So, I just finished watching The OC and, I must say, I was skeptical about the show near the beginning. I even got bored at certain points but, now that I’ve finished it, I realize how much I truly loved the show. For those who haven’t watched, it’s about a 14-year-old kid named Ryan, whose mother is an alcoholic and whose Dad and brother are in jail.

The show begins with public defence lawyer Sandy Cohen bailing Ryan out of jail (Ryan’s brother forced him to help steal a car) and, after seeing how hopeless Ryan’s situation is, he decides to bring him home. Sandy lives in Newport Beach, where everyone is extremely rich: they all have huge mansions and all the teenagers have their own cars. Soon, Ryan becomes part of the Cohen family and bonds with Sandy’s son, Seth, who is a social outcast until Ryan comes into his life. From there on, Ryan meets Marissa, who is a popular and attractive girl. Things get especially complicated as Marissa’s boyfriend starts getting into fights with Ryan. By the end of the show, you see how much everyone’s lives (including Ryan’s) have been impacted because of Ryan’s arrival to Newport.

This show does a believable job of presenting the class issues involved in having a “poor kid” move in with a “rich family”. Others have pointed out that it avoided the initial cliché by having Ryan and Seth become friends, but later episodes have shown that, in spite of their friendship and common interests (like comic books), there are still deeper issues of class and sexuality that show how different their worlds really are.

Finally, I was surprised to see that the writers were actually able to make me care about the problems of the rich characters! (The adults, anyway.) For too many nighttime soap operas, portraying the “problems of the rich” are just a way to get us “unwashed” types to sneer at the problems that money brings (“I wish I had those problems!”). In The OC, the writers actually explore questions of money, class, and love in the various adult couples in a way that brings Jane Austen to mind; we can relate to the struggles the characters are going through even if their day-to-day lives are completely foreign from our own.

If you haven’t watched this show or still feel skeptical, I suggest you watch the first 5-6 episodes. I’m sure you’ll be hooked.

I was never one for saying goodbye for some reason. To be honest I’m still in this state of awe when I realize that everything I’ve worked for over the past four years is now a reality: I’m actually graduating.

I remember starting off fourth year with a sense of “well this is the last time I’m going to be doing this” and giving it my all. Cheesy, I know, but it’s the truth. I was so determined to finish being at this school because I was just so damn sick of it. Now that it’s all over and now that I can officially say “I’m going to graduate” I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic. Has four years really come and gone this quickly? Have I really survived the soul sucking powers of U of T?

We all know that in hindsight everything looks so much better, but damn this is really over. It’s a bittersweet feeling to know that I’m finally ending this love/hate relationship with U of T.

Okay, okay, enough with the sentimental banter. I just wanted to write one last blog post to say a final “smell ya later” to U of T and blogUT and its wonderful readers and bloggers. I have grown in so many ways being here and am now (perhaps prematurely) being thrust into “the real world”. It’s time for me to shed this U of T skin and come into my own.

But I wouldn’t leave blogUT without a few good laughs. I stumbled upon this blog called College Problems and was DYING of laughter at how relatable and comical it was. So here are a few entries that have stuck out for me; and yes you can totally thank me when you have exams and you’re browsing through this website during study break #48754.

(all images courtesy of collegeproblems.org)

Image via blogs.umdbk.com

As school dwindles to a close, all students have one major thing in common: the crunchtime breakdown. Don’t act like you don’t know what that is. The crunchtime breakdown (according to my own personal dictionary) is known as your reaction to having all the essays, labs, tests, what have you all in the span of two weeks or so. This reaction happens in a few ways: anger, frustrated tears, accompanied by an overall sense of “How the #@*%-ing hell am I supposed to do this all in ___days?!!”

Although I am definitely not an expert on how to relieve yourself of this inevitable stress, I can offer some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years here at our ever so loving school:

1. Go ahead, have your breakdown. Once you’re done freaking out about the never ending list of things to do, you can take three big deep breaths and just get through it. (This may occur more than once depending on how overwhelmed you feel.)

2. BREATHE. Make a list of things to do and tackle each item one at a time. Remember it’s better to do things one at a time so you can put all your focus and attention on that one task instead of attempting to multitask a million things at once.

