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ATTENTION UGLY CHILDREN
On Wednesday the 3rd of August, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children has two very very very ugly surprises for you. First, local darkling Melankolya will be in for a chat and to dish out his beautiful music to sooth your ugly souls.
Second, Fantasia has graciously provided Beautiful Music for Ugly Children with tickets to attend the crooner of the macabre, Voltaire, who will be taking over the DB Clarke Theatre at Concordia University on Friday August 5th at 8pm.
Tune into CJLO 1690 AM on Wednesday the 3rdof August at 6pm to hear the latest on Melankolya and a chance to win tickets to see Voltaire!
Fantasia - Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Directed by Jalmari Helander
Written by Jalmari Helander
Cast Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Johnathan Hutchings
Produced by Petri jokiranta, Knut Skoglund, Francois-Xavier Frantz, Anna Bjork, Agnes B.
I love Christmas time and this film was incredible. Everything was perfect and the story telling was amazing. This film is based on two shorts that the directed had previously done: Rare Exports Inc and Rare Exports: Safety Instructions. The story is about little Pietari, a little boy who lives at the bottom of a mountain that is being worked on by the strange company Subzero. They are looking for something and the little boy knows exactly what it is that they want inside the mountain: the real Santa Claus. We are not talking about the Santa from you local mall, no way, this is the first Santa, the real Santa who is known to eat children and kill any adults who are naughty instead of nice. Pietari knows what is going on but no one will listen or even consider that he is telling the truth. The small town is more worried about the slaughtered reindeer because now they have lost a huge amount of money that was suppose to get them through the year and help them survive in their icy village.
Pietari’s father sets up a wolf trap and captures something much more valuabl:, a skinny, naked old man who resembles dear old Saint Nick. Pietari knows that this man is after the children of the village and needs to fulfill his holiday duties. But again, no one will believe him. This film was incredible; even if you don’t like the holidays or don’t celebrate Christmas, this film will give you the “heeby geebies!” It’s creepy and very well done. The characters are infectious and lovable, the plot is filled with suspense and mystery and, the ending will eave you laughing and feeling satisfied. This might seem like a children’s film but it would guarantee nightmares for a little child; it is a mature take on Santa Claus and will maybe make you believe in him once more. Maybe it will even make you realize that those who are naughty are in for an awful surprise.
5 out of 5 stars
-Andrea Boulet
Nuits D'Afrique: Bombino @ Club Ballatou
Hailing from northern Niger, Bombino are one of the new representatives of a style which I call saharan rock, for lack of any other term. Anticipated by Ali Farka Toure with his fusion of Songhai music and American blues, Saharan Rock first fully emerged with the group Tinariwen, a group of Touareg musicians who traded in their acoustic instruments for electric ones. The Touareg are traditionally a nomadic people of the Sahara, coming from the Berber culture of North Africa, but spread to the northern parts of West Africa. With ties to both North and West Africa, Touareg music uses the major and minor pentatonic scales beloved of West Africa, but plays them with a more typically Islamic feel in terms of rhythm and melody. Tinariwen took this style to a new level of sonic assault by bringing in blues and rock influences to create massive, warm sounds. Bombino follow in Tinariwen’s footsteps, and delighted audiences on July 19th with this incredible sound.
Bombino started their set off with a more mellow tone with just the lead singer, the lead guitariston an acoustic guitar and the drummer playing a djembe, who also provided beautiful sounding back-up vocals. This created a haunting mood, tense with restrained passion.Afterwards, the rest of the band came in, and the lead player switched to lead electric guitar and the drummer switched to a drum set. The other musicians played rhythm electric guitar, calabash and bass. And soon the entire audience was shouting and clapping along to the powerful sound emitting from the stage, the band had a crazy energy that infected the overcrowded club - unfortunately, too crowded for vigorous dancing, which the group surely deserved, and which the audience surely wanted to give them. Though awesome, Bombino had a fairly predictable formula. A song was either in major or minor pentatonic, usually in the key of A and B. The band would usually play a set of chord changes over and over, while the lead player sang a few lines, but mostly soloed on his guitar. So basically, the focal point all night was the guitar solos, but they were amazing, inspired and deftly executed. My only complaint is that the band went too far when they ran out of material and just started jamming for the last few songs. But overall it was a memorable and thrilling occasion. 8 out of ten dancing hippy ladies.
-Sasparila co-hosts Pan African Hour every Wednesday from 12-1pm
Syrian Troops Move in Hama
Syrian troops in the city of Hama have advanced deeper in to the city taking up new positions. The move comes a day after 24 people were killed by Syrian forces on the first day of Ramadan.
The troop presence is thought to be a preventive measure to stop protests during Ramadan. During the month large crowds of Muslims gather for prayer, the government fears these could turn in to large protests.
Since protests began in March against President Bashar Assad's regime, 1700 civilians have been killed activists say.
The Syrian government disputes the number and blames foreign conspirators for the turmoil.
A Hama activist told AP that troops including eight tanks and numerous personnel carriers set up about one kilometre from the western entrance to the city. He also said that smoke was seen billowing from an overcrowded jail nearby, leading him to believe inmates may be rioting.
