Man it’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing. Had to sweep all kinds of cobwebs away in an attempt to write this post. But it had to be done because today I launch the new Isotope Comics website and, as it links to this site, I thought something should be here to say hello.

So, if you’re coming from that site or you stumbled upon me in some other way, let me just say hello. I’m Arik Devens and this is the  home of my freelance Graphic/Web Design business. Doesn’t look like much you say? That’s because I recently left the company I was working for and started out on my own. This site will be updated (hopefully) soon to reflect that, but for the moment I’ll just say hello again and welcome you to a relic of my ancient past.

Anyway, hopefully this post won’t be up long cause I’ll have a brand-spanking new site to show instead.

This was the third night in a row I saw The Brunettes but the first time where they were the headliner. It was a much, much better show than they put on with Beirut. And I liked them with Beirut enough that I went and saw them in the first place, so that was awesome.

The first two bands had very little in common with The Brunettes. I wonder if this was one of those shows where they were added very late, simple because they were in town and wanted to play a show. The first band, Unwed Sailor, were the sort of thing that I might have really liked about five years ago. These days? Not as much. They sounded like a much less good version of Tristeza and, while they were fine, were nothing to get all that excited about. Still they seemed like they were having a good time, and it made for decent background music.

The next band, Sybris, were alright as well. My friend really liked them but I was less impressed I guess. They were fine and the lead singer was hilarious when she talked. But they were pretty generic I thought. I honestly can’t really even remember what they sounded like, just random girl-fronted rock band I think.

Finally The Brunettes played. Unlike the Beirut shows, which were very crowded, there were maybe fifty people in the venue. We were right up at the stage and there were no idiots being stupid (well, mostly. There was a group of talking girls right in front of us. Seriously, who goes to the front at a show to talk?) The Brunettes played mostly the same set as at the Beirut shows but the sound was way, way better. I could actually understand what they were saying on the mic and the crowd really connected with their audience participation stuff. Because they played mostly the same songs, and because I’d already heard them the previous two nights, I actually knew some of the words. They stayed on stage at the end and let us know that they were playing the encore, which I thought was hilarious, and then were coerced by the crowd in to playing an extra song that was not on their set list. Which they did perfectly. Their show was great and I’m definitely glad I went. Plus they are one of the nicer bands I’ve talked to recently. Super friendly and cool.

BMI: 27.32
Body Age: 28
Training Time: 0 minutes

Still not feeling well. Hopefully tomorrow.

So the second night of the Beirut shows was so much better than the first night that it’s hard to even sensibly compare them. Part of that had to do with me and my friends getting there much earlier, which meant that we had a much better position on the floor, but even still the difference was pretty shocking. The main thing that was better was the sound. I complained a lot about the sound of the first show and it was really night and day with this one. The sound guy still sucked, there were still little hiccups here and there, but it was enough better to make a huge difference. Finally the trumpet and french horn players didn’t have to kill themselves to be heard at all. And finally things were at least a bit balanced between all the elements.

I didn’t start out thinking thinks were going to come together like that. The sound for The Apple Miner Colony was terrible. That said, I’m not sure how much of that was really the fault of the sound guy. For one thing they had almost no electronic instruments, even the guitar and banjo were not mic’ed which made it hard to get a good sound I’m sure. Plus they had a ridiculous 25 members which would be difficult to get arranged right no matter what. That said I really liked them and I wish I could have gotten one of their albums. I think that recorded they probably sound great.

Next was The Brunettes and I liked them even more this time than last time. They are so much fun to watch live and the sound was much, much better. They even commented on how much better it was during their set, and they seemed to be having a lot more fun on stage. They were doing ridiculous things like dancing competitions and the whole set was awesome. They were so good that I’m going to see them tonight at the Rickshaw Stop, and I’m actually really excited about the show.

Finally Beirut. My complaints from the first night were simple, they didn’t play for long enough and they sounded super flat. Maybe it was because I was right at the front but they sounded great this time. Everything was loud and well balanced and harmonic. The band seemed to be much happier with the sound as well, and they played a much longer set than the first night. They played pretty much everything I wanted to hear, although this time they didn’t play Gulag Orkestar which is one of my favourites. Still they played like four encores or something like that and it was an amazing show. I’m so glad I went both nights.

BMI: 27.32
Body Age: 32
Training Time: 0 minutes

I’m sick today so I’m taking a break from training. Hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow and I can get going again.

Last night was the first of the two Beirut shows I’m going to this week. I was super ridiculously excited to finally see them live, with even more anticipation added because it looks like they are breaking up or changing form or doing something random and this is my only chance to see them as they are.

We got there slightly late and missed the opening-opening band and most of the opening band The Brunettes. What we did see was awesome though, I really like that band and afterwards I bought one of their albums from one of the lead singers. I really think that band members should do merch as much as they can, it just makes you like the band so much better when the members are nice and talking to you.

