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Kaytradamus (Photo: Nick Leger)

The second day of Osheaga was "Tweelime Day" since Stephanie from Twee Time was with me at the festival (the lime is from my show The Limelight, get it?). I met her at Scene Verte where the Aggrolites were performing cover songs, including ska and raggae. They were a fun band. We moved on and I hit the Piknic Electronik stage where Kaytradamus was DJing with a couple of guys hyping up the crowd and spitting a few lyrics. These guys played tracks I would love to hear at a party. It was the perfect blend of crazy bass electronic beats, hip hop from Jay-Z to J Dilla. They went from old to new school seamlessly and the crowd loved it.

A$AP Rocky (Photo: Tim Snow)

The next act I caught was A$AP Rocky. Even though he's a hip hop act and I'm a hip hop DJ, I only listened to some of his tracks prior to the show without really paying attention since he appealed to a much younger crowd. I, being of the 90s generation, prepared myself to hear lyrics of youthful debauchery. He got on stage and in spite of lyrics like "I'll be thuggin' with my team ho" you couldn't help but get into the heavy bass beats. I enjoyed watching an energetic A$AP jump up and down on stage getting the crowd hyped up. For an artist on a smaller stage, there was a large crowd that he stage dived in. Of course at some point he took off this shirt and a crowd member remarked that he had "bad underwear." Somehow, I was tickled by that comment.

SBTRKT (Photo: Nick Leger)

Stephanie and I parted ways as I went to cover my next electronic act SBTRKT. This was another act I was curious about that did not disappoint. Aaron Jerome from London, the man behind the tribal mask, was actually showing his face (probably because it was way too hot to be wearing a mask). This show was his first Montreal appearance. He played electronic beats and used cowbells at the same time! His sounds include a house slash dub-step mash up, with Aaron on vocals and a wicked drummer. The beats were also the kind of beats you can listen to when cruising in your car. 

Little Dragon (Photo: Nick Leger)

I thought the crowd would clear out after SBTRKT, but only a people few left because they wanted to see Little Dragon and were ready to party. I was excited because I've been a fan of that band since 2007. Lead singer Yukumi Nagano got on stage and put on an amazing show. She performed "Test" from their first album Little Dragon, which is one of my favorite songs. She also included tracks from her new album Ritual Union and Machine Dreams. The beats had the electronica fans excited during the entire show. She moved her body to the rhythm and made a connection with the crowd. The last song they played had a fast electronic beat and the band just jammed on stage as everyone was going crazy and dancing. Little Dragon was my favorite performance of the day.

Snoop Lion (Photo: Nick Leger)

I arrived late at the River Stage to catch Snoop Dogg, now known as Snoop Lion, only to find that the show was just getting started. Out of all the acts at Osheaga, I have to admit this was not a priority for me. But hey, it's Snoop Dogg! I couldn't help but get excited when he got on stage. He did all his classic tracks from Doggy Style and favorite songss like "Drop It Like It's Hot." Many of his new songs are really catchy. He also performed a Bob Marley track, reminding you he is Snoop Lion with the "Jah Rastafari" vibe. The dancers in the act did not fit in with his new Rastafarian mentality; they looked like strippers who got a break to travel and dance on stage! It was funny because he had a mic with letters that still had "Snoop Dogg" in sparkly gold—I wonder if he'll update that...

-Lady Oracle hosts The Limelight on Saturdays from 6-8pm

The federal government said it plans to cut the two million dollars in annual funding to the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), who focus on freshwater science research.

The Dominion says that if the government goes through with the cut, the world-renowned, one-of-a-kind research station in Northwestern Ontario will close its doors on April 1, 2013, leaving many graduate students stranded mid-project.

Many studies are under way to measure the effect of a variety of consumer products and their composites on freshwater systems and marine life.

If the government carries on with the cut, the very important results of some of these studies are in jeopardy, as some studies cannot be conducted in a regular laboratory setting.

Many are concerned that losing the ELA as a place to conduct research will have a detrimental effect not only on Canadian universities attracting top students, researchers and faculty, but also on freshwater science in Canada itself.

Without the current funding from the federal government, that research will become increasingly difficult to conduct, if not cease altogether.

Written by Martín Blousson, Valentín Javier Diment, Nicanor Loreti, Germán Val
Cast Lola Berthet, Horacio Acosta, Raquel Albéniz, Jimena Anganuzzi

Memory of the Dead is a very unique film that I got the chance to see at Fantasia; it is filled with love, death, friendship, ghosts, more death and lots of blood. This film is very low budget and uses a lot of special effects to please horror lovers with a bloody and beautiful twisted plot.

