My! Fobby! Father!

I know this was posted on my Facebook a while ago but I've been really busy now that I'm back in Vancouver and I'm suffering from standard blogger guilt for not posting in a while so I'm gonna be lazy and re-hash.



So my parents visited me this weekend for graduation and I totally forgot what its like to live with them. This was compounded by the fact that all three of us had to live in my tiny studio apartment for four days. As me and my dad waited for my mom's plane to arrive we had this gem of a discussion.

-----Rob exits the bathroom to see dad rummaging through his underwear drawer-----
Rob: Dad, what the hell...
Dad: You only have boxers in here Robert, briefs are better.
Rob: I appreciate the concern dad, but I prefer boxers thanks.
Dad: No! Briefs are better...
-----Dad then unbuckles his belt, drops his pants to his knees and points to his groin-----
Dad: ...see?
Rob: Dad, I'm going to turn around, go back into the washroom and when I come out I expect your to have your pants back on.
Dad: But briefs have better support!

The competition between boxers and briefs is now done. Taking your pants off in front of your son and pointing to your crotch is a definite violation of the rules. The ref is standing on the sidelines blowing the whistle and boxers win by default. For some reason this reminds me of the time Mike head butted a girl in a fencing competition. Black card dad...BLACK CARD.

2009 can't come sooner!

Looking forward, there are a few amazing things on the horizon that I just can't wait for. As a matter of fact, if I had a choice I'd miss Christmas and New Years altogether just to get my grubby hands on these things even a week earlier.

Flight of the Conchords: Season 2



Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5




The Watchmen (Movie)



The Boondocks: Season 3

Supposedly coming in January 2009. I couldn't find a video but if this is true, oh man I'm stoked.

Barack Obama's Inauguration

Which I'm going to in DC come hell or high water.

Pambansang Kamao! ("National Fist")

What a great night. Oilers won (for Jas), the Sens won (for Graham) and Manny Pacquiao beat the living snot out of De La Hoya (for the Philippines). Tons of respect to the 'Golden Boy' but man, nothing felt better than walking up to a table of Filipinos at the bar and high-fiving, drinking and dancing with people I've never met. I'm sure this happens to tons of other people in countries that actually have sports teams (I'm reminded of my ESL students back in Vancouver during World Cup) but for us Filipinos, this is pretty monumental, and hell I'm not even that much into sports.

Edit: This news story was absolutely hilarious. Zero crime rate in metro-Manila for some of his previous fights? If nothing else, than for the sake of the over-burdened police force in the Philippines, lets have more Pacquiao fights.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=421618

Bigotry and Board Games

Okay this is fucking stupid. I loved to play Risk as a kid, and moreover, back when we were dating Leanne would destroy me at the game...and then rub my face in her victory for days on end. Yup, sometimes I miss her a lot.

So its kind of jarring for me to see that the 'new' Risk (seen here) is so chock full of over-the-top masculinity that it hurts my groin. All over the website we have the wonderful tagline 'Man Up!' and the link to the mini-game reads 'ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH' in big bold letters. Gee, considering my ex-girlfriend used to beat me mercilessly into the ground every time we played, I guess I'm not you bunch of jackass misogynists.

Playing the online version of the game is equally stupid. Turns out, you need to earn 'manliness points.' After playing a mini game where I have to avoid my boss and screw around at work I earned a measly 200 points where I got the rank of 'not as manly as you want to be huh?' Gee I guess not. I didn't realize shrugging off responsibility was an indicator of how much of a man I was and ironically, at the all-boys high school I attended, they taught me that taking on responsibility was actually the manly thing to do.

So I'm gonna call you out on this HasBRO. are you gonna 'man up' to the fact that you really fucked this one up and take this shit off the Internet and issue an apology? Or are you gonna run around the office and avoid responsibility like your pathetic little online game.

In the meantime, I'm gonna go play 'Settlers of Catan'.

Coalition government?!

"In light of the government's failure to recognize the seriousness of Canada's economic situation and its failure in particular to present any credible plan to stimulate the Canadian economy and to help workers and businesses in hard-pressed sectors such as manufacturing, the automotive industry and forestry, this House has lost confidence in this government and is of the opinion that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons."

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, gooooodbbyyeee!!!

Concert Review: Hit the Lights and Cobra Starship

Hit the Lights, Forever the Sickest Kids and Cobra Starship

Okay I'm finally accepted that I'm too old for certain concerts. For example, I went to my last Vans Warped Tour two years ago and haven't really looked back, not only because of the steep price tag (whats it at now? 50 bucks?) but simply because I feel so divorced from the younger punk scene each year I get older.

Enter 'Hit the Lights' opening for 'Cobra Starship' alongside a ton of other young popular punk influenced bands (Gabe from 'Cobra Starship' for example used to play in 'Midtown'). I hesitate to say pop-punk because of my old-school belief that such a moniker is only entitled for bands like 'The Ramones' or more recently 'Broadway Calls.' But that's grandpa Rob talking, and in all fairness bands like 'Hit the Lights' fall into the same category as 'New Found Glory' (a guilty pleasure of mine) and 'Blink 182' -a newer, glitzier, more produced pop-punk...new-pop-punk? What a stupid name. Oh well, we'll roll with it. Nu-pop-punk.

The lyrical content of this new flashier version of pop-punk reminds me of my age. Gone are the days of singing with an ironic tongue-in-cheek sneer (see Dead Milkmen's 'Punk Rock Girl'), and instead are the days of singing about hanging out in the parking lot thinking about girls. Yeah, at 25 I'm kinda over that. I sit in my room drinking by myself thinking about girls instead (like that cute Ukranian girl from my French class). The vote's out on whether its an improvement or not.

