My Rating: 4/5

Label: Zarcorp
Website: http://www.lateofthepier.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lateofthepier
Purchase Album:

British group, Late of the Pier’s debut album, Black Fantasy Channel is fantastic. Their album has a nice blend of electronics and technical skill. Their instrumental track “V W” really adds to their first full length LP, this one track I can listen to forever, it is quite amazing that this much noi-… excuse me, music, can come from four band members.

The track “The Bears are Coming” has a very unique sound, the blend of electronic tones and acoustic drums really makes a great combination. Their music video for this track is really quite wonderful as well.

The last couple tracks on this album bothered me, “Mad Dogs And Englishmen” and “Bathroom Gurgle”. “Mad Dogs And Englishmen” had an intro that was way too similar to that of Bloc Party, the first time I heard it I thought my iTunes went wacko and started playing a Bloc Party track, but all in all a pretty decent track.
“Bathroom Gurgle” didn’t seem to have anything going for it, it was either poorly produced, the singer had strep throat or they were attempting to cover a Kylie Minogue song.

All in all a great album and gets a rating of 4 out of 5 from me.

The group was recently featured on the September 13th 2008 issue of NME along with popular indie bands such as MGMT and Bloc Party.

My Rating: 5/5

Label: XL Recordings
Website: http://www.wearefriendlyfires.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/friendlyfires
Purchase Album:

Friendly Fires’ debut, self-titled album, is, well, for lack of a better word (and my effort to find one), friendly. The album flows smoothly through the listeners ears, each track contains some really creative rhythms, instrumentals and vocals. The track “On Board” is most likely the one that stands out the most on their album. It features some fairly creative vocals and interesting electronic instruments, and of course, the occasional cow bell.

Personally, I can’t seem to pick out a favorite track from this album, but I have to say “Lovesick” is in my top 3. This song probably features the most guitar originality and riffs out of the whole album.

All in all, a great album, a rating of 5 out of 5 from me because I can’t think of any excuse to give it anything lower.

CJSW, Calgary’s one and only campus radio station, is having one of it’s biggest funding drives ever! Working on expanding to a new space, this 50 year old campus radio station, with over 20 years on the FM dial, is looking for your support in order to raise it’s goal of over $250,000. In exchange for your support you can get some awesome swag. The usual t-shirts, toques, hoodies, ear plugs and other awesome stuff. Along with the CJSW swag, the shows are individually giving away some awesome stuff for a certain pledge amount during their show.

Help CJSW raise over $250,000, call the pledge line at 403-220-5000 or at least give them a listen from anywhere around the world.

You can check out some of their awesome swag at their brand-spanking-new website.

Yesterday I attended probably, in my opinion, the best annual event in Calgary, even better than the Calgary Stampede.
Even thought it cost $45 for 1 night, it was definitely worth it. All the bands that played during my time there were incredible! I must say, I was given a false impression when listening to one of Aimee Mann’s songs online, because she is definitely an amazing performer.

However, the one band that blew me away was the Sam Roberts Band. I must say, in my experience of viewing live performances, Sam Roberts is definitely on top. I do get depressed when listening to their recorded stuff because of the lack of energy that the live concert had. After this awesome concert, Sam Roberts has definitely been placed in my top 10 favorite bands.
However, the Calgary Folk Music Festival lacked in many ways. There wasn’t too much to do other than watch the music.
Watch out Pemberton, Sam Roberts is gonna rock your socks off.

I’ve been thinking about this for some time now. Who will be the villains in the third Christopher Nolan Batman?
The one villain that came to mind was Harley Quinn. Because the passing of Heath Ledger and the difficulty of recasting The Joker, Harley Quinn would be most appropriate in somewhat continuing The Joker story line. However, she wouldn’t be the main villain in the third Batman.

In this third installment the villain(s) will most likely be Poison Ivy and Bane or Penguin. The Riddler is an unlikely candidate because of the nature of Christopher Nolan’s dark films, and the only person who could really play the Riddler would be Jim Carrey again.

Penguin is a very dark and vicious figure which would go quite well with Christopher Nolan’s genre of Batmans. Penguin’s creepy love for birds and umbrellas could really mesh in with the current Batman story line.

Poison Ivy and Bane could be possible, but a little less likely because of their origins. Both Poison Ivy and Bane were infused with chemicals and such from plants, which would not really coincide with Christopher Nolan’s more realistic, less supernatural Batman.

