Mediating my media meditations

I've had many lofty goals and aspirations in my life. It might be why I'm a bit of a "jack of all trades". Everything interests me, and there's so much in everything. 

Growing up, I wanted a great stereo more than anything. I'm not talking about an all-in-one CD/Cassette/Radio combo. Like one of those great stacked hi-fi setups with a big amp and a record player and speakers as all as the room. Nice and modular and LOUD. 

I haven't completely given up on this desire. I do have a few modules - a CD player, tape deck, turntable and a good amp. But it's not even all plugged in right now, I don't really have great speakers and worst of all - it doesn't all match. Some of the modules are black, and some are silver. It's a damn mess. 

And I don't have an 8-track player yet. 

But there are a million different ways that music - and even movies - can be stored. Where do I draw the line? Some are very old, like say wax cylinders or more modern but just as obsolete, like Minidisk? Do I need a LaserDisc player? 

Not to mention, if I get all the players I want, where will I store the media? I've already taken up about 6 shelves in my house with records, tapes and CDs. And let's be honest, I can fit my Spotify in my pocket. 

The desire to chase down archaic media has been relit in me lately, mostly because of a couple of YouTube channels I've been watching. Usagi Electric and DankPods. 

Usagi Electric is a guy who restores old minicomputers (not microcomputers) from the 1950s-1980s. He's even working on an old vacuum tube computer called the Bendix G-15. It's currently the oldest operational digital computer on the continent. He doesn't focus on music or video formats at all but he is always working on weird archaic storage mediums like 8" floppy disks, tape drives and punched paper tape. Some of those things I've only ever heard of or seen from a distance. It makes me wonder how many ways you can store bits! He got me thinking about the fun and challenge of buying old electronics and equipment and restoring it all. 

DankPods is probably most famous for headphone reviews and reviews of "nuggets" or those crappy MP3 players we used to all suffer in the early 2000s before the iPod and smartphones made everything look the same. Again, he's not digging into audio formats that often, but it is cool to see early flash-memory cards and the absolutely bonkers MP3 players we used to have. 

The other influence that DankPods has had on me is his "Cashies Specials," where he goes to his local Cash Converters and shows us the ridiculous used stuff he finds. It reminded me that you can have a lot of fun and find some really rewarding and novel stuff at thrift stores. Lately I really only go thrifting with Rhonda, which means antique stores and clothing shops. But there's plenty of other used gold out there! 

So it was that I found myself at Secondhand Wonderland a couple of weeks ago, strumming on old guitars and contemplating buying a sitar, when I wandered into the hi-fi section, and that old urge returned. Should I build out my stereo? 

I think the answer right now is "no." If for no other reason than I just emptied my little savings account on a new guitar and an amp. Not to mention, I don't use the stereo I have. My records are starting to crumble to dust, and it's just so much easier to shout, "Hey Google, play me 'The Best of the Wiggles!'"

As time goes on and we get farther and farther away from the tangible storage media era, it feels less important to collect this stuff, but there's an urgency to get it while it's still cheap and available. I used to buy records for a dollar. Now I gotta drop $40 if I want a record.  

What is your favourite archaic storage medium? Have you ever seen an 8" floppy disk? Do you know what a floppy disk is? 

Pick your warrior

 The obsession of 2025 so far has been the endless back and forth on tariffs between the United States and Canada. It's been the most uniting thing to hit this country in the last couple of decades but despite that unity, Donald Trump continues to push his rhetoric and has even pushed so far as to say he's going to annex Canada - by force if necessary. 

So this led to a conversation this past weekend about what our wartime roles would be during the Canada/US of the 2020's

For my part, I'm excited to get into making propaganda. I'm too old for battlefield work and I doubt I could get past the physical. But that doesn't mean I don't have anything to offer the war effort. Dr Seuss famously put his talents to work making ads for war bonds and the like during World War II. Maybe I could get some work writing jingles about how to defeat the US. I've already written a protest song about the current situation. Maybe I can be put to work writing songs about arming your AI sub-machine gun or how to outrun an American. I dunno. But that's the role I think I'm best accustomed to. 