A point should be made that I actually like a lot on nu-pop-punk bands. As a matter fact 'Hit the Lights' easily fall into this category. While I have difficulty connecting with the band on a lyrical level, its still catchy as hell and perfect feel-good music. I even had a chance to interview the band a few hours before doors opened and had a blast hanging out with them afterwards shopping around St. Catherines looking for Montreal t-shirts. Good times.

However, once I got some food and went back to the venue it was a culture shock for me. An ocean of teenagers (mostly girls) were screaming for the band onstage, a bunch of good looking boys playing keyboards, wearing overly tight pants, and dropping the F-bomb like it was going out of style and grandpa Rob in me was really upset that they thought swearing to 14 year olds made them cool and I was really worried that 'Hit the Lights' once they went onstage would pander to similar schtick to get the crowd going.

Thankfully, 'Hit the Lights' were much more composed and played a solid set with most songs coming off their newly released album. The band pogo'd onstage, talked about how cute Montreal girls were, and tried to get the crowd to sing along to their stuff...nothing really eye-rollingly corny, but nothing really awe-inspiring either. Just a straight up solid set, which I guess is what I came for.

Following their set, I quickly packed up and left, not even sticking around for the last few bands. Gabe from 'Cobra Starship' is a attention-seeking douche (see this story). I mean, really, who says "I'm so punk rock that I blah blah blah." Gabe man, I loved 'Midtown,' why you gotta turn out to be a total ass?

Anyway as I walked back home I began to reflect. I used to be that young. I used to love really cheesy bands ('Fenix TX' come to mind). I used to go to similar concerts in Vancouver and that's fine, for that age group. Looking onto that crowd of kids I realized that (like the mid-90s in Vancouver) most of those kids are only at the concert because they think its cool to be there. There's little love for the music and during 'Hit the Lights' I even saw some kids playing poker in the back (man, these boys came all the way from Ohio! Where's the love!).

However, a small portion of those kids are there because they love the music. Those are the kids who, in five years will be forming bands, writing zines, or putting on shows to promote local talent. Its so easy for us to laugh at the terrible fads teenagers cling onto as they gush over cute boys in bands, and screaming about over-the-top stage antics...but its where most of us started from. Moreover, it will be a handful of these kids who take over the local music scene in 5 to 10 years time. Which is great, and its even great that they're enjoying tonight's show. But for me, man I'm glad I'm no longer an akward 15 year old listening to major label pop. Its just so glossy and void of any grit or real substance. I'll take a local show in somebody's basement any day of the week. And maybe, someday, hopefully, so will some of these kids.

In Memoriam - Edgar Wickberg

Edgar Wickberg (1927-2008)

I received an e-mail today from my mom about Dr. Wickberg's death, and while I only knew him for a few years, I would consider him a close mentor of mine. In 2005 I applied and got a job with Ed as his Research Assistant even though I was only an undergrad ad he really encouraged me to pursue my Masters degree (which I ended up doing and actually, I just graduated on Monday). Moreover, he would spend a lot of time with me in his office telling me about 'how things used to be' in academia as a scholar in Asian diaspora, a topic I'm still very interested in. Even though he told me to bill him for those work hours (literally he talked for hours) I don't think I ever did because it was just such so awesome to listen to his stories. Even in the last year or so, whenever I came back to Vancouver from Montreal I made it a point to get in contact with him.

As well, when I started the New Voices Project he was really, really supportive and he was even at our gallery exhibit on opening day at the Vancouver Museum. Ed was really just a stand up guy and its going to be weird this time going back to Vancouver and not getting a chance to have coffee with him. I'm not going to talk about his past, there are much more suited people to do that, specifically the blog that Henry Yu created here. His memorial is today, and since I'm not in Vancouver I figured I could at least do something here to remember him.

My Interview with 'Bomb the Music Industry!'

Okay so I finally finished editing the video footage for my interview with 'Bomb the Music Industry!' Not only is this my first edited video (I just started video editing about a month ago) its also my first YouTube post. After 12 hours of being up it already had 20 view which more or less got me all excited and happy. I also learned from a friend of mine (Kelly) that if I upload onto YouTube they own my work. While she was up in arms about the issue, I'm much more resigned to the fact that even if they do take my work, I'd be more inclined to feel impressed that they chose me and stoked about my work getting out than complain about how my video is being co-opted by the man. As well, I understand MySpace works in a very similar way and every major band and label are represented on both sites, are you telling me that YouTube or MySpace has the balls to go up against Universal or Sony? C'mon now. While they may reserve the right to use members' videos, I highly doubt they'd actually be able to do anything with it without getting in a world of shit. Either way, I'm just stoked to be there!

Some supprt for Sarah Palin

Dear Sarah,

Just incase you decide to run for president in 2012, I figure I'd help you out a bit.

Fuck yeah! He's back baby!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Election Nerd

Well like every other post I've read, I'm totally stoked that Obama won the U.S. election. Is this an indicator to the forthcoming global repudiation of the right? We can only hope, but unlike my dad (who almost literally thinks Obama is the messiah), I'll judge this new president based on his action. And while I'm much more hopeful than ever before, I want to wait and see. As Obama himself said "we've got a lot of work to do."

Moreover, for a elections nerd like me who's followed American politics for the last year (I literally watch pundits for 3 hours a day - thank you Young Turks!) people were really surprised I didn't watch the election. In all fairness, I was working on a new project and had to go to the Polysics concert to get video footage, but either way. However, before everything all the election drama fades, I present you this video. Man. Mixing Star Wars nerds with election nerds has never been this awesome.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Oh and this was a lot of fun too. Man I'm such a dork.



(credit for these go to JimSmash)

Azeroth is a blue state!

Well, one of my favorite comedians Sandeep Parikh has put together a funny video that mixes several of my interests into a fun little video (comedy, games and politics). Does the fact that 'World of Warcraft' players support Obama it mean anything? Of course not. I'm not even convinced that gamers are progressives as so many Internet folk have a crazy hard-on for Ron Paul. Man...really? Libertarianism? Sigh.

