Snow!

Hi There!

We're still here - in spite of reports appearing on the ABC News website saying we've been buried. We tend to get a little less snow here in Dundas valley because we're more sheltered from the weather, and because of how we're positioned relative to the lakes (land to the West). Still, the last of our furniture moving could be a bit awkward...

Rachel uses her amazing vanishing power with snow.

Lots of snow piled everywhere

Frozen stream out the back, and our big natural Christmas tree.

Ben and Forgi. Yay

We may not write again before we fly out - in a few days we'll disconnect the internet and then we'll be off on our travels in Europe. Look for us back in Aus at the end of January!

Love to all!

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This post brought to you by Ben and Forgi!

The Escape from Canada

So while Rachel is away overseas, I'm getting down to the serious business of packing up all our stuff.

Well actually not quite yet. See in all the hoo-hah of finishing up with work and farewells and generally running around like a headless chicken, it has taken me til now to find enough quiet time to finish the mastering of my new CD (see other posts below). Just this weekend, I finally pulled my finger out and got to work, and it didn't take me that long after all thank heavens! There were a few hiccups (eg discovering that an all important serial number for a software program is actually on a piece of paper in a folder buried in a box somewhere on the other side of the world and that I can't use the _save_ feature without unlocking the program) and I had to "compromise" (read: find a way that wasn't what I originally imagined but was really quite good all the same - bloody hard for an artist), but the result is awesome. I would just like to say that I love Soundforge! Now just a matter of polishing off the sleeve notes - have the pictures just need to write the words (the "easy" part, as though any part of an artistic creation is easy :-P )

I'll be printing copies of the CD once I get back to Aus (yes another couple of months, but next to getting my music rig and software working on a new computer with Windows Vista it is a Cakewalk - no pun intended).

And now I can pack up my music gear with impunity!

Yay! And a sandwich! A sandwich made of yay!

BTW, Rae is in Syd today and she says it smells like eucalypts! I can't wait to go home! Here it smells like car fumes...

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This post was brought to you by Entrippy Recording Studios, Dundas, Ontario (temporary location).

AWESOME!

We got up at 3 am (Ben) & 4 am (forgi) to watch the Aus election via the internet.

Totally worth it!
:)

Postal Votes

Just asking Dr Karl who we should vote for in the senate...

Haven't times changed! There are three green parties on the ACT senate ticket (Greens, Climate Change Coalition, Anti Nukes), and I struggled to work out who the conservative parties were if indeed they were there at all. No One Nation, no Fred Nile - the closest party to what I would call conservative were the small-government LDP - as much in favour of legalising euthanasia as gun ownership! Let's hope this is finally a sign that Australia has worked out that the biggest problem of the 21st century isn't terrorism.

So we're sending off our postal votes tomorrow, with a week to go before the election. Postal votes involve 3 envelopes - one to get the ballots to the Australian Consulate in Toronto, one to get it back to the Australian Electoral Commission, and one with our signatures confirming it's a legal ballot.

BTW, just in case the Liberals win, and they're reading this, I want to say that I voted liberal and that I'd like some of their Regional Partnership grant money to be spent in my electorate...

Forgi-doo does DC

Here are some shots from the latest episode of Forgi-doo. It's called "Forgi-doo does DC"

Forgi-doo visits the President

Forgi-doo at the Smithsonian

Forgi-doo outside the Capitol

Forgi-doo stops to take a photo

Join us next time when Forgi-doo battles the evil Professor at the University of Doom.

Escape

Hi there

Here is a sneak preview of my new CD which I'm working on at the moment. This is the CD label.

More soon!

B

7 Years in the Making

Hey there

I've got some exciting news! I've finally at long last completed the final song for my second album of electronic music. Given that I wrote the first song approximately 7 years ago, it has been a long time coming.

The new CD is called "Escape" and I'll be "releasing" it under the pseudonym "DJ Entrippy" as with my previous release "Scale" (2000). By releasing, I mean I'll be making a few dozen copies and distributing to friends and contacts, and maybe the odd music store or radio depending on opportunities.

I'm very excited to tell you a little about the album. Here are a few fun facts:

- the track I just finished appears first on the album, while the track I wrote first, seven years ago, appears last
- I've been playing around with a mixing program to make the tracks fade into one another to produce a smooth result
- the title track "Escape" is in two parts, and I have perfomed it live (when I was in Canberra)

- the work of my lovely wife Rachel appears on the album (courtesy of herself)

- the tracks use one of three different synths, from Roland, Yamaha and Propellorhead with different sounds
- there is a hidden track

I'm working on the album artwork, and on final mastering now. I'll be posting some of the artwork here when it's ready. With a little luck, I can finish this baby off before I have to pack up all my gear and ship it back to Australia - that will take a minor miracle, but I'm determined to do it!

More soon, so stay tuned!
B