Verb Issue R131 (June 6-12, 2014)

Issue #131 – June 6 to June 12

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extreme huntress Danielle Bergen sets her sights on hunting competition two point oh Q+A with Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra edge of tomorrow + nymphomaniac Films reviewed­

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On the cover:

Despistado

Reunited, and it feels so good! 10 / feature Photo: courtesy of Chris Graham Photography

culture

NEWs + Opinion

entertainment

Q + A with Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra New members,

Live Music listings Local music listings for June 6 through June 14. 14 / listings

new sounds + more. 8 / Q + A

Who’s Afraid? Female artists experiment with modernity in new exhibit. 9 / Arts + reviews

Thrill of the hunt Danielle Bergen sets her sights on Extreme Huntress. 3 / Local

album reviews

Nightlife Photos We visit O’Hanlon’s Pub. 15 / Nightlife

Bry Webb + F*cked Up.

edge of tomorrow + Nymphomaniac

9 / Arts+reviews

We review the latest movies. 16 / Film

a tattoo-genre film fest first Mark Allard is working to bring a new film fest to Canada. 4 / Local

supply solution

It’s a Food Thing

on the bus

How we think we can solve our supply management problem. 6 / Editorial

We visit Bocados. 12 / Food + Drink

Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 18 / comics

comments

Music

Game + Horoscopes

Here’s your say on our current dairy policies. 7 / comments

Solids, Havok + John Fogerty.

Canadian criss-cross puzzle, weekly horoscopes and Sudoku. 19 / timeout

13 / music

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Business & Operations

Publisher / Parity Publishing Editor in Chief / Ryan Allan Managing Editor / Jessica Patrucco staff Writers / Adam Hawboldt + Alex J MacPherson Contributing writer / EILIDH THAIN

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Thrill of the hunt

Photo: courtesy of facebook

Saskatchewan’s Danielle Bergen hopes to become the Extreme Huntress by ADAM HAWBOLDT

D

anielle Bergen is nervous. She and her father had been out in the bush for less than forty minutes when it happens. Usually it takes longer, much longer than this, but today the hunting gods have smiled. Today they have presented them a choice black bear early in the hunt.

It came before, this bear. Maybe five minutes after the Bergens arrived at their double-seater tree stand, located in the wilderness north of La Ronge. It started walking up to the bait, then turned and walked away.

Dang! thought Bergen. There goes the hunt. It’s over.

But she was wrong. The black bear came back half an hour later, this time walking right up to the bait. And now Bergen is shaking like some sort of vibrating machine. Her adrenaline is pumping, her nerves are jangling.

She’s shaking so hard she swears the pine needles are falling off the tree behind her.

Bergen is 13 years old. She has never shot a bear before.

Slowly she gets her bow ready, then stands up to take the shot. She places her feet shoulder-width apart so that they and her hips are resting squarely underneath her shoulders.

She doesn’t want to tilt one way or another, doesn’t want to run the risk of missing the shot. Or worse, wounding the animal. That’s the last thing she hopes happens.

Drawing back her bow, Bergen steadies herself and stops shaking.

She inhales, then exhales — soft and steady, just like she’s practiced all those hours at home.

Now relaxed and focused, Bergen lines her sights up. She brings her finger up to the release, makes sure the pin is on her target, then she starts counting.

One one-thousand … two one-thousand…

As it turns out, Danielle Bergen just happened to stumble upon the Extreme Huntress competition.

It happened last year. Bergen had made a video for a Morrell archery

contest and wound up posting it on YouTube. One day she went back to watch it; when the video was finished, a collage of suggested, related videos appeared in the player. One of the videos was for Extreme Huntress — an annual contest that pits some of the top female hunters in head-to-head hunts and skills competitions.

Well shucks, thought Bergen. I’m gonna have a look at this. “I clicked on the video, watched it and then went to the website,” remembers Bergen, who has been hunting since before she was a teenager. “Turns out, I’d missed the submission deadline that year. So I filed it away and figured I’d apply next year. Thankfully I remembered about it when the time came.”

And when the time did come, Bergen wrote a 500-word-or-so essay about why she thought she was the extreme huntress or, as the website entry rules stipulate, why she “is a hard-core huntress by dedicating her life to the outdoor adventure lifestyle.”

This part came easy for Bergen.

Seeing as she has been hunting since

she was a kid, Bergen knew exactly what she wanted to say.

“I may be small but I hunt big” begins the five-foot-three huntress’s essay. From there she goes on to write about her passion for the hunt, about making the transition from hunting with a rifle to hunting with a bow, about traveling from Cypress Hills in southern Saskatchewan to the northern reaches of the province in search of big game.

She also talks a bit about her dad, and the old 243 Winchester rifle of his she used to use. For Bergen, a big part of hunting is family.

“What draws me to the hunt is the chance to spend a morning, afternoon, or evening out in God’s creation with friends and family,” she says. “I love it when I can sit in a tree stand, you know, with my brother, my sister, my dad or mom. Sometimes we talk, but it’s just being with them that counts.

And knowing that at the crack of a twig or a crunch of a leaf there could be an animal coming up behind you … that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”

…on three one-thousand, Bergen pulls the trigger on her bow. She keeps her pin on the bear while the arrow cuts through the early afternoon air.

It’s a direct hit.

“I saw the bear run about, I’d say 10 yards, then I saw it drop,” says Bergen, “All that happened within 30 seconds, then it was over.”

It was a good clean kill — what every hunter wants. Contrary to what some believe, hunting isn’t about killing animals, it’s not the part that hunters revel in. Sure, it is the final result, but it’s the process — not the kill — that drives people like Bergen. Pulling the trigger can often be anticlimactic.

For most hunters, it’s more about being out in nature under jeweled sunsets. It’s about the exercise and the thrill of the hunt and an existentially

profound connection to the cycle of life as it really is in nature.

“So many people see hunting as hurting the animals, wrecking the animal population,” says Bergen. “But I see hunting and killing as two different things. I love hunting. Love getting outside. But the thought of killing an animal, it doesn’t bring me joy. I don’t get jacked about it. It’s not like all I think about is killing, killing, killing.

For me, when I harvest an animal, I have a deep respect for that creature. I know I’m taking its life, that I’m sacrificing it to put food on our table. I hunt and kill for meat. The last thing I ever want to do is wound an animal.”

And that’s why Bergen practices.

She wants to go on the hunt with confidence that her aim will be true.

To make sure it is, in the weeks and months leading up to the season she practices — and then practices some more.

“It’ll be the dead of winter, minus-40 degrees, and I’ll go out and find an old shed or go over to my dad’s business and practice with my bow,” she says. “So I know when I go hunting I’ll be ready. I’ll be confident.”

And soon, hopefully, all that practice, all those hours spent diligently honing her technique, will pay off in another way — at the Extreme Huntress contest, held this year at the famous 777 Ranch in Hondo, Texas.