3. Pace yourself. You know that at the end of the day it’s just going to work out, so relax and work at your own pace.

4. If you can squeeze in some time at the gym, DO IT. Even working out for an hour, can help you release your stress at the gym and feel relaxed.

5. Go to the library with your coffee or poison of choice, donned in comfortable clothes and just do what you have to do. We’re THIS close to having summer, so finish it on a high note.

My tips and tricks might not be your cup of tea, so I ask you this: how do you deal with the inevitable crunchtime breakdown?

Any Mortal Kombat fan knows that saying, “Your soul is mine” is completely synonymous with that video game franchise. But did it ever occur to anybody how that same saying could be said by U of T itself? I was recently inspired by re-reading a post by one of our featured bloggers about university students. After reading, agreeing, and laughing along with how true those statements were, I had to ask myself, “How the hell did I allow university to steal my soul?”

We all know the saying, “U of T is a soul sucker” or something along that line. But what is it that makes this institution so… soul-sucking (for lack of a better term)? Is it the fact that we do nothing but study 99.9% of the time? Is it the fact that once we catch up in one class, we’re completely, and I mean COMPLETELY behind in the others? We go to the top school in Canada (since the last time I checked), so we should be proud of this accomplishment right, RIGHT?!

Although we do take some pride in being U of T students, we’re all in the same boat of losing our soul to this ever so awesome institution. How did our once brightly shining naïve selves become so jaded and lackluster?

In my personal experience, U of T has done the following to take over my soul:

- Although I try my best to catch up on my readings, it just never seems to be enough. The times I think I’m ahead, I’m actually just catching up with (everyone else in) the class. So I’m pretty much forever reading.

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What: The Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi
When: June 28th @ 8PM
Where: Nathan Phillips Square, buy tickets online at Ticketmaster or arrive very early and purchase tickets at the door.
More Information: Check out this recent performance video for a taste of the music or go to Stanley Clarke’s website for a sampling of the new Stanley Clarke Band album released on June 15th.

On Wednesday, I caught up with the great jazz pianist, Hiromi, for a telephone interview, before her performance in Toronto at the Jazz Festival with Stanley Clarke on June 28th at Nathan Phillips Square. Hiromi recently recorded the wonderful jazz trio album “Jazz in the Garden” with Stanley Clarke, one of the best albums of 2009, and now they are touring together over the summer.

When you hear Hiromi playing impressive stride piano, you would never guess that her small hands can only stretch an octave: it certainly doesn’t sound like it! How does she do it? “It requires a lot of practicing to be able to play the right notes but I want to hear the sound and so I work hard to hear the sound.”

Hiromi has studied under Ahmad Jamal and Richard Evans, and had performed with both the Czech Philharmonic and Chick Corea at age 17. She has distinguished herself on the jazz scene with her impressively high energy, fast-paced, and always musical piano playing. When talking about her performing, she says “Whenever I have a great performance, my brain is so tired and that’s a good sign.”

Alex (BlogUT): When did you start playing the piano and what got you interested in the piano, in particular?
Hiromi: I was six years old and my mother took me to a piano lesson. None of my family are musical; they’re just regular people. My mom just thought music brings joy to life so she wanted me to play something but she never thought I would do it professionally! She just wanted me to have fun and I just fell in love with it. (more…)

What: Alex Pangman & Her Alleycats, Free Concert
When: Friday, June 25th @ 5PM
Where: Nathan Phillips Square, Afterworks Series, TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival

On Monday, BlogUT caught up with Canadian jazz singer and composer, Alex Pangman, for a telephone interview, before her performance kicks off the Toronto Jazz Festival at Nathan Phillips Square on June 25th at 5PM with a free concert. Sometimes referred to as “Canada’s Sweetheart of Swing”, Ms Pangman specializes in standards from the 1920s up until about the mid 1940s, and refers to herself as an “anachronism in her time”. As the Toronto Star once wrote, “It’s time-travel magic whenever Alex Pangman breathes into a microphone and evokes the great jazz femmes of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.” I first saw Ms Pangman at the Old Mill in November 2009, picked up her Live in Montreal album, listened to it on loop for weeks, and went back for more at her Reservoir Lounge gig last week. Ms Pangman also plays some country music but, she says, “Jazz is where my heart lies”. In addition to catching her show at the Jazz Festival, you can catch Ms Pangman at the Reservoir Lounge on the first Tuesday of every month.