Anyway, funny video...and the elections are two days away! The whole world holds its breath yet again.

Movie Review: Dance of the Dead

Dance of the Dead

Man its been a long time since Fantasia but I dug up this old review from my hard drive just in time for Halloween. Moreover, its just been released as a direct-to-DVD film which is a shame because the movie was phenomenal and really a suprise hit just at the tail end of the festival. I'm actually really shocked that it didn't come out in theatres as it seemed to do really well on the festival circuit, but I guess its low-budget nature was just too iffy for the executives - which really is a pity because not only is this film great as horror comedy goes (quite possibly my favorite genre), but even in the overarching realm of zombie movies this film stands firmly on its own two feet. Anyway, back to the review which I should have posted months ago.

---

Oh Fantasia did you ever screw up. I mean tacking 'Dance of the Dead' at the tail end of the festival? What were you thinking? Not only did you not give it a chance at 'audience pick' (which I think it had a stab) but you the sold out shows at SXSW should have been a pretty good indicator that this would have been a great movie to screen twice or more...if only for the selfish reason of making more money for the fest.

While not without its criticisms, 'Dance of the Dead' (DotD) is a amazing addition to the zombie and horror comedy genre. Falling in the ranks of 'Slither' or even 'Dusk 'Till Dawn', Dance of the Dead makes sure that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Certainly this is a formula we've seen in the past (such as 'Planet Terror') but what makes DotD stand out even more is its blending of genres and adding a John Hughes-esque teen comedy romance to a zombie film. This is 'Sixteen Candles' meets 'Night of the Living Dead' - and boy is it amazing.

The premise of the film is horribly simple. Teenagers are getting ready for prom and zombies attack. Boom, that's it. We spend the first quarter of the movie being introduced to the various characters and cliques and we see the standard teen movie fare - the geeks, the jocks, the punk, and of course, the misunderstood main character who has to go through a series of trials (often involving a girl interest) to emerge into post-high school manhood. Yawn, we've seen this before.

But as easy as the plot is, the pleasure of this movie is not in its plot, but in its storytelling. Of course we know that he's going to get the girl. Of course we know (generally) who is and isn't going to survive. But storyline here is secondary to the entertaining pleasure we see unfold on screen, ranging from basic slapstick humor, to over-the-top violence. In fact, there's a great scene where the heroes take on a group of zombies with wrestling movies a la WWE. Elbow from the sky! Absolutly ridiculous. Absolutely hilarious.

Its the wry tongue-in-cheek attitude that DotD embraces that really makes the film. Yes, like other horror comedy films it plays readily into formula, but its the formula we all know and love. Moreover, it understands where its coming from and simultaneously pays homage and pokes fun to its predecessors. Moreover, it balances well the angst of growing up borrowed from teen comedies like 'American Pie' (but thankfully nowhere near as vulgar), with its horror elements and while we stand up and cheer when they chop up a zombie with a hacksaw, we just as readily stand up and cheer when the hero gets the girl. Ultimately, DotT is a great film not only for its ability to provide constant violent eye-candy, and keep us laughing, but also in its ability to simultaneously be a 'feel good' teen movie.

Finally, as a side note, I think its hard not to compare this film with the popular horror comedy film 'Shaun of the Dead' released a few years earlier as both films as fall into the stupidly-named category of 'rom-zom-com' (romantic zombie comedy). I didn't coin that. The difference between the two is their cultural approach to comedy. While both poke fun at the zombie genre, 'Shaun of the Dead' plays up its very British blend of dry wit while 'Dance of the Dead' plays more to an American comedic sensibility with over-the-top action and slapstick physical comedy.

Concert Review: Famous 08 with Jason Chan

My friend Cedric had a few extra tickets to a Chinese singing competition which guest starred up-and-coming Hong Kong singer Jason Chan, so I figured why not. Not only am I always ready to go see live music, but the Sociologist in me was dying to explore new, uncharted terrain. Either way, Chinese events are few and far between in this city. Anyway, not being familiar with Jason Chan or Cantonese pop music in general this was certainly a treat, if not just for the novelty.

The event itself was organized by R-Vision Productions who have put on similar shows in the past, the basic format of which is to have 9 local Montreal Chinese singers come onstage and sing a tune one after another. After each song a pair of hosts would come onstage and interview the singer, crack some jokes and interact with the crowd. I have to say, the MCs were hilarious and singers, good or bad, really took second fiddle to the two hosts. That being said, the local talent varied pretty drastically in terms of skill, some leaning heavily on good looks and others were extremely competent entertainers. In the end however, the selection process seemed a bit bogus. After all 9 had sung they were given balloons to blow up and pop, inside of which was a piece of paper with either a check mark or an X. The X's got to go home, the check marks got to sing a second round. While this unfairly eliminated some of the better singers, the good-looking boy was also kicked out in this fashion much to the crowd's disappointment (mostly made up of swooning teenage girls) and to my sadistic pleasure. What can I say, I'm a small, petty man. Moreover, at this point the MCs gave away 5 toques to the crowd and the audience went ballistic. Considering these toques cost the organizes all of $5 (or free considering they had Rogers plastered all over them) this either shows that (a) Chinese people are crazy cheap, (b) the MCs really knew how to hype up the crowd, or (c) free shit makes everyone go bat shit insane, no matter how banal.

Anyway, after a short break the second round started, and the final 4 singers got a chance to sing another song - but since the elimination process was so random the quality was just as up and down as the first half. Man, thank god I had someone to talk to at the show. After the four singers performed, Jason Chan came onstage and the crowd became a wall of teenage shrieks. While as a singer he easily stood miles ahead of the local-born talent, as a performer it was pretty easy to tell he wasn't having fun. First off, he was stiff as a board and made very little effort to get into the show, unlike the talent show performers who really gave their hearts and souls into their act. I don't really blame him though, as coming from HK he's probably used to a few thousand people attending his show...a few hundred in Montreal didn't really seem to cut it for him. Secondly, he sang all of three songs, to a pre-recording no less. Man, this whole thing reminded me of karaoke.

