Ah,

Heh, I don't doubt the likelihood of colder winters in the middle of America! I used to live near the Rocky Mountains, so I'm quite familiar with -40 degree(celsius) winters with several feet of snow. That's cool that you're within driving distance of a major city, as you still get a chance to catch tours by major artists.

Yeah, festivals in general can be pretty exhausting, even when they're filled with awesome acts. I went to Bumbershoot in September and by the time I got to see the main event of Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse, I was ready to fall asleep. They managed to wake me up though.

Cool:) No, I'm in the mid-west. Illinois to be exact. I'm about 20 miles from St.Louis, the biggest city near me. Pretty much middle America. It's about 60f during the day and lower 40s at night. It will get colder as winter arrives. I go over to St.Louis for gigs though. There they have arena's,a stadium,a dome and a amphitheater. I just seen an all day festival there which had bands Chevelle, The Offspring, Blue October, Sick Puppies exe. All day shows aren't really my thing though. I prefer Longer sets by good bands. Besides, I had a hell of a sun burn standing in 90 degree weather all day.

If you're referring specifically to Vancouver, it's a great city for the most part! The current fall and expected winter weather of rather frequent rain and cloud makes things a bit dreary, but there's still plenty to do. You're on the West Coast, right?

I like sweets for occasional treats, but as a regular food staple...not so much.

Yeah, most album releases are the same for the US and Canada, although occasionally release dates drift. For example, Rammstein's latest album came out in the States a week before the Canadian release.

I wonder if all the stuff is safe to mail? I'll just cross my fingers. I don't think any of it should be a concern. I looked up where your from and watched a little slideshow of pictures and such, seems nice. How do you like it? As far as cereal goes I prefer plain stuff like Crispex and even bran flakes. I'm not big on sweets myself. I'm sure most album releases are the same there as here? As I think about it surely most things in our stores are similar. North America and all.

Good ideas? Those are awesome gifts! Especially with the Lucky Charms to top it off! My only concern would be whether the cereal can be imported without incident, since some countries have restrictions on various foods. I'm guessing it'll be fine though, since you can't grow Lucky Charms in the wild.

Taste-wise, Canada is pretty similar to the US from what I can tell, especially since US companies market heavily here. I don't know what the most popular cereal is though. I prefer "old person cereals" like Raisin Bran personally.

They did a secret santa last year as well. This is the first time I've done it though. It's in the Banter but the deadline to sign up has past. I got a person from Sweden. I wasn't sure what to get but so far I've got Muse Hullabaloo, a t-shirt, American candy,American coins,Muse in Spin magazine And box of Lucky Charms. Most of the stuff should be cool since they most likely have never seen any of it. I know from there profile that Hullabaloo is the only cd they need to complete there collection and in case you were wondering Lucky Charms is like the most popular cereal here. I don't know how different Canada is from the U.S. as far as foods and other goods go.? You think those are good ideas? I don't know what else to send.

Wow, only now did it occur to me that your username was "mortal" forwards and backwards! I guess last.fm has their "taste matching" technology where they give you recommendations based on what you listen to, kind of like Amazon.com Recommendations. Hmmm...It might be worth signing up for something like that.

I wasn't aware that there was a secret santa going on! Has there been one previously? I can only imagine what forum users would send others if they don't really know them.

Yea, I just got an account a few days ago. My username there is similar just with caps, "MortallatroM". Check it out if you want. I have heard a few new bands there, so i'm thinking it could be a good place to find music. Did you by chance do the secret santa on the board.

In the case of Patrick Watson and Matthew Good, they're products of Canada who are generally only known there. The Editors are usually more rock-ish, but yeah, they decided to get a bit experimental with their latest record, which is where that song came from. Matthew Good is one of my absolute favourite musicians, due to his lyrical abilities and melodies.

I don't have a Last.fm account, as most of the time, I listen to my music via my media player, or in CD/vinyl form. I take it you have one? I like to look at Last.fm pages to see what's taking up most of people's music playback time.

That's cool. It's strange but I've never heard of any of them. I did like Matthew Good. He was the best in my opinion. The Editors seem a mix of 80s and danceclub. I like seeing new music though. Do you have a Last.fm account by chance?

After listening to the three videos, here are my thoughts:

Black Label Society - The guitarist/lead singer's shredding ability is pretty awesome, but the tempo of the shredding has a way of being detrimental to the slow melody being played by the rest of the band.

Stone Sour - I liked their track and the video was rather impressive. It's strange seeing a Slipknot member without a mask.

Bullet for my Valentine - It didn't do much for me in general.

As for myself, I'm currently listening to the Editors(

Cool, I was just making some friendly talk in mix of music. I don't party much myself, but I do kick back and have a good time every once in a while. What other music are you into now? Here are a few of my picks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCK7WvZcMgk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGh-fHR3bCo

Tell me what you think? No offense taken.

p.s. I've wrote on mine before too.

Yeah, given the amount of new material, I'd bet on a new Thom Yorke album next year. I haven't had a chance to listen to any of the concert recordings yet, as I've been occupied with other music. I think Ed O'Brien mentioned in an interview that Radiohead will be back in the studio by the end of this year if they aren't already. Oh man...a Radiohead/Thom Yorke double whammy in 2010 would be so awesome!

Hehe, if I could only choose between the two, I guess I like to party. At the moment, I'm a university student studying Computer Science. I'm currently in the middle of my final semester though, so some job seeking for January is in order. How about yourself?

I apparently wrote on my own visitor wall.