At the moment, Bergen is one of 20 semi-finalists in a running. Who makes the competition is determined by popular vote, by people who learn about women like Bergen and vote for them at www.extremehuntress.com.

“It would be great to get enough votes,” says Bergen. “I’d love to go down to Hondo, Texas in July and show what I can do.”

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a tattoogenre film fest first

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Mark Allard combines love of tattoos, film to bring cool new project to Canada

by ADAM HAWBOLDT

T

he tattoo on Mark Allard’s right arm is still fresh, less than a week old. It features the Union Jack shaped as a maple leaf that he got in the crook of his right elbow.

That wasn’t his first bit of ink.

Far from it.

Allard got his first tattoo, a grey eagle on his right bicep years ago, from a big Maori guy in High Wycombe, England. That’s where it started. But back then, back in his university days, Initially, Allard thought he would only get four tattoos. That was the limit. Today he has 27, and plans on getting more.

“I have some ideas of what I want to get,” says Allard. He points to his

right arm, covered from shoulder to wrist in ink. “I saw this arm is complete and thought, well, may as well do the same to the other.”

There’s room on the other arm.

As Allard tilts it he points to the bare spot on his elbow, right there between the drama faces with No Shame scrawled below them and the colour tattoo gun on his left forearm.

“You know,” says Allard, “when I first started getting tattoos, if we’re going to be honest, I didn’t really appreciate them for what they are.”

He stops, takes a sip of his drink, then continues. “I mean, I’ve always liked tattoos, but it wasn’t until I came to appreciate them as a true art form that I really started loving them.”

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It’s a love that’s evident whenever Allard talks about tattoos. And as he talks — about the evolution of tattoos and about the cultural significance of them in places like New Zealand — you can’t help but stare at his own ink. Not in a rude or ogling way, more to get a better understanding of him, and a better appreciation of tattoos as an art form.

There’s the William Ernest Henley quote — “I am the master of my Fate; I am the captain of my Soul” — written on parchment. That one symbolizes the obstacles Allard has overcome in life and his love of the written word. There’s a Scottish dagger with parchment coiling around the blade and the words “I remain unvanquished” — the family motto of his grandfather’s last name. There’s also tattoos of 35mm film, a Union Jack star and many more.

Turning away from the window Allard says, “In a way, ever since my first tattoo, they’ve been a part of my life.”

He doesn’t specify how big of a part, but pretty soon they’re going to be front and centre when Allard starts his new venture.

The idea to start a tattoo film festival in Saskatchewan came to Allard while he was still living in England.

“At cities in the U.K. they’d have major tattoo conventions, and there’d be these small tattoo film festivals,” says Allard. “So when I moved [to Saskatoon] I found out there was

a tattoo convention here. Then I researched and found out tattoo film festivals didn’t exist here. It’s never happened before in Canada.”

Allard has now set the ball in motion to bring the Tattoo Arts Film Festival to town. He secured the Roxy Theatre as a venue, and filmmakers can now submit their work on the submissions page on Film Freeway. There are four categories to choose from: Best in Music Video, Best in Short Documentary, Best in Feature Documentary, and Best in Fiction and Alternative. ”It’s undeniable that the taboos of the past that surround the art of tattoo are now long since dead and buried, and with reality TV shows such as Inked, Miami Ink and New York Ink having hit superstardom in the last decade, along with the rise of celebrity status for successful tattoo artists, it’s probably fair to say that a global phenomenon of a worldwide discussion and debate has been started on the topic of tattoo,” Allard says.

“Tattoo is now mainstream and acceptable in most areas of modern life, as a result,” he continues. “Directors and filmmakers are taking to their cameras en masse to tackle the subject of this ancient art form, with established broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4 releasing documentaries on the rise of tattoo in the past couple of years, without forgetting famed tattoo movies such as Tattoo Nation, or even the New Zealand-based horror movie, The Tattooist. This is why

a Tattoo Arts Film Festival is not only a viable platform for tattoo films of all kinds, but an important platform for debate and social commentary.”

It’s the idea of social commentary that interested Allard in particular.

Along with a passion for tattoos, Allard also harbours a deep respect for films and filmmaking. He grew up loving movies, worked in theatres, and was even a projectionist for a while.

Then, when he was older, Allard decided to hop behind the camera himself.

He started out making music videos, then moved on to documentaries.

“The docs I used to make were gentle social commentary,” he says.

“I did one about parkour. At the time in the U.K. it was huge, but a lot of people didn’t like it, didn’t understand it. They saw it as vandalism when, obviously, it was just people moving about an urban environment in a very different way. I wanted to point that out, comment on it.”

And while his Tattoo Arts Film Festival aims to do something similar, it’s not going to be pedantic or boring. Allard wants it to be fun, and to engage tattoo lovers and neophytes alike.

“The idea is for it to be diverse,” he explains. “I’m going to look at getting some acoustic musicians to do live unplugged sessions. I’m also looking for some well-known local tattoo artists and the filmmakers to come and do Q&A. I also want to

show current tattoo movies, like The Tattooist and Tattoo Nation at the end of each day. I want it to be more of a festival vibe than just your standard film festival.”

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Supply solution We can fix the problems with our dairy industry. Here’s how.

L

ast week we wrote about Canada’s dairy supply management, and the problems we see with that system — the fixed prices, the protective tariffs, the quotas. We also wrote about how all that harms food processors, farmers, and us .

So what should we do? Well, take a cue from Australia, who did roughly a decade ago did away with supply management (and where currently the majority of the industry is doing very well). Or better yet, think back to how we reformed the wine industry right here at home. Although at first people cried bloody murder when we took away the protection for that industry, look what happened. Our wine sector is booming.

Deregulating and getting rid of the protection inherent in our dairy supply management policies won’t be easy, though, thanks in part to the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC, for short).

The DFC are one of, if not the, most powerful lobby in our country. You know all those high prices you pay for milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, and more?

Well, the DFC uses a good chunk of that money — spending anywhere between $80 and $100 million per annum — to convince politicians to maintain the status quo of the system.

But change can be done. It must be done.

And here’s how we do it: we have to put forward a reform plan that would be a win-win, for both the consumers and the dairy farmers. That’s the first step. Once that’s done, we have to convince those aforementioned farmers to call for change themselves.

Now you may be asking yourself what kind of reforms would be a winwin for consumers and farmers.

Well, according to Martha Hall Findlay, executive fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, the answer is four-fold. First, we buy out the dairy quota from the farmers. A recent Conference Board of Canada report has recommended using book value quotas instead of market value. If you look at it, the current market value of the dairy quota is in the neighbourhood of $23 billion; the book value of the same quota is somewhere between $3.6-$4.7 billion.

Next, we eliminate all tariffs. Open ‘er up, and consumers would start paying closer to world prices for dairy products. Then you provide transition assistance for farmers. Some assistance goes to people who stay in the industry, to help them be more competitive when it comes to exporting their goods. We also need to give assistance to those who wish to leave the industry — economically viable assistance.

