Since becoming permanently stationed in Chicago’s Grant Park in 2005, Lollapalooza has consistently delivered two things: impressive lineups and droves of people looking to see said lineups. This year featured hugely popular artists such as Green Day, Lady Gaga, and Arcade Fire alongside only slightly lesser-known but no less awesome acts, including Mumford & Sons, Chromeo and Wolfmother.
Arts & Entertainment
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Summer Entertainment Report Cards: Concerts – NXNE 2010
This year’s North by Northeast music festival featured close to 650 bands on over 40 stages throughout Toronto. Often playing second fiddle to the similarly named, but unrelated, South by Southwest festival, 2010 seemed to be NXNE’s coming-of-age. From scoring big-name headliners like Iggy and The Stooges and De La Soul, as well as a good number of up-and-coming buzz bands like Surfer Blood and Avi Buffalo, this year’s line-up demanded attention.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: TV Shows – Jersey Shore 2
This summer’s reality shows lacked complexity, and tended to favour one overblown storyline over a more cohesive selection. Jersey Shore’s Miami revamp is no exception. The silly idea-turned-cultural-phenomenon has primarily focused on the on-again/off-again relationship between last season’s only serious couple: Ronnie and Sammi.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: Movies – Scott Pilgrims Vs. The World
This is one of those movies throughout which you chuckle a bunch of times, have a few hearty glances at the person sitting next to you, and basically enjoy thoroughly. But I won’t give it much more than that. It’s a Toronto-based hipster extravaganza about girls who dye their hair, listen to cool bands, and have vegan ex-boyfriends, and guys who barely straddle the line between endearingly awkward and terribly inept.
Summer Entertainment Report Cards: Movies – Dinner For Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks seemingly has a lot going for it: a funny premise (based on the French film Le Dîner de cons) and a big-name comedic cast. It turns out that sometimes the sum can be less than its parts. For one thing, most of the movie takes place before the actual “dinner for idiots” where financial executive Tim (Paul Rudd) has to debut successfully in order to finalize a promotion.
CD REVIEWS: Cancer Bats: Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones
I’ve had a soft spot for Cancer Bats since high school, watching them open many Alexisonfire shows in Toronto. I’ve endured the dirty looks received for wearing a shirt with “cancer” written on it, and for many other people their first two albums are too much to handle.
Dissecting art
Nicholas Ruddock’s debut novel, The Parabolist, is told through interlacing narratives that pivot around a group of University of Toronto medical students in 1975, taught by Roberto Moreno. Moreno is a recently immigrated Mexican poet and member of the (fictional) parabolist movement, a group which “arranges words and ideas in such a way that the energy input burns.
Nancy Drew’s newest competition
When Alan Bradley set out to write his first detective novel he had no idea it would lead to the character of Flavia de Luce, or to a series about the young sleuth, in which The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag is the second novel. “I was writing another detective novel that I thought I had plotted very carefully for story and characters, then Flavia just materialized in it,” Bradley says.
CD REVIEWS: Hunter Valentine: Lessons From The Late Night
Hunter Valentine are a three-piece all-girl rock band from Toronto who will release their second full-length album, Lessons From The Late Night, on April 17. With seven songs totalling 22 minutes, it’s a slight step above an EP, though you probably won’t be disappointed that there isn’t more.
POP RHETORIC: Material Girl Gaga
When Lady Gaga first entered the pop music scene back in 2008, I forced myself to take a second look. Her lyrics were symbolic of both the feminine mystique and female empowerment, she wore avant-garde and provocative clothing (or a lack thereof), and she had the strong ability to capture the attention of millions by dominating the music charts for weeks on end.