Alicia (Lola Berthet) has just lost her husband Jorge, and is deeply hurt by his sudden death; she gathers all of his friends who loved him to their house to read his last letter he wrote to them but Alicia has another plan in mind, a pretty fucked up plan to kill everyone and sacrifice their souls to bring Jorge back! Something starts happening within the mysterious fog that has engulfed her property, the ghosts of her guest’s past are appearing and terrorizing her guests with gruesome imagery and some very uncomfortable situations.

The make-up and special effects are very good and very gross, causing the audience at Fantasia to re-act with sounds of disgust and admiration. The crowd was loving it, taking in every scene of ripping eye-balls out of people faces, watching someone sew their eyes and mouth shut, and a lot of stabbing and blood to name a few. The characters were perfectly exaggerated, very crazy and melodramatic.

I saw a lot of homage to horror films, which included a shower scene with a nostalgic feeling from Psycho and even a little Evil Dead. I was very pleased and entertained with this film, we the audience we taken to hell and we saw some pretty disgusting things; we laughed, cringed, yelled, and cheered. I’m glad that Valentín Javier Diment was given the opportunity to have his world premier at Fantasia, he expressed his excitement and it was definitely contagious because as soon as he introduced his film the audience became silent and wide-eyed, waiting for something we could have never been fully prepared for. This film is not for everyone and you should proceed with caution while watching, it will shock you and may seem a little silly but hey! When will you get the chance to experience going to hell and then coming back to the real world? Now you have that chance so take it and watch Memory of the Dead; you will leave the theatre with some new horrifically awesome memories of your own.

- Andrea Boulet
@AndreaMtl

Amadou & Mariam (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

Once I arrived at Parc Jean Drapeau, I picked up my media pass and immediately made my way to Scene de la Montagne to see Amadou & Mariam, the blind couple from Mali. Their sound is traditional Mali music with a rock-blues influence. Amadou is a great guitarist, and Mariam has a beautiful voice that immediately captures you when she sings. She also had a cute little groove. The entire band was full of energy, and the crowd loved it!

The Weeknd (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

After that, I checked out R&B singer The Weeknd. He got on stage with a big smile, showed Montreal the love, and everyone went crazy! As one girl in the crowd put it, "I don't even scream this loud in bed." That pretty much sums up people's reaction to him. He sang songs from his albums Thursday and House Of Balloons. He also sang "Crew Love," which was a definite crowd pleaser. The only thing that left me skeptical was the voice effects on his songs, which made it look like he was lip synching. I guess I'll never know for sure.

Classified (Photo: Tim Snow)

Due to a schedule overlap, I had to leave the Weeknd show early to catch Classified at Scene Verte. Classified performed tracks from his latest album Handshakes and Middle Fingers, and a few from his older albums like Hitch Hikin' Music and Self Explanatory. He also performed some classic 90s hip-hop tracks from his time, and I really enjoyed that because that was my decade too. He showed concern for kids in the crowd by telling parents that this is a "weed-smoking crowd" and that kids shouldn't be there. Being a weed smoker himself, Classified smoked weed on stage and passed it on to his brother Mic Boyd. He also got a little greedy with his time, so they shut the power off in order to get him off stage. Classified is one of my favorite Canadian artists, and since I kept missing him every time he came to Montreal, I was really happy to finally see him perform.

Zeds Dead (Photo: Nick Leger)

After a quick rest and a poutine for lunch, I walked through the merchant stands on my way to see Justice and heard this crazy electronic beat. I followed the sound and found myself at the Scene Piknic Electronik. The group Zeds Dead was performing and the grooves were crazy. Their dub step drum-and-bass sound had everyone dancing, and each time I started to walk away I just had to walk back. I swear I did this three times!

Sigur Rós (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

I finally made my way to Scene de la Riviere and watched Iceland's Sigur Rós perform while I waited for Justice to take the stage. I had no idea who they were, but they're music was hypnotic. The girl had a beautiful and haunting voice, and the xylophones really enriched their sound. I also liked the special effects on the screens behind them, and was mesmerized by the black and white images and fuzzy-television effects.

Justice (Photo: Pat Beaudry)

After Sigur Rós performed, the adjacent stage lit up as the keyboards played the "Dracula" theme song, and the band Justice appeared out of thin air. I saw the Justice documentary, A Cross The Universe, and all I could think about was what jokers these guys were. True to form, Xavier de Rosnay had this stone-face expression while he smoked a cigarette, and Gaspard Augé had his curly hair all over his face. The stage was super cool with the light and crosses going with the beat, and I really loved their 80s-inspired electro synth sound. Justice sure turned Friday night into a big party!

-Lady Oracle hosts The Limelight on Saturdays from 6-8pm