Finally, there’s the issue of a temporary levy on wholesale milk. You

do this to pay for the buy-out of the quotas. In Australia, when they did it, the levy ended up being 11 cents a litre for eight years. According to Hall’s calculations, here in Canada the levy would come to about six cents a litre when stretched over 10 years.

And while you may think this levy would burden the consumer, consider this — if we implemented the first three changes in the reform proposition, customers would still be paying less (with the levy added on) than they are now for the same products. And eventually, after a decade or so, the consumer would be paying competitive world prices.

If we can do all that, we can fix the problems with dairy supply management. We can give consumers a fair shake, farmers will be better compensated, and our industry could flourish.

It happened in Australia. It happened when we opened up our wine industry. Why can’t it happen again?

These editorials are left unsigned because they represent the opinions of Verb magazine, not those of the individual writers.

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On Topic: Last week we asked what you thought about supply management policy in Canada. Here's what you had to say:

– I agree that dairy policies should be changed to allow outside competition, allow local farmers to sell their dairy locally as well as internationally, and to minimize tariffs. Truth Is Power-Try It

– Please man up and print that write up in the western producer and put your name to it. You weren’t brave enough to sign your editorial because you talk much of what you know nothing about.

Canada has a shortage of dairy products right now how and what do you want to export

– End Supply Management in Dairy! We killed the CWB, the Dairy Commission is next!

text yo thoughtsur to 881 ve r b 8372

– I would like send out a thank you to the bus drivers that helped me get home quickly and easily may 30

– I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel - Maya Angelou

– Thoughts and prayers go out to victims families of Moncton RCMP tragedy.

– A terrible, senseless tragedy in Moncton. I hope they catch this vile person soon.

– Summer FINALLY! – Kick out the quota and then lift gst to say 25%to bail out the dairy industry

– Seems surprising the dairy farmers aren’t wanting this themselves, especially if it means they would be able to sell their products to more people.

Next week: What do you think about transitioning away from supply management? Text in your thoughts to Verb to get in on the conversation.

OFF TOPIC – I think Idaho stop great idea!

In response to “Bring on the Idaho stop,” Opinion #129 (May 23,2014)

We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind

SOUND OFF – Spite is the lesser often mirthful brother of hate. Spite crimes. Spite groups. A love spite thing. Ethnic Spite. Certainly work of Heck’s Prince of dim light!

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Two Point Oh Photos: courtesy of Bitter North Photography

New members, new sounds, and new energy for Victoria’s Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra by Alex J MacPherson

L

ast month, the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra released a pair of new tracks, its first release since 2012’s Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow.

Formed in Victoria, B.C. in 2008, the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra has always had a talent for infusing standard folk song structures with hints of jazz, flamenco, and Latin American music. The band’s sound evokes the stillness and the harmony of the landscape its members adore. The new songs, which were recorded in an isolated home studio on B.C.’s Quadra Island, mark a change of direction for the band. The arrangements are denser and more orchestral, the textures richer and more tightly-woven. “Come Back Home” features keys and an electric guitar, new additions to the band’s sonic arsenal. These changes are to some degree the product of lineup changes. Since 2012, the band has added a new fiddler and a new bassist to the fold. But the new tracks also reflect natural growth, says guitarist Kurt Loewen, who was born in Saskatoon and currently lives in Edmonton. Most of the forthcoming album, the band’s fourth full-length, is rooted by the same natural grooves and earthy textures that defined Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow. In a recent telephone conversation, Loewen spoke at length about the band’s growth, and how its members’ love of the natural landscape

— from the wilderness of British Columbia to the enormous skies of rural Saskatchewan — influences the music.

that we approach our songwriting.

The whole process this time through was very relaxed. Not to get too much into our past history, but we didn’t used to operate like that: we’d operate on timeframes and perhaps that would cause certain stresses.

This time was very much laissezfaire, which worked very well for us. Both Mack and Keith, who’ve recorded with us and played with us, bring those physical instruments — double bass, fiddle — that are our old sound, but with a newness and a genuine desire to want to learn and play with us, and then create as well. But a good way to describe it is that it’s T.M.O. 2.0.

Alex J MacPherson: Since you released Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow in 2012, there have been some significant lineup changes. Has that been a big obstacle to overcome?

Kurt Loewen: It’s intense, actually.

In the band’s infancy it was more like a seven-piece collective rotating cast. After that first year went by, there was the five of us from about September 2007 until September 2012. Then our fiddler, who made the last record with us and had been with us for so long, didn’t tour with us at all. That was a big challenge, getting someone to fill his shoes, both in terms of talent and ability, and being able to get along with the group as a human.

But with Keith [Rodger] and Mack [Shields] it’s been really nice. They love the material, they’re willing to learn all the old stuff that we still play, and have been super positive contributing forces throughout the last tour and now during this record.

AJM: It’s clear from the two new tracks that the band’s sound has shifted. How would you characterize this change?

KL: The addition of things like electric guitar and keys, which are all over the album — that’s brand new. On our last record we had a cameo, part of one song was electric guitar. But there’s been a lot on this.

AJM: The new tracks sound denser to me.

KL: There’s a lot of influences on our music all the time, but one thing I think has come out during the last record and this record is thickness of tracks, but also the ability to create space within that. The dynamic shifts are a lot bigger on this record, I think, than they’ve ever been on all

AJM: How did the new musicians contribute to writing and recording the new album? Was the band dynamic quite different?

KL: Injecting new energies into the music has really changed the way

of our other stuff. A lot more space, but a lot more things happening on the other end. It’s divergent, in a way, from the old stuff. That’s why I call it 2.0.

embrace change, but also to honour all the things we’ve done to get to this point where we can create what we want to and essentially set our own boundaries and rules.

AJM: Is it difficult to balance bigger, more ambitious arrangements against the simplicity that seems to define your earlier releases?

AJM: One idea that seems inextricably tied to the idea of your band, whether it’s this new album or any of the older ones, is your relationship to nature.

Can you tell me a bit about that? Why is it important?

KL: Our first big show was in Victoria. We were a new band, like a year old, and somehow five hundred people came to see us, which was incredible. We were like, ‘How is this happening?’ Then we played these songs, which were three-chord songs — like, ten of them. It would be like, everybody, one hundred percent, go. It’s really fun to be at a show like that, but as time goes on you mature and you’re like, beauty is created in all the space that you don’t play.

With musicians that have played a lot together, you really start to notice each others’ tendencies and you start to notice each others’ intricacies.

Being able to exploit those in the best possible way just naturally creates that space.

AJM: Is a big shift like that difficult to deal with?

KL: I think that, like anything that you care about or that you love or you deem worth doing, there’s no way it can’t grow or change. To try and want things the way they were is impossible; it’s just not a reality. We want to

KL: I think that the honest answer is that we’re like-minded individuals in the way that we interact with nature, and how much of a role it plays in our lives. Right now we’re at an amazing home, which a friend of ours has built over the last fifteen or twenty years. It’s in the middle of the most beautiful British Columbian Kootenays, and this is where we create. The way he lives, the kinds of people that he knows and they way they live, their community and their nature, is a major influence on our lives and on our music. It’s impossible to even separate the two.

