open this week

Welcome back to the blogosphere/verse/corner Zach Braff. The talented triple threat writer/actor/director has finally opened his site, and was nice enough to post his video blog on the YouTube site. He's always been pretty open and cool with his fans, and it looks like the site will have plenty of opportunities to submit short films, music and all types of goodies. And in return for our time, Zach has posted a first look at his next film "The Last Kiss" which comes out on September 15th written by Paul Haggis (Crash) and directed by Tony Goldwyn.

I fully realize this is Zach Braff's continued mission to destroy me. First he learns to act, writes, and directs a film - all to beat me to Natalie Portman, and now he opens a new blog and gets more hits in the course of a day than I do all month. Well played Vanilla Bear, the duel continues...



ZachBraff.com

The Post About Music Blogs

I tend to have all-encompassing tastes when it comes to music, my focus jumping from band to band, genre to genre. I constantly reload my iPod and mess around with playlists until the wee hours. One of the best sources to sample the world of music out there are Music Blogs. The following blogs have a variety of opinions, reviews and links to mp3s in order to spread the word on great music. Most of the mp3 links are only active for a week or two, so check the sites regularly to keep up to date. Music is posted for evaluation purposes only and many sites have links that allow you to help you support the artists, living by the credo If You Like It, Buy It and Support The Artist.

A lot of the bands featured haven't broken out yet - these folks were raving about Arcade Fire, Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie and Bloc Party before they became The Next Big Thing Featured On The O.C. - and cruising the sites helps you keep ahead of the curve when it comes to new and independent musicians.

We can make them our little secret. Well, you, me and the internet...

Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good

.: chromewaves.net v6.0 registration required to access the weekly featured song. Toronto based and frequently nominated for Bloggies (my word for blog awards)

WFMU's Beware of the Blog - blog of the freeform radio station of the nation

gentle indifference: A compact disc-length compilation of relevant music from each calendar year dating back to 1960. Updated every Monday. Currently leaving 1970 for the 60s, the playlists and entries on the more current years are great.

Muzak For Cybernetics: An Indie Rock Blog Featuring MP3s, Videos And News

Said the Gramophone - an mp3 blog: "this is a daily sampler of really good songs. all tracks are posted out of love. please go out and buy the records! "

a soundtrack for everyone

Take Your Medicine - UK mp3 blog & podcast: "A UK based mp3 blog showcasing the best in indie, folk, lo-fi, hi-fi, eclectic and electric music from home and abroad... "

AngryRobot - programmed to destroy. powered by music.

The Rich Girls are Weeping: "an affiliate of depravedfangirls.org. "

thetestpilot

Also recommended:

Rock // Paper // Pixels - a photoblog of great bands that have played Toronto

How I Stopped Worrying & Learned to Love the Blog

I need to get some things off my chest. Thankfully, there is a place that will allow one man to rage against injustice, be exposed to thoughtfully constructed arguments on a range of relevant topics, and to be treated in a civilized manner.

This is not that place.

This is the internet and this is the2scoops blog.

Hopefully, this place can point you towards some of the things in this world that grab me by the collar and tell me "tell others now or the kitten gets it!"

I intend to use this place as a spot to empty my head, to leave stray thoughts and see where some of the fluff in my head leads. Some of it is news, some is personal, some is just funny stuff, some of it will actually consist of feelings & thought, and some of it will be fuelled by gin.

I'm not promising revolution or a new tomorrow, just a peak into some corners of the planet you missed the first time. Check in often, I'll try to get something up here every day or so.

"It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way."