I haven’t posted music to my blog in over a year. I love this track:

Bell Canada is running a new service to Toronto – Bell Entertainment Service is a new service that allows for 20MBit/s Internet access and IP-based television services (IPTV). It’s an interesting service and right now they have a promotion for 50% the fee for the first year.

Features unique to this service is the smart PVR, which allows you to set recordings from any web browser or mobile phone; 20Mbit internet access (upload speed is not rated), watching PVR’d content on any tv at home, and wireless Internet service included.

There’s very little, if any, technical information on the service but on a Ben Lucier’s Blog there’s more information. He also links to the Bell User Guide. What’s important to note that this is NOT Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). The last mile is actually just a fast implementation of DSL. Another thing to note is that DSL link is shared between your intenet service and television service. You can get download speeds of 20MBit using internet alone, but each channel you watch will knock off about 3Mbit off your download speeds. Not a big deal, but you should be aware of it. There is a 60GB monthly download limit on the internet portion of the service, which is small compared to the limits on Roger’s offerings. Hopefully they will increase it to be in-line with their competitors.

The biggest question I have is the picture quality of the HD channels – are they as good as non-compressed signals found on ExpressVu? Rogers has been compressing the HD channels of it’s service in recent years and picture quality is down quite a bit. I’m itching for a reason to switch and this IPTV service might be it.

Rogers customers just got a new service – watching TV shows over the Internet. Called Rogers On Demand, current Rogers subscribers get access to certain channels and content online with limited ads. Unfortunately, anything worth watching is probably not on the site right now, unless there’s lots of people wanting to watch old episodes of the West Wing. It doesn’t make up for the fact that Hulu is blocked from Canadian residents, but it’s a start. As the service gets more popular I hope the content improves.

Kitchen Confidential is the book that made Anthony Bourdain famous. The TV host of food and travel show, “No Reservations” got his start in the self-described “dark underbelly” of New York’s restaurant kitchens. It’s a very raw look at the life of a chef and insightful look at the man on TV.

The book, now almost 10 years old, gives a look into a much younger and much bolder Tony Bourdain. It’s entertaining and filled with colorful stories. If it was a movie it would probably be rated ‘R’.

On a different note, I learned of an episode of No Reservations that I have yet to see on TV. It was an episode filmed about their trip to Beirut. On the second day of the trip, the 2006 Lebanon War broke out and what started as a food documentary turned into human drama. The episode focuses much on what it was like being in the middle a war in the relatively safety of their hotel/safehouse while waiting to be evacuated by the US Government. It was probably the best episode of the series – and won an Emmy.

Introducing LIGHTS, a video done by MySpace.  A leadup video to the US launch of her album, The Listening (which has already come out in Canada). She talks about her music, her move to Toronto, and the start of her music career.

LIGHTS was at MuchMusic yesterday performing and getting the word out about her new album. Two of the performances were on TV and a third one published online only:

Saviour

Drive My Soul

River (online)

LIGHTS released her new album today, The Listening, which is available on iTunes. It’s her first full album, which includes many of the songs previously released and quite a few new ones.

Sadly the acoustic version of The Listening is not on the CD.

In the lead up to the release of her full album, LIGHTS this weekend released a small EP of the first single, and also this video of an acoustic version.

“The Listening” Acoustic

Her full album comes out Sept 22!! Be sure to get it – a preview of all the tracks on her full album can be heard on iTunes.

Lyrics below as posted on her blog:

Please excuse me I’m not thinking clear
It must just be stress
But I likely shouldn’t be here
I’m such a mess

I never really ever know what to say
When I let my emotions get in the way
And I’m just trying to get us on the same page
I always get it better right after wards
When all the wrong impressions are said and heard
How come I can never get the right words
I need to convey, wish I could explain…

The things that I have to work out
I don’t feel right
What has come over me I’m about
To lose my mind

I never really ever know what to say
When I let my emotions get in the way
And I’m just trying to get us on the same page
I always get it better right after wards
When all the wrong impressions are said and heard
How come I can never get the right words
I need to convey, wish I could explain…

Can I let the trees do the talking, can I let the ground do the walking
Can I let the sky fill what’s missing in, can I let my mouth do the
listening

One of my favorite albums is a jazz album by Miles Davis – Kind of Blue. Kind of Bloop is an 8-Bit remix of the entire album using old-school technology. I’ve heard a few of the samples and it takes a bit to get used to, still kudos to the remixers for keeping the music alive in one form or another.

If you’ve never heard Kind of Blue before, be sure to check it out on iTunes or online.