WHO: Brutal Youth WHAT: Rebuilding Year WHY: Super fast melodic hardcore reminiscent of Kid Dynamite, you say? Sign me up! In these 29 minutes of sing-along fury, Brutal Youth seem to have figured out a formula of what exactly makes this genre work. The hooks, speed, catchy choruses, down-on-your luck lyrics, and barking vocals are all there. Rebuilding Year just sparks joy in its pure craftsmanship. Brutal Youth came out of nowhere for me, and just might have come out...

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Every now and then a movie comes along that really bums me out. I hope this bummer ends with Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Normally, I would avoid these kinds of movies, but the first one was kinda good, you know? How in God(s)’(s) name could they mess up the sequel to such an extent? Let’s just get down to business, OK? Shazam! Fury of the Gods falls short in just about every aspect,...

Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Healthby Anupam B Jena & Chris Worsham There’s nothing like a good summer book, and there’s no reason why a summer book shouldn’t be fun AND informative. Random Acts of Medicine is one of those rare books because it deals with a pretty complicated topic, but it’s also very accessible. I cannot stress this enough: there are plenty of informative and enlightening books out there,...

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Let’s go back to a time when kids’ movies would scare the living daylights out of you. Let’s talk about ET. This is a movie I remember seeing once as a little kid and don’t really think about much. Sure, it’s cherished by a select few, but those are also the people who won’t stop talking about Sandlot and have a shuffle truffle tattoo on their arm. How are you supposed to take these overgrown infants...

White Stripes Elephant 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition The White Stripes’ Elephant is an important album both for me personally and in the wider scope of musical history as it gives good perspective on what was happening in music at the time.  For me personally, it conjures up memories of driving through the redwoods for the first time, wondering how exactly Meg White manages to hit her drums so hard. It was also the first song we learnt as a band...

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sandsby Kate Beaton Like many, I was completely smitten by Kate Beaton after being exposed to Hark! A Vagrant. Like many, I was also very intrigued by whatever project she had been working on since moving back to Nova Scotia and starting a family (what’s she building up there?). The answer is putting the finishing touches on Ducks: an autobiographical graphic novel about Beaton’s two years working in the oil sands of Canada. The...

The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost Worldby Karl Schlögel & Rodney Livingstone Soviet Russia is my jam. I’ve been reading about it for over ten years and am totally captivated by the politics and impact it had around the world. And the period spanning the revolution to Stalin’s death? Don’t even get me started on that. That’s the sweetest plum. But I often forget that the richness of Russian culture doesn’t end when Khrushchev took over, and especially now...

The Maltese Falcon When the pandemic started, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to go through the AFI 100 list. Get some takeout, queue up a movie rental from the library, and get educated. I made it through all of them except Sophie’s Choice (I don’t know if it’s the feel-good movie for a new parent) and Intolerance (my endurance for silent movies is low, especially a 3+ hour one). Through it all, I laughed (both WITH...

Everyone should be listening to Fucked Up. That’s a fact. Unfortunately, hardly anyone does. That’s a sad fact. I mean this in the sense that this band should be much much bigger than they actually are. For one thing, they play glam punk, fuzzy and complex, and layered. They release a plethora of vinyl and take it on tour with them. They’ve proven twice now that expansive concept albums are well within their skill-range. Of course they’ll try it (Pitchfork...

Rebel Without A Cause Wanna talk about the influence Rebel Without a Cause has had on pop culture? Phillip J Fry’s outfit in Futurama is a direct reference to James Dean in this movie. Tommy Wiseau’s “You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” is fully copied from Dean’s delivery here, and much more. And, of course this movie is going to be in the spotlight after James Dean’s tragic death. This movie is in the American conscience and sometimes as a...