2215 Dundas Street West

Some shots of the new digs here at 2215 Dundas Street West.

Being at the intersection of two major streetcar lines has its advantages - and otherwise. The cars are pretty noisy as they go by.
Ikea-d up. New dresser and bookcases.

A Dilemma of Interstellar Proportions

There are many things one may find as shocking in one's life but this has to be one of the most impressive:

Someone out there, to be left unnamed at this time, prefers Kathryn Janeway to Jean-Luc Picard and Benjamin Sisko.

I'll let the shock sink in.

Need more time?

Alright, hopefully now you're ready to heed my request.

The source of this outrageous comment lies not in maliciousness but in a lack of understanding. Said individual has not had the pleasure of a full immersion in the universes of Star Trek The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. As such, I'm putting a call out to my trusty and nerdy readership to submit to me, via comments, the top ten greatest episodes so that I may begin the process of ideological reassignment. If you're familiar with only one series please do a top 10 for that one alone, if you're doubly-skilled try both but keep them separated by series.

I'll then put together a 10 hour marathon of TNG (and DS9 for a later date).

Double-episodes count as 2 episodes unless they cannot be separated (i.e. the first and last episodes of a series such as Encounter at Farpoint and All Good Things...). If you select a double-episode your list gets shorter (a top 9 for instance...).

So please help me out to correct his horrific blunder before it does real harm!

Support Canadian Indie Media

As a fan of all things indie I thought I'd pass along a plug for The Tyee.
I've been a fan of this website since it started up a few years ago and while I don't always think they have the best content they do have the right spirit.

Its also a great place to get local Canadian and British Columbian news. So its worth a check-out (I imagine anyone who reads my blog is probably already familiar with this site)!

Excess of Exuberance

Having been locked in a cage for a month sorting out papers from last semester (and the struggle continues) I thought I'd burst on the scene to update the blog with some songs that have been keeping me motivated and entertained over the last few weeks.

I know usually one song per week/month is usually enough for people to digest when it comes to new music but I think this crop is especially good.

In it we have some psych rock and experimental rock from The Acorn and As The Poets Affirm. To finish the set, however, I'm leaving you with The Weakerthan's cover of The Rheostatics "Bad Time To Be Poor." You don't hear songs like this nowadays on the indie scene or anywhere really and its a welcome sound to hear.

Bon Apetit!

Sun Rise @ York University

Too much caffeine and a paper on Karl Marx helped produce this photo at dawn.
The white buildings in the distance are Shell Oil tanks.
Not an epic view but at the right time even the mundane can take on a new life.

Guide to Your Epic Music Experience (feat. Neon Bible)

Without desiring to fall into the trappings of the music snob, I am nevertheless endeavouring to take the time to press upon my noble readers the importance of setting for truly 'experiencing' music!

As a young socially inept person, where computers stood as status symbols among friends, modifications made the difference between hot or not. Imagine it as a low-cash and low self-esteem version of Pimp My Ride.

Now, whereas some competed in terms of harddrive capacity or video graphics, my niche - so to speak - was sound. Despite the warnings that SoundBlaster 16 (and equivalents) had cornered the market on what was worth hearing, I was the first on the block to have a SoundBlaster Live! and 4.1 surround system. My favourite memory of this awe-inspiring setup came when, on a dark night in the high-school years, I was seated beside a friend when the silence between us was split asunder by the loud whip-like crack of thunder, followed by an epic roll of rumbling aftershocks that coursed through the room and just as forcibly across the skin and hair on the back of our necks. My poor and somewhat dimwitted friend was completely startled and turned immediately to the window in expectation of a forthcoming flash of lightning to complete the storm that he thought had suddenly besieged our house.

Needless to say, its obvious that there was no such storm, but the point remains, this was a perfect auditory simulation (for a not-as-intense extension of this, pay particular attention to Song 6 during your Arcade Fire session described below).

And now, my guide for recreating this holiest of holy events with the best of whats-you-got and the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible.

Jason's 5 Step Method

The perfect musical experience is like a bath. The heat must be hot but not too hot and, equally important, the heat must be evenly distributed all around the body.

