M.F. DOOM Mm..Food (Vinyl Me Please edition) You have to respect DOOM, OK? You just have to. I only needed a few listens of his latest album Born Like This to realize the man was doing something different. Something interesting. Something worthwhile. Working my way through his catalog, I spent my sweet time with Mm..Food and I can honestly say it was time well spent. After having properly digested the album, you’ve got to give it to the man for...
October Song by Paul Le Blanc (Haymarket Books) I’ve read a lot of books on the Soviet Union and the Bolshevik victory, good and bad, and it’s about time a book like this came along. October Song is essentially a detailed account of how the events after the October revolution led to the totalitarian and authoritative state of the Stalinist era. Be forewarned: this book feels longer than it is because of the dense subject matter, so it’s not for...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Flaming Lips’ Greatest Hits Volume 1 LP. As a general rule, I must confess that Best-Of compilations seldom thrill me. While the odd set does prove to be the rule’s exception (like Nirvana’s black album, the set that Morphine released several years ago, ChangesoneBowie, Hot Rocks and All For Nothing/Nothing For All turned out to all be great sets) and which does present the band in question at its best, most...
Mission Impossible Anthology Say what you will about Tom Cruise (go ahead, say it), but the man knows his way around an action movie. And he’s known for decades. Yes, he’s fallen from grace in the mainstream over the years, but that phenomenon is probably just American. It makes sense that when Paul F Tompkins met him, he referred to him as “the most famous person in the world.” And whether the movie script is garbage or...
Die Hard 30th Anniversary I care less about how Die Hard is a Christmas movie and more about how Die Hard is a good movie. I don’t think that gets talked about enough these days. Sure, I like going to showings at my local art theatre around Christmas time, but Die Hard probably should be appreciated for being much more than that: for all the things it gets right and its staying power. My attraction to Die Hard...
The funny thing about punk and hardcore bands has always seemed to be that, no matter how caustic they may have sounded when listeners first began paying attention, the desire to get louder/harder/more aggressive as soon as MORE people begin listening to them is nearly immediate. A perfect example of this tradition can be found in the recorded output of Vancouver’s rising stars NEEDS; upon first appearing with their self-titled album in 2015, the band shattered expectations by delivering a...
No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein Naomi Klein is responsible for some of the most import and in-depth reporting on the left. Ever since I saw her on the Corporation documentary more than 10 years ago, I’ve tried to follow her reporting. She’s surprisingly not in the mainstream very much. Her previous work No Logo is a phenomenal look into the outsourcing of mainstream brands and how that’s essentially...
I don’t know if Brooks Wheelan will ever shake his time on SNL, but I for one am glad his appearance on the show put him on my radar. Since leaving, Wheelan has been responsible for some of the best stand up shows I’ve seen. His departure from the show helped him focus on his album This is Cool, Right? which is simply a phenomenal debut. As solid as that album was, Wheelan has continued to focus on his stand-up...
I’ve been intrigued with Brooks Wheelan ever since I saw him on SNL. Sure, the show didn’t give him much to do, but his desk pieces on Weekend Update were definite standouts and I still play them from time to time. Having noticed (and liked him) from the show, it only made sense that I would check out his debut album This is Cool, Right? Then it hit me: Wheelan’s standup is most definitely my cup of tea, and there...
A Quiet Place I love a good success story. Especially one that gives credit where it’s due. There’s no denying that A Quiet Place has been a resounding success at the box office. It’s made over $300 million worldwide with a “measly” budget of “just” $20 million. Well done, Mr. Krasinski. Of course, we have to be careful before we resoundingly applaud Hollywood, because plenty of garbage movies make a bundle of money. Just look at the Fast...