Silence Doesn't Work Here

A Tribute

Something fun for Friday

Hard to believe how fast time passes sometimes. I’m reminded of this after checking out Pitchfork’s list of the Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s. They’re a few months early on this, but it’s crazy to think a whole decade has passed since 2000.

One of my favourite bands made the list at #5, Daft Punk’s “One More Time”.

As luck would have it, a tribute band called DPT is playing a show tonight at the Paragon Theatre. I have some friends who went to their gig last year and raved about it, so I have to check it out. Should make for a great start to the weekend.

Posted by Silence on Friday, August 28, 2009 Comments (0)

Moving Forward

Don’t look back in anger.

I stayed home today because of yesterday’s eye injury. Pretty gray day out there, so it made for a boring time of it. It also forced me to come to terms with the fact that summer’s winding down.

I picked my spirits up by listening to some old CDs I have kicking around. Mostly leftovers from my brother. Who buys CDs anymore, anyway?

Found an old Oasis disc and it helped me to look forward to the future and to try not to dwell on yesterday’s injury. Here’s one of the tunes from the disc, with all the actions acted mimed out. Pretty funny at points.

Posted by Silence on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Comments (0)

Bushwhacked

Nature strikes back.

I was back at the landscaping job today. Very eager to get into it, actually. I did some mowing, trimmed up some plants and then moved on to some weed-whacking. Or whipper-snippering. Or string-trimming. Or whatever else you can call it.

What matters is that after a half hour or so of trimming I hit something hard that bounced and went spinning up and caught me in the eye. There was no major damage, thankfully, but it scared me quite badly. I guess I was lucky on this one.

When I brought it up with the boss he asked me why I wasn’t wearing goggles. I didn’t know I was supposed to wear them - my safety orientation might have covered that, if he’d given me one like he’s supposed to. Sure, some of my co-workers have them, and I never asked about it, either - but safety’s a two-way street. As it turns out apparently goggles are my own responsibility to supply. Oh well. I don’t mind the job so far, though, and I’m going to get myself a good pair tomorrow.

Here’s a list of list of other questions you should ask your boss about work safety. 

Posted by Silence on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Comments (0)

Wet & Wild Weather

Bill rocks us like a hurricane.

It’s been a day since Hurricane Bill came tearing up the coast. A lot of people seemed ‘disappointed’ or somehow let down by the storm’s strength. I was quite pleased that the power stayed on and there was no damage. I’m not exactly in a hurry for another Juan. I suppose it was a good opportunity to think about emergency kits and to check out the latest in storm tracking websites.

The wet weather has meant some time off work. Nice to have some free time, but hard on the wallet. Back at it soon, I hope.

Here’s a video from yesterday’s storm showing the huge waves at Peggy’s Cove. Kind of reminds me of this image, though slightly less scary.

Posted by Silence on Monday, August 24, 2009 Comments (0)

The Dog Days of Summer

A quick look back and to what’s ahead

My time as an on-air personality has come to an end after two weeks on the job. Radio is fun and all, but it’s kind of sad that it’s been my longest lasting job of the summer.

The last job I wrote about here was at the theatre. It seemed ideal, but I kept getting burned on the popcorn maker. See, I couldn’t point out that there was always a rush but not enough protective gloves, and my boss never got around to training me.

So before making my DJ debut I tried a few new jobs: newspaper delivery boy (hurt myself lifting the stacks of papers – wish I could have asked for help from one of my co-workers), bartender (let’s just say I don’t mix with broken glass) and professional dog walker (my furry friends wouldn’t listen and I got bit more than once).

All that to say that things haven’t changed much for me and I continue to get hurt on the job.

A friend got me a job doing landscaping and that’s been going well so far. (Staying hydrated by drinking lots of water – which means lots of bathroom breaks) The hot weather means we work very early in the morning and we stop in the early afternoon. I feel comfortable with the basic tools of the job and aside from a sunburn (wasn’t able to ask for sunscreen in time to stop it) and the occasional loud machine giving me a headache (didn’t know I needed to ask for safety ear muffs), things have been smooth sailing so far. The tasks are getting more complex, though, so we’ll see how it goes. At least there are no angry dogs.

Posted by Silence on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Comments (0)

Only 3 days left to win

Be very quiet, we’re giving out great prizes!

What a week it’s been! I’ve been busy interning at the Bounce and MAX-FM as DJ Mime and having a lot of fun.

I’m on air promoting a contest and the best part of the job is definitely when someone wins. We’ve already had a winner of $350 in mall gift certificates.

Each time someone calls in and answers incorrectly the pot grows by another $50. Pretty exciting, really. Just imagine the back to school wardrobe you could pick up with a little extra spending money.

So that’s the good news. The bad news is that the contest ends on Friday, so you’ve only got the next 3 days to win. So tune in to 101.3 The Bounce in Halifax or MAX-FM 98.3 in Sydney to listen for your chance to win 3 times a day.

Radio Mimes image is courtesy of a funny article on the Uncyclopedia on ‘Silent Radio’

Posted by Silence on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Comments (0)

Mimes in Advertising

The unlikely spokesperson.

This ad from Bose made me take notice the other day of how many mimes are finding work in advertising.

You can see the rest of the campaign here.

And it’s not just in print. Mimes are appearing everywhere, even as unlikely spokespeople. Check out this example:

Klondike Bars are good and all, but this guy does my people a disservice by being such a loudmouth.

And now for something completely different. From the U.K. here comes a bizarre commercial for something called Wink Bingo.

Yikes.

Also, don’t forget to tune into the Bounce in Halifax and MAX-FM in Sydney over the next two weeks. DJ Mime took to the airwaves today, but he won’t last forever. Don’t miss your chance to win.

Posted by Silence on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 Comments (0)