Finally as the show came to an end, the final four were brought out and judged by a panel. Interestingly, the guy who I thought would win came in third and the guy who I thought sucked came in first. I guess I have no taste in Cantonese pop. Damn. Even funnier though was the girl who came in 4th place. Once they announced the winner she stormed off stage. Sweetie, you might be pretty and all, but you gotta learn to hold a note...sorry. Again, I'm a very bad man.

Overall though, reflecting back on the experience the whole thing seemed so surreal. Here I was in a fully Cantonese/Mandarin-speaking concert not being able to speak either language well. Looking to the bartender, coat-check, or ticket vendor for comfort I realize I'm in Montreal, a French-speaking city...again a language I can't speak. In a strange ironic way, I felt simultaneously wholly Chinese and wholly non-Chinese at the exact same time.

Asian Canadian research comes to Concordia

So this last weekend at Concordia was amazing for Asian Canadian research. On Thursday, Sean Metzger from Duke University presented the first lecture for The Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture entitled: "Unsuitable Bodies or What Happens When Jackie Chan Performs James Brown." While I still sometimes scratch my head at Film Studies (ironic considering I love doing movie reviews) and Cultural Studies his analysis of 'The Tuxedo' and what it reveals in regards to identity politics in America was certainly interesting.

The next day (and completely unrelated) the Concordia Faculty of Fine Arts presented two concurrent exhibitions. The first was a tribute to Norman Bethune (part of a city-wide homage to the good pinko doctor) which not only reinstated the now pigeon-free Bethune statue back on Guy and deMaisonneuve, but also showcased several busts from China (hero worship is something we do quite well), a series of photographs of him from the 1930s, and a few cultural revolution propaganda posters. Wow. Interestingly, I've got a half-finished Norman Bethune graphic novel script from six months ago (I started as they took down the old statue) and if you've got a drawing hand and don't mind drawing a Montreal-born white boy with bunch of dirty commies, we can talk.

Secondly, was the opening of Crossing Cultures and Rearranging Desires an art exhibit done by four Asian Canadian artists followed by a symposium the next day on thinking about and challenging culturally-specific work. The art was great considering my non-art-savvy perspective (I obviously don't know much as I consider throwing yourself into a crowd of people while screaming into a microphone good fun. I do however have a membership to the musee de beuxs-arts so I can at least feign coolness) ranging from tofu in jello, to a fashion show cleverly named "Yellow Apparel." Love it.

The symposium too was really good, and very relevant to my research. Sadly, I missed a fat chunk of the session entitled "Questioning Cultural Authenticity" which could very well have been my M.A. thesis title. In all fairness though, I had to run off to the Festival Nouveau Cinema to catch the Korean film "The Good, The Bad, The Weird." Review coming soon (but in a nutshell, it was great).

Scurrying back I was able to catch the final session, an artist round table. Following that I was able to chat with Karen Tam, an interesting and very cool Chinese Canadian Quebecois artist (now doing her PhD in London) about her work and ideas. As a funny little side note, Heather from New Voices actually clued me in onto Karen's work as when she was in Vancouver doing a guest lecture at UBC, she was able to check out tour exhibit at Gallery Gachet (sadly, I was in Montreal when this show was happening and wasn't able to see before it was taken down - heck I wasn't even able to make it to my own book launch!).

All of these events really helped convince me that, while not as big as it is in Vancouver, the Montreal Asian Canadian community is alive and kicking. As I've argued, the Quebec context of the Asian Canadian experience is unique and while the debates about the cultural difference between Asian Canadian and Asian American - the Quebec immigrant experience stands radically different than either of the two. Man, I'm so glad I moved out here.

Record Lows in Canadian Election

My friend Amanda sent me this link:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/10/15/voter-turnout.html?ref=rss.

Turns out we've hit record lows for voter turnout for the Canadian election, and while volunteering at Elections Canada I literally experienced this on the ground. I actually did the math and a whopping 24.9% of my poll (Poll 22 in Westmount-Ville-Marie) actually made it out which is painfully embarassing. Moreover, after finding out that Harper got himself even more seats all the NDP and Liberal scrutineers at the voting station went out for drinks and got ripped. Hey we might not see eye-to-eye in terms of party politics, but we're certainly brothers-in-arms against a common foe. As one NDPer said, "I haven't been this depressed since Hamas won."

Personally I'm not terribly choked that Harper won. I mean I'm upset, but back in high school I was crazy conservative and I guess some of that leaked out (which is good because otherwise I'd be drunk in a ditch with the others). Now don't get me wrong, I feel the man is the wrong person for the job but he isn't an idiot and we ought to thank god for small mercies. Moreover, he has a minority government and the NDP did grow a little bit (although my candidate lost). Finally, as my dad said, "hey if its inevitable then we ought to look on the bright side," and to be fair, Harper would be good financially for my family considering the role capital gains taxes has played in our family in the last few years. So yes, from a financial perspective I think its not a terrible thing - and generally I'm a centerist on economic issues.

But that said, I think Harper in a majority had the potential to be disasterous for the social sphere - and even now in a minority may still very well be. But I'm no fortune teller. So as it stands all we can do is hold our breath and keep fighting to good fight. Perhaps though, our biggest enemy (moreso than right wingnuts) is voter indifference and a good portion of the population not even bothing to vote I now have the right to tell 41% of the population to "shut the fuck up" when they start complaining.

