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Album reviews
Featured review: Wintersleep
New Inheritors | Labwork Music A -- WINTERSLEEP CONTINUES THEIR Juno award-winning ways with their new album New Inheritors. The Canadian group from Yarmouth, N. S. has released another brilliant album filled with catchy riffs and stick-in-your-head lyrics. Their undeniable punk-pop style is created so...
Arts fun in the sun!
Editor’s picks for what summer in Ottawa has to offer
SO, ALTHOUGH WE all might want to deny it, our summer is half over. And cry as we may at the thought of picking up textbooks and paying tuition, we should relish the month and a half we have left! To help you do so,...
illustration by Alex Martin
Plants and Animals Guitarist Warren Spicer
Bluesfest brings Hollywood home
BLUESFEST HAS COME to an end—and, once again, it was a colossal success. Five outdoor stages, hundreds of performers, and over a quarter of a million audience members poured into downtown Ottawa to experience the capital’s biggest music celebration. The festival line-up was star-studded, featuring an eclectic mix of musical styles. Although the name “Bluesfest” suggests that the festival is primarily devoted to blues music, the focus on blues has been fading over the years. One mandate of Bluesfest has actually become “to support and sustain the growth of emerging and diverse musical genres.” This support was apparent this year as artists and bands, including Drake, Rush, Metric, and Marianas...
photo by Bruce Yamakawa
“Pop!” goes Ottawa
Modern artists captivate capital with compelling concepts
MODERN ART FANS are getting that extra pop in their step this summer. The National Gallery of Canada is hosting Pop Life: Art in a Material World, an exhibit dedicated to the pop art movement that began in the 1950s. In collaboration with Tate Modern,...
Different strokes for different folks
Ottawa Folk Festival celebrates its 16th year
BLUESFEST MIGHT BE over, but that doesn’t mean that festival season is finished in Ottawa. August will give way to the Ottawa Folk Festival, a weekend of international bands coming together to expose Ottawa to the world of folk music. “It’s a really unique experience,” said festival director Dylan Griffith. “It’s [a] chance to see some stellar artists in a really intimate environment.” Although this will be his first year directing the Ottawa Folk Festival, Griffith isn’t new to the...
Puppets, porn, and perverts
Don't let cute and cuddly fool you, this show is anything but innocent
CLOSE YOUR EYES, kids. Yes, those puppets are having sex. Audiences found themselves shocked and delighted June 22 as cute, wide-eyed puppets cursed, fornicated, bared cleavage, and got drunk during the Ottawa opening of the Tony Award-winning musical, Avenue Q. Avenue Q has brought its...
Album reviews
See if Selina Martin and The Beauties are approved by Charlotte Bailey's discerning ear.
Film review
Hot Tub Time Machine
I HAVE ONE thing to say about this film: I have not laughed this hard since The Hangover. Considering the nonsensical plotline and plethora of quotable lines from last summer’s smash hit comedy, this may seem like high praise, but if you ask me, Hot Tub Time Machine is the best comedy to come out in the last nine months. Starring an eclectic cast, including John Cusack, The Office’s Craig Robinson, and ex-Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry, the film revolves...
photo courtesy sxc.hu; manipulation by Alex Martin
Festival central
The Fulcrum’s annual summer events preview
SPRING HAS SPRUNG and a summer breeze is in the air. School may not be over yet, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about how you’re going to spend your time once cramming for finals is off the agenda. If you’re sticking around...
Worth a thousand words
U of O students turn clinical photos into works of art
IN ORDER TO collect data for her PhD in clinical psychology, Katherine Bendell decided to do something different. The U of O doctoral student collected 14 cameras and a pile of film and distributed them to tenants living in social-housing buildings across the city. Bendell...
photo courtesy U of O Department of Psychology
A slave to vampires
Seth Grahame-Smith releases his second literary mash-up
ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS one awesome president. He was freakishly tall (for his time), wore top hats, was the first president with a beard—oh, and he freed the slaves. There’s only one thing that could make old Abe any cooler than he already is, and author...
Spotlight on
PAPER AND METAL --------------- MUSIC LOVERS, TAKE note: a wonderful creation has descended upon Ottawa’s dance music scene. With their eclectic mix of heart-wrenching acoustic ballads and head-bobbing electronica, Paper and Metal are truly an artistic blessing. The two-man band, which consists of brothers Liam and Kiente Sanipe, has a sound that suits their name. A mash-up of opposing creative foundations, Paper and Metal’s music is wonderfully varied: the band relies heavily on acoustic guitar and synth, but also uses...
Album reviews
Featured review: Four Year Strong
Enemy of the World, Universal Motown Records A+ -- ALTHOUGH AMERICAN FIVE-PIECE Four Year Strong released a full-length studio record in July of last year, the cover album didn’t quite satisfy fans. Enter Enemy of the World, the first original album from the pop-punk band...
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Derouin to succeed DeAveiro
IN SOME WAYS, the new men’s basketball coach is quite similar to the old one. Both James Derouin and Dave DeAveiro were former student-athletes at...
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Heckles: You’re not an explorer...
RECENTLY, I STUMBLED across some travel writing done by an acquaintance of mine. I found nothing unusual about this travel blog: the stories, the photographs,...
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Confessions of a FIFA skeptic
LAST SUMMER, I was fortunate enough to be selected to participate in one of the University of Ottawa’s field research projects in South Africa. Like...