An Historie Of Pope Felix XIV
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Christopher Harris" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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11:01 pm
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Weather
I hope this hurricane turns out to be nothing, for the sake of everyone back home. Not that I'll be there to see it, but long power outages are not fun for anybody.
Perhaps I'll pull out some fuses from the box, in order to feel some kinship for anyone so affected. Or perhaps not.
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01:31 am
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If Everyone Hasn't Read This Already...
My dad sent me this, and I thought it was interesting. Anyone else have any opinions? Discuss.
http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-making-you-miserable.html
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07:14 am
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"Liam's Brain" is an anagram of "Animal Ribs" and "Lamb Raisin" - coincidence?
Just home from working all night, and Kerry and Liam are not awake yet. It's been awhile since I wrote. Liam is more exciting every day, with his learning of more words and new stages of cognition. It's really fascinating to me that he will just start doing something like, for example, dancing to a beat rather than just at random, and it's like he just suddenly got it. No one really taught him, but it was just suddenly there. Another example is when he started taking any random thing, like a shoe, and talking into it like a telephone. It's understandable if he's talking into a toy phone, but it was amazing when he actually started pretending. I mean, where does it come from? It's like a Tetris block in his brain just falls in the right spot, and suddenly new levels of thinking are unlocked, and there's no going back.
At the same time, it makes me realize that most of us have developed all these same things and more, but now we take it all for granted. I often forget just how wonderful the mind really is. It struck me when Liam was first doing these things that he was already thinking in ways that most animals can't, at least as far as we know.
(Don't think I'm knocking animals. I know a lot of them can sing and dance and imagine and do sign language and are probably smarter than me, but they are a minority. Technically, "most animals" could refer to insects.)
Anyway, that's the word from my easily-impressed, sleep-deprived brain.
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09:50 pm
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New Music
In January, I finished recording the second Sporadic E disc, but I've been busy with my courses, so I haven't had a chance to post it, until now.
You can download the whole thing here: http://download.yousendit.com/81385B2F7C95F11B
It's instrumental, like the first one, but less electronic and dissonant (except for the first track). It was written with Liam in mind, as I wanted to make music that could soothe a baby, but not traditional lullaby-type stuff. So, after the first track, it gets pretty relaxed.
I have to blow my own horn and say that 'Safe For The Time Being' is possibly my favourite track I've ever recorded, and not just because it features Liam on vocals.
So, enjoy, and feedback is always appreciated.
Tags: music
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10:25 pm
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Mr Harris Goes To Ottawa
So last Tuesday/Wednesday I went to Ottawa to take a tour of where I'll be working come April. It was informative.
George and I went to a comic store, whose name I forget, and it sucked. Walls and walls of action figures and anime porn, with only a token section of comics, and really crappy death metal playing at a low volume (which makes crappy death metal even crappier). I felt dirty, and the best part was leaving. Oh, and it had video games, which I don't like to see in a comic store. If I want games, I'll go to EB Games or something. I never buy games.
Then we went to a comic store called The Silver Snail which actually had lots of comics, comics everywhere, no anime-porn, and only a small amount of action figures (just to fill up spare wall-space). The Japanese guy working there (alone) wore this Miyagi-style bandana and blared the Everly Brothers through the stereo, singing along. Coolest comic store I've ever been in (sorry Strange Adventures), and I don't even buy comics (I borrow them from the liberry), but I was excited nonetheless. The first store was creepy-basement-nerd, and the second was whimsical-outsider-nerd, like night and day (except the nerd part).
I stayed at the Sheraton, paid for by my employer. It was nice, except we got up at 5am to go find some breakfast (we had to be on the road by 6).
True story!
Current Mood:  boring
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04:34 pm
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Intriguing
I find this funny yet passionate. David Lynch and I are on the same page way too often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0
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10:00 pm
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In Addition...
Nobody asked, but here it is, my annual list of books read in the past year. My posting this list almost justifies keeping such a list. It's shorter this year due to some baby who tends to interfere with my reading time. I still love him, though.
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09:45 pm
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What? A Non-Music-Related Entry?
I've decided I should update more, and maybe talk about what's going on in my life, rather than just when I'm plugging my music.
So, tomorrow I go back to work after a month off for Christmas (ah, the military). Liam is well, and eating lots, loving pears, peaches, and apples best, and not liking bananas at all. I thought everyone loved bananas, or at least all primates. My kid's clearly a freak.
I got a new travel mug from Tim Hortons today, after my old one got ruined about a month ago (don't ask). My new one is an ugly cream colour, though, and I miss my old mug. I was hoping to get a Dharma Initiative mug, but I couldn't find one that was suitable. That would've been cool to have at work, and by 'cool' I mean 'cool to me'.
Yep, my life is definitely interesting enough to warrant this post.
Current Mood:  hunky dory
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08:17 pm
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Yet Another New Album
Some months back (February), I decided to record an album of instrumentals. Having just finished an album of songs (The Hour of None), I thought I would record and 'release' under a pseudonym. So, I put three songs on download.com under the fake band name 'Sporadic E' (a communications/meteorology term), and much to my surprise / chagrin, they were more popular than the stuff under my own name.
