Flyboys attempts to soar onto the silver screen, but it drops faster than a flaming Nieuport. The film takes place during the first world war, and follows the adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of American fighter pilots who volunteered to help the French before the U.S. officially became involved in the conflict. Based… Continue reading Problems with takeoff
Month: September 2006
Your religion is stupid
Most bands don’t last much longer than their proverbial 15 minutes. Whether it’s the pressures of success, exploding egos or the vagaries of the drug- and booze-fuelled music industry, most are lucky to still be speaking to each other by their third or fourth album. It’s no small feat, then, for any group to pass… Continue reading Your religion is stupid
Film-Fest Preview: Spirit Doctors
By Kate Kinsman
A simple, highly spiritual documentary about the world of native medicine, Spirit Doctors offers heartfelt insight into the nature of aboriginal healing. It’s a well thought-out story that brings together two completely opposite worlds: the modern hospital medicine of Vancouver and the vast expanse of native spiritual healing prevalent in the Similkameen Valley. It allows… Continue reading Film-Fest Preview: Spirit Doctors
Film-Fest Preview: Tragic Story with a Happy Ending
By Robin Ianson
Tragic Story with Happy Ending is an animated short from Portuguese filmmaker Regina Pessoa. The story centers on a girl who doesn’t fit into her small home town–tragically, she was born with a heart two sizes too small. Despite its outward similarities to a certain holiday favourite, the girl really does have the heart of… Continue reading Film-Fest Preview: Tragic Story with a Happy Ending
Film-Fest Preview: Sneakers
By Tara Daintoy
Adidas once designed a shoe specifically for drug dealers in Detroit. It came in dark blue, and featured a fur lining. From the dark alleyways of Detroit, to the bustling streets of Tokyo, shoes are a universal fashion essential, and now they are also the focus of a documentary by Femke Wolting, aptly named Sneakers.… Continue reading Film-Fest Preview: Sneakers
Spun: Swollen Members
By Amanda Hu
Following the high acclaim of their sophomore effort Bad Dreams, Juno winners Swollen Members are back mixing interesting samples with some decent rhymes on their latest album Black Magic, once again on frontman Mad Child’s own Battle Axe Records. The melodic back and forth play between Prevail’s rhythmic lyrics and Mad Child’s higher pitched cadences–also… Continue reading Spun: Swollen Members
Spun: The Elms
By Jen Reid
The black and white photos in The Chess Hotel’s CD liner are intended to look dirty: smoke, an ’88 Cutlass on a gravel road with a flat, an old building and power lines against an overcast sky. Their songs speak of small-town life: old buildings and old men, the “towers and the trains,” working hard,… Continue reading Spun: The Elms
Spun: Lionel Richie
By Lauren Stan
From the man who gave us the Grammy-winning album Can’t Slow Down, Lionel Richie disappoints listeners with nothing more than a fourty-minute dud of mediocre love songs on Coming Home. It has been almost twenty years since Richie produced so much as a single to top the charts, and it doesn’t seem like that will… Continue reading Spun: Lionel Richie
Spun: Nights Like These
By Robin Ianson
Nights Like These hail from the state of Tennessee, a place more famous for pumping out country artists than pissed off metal-core bands. On their debut album, The Faithless, they show all the hallmarks of the genre: blisteringly fast songs, grinding guitars and barking, roaring vocals that are currently all the rage in metal. Like… Continue reading Spun: Nights Like These
Radiant City doesn’t quite glow
By Kyle Francis
Cities creep out further every year, suburbs scuttling across the countryside like crabs through a young student population. Recently, urban sprawl has come under fire from environmentalists, city planners, and now, filmmakers. Radiant City is a documentary that follows the Moss family through their typical suburban lifestyle. While it would be tempting for most filmmakers… Continue reading Radiant City doesn’t quite glow