Raine Maida's "Love Hope Hero" EP

Fighter planes running round my head, running round my head
I got to go, go, go
And sex, love, honey that I taste
Honey makes we wait
Honey says she's late

I absolutely adore Raine Maida. The above song "Sex Love and Honey" is pretty worthy of adoration and admiration as well.

Maida released his first solo effort, Love Hope Hero, about a week ago. There are 4 songs...I had heard the full versions of 2 of them, "One Second Chance" and "Earthless" on his myspace (http://www.myspace.com/rainemaida) and there are now 2-minute samples of all the songs on his website (http://www.rainemaida.net). My order of the EP finally arrived in the mail today and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are more changes to the songs past the 2-minute mark and even more awesome is that I think they're the best parts of each song.

I immediately like what I heard of "Sex Love and Honey". It was upbeat, in an indie sort of way. My only gripe is the flute...the song would sound so much better without it. Other than that, the rhyme and repetition works well (and I usually can't say that about most songs). Not in the preview is the bridge with background vocals lent by Maida's wife, Chantal Kreviazuk. Her voice has a rather creepy, haunted sound to it which really works well with this song. Without a doubt, this is my favourite track. I could listen to it on repeat for who knows how long.

"Careful What You Wish For" is another exceptional piece. I love how it starts with this suspenseful, dramatic almost primal beat and later decends into this mellow, solitary atmosphere backed by the piano. Best lines of the song..."I'm an Italian Catholic punk and I'm on my way"..."Mother, what have I done?" and surprise, and surprise..."I'm gonna leave California" (after hearing the Red Hot Chili Peppers refer to California in just about all their songs, it's refreshing to hear someone use it without making me want to bang my head against a wall). And for opera fans, there's opera here.

It really did take me a second chance to get into "One Second Chance". This was the first song Maida put out on myspace and to hear him reduce his wide vocal range to rap/talky singing took a little getting used to. At first, I could only stand the verses (the only part he sings) but now I actually like the entire song. I think he's doing well with a style he's just started to try out. This song screams political protest and is a taste of of Maida's social conscience and political activism.

When listening to "Earthless", I can't help but think of "Lullaby" by Shawn Mullins. The song is mellow throughout and sounds rather sparse (but not in a bad way)...I think acoustic is a better word to describe it.

Long review short...I think it's a shame this EP isn't out in stores (you can get it at http://www.werkshop.com or at one of his shows - he's in Edmonton Feb. 13 at the Jubilee Auditorium headlining Chantal Kreviazuk) because I think it's one of the best evolutions of an artist that I've heard in a while and as a long-time Our Lady Peace fan who's recently become disillusioned about Maida's creativity (and no, I'm not one of those Gravity or Healthy in Paranoid Times bashers), I can easily say that Love Hope Hero is way better than anything (except for maybe "Angels Losing Sleep") that OLP has done in the last 6 years.

Ahhhh....

...I think I'm going to have to pull my first all-nighter since first year. It seemed easier to do then, not so much now...and just like that, I've made it sound like it's been decades rather than just 2 years.

I've got a Psych assignment that's worth 25% of my mark and a 10-page Sociology project notebook (who knows how much it's worth...) due tomorrow. I'm still working on my Psych and haven't even touched Soc yet. Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to calculate confidence intervals..geez, Statistics was soo easy and was probably the best math course I've ever taken in university but I realize now that it's all gone to hell since I've forgotten a good chunk of it. I'm frantically looking through my Stats book from last year (thank God I kept it!) trying to remember..and now it's midnight. Ok. Now I'm freaking out. And I'm not the type (at least, not at this point) to freak out over things that are due weeks or even days away. Hours away, though..is a different story...

The things you discover on Myspace

So yes, I do have a MySpace account although I don't use it to the extent some people do...

Anyway, I was curious to see who from my high school had an account (although I haven't listed my school myself) and I saw this girl I recognized. She happened to have a blog stating how she already had her two nipples pierced and how she's looking to get another piercing or tattoo done and that she was open to suggestions. To any random person, this might not seem like a big deal but having seen this girl in high school, I would have never have guessed she'd do something like that! Like..NEVER! My sister happened to be on msn the same time I was when I discovered this and when I told her, she had an "OMG!" reaction as well - so it's not just me!

Aside from the fact that this girl, at first glace, doesn't seem at all like the type who goes for body modification, why do people feel the need to reveal this kind of stuff on myspace? If you get your d^$k pierced...greeaat..but why does everyone have to know? Do you want to implant a picture of yourself naked with said body part tattooed or pierced in the reader's mind? In that case, I don't know whether to applaud your confidence or cringe at the narcissism.

The return from my reaaally long break

I was planning on abandoning this blog forever. Looking back at my old posts, though...I realized that writing my thoughts down really brought some organization into my seemingly chaotic and never-ending tasks.

Today was my first day off in over 2 weeks...meaning no school, no work...just the panic of having a bunch of assignments to complete for the last month of school. This week, I have to work 5 days/35 hours (I'm sure this is payback for taking 9 days off...which really weren't "days off"). On top of that, I have school and I have a little commentary I have to do for the Gateway about what the best and worst shows are, IMO, for November Sweeps (I realize now I shouldn't have offered to do this since I watch next to no primetime TV other than the Amazing Race)...at this point, I wanna go into a little corner and sob hysterically...but somehow, I deal.

I have a psych test I need to do for my last neuropsychology assignment and I managed to get some friends to volunteer. Unfortunately, instead of doing one big group session (which I was hoping to do), I have to do individual tests...woohoo.

I also have a paper for my writing class. The topic's interesting (should women in western democracies be allowed to wear a veil?) and originally, I sided with the Muslim women but reading through so many arguments over a span of 3 hours on a Thursday night, I came to the conclusion that both sides just love to make each other look bad that I feel no urge to side with either. I've gotten about 450 out of 1000 words done. I'll probably write way past 1000 and have a blast trying to cut it down.