I was talking to my buddy Mike the day before elections and even he said he wasn't going to vote. Now while I don't agree with his politics, I still wanted him to vote, and when he said there wasn't anyone who he really agreed with, I told him, thats fine, vote for yourself. Or don't mark any of the names. Or go into the booth amd chew on your ballot. Any of these is still legitimate in my mind, and the fact that people can't even give 5-10 minutes ever 4 years for our democratic process (no matter where you stand) is even more embarassing, sad and pathetic than voting for a Conservative.

This made me laugh...

Partisans, Politics and Poker Games: My Thoughts After my CBC Interview

I’m going to just come out and say it. I’m a fan of partisan media. Even if taken to its logical extreme (Fox News) I’m still a fan of it. As a matter of fact I’m a fan of Fox News. I mean seriously have you ever watched it? Its insane! And in all honesty, its much, much funnier than the Comedy Network. As well, I have no problem with people watching junk like Fox if that’s where they want to go to get their news. Really, it’s a free country. If that’s what they want then who am I to stop them.

Moreover on the flip side of right-wing pundits shows like the O’Reilly Factor, we get liberal-tinged comedy shows like the Daily Show or the Colbert Report or to a much lesser extent CNN or MSNBC (so the right wingnuts say…I happen to think they’re pretty balanced but then again I’m a looney lefty). Nonetheless, all of these shows are American and I recently stopped to scratch my head and wonder why I follow what’s going on in the US more than in what’s going on in Canada. Its pretty sad that I can name more American politicians than Canadian ones (probably close to a scale of 5-to-1).

So what is it about American politics that’s so interesting? It can’t be that their politicians are any more interesting than our own, I mean rather than two parties, we’ve actually got at least 5 parties competing in our upcoming election, and if anything it should be much more gripping. So what’s the problem? My answer is media in Canada is boooooorrrriiinnggg. Fox News, CNN, the Daily Show are all glitz and glam and news is a spectacle down in the states, and man I eat it up readily and willingly. And I have no problems with that and as a matter of fact, if anything else, turning news into a circus show could only attract more people to watch it. Imagine, more people watching the news. It’s the stuff of dreams man.

Moreover, could you imagine if we had a Canadian version of Jon Stewart (and don’t say Rick Mercer, because for this idea to work we need someone funny)? I’m convinced that with a charismatic, funny and most importantly, entertaining news outlet that’s biting and satirical more Canadian youth would actually want to follow Canadian politics. And in my mind that’s the ultimate goal, to get more Canadians interest in their own politics regardless of where they stand politically. And my (albeit simple) answer to this is partisan media.

This idea really hit home for me when I was sitting in the CBC building a few days ago on a panel about undecided voters. The problem with Canadian media is that it’s not okay to take sides or to expose your bias. While we all know that the various Canadian media outlets do lean in one direction or another, its kept much more hush-hush than down South. And this illusion of neutrality tricks people who are unaware about the politics of their media and believe that what they read may indeed be unbiased.

Moreover this illusion of neutrality has convinced many people to remain very reserved about issues of the utmost importance. I’ll give you an example from my experience on the CBC. When talking to the first two people on the panel, each spoke about ‘the parties I’m considering’ or ‘my potential candidate.’ When it came to me I came out and blatantly said ‘I’m thinking about the NDP or the Liberals depending on who I think can fight back a Conservative majority.’ And man, the look on their faces was hilarious. They were shocked and amazed that I had actually said who I was thinking about voting for instead of a vague obscure reference to ‘the parties I’m considering.’ It was like I had exposed my hand after the first round of betting at a poker table. And even after I did dropped the bomb, the two still spoke in veiled jargon because it seemed ‘improper’ to speak frankly about the issues. While yes, I understand some people like to keep that kind of information to themselves (totally fine, it’s a free country), this is a radio show panel and if I come onto a show to do a bit about undecided voters, then it’s important to look at what’s going on in the head of undecided voters. And if we’re looking at what undecided voters are thinking about, then we need to look at their options concretely.

Coming back to my poker analogy, I actually think the news media have the whole thing backwards. Politics and political coverage should not be a hidden poker hand, it should be fully exposed so everyone can see who holds what cards so we, as voters, can make an informed decision. If we cling our cards to our chest then we run the risk of tossing our chips in on a bluff. And while that might be suitable at a poker table, it is NOT the way we should be selecting our political leaders.

Gandhi's a 'Minor Threat'

Moreover, from all the videos I've watched on YouTube of 'Minor Threat' performing, Ian McKaye hardly ever sang...as seen in this video below. Check out 0:20. He's just standing there staring at the crowd. Oh and check out that mosh pit man. Ri-donk-ulous.

Comic Review: Powers

Powers

Now that my thesis is done, I can sit down and really sink my teeth into some good comics. My buddy Rami let me borrow 11 books of Brian Bendis and Michael Oeming's Eisner award-winning 'Powers.' Now I'm going to be blunt, when I see anything that says 'award winning' I buy into it. I love that shit, I don't want to waste my time and if something at least received an award, that means somebody out there liked it good enough to toss it a bone. On the flip side, I'm really critical of anything award winning because I expect it to be phenomenal.

The storyline for 'Powers' is pretty clever and certainly its innovative. Basically, it takes place in a world where superheroes are a daily occurrence are given licenses and regulated by the government as they fight against renegade super powered villains. Set against this backdrop are 'Christian Walker' and 'Deena Pilgrim,' two homicide detectives who specifically investigate the death of people with super powers.

As a superhero comic 'Powers' is a forced to be reckoned with. Not only does it take the standard comic book and flip it on its head (looking at heroes from the bottom up, rather than from the top down) but it also challenges them by focusing on oft unspoken elements of the superhero genre. What do I mean by this? If superheroes did exist, could you imagine how media crazed we common fold would be about them? It'd be like Lohan and Spears on crack. As well, if you were a hero, wouldn't you capitalize on your brand and make a fat ton of cash? Or, since heroes are just as human as anyone else, what would you do about the insane amount of people of the opposite sex throwing themselves at you?

