A Rainy State of Mind

If you haven't heard of A Textbook Tragedy yet, you may have been subject to a terrible hazing from someone who doesn't want you to enjoy life.

I'm fairly late on name-dropping this album, but their new 5 track EP, Rain City State of Mind has recently been released and has been receiving great feedback.

I haven't been able to stop listening to it, so you know it's good.

They have their single from the album, White Lightning on their Myspace, among other great hits so make sure to check them out! - http://myspace.com/ATextbookTragedy

Forget the Intro

I should have known that I would jump right into this whole blog world without properly introducing myself. Maybe I assumed that a Jon Lajoie interview would essentially do it for me.

 I am a pretty busy student, who attends the University of New Brunswick. I'm in my 4th and final year of a Multimedia degree. I've been involved in a couple of things around campus, but for the most part I've just been working away on class projects while working away at numerous part-time jobs to make ends meet.

 I've been designing for just over a year now and I have been lucky to work with some great people already. This blog, just like the little blurb under the title says, is going to include a lot of different things including some of my design work and other projects I end up enjoying.

Over the past couple of years my interest in politics has grown tremendously. I don't know if it's the deliberate waste of tax-payer's money or the outright lying going down during election time, but politics have been on my mind more and more often. As a result, I've been writing a column for St Thomas University's student newspaper, The Aquinian, to try and take the spin out of federal and provincial politics.

You can check out my last two week's articles underneath this post!

No Holds Barred Week 3

A week has come and gone, and despite all of huff and puff going down in Ottawa, we’re not going to have an election.

Just in case you spent your student loan on a vacation to the Bahamas while prices were cheap and have missed the past week in Canada, the Conservative Government put forward a ways and means motion to overhaul the existing Employment Insurance program in place, extending much needed support to people who have lost their jobs during the recession.

The controversy surrounding this motion has come primarily from the Liberals who have decided that after supporting the Conservatives on every motion put forth in Parliament over the past 27 votes, they no longer have faith in the ruling party. A move which would have sent Canadians to the polls for the second time in as many years, had it not been for the NDP and the Blod Quebecois.

This is an interesting play by Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal party, considering the timing and status of our economy. On one hand it seems as if he is taking a stand to try and distance himself from Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, where, under Ignatieff’s leadership, the Liberals have been painted as sharing the same republican-type values.

On the other hand, it also seems like an underhanded attempt to foil the reputation of the NDP and Bloc, all while trying to show people that the Liberals are the only “true” opposition party.

Where the Liberals are lucky is fan-base (It sounds funny because if that were true, they would have won in the previous election,) but having their leader make the case that they have had enough of the current regime, really gets the gossip wheel turning and gets Candians talking. By Ignatieff saying that the Liberals would not support any motion coming from the Conservatives it's going to put a lot of weight on the NDP and Bloc Quebecois to keep making compromises to stop Canadians from facing another election. Over time, after more and more motions are backed and passed thanks to support from the NDP and Bloc, the roles will reverse, and the two parties will start to look like they are in bed with the Conservatives, instead of the Liberals.

That’s Iggy playing the game like the intellectual he is. He knows that after some time, something’s going to have to give, and an election will happen. By that time, the general public will be (presumably) be tired of the Conservatives and assume that the NDP aren’t as socialist as they first thought, handing their vote over to the Liberals.

Considering reforming EI has been something the NDP have been fighting for a long time now, since before the recession began. The Conservatives knew they had to appeal to the leftists in order to avoid an election that would have undoubtedly decided another minority government, whether it be Liberal or Conservative, and would have just pissed Canadians off.

It’s an interesting time in Canadian politics, one that is seemingly moving more and more towards a coalition-type existence, where everybody gets a chance to bring something to the table. Whether it keeps happening or not remains to be seen, but I hope it does for everyone’s sake.

In other exciting news, while in a press conference on his visit to the White House, Stephen Harper was questioned about Canadian health care and whether he had any words to say to the American public. And in true Harper style, he made the comment that universal health care in the US was “…an international issue” and he would not be commenting on it. Missing the perfect opportunity to back Barrack Obama in public, and help him out to try and win over the American population on this, such a controversial issue down there. – It should be noted that one of Harper’s former jobs before becoming Prime Minister was to lobby against universal health care in Canada.

