We Stole The Friendship That Kept Us Together

Our sincerest thanks you all, but really, it's time for us to go.

We are pleased to announce that our dedicated writer, Sean Marchetto, has started a new writing project, What Sister Ray Said, and has agreed to rely any news we might have in the future.

Thanks again, you really have been too kind.

Enjoy,

Arcade Fire v. Sergio Leone

As luck would have it, yesterday a few of us gathered to watch Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars Trilogy. Something about the weather and the close-cropped inner city living had us hankering for his sunny, open panoramas.

Today, absent-mindedly trolling through YouTube, we came across this Once Upon A Time In The West/Arcade Fire "My Body Is A Cage" Mash-up created by jthelms.

Stunning.

Calgary City Transit Parking Fees

We've talked about parking fees in other posts, and the fact remains that increasing (or in this case implementing) parking fees is one of the easiest ways for civic leaders to reduce the number of cars in a given area. Easiest, not necessarily the best, and easy because essentially parking fees can be equated to a tax on the poor. Since the poor always outnumber the rich, they tend to lose out when the laws of supply and demand are put on objects of universal desire.

What makes the city's plan less than altruistic is the fact that the parking fees were started in the suburban LRT Stations, farthest from the city's core. Despite attempts to redirect city traffic through the city's 1990s GoPlan, the vast majority of traffic goes from the periphery to the core. The suburbs already force Calgarians to sacrifice distance and time for affordable housing, now they are being asked to endure their monthly transit fees doubled. Of course, the rationale is that those who would need to park daily, would be encouraged to take the bus to the station - provided transit ran effective services to their neighbourhood.

Hail and Farewell!

We'd like to announce that ourfriend and colleague, Bassano del Grappa, is moving on. The global economy might be tanking, but it seems our staffers have never been in more demand. del Grappa recently announced that he would be leaving to work for a major human rights organization in Montreal after Easter. Alice Beceval and Lionel Harpsted will also be leaving to go work for NGOs in Northern Alberta and we wish them the best of luck. Beceval and Harpsted routinely offered us insight into the workings of television media, and del Grappa was frequently one of our go-to-folks for avante-garde art and music, and in depth social analysis. He promises that this "cosa nostra", as he lovingly referred to The Daily Wenzel, will not be the last of his literary endeavours, so we eagerly await whatever he has in mind.

What We've Been Listening Too

Music is constantly playing, even in these last days of the Daily Wenzel offices. While we focus mostly on pop music, we've been known to play everything from classical composers, to experimental works by the likes of Conrad, Stephen Reich, and Philip Glass. Heck, even Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music has put in a few appearances and it was in this context that we gave Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez's Old Money a chance.  Mainly guitar noodling over drum beats, samples and keyboards, it's highly abstract take on twentieth century robber barons is still leaving us scratching our heads.

More easily accessible is Asobi Seksu's Hush, a wonderful and ethereal pop gem, that complements the wierdness of CocoRosie's  The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, another album that's been on fairly constant play. Joining the rotation this week was Beirut's latest offering, The March of the Zapotec/Holland a dual EP masquerading as an album. We're huge fans of Zach Condon, and Zapotec is consistent with the other Beirut releases, given an extra bit of flair by the 19 piece Jimenez Band, but the interesting feature here is the Holland side of the project which features Condon making keyboard music under the moniker Real People

Are You On The Bus

Edmonton Transit recently announced a whole new kind of bus would be joining their fleet. It's impressive, click here for more information.

Any chance it shows up in Calgary?

20-second movie review, or we like whimsy

The Jack Black film Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny was on television last night and it made us realize that sometimes watching a particular film is all about waiting for the payoff, the moment in the film that makes us laugh, cry, or experience some form of emotion far-out of the range of normal movie going experiences. The odd thing about "the payoff" as it were, is that the films that contian them do not necessarily need to be of superior quality. Hence, while Tenacious D And The Pick of Destiny, on balance, is nowhere near as funny as one would hope, the final scenes of Jack Black and Kyle Gass facing down the Devil (as played by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters) is something we find unbelievabley funny, in no so part because of the enjoyment that Grohl finds in poking fun of hard-rock stereotypes.