Tangerine Dream - "The Dream is Always the Same"

I'm getting ready for a fight. I'm taping up my hands, and chalking up my hands. I'm splashing cold water on my face and I'm in a basement locker room. Where the paint on the concrete is so thick it's all smooth and soft looking. I'm looking in the mirror and I'm telling myself not to be scared. For some reason I know it's a two-way mirror, or is it a one-way mirror, there's someone behind it watching me, and I know that I'm putting on the act for them. I tape up my hands and punch the air and practice flinging the sweat away. I hide my bag under the bench, I don't want to have to worry about someone stealing my keys when I'm fighting. I can hear the commentator talking about me, for some reason they've wired the commentators down into the basement, and he's talking about me. And he's saying I'm going to get pummeled, he's reading my obituary already. "He was a nice man, he won forty dollars in the lottery, not much of a fighter. That ol' dog's gonna tear him up." It was true, I wasn't much of a fighter. Not at all, really. I saw my TA from Comparative History walk by and I knew it was time to fight. He, his name was Gavin I think and there was a rumour he jerked off on a girl in the tutorial, he led me slowly up to ring, and I got in, and everything was about to begin. Only there was just a cloth-covered figure in the other corner. Like the way they cover statues in comic books, with like a purple silk cloak, and he was just waiting there, stock still underneath. They announced me, they got my weight wrong they said 140 and I'm actually 148, and then they announced the other fighter. They pulled the silk sheet away, and underneath was an old dog. Like an actual old dog, they wanted me to fight an old dog. The bell rang and we advanced on each other and he was baring his fangs. As we get closer and closer, I just keep thinking, "This isn't fair, I shouldn't be fighting this old dog, it's mean. I'll kill it." I was so worried about killing this old dog, as if I were anywhere near as strong as a dog, that I totally let my guard down. And he jumps up and bites my neck and even as he's putting his teeth in I'm thinking, "See, he should get a chance to kill me, he's just an old dog." And then it all wells up so quick that I wake up.

[Buy]

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Paul F. Tompkins - "The Sink and The Mirror"

Paul F. Tompkins has a new album out called Freak Wharf. It's full of his casual, endearing, approachable style, and like all top-form comedians, makes it look easy. He's completely comfortable, and that only makes him stronger. Almost impossibly, he has followed up Impersonal with an album of equal calibre.

[Buy from A Special Thing Records]

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Also: The season finale of The Bitter End went up yesterday. And two of the creators were interviewed yesterday on Canada's most popular entertainment radio magazine, Q. <--(listen to the podcast of the show)