NEW Bright Eyes... finally.

Album cover

This isn't really much of a blog post worth reading, but I thought that I'd throw it up anyways. One of my favourite bands Bright Eyes has finally released a new full length album "The People’s Key." This is a follow-up album to their 2007 release "Cassadaga." Even though the album isn’t technically out yet, Conor Oberst and the band have posted the entire recording on youtube.
This is said to be the last Bright Eyes album, but I think there will be more to come.

Wikipedia will tell you that Bright Eyes is an indie/folk band from Omaha Nebraska. I think that trying to clump Bright Eyes with any genre is a misstatement. The early work of the band might have a very ‘indie’ feel to it, but some new songs cover the entire music spectrum. Front-man Conor Oberst is the only constant in the band, as there’s a wide array of different musicians on each Bright Eyes album.

"We're over the Americana, rootsy, whatever that sound is. People say country but I never thought we were very country at all. But whatever that element is or that aesthetic is, I guess it's worn a little thin for me these days. So we very much wanted it to be rocking and, for lack of a better term, contemporary, or modern." -Conor Oberst speaking his mind on the new album.

Long story short, check out this video and let me know what you think. “The People’s Key” will be available Feb 15, 2011… Conor’s birthday.

I'll give this album easily a 6/5, but don't listen to me... listen to the album. Thanks.

There's sNOw way to get to campus

Every Nipissing student should recognize this picture. It’s the upper gate of the Monastery Trail that we all know and love. It looks a little different in this picture though (thank you Google Maps) because it is one of the few months in North Bay when there is no snow. Believe it or not, this trail plays a huge role in our lives, and holds a special place in our hearts. Unfortunately we only have access to this trail for about 3 of the 8 months we’re here (Sept-April).

As we drift in to the depths of a North Bay winter so does the Monastery Trail. Oh, and by “Trail” I mean the section of walkway from one orange gate to the other. Understandably the Monastery Road does receive adequate snow removal so students can get from Main campus to the Monastery. But that’s not the issue at hand. The issue is that: the TRAIL section does not receive any snow removal during the winter months, none.

As you can see above, I've outlined the residences (blue=Nipissing, red=Canadore), the gates (orange=upper and lower gates), and the section of the trail that doesn’t receive snow removal (white=waist high snow). The unplowed region is roughly 500-600m which is just enough to freeze your toes and ruin your day on campus. To see a picture of my toes from the walk today please click here.

You're probably wondering right now “why does it matter if we can’t walk to school, there are busses every 15 minutes?” The reality is that the busses only come every 3 days, and that I should be able to walk to campus. I’m not really sure why Nipissing was built on top of a hill, or why residences were built on the bottom, but I do know that somewhere in between we need snow removal.

Whether you’re walking to your 8:30AM class, or walking home from the bar at 2:30AM, we should all have access to a safe, walkable (not a real word) trail. With the snowplows nowhere in sight, I managed to purchase my own snow-shoes which allow me to walk to campus with ease. So right now, the problem is solved for me, please stay tuned for my Monastery Trail “Bear Sighting” blog post coming soon!

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