We've joked that Kayah's role is pretty easy. We'd just take her ADHD meds away, give her a Red Bull and just point her towards the border. They'd surrender in days. 

Rhonda has already been making plans with her co-workers on how they'd run their own M*A*S*H* camp. They'll be less sarcastic and far more judgie. I tried to extract what her nickname would be - Hot Lips Houlihan is already taken. Maybe she could be Randy Rhonda? Instead of a homemade gin-still in the doctor's tent, they'd have a weed grow-op in the nurse's tent. Modern times call for modern numbing agents. 

Jonas, as a young, white male would make excellent cannon fodder. But he hasn't spent his entire youth playing video games just to be sent out to the killing fields. I think someone is gonna have to fly the drones - and he'd be great for that. I could also use his video editing skills in my propaganda machine. He's far more useful with a mouse than he is in combat boots! 

I'm still undecided on The Navigator. I think overall he'd be one of those Army Engineers who can build a bridge out of hay and peanut-butter cups that's strong enough to support a phalanx of tanks. He would also be an excellent mentor to Jonas and the work he'd do running war drones. I don't know if the Navigator has ever actually piloted a drone, but he ran a sound console for a few years and I assume that the skillset is transferrable. 

Overall - who knows what would happen in a Canada/US war. I do hope that cooler heads prevail over the next few months. Frankly, I hope that the Republican-dominated Congress sees just how much Trump is concentrating power under one man, how much that one man is destabilizing the world and that someone starts to step up to stop him. Whether he's a Russian plant or not, he's doing exactly what the Russians want and any war between Canada and the US is going to pale in comparison to what the Russians will do once things erode enough. The relationship we had as countries up until a few months ago was intentional and had purpose. One can't help but think that the destruction of that relationship has a purpose too. 

Buy a Canadian

It seems that the only thing anyone is talking about these days is the on-again/off-again trade war between the United States and - well basically everyone. But mostly Canada, Mexico and China.  

As Canadians, the propaganda we're hearing is generally "Buy Canadian" and "Elbows Up." Good rallying cries for the times to be sure. But as is the case with most of these stuff, even the changing buying habits of 40 million people is not likely to sway much in terms of the grander market. So it has me wondering - are there other things we should be doing? How do I protect myself?

Get off US Tech

I've known for a few years that I've become far too dependent on the Google ecosystem - and yes I recognize the irony of saying that on a Google-hosted blog. And it's not that I have an issue with Google overall. I've been a happy paying customer for years, and in terms of the service I'm being provided, I have zero complaints. But with recent threats by Ontario Premier Doug Ford being met by US threats to shut down cloud services, it makes me realize I need a local backup. For anyone reading this, let me save you some searching and let you know that Google Takeout seems to be the solution here. I'm still experimenting but I'll feel a lot better if I can at least get some of the bigger chunks of this backed up to a USB drive. 

This doesn't help the fact that I use a Google Pixel and the Google Password manager. But it's a start. I am exploring some alternative password managers, and those will come with the next big step I'm exploring, returning to Linux again.

It happens every 5-6 years: I get fed up with Windows or enraged by MacOS and just dump myself back over to Linux. In an era full of American instability, I think I'll need to get back on Linux again very soon. It's not convenient, making music on that OS is a pain in the ass. But it's mine and it's secure. So I'm headed that way again sooner than later. 

Control the Consumerism

Everyone is talking "Buy Canadian," and I know that is going to help Canadian companies stay afloat through this. But when you consider that I can't really buy a Canadian orange and that Canadian manufacturing is as non-existent as it is in the US, this is an incomplete solution. 

