Reviews You Can Use

Dan and I watched a French man twiddle his knobs last week. Read all about M83 in my live review.

Oh and if you haven't had enough Eagles of Death Metal (and really, who can have enough Eagles of Death Metal? They're retardedly genius if you're a drunk biker!) - read my interview and live review with Jesse Hughes, thisaway.

Also last week, I went to see OHgr. Who's really Nivek Ogre (who's really Kevin Ogilivie) from Vancouver's industrial godfathers Skinny Puppy. (Basically, Skinny Puppy birthed Nine Inch Nails, but NIN took the credit).

Anyway, I used to be a big fan of the Pups. They were how I "revolted" against my middle-class upbringing - I used to drunkenly request their noise at highschool dances and rail against the "system" by quoting lyrics from "Smothered Hope", "Icebreaker" and "Assimilate".

Anyway, my former-Goth mate Gregg convinced me I needed to relieve my angsty teen years by attending this big-deal homecoming with him, so there I was, on a Sunday night, amongst the ageing freaks. I was black of eyeliner and evil of heart.

But 'lo how I laughed when the actually still-entertaining Ogre came out in a typically theatrical costume - a gruesome rubber mask and outfit -which faced out from his back (he eventually stripped the kit off and turned around to reveal a V for Vendetta-y face mask and makeup). Under a fab light show, he proceeded to sing this delightful little ditty about poo:

Awesome stuff, purile repetition notwithstanding. I felt truly among my freakish people that night. *sigh* Gig season seems to be over now. Franz Ferdinand are headed this way, but I can't be arsed, really. Just seems a bit too top-40, really. And so we head into darkness until Feb.

Chillin' in Bella Coola

So, I recently got back from Bella Coola, BC. I spent a day longer there than I'd expected as my plane out was cancelled due to rain/fog/general crappiness. By "my plane" I mean "the only" plane, a 10-20 person prop plane that requires (obviously) a clear look at the runway before it zooms all willy-nilly over and past glaciers and forests. Something about safety, landing in between mountains, deer running at the side of the 3-inch long runway, you know, the usual. Bah - what a pain. ;-)

Not that Bella isn't insanely, well, bella. Still, I was holed up in this tiny place...
You know, your usual Hav-a-Nap Motel type. ;-) And while the place didn't have a bar, I got an extra day to admire the views of Valley, even in the chucking-down rain. It was hardly "Survivor" as my boss pointed out - but I still felt a bit weird being trapped with nothing but the satallite TV, wireless, warmth, a full kitchen, king-size bed, baked goods in the morning and grocery store a full 20 minutes WALK away. Shocking, really, how I had to struggle. The things I do to get good web content. ;-)

The Coola thing about Bella is that it's so bloody far removed from everything. Have a look at the left-hand side of this Cariboo Chilcotin Coast regional map and you'll see where I was, in Hagensborg, near by the bustling metropolis of B.C. Bella Coola itself is pretty high-traffic. Here's a pic from rush hour:

Wildlife count: 1 giant eagle a meter away from us, 3 x deer (2 of which decided to run across the road as we were driving), 2 x crazy squirrels, 1 x fox and 0 x bear. I. Am. Never. Ever. Going. To. Get. To. See. Wild. Bears. Even. Though. They. Are. 10. A. Penny. In. Bella. Coola.

I drove out with the awesome Shawna Ludwig from the CCC Regional Tourism Association. It was a five-hour drive from Williams Lake and to get to the Bella Coola Valley (situated between stunningly coloured "rainbow" mountains of epic proportions), we had to go down a ruddy great big "Hill".

By "Hill" I mean enormomountain.

An 18% change in elevation doesn't read like much on a computer screen, but believe me, after dozens of crazy tight S-bends on a ONE-lane dirt road hand hewn by the locals (apparently - they call it the "freedom highway". Freedom from what? One's sense of calm?). One on side, bits of shale going straight up. On the other? Bits of shale going straight down. After plugged ears for 30 minutes, I was glad to hit bottom in one piece, it has to be said.