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Who’s Afraid of Purple, Orange and Green?

Female artists experiment with the legacy of mid-century modernism

B

etween 1966 and 1970, the American abstract artist Barnett Newman painted four enormous works titled Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue. His paintings reflected the then-popular idea that art does not need to “mean” anything. According to Jennifer Matotek, director and curator at the Dunlop Art Gallery, Newman’s paintings are among the most controversial examples of mid-century modernist art. They are also among the most iconic examples of a movement that tended to exclude female artists. Which is why they inspired the title of Matotek’s latest curatorial project, a collection of works by contemporary female artists riffing on the legacy of the modern art movement.

Who’s Afriad of Purple, Orange and Green? includes works by twelve artists, all but one of whom are female.

According to Matotek, swapping Newman’s red, yellow, and blue for secondary colours was an attempt to portray the position of women in the contemporary art world — and the broader culture. “Women are the second sex,” she says, quite simply. “We are working in a culture of misogyny. In the art world, women are discriminated against even worse than they are in the regular world. This show is putting together the fact that this is a group of female artists who share a certain aesthetic, and are making work at a certain moment in a certain culture.”

The works that make up Who’s Afraid of Purple, Orange and Green? are not necessarily linked by a broad theme, apart from the circumstances surrounding their creation and a few references to mid-century modernism. But there are some parallels.

Sarah Nasby’s metal grids and graphs experiment with the same elements

by alex J MacPherson

— minimal shapes, straight lines, and absence or spaciousness — as Jennifer Rose Sciarrino’s stark metal sculpture, “Folded Facet 2 (Bronze).” Both works describe a space without really filling it. Similarly, Arabella Campbell’s tarpaulin paintings and Luce Meunier’s “Circuit #3” both explore ideas of surface using unconventional media.

“In modernism, a big thing people like Clement Greenberg were talking about was this idea of surface and flatness and airlessness,” Matotek says.

“But a lot of the artwork I was looking at wasn’t about being flat and airless: it was about experimenting with surface in ways that would actually suggest air.” In other words, several works in the exhibition upend the principles of mid-century modernism. Despite being made from heavy metal, Sciarrino’s sculpture is clean, almost weightless.

The “Pavilion of the Blind,” a sculptural installation by Jennifer Marman and

Daniel Borins, contrasts permanence with airlessness and unpredictability.

“They’ve created this kinetic sculpture that they think of as a painting, but is actually an undulating painting that they can’t control,” Matotek says of “Pavilion of The Blind,” which uses brightly coloured window blinds to create a vivid, surrealistic moving image. “They’re really letting go of this idea that the artist has complete control over what something looks like: they’ve created something that is actually running away from that a little bit.” This is the antithesis of what Newman and his contemporaries wanted — absolute control over artistic expression and interpretation.

Contemporary female artists, Matotek says, “are looking at that legacy from different perspectives, actively playing with and subverting the mediums they’re using to make work that looks like work from that period.”

of middle age, and the awareness that nothing ever stays the same. For Webb, this is a major change, and probably a difficult one. But instead of fighting it, he embraced it. On the delicate “Positive People,” he condemns “postures of defeat,” and sings: “Strength through boredom / Strength through joy / You can’t ignore them / You can’t avoid positive people.”

laris for Chemistry of Common Life, an elaborate concept album. Their next release, David Comes To Life, was even more audacious: a rock opera. Although it lacks the epic quality that made the band’s previous releases so much fun, Glass Boys succeeds in other ways.

It is difficult to describe anything the Toronto hardcore punk band does as “subtle,” but Glass Boys offers a nuanced examination of F*cked Up’s major problem: how to exist in an industry hostile to the ideals on which the band was founded. “Echo Boomer” finds singer Damian Abraham contemplating the problem at hand: “I can still hear who I meant to be.”

Abraham is even more explicit on “The Great Divide,” a sustained barrage of unsettled guitar riffs and unrestrained vocal contortions: “We express disdain for what’s been done / Yet we all know the words to sing along to the songs.” On “Paper The House” he describes himself as “a self righteous man [turned] parody” before conceding that “nothing is more uplift-

Which is part of the reason she felt it was important to stage an exhibition of work by female artists interested in abstraction. A number of male artists have been recognized for experimenting with the legacy of modernism, yet female artists are often ignored by the mainstream art literature: “No one seems to be looking at this,” she says.

At the same time, Matotek cautions that the exhibition is by no means an assault on the modernist movement, which is linked to Saskatchewan by the Regina Five, as well as the numerous University of Saskatchewansponsored workshops at Emma Lake.

“The show is not raising some kind of middle finger to the legacy of modernism at all,” she says. “It’s showing what women artists are doing today with that legacy.”

Who’s Afraid of Purple, Orange and Green?

Through June 20 @ Dunlop Art Gallery

album reviews Bry Webb — Free Will dée Fixe Records, May 2014 by alex j macpherson

The weirdest part of Bry Webb’s new record is the title track. “Free Will” closes the album with a minute or so of droning, squealing noise. On its own, this is not particularly unusual.

But after nine contemplative songs about life and love and family, “Free Will” takes on a new, greater significance. Webb, who rose to fame as a member of the spectacularly unhinged Constantines, is not bound by convention; he can do whatever he wants. And on Free Will he does it with grace and meaning.

Free Will is a poignant counterpoint to Constantines’ catalogue, which is dominated by smart songs about the visceral thrill of being young and alive.

In 2011, after the birth of his daughter and Constantines’ retreat into hiatus, Webb released his first solo album.

Provider emerged as a collection of pointedly ambiguous songs about life at home. Free Will is much more direct than its predecessor. Over the last three years, Webb has concentrated his thoughts and hardened his resolve — and it shows.

“Go to the places where I can’t protect you / I will keep trying to know what you’re going through / The more f*cked up things get / The more I love you,” he murmurs on “Let’s Get Through Today,” as a gentle acoustic guitar riff wafts above a bed of unsettling atmospheric noise. This is not a song about burning out. This is a song about fading away, and it points to the album’s great truth: Free Will is a record about the realization that it’s okay for other people to matter more.

Webb lays out his priorities on “Fletcher,” which opens with a burst of crystalline synthesizer noise before his fey voice and a sparse acoustic guitar take over: “You can’t civilize me / I keep running, just keep running back / Running back to where I want to be.”

This tension defines the inevitability

F*cked Up — Glass Boys Arts & Crafts, June 2014 by alex j macpherson

For a band with a name most publications deem unfit for print, F*cked Up have demonstrated a remarkable ability to transform countercultural angst into a mainstream message. F*cked Up’s success is to no small degree a product of their willingness to take chances. In 2009, they won the Po-

ing than finally admitting you were living a lie.” None of this solves the problem. The very existence of Glass Boys suggests F*cked Up are content, if vaguely unsettled, by the course of their career.

