A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Bubblegum Brainwaves LP by Weird Owl Weird Owl is a genuine anomaly in the music industry in several ways: since forming in 2004, the group has not let anything – not lineup changes, not label changes, not changes in focus or sound – deter them from keeping a consistent release schedule. The band’s fifth full-length (sixth release) finds the band nailing a genuine and true presentation of psychedelic rock – that...

Katy Perry Prism Photo:Turntablelab.com I remember the summer of 2010, on route 22 in Harrisburg driving in a car with friends and talking about Katy Perry. At this point, she had already begun to win me over as a listener and during our discussion of her music and her newest music video for California Gurls, someone mentioned that it was inarguably the song of the summer. “I bet we could look for it on the radio right now and find...

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson I’ll never quite understand all the shit that gets flung at Neil deGrasse Tyson (NDT). Sure, he can come across as arrogant at times, but often we try to shoot the messenger. I think part of the problem here is that we like living in our fantasy worlds and cherish mystery and wonderment when in fact there is a clear scientific explanation for many of them. It’s healthy to have...

Alien – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2XLP By Jerry Goldsmith There are many scary movies out there, but few captivate their audience to a degree that they become their own franchise. That’s because few movies are as iconic as Alien. I can’t remember ever seeing the entire first movie until 6 years ago, but I already knew most of its iconic scenes. That chestburster scene must have been spoofed to death by now (get it?), and it even pops up...

L7 L7: Pretend We’re Dead DVD/Blu-Ray (MVD Visual) In the twenty-first century, it’s so unusual to simultaneously feel excited and infuriated as one watches a movie – but that’s what happens when one one watches Pretend We’re Dead – the documentary film which chronicles the rise, fall and rebirth of L7. The reason for the excitement and, really, the joy of this film is that there’s no question every member of the band – Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch...

Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It by Leon Trotsky It’s strange to think that fascism is getting so much attention these days. In our current political climate things are getting so divisive that it’s much too common to label people as either fascists on the right or I-don’t-know-whats on the left. But for a word that gets thrown around so much, maybe we should know precisely what it means before we fling it around so carelessly. Leon...

Sass Jordan Racine Revisited (Linus Entertainment) Twenty-five years ago, Sass Jordan made her first big breakthrough onto Canadian radio airwaves with her sophomore album Racine. It was very much a “right place, right time” kind of moment; with bands like the Black Crows and singers like Melissa Etheridge holding a whole lot of time and space on playlists around the country, Jordan fit right in with the time and tastes of a mainstream rock radio audience who was still hearing...

The Beguiled   Why did it take me so long to watch the Beguiled? I was keenly aware of it (as I am with most projects involving Kirsten Dunst), it had a decent run in theatres, garnered good reviews, and even played at my local arthouse theatre. So, what happened? I can’t really say. I seem to have prioritized Alien Covenant and Baby Driver as my giant-theatre experiences and before I knew it, the Beguiled was gone.   Quite...

The Prospects of Industrial Civilization by Bertrand Russell My first impression when researching this book is finding out that even admitted Bertrand Russell “fans” don’t hold this book in very high esteem. Although better and more thorough analyses of this book exist, I still have to argue that there’s a lot to learn in the Prospects of Industrial Civilization. I do agree with critics that this probably should have been a longer book as Russell spends too little time on...

Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist by Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins is someone who has been impressing me ever since I started reading him more than 10 years ago. It’s surprising the kind of shade that gets thrown his way, because if you read his books, they are quite enlightening and he comes across like a perfectly sane (albeit a bit arrogant) man. Dawkins’ books vary between his major theses, autobiography, and short essay collection. This...