Step #1	Arrange speakers optimally - which is pointed toward a centered subject. Ensure a subwoofer enters the picture for those important vibrational tones that engage with the body.
Step #2	Find an appropriate temperature. The volume shouldn't hurt your ears but bathe you in enough sound to successfully immerse the body.
Step #3	Find a central place to relax. Comfy chair, extended couch, bed, etc. By minimizing other senses one can heighten their attunement to the sound alone.
Step #4	Allow music to course through and around you. Only good, nay great, music can do this and such music cannot be decided upon in terms of lyrics, vocals or instruments alone. It is what it is. Allow yourself a long and luxurious immersion. One album usually runs 40 minutes to 60 minutes, which is perfect.
Step #5	Mimesis: Extend into the depth of the music, listen for the particular, follow non-dominant melodies. Dive into it as it dives into you.

Why Neon Bible?

Cause I did it and it works. My first exposure to Neon Bible was, unfortunately, not in an optimal environment. I listened to the first single, "Black Mirror" on CBC Radio 3 while doing other work. Volume, distractions and sound quality all played a role in preventing a true appreciation (This is also a plug for CD quality sound and the experience that comes with listening to the whole album versus singles).

Upon following my 5 step method I had a different perspective.

Neon Bible comes across like a combination of early Springsteen and U2's Joshua Tree, evoking with run-through-the-streets style anthems that seem to soar, as if composed of some joyous sound molecules that are given to fly once released from their compact digital form. Fine examples include "Keep the Car Running", "The Well and the Lighthouse", "(Antichrist Television Blues)" and "No Cars Go".

The heavy use of a full-scale church organ throughout the album, but most notably in "Intervention" and "My Body is a Cage" provides a purely electrifying sensation - about the closet one can come to bathing with the electric blow dryer! If you want to know what it'd feel like to feel the full force of that shock without waiting patiently for the last track on the disc, tune in to about 2:10 on "My Body is a Cage"!

The entire album is a stand-out track that deserves to be experienced in a single sitting as immersion. Give 'er a try!

---

PS. While you're listening to the album and all, check out this recent CBC New piece on how our nervous system functions through sound energy! CBC News

Ménage-à-em-pe-trois

As a quick follow-up to that much-too-serious post for an already-stressful March comes an enchanting three-piece of female talent from Canada's up-and-coming, popular and established songstresses Jenn Grant, Feist and Julie Doiron. Each of these songs have caught my attention and implanted themselves so firmly into my brain that I cannot help but hum and tap my foot while I leaf through the monotonous pages of postmodern mumbojumbo, Marxist economics or Latin American tales of migration.

Julie Doiron's thrumming guitar and cute lyrics ("I woke myself up - to rest my weary head") are completely infectous. Jenn Grant's soft and sensual Dreamer will have you going "ya dre-ma-ah-ah" over and over again and finally, Feist's beat-centric and sultry-spun My Moon My Man closes the set that invites repeat upon repeat!

My ladies who've lured me from my work with their siren songs:

Julie Doiron	Jenn Grant	Leslie Feist

Take a ten-minute break and enjoy their fine sounds with my mini-playlist below.

Why Legalizing Prostitution Is Necessary

I'm somewhat disappointed in myself for slacking off on the blog. While I enjoy adding the new music posts, they are somewhat of a cop-out for the more personal creative enterprises such as my own photos or writings that I had intended to fill these electronic pages.

This post actually came from my comments on a friend's blog (see This Must Be The Place). The issue isn't exactly foreign to me as I've been discoursing (at some length) on it for the past year or so. The event that generated my line of reason was the discovery of the Pickton murder victims in Port Coquitlam, BC and his subsequent trial.

To frame the discussion, my perspective comes between two positions that dominate the discourse on 'solving' prostitution. The first and perhaps outwardly more feminist position is that it should be made completely illegal and that a crackdown on male users and pimps will suffice to eliminate prostitution. This view insists upon the moral bankruptcy of prostitution. It also structures the relationship into a solidly dichotomous antagonism between (active) predator and (passive) victim. Perhaps most importantly, in my estimation, is that despite this arguments solid moral principles, it lacks little if any historical, social or political analysis. In this sense, it is the least strategic and most idealistic of the perspectives forwarded.