Glass Boys is also the most accessible record F*cked Up has ever released. The riffs are more familiar, the melodies melodic, and Abraham’s gruff vocals more easily discernible. But this should not be interpreted as a concession to the record industry, or anyone else. Abraham and his bandmates are smart enough to know that messages need an audience; blasting music into the void fulfills no one. Glass Boys may be easier to digest, but it doesn’t lack the unpretentious honesty and burning urge to make the world better that makes F*cked Up so f*cking good.

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Alex J MacPherson: You’ve reunited a few times now. What prompted the initial decision?

Dagan Harding: We had some interest from various booking agents, and people in general still expressed a desire for the music, I guess. Leif and Joel and I are all still in each others’ lives in pretty significant ways.

Leif and I performed in various acts in the past, and Leif was in Rah Rah with Joel. When I was in Montreal, Joel would stay with me. We all still talk, and the members of the band that still play are still really tight — so we decided to go on a vacation, and take the songs with us.

Despistado

Photo: courtesy of Chris Graham Photography

Iconic Saskatchewan post-punk band to reunite ten years after breaking up

by Alex J MacPherson

I

n 2004, Despistado broke up. It was by all accounts an unpleasant affair. No one involved was particularly forthcoming about the details, but the split seems to have been caused by internal strife and arguments over money. A statement issued by the band’s record label offered a more poetic explanation: Despistado’s career was simply “too intense and searing to sustain itself.” Whatever the cause, less than four years after the postpunk band emerged from a suburban Regina basement, its members were back on the prairies, looking for work. Despistado was finished.

Like so many promising young bands, it had burned bright — and then burned out.

Despistado, which is Spanish for “confused,” was formed in 2001 by four young musicians: Dagan Harding, Joel Passmore, Brenan Schwartz, and Leif Thorseth. Together, they wrote songs that were fractious and unsettled, energetic and remarkably sophisticated. Their 2002 debut, The Emergency Response, welded cryptic lyrics to edgy, angular guitar riffs. The hyperkinetic “A Stirstick’s Prediction” emerged as a jubilant celebration of punk rock madness,

cians went from playing dingy punk clubs in nameless Canadian towns to some of the biggest stages in North America.

And then, just as quickly, the band fell apart. By the time The People Of And Their Verses began to generate momentum, the band had played two final shows, a pair of blistering performances for rabid hometown crowds. Soon afterward, the four musicians moved on to other projects. Passmore played with Sylvie before joining Thorseth in Rah Rah. Schwartz lent his talent to the metal band Anatta. Harding did time in

“Hi-Fi Stereo” an unhinged collection of spiky guitar riffs and pent-up anxiety. Upbeat and urgent, The Emergency Response convinced a lot of people that Despistado was much more than a bunch of upstarts from some town in Saskatchewan On a tour stop in Vancouver, the band forged the first of many connections with major record industry executives. Everybody seemed to love the band’s tightly-coiled postpunk aesthetic, its ability to extract universal themes from bizarre lyrical contortions and lo-fi guitar riffs. In 2003, Despistado signed a contract

But Harding, Passmore, and Thorseth kept in touch. In 2009, four years after The People Of And Their Verses was released, they started playing together again. That year, a reformed Despistado played a handful of shows in Saskatchewan. A couple of years later, the band — with Rah Rah’s Jeffrey Romanyk filling in on drums — embarked on a tour of cramped clubs between Regina and Vancouver. It was like the early days: no pressure; only rock and roll. And now, half a lifetime after the four young men from Regina first dreamed of

We worked really hard at a lot of things as a band in a short amount of time — and then we sort of just disappeared. dagan harding Photo: courtesy of Chris Graham Photography

with the American independent label Jade Tree Records, re-released The Emergency Response, and began work on a full-length album. It was a remarkable period for the band. In just a few months, the four musi-

Geronimo and War Doves, and began releasing solo material. Despistado was over, its legacy a pair of relentlessly upbeat and noisy records and countless vague memories of writhing dance floors in dank rock clubs.

stardom, Despistado is poised for yet another reunion — a triumphant return to the Saskatchewan stage, and a chance to rekindle the flame its members can’t bring themselves to extinguish.

AJM: Given the circumstances of the band’s initial breakup, could it be that you and the other guys felt that something was left unfinished?

DH: With the role that we played in Regina, as a band, and having that come to such an abrupt end without ever really being able to celebrate it, was a part of it for us. Not from a position of, ‘Oh yeah, we’re just going to do this for reasons that a lot of bands might get back together for.”

Because it’s been a long time, a lot of people don’t know who we are. It was more a thing for us, to continue that project. We worked really hard at a lot of things as a band in a short amount of time — and then we sort of just disappeared.

AJM: And now you’re able to tour behind the full-length, which you didn’t get the chance to do in 2005.

What does it feel like, playing those songs today?

DH: I think that we all still have a really intimate relationship with the songs, particularly when we listen to them and sort of re-learn them.

But for the most part, we see them as just songs. They’re snapshots of a bunch of sounds and arrangements that we liked at a given moment as a collective. We try not to blow that part out of proportion too much, because we’re all still engaged with music. When we get together and perform Despistado music, the songs we wrote together as a band, that’s going to be special regardless of what the circumstances are. It’s an honour Continued on next page »

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to be able to go back to something that still means something today and share it and be engaged with it.

AJM: What’s interesting is that even though the band wasn’t around for years, people in this province continued to talk about it and the records.

What was it that endeared this music to so many people?

DH: Looking at how people respond to the record, it’s hard to pinpoint why that is. I think maybe the record might have come at a time in people’s lives that was really [important], like the end of adolescence or the start of adulthood. Perhaps the band had a part in peoples’ lives at a significant time. Maybe that’s a part of growing up, and having things that mean something in a certain context. We get nostalgic when we perform the songs, so maybe that’s a part of it, too.

like anything, but at the same time, trying to sound like something.

band’s breakup and able to just enjoy playing these songs again.

AJM: What does the future hold for Despistado? Has there been any talk of making another record?

DH: We’re really honoured and really grateful to have people in our lives to remind us that the music still makes a difference for them. That it still excites them, and that it’s still enjoyable. We’re just happy to bring that to people.

DH: It would take the right timing and the right efforts to get some material going. But we’re not ruling it out. We’ve definitely passed ideas back and forth. It’s definitely a possibility, but there’s nothing about the immediate future that makes us think that would be something that would happen.

AJM: Ultimately, it sounds like you’re in a good place, free from the stress and pressure that ultimately led to the

Despistado June 12 @ The Exchange $12.50 @ Ticketedge.ca

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AJM: Could it be that Despistado sort of launched the music scene we see in this province today?

