A lot of people declare fall as their favorite season. I declare them selective in their seasonal fandom!
Here’s how I see fall. It’s not one season, it’s really three:
Early fall. From the fall equinox around September 20 to the first week or so of October. This is really just an extension of late summer. The days are getting shorter, but the weather can still be nice enough for shorts and t-shirts (in Metro Vancouver), trees, flowers and vegetation all still look fairly lush, though the first signs of the season changing are starting to appear.
Middle fall. The time from early October to Halloween, sometimes extending to the first week of November. It is clearly fall now–the days are getting noticeably shorter, the high temperatures are no longer summer-like, but trees look spectacular as the leaves begin changing color. Halloween is coming (a favorite holiday for many, not the least of whom are the candy manufacturers). This is the classic fall many people think of when they declare autumn their favorite time of year.
Late fall. Early November to the winter solstice around December 21. November starts to get cold and wet. It can snow. The days are now down to about two hours of daylight, or so it feels like. Did I mention the rain? The leaves are gone, the trees are stark and bare. Vegetation has withered and gone fallow. Everything is gray. When people go on about how wonderful fall is, they are not talking about the bitter cold monsoons of mid-December.
The last time I ranked R.E.M.’s albums, I put Monster at #3 (of 15 studio releases). I hadn’t listened to the remastered 25th anniversary edition until now. I am as timely as I ever was!
The album consists of four discs (for those who remember physical media):
The original album
A collection of outtakes and demos from the Monster sessions
A remix version of the album
A collection of live songs recorded in Chicago in 1995 (Monster came out in 1994)
It’s a veritable cornucopia of R.E.M. stuff, but I want to focus on is that third disc, the remix of the album. I’ll have more thoughts later, as I’ve only just listened to the album, but it’s a bit bonkers.
Scott Litt, the original producer, was allowed to handle the remix, and he apparently had some big regrets in how he handled Monster back in 1994, chiefly being:
Burying Michael Stipe’s vocals deep in the mix
Overemphasizing the feedback, tremolo and fuzzy guitars, which was popular at the time due to the rise of grunge (in retrospect it was kind of the “onion on the belt” of the early 1990s)
Both of these are true of the 1994 original release, but each was a deliberate choice. On the other five albums Scott Litt produced with the band, including one that came after Monster, Stipe’s vocals (and his singing in general) is clear and in the front of the mix. With Monster, there was a conscious effort to give R.E.M. a different, “bigger” sound, as well as one that was looser, muddier, with the illusion of being sloppy, although the production was actually quite meticulous.
This makes the album unique among their releases. They never recorded anything that sounded quite like it before or after.
The remix feels like a completely different album at times. All the same songs are here, but the presentation at times is so dramatically different that they feel like they came from somewhere else. Stipe’s vocals are indeed pushed much more to the front, providing a clarity to his words that is at times almost startling. But Litt goes further, sometimes using completely different vocal takes entirely. “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” ends with a completely different extended outro. The reverb in “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” is simply gone. There are even a few bits here and there that seem to be trying to brighten the overall mood.
It’s all a little weird.
Some songs emerge relatively intact. “Strange Currencies” was always pretty straightforward, and the remix version is mostly the same, apart from Stipe’s vocals being pushed up that much more in the mix.
Is this a better version of Monster? My impulse is to say no, not better, just different.
One of the effects of the new clarity of Stipe’s vocals is to slightly diminish the feel of the characters he’s portraying in some songs. He sounds more like himself now, which is great in a general sense, but a bit of flavor is lost as a result. It’s trippy to hear how utterly clear the vocals really are, though.
“Let Me In”, with the fuzz all but removed, sounds far more plaintive, and again I think this weakens the flavor of the original, but the new crispness of Stipe’s delivery somewhat compensates.
There are a few choices that are puzzling. “Tongue” now fades out for no discernible reason. Little flourishes that didn’t exist before have been added here and there, to no real effect. “Crush with Eyeliner” begins with Stipe singing “lalala” sans instruments It’s quirky, but leaves me wondering why it was added.
