By Ryan Pike
Nobody really knows what the heck Hunter Valentine means. The explanation on the band’s website creates more ambiguity than it dispels. Despite the confusion surrounding their nomenclature, Hunter Valentine’s full-length debut, The Impatient Romantic, is a remarkably defined first effort. Bolstered by superb vocals from singer/guitarist Kiyomi McCloskey and music as competent as a three-piece… Continue reading Spun: Hunter Valentine
By Ken Clarke
Calgary Folk Festival fans are in for a bluesy treat this summer. American Watermelon Slim and his band The Workers are scheduled to appear, and judging from their latest release, these guys will set the joint a-jumpin’. Although Slim’s been playing the blues for over 30 years, The Wheel Man is only his fourth release… Continue reading Spun: Watermelon Slim and The Workers
By Nicole Scarbossa and Marina Foo
Their songs spewing discontent and misery, most screamo bands are left unnoticed by the masses, but continue to drudge on hoping that one day success will come. Most quit, others toil in obscurity, while a select few actually make it. The Reason are one of these bands, but the only way they could really get… Continue reading Reasonably successful
By Janice Tran
Sex life getting a little boring? Spice it up by dressing up like a friendly woodland creature and nailing a swinger! ‘Furries’ are topping the list of new, ultra-weird fetishes that have recently caught the world’s attention with their strange, adorable, attire. “I saw an MTV True Life on Furries,” says Matt Goddard, basist of… Continue reading Chiodos’ great escape
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords is the ideal game for anyone who’s ever wondered what it would be like to be a stealth ninja with mad monkey-like agility. Rival Swords, for the PlayStation Portable, is a port of Prince of Persia: the Two Thrones, previously released for XBox, PS2, PC, and GameCube. The game draws… Continue reading The Prince returns
It seems that it takes foreigners to re-invigorate the sad-sack American parody film, and then make it decidedly British. Makers of the Movie movies take heed: as long as there are Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright–the people who brought us the brilliant zombie romantic-comedy Shaun of the Dead–your soulless, money-grubbing, laugh-free fare looks all the… Continue reading Hot Fuzz: Hot awesome!
The name Social Distortion resonates with many scene-savvy North American punks as a legendary act to which many punk artists today owe their sound. The California-based four-piece has been around since 1978, with frontman and legacy-unto-himself Mike Ness being the only original member still making music with the band. Despite being several generations removed from… Continue reading Social Distortion: Still rocking after all these years
By Ryan Pike
Ninety years ago, Canada’s victory at Vimy Ridge seemingly solidified the role of the Canadian military in the world. The recent announcement of six more fatalities in Afghanistan, bringing the death toll to 51, has caused many Canadians to question that role. The questions raised when Canada committed troops to the mission in 2002 have… Continue reading Canada: worse than Fiji
In today’s society, feminists are criticized for living in the past and fighting a lost cause. Sufragettes originally fought for equality and voting, and now that those battles have been won, feminism no longer has meaning. The opening of the Women’s Resource Centre at the University of Calgary has garnered attention from critics–who need to… Continue reading The WRC is the place to be
Psst. You there. Yeah you! Put that pencil down and close that book! It’s daydreaming time. That’s right. I want you to imagine a happy place, a wonderful land of freedom and adequate sleep, a magical realm know as ‘spring.’ And spring starts soon, although not soon enough. Now, I know a bunch of egg-head… Continue reading Spring is chock-full of awesome!