James Shearer

Sheena Lyengar gives a fascinating discussion on the differing cultural perspective on choices. View here
Sheena Iyengar studies how we make choices - and how we feel about the choices we make. At TEDGlobal, she talks about both trivial choices (Coke v. Pepsi) and profound ones, and shares her groundbreaking research that has uncovered some surprising […]

I was on the bus and heading south, half way across the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver the bus driver made an announcement to all passengers: “Could everyone please look to their right and if you don’t agree with me that Vancouver is the most beautiful city in the world, please let me know and I […]

I am pretty wiped out after a fun filled weekend in Whistler where I witnessed France loose the World Cup. Our stay in a retro 70’s log cabin in the forest north of Whistler was a great way to spend a weekend, socialise with friends and relax.

Vanessa and I took a drive around Whistler’s neighbourhoods to check out the huge houses and varied mountain architecture. Most of the building designs were straight out of the Swiss Alps.

This one caught our eye - perched on a rocky crag the entrance to this Whistler home is via a glass elevator up the side of the cliff (on the left) then across an enclosed bridge.

Here are a couple other images from our Whistler Weekend…

At the weekend I finally went canoeing in Canada!!! I’ve been here all this time and it is one thing I have never done.

In Scotland I went canoeing and kayaking fairly regularly but never in Canada, the home of the boat you can carry.

Vanessa and I took some sea kayaks out on English Bay and around the edge of Stanley Park. The water was fairly calm and the trip was a nice way to cool down from the heat of the sun. Wake from one boat nearly sent us to the bottom. Vanessa (who was at the front of our double kayak) took the brunt of the three waves which then filled out boat. Fortunately we had a pump so spent the next 15 minutes bailing ourselves out.

Other than that it was relaxing, uneventful and just what was needed. It was a great way to see the city, Stanley Park the beaches around English Bay and also the wildlife (harbour seals in the water).

I’m looking forward to a more activity filled summer this year!

Canada Day kicked off with a tense match between England and Portugal. After extra time and penalties England failed to make it through to the semi-finals. oh well….

I’m off to Granville Island where a lot of Canada Day festivities are happening.

Happy Canada Day.

I just saw an interview by Ricky Gervais (The Office - BBC version) talking to Chris Martin (Coldplay). Ricky Gervais was great in The Office probably because he was just being himself and I don’t find him really that great in anything else he has done. Chris Martin on the otherhand seems like an interesting and nice guy (great band too).

Find out why Chris doesn’t support the fox hunting ban and believes “racism is just a state of mind”.

anyway… here is the video.

This website does exactly what it says in the web address:
www.iiiiiiii.com
(you need sound to appreciate this website in all its glory)
Similar to good old zombo.com

It’s been a long time in the making but it is finally online - JT Music website has landed

May the internet make way. Other websites will be envious, bloggers shall rejoice, search engines will lick their lips and people from across the globe will take a look, double take then bite right in and may they savour the sweet, sweet taste as jtmusicshop.com is here to stay.

And stay it must, for this is no ordinary website… oh no, this website is filled with evidence of burnings, mucus, excessive party going, strings and things, and experimental rocking like there has never been.

Monkey can switch off, lean back and breathe a sigh of relief. Tiger can get some Tiger and Monkey time while the Mighty Thurstons mightiness grows mighter with their sudden and loud landing in cyberspace.

Watch out world. The local shop is not just for local people now, oh no…. No longer will people have to use the road to bring their strange accents and funny money to buy. Now the road of cables and computers links the local shop to the rest of the world. The local music shop is local to us all.

There is no excuse, they put in the effort, now you go check it out because if you don’t, they will know. They might be rocking, but they are watching….

JTMusic - Fort William, Scotland
“The coolest, friendliest and over-rocked music shop”

Today I was going through my old emails and I came across some rather interesting photographs (not mine!).

They are of an artist and his work on city streets. The art is all made using chalk and the 3 dimensions is a complete illusion apart from the occasional prop or the artist posing himself!

I came across a great little flash video by an interesting British band - Nizlopi. The video is about a five year old boy going for a drive with his dad in his dad’s JCB.

Check out the JCB song video