I am back in the Arctic for a short stint of work. I haven't been keeping this blog going because the summer has been so busy and updating Facebook is sadly a full-time job. The creature pictured here is Eatsy. Joy and I created him the other night on the kitchen table of our new apartment. She made me an incredible monster as a gift and I got the idea of making all kinds of plush monsters for kids. The idea is kids having their own monsters to protect them from other monsters. Kind of a 'fight evil with evil' approach to bedtime. Hopefully, we will make some more soon when I get back.

The band is going well and we played a few shows in Halifax during the summer that were well received and were a lot of fun. We are currently trying to find a new drummer and I think we have one for our next show in October. The comments function on this blog is out of order for the time being. If you want to get hold of me or see more pics, check out my Facebook. Not to many Repo's on there.

Music: Death's Head - Slayer (my entire iTunes collection is on random today)
Mood: unmotivated to work
Reading: On Literature - Umberto Eco, The Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman

Posted by Repo at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am currently stuck in a hotel in Cape Dorset. The plane that took us here on Sunday was unable to take our luggage due to weight restrictions. We were told that the plane would return the following day with our things. That never happened. The fog rolled in thicker than oatmeal and you couldn't see a thing beyond 50 feet for most of the day. I would kill for clean clothes and a toothbrush at this point. The travel gods are determined to make sure that I suffer a little before I return to Halifax. At least my webcam is fixed and I have Photobooth to keep me company.

Posted by Repo at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While most of you are basking in the warm summer sun, I thought this picture would help keep you from bitching when it drops down to a chilly +6 degrees. I took this picture last week in Clyde River. It was -15 degrees. The dog seemed content on the front step until I tried to take a picture. I only wish I got him in mid-leap as he went for my paparazzi jugular.

Constantin and I went for a stroll around the town in the night/daylight and got caught in a little bit of a snowstorm. The entire bay was still frozen solid and there were huge snow drifts blocking a lot of driveways. The summer really doesn't start up here until at least late June. All those global-warming hippies should come up and take a stroll around town. It may be warming, but I ain't feeling it right now. We also saw a walrus that turned out to be a menacing rock...

It's right there to the right of the white boat. OK, so the picture doesn't do it justice, but it looked like a walrus to both of us until we got up close. But it also made me think how fun it would be to fake a monster sighting in Halifax and leak it to the news. Footage of a mysterious leviathan in one of the lakes surrounding Halifax would be priceless.

Music: Kissing Families by Silversun Pickups
Reading: The Criminal Jury Trial in Canada by Christopher Granger
Surfing: deviantART & Film Font Heaven

Posted by Repo at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My attempts at kite-skiing were sadly misguided. I was bored and my friend Curtis is currently embarking on an insane Arctic expedition where he will kite-ski from the bottom tip of Greenland to its most northern point. There will be bears, huge crevasses, 24-hour sunlight and high-speed skiing. I didn't have too much trouble figuring out how to work the kite, but staying on my feet was an entirely different matter. I ended up getting thrown to the ground and dragged across the ice more than a few times. Great workout though...

While we were out on the ice, Richard Branson came dog-sledding by on some kind of global warming expedition. Very weird. Apparently, Jewel and Macy Gray were with him in Igloolik a few weeks ago. The Arctic is becoming a strange mecca for celebrities. The White Stripes will be here in less than a month and I keep meeting the most unlikely people. I shared my hotel in Clyde River with a Japanese nature photographer, a Spanish bullfighter named Jesus Angel Hernandez, an two Israeli television personalities. Everyone comes up to hunt polar bears, see walruses, buy narwhal tusks,save the seals, etc. I feel like I am in a happening spot. Too bad I am 300 miles away from sushi and it is snowing.

Music: burning Caitlin a CD to put in the mail later today
Reading: The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
Mood: anxious to get back to civilization

Posted by Repo at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just put the finishing touches on the first coat of my evil Russian dolls. Painting the skulls freehand wasn't as hard or as time-consuming as I thought it would be. After a second coat of paint and a nice varnish, they will be ready for whatever the hell I am going to do with them.

Joy and I just finished moving the last of her stuff out of her apartment in Truro. I am bound for the Great White North next week for another long employment stint. I will be back for summer festivities in the beautiful south, so keep me in mind when sending out invitations to BBQs and patio parties.

Listening to: my new obsession that tracks every song I play...
Reading: The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
Watching: Hot Fuzz (tonight in Bayer's Lake)

Posted by Repo at 06:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I disappeared from the blogosphere for a few months. Every time I sat down to write something, I felt like I had nothing to say. This is my dog, Galactus. He hates the sweater. I think he looks quite dashing. I am sitting at the kitchen table watching Joy study while I try to clean the mountains of crap off my computer and learn how to use the half-dozen programs I have downloaded lately.

If you use Mac OSX, check out this. Enter blogs you like and it will allow you to stream the songs as they are uploaded and download them if you like them.