No Holds Barred Week 2

What makes a good government? Is it the party? Is it the policies? Or is it the leader?

A lot of emphasis is put into the selection of a proper leader. They need to be presentable and educated at the very least, but what is really necessary in a good leader, is someone who sounds honest, someone the average Canadian can relate to and find hope for the future from.

With all of the talk about a looming election sparked by the Liberals and party leader Michael Ignatieff, accompanied by low voter turn-out in almost every election Canada has had in my lifetime, some understanding of why and what your voting for is long overdue.

Let’s take a simplified look at how parliament works; An election is held across the entire country. People vote for who represents their immediate area’s best interests. The votes are tallied and whichever party wins the most seats across the country is the “ruling” party of Canada.

This is where it gets a little confusing, so minimize facebook and turn down your iPod.

There are two different types of elected governments, there are majority and minority governments. They are just as they sound. A minority is a party that got the most seats countrywide, but was not able to achieve the 40% of seats needed to achieve a majority.

Think of it like this: Two friends want to see A Walk to Remember, but you want to watch Remember the Titans again. Two vs One, you lose. With a majority, you’re the two, and when you’re the majority in government, what you say, (usually) goes.

When you end up with a minority government like our fine country has, things get a lot more complicated, all of a sudden you have more people wanting different movies, but you only have enough money for one. You end up compromising with your friends and you say something like “If we get this movie, I get more popcorn”. Your friends say fine and you all end up crying in the end anyway.

Parliament is like that. Full of compromise. The old you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours is most prevalent in Parliament then anywhere in the world. Smaller partys sometimes decide to support motions they don’t necessarily agree with, in exchange for a motion more representative of their party’s beliefs to be passed.

Right now, the Conservative party has decided they want to put forth reforms for Employment Insurance eligibility. They stand up in Parliament and present their motion, but because the conservatives currently have around 35% of the seats, it’s up to Canada’s other three parties to decide whether or not they want to support their motion, giving it the necessary amount of votes to pass and go into legislation.

Voting on motions is always fun. It is a way for the non-ruling parties to push their weight around. Smaller parties like the NDP and the Bloc don’t have as much weight to throw as the Liberals because of the amount of seats they control, but collectively, they can all vote against a Conservative motion and make sure it doesn’t go into legislation.

Where minority governments get even more fun is where a Vote of No-Confidence comes into play. Which is where we are now. The Liberals can, and plan to put forth a motion of No Confidence against the current administration and force an election this fall, something the failed Coalition government attempt earlier this year.

If the Liberals are actually telling the truth, Canada will be headed for it’s 6^th election this decade, a very rare occurrence in developed countries. With the current state of our economy, accompanied by the results of numerous polls (Maybe aside from the Liberal’s website polls), One has to wonder if now is a good time for an election.

If it does happen though, I’m afraid to see how much money will go into campaigning and advertising alone. Considering Iggy is a threat to Harper (more so than Dion was), the TV and paper advertisements are going to be unreal, both in airtime and cost, considering expenses from last years attack ads on Dion were in the millions! Call me old-fashioned, but I thought conserving meant saving.

So when we go to the polls this fall (or whenever), just remember, a leader is someone you can trust to give it to you straight. Someone who you can listen to and know isn’t just filling you full of bullshit. Remember that when someone tells you there will be no deficit in two years.

Like always, feedback and comments are greatly appreciated, you can reach me at a0m1s@unb.ca any time.

Jon Lajoie Interview (Uncensored)

If you haven't heard of Jon Lajoie, chances are you've been living the past two years without the internet or eyes. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Lajoie has enjoyed internet fame like no other. He has received numerous Youtube awards including #1 Most Subscribed Comedian (All-Time), and #1 Most Viewed (All-Time), just to name a few for his quirky songs that leave you laughing days later. From love-ballad style songs about stoned shenanigans, to satirically genius songs about women showing their goods, Lajoie has released hit after hit and garnered well over a million hits on almost all of his videos, in some cases even reaching the 30 million view plateau rarely achieved by the best of ring-tone rappers.