The alternative and more "liberal" (approaching on "libertarian") perspective is that of outright legalization. This opinion, often espousing the practical models operating in European countries, and seems to operate on an almost completely different plane than the previous one. Whereas the "feminist" approach is based solidly upon moral and ontological evaluations, the "liberal/libertarian" approach utilizes a completely pragmatic logic. Adherents of this position avoid the moral or ontological categories. Prostitution is as neutral a position as baker and the women that engage in it are rational-agents seeking to take advantage of the largely (benign and natural) male demand. Despite its innocent leanings, it clearly adopts a perspective on both men and women and it channels this ideology from liberal-capitalism. Like the "feminist" approach, the pragmatic perspective ignores the historical, social and political web that interpellates prostitute, john and voyeur. This position emphasizes its strategic or pragmatic sensibilities but at the expense of any trajectory. It simply seeks to capitalize (as institutionalize; in the sense of bringing within the domain of capitalism and its norms and values) a 'profession' which is intricately tied to prevailing power relationships.

My position seeks to provide both a strategic and idealistic solution. Here begins a copy of my comments from This Must Be The Place in response to a post citing Rape Relief's denunciation of the legalization of prostitution.

---

I'm for the legalization of prostitution personally. Unfortunately I do not see any good options put forward by groups such as Rape Relief, etc. Making it completely illegal simply pushes it further underground. Have our marijuana laws and other drugs laws made drug use disappear?

Prostitution as it is now = rampant capitalism with no regulation. Legalizing it will not prevent rampant capitalism but will regulate it.

A better step will be legalization and state-control. No private brothels.

That way it can be properly regulated and plenty of support can be made available for those women who would like to leave the industry.

This method both provides prostitutes with dignity of not being told what they should or shouldn't be doing by self-righteous men & women and eliminating pimps (as individuals or as brothel owners).

I think an equivalent of the Vancouver safe-injection site could be a first step.

Furthermore, (sorry for being so verbose) government legalization would have the benefit of allowing complete criminalization of prostitution outside government channels. Currently, prostitutes are not criminalized and 'johns' are. This makes protection of prostituted women extremely difficult because they actively seek to avoid the police in order to make money in an activity that is illegal. This is the equivalent of charging police to protect drug-dealers although they are mandated to arrest drug users. Obviously, the prostitutes do not want anything to do with the police despite not being criminals per se and this ultimately leads to risks to their lives.

By government legalization, prostitution outside of this channel would be illegal and the women could be arrested. This would be beneficial namely because women operating outside the government system would likely be operating in a state of coercion (pimped). The women could then be offered ways out of the 'business' or work at the government brothel. Again, instead of morally-denouncing women they are offered the dignity of a choice freed of coercion.

Obviously, welfare policy must be modified to prevent abuses (such as those in Europe that insist women engage in prostitution if they cannot find employment elsewhere). Prostitution could be handled strictly as a means to ending it through government assistance.

This approach has the obvious downside of dirtying the hands of government and consequently the public. I'd much rather have that responsibility on my shoulders than the airs of purity that come with evangelical positions of eliminating prostitution with a wave of the (legislative) hand or simple and self-righteous denunciation strategies of certain feminist groups.

Canadian Music Week Update

Its been a pretty intense week here in Toronto. I can finally relate to what it must be like to live in Austin, Texas during SXSW. For those back home, its Canadian Music Week here and every night has half-a-dozen bands playing at a dozen venues from Wednesday to Sunday. Not living downtown I had to forgo the militant indie fan role for the more casual two-night visit.

Thursday Night @ The Silver Dollar
Autodrone 8 : 00 PM
Locksley 9 : 00 PM
Moi Caprice 10 : 00 PM
The High Dials 11 : 00 PM
Uncut 12 : 00 AM
Les Breastfeeders 1 : 00 AM

I arrived at the beginning of Moi Caprice's set. This Danish band has signed with a Canadian label and sings in English, so I guess that's how they qualified for CMW. They had a distinctively European flavour - at least it seemed to me. It wasn't exactly my type of music but was definitely an enjoyable set. The High Dials followed which was a real treat since their album, War of the Wakening Phantoms, was one of the first indie Canadian albums I bought. Next up, Uncut, really kicked it up a notch at midnight with a hardrock edge that had been missing so far. I'd never listened to these guys so this was the surprise pick of the night. The set closed with Les Breastfeeders who, as usual, did not disappoint. They are one of the most fantastic bands to see live. I own both of their recent albums and while they are satisfying to listen to, it doesn't compare at all to their live shows. Their music is very danceable and energetic and seems to magically capture wandering bodies within its reach and possess their limbs...