Stalker fans, Capitalist branding and horny groupie sex are just the tip of the ice burg of Bendis and Oeming's book and just as much as these comics are a commentary on the superhero genre, they easily extend into a social critique of ourselves living in modern society. Moreover, its unapologetic in its slinging around of violence, swearing and nudity to hammer its point down in as realistic a means as possible. Far beyond shocking (as most comics use these for) it become simply fitting in the overall writing of the project.

The art too is simply astounding. Reading an interview the two tried hard to move as far away from the standard comic book cover art. This includes common stereotypes like the hero flying 'out' of the page, or a cinematic fight sequence to lure the reader into wanting more. Instead, covers of 'Powers' have paid homage to The Beatles's 'White Album', pulp film posters, and even E! Online's website. As I mentioned before, the comic is consistently innovative not just in it writing but in its art.

While as a book on superheroes the story like does wonders, as a detective comic the plots of the several trade paperbacks (which encompass the various story arcs) seem kind of lackluster. The villains are far from interesting, the 'mystery' we are hoping to solve often fall flat onto cliche, and the reader is never really challenged. A lot of the time the endings of the stories are solved in blitz and whirl of events in the last few scenes, often coming straight of left field in a kind of deus ex machina sort of way, and to be frank, a lot of the times it feels like cheating. Unlike other cop dramas, we get no hints or clues that we can decipher on our own, but are served all the answers on a plate when the writer is good and ready.

But perhaps the flaw is my own. I approached this comic as a detective comic first and a superhero comic second, which really isn't the case. In fact it isn't even a superhero comic first, it is first and foremost clever social commentary, secondly a novel and interesting take on superheroes, and third (and only as an afterthought) it is a crime story. If understood in that context, these books are solid gold.

Thesis is DONE!

After rougly 67 hours of no sleep/straight work my M.A. thesis is finished, revised, submitted and accepted. No matter how much time Iplan and work ahead of time, things always comes down to the last minute for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I plan on sleeping until next Friday.

The Young Turks

Okay, I've been looking for a good way to find my news for a while. While I love watching CNN, I just don't have access to it in Montreal and I can't really be bothered to slog though tons of online articles on a daily basis (although if I had the time I totally would). Enter 'The Young Turks' an extremly progressive (i.e. liberal) podcast that I just found out about that (in my opinion) blows John Stewart out of the water. Don't get me wrong, I love John Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, but man, Cenk Uygur the host of this show is ferocious, and I love it.

Moreover he's smart (an ex-lawyer, not an actor), is totally indie media (not owned/controlled by a major media conglomerate), and pulls no punches. He's what you get when you mix of a radio sports caster and heavy-handed political pundit. I even appreciatethe fact that he was an ex-conservative and is more than willing to concede on right-wing points if they tend to make sense. This is a good example of the stuff the good work they do over there, and literally after watching it I paid for a subscription.

Movie Review: Who is KK Downey?

Who is KK Downey?

Hipsters watching hipsters hate on hipsters. That’s more or less the movie in a nutshell, but I say that in the best way possible, especially since I probably fall into that first category (save for the fact that I don’t dress well, have never done drugs, and I try as much as possible not to be condescending). Having passed over ‘KK Downey’ at Fantasia I immediately regretted my decision when I asked Cedric how the film was and his simple response was, ‘hilarious.’ Damn, after days and days of watching horror and thriller films I really could have used a good comedy. While I can admit my mistakes, I’m not necessarily one to repeat them so when I saw that there was going to be some special screenings of ‘KK’ at the AMC Forum I immediately took the chance to rectify my mistake.

Now, despite the fact that I got a glowing response from Cedric, going into the movie I still had very little knowledge about what the film was about, other than the fact that it was funny. Briefly, the story is about two childhood friends (Theo and Terrence) who are scenesters that want to make it big. Theo has just competed his three-year project, a book entitled ‘Truck Stop Hustler’ and Terrence tries as hard as possible to get his punk band off the ground. Both find themselves at a dead end, as Theo’s book won’t get picked up as publishers claim, ‘nobody wants to read a book about a tortured male prostitute written by some fat suburban white kid.’ And Terrence? Well he’s just not very good at anything, and worse, his ex-girlfriend is dating an arrogant music reviewer with as ego as big as his own. At their wits end, Terrence comes up with the perfect plan to make it in the world; he will pretend to be the character of Theo’s book, KK Downey, mimicking the infamous hoax by J.T. Leroy. Immediately the book becomes a bestseller, critiquing the image over substance nature of popular culture. As the story progresses their plan digs them deeper and deeper in trouble as secrets are revealed not only about their plan, but also about each other.

Overall the movie was fantastic. The scriptwriting was tight, the jokes were well-timed and the moral of the story was well executed without being preachy. Even more impressive though was that for the team that put the film together, Montreal locals Kidnapper Films, this was their first feature length movie, and all necessary kudos go to them for such a successful project. Indeed they’ve already begun winning awards at Cinequest and Boston’s Underground Film festival, and for a film that was literally edited in the producer’s mother’s basement, this is some achievement.

A special word should be said about the fantastic score to the film. With 18 songs from local independent artists (the film starts out blazing with a song by ‘Duchess Says’) I found myself scrambling for a pen and paper during the credits to scribble down the names of all the artists. Not only was the music fitting to the film, it easily elevated it, grabbing the audience face and dragging them through the storyline.