Fresh off the release of his debut album "You Want Some of This?" Lajoie was set to embark on a Cross-Canada tour that saw him launch from Fredericton, New Brunswick and continue out west. However, his tour was postponed after he was approached to star on the new FX series The League. And while he's excited to get to the East Coast, who can say no to a TV series headed by the Executive Producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm? No one. That's who.

Rodney: How long have you been involved in comedy?

Jon Lajoie: Not very long, about two and half years. Around July 2007. I didn't really know I wanted to get into comedy. I had taken an Acting and Theatre course earlier and I started trying to write sketch comedy, but it was hard as shit.

Rodney: Being from Montreal, did you feel the Internet was the only way to get noticed and build an English fan-base?

Jon: It wasn't that I was trying to build an English audience, it wasn't thought out. I just decided to buy a camera and I would just tape these sketches and send them out to friends. They liked it and everything, but then I started getting emails from Texas and people were saying you know "Jon, I like your stuff", and I just kept going.

Rodney: Do you think without the Internet and Youtube you could have achieved the same success?

Jon: No not at all, it wouldn't have happened. You know, when I was a kid I never had dreams of LA and being an actor. If it wasn't for the internet I'd probably be in my basement sitting on a stack of scripts trying to apply for little grants to put something on CBC.. That or be into porn or hard drugs. Or both.

Rodney: You've won many Youtube awards including Most viewed Comedian in Canada, as well as Most Subscribed all-time, just to name a few. Where do you get your influence from? Do you write the songs first, or do you come up with characters and write the song based around them?

Jon: I always wrote the song first. I would write the song, get in front of the camera and think, ok now I have to do a dance or something. Like in Everyday Normal Guy, I just wrote a song like a normal person would in the vein of like Wu-Tang Clan or Mob Deep then I got in front of the camera and just made it up. Like in the case of Show Me Your Genitals, I went out and bought that T-shirt, hat and shorts an hour before we shot the video. Then I thought to myself, I need to do some sort of a dance here. So I just fucked around and figured out that dance and it turned out well.

Rodney: Your sketches are both funny and relevant. Do you get positive feedback from them compared to your songs?

Jon: Depends, the internet people really like comedic songs and stuff. People like some of the commercials I've made and the sketches I have up, but some of those sketches are so old it's really just up there for people to watch. I have a bunch of sketch stuff I've got saved for the future when I've got time to pull it out. I love writing sketches, but on the internet I don't really have stuff that's 100% done, like when I started out I was really just fucking around to see what people would say.

Rodney: Your cross-Canada tour, "Jon Lajoie: Live as Fuck" was postponed due to your recent success in finding a role on the upcoming FX series "The League", but does your live act include sketches as well as songs?

Jon: What I do, is I try to mix it up, I have a few videos that I shot specifically for the live show. I play the songs that people know and do some of the sketches. I try to keep at least half of the live show to things that people have never heard, or seen on the Internet. I find that would be a little boring, because it's a lot more funny to see me do it in the context of a video, rather than me standing on a stage a lot of the time. I try to put together some new songs and some stand up. I do some new skits and bits and keep it fresh. There are no new characters, but for the most part, no one has really seen me crack a joke, so there's a lot of me up there too so that's different for people to see.

Rodney: On the topic of "The League", how did that all unfold? Did they come to you? Or did you go down there and demand a TV show?

Jon: This was actually really cool. I actually went down there, I heard a bunch of people down there were fans of mine. There was management and agents and stuff, I also met with Jeff Schaffer, who is the Executive Producer for Curb Your Enthusiasm and he said he was thinking about putting together this new show about fantasy football and a bunch of guys and he came to me and said "I have a character I wrote and he's really based on you, and we'd like to see you on the show". I kind of lucked out.

Rodney: Is it based on you, or a character you made?

Jon: It's actually based on me, the dude's like a stoner weirdo who plays guitar and performs at old folks homes and bars. So I get to do a lot of stuff that I do already, but on a show with a bunch of funny dudes, so it should be really good. We already shot the pilot, we're going to start shooting the show in a couple weeks. I get to do a lot of stuff that I'm known for which is great.

Rodney: Is this the first TV show you were on?

Jon: No, I was on a TV show back in Montreal but nothing that anyone outside of Quebec could have seen because it was a French language TV show, kind of like a soap opera.

