Stand up straight!

I draw this simple little comic about the continuing adventures of the tin man and scarecrow. I don't consider myself an artist, but I see it as good practice for drawing and writing story and dialogue. Anyway, the art is really simple, and i try to draw it pretty quickly and one time I drew the tin man with a quite curved line, and he looked really slouchy and wrong. I didn't think it was a particularly huge curve to the line either, but the difference was dramatic. He looked quite pathetic, broken and unlikeable.

This made me think more about my own posture, which is something I've been more conscious of over the last year or so. Good, or 'neutral' posture is when the 3 natural spinal curves are present, and ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles are all vertically aligned. As you can see in the picture, only a slight misalignment is bad posture.

I had always hoped that doing yoga every day would help balance my muscles and give me more natural posture, but I guess even that cannot erase a lifetime of sitting in front of a computer. I feel like I am constantly trying to sit up, and push my neck back so it is hovering over my shoulders, which seems to be the worst of it. Sometimes it actually hurts holding my head in the right position, the whole thing is difficult but important!

Rifflandia Spotlight: DJ Longshanks

So despite swearing "NEVER AGAIN" I got another wristband for Victoria's music festival, Rifflandia. I was apprehensive, due to the fact that it's not possible to see all the bands you want to see, and you have to plan things out so you get to see what matters most to you. Also it cost $80 after HST THANKS GORDON CAMPBELL I WON'T FORGET THIS.

I'm not bitter. Anyways, long story short, I missed Chali2na because it was WAY busier at the Phillips brewery shipping lot than I thought it would be, (badass venue) but other than that most of what I wanted to see was at Lucky bar, so not so bad right?

Well anyways, fast forward to Saturday night. When I arrive DJ Weezil was tearing shit up, weird music and he's also wearing a nylon on his face, but it's cool because I like hearing new weird music and he's trying, and being original in the process. After this is a set by Longshanks, the local resident Lucky DJ. He plays behind the bar so other acts can set up more easily.

I don't know if you've ever been to Lucky on a Saturday night, but it was pretty much the same thing. That is, people trying to dance, wanting to have a good time, but have difficulty.

I've always been pretty picky about my music selection. Right now I listen to a lot of bass music (dubstep, glitch, etc) and lesser known hip hop. For most of my life I would refuse to dance unless the music was good, but I've learned that most people don't share my taste, and also I really like to dance, so by now I will pretty much always comprimise and dance to whatever's on, although my style of dance may reflect how I feel about the music. Long story short, when the dance floor would clear during Longshanks sets (he also played after tanlines while they took apart their considerable amount of equipment) myself Cody and Lana would take liberal use of the dance floor by throwing punches, kicks and elbows (as well as occasionaly throwing in Lana's trademark double-kickpunch-headbutt). This happened several times over the course of his sets, including one time where absolutely everyone on the dance floor had stopped dancing, I am not even exaggerating a little. I've been to Lucky enough times to know this was not a freak occurrance, but a staple Longshanks occurance as he plays pretty much every Saturday.

This got me to thinking some more, how did he get this killer time slot at what is one of Victoria's more consistantly popular bars? Did his father own Lucky bar? Did he have some sort of blackmail evidence to be used against the owner at a moments notice? So, I dusted off my electronic sleuthing gear and took a look (I opened google and typed in dj longshanks). Here's what I found.

-Longshanks was asked to take over the regular timeslot as he works at Ditch records and "Is so into music"
-He has a girlfriend - sorry ladies
-He knows he trainwrecks on a regular basis
-He is heavily involved with getting many electronic DJ's to show up in Victoria, including the Subdivision showcase at Rifflandia this year
-He is from Winnipeg (incidentally I predict Winnipeg will be the new Montreal AKA cool and hip city everyone will be moving to)
-He seems kind of shy in his interviews

Initially I started this research so I could rip into him and expose him as some sort of egomaniacal self glorifying DJ, but then I realized I'm an asshole. He's actually a nice guy who cares a lot about music, who got into DJing sort of on accident. I do hope he is able to improve as a DJ and gets better at playing music that will keep the crowd more enthused, and play more music I like obviously because I have great taste in music. Hopefully someday I will stop being an asshole and actually talk to him in a way where we can both learn something and not just end up hating each other and taking it personally.

Why am I Where Now?

I almost joined the army once. The police force too. Back when I first moved to Victoria I was scared, malnourished, and desperate. And with my university degree, i would start at some sort of officer status just involved in supply logistics. Fortunately Mike, my roommate at the time talked me out of it.

"Do you really want people telling you what to do all times of the day? Do you really want to wake up at like 5 o'clock every morning, and be involved in the slaughter of innocents?"

No I didn't, and I don't. It was easier deciding not to become a cop, because of the stigma of the social life of police officers. The average person doesn't like hanging out with them for some strange reason. Nevertheless, sometimes I still wonder what it would be like living my life that way, that is, pretty much the complete opposite of what my life is like right now.

While I will miss out forever on those experiences and where those choices would take me, I can at least use my imagination to think about it. That is what gives us a leg up on the other animals that don't spend as much time considering what if scenarios, and is also a curse when you can't make up your mind, maybe because you are contemplating too many possibilities.

And thats' what makes books, movies etc. so great. It gives you a chance to live a different life for a little while. I think it is some sort of release for our mind, not just escapism but having that moment of "aah it's like that, glad I'm not that guy" that might make you feel just a bit better about the choices you made that brought you where you are. It can also leave you wanting to give other people that experience, maybe a story of what if i had done this that nobody would have ever contemplated before, because it could not have even happened to them. It never happened to you either, but it might have.