Saturday Night @ The Horseshoe Tavern
Wil 8 : 00 PM
Yoko Casionos 9 : 00 PM
Two Hours Traffic 10 : 00 PM
In-Flight Safety 11 : 00 PM
The Golden Dogs 12 : 00 AM
Jenn Grant 1 : 00 AM

I came a bit earlier to this show because the line-up was so solid. I'd heard of four of the six bands and see two live on the same bill a month before. Saturday's line-up featured a truly pan-Canadian mix with Vancouver's Yoko Casionos, Charlottetown's Two Hours Traffic, Halifax's In-Flight Safety and Toronto's (originally Thunderbay) The Golden Dogs. The Golden Dogs were worth the price of admission (only $10) alone as their 70s-esque rocker Nineteen-hundred-and-eighty-five tore the roof off the joint. The Yoko Casionos, whose Much Music style pop-rock hadn't appealed to me in February, were much likeable this time around. Two Hours Traffic was probably the second biggest hit of the night, and played a number of hit-worthy tunes after an impassioned introduction by the Horseshoe's tavern keeper. A memorable night!

In keeping with my tradition of posting a song every week or so, here's Quadra Island's Mother Mother with their track Polynesia. Mother Mother played Friday night at the Horseshoe and I missed out because I'm too weak and old to go out 3 nights in a row. This song alone would have made it worth it though.

Enjoy.

Mother Mother - Polynesia.

Nietzsche Family Circus

Friend and fellow Smartist Shayne Robinson (check out his print-worthy travel blog www.shayneandjo.com) has pointed me to this lovely site that pairs random Family Circus cartoons with random quotes by everybody's favourite philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche.

All sciences are now under the obligation
to prepare the ground for the future task
of the philosopher, which is to solve the problem
of value, to determine the true hierarchy of values.

---

If you gaze long into an abyss,
the abyss will gaze back into you.

Check it out for a laugh:
http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/

City Lights Align

Coming out of one of Canada's best indie-rock bands, Cuff the Duke, Wayne Petti was already standing on firm ground for his debut solo effort City Lights Align which will be released on March 13, 2007. Sporting a much softer and folkier side than Cuff the Duke's regular mix of pop, country and rock, Petti nonetheless brings across CtD's most shining asset: his voice and lyrics. The first single from City Lights Align is Moment by Moment which I've posted here.

A slight change I've added to the format of the blog should be visible on the right-side menu. I've stolen a handy-MP3 player gadget from Todd Leskie's Blog. This might help those too lazy to click on the link and open the song in Winamp or whatever. It also provides a handy list of all the songs I've posted so far in one playlist.

So click play on the first track, "Moment by Moment" and listen to one of Canada's best upcoming talents, Wayne Petti.

Wayne Petti's Myspace Page: http://myspace.com/waynepetti

Pre-order City Lights Align: http://www.maplemusic.com

 

40sq Feet of Fun

So I've lived in my little York Apartment now for six months and have yet to share my dwelling with the folks back home. So after spending some much-needed time cleaning I snapped some photos for all y'all.

My Role Model: Grant Lawrence

Broken, torn, and shattered, 2005 had been a year of downturns and failures in many ways. A break-up with a long time girlfriend, a money well wasted vacation to Costa Rica as well as a number of jobless months searching for reasonable (above min. wage) employment in Vancouver. Indeed for about half-a-year it seemed like nothing could go right, that is until I met him in November. That him is my hero, the ace of adjectives, prince of pop references and uh... queen of quirkiness, Grant Lawrence. At first our encounter was limited to an hourly engagement once a week but I soon discovered a giant backlog of his musings and recommendations on music and life through the CBC archives (and later even more Grant through a satellite radio given to me by a friend). Now I was set to be a disciple of Grant and have faithfully followed ever since. Grant led me out of the darkness and into a better and richer world of music and soul and to him I am indebted (with a shout-out to my favourite fruit Apple of course).

So when Grant Lawrence starts his favourite show of 2006 on Canadian music with Destroyer's 3000 Flowers, and cites "its amazing feedback drenched guitar riff" I couldn't help but agree. This is the kind of off the wall guitar buzz and screeching that one can just lose onself. And in the long months of a Toronto winter, far from where Grant & I met for the first time, this song delivers the best in what pop music can offer: joy.

So sit back, relax and let your cell's dance to Destroyer's 3000 Flowers.

For an introduction to Grant Lawrence start here.