Finally Beirut went on. Let me say first that I don’t think any of the problems I had with the show are Beirut’s fault. The main problem was that the sound guy at The Grand Ballroom sucks. He sucks more than any other professional sound engineer I have ever had to listen to. All of the sound was flat, according to both bands nothing was in the monitors, he made Beirut sound boring and like they were on a really shitty old radio. Plus he actually had the mic levels up so high that they squealed a few times. I can’t ever remember hearing that happen at a show this size before. I’m guessing that’s why Beirut only played for about an hour or so, they were probably not very motivated to go on given how bad it sounded.

Even still I love their music and they played all my favourite songs, so I’m hopeful that they can kick that sound guy out and make things better for tonight’s show.

BMI: 27.26
Body Age: 31
Training Time: 31 minutes
BMI change after one week: -0.36
Weight change after one week: -2.6 lb

Today was the last day of my first week of Wii Fit! Honestly the fact that I even made it a week and am still doing it is impressive. I didn’t train as hard today, on the other hand, because I had to go get my haircut (she cut it way, way, *way* too short. that’s ok, it will grow.) Still I managed to do all the Yoga poses, I have all but two unlocked now, and a couple of aerobics exercises as well.

Overall, after my one week with Wii Fit, I’m pretty impressed. It’s clear that I’m actually getting a workout, not just messing around, and while I’m not sure I’ve gained that much from the aerobics and strength stuff yet, the Yoga has been a huge thing for me. I’m definitely more flexible, my posture has gotten better, and most importantly I’m actually paying attention to those things. As I continue to do Wii Fit I think I’ll just keep getting more flexible, which even without any other health benefits from this program, will make a huge difference for me.

So, for week one my BMI dropped very slightly and my weight did too. I honestly didn’t expect any change so that’s a nice feeling. We’ll see what happens as I continue tomorrow with week two.

BMI: 27.38
Body Age: 20
Training Time: 0 minutes

Today is my day off from Wii Fit. I want to take one day off per-week, Monday is the plan, and not do any working out. This should, hopefully, give my muscles a chance to relax and recover from all the furious exercise they’ve been getting. So today I did a few Yoga stretches on my own, but no actual Wii Fit. Still I did the body test just to keep the graph up and keep the balance board happy.

My BMI is back up a bit which seems reasonable for the first week. The changes so far have been so minimal that I expect a lot of fluctuation. Not until my BMI drops by more than a percent will I be surprised to see it go up and down. The important part is that I’m actually doing the exercise which is more than I can usually say. Also I’m starting to be more aware of my diet and other things that I’m doing.

In other Wii news, my disk drive is starting to die I think. Today for the second day in a row it failed while trying to load a specific exercise. This is very worrying, because I bet to get it fixed would be a huge hassle. Plus it would mean stopping Wii Fit while I wait for it to come back from Nintendo, a process that I bet takes more than a month. Hopefully I can just muddle along with it and not have it die completely. What a pain.

Tomorrow I’ll be back to aerobics and regular Wii Fit training. Also I got a ticket to the Beirut show tomorrow as well, I can’t wait for that.

I went to Slim’s last night for Dead Meadow and it was honestly one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. They absolutely blew me away. I like the band’s recordings fairly well, but they are certainly not one of my favourites, but the live show was incredible.

The first two bands were absolutely terrible. The first band, Dame Satan, I think I would enjoy recorded but live they were just boring and very technically suspect. The second band, The Sermon, were horrifically bad. I actually had to go outside the venue and wait them out, they were that unpleasant to listen to. The general lameness of the opening bands made me wonder again: do you think that Dead Meadow likes those bands? How could a band I like so much want to tour with bands that are that terrible. Do they listen to them every night and like what they hear? Do you think the label forced them to take them on? Are the somebody’s sibling/cousin?

All of that was forgotten though when Dead Meadow started to play. Good lord they were good. Super heavy and I just got totally drowned in what they were doing. They are a three-piece now and it’s amazing how much sound and how much energy they have with just a guitar, a bass, and a drum kit. I wasn’t super excited about this show beforehand, I’m mostly just waiting for Wednesday and the Beirut show, but this was definitely one of the best shows I’ve been to in years. It gets me really excited for The Black Angels next month, I can only imagine how great that’s going to be.

BMI: 27.26
Body Age: 33
Training Time: 45 minutes

Today was my second strength training day and it was much rougher than the first. In fact it was the hardest day I’ve had with Wii Fit yet. For one thing I was extremely unmotivated to start exercising. I’m absolutely glad that I pushed myself to do it, I feel very good about that, but it wasn’t easy at all. Also I was very sore today, probably from attending the Dead Meadow concert last night, plus from getting the most exercise the last few days that I’ve had in years. Being super sore made Yoga significantly harder, specifically I had a lot of trouble keeping my balance. I unlocked the triangle pose today which I cannot come close to doing, so that’s good as it gives me something to work for.

The strength exercises kicked my butt again. The push-up and arm raise is still super hard but I did make it through the ten rep sequence which I feel pretty good about. The plank was the other difficult one for me, I managed to hold for the full thirty seconds but the last five were murder. I’m looking forward to continuing with both exercises and I’m hoping that I’ll read back on the this passage in a few weeks/months and laugh at how hard this use to be for me.

Tomorrow it’s back to aerobics. I think this switch-off sequence is working well for me, but I guess only time will tell.