After seeing the preview for Ben Stiller’s new indie-drama Greenberg, the first thing I thought was, “Wow, that looks awesome.” The second thing I thought was, “Wait, has Ben Stiller acted in a serious movie before?” In Greenberg, Stiller is an irritable, cynical, and on the verge of a midlife crisis.
Author: Alex Knoll
McGill gears up for Nationals
Fresh off of winning their second Queen’s Cup in three years, the McGill men’s hockey team is primed and ready to challenge for a National Championship. The OUA East champions received a number-two seed in the six-team tournament last week, and will butt heads against the Manitoba Bisons and the Saint Mary’s Huskies in pool play.
CD REVIEWS: Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune
Where would Jimi Hendrix fit into today’s music scene? Seasoned but pushing into the mainstream like Eric Clapton? Playing Super Bowl halftime shows like Pete Townsend and The Who? The release of Valleys of Neptune, a posthumous follow up to 1968’s Electric Ladyland, may convince you that Hendrix was simply too much of a psychedelic, blues-thumping, break-through-the-boundaries-of-your-brain invention to ever escape the “27 Club.
The Canadian War on Queers tells personal accounts of prejudice
Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile’s The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation discusses the under-the-radar – and sometimes officially sanctioned – targeting of gays and lesbians as security threats from the 1950s to the 1990s. Written from – and told through – a series of first-hand accounts combined with documents obtained under the Access to Information Act, Kinsman and Gentile discuss the history of queer Canadians in a way that is passionate and personal.
CD REVIEWS: Aidan Knight: Versicolour
Until now, if the name Aidan Knight sounded familiar, it’s likely because of his numerous backing contributions to bands in the Victoria/Vancouver music scene. But take a few listens to his debut Versicolour and it’s hard to imagine Knight backing up any musician other than himself.
Not even a transplant could save this half-hearted action film
Getting your car or house repossessed is one thing, but getting your new liver repossessed is quite another. In the dark, not-so-distant future of Repo Men, medical advances have led to a manufactured organs market – which is great news, but only if you omit the price tag, of course.
McGill holds stand-up auditions
Montreal is Canada’s home for comedy. Over the years, the Just For Laughs comedy festival has featured some of the world’s greatest comic icons, while also providing an outlet for local talent to perform. Within that home-grown talent is Jeff Schouela, a six-year stand-up comedy veteran who is holding auditions for McGill students to compete in a series of amateur stand-up competitions.
CD REVIEWS: Scott Lanaway: Mergers and Acquisitions
I’m not one to judge a book by it’s cover, but I will decide what to read based on what the back cover says; a song called “Oprah, God Wants You To Have A Private Jet” was more than enough to entice me to listen to Scott Lanaway’s Mergers and Acquistions. The album is full of spacey electro-folk, one of those new, hard-to-classify sounds your iTunes gives up on and calls “alternative and punk.
CD REVIEWS: Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
Gorillaz’s highly anticipated third album Plastic Beach definitely sounds like a Gorillaz album, but it lacks the flare of their sophomore release, Demon Days. Plastic Beach feels like a concept album, but it’s difficult to tell what the concept is (but it’s certainly not a pinball wizard).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Spring Basil Salad
A few weeks ago, I ran a workshop at Nuit Blanche. We talked about a great assortment of food facts, including a demonstration of a brilliant tool: foodpairing.be, which generates incredible (and often unexpected) flavour matches. This can be useful for writing new recipes and coming up with innovative dishes.