I will say I love that this remix exists alongside the original. Seeing bands (and producers) rework their material is always enjoyable, even if the results aren’t necessarily better–sometimes specifically if they aren’t better. This is a distinctive alternate take on Monster and makes it “fit” better with the albums that came before and after it. Whether that was the right choice is really just a matter of opinion.
UPDATE: How could I have forgotten bomb cyclone? We’re in the middle of one right now!
Spoiler: not exactly fun
I learned two three new weather terms this year. Learning things is fun! Learning these terms was less fun, since they affected me in somewhat unpleasant ways.
It’s possible I’ve heard these terms before, but either forgot them or they never registered.
A heat dome occurs when the atmosphere traps hot ocean air like a lid or cap.
We had a heat dome in late June/early July. At its peak, the temperature here in New Westminster got up to 42 degrees Celsius. As I recounted at the time, this is quite warm indeed, particularly for this area where a summer high might be nearly 20 degrees cooler. I know what a heat dome is now, but feel no better with the knowledge, as I wonder if Summer 2022 will bring more domes.
Atmospheric rivers are relatively long, narrow regions in the atmosphere – like rivers in the sky – that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics. These columns of vapor move with the weather, carrying an amount of water vapor roughly equivalent to the average flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River. When the atmospheric rivers make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow.
The NOAA article talks about benefits of some atmospheric rivers, like increased snowpack, but in local context they have always meant rain and a whole lot of it. When we got one of these rivers flowing overhead recently, the Brunette River rose higher than I’d ever seen–high enough for those signs along the river trail warning about sudden changes in water flow suddenly resonating.
Brunette River looming large
See the bit of river at the bottom of the photo? That’s normally not underwater. If it had gotten a little higher, the river would have started spilling out over its banks.
So far I do not like atmospheric rivers, although they do have the advantage over heat domes of not making your face feel like it’s on fire.
BOMB CYCLONE
This one I just heard about in the last few days and as I update this post early on the morning of October 25, one is hammering the south coast, leading to power outages, cancelled ferry sailings and more.
A bomb cyclone is simply a storm that intensifies very rapidly. Bomb cyclones form when air near Earth’s surface rises quickly in the atmosphere, triggering a sudden drop in barometric pressure — at least 24 millibars within 24 hours.
I love the use of the word “simply” there, as it goes on:
As the air rises, wind spirals in at the base of the storm. As long as the air continues to rise at the top of the storm faster than it can be replaced at the bottom, barometric pressure will continue to drop. As with a hurricane, lower air pressure yields a stronger storm.
Like a hurricane. No biggie! And maybe happens once a year. And we’re only a month into fall, when the window for these things is basically now through early spring. Woo.
Did you know that the song “Tubthumping” from the album Tubthumper (there’s a good trivia question–which was the song, which was the album title?) rhymes the word “down” with the word “down”? It’s true!
I get knocked down But I get up again You're never gonna keep me down
It’s just catchy enough that you never notice until 20 years later, like me.
Why is it that for two months of the year we get bombarded with pumpkin spice everything? It’s bad enough that eggnog starts showing up in September.
Pumpkins aren’t spicy. Pumpkin pie is gross. Yes, even if you like it, it’s gross. When you carve a pumpkin, what do you do with everything inside it? You compost it, as nature intended. I may grant an exception for pumpkin seeds if enough salt is involved.
Is that perhaps what pumpkin spice is? Just adding lots of salt to anything vaguely pumpkin-y? I could possibly get on board with this.
Pumpkin spice is inescapable. It’s everywhere. Someone is probably selling Pumpkin Spice Socks.
Anyway, down with pumpkin spice. Up with hot cocoa.
And only 256 days until next summer, WHERE THERE IS NO PUMPKIN SPICE.
September is a transition month in a number of different ways, even more so this year than in others for me in particular:
At the start of the month it is still summer, and it can be quite sunny and warm
By the end of the month it’s fall and while the weather can still be t-shirt-worthy, it can also be what it is currently: in the low to mid-teens and very much The Rains. Now begins the slow turning of all the lush greens of summer, to be replaced briefly by the explosion of fall colors before everything turns gray and naked, like the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
And this marks the first full month after leaving my job of close to nine years. I won’t go into details here, but will say that it has been a month of planning, working and setting up toward the future. It has also been a boon to my mental health because I had grown to despise both the work and work environment at my previous place of employment. Getting out of there was like removing a slow drip of poison into my system.