DH: That might be a bit too much of a stretch, just simply because it wouldn’t be true to the fact that we were so heavily influenced by bands before us, bands that had international attention from more of a major label record perspective. But I know what you mean: we definitely were a part of the end of a cycle that may be ongoing. There was such momentum and such hype, and we happened to be at the top of this wave that hit its precipice. But by no means were we the only band playing that kind of music that well.

AJM: At the same time, the EP and the full-length didn’t sound like anything else that was coming out of Saskatchewan, then or now.

DH: I think what we tried to do was be as authentic as we could, to ourselves and to the music. Our influences were derived pretty directly from the local scene, and the bands members of the local scene listened to and supported — the sort of older generation we grew up adoring and listening to so much. There were some influences from various different kinds of music, too. We were afraid of trying to sound too much

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Photos: courtesy of Marc messett

It’s a Food Thing

There’s something for everyone at Bocados! by Eilidh Thain

I

’d heard the name Bocados. I even knew exactly where the restaurant was located, but I really had no idea what to expect. What kind of food do they serve? Italian? Mexican? Is it a chain restaurant? Is it licensed? Is it a busy place? These were a few of the questions that hounded my thoughts. Of course, an internet search could have easily answered the lion’s share of these questions, but I wanted to go in curious — like we did in the old-timey days.

I met up with owner Gavin Verma just as the dinner rush was getting into full swing. The place was definitely hopping — serving staff rushed back and forth, carting plates of food and full trays of drinks to tables; Gavin warmly greeted customers with a genuine familiarity. As he explained, “our focus is treating customers like family. They always know they’re welcome.”

Since 2006, Bocados has occupied its location at Park and Vic. It was originally branded as an Italian restaurant, serving mostly pasta, but has since broadened its focus to family-style dining with fresh, local food. “We buy local whenever we can. Most of our produce and meat come from local companies,” said Gavin, who believes that supporting businesses in our town and province is key to a healthy community.

“We have a number of house-created dishes you won’t find anywhere else in the city,” Gavin told me. And I would have to agree. The menu features burgers, pizza, pasta, risotto, entrees, and appetizers, each with a unique twist. A customer favourite is the Reaper Burger — cue ominous music. This towering stack of bun, house-made patty, onion rings, a fried egg, pepper jack bacon, and cheddar cheese with a spicy housemade chipotle mayo is not for the faint of heart.

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide CLASSIC AMERICAN OLD FASHIONED

INGREDIENTS

Hosting a party? Why not get Old Fashioned? This classic American cocktail is a mighty fine drink. It’s simple enough that anyone can make it, yet sophisticated enough to thoroughly impress your guests.

1 sugar cube 3 dashes aromatic bitters 2 ounces bourbon Smidge of water A couple of cubes of ice Add a twist of lemon (traditional) or orange

Gavin also suggested I try the smoked salmon pizza, and I’m glad I did. The house-made dough made for a light, crispy, perfectly baked crust while the creamy basil pesto sauce complemented the smoked salmon, but the pièce de résistance was the balsamic glaze drizzled over the top. The candied tanginess of the glaze harmonized perfectly with the salmon and pesto. Definitely a destination dish!

Drinks and dessert are always on the menu at Bocadosk so why not try one of their specialty cocktails, such as the Deep Blue Sea — an “intoxicating” mix of Smirnoff Blueberry Vodka, pineapple juice, and Bols Blue (delicious, but proceed with caution). Why not cap off your meal with Bocados’ signature whipped cream pie, which is perfect for sharing!

I must admit as a long-time resident of our great city, I figured I was familiar with most restaurants around town, but Bocados really surprised me. The welcoming neighbourhood pub atmosphere, the friendly service, their focus on fresh, local ingredients and, of course, the food! There really is something for everyone on the menu, so round up your family and friends and make Bocados your next restaurant destination!

Bocados 2037 Park Street | (306) 522-3663

DIRECTIONS

Place the sugar cube in an old fashioned glass, and wet it down with 3 dashes of bitters and a smidge of water. Crush the sugar with a wooden muddler or spoon. Rotate the glass so the sugar and bitters line the base and a little up the sides. Add a couple of ice cubes, then pour in the bourbon. Add a thin swatch of lemon or orange peel, and your choice of stirring implement. Bottoms up!

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music

Next Week

coming up

Solids

Havok

John Fogerty

@ The Exchange Saturday, June 14 – Cover TBD

@ The Exchange Thursday, June 19 – $15

@ Mosaic Place (Moose Jaw) Thursday, November 20 – $28.84+

It’s no great secret that the Solids are fans of ‘90s music. That they take their musical cues from bands like Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, and Superchunk. One listen to their blistering, fuzzed out brand of rock and you’ll hear the influence right away.

You’ll also hear a very talented duo from Montreal that’s on an upward trajectory. Consisting of Xavier Germain-Poitras (guitar and vocals) and Louis Guillemette (drums and vocals), Solids feel as though melody shines best when it’s forced to fight through layers of distortion and feedback. It is a philosophy of sound that appeals to punks, rockers, metal enthusiasts — you name it. They’ll be performing next week at the Exchange with Animal Faces; tickets available at the door.

If you listen to or follow heavy metal, you’ll know that retro-thrash bands are popping up everywhere these days.

Bands that are pumping out good ol’ ‘80s-style thrash songs that will remind you of early Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. Colorado four-piece Havok is one of those bands. Actually, they’re not just one of those bands — they’re one of the better retro-thrash bands on the scene today. Founded by high school friends David Sanchez and Haakon Sjoegren (who is no longer around) in 2004, the band has released three studio albums — Burn, Time Is Up, and Unnatural Selection, the last of which breached the Billboard Top 200 in its first week in the #154 slot. Be sure to check out these heavy hitters when they roll through town next week; advance tickets available through ticketedge.ca.

Before this Californian became a solo act, he was part of one of the most iconic bands of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Maybe you’ve heard of them — Creedence Clearwater Rival. Yep, that John Fogerty. The guy who Rolling Stone magazine ranked as the #40 best guitarist of all time, as well as the #72 best singer. His solo hits include “Centrefield” (perhaps the greatest baseball song ever penned) and “Jambalaya,” but come this fall he’ll return to his CCR roots as he sets out on a coast-tocoast tour to celebrate the year 1969 — the year in which CCR produced three seminal albums: Bayou Country, Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys. He’ll be at Mosaic Place on November 20; tickets available through mosaicplace.ca.

– By Adam Hawboldt

Photo courtesy of: facebook/ facebook/ facebook

Sask music Preview SaskMusic and Big Dog 92-7 are pleased to announce the Top 10 semi-finalists in The Next Big Thing 2014 country talent competition. This year’s Top 10 are: Amy Nelson (Regina), Blake Berglund (Kennedy), Kelsey Fitch (Parkside), Mandy Ringdal (Outlook), Scott Richmond (Regina), Stephen Maguire (Saskatoon), Steve Gibson (Theodore), Tenille Arts (Weyburn), The Dead South (Regina), and Val Halla (Regina). The Top 3 will perform in a showdown on June 26 at Eldorado’s Country Rock Bar where 2013’s winner, Alex Runions, will also perform. Tickets will be available at the door.

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June 6 » June 14 The most complete live music listings for Regina.

Friday 6

Cowpuncher / Artful Dodger — With The Dead South. 8pm / $10+ The Stampeders / Casino Regina — A classic Canadian rock trio. 8pm / $35 Elder Abuse / The Club — With Castaway, The Jump Off, Gutless. 8pm / $10 Winter Leaves / Creative City Centre — 3-piece folk act. 7:30pm / $10 DJ Dallas / Eldorado — Regina’s number one party DJ! 9pm / $5 The Gay Nineties / The Exchange — With The Wet Secrets. 8pm / $10 DJ Pat & DJ Kim / Habano’s — Local DJs spin top 40 hits. 9pm / $5 cover Big Chill Fridays / Lancaster — Get your weekend started. 10pm / Cover TBD Tim Vaughn / McNally’s Tavern — Guitarfueled blues from Saskatoon. 10pm / $5 Wildfire / Pump Roadhouse — A femalefronted country band. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Longhorn / Whiskey Saloon — One of Regina’s most interactive DJs. 8pm / $5 Cory Edward Band / Whiskey Saloon — Country music out of Manitoba. 9pm / $5

Saturday 7

DJ Dallas / Eldorado Country Rock Bar — Regina’s number one party DJ! 9pm / $5 Unearth / The Exchange — With Texas in July + more. 7:30pm / $20 (ticketedge.ca) Real Panchos / Lancaster — Music with a deep, soulful groove. 9pm / Cover TBD Tim Vaughn / McNally’s Tavern — Guitarfueled blues from Saskatoon. 10pm / $5 Wildfire / Pump Roadhouse — A femalefronted country band. 9pm / Cover TBD Cory Edward Band / Whiskey Saloon — Country music out of Manitoba. 9pm / $5

Open Mic / King’s Head — Show what you got. 8pm / No cover Drunken Super Heros / McNally’s Tavern — With Spree Killers + more. 9pm / $5 Diana Desjardin / Pump Roadhouse — A country singer with a story to tell. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Longhorn / Whiskey Saloon — Come check out one of Regina’s most interactive DJs as he drops some of the best country beats around. 8pm / Cover TBD

Sunday 8

One Young’n / Sandra Schmirler Leisure Centre — Rock covers!. 1pm / Free

Monday 9

Open Mic Night / The Artful Dodger — Come down and jam! 8pm / No cover jazz night / Bushwakker — Featuring Call Me Mildly . 8pm / No cover 3 Doors Down / Casino Regina — These rockers go acoustic. 8pm / $66.15+ Bison / The Exchange — With Black Thunder. 8pm / Cover TBD

Diana Desjardin / Pump Roadhouse — A country singer with a story to tell. 9pm / Cover TBD JazzFest / Ramada Plaza — With Alexander Brown Quintet. 7pm / $10+ Steve Gibson / Whiskey Saloon — Rockin’ country out of Yorkton. 9pm / $5

Get listed Have a live show you'd like to promote? Let us know! layout@verbnews.com

Friday 13

HowOwl / Artful Dodger — With Pulsewidth. 8pm / Cover TBD Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan / Casino Regina — With special guest, Lisa Brokop.

8pm / $60.90+ Queen City Riot / The Club — Featuring Solids, KEN Mode + many more. 7:30pm / $30 DJ Dallas / Eldorado Country Rock Bar — Regina’s number one party DJ! 9pm / $5 Queen City Riot / The Exchange — Featuring Solids, KEN Mode + many more. 7:30pm / $30 DJ Pat & DJ Kim / Habano’s — Local DJs spin top 40 hits. 9pm / $5 cover Big Chill Fridays / Lancaster — Get your weekend started. 10pm / Cover TBD The Montagues / McNally’s Tavern — Good tunes all night. 10pm / $5 Diana Desjardin / Pump — A country singer with a story to tell. 9pm / Cover TBD JazzFest Regina / Ramada Plaza Hotel — Featuring Jeffery Straker. 7pm / $10+ Steve Gibson / Whiskey Saloon — Rockin’ country out of Yorkton. 9pm / $5

Tuesday 10

Music Jam / Artful Dodger — Come get down with local musicians. 8pm / No cover Chris Culgin / O’Hanlon’s — Singer/songwriter from Peterborough, Ontario. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ night / Q Nightclub + Lounge — DJs Snakeboots and Code E. 9:30pm / No cover

Wednesday 11

Wednesday Night Folk / Bushwakker — Featuring Jake Van Gold. 9pm / No cover Engelbert Humperdinck / Casino Regina — An international legend. 8pm / $71.40+ Wayback Wednesdays / McNally’s — With Leather Cobra. 9:30pm / $5

Thursday 12

Rachel Cardiello / Artful Dodger — An songwriter from Montana. 8pm / Cover TBD JazzFest Regina / Bushwakker — Featuring Belle Plaine and Unrequited Love. 8pm / $15 JazzFest Regina / City Plaza Stage — School bands. 4pm / Free Library Voices / Exchange — With Despistado + more. 7:30pm / $13 Decibel Frequency / Gabbo’s Nightclub — A night of electronic fun. 10pm / $5 PS Fresh / The Hookah Lounge — DJ Ageless started spinning in Montreal, DJ Drewski started in Saskatoon. They both landed in Regina and have come together to sling some bomb beats. 7pm / No cover

Saturday 14

Phil Smith / Artful Dodger — A night of musical delights. 8pm / Cover TBD DJ Dallas / Eldorado Country Rock Bar — Regina’s number one party DJ! ppm / $5 The Old 21 / Lancaster Taphouse A three-piece band from rural Sask. 9pm / Cover TBD The Montagues / McNally’s — Good tunes. 10pm / $5

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These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, June 13.

Friday, may 30 @

O’hanlon’s pub

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O’Hanlon’s Irish Pub 1947 Scarth Street (306) 566 4094

Photography by Marc Messett

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repeat if necessary

Edge of Tomorrow kicks off blockbuster season with style by adam hawboldt

R

emember when Tom Cruise made awesome movies? Remember The Color of Money, Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, Top Gun, Interview with the Vampire, heck, even Jerry Maguire?

Those were the good old days.

Lately, though, it seems like he’s been making the same action-fueled, explosion-heavy flick time after time.

Think about it: all the Mission Impossibles, War of the Worlds, Knight and Day, Jack Reacher, Oblivion. They all have three things in common: Cruise is the hero, there are a crapload of explosions, and he’s forever hitting you with that blank stare of his.

And now we have Cruise’s new flick, Edge of Tomorrow, which fits right in there with that last bunch of movies I mentioned. But here’s the thing: it’s pretty darn good. Well, pretty darn good for a summer blockbuster. Still, it’s a thousand times better than his last project — the way-too-sluggish Oblivion.

