(Toronto) A couple of weeks ago, Brendan Canning issued a statement that a copy of his new CD, Something For All Of Us…, had been leaked (release date July 22nd). As I read this news flash, I was listening to what I believe was said leaked version. Uh oh.

The thing is that CD leaks happen all the time. But for Brendan, this time it is different because the leaked songs are unmastered, meaning they aren’t finished yet. As an artist, this is a big deal. As some of you may know, I make short films. If for some reason, an early cut of my latest flick got released or screened before it was finished, I would be pissed, mortified and heads would roll. When I went back and listened to my newly acquired Brendan Canning songs again, it all felt and sounded different knowing that the songs might not be as good as they could be. The last thing I want to do is piss off Brendan and his Broken Social Scene thugs. That night I went to bed and had a dream where Brendan showed up at my door with Kevin Drew and the two of them gave me beard-belly burns until I coughed up my entire MP3 collection.

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 Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning - Hit The Wall (2008): Play Now

Toronto - Its nice to know that summer is finally in full swing. Extreme heat, smog alerts, sunscreen, wishing I had central air..those are some things I associate with summer. Another thing I associate with summer is ..light, bouncy, upbeat pop albums. Theres just something about the sun and the weather that makes listening to moody atmospheric albums untolerable. You just want to drink your mojitos, act stupid and have a good time. This totally reflects in the music - so without further delay, I’d like to introduce you to the danish band called Alphabeat. The band consists of six people just cute enough for you to want to strangle them. With that ever present Scandinavians pop sound - the are sure to receive instant comparisons to Abba, or Ace of Base. Their debut album, creatively named “This is Alphabeat” was released May 30th.

I’ll admit - when my friend Josh of Indie Kid vs Dance Kid fame first asked me about them, I wasn’t too eager to go thru their music. The song Fascination was just too damn poppy and I wasn’t in the proper mood for it. However, as the weather got better, and my mood got better, I gave the rest of the album a chance, and yeah, it’s definitely a decent one. Make no mistake, this is a pop album and there is no way around it. Its full of saccharine and the lyrics will not change your life. It’s mostly retro 80s soul train/disco hall male-female vocal interplay sound, but the songs are just catchy, and just upbeat enough for you to consider listening to while skipping down some boardwalk on a beach.

So I am recommending this album for the months of June, July and August. Put’er away after labor day though.

Here’s an article about Alphabeat

 

 Alphabeat - Into The Jungle: Play Now

War. What’s it good for if you can’t blow shit up? I think Churchill said that. I also agree with that statement. Too long have we been forced to play games with indestructible buildings and with trees and fences left standing after calling in a carpet bomb air strike. I was never one to complain about such things but with the technology being used on the current generation of games, we’ve become spoiled. If there are games that don’t allow me to shoot through a window or water without causing a realistic effect, it definitely takes away from the experience. Battlefield: Bad Company not only does the above, it let’s you blow the crap out of pretty much any structure on the battlefield.

I played it for a few hours yesterday with fairly high expectations and so far I haven’t been disappointed. This game takes first person shooters to another level man. Imagine the following scenario…

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Toronto - I haven’t watched a lot of action horror movies since the Descent (which by the way was very good). The Ruins deals with 4 Americans who live up to the adventurous reputation of their forefathers. At the invitation of a German stranger, ja? They went up to an uncharted Mayan ruin, ja. The usual police tapes in horror film applies here, hints and premonitions of all sorts were ignored, and they end up in a bad bind on top of a step pyramid, surrounded by blood-thirsty natives…

I don’t want to give away the key element here - since that’s the entire merit of the film and everything else, I thought, basically sucked. The actors do look great and fit all the stereotypes - which was all the more disappointing. I mean, if you’re not going to expand on the scientific side of the story (it was fine that the Rage was never fully explained in 28 Days/Weeks Later), at least explore the characters a little? Great horror stories give you the chills even after you figure out what ate away at your mind, either the characters are inherently prone to feats of psycho-ness or flaw or whatever. The good ones render you in a state of helplessness. This one sadly doesn’t. Once you understand what you’re dealing with, there’s nothing to further the story since you can imagine the rest, clear through to the ending credits. But the photorealistic (or were those animatronics?) gory effect are cool. Credits have to be given to bloody tendons, limbs with gangrene, sliced muscles and boobs. I’d recommend this as a Friday night sleep over flick… just tuck in and let it roll.

725 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON M4M 1H1
(416) 463-8868

Toronto - Given the amount of meals I eat away from L’hotel Harbord, it’s only fitting I start reviewing places that I eat. The Blue Moon is in the Queen Street east district .. across the street from everyone’s favorite ghetto strip joint - Jilly’s as well as Dangerous Dans. It is often a meeting point for people going to the Opera House for a concert. Me and some peeps went there after our soccer game on Tuesday.

Beers: They have 12 beers on tap. Including a few Mill Street and Amsterdam brews. Any bar that serves Ontario beer earns quite a few points. The pitchers are 16 bucks a pop and fits 3 regular size pint glasses. I am assuming Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue or any of those crappy beers are probably cheaper. But unless you are wearing a wife beater, live in a trailer or work in a coal mine, you don’t drink those beers.

Decor: The Blue Moon has a quite unique layout. In the front 3rd of the place, the bar resides in the middle with stools and tv’s all around, there are few couches and most people sit at the bar and watch games. In the middle 3rd of the place, there is two pool tables as well tables for larger groups along the way. In the final 3rd, there is a stage and tables that are set up for a small concert I guess. It’s a decently large place. The walls aren’t blue, and theres no references to the moon either.

Patrons: Queen and Broadview is not the poshest of corners. It is a corner dominated by Jillys, the strip club and well let’s be frank - this area of town is frickin ghetto. The people at the bar are the same, I think. Most of them are locals and I don’t know, seem sketchy. There was a guy at the bar that was a cross between Jabba the Hutt and Jerry Garcia at the place, and all these tattooed chicks dressed like ‘tutes kept on coming up to talk to him. It was weird. Obviously, this is a one nite sample, so don’t take my word for it.

Service: The Blue Moon is probably owned by Chinese people, since every time we’ve gone, theres been chinks there running the show. The service is pretty good, they were friendly and somewhat efficient and well, thats all you really want for service.

Food: It’s pub food man. Average at best, there was a wing special - 1 pound for $5.00. The wings that came didn’t feel like a pound, but they were breaded shake n bake style and the hot sauce came on the side. It was alright. The fries were average. The burger that my friend ordered was average as well. So basically - average.

Conclusion: Queen Street east is such a mixed bag in terms of good place to drink, the new place that opened - Prohibition is way too pricey and the surrounding ones all have issues, while the Blue Moon isn’t the greatest place, its definitely an option if you are going for pre-drinking before the Opera House and I think thats the highest recommendation I can give it.

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Answers after the jump. Please help me out. Originally from HERE.

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