Of the month – Issue #75

AKAI ANALOG CUSTOM SHOP GUITAR PEDALS

We know that you like to use Boss pedals because even if you’re stuck in Vernon, BC on tour you’ll be able to replace them at any music store. Consider the new line of Akai Analaog Custom pedals, designed to deliver the sound quality of boutique guitar pedals. Analog Delay, Drive3Fuzz, Flanger, it’s all there, and it’s your chance to find a sound that isn’t easily heard on a Puddle Of Mudd release. You love your MT-2 Metal Zone, but nobody finds your ironic, nineties shredder image funny anymore.

ANDVINYLY.COM

Unless you’re Chris Lambert, you’re going to die. It’s about time you decided what’s to be done with your earthly remains. Having your ashes spread along the seawall where you had your first kiss is boring. Now with andvinyly.com you have the chance to press those ashes into a vinyl recording of your choice. Make a soundtrack, record a Superchunk cover, or a creepy message that will haunt your annoying neighbour who never stopped playing “I’m Blue” at full volume on Sunday mornings. “Andvinyly.com! Live on from beyond the groove!”

CELEBSWITHNOEYEBROWS.COM

This is exactly what it sounds like. It’s not deep. It’s not particularly designed well. It’s just photos of celebrities with their eyebrows removed. Is it worth bookmarking? Probably not. Are you going to go through all of them and forward your favourites to your best buddy? Wait, are you surprised? I can’t tell.

EVERYDAY SUNSHINE: THE STORY OF FISHBONE

There’s no other band that deserves fame more than Fishbone. They were the first in a series of bands out of California in the eighties to develop the ska/funk/metal sound, and they did it best. If you’ve ever seen Fishbone live you know two things: they still create a seething mass better than anybody, and Angelo Moore thinks the fame gods ripped him off. This new documentary from filmmakers Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler chronicles the troubles and strains of the not famous band. Oh, and the best part is it’s narrated by Laurence Fishburne.

ODD FUTURE + ADULT SWIM

Adult Swim has picked up a show from Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All? Actually, ignore that question mark because that makes perfect sense. I can’t believe I didn’t realize sooner exactly what OFWGKTA are: 20 year olds who watched way too much Adult Swim when they were teenagers. This show is just OFWGKTA’s next step in trying to actually become the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Loiter is being produced by the men responsible for Jackass; Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze and will feature music, pranks, sketches and man-on-the-street segments. It would be a lot cooler if it were a cartoon.

-Kellen Powell

SUPER 8

There are a handful of movies that make me instantly wish I grew up in a different time. Dazed and Confused will, without fail, always make me wish I were entering senior year in 1976. Almost Famous makes me feel that I’d be able to get by being an uncool 15-year old in 1973. This summer, after seeing Super 8, after having my usual pangs of desire to have grown up in the 70s, this movie made me wish that I had seen this movie as a 10-year old. This Spielberg-produced Spielberg clone of a movie would have drawn me in so hard when I was a youngster that I can feel my 10-year old self telling current me that it’s totally okay to love this movie.

-Ian Urbanski

THE WEEZER CRUISE – JANUARY 19-23

Weezer isn’t cool anymore. They make snuggies, cover Toni Braxton, feature their music in Disney movies, and Matt Sharp hasn’t been in the band in over a decade. Getting on a boat with the current lineup might sound like hell/jail, but with guests including Yuck, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Wavves, Free Energy and features like a Pat Wilson shuffleboard tournament and Scott Shriner renewing couple’s wedding vows, you may want to think about setting sail with the current version of Weezer because “The sea is foamin’ like a bottle of beer.”

WRECKED

I tend to prefer protagonists that are able to stand up and walk around and do things in movies. I still haven’t seen My Left Foot, regardless of how good I know its supposed to be, because I just don’t see how a movie about a person with limited movement can be interesting. They can’t actually do anything, and the things they can do take soooooo long. It’s the same reason I won’t see that movie where Ryan Reynolds is trapped in the box. That said, Adrien Brody’s character in this movie spends most his time injured and trapped in a car after a wreck in the middle of the woods. I didn’t think I would enjoy it – because of the aforementioned predilection toward walking and moving in movies – but nonetheless found it intellectually and emotionally satisfying, well paced and well acted. Plus it has a mountain lion.

-Kellen Powell