Rodney: I presume they paid you with liquor and weed?

Jon: Yeah, basically, it was pretty low budget, they actually paid me in prostitutes, very low end prostitutes, I think we got like four prostitutes a month or something like that.

Rodney: Can you explain your role in "The League" Are you writing? Or are you strictly acting?

Jon: It's great because it's semi-improvised. We don't get a script, it's kind of like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in that sense. We get an idea of what's going on in the scene and I get to bring my own ideas to the table. Whether they take them or not, I'm not in charge of that. So far, when we shot the pilot they were really open to that, I wrote a song for it that will be in it. They kept a lot of the stuff that I did in it, so I don't get a writer's credit, but I get to put what I think is funny in the mix and take it from there.

Rodney: Will the pilot be available online? Or will it be airing on FX?

Jon: It's actually going to be on FX this fall, it will be starting late October or early November.

Rodney: You just released your first album "You Want Some of This?" Did that help at all in getting you this role?

Jon: No, I really just wanted to have something my fans to have with my songs on it. I never planned on releasing an album when I started all of this but then after 15 songs and 15 videos I figured I'd go remix it and re-master it in the studio so that when people ask me "Hey! Where can I get all your songs?" I can point them in this direction to get it. Before the album, my songs were all over the place on mp3 download sites, which was fine, but people couldn't get everything at once.

Rodney: It makes a good gift for your grandmother too.

Jon: Yeah, I think she'd really appreciate the 2 Girls One Cup song.

Rodney: How has the feedback been for the album?

Jon: It's been good, I released it myself on my record label called Normal Guy Productions which is basically my bedroom. We put it out on iTunes, we didn't have any money to advertise or promote, but it's selling well, and consistently. It's not beating Justin Timberlake, but it's doing really decent for putting it out ourselves.

Rodney: I saw you just released the new "Radio Friendly Song" on Youtube. Will you be releasing new material while you're working on The League?

Jon: Oh yeah. I'm never going to stop putting new stuff on the internet, because regardless of what I'm doing, the internet is the place where I can be uncensored and unfiltered. It's really me coming up with everything, I'm in control and I edit them and shoot them and record the songs. I'll never let go of the internet.

Rodney: You've been featured on FunnyOrDie.com - Do you foresee any future projects with any of them?

Jon: I've sat down with a few of those guys and we like each other's work. There's nothing specific in the works. I've worked with them, and they tell me they like working with me. We don't have anything planned right now, but we'll see.

Rodney: You may have been asked this before, but have you ever watched the sun go down, perhaps even while the World was spinning 'round?

Jon: I've actually never been asked that.. Yeah I get pretty deep and I think about the universe and how I'm connected to it.. Then I eat a lot of chips and fall asleep naked.

Rodney: Which leads me to the question on everybody's mind. How high were you when you when you wrote "High As Fuck"?

Jon: It's going to be disappointing! I actually wasn't high. I was just recalling all of the times that I was high. Because I'm not a social smoker. I'm the kind of guy that, when I'm walking my dog, it's all good, but just the idea of going into a store to get something and face another human being always freaks me out. When I'm high I can't write anything, I just sit and watch The Incredible Hulk and eat peanut butter on toast with a bit of honey on it. I'm not productive when I'm stoned.

Rodney: So that's your go-to munch?

Jon: Man! When you get high, put some peanut butter on toast and put some honey on it and when you're eating it you'll think "I can't believe they don't serve this in restaurants! It's so good!"

Rodney: Your tour kicks off on the East Coast in December, how pumped are you?

Jon: I can't wait. I can't wait to get back in Canada. I love my Canadian fans. Every time I get back into Canada, the support I get is wicked. I haven't been on the East Coast yet. I've been trying to get out there for the longest time, so it will be sweet to get out there and party with some Maritimers. You guys party hard out there. If for whatever reason I have to postpone my tour again, just know shits going really well for me.

You can pick up Jon Lajoie's debut album "You Want Some of This?" on iTunes and check him out at www.jonlajoie.com or www.youtube.com/jonlajoie and enjoy hours of uninterrupted hilarity. Make sure you tune in to check out The League on FX this fall!