And when we did, the rewards were plentiful. We met with the locals - our region-based writer, and various tourism experts who showed us around town. We hiked through old-growth forests, checked out many a river bed (which are normally crawling with Grizzlies) and hiking trail, bought stupidly good fresh prawns from a local fishmonger, ate at the one restaurant, admired the local Nuxalk native art and generally had a (tiring) but good time. Stranded or not, I am lucky to be able to visit some of these spots. Take, for example, this horrible and dodgy campground. Rubbish innit?

In fact, I suggest you check it out sometime. If the plane doesn't make it in, there's a ferry that comes over from the Island. Sometimes. It takes either 12 or 36 hours.

Next stop, the AMAZING AND WONDERFUL suburb of Vancouver, known as New Westminster! WOOHOO! I hear the views are of, umm, Richmond and the Vancouver airport. But stay tuned, I could be wrong!

Mikala Meets the Eagles of Death Metal

Watch the video. Jesse has an important message for you. :-)

It's undeniable. EoDM Rock. They're simple, uncomplicated, cliched, trashy fun. They just (does the double-hand devil signs) RAWK.

Had SUCH a great time last night. Did a mental interview with Jesse "The Devil/Boots Electric" Hughes who talks so much (good) sh*t. When I asked for my own EoDM nickname, he started out with "Red Genius" (cos of my reddish hair) but said it wasn't sexy enough and he had to think on it. And like the giant cheese-monger he is, he proclaimed me "smokin' hot" and gave me an all-access pass so I could hang out with the band. Wooooo!

I told him I was taken, of course, and he said "good, you should be, but you gotta let a man still try," LOL. Bless him, I think he found someone else to try out/on/with after the show, thank gods, and disappeared to the bus. My full Eaglette nickname shall have to wait. ;-)

After shooting photos in the pit for a few songs, I partied on the side of the stage with various hangers-on and UK openers The Duke Spirit (who are absolutely brilliant and sweet and have a hot girl singer). Then I drank beer, chatted more with the Dukes, laughed at the baby groupies and admired the insanely amazing arms of Queens of the Stone Age's drummer Joey Castillo.

I came. I saw. I rocked out. And it was good.

They're Creepy and They're Spooky

...and all together Ooky, The Addams Family!

Here Be Pirates

Happy Samhain!

Hope everyone had a fun Hallowe'en. Ours was pretty silly but super fun. My office totally got into the spirit, as it were. Half the staff were in costumes and a few of my colleagues went all out, creating their own version among their cubicles of Victoria's prized tourist attraction, Butchart Gardens, which they'd renamed Butcher Gardens and were dressed as dead staff.

The IT team set up video conferencing in our board room so the Vancouver and Victoria offices could compare outfits and Halloween potluck food, I ate far, far too many sweets and baked Squee-Nut Butter cookies, our Online team dressed as the work "Anti-Values" (we rewrote our Corporate values to be super sarky, made t-shirts out of them and sent them the values off to the whole company). Niiice!

Then we met Beth & Simon for dinner at Hapa Izakaya (Hapa Halloween everyone! Geddit?), where we applied our fake tattooes and gear and then headed down to Stanley Park for their Ghost Train - this year it was Pirate Themed, which of course that scurvy dog Dan was most tempted by. The 15-min long kiddie ride takes you through parts of the park decked out all swash-buckler like, and was actually a good laugh. It also helped that Simon had brought oodles of dollar-store Pirate goodies for us to borrow so we could look the p-yarrrrr-t. No, these are not pics from Dan's 30th birthday...

Following that, we took a really silly "Creepy Crawlies" night walk through the park by candlelight with the local ecology group, and met some rather odd creatures.....

This one taught us about how she flies through air and snuffles around for truffles. Or something. We also met a giant raccoon, a bat and a moth. (Oh and we saw some real Halloweeny raccoons scrounging for the organic popcorn on sale, too. The sly 'coons were perfectly disguised and had their own masks on.)

Tomorrow it's an All Saints Day (Night) party at Joy's where we really dress up proper (albeit a day late)! I do believe that Morticia and Gomez Addams may be making an appearance....