All compliments aside, there certainly were several areas where the film could have improved. While most of the time the acting was spot on, at others it was unconvincing and broke the spell that the otherwise tight dialogue had over me. The storyline too had a few plot holes that I struggled with. The first is, when Terrence is dressed as KK Downey and tries to woo back his girlfriend its impossible to laugh out when she doesn’t recognize him. It’s kind of like a Clark Kent syndrome where all it takes is a pair of glasses for nobody to recognize you through your disguise. As well, when the hoax is finally exposed, nobody seems to mind and everyone gets on with their day as if nothing had happened. I don’t’ know about you, but if I had found out Kurt Kobain was really a rich kid faking the whole ‘grunge-thing’ to make a quick buck, I’d be pretty pissed off. And hell, I don’t even like Kurt Kobain!

Perhaps the most regrettable part of the movie though, is that in the first half of the film, they introduce so many interesting characters. There’s the sleazy publisher played by ‘Fubar’s Paul Spence. There’s Terrence’s waspy parents who give him everything he asks for, and his snotty sarcastic brother. And there’s a crazy groupie for their punk band who is lovingly referred to as ‘the cum depository.’ All characters are hilarious in their own right but once the plot picks up, they are all dropped and left at the wayside, only having cameo appearance every now and then. This is unfortunate not only because they wasted so much time building up such interesting characters, but also because of the potential each of them could have had in making the movie funnier and even more entertaining.

Looking past the criticisms though, this movie is an indie gem. At its core is a heartfelt story about friendships and relationships and the corruptibility of stardom, fame and power. As a social critique of popularity, it does a pretty good job and ironically, unlike the characters in their film, these twenty-something year old filmmakers deserve to make it big and have worked hard on a piece of work that they should certainly be proud of.

God hates pop punk

That's the only reasoning I can think of for the recent break up of 'The Ergs' and 'Chinese Telephones' - two of the best indie pop punk bands touring right now. If 'The Copyrights' fall apart this week as well I'm officially revoking my atheist stance and worshipping Satan.

Oh and it turns out both bands are playing 'The Fest 7' in Gainsville Florida for their final show. Taking up a collection now. Road trip anyone?

edit: OMG, 'Atom and His Package' are playing a one-off reunion show at the Fest as well. I'm serious now...start sending me them cheques...

Upcoming Event: The Public Defender (1931)

I'm helping my friend Phillip flyer for an event he's running and I figure it wouldn't hurt to throw something up online as well. Phil runs 'Cine Club' which screens films from his private collection. He's an avid collector of film reels and movies that haven't been released on video or DVD (he tells me they start at $200! My god that's an expensive hobby). As well Phil is a movie director and directed the film The Descendant.

Anyway the film he's screening this Friday (September 12th) is 1931's 'The Public Defender.'

"'The Public Defender' stars Richard Dix and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein). A millionaire playboy takes it upon himself to clandestinely punish criminals while leaving behind a mysterious calling card with a distinct symbol, signed 'The Reckoner.' The mystery avenger also has an older assistant named 'the Professor' (Karloff) who lives with him in his large mansion and performs criminal research for him."

Its also kinda cool to to note that Bob Kane released the first Batman comic in 1939, nearly a decade later. Anyway, I'll probably write a review, but considering this movie hasn't been released anywhere so far, I really suggest checking it out if you're in the Montreal area (and tell me if you are so we can go together!). Here's a link to the details, but for simplicity:

The Public Defender
September 12th, 2008
9:30 @ Cinema du Parc

CD Review: No Harm Done - Escape

No Harm Done - Escape

I'm generally not a fan of straight edge music. While I used to pretty adamantly champion straight edge beliefs, after a certain age you stop being a 'Straight Edger' and simply a 'dude who doesn't like to smoke, drink or do drugs'. Moreover, sXe music was rooted in East Coast hardcore which, growing up as a West Coast pop punker, never really resonated with me. Melodic hardcore, however, was always that happy medium that I could really get into.

Enter 'No Harm Done' who merge the bits of sXe hardcore that I loved (the anthemic chanting) and poppy melodic hardcore sensibilities. As other reviewers have noted, these guys sound something like 'post-reunion Lifetime' and I'd add that they falls into the same category as the first two Rise Against CDs (read: the good ones).

Moreover these young Florida kids (while I'm not exactly sure, they can't really be that much older than twenty) compose music as if they were much older. Already on their third CD, 'Escape' moves them is a very good direction and their travel roster is already pretty impressive. Musically, the layered riffs are catchy, the breakdowns are solid and the the songwriting is well done. From the beginning of the disc the listener is rewarded with chourusy chants, starting the CD off with 'This is my escape!' Throughout the rest of the CD we get similar sing-along mosh pit favorites like the chorus in the song 'Festivus Yes Bagels No' which chants 'Fuck your glory days!'

Moreover, songs like 'Throwing Bricks' win me over not only for its tight integration of songwriting and music ('Everything I know/Everything I love/Just comes and goes') but also because it ends with a 'Home Alone' quote, which admittedly had the potential of being pretty cheesy, actually fit really well into the song.

The CD isn't without it criticism though, and when listened to from top to bottom gets pretty monotonous and repetitive. The key, I found is to listen to them either as singles or mixed into a shuffle. On their own each song stands on its own, but ironically when put together just gets tired. However, these kids are young, really young, and if I was pumping out music as good as this I'd be pretty damn proud of myself, as these guys should be.

Moreover, their entire CD is posted at the link above. Since its free, you really don't have a reason not to try it out. Just hit play as you read your e-mail.

Comic Review - AWOL'd

AWOL'd

As if trying to review movie and music isn't enough, I'm going to add comics into the fray. Having just come back from FanExpo 2008 in Toronto I dropped something to the tune of $150 strictly on independant comics on 'Artists' Row' in a passionate desire to support the local comic scene. And in all honesty, it wasn't nearly enough to get all the stuff I wanted, but I did get to meet a ton of cool people ranging from artists and writers, to colorists and owners of publishing companies.

So starting things off is Jason Loo's 'AWOL'd,' a story about three street kids who are forcefully recruited to serve as top secret government agents. They are genetically modified and trained to be perfect killers, but resent their captivity and eventually escape. They are tracked by their previous boss as they try to forge a new life for themselves and are constantly on the run.