A Midwinter Night's Dream

After a few days of absolute hermitage in my 40sq foot apartment reading books and writing midterm papers I finally escaped my narrow confines for a night on the town to see Josh Ritter soft-rock the Horseshoe Tavern in downtown Toronto. The set was spectacular with JR dropping the usual team of bandmates and giving a stripped down and powerful one-man show. The lack of the backing band but all that much more emphasis on Josh Ritter to sell the show and sell it he did. He stayed out of the more somber and slow-moving tracks that he'd played previously in Seattle and instead favoured the upbeat and cheerful melodies from Hello Starling! and The Animal Years plus at least one new song. Another favourite of the show was Josh's frequent time-outs to joke with the audience, tell stories of touring and show-off his intriguing desire for the CBC's Barbara Bud as well as other Canadiana. Growing up in a small town of Idaho just hours from the Canadian border almost makes him an honourary citizen - not to mention his knowledge of CBC radio hosts.

So it was on this much-needed trip out of my hovel that I recognized it had been snowing for the past few days and in fact was snowing at that very moment as well. This was something I had been oblivious too but upon returning to York after the show (around 1:30 am) the sight of falling snow and the warm orange lights of campus made the perfect scene for some photos which I'd long been putting off. So, without further ado, York University and York Apartments (my home!) at night.

~Fin~

Get Back Get Back (to Ootischenia)

Its been over a month since I last posted a song on the blog and my guilt has actually kept me from making good on my commitment to spreading the good news of the lord, indie music. Part of the problem has also been that I scooped up a lot of good cheer over the holidays including 5 new albums (some of those which made my top 10 of 2006 had not been purchased and obviously earned the honour, including Matt Mays' excellent When the Angels Make Contact album as well as Pink Mountaintops Axis of Evol. Moreover, a free week or two of downloading from my favourite bittorrent site (the best way to listen to new music) has given me a whole new library of tunes to sort through and its been tough to find the one song that deserves a blog post out of the bevy of great picks and friends recommendations I've heard.

However, this post is about picking and not indecisive meanderings (save those for the philosophical posts) and the pick is The Be Good Tanyas's "Ootischenia". Besides the obvious qualities of the song, most notably lead singer Frazey Ford's drawl and the comforting old-timey rhythm, the lyrics tell a story about a small Doukhobor community in the interior of British Columbia. The song, which Ford describes as a reminiscence of life growing up in the town of Ootischenia (near Castlegar), feels like a warm embrace which I wanted to send out to all friends and family in the little town of Kelowna (OK not so little) no matter whether they've been scattered (to Ulsan, Vancouver, Toronto, etc.) or if they're still making life work in that odd little city-on-the-lake. So sit back, relax and drift away to The Be Good Tanyas' Ootischenia.

Reflections on the Meaning of Justice

Fragements of an Ethos Under Construction

By now, the case of Kim Walker, his daughter Jadah Walker and her deceased boyfriend James Hayward has become the topic of popular discussion across Canada. The comments section on the Globe & Mail website which posted the news of a second-degree murder verdict in the trial of Mr. Walker has quickly reached 260 posts. The comments vary dramatically, ranging from outright support of Mr. Walker's actions to condemnations of his murder of the twenty-four year old boyfriend of his daughter. Those supporting Mr. Walker speak of a sense of justice for which 'the law' at best approximates and perhaps more often misses by a wide margin. Their opponents speak of equivalence - Hayward may have been a drug-dealer (and user) who had led Jadah Walker into a hollow shell of her former life but can that be worth an arbitrary death sentence dealt by five bullets from a 9mm handgun. Others illuminate another important dimension to this case: Kim Walker did not hide from his crime, in taking responsibility for it he not only guaranteed a guilty verdict for himself but saved the courts the burden of prosecution. A move which in the days of year-long multimillion dollar trials for known criminals provides stark contrast. A man, with whose actions can be at the minimum sympathized, and who takes full responsibility for his actions, is penalized (perhaps) harsher and more efficiently than those whose actions are entirely despicable and whose very existence upon this planet can hardly be tolerated.

What is Justice?

The responses to the Walker case bring about a central question. Justice for whom? Which naturally begs the question, what is justice? In terms of the Old Testament we know it as equivalence, as pure bodily exchange: eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth. The growth of modern society has seen certain judicial 'advances' which have largely upended such understandings of justice. The state has assumed the position of victim, the crime, one against civil society as a whole (this is why, unlike in civil cases, the victim or his kin do not participate as the prosecution). Philosophers such as Hegel have argued that this is the result of the realization of the relation between individuals and society as an organic totality. Michel Foucault makes a similar argument, noting that criminal actions disrupt the carefully balanced machine of exploitation and as such effect the whole as much as the individual.

