CULTURE CLUB
After school viewing
Liam Stretch Culture Editor
I
recently discussed with a friend the television shows that have shaped us. One that we mutually agreed on was Whose Line is it Anyway. Ritualistically, I would watch it each afternoon upon my return from high school, having picked up a milkshake from the local dairy and microwaved far too many two-minute noodles. Full of sodium and lactose, I would be transported away from my day at school, no matter the events of the past six hours. The quick-witted, intelligent humour of the cast (Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, and usually, Greg Proops) had me transfixed. This clever humour made me a more discerning viewer. It gave me the conviction to watch films that my peers didn’t think were in vogue and be open to media from times gone by. It expanded my palate, and I think it eventually led me to be able to review what I do today. Thanks to that, before you is a range of content filtered by yours truly.
ROOTING FOR NIC
THE PERFECT PAIRING
I’ve always had a soft spot for Nicolas Cage. And it is films like Pig that make me love him. Nic Cage plays a truffle hunter and former famed chef who goes on a mission to locate his stolen truffle-finding pig and best friend. Director Michael Sarnoski’s ability to transform a fairly ordinary story into a mafioso-style epic, with Cage delivering existentialism whenever he speaks, deserves to not go unnoticed. Perhaps too arthouse to receive an Oscar nod, though.
Country music icon Alisson Krauss teams up with Robert Plant, from Led Zeppelin fame, to create the album Raise the Roof. There are elements of rock, country, folk, and bluegrass. For me, stand out tracks are Trouble with My Lover, Can’t Let Go, and the rousing toe-tapping High and Lonely. You will find yourself listening to this album from end to end while you strut on your morning walk to the dairy to fetch your milk.
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TO FIND THEIR SON The mark of a successful book is its ability to stimulate your imagination easily, thus transporting you into the party of the characters. This can be said for The Buried Giant by Nobel Prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro. It follows an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice, searching for their long-lost son throughout a fictional post-Arthurian England. For some curious reason, people of the time can’t recall their long-term memories, and the pair set off on a journey guided by patchy flickers of times gone by. You’ll be on this journey yourself; it’s a fairy-tale for adults.