My birthday is also in September, so it’s a chance to reflect on gaining another year and being happy about that vs. the alternative
The start of the school year is no longer particularly meaningful to me now, for which I am grateful, but I am aware of it on the periphery, with kids no longer out and aboot the same way during the day
October brings the last of the warm weather for the year (if we are lucky), the aforementioned explosions of color (the highlight of the season by far), Halloween (the holiday I am indifferent to, but I do enjoy seeing how people decorate their homes and yards) and, of course, pumpkin spice everywhere. What’s the deal with that, anyway? Pumpkins aren’t spicy!
With another heavy rainfall warning in effect, it’s hard to believe it was mere weeks ago that the whole province was kindling waiting to explode. But here we are, complaining again as The Rains resume.
And now, a haiku:
Rain, rain and more rain
Contemplating ark building
Umbrellas for life
I went out late this afternoon to close my rings and get some fresh air. The weather threatened rain, so I actually wore pants (well, sweatpants). Plus it was only 12C.
I was nearing the path leading to the stairs down into Lower Hume Park when I heard from the other side of the pool building the distinct crunch of two vehicles smushing themselves together. I paused my walk, went around the building and saw two cars by the crosswalk, the one that was directly behind the other featuring a new buckled hood.
The crosswalk here on east Columbia is one that features pedestrian-controlled flashing lights, but I did not notice them flashing at the time (though I wouldn’t swear they weren’t). The drivers of the vehicles were out and no doubt exchanging information and going through the usual fender bender rituals.
What I noticed next was a guy with a dog on the crosswalk. He looked hesitant. I am guessing this is what happened:
Guy with dog gets to crosswalk and does/does not push pedestrian light
Guy with dog steps out to cross
Guy in Car #1 sees this and obligingly stops to allow Guy with dog to cross without getting run down
Guy in Car #2 is oblivious to all of this for whatever reason and plows into the back of Car #1
Guy with dog then crosses and continues into the park, despite being a direct witness to the collision
Here is the guy wearing a very bright red hoodie.
But his dog was leashed!
I at least give him kudos for making himself highly visible. He should have at least talked to the guys in the cars, though. But he had a dog, and that means he (and by proxy) his dog can do anything they want, including ignoring accidents they have just watched happen directly in front of them.
The season, not like falling down the stairs or something.
The days get shorter
And the trees explode with color
Then everything dies
On the one hand, the last line is rather bleak. On the other, fall ends on December 20th and by then the sun sets at something like 3 p.m., it’s always cold and almost always raining, the trees are stripped naked and vegetation is all withered, dead or gone.
But lawns still look really lush and green.
All right, then.
The days get shorter
And the trees explode with color
It sucks after that
More accurate now. But fine, here’s a “happy” version:
The days get shorter
And the trees explode with color
Hot cocoa and gloves
I consider this progress in my quest to eat healthier and better (no offense to McDonald’s, which does have healthy choices on its menu).
But now that I think about it, I could really go for a Sausage and Egg McMuffin. I love those things.
I have now used internet technology to find the closest McDonald’s, and it’s apparently a 29-minute walk from my place, or five Starbucks away. How is this even possible? What sort of world do we live in that I need to walk for almost an entire half hour just to get a McChicken? This is way beyond impulse purchase territory for me.
The weather simply wasn’t as perpetually scorching as it was in July, and today it barely climbed to 17C, which is below average for this time of year. We’ve had some actual precipitation. The bit of rain has been enough to revive lawns and take everything from tinder dry to just dry. Fittingly, the weekend promises more showers, so the FIRE DANGER signs may at last come down.
In other not-so-hot news, COVID-19 numbers have been way up. The only good part here is that almost all infections are unvaccinated people (meaning the vaccines are working), and the numbers may have already plateaued. It’s still a bummer because we have clearly regressed when many thought the pandemic was finally beginning to wane when we moved to Step 3 on July 1st. Eventually we’ll be able to go back to something similar to how things were without requiring vaccines, vaccine cards, masks or deep sea diving helmets.