An important result of the shift from individual exchange as justice to state justice can be witnessed in the sentencing of convicts. Whereas equivalence governed the biblical model, the state's assumption of the role of victim allowed an enlarged ability for magnanimity. A state, as the culmination of the whole of civil society, is not brought to its knees by a single criminal action against an individual. As such, it is able to punish without the requirement of equivalence. An eye for a tooth perhaps, or a fine. In fact, the slow abolition of the death penalty through the world has been made possible through such magnanimity.

In the Walker case, such magnanimity can be clearly acknowledged. The state, through the jury and court system, dealt the defendant a sentence of second-degree murder which carries with it a minimum ten-year sentence. A life for ten-years. Certainly no equivalence there, and yet, exchange still prevails. Like a commodity, a life has been cashed in for a sentence, for punishment. This is the still the overarching meaning of justice which, while it has changed quantitatively, as we have just witnessed, it has not changed qualitatively. Exchange still predominates:

Criminal Act = Punishment

Furthermore, justice maintains its association with punishment. Forms of punishment have varied widely over the millenia, from the bodily exchange of eye for an eye or a pound of flesh to more 'humane' models of incarceration, but the motif of punishment has been resolutely maintained. To maintain equilibrium, punishment must be the currency of justice and every criminal act is just another "dollar amount" of punishment. After all, a criminal must "pay for his crime."

A second aspect brought to light by the Walker case is the issue of justice in a more cosmological sense. Kim Walker's actions can be seen in the light of a reaction, a response, to an original wrong (the drugging of his daughter by the older and experienced user/pusher Hayward). Justice, as exchange, is a two-piece operation. Here we have three pieces, the original wrong-doing, the 'injustice', the illegal 'justice' of Walker and then the sanctioned 'justice' of the state. Under the principle of exchange, a cosmological equilibrium is sought, a balance that supersedes the individuals involved. The lack of this balance can be witnessed by the strong reactions toward the conviction of Walker. Some have propounded his innocence based on the logic that the original wrong was 'done justice' by Walker's murder. Others, citing the imbalance of drugs/murder/incarceration troika are focused more upon the lack of what could be termed a 'proper exchange of justice' by Walker and thus agree in principle with his conviction, although they may quibble as to the quantity (as above) of punishment deserved.

Thus these two, related aspects, reveal notions of justice as exchange and equilibrium.

Justice for whom?

We began earlier with the question "justice for whom?" and then proceeded to interrogate what justice itself means in our society. Returning to our original question, we must recall the fact that the state has assumed the role of victim in the process of exchange and equilibrium known as justice. As we saw in Hegel, this is related to the fact that an individual considers him or herself part of a larger whole, a social network, a family and any action within a part of a family affects every member. In Foucault, we caught sight of a more sinister but similar approach. From both of these philosophers we should take away that justice is clearly primarily for the state, whether we choose to see the state as kindly or exploitative. The good of the 'family' comes before the good of the individual (in our case the victim or victim's family). Thus, individual justice, justice for individuals, is not a possibility unless said individual adjusts his notion of justice to correspond with that of the state's.

The Walker case raises the question, had the community sided wholeheartedly with Walker's actions, would justice be done? If, so to speak, the sale was ratified by the public rather than by the law? The courts say no, naturally. Without law there is no justice. Thus, justice is removed from the domain of people. There are very good reasons why this is so, mob rule (democracy), could mean that might makes right, that justice serves only the powerful. Whereas within law, justice serves all. It makes justice objective, neutral, and thus just. But, at the same time, we know that justice serves the state. This is not meant to be a cynical interpretation because the state is meant to represent the good of all. Thus justice is hardly unbiased. It has an directive which supersedes those involved in the particular crime. It is a justice that supersedes justice itself for its aim is maintenance of the state. Like the justice of parents separating two warring children and sentencing each to their rooms irregardless of "who started it", the state is not acting on the behalf of its "children" except to prevent continual disturbance. Thus, the goal of state justice is the avoidance, the minimalization, of disturbance to the continuity and being of the state.