So, in my opinion, the two villains in the third Batman should be Harley Quinn and The Penguin. But there has been rumor of The Riddler in the third Batman and an article can be found at The Coventry Telegraph

My Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:
With just one year passed after taking out Ra’s Al Ghul’s plan to have Gotham eliminated and the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA the Scarecrow, after the city was nearly plundered with his toxins, Bruce Wayne and his vigilante alter-ego the Batman, continue the seemingly-endless effort to bring order to Gotham, with the help of Lt. James Gordon and newly appointed District Attorney Harvey Dent, but a new threat has now emerged into the streets. The Dark Knight faces a rising psychopathic criminal called The Joker, who’s eerie grin, laughter, and inhuman morality makes him more dangerous than what he has yet to unleash. It becomes an agenda to the Batman to stop the mysterious Joker at all cost, knowing that the both of them are in the opposite line. One with no method at all and seeks to see the world plunge into the fire he has yet to lit. One who represents the symbol of hope and uses his own shadow to bring the peace and order he has yet to accomplish on doing. (Source: IMDB)

My thoughts:
The Dark Knight was probably one of the greatest movies I’ve seen in a long time. As predicted by reviewers and fanboys alike, Heath Ledger makes an amazing performance as The Joker. I could have never seen Heath play a character like the Joker, it is really out of character for an actor who played a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain. However, Heath was a really great actor and had great potential, it will be very hard to replace him in future Christopher Nolan Batmans if there are plans on bringing the Joker into them once again.

I also really enjoyed Harvey Dent/Two-Face, played by Aaron Eckhart. Aaron Eckhart did his research, talking to burn victims about their traumas to learn how to properly play a character like Two-Face. The character of Harvey Dent/Two-Face is very disturbed and emotional, when something doesn’t go his way, he has to fix it, no matter what the cost. When Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face, all his morals and beliefs are left behind, as Harvey Dent himself said in the movie, “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villan”. The visual effects for Two-Face’s half burnt face was also really well done. The bones, muscles and the bulging eyeball are quite realistic. A much needed improvement from Tommy-Lee Jones’ red makeup.

The only actor I was very little impressed with was Christian Bale as Batman, but it may be more at the writer’s fault. I found throughout the movie I never really cared for or should too much interest in Batman. Batman was quite a flat and monotonous character in The Dark Knight, nothing much of new and interesting really happened in his character development. Bruce Wayne on the other hand had a little more interesting life, with his partying and difficulty with his alter-ego, Batman. However, this does enforce the point that Batman is only a symbol.

I must say, the replacement of Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal was an improvement. Katie Holmes was too girly in Batman Begins, but Maggie was really more woman-esque and seemed more confident in the role.

Not too much to say about Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. They were once again great actors.

The Final Verdict:
Probably the greatest Batman movie yet. The action scenes were incredible, the moral dillemas added more emotion to the movie and made you think. Definitely a must see!

In Memory of the Late, Great, Heath Ledger.

Well, tomorrow’s the day. I’m afraid I’m no awesome reviewer who gets to see all the previews, nor was I able to get into the midnight showing. However, you can’t go wrong in seeing it in iMax at any rate.

I’m quite stoked to go see the sequel to, in my opinion, the wonderfully done “Batman Begins”. Heath Ledger apparantly makes an outstanding performance, and I’m not just saying that because of his passing. Christian Bale, which I must say is my new favorite actor, makes his usual amazing appearance.

Hopefully I’ll be getting my offical review of The Dark Knight tomorrow afternoon after seeing the movie.

Also, just a note, if you haven’t noticed the new page “Ask Mr. Mango”, it’s just a fun place to go and see what Mr. Mango will respond. It still needs some work, but it’s a little fun to play with!

My Rating: 3/5

Summary:
The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so as Hellboy and his team returns they must save the world from the rebellious creatures. Now, as the creatures who inhabit the spiritual realm gear-up for an all out attack on the human plane, the only one capable of saving the Earth is a tough-talking hellspawn rejected by both worlds. (Source: IMDB)

My thoughts:
Hellboy 2 had a nice combination of action, comedy and romance, however, it got a little over the top at some points. During the middle of one of the action scenes they decide to throw out a situation that some couples usually encounter, which ruins the scene a bit. However, the action scenes, when uninterrupted were quite incredible. Ron Perlman puts on a great show as usual with Hellboy’s comical, and awesome, behavior.

The Final Verdict:
Guillermo del Toro’s name in the movie poster and promotions definately raised my expectations, but yet a must see. But make sure you’ve seen the first Hellboy, as it does link back to the first movie quite often.