BlogUT: When is your next album coming out and what can we expect from it?
Alex Pangman: I have a new album coming out in the fall, which I just finished recording, with my band, the Alleycats. It’s in the can, as they say. It’s called “33” and we’ll be releasing it to iTunes. The “in hand version” will be as a 33rpm, and it’s all songs from 1933. It will be my first record since the double lung transplant.

BlogUT: How has having a double lung transplant affected your career and life?
Alex Pangman: Being so sick for so long, it sort of took me out of usefulness for quite a few years. Things being rocky enough that I had to have a transplant, it’s as if the hours on the table gave me back not only my life, as in the ability to breathe, but also gave me back my art. As a singer with lung disease, I could see my health stolen from me in little increments. It’s pretty awesome now to be able to stand in front of a microphone and belt it out without having to cough or wheeze. I would encourage everyone to sign a consent form to become an organ donor as you can really help change people’s lives for the better.

BlogUT: What songs will be on your new album?
Alex Pangman: We play “100 Years from Today” and “I Found a New Baby”. We also have some guest vocalists: Denzal Sinclaire sings a duet with me on “You’ve Brought a New Kind of Love to Me”.

BlogUT: How did you get interested in jazz and in music from the 1920s-40s?
Alex Pangman: I was disenchanted with the music of my generation and looking for some sort of inspiration. I found some old records in my mid-teens with music from that time which was such a pleasant discovery. I was drawn to an era of music where melody and substance were very important; those were really lacking in my generation. (more…)

Both the Dave Holland Quintet and the Branford Marsalis Quartet could have easily sold out the MainStage space at the Toronto Jazz Festival had they each been the headliner act of their own show, so it’s a little strange that they should be shoved together in a double bill on Friday, July 3rd. Nevertheless, it’s hard to complain when you get to see that much talent and good music on display for the affordable price of $40 at the Toronto Jazz Festival, all in one night, even if the acoustics leave something to be desired.

The Dave Holland Quintet – Robin Eubanks on trombone, Steve Nelson on vibraphone, Chris Potter on alto/soprano sax, Nate Smith on drums, and Dave Holland on bass – opened the evening with a wonderful, energetic 75-minute set of original compositions from Holland’s albums. The set list included: “Step to It”, “Last Minute Man”, “Full Circle”, and “Lucky Seven”. The Dave Holland Quintet has a very eclectic sound, and at times, dissonant. Generally, this means there’s a lot going on at once, with Potter and Eubanks each carrying a bit of the melody – at the same time – and Nelson, Smith, and Holland sharing the rhythm sections. This tends to lead to a lot of complexity, and because of all the different instruments, each with what could be a standalone part, all together, gives you a rich variety of things to listen to. You can tune in and tune out of various different instruments, take your pick, and never be bored. Sometimes all this action leads to really rewarding and interesting dissonance and other times it ends up as just too busy. Sometimes I had trouble differentiating between the parts that Potter and Eubanks were playing, sometimes they blended together, and it felt like a bit too much mushiness. But the band really shone when its three stars took the stage with their solos: drummer Nate Smith, saxophonist Chris Potter, and bassist Dave Holland.

Drummer Nate Smith also played with Chris Potter in his “Underground” group at the Pilot on Monday, but it was in this concert with Holland where he really impressed me. Generally, when drummers take solos, they are so excited to finally be allowed to stray from just beat-keeping that they try to hit and bang as many drums and cymbals as possible in the smallest amount of time: this is their chance to make a lot of noise. But this approach lacks musicality; it’s just an unpleasant racket, the kind I usually can’t wait to stop. But Nate Smith, much like drumming greats Jack DeJohnette and Tony Williams, understands that less is more with drum solos. He hits a beat, he finds a rhythm to play with, and he lets the audience in on what he is doing. We can keep up, we can enjoy, and while it’s not “simple” it’s not overdone either: there’s music and clarity here. He also finds different pitches and tones to play with so that when his drum solo comes to an end, we can’t help but want more, or look forward to his next one. Smith is a great drummer and these are very, very few and far between.
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