Vigilante Justice

Vigilantes have long attracted support, if rarely so in reality then with adulation in fantasy. Robin Hood, Zorro, Bat/Super/Spider-man to name a few of the crusaders for justice in an unjust world. The more modern heroes, the 'men' are also more complex. Modern society will not readily accept a one-man judge, jury and executioner and as such, the comics give us the reserved vigilante. The daring hero who catches criminals in order to bring them to justice, state justice. The vigilante is not permitted to mete out punishment but only capture and deliver the criminal to the 'authorities'. Thus, the moral authority still lies within the state system and as such justice still serves the state and not the individual.

The case of Walker stands against this tradition. Kim Walker served his form of vigilante justice, five bullets to the body of a twenty-four year old man. In the days before the murder, Walker had realized that justice, as he conceived it, would not serve him. The traditional instruments of state justice, the police, would/could not act and so he formulated his own plan. A plan that four years later has his daughter, the original victim, calling him a "hero" as he is led from the courthouse to serve, in the name of justice, for his actions.

Perhaps Kim Walker's realization, fatally, was that justice as equilibrium does not serve the interests of the individual, just as market exchange does not serve the interests of the individual. Primarily, it is designed to maintain the system, which, unless we are naive, serves some rather than others. Thus, Kim Walker moved outside of exchange. He committed and act of justice (which I do not claim to be just). In that act he not only took the life of a young man, James Hayward, but also challenged the state. The state accepted only to discover that Walker confessed and took full responsibility for his actions.

What is perhaps most disturbing is that Kim Walker confessed to the crime and took responsibility for his actions. The trial itself was a formal proceedings that was designed to determine quantity (it chose a medium amount in comparison to first-degree or manslaughter charges that were sought). The details were not in dispute. Hegel saw that in his state-system, the criminal desired punishment to negate his responsibility for his actions. Thus the criminal for Hegel takes responsibility for his crime and calls on punishment to absolve it. Clearly, this is not how the courts work and yet in this case it is. Walker is almost portrayed as a martyr for doing so.

Ethics of Vigilantism

The danger of the Walker case is that it reveals the lack of 'justice' within the system. There are certainly other cases that also amply serve this point, however, few with the shock value. The danger I speak of is the realization that the justice does not serve the individual or even the collective of individuals in many cases. This could mean an increase in vigilante forms of justice out of the realization that justice-as-equilibrium is no longer a popular model. The increase in individual ethos that have come in part through neoliberal economic reforms also place a new emphasis on individual action and responsibility that could play a part.

Further, while the state may be legally just it is difficult to argue they hold the moral authority over even individual acts of justice which are done within an arena of public support. Thus, the moral ambiguity arising from the state's perceived inefficacy will open a gray area that will prevent an easy resolution and re-establishing of the state's monopoly on justice.

Justice as Exchange

While justice has be monopolized by the state, its ownership can only belong with the people. Thus I cannot critique the actions of individuals for attempting to re-assert justice against a morally-deficient state. Some philosophies and ideologies posit an ultimate authority in the state without an organic tie to the public. This endows the state with a being which is independent of that which composes it. Others state that the state is no more than the collection of its people but then justice cannot be separated from public whim. More likely, the state is a collection of both public consent and institutions which function to add rigid elements to its constitution. These rigid elements, such as laws, are designed to counter the influence of the people; however, when these laws or institutions (such as that of justice) fail in themselves it is the responsibility of the people to reform them. Justice is a fluid concept and as such requires constant reworking. In spite of these rigid elements, justice cannot reside within them, they can only exist as an extension. In the last analysis only individuals exist and thus only individuals can be the ultimate bearers of justice. Thus, Walker's decision to take justice in his own hand was an assertion of his ontological role in bearing and establishing justice.

Whereas it is difficult to strip an individual of the realization of his or her carrying the ultimate arbitration of justice, I can critique the notion of justice so employed. The common notion of justice is as exchange, as punishment, as we discerned above. Justice as punishment is justice as revenge, and yet revenge is posited as the exact opposite of justice. Superheroes and vigilantes moral inability to punish villains is precisely because their actions could be perceived as vengeance. The state is supposed to remove this aspect and yet it instills it within the system of exchange. Moving beyond reaction, revenge or ressentiment (Nietzsche's word) is moving to justice as justice. It is only in this analysis that Walker can be critiqued. Justice is in all of our hands unless we abdicate our responsibility and defer it to mechanized state. But the justice that is in our hands is one of responsibility and overcoming-of-vengeance rather than the simpler displacement of inner rage on the outside world.

