I think that Wenders is perhaps the poor man’s Fassbinder. He clearly has many similar abilities: this film has some absolutely spectacular (and ballsy) shots in it, and has a pretty great sound design, both things Fassbinder was also extremely adept at. But where Fassbinder grabbed you with his very human dramas – despite his …
Contraband by Velvet Revolver (2004 RCA)
I remember the instant hipster derision when this came out. Specifically, I remember watching the lead single’s video, and a friend of mine – a hipster if memory serves – was nearly apoplectic when Slash stepped forward to play the solo. Apparently such a longstanding expression of “rock” authenticity was just totally uncool, at least at that …
Bar Stool Economics
I can’t pretend to have been following the wrangling between the NDP and the Liberals over the budget and the prospects of an upcoming election. I guess I just have better things to do. (If we accept that systemic reform at the federal level is the political issue in Canada then a squabble over tax …
Dick Clark is Dead
Dick Clark died the other day. I woke up to a CTV news feature which included a CTV employee saying that Clark had “real talent” and was very nice… unlike all those other “middling talents” who weren’t so nice. If Clark had real talent, I wonder what all those musicians he showcased had? Extra-real talent?
Transmission by the Tea Party (1997 EMI)
It’s easy to rip on bands who rip off others. But when they rip off stuff you like, it’s significantly harder. I guess this sort of explains how the blogosphere etc can over-hype revivalist bands all the time when it might make no sense to the rest of us. If you like a genre enough, …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: The 2011-2012 Maple Leafs Report Card
This is my report card for our 2011-2012 Maple Leafs’ season.
Steal this Album! by System of a Down (2002, American)
The internet is a funny thing. You’d think that people want to hear the music their favourite bands want to release, as opposed to things their favourite bands haven’t finished. But alas, that’s not how most people think. Most people just want, want, want.
Greatest Hits by Sublime (MCA 1999)
It’s impossible to judge a band by a compilation, especially something like a clearly arbitrary “greatest hits” comp, but even worse when the arbitrary comp is this short (it is unbelievably short). That being said, I will do it anyway.
Set Yourself on Fire by Stars (2004, Arts & Crafts)
I have a real problem rating these guys. You see, I saw them live before I ever heard their music. And well, if you like live music, I’m not sure you want to see Stars.
Fuck you, NCAA
I really mean it: fuck you.
The Queen is Dead (1986, Rough Trade) by the Smiths
I usually don’t have trouble liking rock I’m “supposed” to like. (I.e. the generally accepted rock canon.) I can’t say the same about pop I’m supposed to “like”. (Frankly, I just prefer inventiveness, grit, rhythm and other such things to melody, aesthetic angles to precision arrangements, appropriate to clean production and mixing, etc.) I usually …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Grabovski
I like Grabovski. He is probably my favourite forward on the Leafs at the moment. But liking him has nothing to do with sound hockey decisions and this contract is not a sound hockey decision.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Aulie for Ashton
Keith Aulie traded to Tampa Bay by Toronto for Carter Ashton With this trade, the last non-Phaneuf piece of the fabled Phaneuf trade leaves Toronto.
Ramones (1976, GRT)
The Ramones’ debut album begs the question: can we determine greatness without looking at influence? If the Ramones released this album, and it didn’t influence half the rock musicians alive today (maybe a slight exaggeration) would we still consider it great?
Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders (1987)
I think that Wenders is perhaps the poor man’s Fassbinder. He clearly has many similar abilities: this film has some absolutely spectacular (and ballsy) shots in it, and has a pretty great sound design, both things Fassbinder was also extremely adept at. But where Fassbinder grabbed you with his very human dramas – despite his …
L’amour de loin by the Canadian Opera Company
I’m pretty sure I forgot to tell you that we went to a performance of Tosca a few weeks ago. For me it was a real experience to see a Puccini, even one I didn’t know. I know reviewers felt like the leads were a little wooden but having only seen a couple operas in …
Crazy Italians: On the Cultural Disconnect Between Myself and Italian Cinema
Nearly a decade ago, when I was living in Australia, I went for a couple of organized tours of parts of the country I had never been too. One such tour occurred in the southwestern corner of Western Australia, an area that is one of the most beautiful I have ever been to in my …
The NBA still needs to adopt the CFL crossover rule in order to be fair
A quarter of the way through the season, it is already apparent, as it seems to be every season, that some decent western conference teams will be left out of the playoffs for yet another year. Here are the standings of the top 20 teams by winning percentage:
Cineplex doesn’t want me seeing movies, that’s for sure
So yesterday the GF and I went to our first movie in a theatre since TIFF, and our first non-festival movie (together anyway) since last spring or thereabouts. We went to see Shame, a film we were both interested in seeing.
The Shield (2002, Shawn Ryan)
Note: I have only ever watched the first four seasons all the way through, as far as I can remember.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Phillippe Paradis
Yes, in this day and age, it is extraordinarily unpopular to suggest that Burke’s plan hasn’t worked, as the Leafs find themselves floating between 2nd and 7th on a daily basis and because Kessel (somewhat shocking) and Lupul (unbelievably shocking) are leading the league.
BBNGLive 1 (2011) by BADBADNOTGOOD
Before I get into it, I will say first off that I like this music. I generally like fusion – the idea that this is “instrumental hip hop” is more than a little hilarious, if this isn’t jazz then I don’t know what it is – that stays away from “cool jazz” cliches, as this …
The Mendacity of Hope (2010) by Roger D. Hodge
I was extremely skeptical of this book when I was lent it by my father. I don’t particularly like polemics and I figured, despite the claims on the back cover, that I would react the usual way to such things: which is that I would dismiss outright after 25-50 pages.
Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison
As a white Canadian born in the last quarter of the 20th century, I do not know in any way shape or form what it means to be a Black American – or any other oppressed minority in a European-derived country – but I think perhaps this is the closest I will ever get to …
Conquest of the Useless (2009) by Werner Herzog
This was given to me by accident but sometimes that is the best way of discovering interesting things.
The Big Money (1936) by John Dos Passos
Whereas I found Nineteen Nineteen to be a significant improvement on the first book, The Big Money feels like he has lapsed back into his bad habits, and he gets confused between the form and the storytelling. He is still writing reasonably compelling stories but he can’t decide whether he wants to tell one person’s …
Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges
I agree with much of what Hedges has to say (excepting his chapter on Porn, see below) but I don’t agree with the way he says it or many of his claims about the “what” that he has identified as destroying the US.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: the ’11-’12 Leafs Preview
Cast your mind back a few years to when Burke was rumoured to be the first choice as Leafs’ GM, despite already having a job. There was a lot of hype by his supporters – and Leaf fans in general – about how he would change things, how he would be different than JFJ specifically.
American Fascists by Chris Hedges (Free Press 2008)
I agree with Hedges just about 100% in regard to the similarities between the Christian Right in the United States and Nazis, Fascists and the like. So he was preaching to the converted with me.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011
Fatherland (9/10) Remember those TVO Canadian history docs where they had c-list Canadian actors dressed in costume and reading the letters of dead Canadians and Americans to recreate history? Well, that’s what Fatherland is, only it is much, much, much better. Beginning with the Argentinian national anthem over filmstock of protesters and rebels being beaten …