Watch It: “Love, Props and the T-Dot”
Posted by Jef in Canada, Music on 04. Jul, 2011 | 1 Comment
The CBC’s Canadian hip-hop documentary, Love, Props and the T-Dot, aired yesterday, wrapping up all the hip-hop coverage they had been doing earlier this year with the Hip-Hop Summit. It was a busy weekend, so just in case you were otherwise occupied with Pride, or your leftover Canada Day firecrackers, or were busy getting your [...]
Transformative memories: Why Optimus Prime died
Posted by Jef in Pop Culture on 29. Jun, 2011 | 3 Comments
Dark of the what now? John Swansburg over at Slate argues that the original Transformers movie — the 1986 animated classic that memorably killed off Optimus Prime — is the best Transformers movie to date. It’s not a hard argument to make, even though The Transformers: The Movie doesn’t make much sense when you re-watch [...]
Ethnic Aisle Pride Edition: Whatever happened to my homophobia?
Posted by Jef in Ethnic Aisle, Race on 26. Jun, 2011 | 0 Comments
The phrase “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” has always bothered me. First, because what does that even mean? Second, because yes, you can. The idea that homophobia is entrenched in visible minority/immigrant communities bothers me, even if it’s true, because it is also entrenched in other, whiter households. And the idea that [...]
Fight Scenery: The unlikely kung-fu of Scott Pilgrim and Knives Chau
Posted by Jef in Fight Scenery, Film on 07. Jun, 2011 | 7 Comments
First, some words from screenwriter Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity, Michael Clayton) to screenwriter William Goldman (The Princess Bride, All the President’s Men), from Goldman’s book, “Which Lie Did I Tell?”: Tone scares me. When you fuck with tone, you risk squandering that spark. You risk losing the one thing the audience brings with them. The [...]
That time I was racist
Posted by Jef in Comedy, Race on 06. May, 2011 | 3 Comments
The funniest joke I’ve ever heard goes like this, maybe you’ve heard it: Q: What do you call a Paki priest? (Pause with a shit-eating grin.) A: HOLY SHIT. I can’t even remember how young I was when I heard that joke or who it was during recess that told it to me, but I [...]