Miscellaneous Top Lists of 2006

So urged by my friend and unwilling accomplice Honest S.J. Robinson, I am presenting a tantalizing top 5 collection for various events and experiences of 2006. Most of these are poorly thought-out and in no way do justice their categories. For example, the category Best Movies comes from someone who goes months without watching a new release and cannot even claim to have seen most of the contenders for awards (either indie or industry). Thus, all budding critics please keep your disgust aimed toward what is on the list and not what is off it! Also, do to my horrendous memory most of the lists will be tilted toward recent events as what happened in January '06 may as well have been in January '86.

Otherwise, enjoy!

Top Concerts:

1. Immaculate Machine (Railway Club, Vancouver)
2. Les Breastfeeders (Lamplighter, Vancouver)
3. Cuff The Duke (The Red Room, Vancouver)
4. Neko Case (The Centre, Vancouver)
5. Sasquatch (The Gorge, Washington State)

Top Movies:

1. Casino Royale
2. The Departed
3. Blood Diamond
4. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
5. Nacho Libre

Top Cities Visited:

1. Prague, Czech Repubic
2. Paris, France
3. Florence, Italy
   
4. Munich, Germany
   
5. Bruges, Belgium
   

Top Songs*:

1. No Heat (Cuff the Duke)
2. Devil's Paintbrush Road (The Wailin' Jennys)
3. Gold Lion (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
4. Losin' You (Amy Millan)
5. You Know I Love You Baby (Melissa McClelland)
6. Mini Jupe et Watusi (The Breastfeeders)
7. Thin Blue Flame (Josh Ritter)
8. The Bleeding Heart Show (The New Pornographers)
   
9. Ibi Dreams of Pavement (Broken Social Scene)
10. When The Angel's Make Contact (Matt Mays)

*Some songs on 2005 albums but did not *debut* separately or were not *discovered* by me until 2006.

Top Meals:

1. Poutine (Brados, Vancouver)
2. Wine, Bread, Cheese & Salad (Paris, France)
3. Deep-Fried Spicy Tofu (Kwong Chow, Vancouver)
   
4. Spatzle (Bavaria, Germany)
5. Ass-Cheap Pizza (Fresh Slice, Vancouver)

Top Events:

1. Accepted to York University's Graduate Program
2. Touring Europe
3. Quitting Access Justice
4. Road Trip to the Okanagan with Soon-Tae, Kimbap & Soju (complete with Shayne's Going-Away Party at the Well)
5. Phantom of the Opera (Queen Elizabeth II Theatre, Vancouver)

Top Beer Consumed**:

1. Sleeman's Honey Brown
2. Okanagan Spring's Pale Ale
3. Guinness' Guinness
4. Rickard's Red
5. Augustiner's (stein-sized) Brau
   

**Disclaimer: Not necessarily best, probably should be "Beers Most Consumed"

Top Books Read***:

1. The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)
2. Technics & Time (Steigler)
3. Cinema Vol 1 & 2 (Deleuze)
4. Negative Dialectics (Adorno)
   
5. Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)
   

***Books read in 2006, not books published in 2006.

Top TV Shows Watched****:

1. The Wire
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Deadwood
   
4. Dead Like Me
5. DaVinci City Hall
   
6. Star Trek: Deep Space 9
7. The Simpsons
8. American Comedy Hour (The Daily Show & The Colbert Report)
9. Arrested Development
10. South Park
    

****Save for DaVinci City Hall, South Park and the comedy stylings of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, most of the shows watched on the list are from previous seasons or cancelled series which did not air episodes in 2006.

Top Philosophies Pondered:

1. Adorno's Negativity
   
2. Deleuze's Affirmation
   
3. Hegel's Dialectics
   
4. Heidegger's Romanticism
   
5. Kant's Enlightening
   

Top Commodities (Purchased or Received):

1. Digital SLR Camera (Canon Rebel XT)
2. Satellite Radio (Sirius)
3. Analogue Watch with Alarm (St. Moritz)
4. James Bond Ultimate Edition (Sets 1-4)
5. Microwave & Kettle (A single man cannot eat without them!)
   

Stay tuned for a top 5 (or 10) list of Best Photos Taken of 2006 (likely a "clip-show" of the best photos posted on my travel blog)!

Let me know what you think of the lists!