YaaaaaaaaaaaHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Month: February 2015
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Winnik Trade
Pittsburgh Penguins get: Daniel Winnik, 29, LW/C: UFA 7G, 18A for 25P, +15; 16:50 ATOI in 58 games with the Leafs 82-game average: 8G, 18A for 26P, +3; 15:20 ATOI Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs get: Zach Sill, 26, C: UFA 1G, 2A for 3P, -7; 8:18 ATOI in 42 games with the Pens 33, …
The Eagle (2011, Kevin Macdonald)
This movie tries really hard. It’s clear a lot of effort went into the film, including the costumes and, particularly, the use of Gaelic – even though, with a few minutes research, it turns out it likely wasn’t Gaelic they would have been speaking.
Concerto funebre; Sonatas and Suites for Solo Violin (2007) by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, peformed by Alina Ibragimova
This is an excellent collection of Hartmann’s violin music.
Pandorum (2009, Chrstian Alvart)
Pandorum has a neat concept to start, but unfortunately it is undercut by overly explanatory title cards – better the movie open with Bower coming out of his chamber, I think. But, that being said, otherwise the movie seems quite strong at first. The reveal is way too early, but otherwise it’s good. There are …
Cannibal the Musical at the Panasonic Theatre, February 21, 2015
For anyone who has seen The Book of Mormon, the musical comedy has kind of been killed. Everything pales in comparison to it. I loved Evil Dead the Musical when I first saw it. Then, when I listened to the soundtrack later, after I had seen The Book of Mormon and purchased its soundtrack, I …
Talking Heads: 77 (1977)
This is a much rawer version of the band, understandably. They lack a lot of the musical and lyrical polish they had later (even the next year) and they seem to lack as clear an identity. Don’t get me wrong, this is still really, really New Wave compared to, say, Classic Rock of the same …
Talking Heads at the Capitol Theatre November 4, 1980
This is an incredible show which is very illustrative of the the “eras” bands go through. Talking Heads in Stop Making Sense area great band, but they are utter professionals. They are having a great time, and they backed by a unique stage show that ads to the experience, but they are polished and utterly …
Virunga (2014, Orlando von Einsiedel)
This is an important film that is only slightly marred by it’s clunky approach but is nevertheless essential viewing and an important document, not just of one of the innumerable conflicts between conservation and natural resource development, but also of the bravery required to to do the “right thing” in the face of overwhelming pressure …
Family Day and Fair Stat Holidays
Today is Family Day in Ontario, as it is in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, PEI and Saskatchewan. BC celebrates it one week earlier. We came a little late to this party and, if you remember, it was very controversial at the time.
The Killing (2011)
I had heard very mixed things about this show – both that it is excellent and that it is terrible – from both critics and regular people. I had always hoped to watch the original version first, but found it was much easier to get hold of the American version, and so I have watched …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Second Franson Trade
After not having any idea what to do with him for most of his tenure, the Maple Leafs have moved Cody Franson back to his original team. Let’s look at the trade.
Adam Resurrected (2008, Paul Schrader)
I struggle with Schrader as a filmmaker – the man has written some of the great American films, but those films are always directed by someone else (Scorsese among others). As a director I always wish that someone else had made his movies – with the exception of Mishima – and this one is no …
The Baytown Outlaws (2012, Barry Battles)
This is a really dumb movie, one of those that wishes it was a comic book – it even has a flashback segment told as a moving comic book! – and which thinks it’s funny. It’s very obviously trying to be a Rodriguez-style action comedy, but it’s got nothing on him. Braugher is horribly miscast …
Swiss Movement (1969) by Les McCann, Eddie Harris
The myth-making goes to hilarious extremes in the liner notes – with the writer denying the band had ever played together before this date before then detailing how they played together before the date – but that’s something that’s quite common to jazz (and to music in general) and this band still sounds fantastic for …
Frontera (2014, Michael Berry)
The term “liberal propaganda” has always made me laugh for many reasons, such as: it only exists in the States, it’s often just fair or truthful storytelling, etc. As a man once said, the reason wikipedia has a liberal bias is because the facts have a liberal bias.
The War of Art (2002) by Steven Pressfield
I don’t for a minute believe anything Steven Pressfield says about the nature of our universe or the nature of inspiration. Like so many “self help” books, Pressfield’s advice is founded on a completely unsupportable metaphysic – I find myself utterly disagreeing and rejecting his metaphysics while finding his practical advise utterly useful and inspirational. …
Things Fall Apart (1959) by Chinua Achebe
I love the slow burn of this. Putting aside its importance – isn’t it one of the first major novels by an actual African, if not the first? – I love how this unfolds: you have no idea the real crisis until well into the book. This is just begging for a movie adaptation. But …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Ashton and Broll
It has been literally ages since I wrote one of these posts, in part because it’s so hard to fucking care any more and in part because, frankly, nothing has been done in some time. I mean, with the exception of firing Carlyle – the benefits of which have been documented well elsewhere – Nonis …
Gangster Squad (2013, Ruben Fleischer)
This is a colossally dumb movie that wastes an absolutely fantastic cast.
The Act of Killing (2012, Joshua Openheimer, Anonymous, Christine, Cynne)
Western religion, philosophy and even early psychology tells us that the world is made up of good and bad people, and their goodness and badness is based on some a priori concept of good and bad. Of course, this flies in the face of our daily experiences: people we label “bad” do good things (which …
Wrecking Ball (1995) by Emmylou Harris
Sometime in the ’00s we became inundated with new releases from established roots and country stars with an alternative take on their music and their legacy, most famously helmed by producers like Rick Rubin and T Bone Burnett. I think this might have been first. (I honestly do not know if it was or not.)
The belief in Justice is probably the breeding ground for injustice
I have long identified myself as an atheist – even though I’m an agnostic – in religion, an existentialist in philosophy and “anti-apocalyptic” or “anti-ideological” person in politics (i.e. a pragmatist). I have long struggled with this last definition, not because I don’t know what I am – I know exactly what I am, politically …
White Lies for Dark Times (2009) by Ben Harper and Relentless7
I have long struggled with Harper. When I arrived at University at the beginning of this century, I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I found was that there was a remarkable amount of commonality in the “underground” music that was cool. In fact, looking back it seems really odd to me that …
Forces speciales (2011, Stephane Rybojad)
This film was brought to you by the Armed Forces of France.
Alexander Ovechkin is God, Stop Denying It
Alexander Ovechkin became the fifth player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in his first 10 seasons in the league. Those other players: