With the Oscar announcements this week, Halley decided to go with a movie themed top 10!

1) You can’t go to concerts every night. I mean, 24/7 concert-going is, in theory, the ideal. But sometimes there’s just not a good band playing when you need an evening activity. So why not switch stage for screen every once in a while?

2) Cool kids don’t see top ten blockbusters. It’s against every grain in the ‘under-the-radar-super-hipster’ gene code.

3) This new-fangled 3-D technology. OK, so I was not sold on the 3-D attraction at first, mainly because I saw Lion King in 3-D and was not impressed by the slightly rippling grass Disney added to its classic 2-D animation. BUT, I recently saw Pina and was absolutely floored by the 3-D enhancement. When done right and placed in artful/artsy films, 3-D can rock your world.

4) Popcorn and soft pretzels – yum!

5) The possibility of free passes. If you follow enough local papers/film blogs/production companies, etc. you will, sooner or later, be offered a free pass to one of these hidden gems. You might briefly envy those ‘main-streamers’ lined up to see the latest big box office hit, but real talk real time: they’re $15 in the hole. Think of that $15 ‘small soda’ you can buy instead!

6) You could learn something. Movies don’t have to be two hours of mindless entertainment. There are some great and informative small films out there right now focusing on issues from aboriginal rights to depression to dance. Try Oka, Melancholia, and/or the afore-mentioned Pina.

7) You can save trees. Instead of buying into the whole ‘book’ idea, you can ‘see’ your literature! Try Norwegian Wood, for example, the cinematic version of acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Marukami’s novel of the same name. Bonus points if you can dupe actual readers into thinking you perused the 300-page tome yourself.

8) Previews. I love previews. Let’s be real: trailers are the best part of any film anyway, so what’s better than a string of them?

9) Giving Youtube a rest. Did you know that Youtube receives 4 BILLION visits per day? People, give it a rest. Turn off your computer. Leave your home. Find a new screen.

10) You can discover new music! After seeing Pina, I can’t get Juna Miyake’s “The Here and After” out of my head… and I don’t want it to leave any time soon.

Toronto – Honestly, this was a bit of a crazy night.  I started off the evening at the Monster Jam monster truck show, followed that with Anamanaguchi‘s set at Wrongbar, and then capped off the night with a trip to the Bovine.  That’s at least one too many things for one evening, yet i did it anyways.  Consider it conditioning for all the club hopping I’ll be doing in a couple months’ time for SXSW and CMW.  Except without the monster trucks.  Really, SXSW should have monster trucks though.  I mean, it is in Texas after all.  Everything’s better with monster trucks, right?

I’ve got to say, Monster Jam is a bit of a weird scene.  It’s mostly made up of just watching these crazy machines race each other around a track in order to ”qualify.”  What exactly are they qualifying for?  I don’t quite know.  Finally, after a bunch of these races and a couple digressions into ATVs and Motocross bikes, the audience finally gets what it came for - trucks smashing shit.  So I guess that was satisfying.  Yeah!   

After getting all amped up from that whole scene, I was ready for Anamanaguchi’s set of energetic chiptune rock.  In a weird way, they weren’t all that far removed from the world of monster trucking.  I mean, videogames and trucks smashing stuff are both things that might appeal to one’s inner teenage boy … or outer teenage boy if one still happens to be a teenager. 

For the uninitiated, Anamanaguchi make use of a hacked NES to create much of their music.  Live, they play in a traditional rock setup playing along with all the Nintendo-ish sounds.  As I said, it’s fun and energetic and since they’re an instrumental act, they rely on a few gimmicks to make the show a bit more interesting.  The band handed out glowsticks to the crowd as we were entertained by weird and wacky series of images projected onto a screen behind them.  Images like furbies and kittens and weirdly pixelated oddities combined with ’80s level AV tricks that sort of reminded me of the Gerry Todd Sketches from SCTV.  It was somewhat psychedelic in it’s own way.  Oh, and the band worked in a Britney Spears cover early in their set.  See?  Fun.

Today, is Robbie Burns Day. It is celebrated by Scottish and Anglophiles all around the world. Now I don’t really know why he’s so special that everyone celebrates his birthday but any excuse to gather around a bar and drink scotch is good for me, although I don’t think many Scottish people really need an excuse.

For a country that isn’t very large, it has done very well for itself in establishing themselves into our everyday culture. So without further delay, here is our tribute to Scotland, in images.

The Scotch Egg – I had it for the first time in 2010 and it was delicious.

Scotland also has the finest drinks. Here are my favorites

I remember the first time I had Oban, my friend Nick brought it over from Edmonton as a gift. I didn’t know it was an 80$ bottle of Scotch and just drank that thing like it was water. Now I know better.

What a movie (and soundtrack)

This movie was pretty good, one of the last good ones Mel Gibson made before he went crazy.

Scotland has pretty good bands. Some of my favorites.

Jesus and Mary Chain are so good Sophia Coppella wrote an entire movie just so she can use their songs.

Primal Scream’s classic Screamdelica. Iconic album cover and iconic album.

These twins set the bar a bit too high for any man pursuing a women.

Another staple

Finally, this guy isn’t even Scottish but like them so much he still walks around like this to this day.

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

Toronto – Before I begin with the review proper, allow me to digress right away and launch into a story about the last time I saw Herman Dune.  It was in Paris, so of course the band was speaking French (because, you know, they are French) and it was a good show, of course, but the reason I’m telling this story right now is to let you all know that playing the role of confused foreigner can work wonders for you sometimes.  Having shown up at the show late, I approached the ticket vendor guy and, in my best French, asked to buy a ticket.  He told me the show was almost over, and looking confused (I had checked when doors opened and estimated set times based on the number of bands playing), I motioned to the door and said, “Est-ce que Je …” and dude just waved me in.  Little did he know the band had just started and I saved myself a whole pile of euros that night. What does this have to do with the band’s set this past Thursday at The Horseshoe?  Well, nothing of course.  But for all of you looking to see a show in a foreign country I suppose it’s worth a shot to try this.  So in a way, it’s a public service I’m providing.  Still not as cool as Ricky’s story about crashing a high school dance in Istanbul though, but whatever. 

What’s that you say?  Oh right, the show at The Horseshoe. The band’s somewhat classicist take on folk rock always goes down well.  Frontman David-Ivar Herman Dune is not only a great songwriter (highlights included “In The Long Long Run” and “I Hear Strange Moosic”) but seems like a nice guy as well.  “I’m liking this place, it’s pretty nice,” he said in response to the enthusiastic crowd.  Also enthusiastic was Julie Doiron, who joined the band onstage for a couple of songs, including a cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Threw It All Away.”  Julie was so into it that she seemingly made a request onstage just so she could sing along with it.  Of course they obliged.  It’s always nice to see performers truly enjoying themselves onstage.  It shows that they’re not just going through the motions.

And so, while I have no story as thrilling (well, thrilling to me, at least) as bluffing my way in to go along with this show, it was still a solid performance from a band at the top of their game.  Plus, any band who can change a string onstage and not have it stop the show dead in it’s tracks deserves some recognition.  So bravo, Herman Dune.  You guys are alright.