This morning I was at my MP and Industry Minister Jim Prentice’s stampede (pancake) breakfast, and I sure believe that it informed quite a few people. With at least 30 people from the Fair Copyright For Canada Facebook group there, some heated debates came up, I got myself into one and hanging around listening in on others.

It was nice, well, seeing, Jim Prentice, I shook his hand for a few seconds and then he was off. I didn’t have a chance to ask some questions or comment on the Bill, but I’m sure quite a few people did and I’m awaiting what his response was and possibly for some video content.
I wanted to question Minister Prentice on how Bill C-61 will affect the Open Source industry and how the Bill will reduce or destroy any competition between media formats and creators.
The open source software that I am more specifically concerned about is Linux and its various applications such as Gimp or open source media formats such as .ogg. This bill could cease the production of open source software such as these in Canada because they most likely won’t contain DRM. Also, Linux is unable to play any music that has any type of lock on it because the open source developer don’t have the access to the keys to run DRM’d music. The only way to possibly play music on Linux is to break DRM.
Another concern of mine is how I will be able to play any of my music, will every media player other than iPod become obsolete? I own a PSP, which does great in playing media, but is unable to play any locked music.

Here’s what an information sheet given out at the protest said, it summarizes what the bill could do if passed quite well:

Hands Off My DVDs - C-61 prohibits transferring DVDs to a computer or video player, locks out region coded DVDs
Hands Off My iPod - C-61 prohibits transferring copy-controlled CD to iPod
Hands Off My PVR - C-61 prohibits recording broadcast flagged TV shows

Hands Off My Teachers - C-61 forces teachers to destroy their digital lessons after 30 days
Hands Off My Librarians - C-61 forces librarians to use DRM (digial locks) for digital delivery of articles
Hands Off My Flim - C-61 is opposed by documentary filmmakers who fear it will make it more difficult to creat films
Hands Off My Artwork - C-61 locks out artists from using some works and makes it  more difficult to create

Hands Off My Kids - C-61 makes lawsuits against teenagers more likely
Hands Off My Privacy - C-61 makes it more difficult to protect your privacy against DRM’d products
Hands Off My Copyright Rights - C-61 renders fair dealing obsolete in the digital world
Hands Off My Research - C-61 could make our researchers infringers for circumventing for reasearch purposes
Hands Off My Students - C-61 locks out students from accessing their digitally locked electronic books

For more info and find out how to help, please visit www.FairCopyrightForCanada.ca and join the Fair Copyright For Canada Facebook groups (both the national and local chapters)

Bill C-61, probably one of the harshest laws passed in Canada. Bill C-61 makes it illegal to make a backup of your locked CDs, DVDs, VHS (microvision) or any other form of media. Also, if you download a song that is DRM protected, it will make it illegal to break the DRM, even for purposes such as putting the song on an MP3 player that isn’t compatible with that lock.
Here’s a quick summary of the bill:

Music:
You may make 1 copy per device owned, only if acquired legally.

If you borrow a CD from a library and rip it to your computer you will be fined $500 PER COPYRIGHT HOLDER. If you share music over the internet, you will be fined $20,000.
Movies, Games, etc.
NOT AT ALL. If you copy a Book, Movie, Video Game, Photo or anything you didn’t legally pay for. You can make one copy for each device you own and for media that those devices use. However, you can alter the file format to work on other devices.

You can make copies of DVDs/Movies you purchased from the store or the internet, however you cannot hack any digital locks implemented, or you may face a fine of $20,000 or a fine of $500 PER COPYRIGHT HOLDER if you copied a DVD from a friend of the library.

Cellphones:
You cannot unlock your cellphones to get cheaper charges or for any reason at all. This would be illegal if this bill is passed.

Locked Media:
You cannot break or rootkit any media or electronic device that has a security lock or you can also be fined up to $20,000 per song/device. If you download a song from iTunes, you can only use it on your iPod, you can’t change it to work on any other device.

So, once I originally found out about this bill, I joined the Fair Copyright For Canada Facebook Group, with now over 85,000 members. This group is very active an organizes many protests across Canada and talks to MPs, by letter or otherwise.
In the coming days I plan to write a letter to my MP and attempt to speak with him on how I am disgusted about this Bill. It doesn’t help anyone but the big-bucks companies.

Join the Facebook group and come out to some of the events, if you’re not in Canada, join anyways!