So, I finished a bunch more songs, uploading them to download.com periodically.
That said, here is the finished album in a nice tight little package. It can be downloaded at http://download.yousendit.com/99DE7CE00B130090 for 100 downloads or 7 days.
It's not for everyone, not unlike my former instrumentals (see my b-sides album). I thought it was a better idea to record this kind of thing under a different name rather than try to foolishly mix my songs and instrumentals on the same album (see my appendix album).
So, if you like ambient instrumentals or electronic music, check it out.
And that's it for the moment. Three albums recorded in a year is too much, I admit.
Current Mood:  accomplished
Tags: music
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11:30 pm
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Liam Smiles
So, Liam is one month old today, and smiled for the first time (that it wasn't just gas, that is). He's been practicing all day. That grin just makes me all gushy just looking at it, thus turning me into a lame gushy dad, but oh well. It's my right.
My French oral exam is Wednesday, and then I am finished with French. I 'borrowed' a few French novels from school (apparently, according to my teacher, they "have plenty and won't miss a few - no one reads them anyway"), including the French version of Lord of the Flies, a novel by Emile Zola (I almost ran away from it, but my teacher says I am definitely ready for it), and a translation of Ivanhoe. They will allow me to practice after the course is done, I hope.
We finished Harry Potter yesterday, which was totally satisfying, no matter what anyone says. You can't judge a series by plot inconsistencies or unanswered questions (see the Dark Tower series).
Current Mood: pleased
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01:28 pm
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Introducing...
Kerry posted this, but not everyone is on her friends list.
I am now a dad. A real dad, not a pretend one. A boy, Liam Michael Orion Harris. I don't have any pictures yet, but I googled 'newborn baby' and found this picture, to give a rough idea of what my baby would look like:
Current Mood: reproductive
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05:22 pm
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Still Alive
I thought it was finally time to post an update. Here's what's new in the world of me (it's a small world):
1. First of all, I am very excited about the impending baby, with a mere 24 days to go until the due date. Reading about birth, buying baby products, wrapping my head around the reality of all this... it's been a busy time. Kerry is doing fine, and so far it's a text-book example of a pregnancy, and I hope it stays that way.
2. Au sujet de mon travail, je suis en train de suivre mon cours francais. J'ai obtenu les niveaux A, B, et C respectivement pour les trois sections de l'examen fonction publique. Le cours va finir le 31 juillet, grosso modo, donc il n'y a pas beaucoup de temps. Les buts pour l'examen final sera niveaux B, B, et B, donc j'ai besoin de faire seulement l'examen orale.
(I know there are probably mistakes, and a lazy lack of accents, but that's why I'm taking this course.)
3. I've also been working on music and reading a lot (baby-related, mainly... the books, not the music). I'm also monitoring my toe from which the toenail was removed after it had become ingrown AGAIN. So it looks gross, but it's not painful at the moment, for which I am glad.
Current Location: CFB Kingston
Current Mood:  hot
Current Music: My new "music"
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03:58 pm
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Meg Reminded Me
Books read in 2006
So much Stephen King...
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03:48 am
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Surreal
I just googled one of my own song titles (for a laugh) to see if my download.com site would come up, and I found some of my song lyrics on some lyric databases. How do they get these lyrics? I sure didn't put them there.
Also, speaking of download.com, 'After Supper' is the 2nd most popular song on the site in the prog-rock/art-rock category. A lucrative market indeed. It's probably sad that that excites me so much. If you haven't heard the recent songs yet, they're here.
I just finished Song of Susannah, and thus my journey through the Dark Tower books (and all the DT-related books) is nearly complete (after over two years). Don't tell me it'll be a letdown, because I know these things always are. The journey is the fun.
We bought a fab stroller for our future baby (the proverbial baby carriage which supposedly comes after love and marriage) which is sitting in the living room, waiting. I'll put Kiku in it just so it feels useful. We're both (Kerry and I, not Kiku and I) really jazzed about this whole baby thing, and I can't wait to write a whole album of lame songs all about my new baby. The album will be cutesy, schmaltzy, maudlin, and awesome, written as though no one in the world ever had a baby before ours. Yeah, that'll happen real soon.
Christmas was good despite being away from everyone. This past year was overall pretty good (despite being away from my new bride for six months). I learned Morse code, which is actually less useful in this day and age than learning Klingon. I did a lot of soul-searching and came up empty. I planted a baby and now shall watch it grow. I saw a lot of wildlife which I will not detail here. I have more scars than this time last year, but also more money, so it was all worth it. I guess.
Current Mood: lived another year
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01:22 pm
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How Very Strange...
In 2007,  popefelixxiv resolves to... Keep my soccer clean. Drink four glasses of lovecraft every day. Pay for my twin peaks on time. Cut down to ten star wars a day. Admit my true feelings to nuanu_wolfstar. Apply for a new bach. |
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09:52 am
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Download.com
I've uploaded all the songs on The Hour of None to download.com. My section is here. You can hear all the songs in streaming audio (at much better quality than Purevolume) and all are available for download at high quality, and it won't expire like those pesky Yousendit links. Spread the word!