Music: "Vasoline" - Stone Temple Pilots
Reading: "Love All the People" - Bill Hicks
Drinking: Coffee

Posted by Repo at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I say goodbye to 2006, I have no regrets. Except watching Scary Movie 4. That was a colossal waste of time. Other than that, it really was a great year. I started dating Joy in January (technically, it was a little later but we are going by first dates here) and year one was a smashing success. I got a new apartment in Iqaluit, returned to Halifax, flew all over the Arctic, got to see a few good friends get married, saw narwhals and polar bears up-close for the first time, and my family and friends are safe, healthy and well. I haven't been posting much lately because I haven't had much to say when I sat down to write. That being said, here's my favourite songs of 2006 for what their worth:

The Funeral - Band of Horses
Sexual Healing - Hot Chip
Lost My Soul - Maps
Dark Trance (Psychic Lightning) - Hockey Night
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
The Ballad of Queen Bee and Baby Duck - Eagles of Death Metal
Woman (MSTRKRFT remix) - Wolfmother
Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio
Beauty King - The White Birch
Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh-huh - The Rapture
You Could Have Both - The Long Blondes
Woke Up New - The Mountain Goats
Postcards From Italy - Beirut
Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above - CSS

Best Song of 2007 so far: Punkrocker by Stockholm's Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop on lead vocals.

It took me forever to find these links...you best reco-nize, bitches. Oh, and happy new year.

Posted by Repo at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I need someone to send me pictures of the Truro pubcrawl, because I didn't get them before I left Halifax. Joy, Ashley, Loukas and Captain Andy and I donned our Sunday best and headed out to check out the night life in the hub of the province. It was honestly a bit insane. A packed house of reasonably attractive people mingling with bizarrely-dressed hicks and weird rural gang-bangers? A guy with severe Down's Syndrome dressed in full hip-hop gear and bling over-load conducting the crowd from the stage? Did I mention the cage dancers? Cage dancers? I had no idea Truro was such a party circus. I guess there was that warm-up bar filled with old people and a band doing Peter Frampton and Supertramp covers. Maybe it was so lame it was actually hip and we city folks just didn't get it. The pizza afterward was some of the best I have ever had. I am considering a small town tour of Nova Scotia. Who's with me?

Right now I am in Clyde River sitting in the hotel. I am the only guest and there are bears outside the hotel. Three genuine polar bears just chilling out on the ice. And I am on the internet?

Music: Hostage Life - 'This Song Was Written By A Committee'...check out the video, clever kids...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09IIkAcoRQ4
Reading: The Berlitz Spanish Self-Teacher

Posted by Repo at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

An recent terrorist attack has rendered the address book and day-planner on my laptop totally inoperable. In order to strike back at the insurgent forces responsible for this catastrophe, the government of the Republic of Reponia will need the full support of its friends, allies and stalkers who read this blog. Please post your birthdays, addresses, contact info and any other stuff I need to know. Anything you want to keep top secret can be emailed to mkempt at hotmail.com. Thank you for your cooperation.

Stay tuned for posts about our recent Truro pubcrawl and other general insanity.

Posted by Repo at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I can't believe October has come and gone. Hallowe'en was a blast. Five parties in four days with three different costumes. Some of the highlights included:

Captain Andy, Loukas and Joy being chased by guy dressed as Leatherface with a chainsaw through the haunted corn maze in Truro.

Loukas going to the goth/industrial night dressed as a giant white bunny and being befriended by almost everyone.

Ashely going out dressed as Katamari Damacy and winning two 'best costume' awards in one night. And also letting me wear her giant head while we walked to the bar...

A random girl being really offended by Joy and I being dressed as Mormon missionaries at the NSCAD dance and neither of us really caring. Joy was more upset about chasing the girl in the bear suit around for what seemed like an hour to get there.

The awesome array of supervillain costumes at the Strange Adventures/CD Plus party that Cal threw. I officially want to nominate him for citizen of the year after that party. Renting an entire bar with free drinks and costume prizes. Un-fucking-real.

My roommate Megan and her boyfriend Jonny dressing as Michael Jackson and Captain Highliner. And her picking up her boss' young son and saying, "Now my costume is complete."

Johnny Tightpants providing celebrity cardboard heads for everyone to wear at the party. Creepy.

Driving Joy back and forth to Truro seventeen times and learning Spanish in my iPod along the way because my stereo only works when it feels like it. Cuanto dura el viaje? Aviseme cuando lleguemos.

October has come and gone and I can't remember what happened. It won't be long before I return to my lawyer life in the Arctic for a few weeks. There goes that career getting in the way of my life again. I need to plan some serious stuff before I take off. This weekend I hope to organize a lobster boil in Truro with a pub crawl to follow. We'll see how that goes. I have spent most of my day today procrastinating and downloading music. People really need to stop bailing on meeting up with me. Buggers. These photos are proof that I am somewhat fun. C'mon...

Listening to: "My Love (DFA Remix) - Justin Timberlake
Reading: "Letter to a Christian Nation" - Sam Harris (don't bother...'End of Faith' is better...or 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins if your feeling particularily blasphemous lately)
Mood: waiting for Joy so we can get sushi and have this band meeting over cocktails...I'm not sure that is actually a mood or not...fuck it...

Posted by Repo at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)