By Amanda Hu
British electropop sensation Hot Chip’s latest effort, Made In The Dark, is one of the catchiest things to come out this year. It houses head-bopping, base-heavy tracks that make you want to dance practically forever, then dies down into slower, calmer pieces. Kicking it all off is “Out At The Pictures,” starting with a synthy,… Continue reading SPUN: Hot Chip
Let’s go straight to the facts, shall we? The Other Boleyn Girl is by no means meant to be a good movie. It’s meant to be, to put it bluntly, historical trash. It’s a lot of speculation and furthering of legend that ends up being soap opera and bitch-slapping in laced-up bodices that are meant… Continue reading Boleyn fails to make impression
By Ryan Pike
When the history books reflect upon this era of filmmaking, Jason Statham will be hailed as one of its greatest action stars. Statham gained notoriety across the pond for his roles in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, then followed up with the starring role in Corey Yuen’s over-the-top The Transporter.… Continue reading Not quite the best man for this Job
By Ryan Pike
One of the longest, most-expensive labour disputes in industry history officially ended Tue., Feb. 26 as a staggering 93.6 per cent of the Writers Guild of America voted in favour of a new contract that will see them hard at work until 2011. Even though the writers have now returned to work, many are wondering… Continue reading The aftermath of the 100 day war
By Ryan Pike
Since Hollywood has been churning out feature films for the better part of the last century, there’s bound to be some stories told that are mightily similar. Luckily, hard-working writers have found ways to keep seemingly well-trodden stories fresh by changing the characters’ genders, social standing or by placing the story in a wacky time… Continue reading These girls just wanna have fun
Lies, money, deceit, and death–it’s the perfect, albeit predictable, formula for a murder mystery. But it’s not necessarily the tale that stands out, it’s the way that the story is told. Based on the story of English serial killer George Joseph Smith, The Drowning Girls is the fifth and final offering in the Alberta Theatre… Continue reading A stirring tale of romance and drowning
More than anything, people are afraid of something different. Despite all the trappings of political correctness, there are too many people who find mocking the disabled–people with Down Syndrome or autism–comedy gold. Looking at the autistic spectrum through pop culture’s lens, autistic kids are excessive geniuses or completely isolated social misfits. Society has de-valued them… Continue reading Putting a human face on autism
By Daniel Pagan
The Alberta Privacy Commissioner’s ruling hammer won out in a thunderous fight with the SecureBar ID-scanning program. Privacy Commissioner Frank Works ordered the Tantra nightclub to stop scanning patrons’ driver licences on Wed., Feb 20. Work also ordered the club to destroy all the personal information it already stored. Work explained that the Penny Lane… Continue reading Penny Lane loses battle to scan IDs
An American covert war is being waged in the Middle East. Foreign correspondent Reese Erlich is working to expose it. His new book, The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis, deals with the tangled web of allies, spies and propaganda that stems from the American search of support… Continue reading Journalist questions the U.S.’s role in Iran
After much anticipation, interest rates on national loans were addressed. The Harper government announced $123 million commitment over four years to streamline and modernize the Canada Student Loans Program beginning in 2009-10. The funds will be divided into; $23 million towards building an online application and management portal for students, $26 million to reduce the… Continue reading Federal budget ’08: Student loan changes