The weird part is that they made me pick what genre my music is, and rock/pop or rock/alternative isn't exact enough for them. In the end, of the choices, I picked prog-rock/art-rock, which seems kinda goofy. I listened to some other people in the same category, and it's certainly a mixed bag.
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02:23 am
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Long-Winded Tirade
I shall soon have a more permanent residence (i.e. not Yousendit.com) for my album (besides my hard-drive). I checked out cdbaby.com, but didn't go for it. It costs a lot of money (maybe not for a four-member band with lots of disposable savings, but it's a lot for me), but I did get a kick out of their 'advice' for marketing oneself in the 'industry' (part of me really cringes when that word is applied to an artform). Basically, these are my favorite pearls of wisdom, in my words:
1. Be an extreme version of yourself. The idea is apparently that your most obvious character trait should be made more obvious. Thus, I should endeavour to become even more boring. Well, I'll try. My beef is that there are enough cartoon-character musicians in the world already. It's advice like this that makes so many bands seem like clones of other bands who already have the market cornered on that particular character trait (for example, artists who all seem like a poor man's Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead or whatever). I like a little complexity in music, rather than simply that depression-guy, feminist-girl, artsy-band, or what have you.
2. Find your niche, and stick to it. I think they mean that a grunge band shouldn't branch out into diva pop, which I think doesn't really need to be said, as a band usually makes music in their own style consciously or unconsciously. If I made a country album, it would still be my style, because it would still be me, and reflect my tastes, as long as I'm still writing the songs. Also, it's advice like this that makes bands afraid to change, and we get certain bands that were fine at first, but still effectively play the same songs ten years later. That's why it shakes things up so much when established bands do change dramatically (Radiohead is the classic example, but also Bowie and others), because conventional music industry wisdom still insists that it's not the way to go, even though it's been done successfully over and over.
3. Don't be afraid to be immature. That's not what they really say, but it's my interpretation. For example, they say not to be afraid to alienate that part of the public who isn't listening to your music. As an artist, if I go around telling Shania Twain fans they're stupid, the argument goes that people who hate Shania Twain will then be more likely to listen to my music, and people who like her weren't going to listen to my music anyway, so nothing lost, only gained. However, this is, to me, an oversimplistic view, as there are lots of people, especially in the music downloading age, who listen to all sorts of music. It bugs me when I read interviews with 'hard rock' acts, for example, who make fun of Moby, Prince, or whoever. They're cultivating the aggressive image, but I prefer it when an artist admits to diverse influences, which they surely must have (I don't care what they say, no death-metal guitarist has a record collection solely consisting of death-metal records).
Overall, the advice that cdbaby.com gives seems to be the type of advice that oversimplifies rock music (that thinks "adult alternative" is somehow a defined genre -- apparently teenagers have a wide variety of tastes but adults like either adult-contemporary or adult-alternative) and tells me that as someone who records electronic rock music, I should really try to get into the business by pretending I'm Trent Reznor.
That's baloney, because clearly Trent Reznor has being pretending to be me... since I was ten... years old... okay maybe not.
Current Mood:  self-righteous
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11:21 am
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New Link
It seems the link I posted for my 'album' has gone to the link afterlife, so I reuploaded the files again to:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A80F05EB066D8B19
I'm on the lookout for a better way to have the album available for download. However, the big condition is that it must not cost me any money. I take a small amount of pride in the fact that my music costs me nothing to create or distribute.
Current Music: Oscar Peterson Trio - I Got it Bad (And That Ain't Good)
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09:05 pm
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Music For Listenin' Ta
First of all, a big 'Happy Anniversary' to my Beautiful Wife, Kerry, who has given me the best year of my life. We have had a wonderful relationship, and now we're even having a baby. There are many days when I expect to wake up from this dream, if you'll pardon the cliche. That's all. I love you, honey.
Now that I've made everyone gag, thanks to those who have complimented me on the recent songs I posted. I do like feedback. That said, here is the link to the complete record, The Hour of None, just posted a minute ago. It's in a zip file, and it's pretty big due to the fact that the songs are at 192kps rather than 128kps for your listening pleasure.
If you can't get it, let me know, and I'll try to fix it. In the meantime, this is the tracklisting for the album:
1. The Hour of None
2. Axis Mundi
3. Close
4. You Are Here With Me
5. Db
6. La belle dame
7. Restructure
8. Glasnostalgia 85
9. After Supper
10. Interlude
11. 7
12. Sans title
13. Shelter
Current Mood: accomplished
Tags: music
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12:14 am
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New Music
I've posted two of my new songs in a sort of 'single' format, before I actually put the whole album up. Two songs, two non-instrumental, rock songs submitted for your approval. As usual, you can download them, or listen to them directly on the site.
http://www.purevolume.com/albums/christopherharris/thehourofnone
Also, note the newly designed album cover.
Current Mood: accomplished
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