Right off the bat one can find easy links to Grant Morrison's 'We3' not only in the fact that there are three main characters who are government runaways, but also in the innocence of the protagonists and their unfortunate use of violence. It would be unfair to compare Loo's artwork to Frank Quietly, but this isn't to say that his work is bad. Quite the opposite. Considering that 'AWOL'd' doesn't have an ISBN number, I can only assume that this was independently put together which, when looking at his artwork, makes this book very impressive. Moreover, he uses interesting writing mediums to bridge each chapter and progress the storyline - brief e-mails to explain month long periods of time (a cool reference to Douglas Coupland's Microserfs). He even starts off the book with a great 'suggest listening' track list which includes Sparta, Glassjaw and Rival Schools. I'm not going to lie, this easily sold me on wanting to read more.

The writing of the book, however, is somewhat forced. Events happen at breakneck speeds leaving the reader confused as to whats going on. For example, we only find out later in the storyline that two of the three heroes are romantically involved with each other. What the? How did we get from being friends on the run to sleeping together? I always find that the beauty of character development is in the subtle details and 'AWOL'd' proves this to be true. Its hard to get emotionally attached to these characters when you don't even know their interesting quirks or particularities. Moreover the dialogue is often forced and at one point, Norton (the sniper of the three) shoots someone in the head and through sniffles claims "it stings each time." When the two lovebirds decide to have sex, their friend responds nonchalantly by saying "I'll slit your throats if I see any skeet marks on my pillow." Really? Do we need to toss around dated slang to make the comic seem edgier? I don't know, the dialogue annoyed the hell out of me, which is upsetting because they story at its core is has good direction and an interesting concept.

Where Loo excels I think is in his ability to tell a good action story. The sequences where the three heroes are chased down and must face off against a group of similarly-engineered agents was gripping and very cleverly executed. On top of this, the talents each character brings to a combat situation are interesting and well defined, but not overly hokey. Loo has the ability to draw out a combat scene that is convincing but not dragged out.

While my criticisms of the dialogue and writing are somewhat heavy handed, its important to note that 'AWOL'd,' despite its rocky start, tightens up its writing near the end of the book and leaves the reader with a cliffhanger has us howling for more. Already, Volume 2 already looks to be a lot better, not just because it will help progress an interesting storyline, but because its easy to tell that Loo's writing has already dramatically improved throughout the transition of just this book.

Thesis-ing

Wow. The last thing I should be doing is blogging right now. My MA thesis is due in 6 hours and I'm still frantically editing. Turns out its pretty difficult to reconcile Socrates, Plato, Heidegger, Adorno, Benjamin, Eco, and Baudrillard.

Who'd a thunk it?

Since I'll probably spend the next few days recoving sleep, I figured I'd just do one quick post. In a few more hours (and a bit of luck) I'll get to add 2 more letters to the end of my name (and make myself even more unemployable than I already am).

On a tangential topic, I've been listening to/watching Alkaline Trio's 'Help Me' music video non-stop as I write and edit. Turns out about 60% of my ideas for a great steampunk movie have been summarized in this 3 minute clip. Crap. Damn you Matt Skiba for your infectiously catchy tunes and overly computer generated music videos.

However, I do like the costumes. Steampunk goggles and leather coifs will always be a fashion obsession of mine.

Movie Review - Home Movie

Home Movie


Found footage horror movies are becoming ever more popular, with underground hits like 'The Blair Witch Project' kicking off their popularity in the 90s to the recent big budget 'Cloverfield.' Its tough not to compare Denham's 'Home Movie' to [Rec] not only because they both screened at Fantasia but also because they operate in very similar ways. Both come from a 'hand cam' perspective, and both slowly bubble and brew with tension leading up to a gruesome climax at the end of the film. Despite these similarities however, I'll refrain from comparing the two as it would detract from all of the nuanced details that 'Home Movie' had to offer. That, and if this was a contest, [Rec] would simply ruin it.


'Home Movie' begins with a very interesting concept, the Poe family, which consists of David (a pastor), his wife Claire (a psychologist), and their twins Jack and Emily move to a cottage where David proudly films his children during their holiday moments. The problem is, his children are by-the-book psychopaths and the movie is filled with haunting scenes of frogs crushed in vice clamps, and crucified household pets. To keep the movie realistic these shocking scenes last for less than a second on screen as David quickly turns the camera away and begins to scold his children. While this works well to ensure that the movie seems authentic (who would actually film a crucified cat?), it works very poorly in terms of a scary movie experience. The horror scenes of the film are so short that if you blink for a second, you'll have missed all the juicy bits.

Ironically, while the filmmakers try to maintain a degree of realism in the film in terms of the character's reaction to the children, they relax on other elements. For example, the twins move so perfectly silently that they can be in one room in one shot and appear right behind their father the next second. While this works well for the horror element of the movie, it leaves the audience saying 'how the hell did that just happened?' and while movie tries to balance 'realism' and shock horror together, it falls apart as it laxly meanders between the two.


The film isn't terrible though, and the premise is still pretty clever as the parents who slowly come to realize their kids are actually devil children (and not just snottly little brats) each go about curing them in their own way. David turns to religion as he attempts to exorcise the two while his wife turns to science and prescribes them heavy duty drugs. Near the end of the movie Jack and Emily actually even seem cured are we are asked to wonder which of the two 'saved' the children.


But in the end, neither worked and the kids prove to be not only more devious than their parents realized, but much much more malicious. While the overall idea of the film is good, the inattention to detail and lack of any real 'scare' make it a mediocre watching. Chatting with people at Fantasia over the next few weeks, it seems I'm not the only person who came out of the theatre with a lackluster sense of satisfaction or entertainment.