Information about the situation is difficult to verify or obtain as reporters are not allowed in the area.
Fantasia: Detention
Directed by Joseph Kahn
Written by Joseph Kahn, Mark Palermo
Cast Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook, Jesse Heiman
Produced by Ricahrd Weager, Mary Ann Tanedo, Bob Abramoff
Detention is a fast-paced action flick with a lot of high school humour that is sure to get you feeling nostalgic. It will definitetly get more than a few laughs out of you. Our main character is Riley Jones, an outcast and misunderstood girl who just wants to fit in and live a normal life; sound familiar? She quickly learns that there is a vicious Scream-like killer on the loose in her town and all the pretty little people around her are being repeatedly stabbed and murdered.
The film has elements of sci-fi and horror classics; it is a postmodern teen slasher comedy, and Joseph Kahn pulls it off brilliantly. There are so many different characters that are very entertaining to watch and try to relate to. There is even a silly Canadian exchange student that ends up being quite important. The film also includes your stereotypical teen characters running around who receive a few laughs here and there.
The film is super fast paced and never ever slows down; it is never boring and even has time travel cleverly added to the plot, and you know what? It all works. It might seems like there a lot going on in the film, and believe me there is (aliens, murderers, prom, teenage angst, rebellion), but Kahn makes everything flow evenly and successfully. Dane cook even made me chuckle which is a very rare thing. I guess it’s because he isn’t using his own material. The kids eventually end up in detention which is where we learn the true identity of certain imposters and it’s fun seeing all the different characters all in one place trying to figure out who the killer is.
Detention is clever and I would definitely see it many more times; it’s the kind of film that the more times you view it, the more details you are most likely to pick up. It is well written with witty and funny one liners that leave you wanting more. It might be a little to fluffy because of all the teenage drama, but adding a unknown blood thirsty killer in the mix makes for a good flick.
3 out of 5 stars
-Andrea Boulet
Nuits D'Afrique:Grupo Fantasma
The 25th anniversary of the Festival Nuits D’Afrique is turning out to be one of the most party oriented ones that I have ever witness. Over the years, I have attended and taken part in some of the festivals; they were all entertaining and fun, but the 2011 edition of the festival stands out as a marriage of new musical ideas from all the bands that I have seen so far.
It all started with Manu Dibango & Le Soul Makossa Gang opening the festival on July 13th at Metropolis. The result was a night of dancing and fun. I then took in the series of the Syli D’or finalists for 2011. That in itself became a carnival at the Cabaret Du Mile-End on July 17th.
On July 19th I went to see Grupo Fantasma, a Latin American band from Texas. They're a band that should not be missed the next time they grace our shores for a show.
They really focus on the funk elements of Latin American music. In consequence, they began their set with the lead singer announcing that the front part of the stage was there for dancing and that’s how it was for the rest of the show.
The horn and rhythm section keep it nice and tight, while the guitarist reminded us all of living legend Carlos Santana. The bass player had this deep melodic sound which gave you that real groove of a reggae bass player that just seems to make you say “YEAH!".
A good show by a groovy band is all that it takes to keep the house dancing on a hot, July Tuesday night in Montreal, and this band did it all and then some.
-Pete Douglas hosts The Live Wire Show every Saturday from 9-10am
August 1st 2011
News read by Tommy Marshall and produced by Sofia Gay.
Stories written by Chris Hanna, Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo and Sofia Gay.
Concrete slab collapses in Ville-Marie tunnel
A slab of concrete fell onto the Ville Marie Expressway on Sunday morning. A beam fell onto the eastbound side of the highway around 9 a.m. No one was injured.
The Ville Marie tunnel is used by more than 100,000 cars every weekday.
The tunnel will remain closed between De La Montagne and Panet streets.
Engineers are studying the structure and need to determine whether emergency repairs are required. They are also trying to figure out what caused the collapse.
Mayor Gerald Tremblay said this incident is no reason to panic, but acknowledged that infrastructure problems in the city are piling up. Quebec Transport spokesperson Caroline Larose said the tunnel will not be reopened until the agency is sure it is safe.
Harper condemns Syrian raids
Stephen Harper has spoken out about the raids that killed a hundred and forty people in Syria on Sunday. Insanity ruling not likely for Breivik
The head of the panel mandated to review the psychiatric state of Anders Behring Breivik says the suspect is unlikely to declared insane.
Dr. Tarjei Rygnested is the head of the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medecine. He’s also at the head of the board that will review Breivik’s psychiatric evaluation, the man accused of killing 77 people in Norway on July 22nd.
Rygnested says that an insanity ruling is unlikely because he doesn’t think Breivik was in a state of psychosis at the time. Norwegian law states that a culprit must have been in a state of psychosis to be legally declared insane. That means Breivik would have had to lose contact with reality to the point of losing control.
Breivik pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism, which carry a maximum sentence of 21 years. However, those could be changed to a charge of crimes against humanity. Crimes against humanity carry a 30 year maximum sentence. Breivik confessed to the July 22nd massacre on Monday. He will be held in complete isolation for at least the next 8 weeks.
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