One of the ways I've been looking to tackle this is by buying secondhand or repairing what I have. Particularly in my music stuff, everything I could ever need in this phase of my music career is already built, used by someone and sitting collecting dust at a thrift store. Sure, it takes some work to track stuff down and even more work to clean and tune up that stuff. But at the end of the day, I'm rocking some reasonably vintage gear, I've saved some cash, and I have a story to tell about getting my new thing. And American companies like Fender and Gretsch aren't seeing any of my new money. It's a shame, really. I like these companies, that's why I buy their stuff. But I'm choosing to consume them by giving money to Canadians and not sending that money over the border. 

Sometimes, it's just about being patient, too. When I bought my new Gretsch last month, it was in desperate need of new strings. The fastest option for me would have been to pop on to Amazon and order some. But for a couple more days of patience, I went to the local store in my area and got them on the weekend. Still American strings, (and that's something I'm looking at alternatives to) but at least papa-Amazon didn't get a cut. 

Touch Grass

I think we're all becoming super-aware of how social media is brainwashing us. And much of that includes our consumer behaviour. I'm not saying delete all your apps and move into the bush (I'm also not stopping you). But maybe you could stop following non-Canadian companies, start following more Canadian companies or choose to go to the store to buy your things instead of ordering them online. Sometimes, it's just changing what influences our decisions. I've certainly become hyper-aware of the American companies advertising to me in the last few weeks. 

There's some argument that the weird times we are in can be directly tied to the disruptive nature of the internet and our inexperience in managing it. I think there's a lot to this argument. I also think that the best antidote is going to be getting out and being truly social. Go to a show. Plan a picnic. Or just go lie naked on a grocery store produce section. You know. Real stuff. It won't make Trump go away, it won't win any trade wars. But you'll have something positive to get you through the day instead of obsessing over economies and politics. And that shift in our collective mental attention might just lead to a shift in power. 

And that brings me to the final point. While there are plenty of real-world things that we should be worrying about, like trade wars, climate change and poverty, we all need to start recognizing that it's all human-made. The overall advice I've been reading about dealing with it is to get out of our homes, away from our phones and into social situations. Situations where we can talk through our differences and work together on our problems. As much as I've said the name "Trump" a billion times in my life, I've never met him. He could be an AI construction worker for all I know. But if I go out and pick up some garbage in my alley, I might talk to someone walking by who needs a warm hat. And maybe I have a spare warm hat to give him. And then his life is warmer, and I've actually done something. 40 million actual actions like that would actually bring Canada together as a real country and might actually put us in a position to stand united against this faraway orange man. 

Livin' in the city

I was holding out on writing this blog, hoping that world events would turn a different way and I could go back to an old well on this blog. 

Maybe next week. 

While I didn't exactly grow up rural, the communities I grew up in were far from cities. As a kid I always wanted to live in a city. The lights of the skyscrapers, the bustle at street level, the culture and the 24 hour life always appealed to me. 

Of course, living in these bucolic conservative little cities on the prairie shielded me from the gross underbellies of the city. The pollution, the crime, the poverty and the noise. I had to move to the city to see the whole picture. 

Now, at a quarter million or so residents, Regina is far from a megalopolis. But it's got some tall buildings (including the one I work in), some interesting culture and more crime and drug problems than you can shake a stick at. 

Last night as I headed home from Open Mic, I was really gravitating to that positive vibe that I've chased by living in a city. I just left a very entertaining evening full of all the various performing arts. The city was aglow in the lights only high rise buildings can provide and I was tempted by the juicy temptation of an 11PM Whopper. It felt like this was why I was here. 

But I also passed by several people, bent over from the damage fentanyl addiction has caused. Passed mounds of garbage in my alley as I got home. I went from high to low pretty quickly. 

So what am I getting at here? 

I think I'm just returning to the same theme I've been feeling and discussing over the past year or so since I came back to blogging. The ying/yang of things. That there are positives and negatives to everything and I don't know where to fit in it all. 

I think the fact that we are living in a time of extremism when I've been raised in what is now proving to be a very stable time is part of it too. It's hard not to see how bad it is in your backyard when the whole world looks like it's burning down. 

So all that to say, I was hoping we'd be voting on a new pope today and I could restart the campaign. But we aren't so I'm babbling for a few hundred words. 

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.