Directed by Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity), Edge of Tomorrow begins with a montage of news reports that talk of an alien invasion of Earth. It doesn’t look good for us humans. But along comes Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a super soldier who takes out a bunch of aliens wearing the military’s new exo-skeleton armour.

Enter Cruise as Major William Cage. He shows up on the news to reassure people that forces around the world will soon be getting this new armour/weaponry. Cage is happy to be a desk jockey, to put a positive spin on the crisis, but he wants nothing to do with the fighting — he even chickens out and refuses to go to the front lines.

This doesn’t sit well with his higher ups, and eventually Cage

Photo: Courtesy of warner bros. pictures

is arrested and knocked out. He wakes up at Heathrow and finds out he’s getting sent to do battle against the invaders.

He’s shipped out the next morning and proves himself to be an utterly inept soldier. He outlasts most of his fellow soldiers by sheer, stupid luck, and even wounds an alien (who then bleeds all over him). Then Cage is killed. End of movie.

Well, not really. See, Cage wakes up in a loop and is forced to fight the same battle over and over again.

Eventually, he meets Rita — who also was once stuck in a loop — and she starts training him. Slowly but surely Cage goes from desk geek to super soldier.

If you think of Edge of Tomorrow as a kind of Groundhog-Day-meetsIndependence-Day-meets-Full-Metal-Jacket mashup, you’ll be on the right track.

And while it isn’t a game-changing movie by any means, Edge of Tomorrow does manage to entertain.

Edge of Tomorrow Doug Liman Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton Directed by

113 minutes | PG

Cruise delivers an understated performance, Blunt shines, and the story is interesting enough to keep you captivated.

The only really bad thing about the film is the ending, but hey — that’s just my opinion. For the most part, Edge of Tomorrow is sharper, cleverer and just flat-out better than a lot of fluff Hollywood throws our way during blockbuster season.

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A savage sexual journey Photo: Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Nymphomaniac is sure to shock by adam hawboldt

L

ars von Trier is the kind of director that knows how to make audiences squirm. He doesn’t make it easy on his viewers. He pushes boundaries, challenges you, makes you see things you don’t necessarily want to see, think about things in ways you may not enjoy.

He’s a very polarizing director. Most either love him or hate him. Hate him, and you’ll hate his new two-part film, Nymphomaniac. Love him, and you’ll be talking about this film with your friends long after the final credits roll.

Personally, I’m a fan of the mad Dane’s movies. Not all of them, mind you. The Idiots and Epidemic were pure rubbish. But when he’s on, making films like Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves, he makes films that bounce and hum.

Nymphomaniac falls firmly into the latter category.

The first volume begins with a guy named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finding a woman named Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) beaten to bloody hell in an alley. He asks if she wants him to alert the authorities, she tells him she wants a cup of tea.

So Seligman brings her back to his apartment and gives her tea. This is

fascinating. Stories about her as a teenager (played by Stacy Martin) playing games to see who could have sex with the most people on a train ride. Stories about her and her friends masturbating at a club. Stories about her first lover, Jerome (Shia LaBeouf).

The movie jumps back and forth between these stories and the two of

You are never quite sure how far von Trier is willing to go with this.

Adam Hawboldt

when she starts telling him her life story. And what a story it is!

See, Joe is a sex addict. The tales (each of which are given their own chapter title) are lurid, depraved and

them, Joe and Seligman, sitting there in his apartment. Seligman’s reaction to the stories are odd. Instead of being slightly aghast, he tells Joe allegories about fly fishing and organ music.

In the second volume, Joe is still telling stories of her sexual escapades. There’s the one about her slapping her vagina with a wet towel in an attempt to feel something. The one about Jerome (with whom she eventually has a kid) shoving a handful of spoons inside her in the middle of a restaurant. The one about a doctor (played by Jamie Bell) who beats and whips Joe for pleasure.

There are a lot of stories, truth be told. And over the course of the four-hour journey Joe’s tale evolves in a way that will be unsettling for some. You are never quite sure how far von Trier is willing to go with this. How inexplicably awful, how depraved will Joe’s sexual behaviour become?

To find out, you’ll have to watch the movie for yourself. And Nymphomaniac is a good movie. But know this: it’s not for the faint of

Nymphomaniac Vol 1 + 2 Lars von Trier Starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgård Directed by

v1:118 min v2:124 min | R

heart. It’s lewd, it will take you into curious but degrading territory, and it’s Lars von Trier at (or at least close to) his miserable, cynical best.

Both volumes of Nymphomaniac will be screened at Regina Public Library starting on June 12; see reginalibrary.ca for more information.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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Š Elaine M. Will | blog.E2W-Illustration.com | Check onthebus.webcomic.ws/ for previous editions!

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crossword canadian criss-cross DOWN

1. On-line diary 5. Easy win 9. Hang over 10. Pandora released them 12. Bird with a large colourful beak 13. Achieved success 15. Make a decision 16. Not widespread 18. Israeli submachine gun 19. Partner of potatoes 21. Keyboard key 22. ___berry 23. Not one of the main rules 25. One who calculates insurance risks and premiums 27. Religious homage

© walter D. Feener 2014

29. Inexpensive piece of jewellery 32. The time between evening and morning 36. Perform a funeral service for 37. The end part 39. Gloomy 40. Cuckoo bird 41. Ornamental tree 43. Alcoholic drink 44. Country-styled 46. In fine ___ (fit) 48. Oyster’s creation 49. Makes available 50. Unspecified quantity 51. All there

1. Extremely honest, in a way that seems unkind 2. Resinous substance 3. Iridescent gemstone 4. Jib used on a racing yacht 5. Second game between the same teams 6. Egg-shaped 7. Central 8. Lung covering 9. One of the Seven Dwarfs 11. Undergraduate receiving maintenance aid from Cambridge University 12. Burial vault 14. Minute 17. Having removable sections 20. Brownish-yellow

22. Boy with a bow sudoku answer key 24. Pan used in A Asian cooking 26. Its Latin name is stannum 28. Grid in the eyepiece of an optical instrument 29. Ski lift 30. Let debts accumulate 31. Eye parts 33. Chin beard B 34. Pea pods 35. Genealogical diagram 38. Smokes a pipe 41. Like some mattresses 42. Antitoxins 45. Path to be followed, in Confucianism 47. Low card in a royal flush

8 4 7 5 9 3 1 6 2 3 2 5 1 8 6 9 7 4 1 6 9 4 2 7 8 5 3 5 3 1 2 6 4 7 8 9 6 7 2 8 3 9 4 1 5 4 9 8 7 5 1 3 2 6 2 1 4 3 7 5 6 9 8 7 5 6 9 4 8 2 3 1 9 8 3 6 1 2 5 4 7

ACROSS

6 1 5 8 3 2 4 7 9 7 4 2 6 5 9 3 1 8 9 3 8 1 4 7 5 2 6 4 8 3 2 7 5 6 9 1 2 9 7 4 6 1 8 5 3 1 5 6 9 8 3 7 4 2 3 7 9 5 1 8 2 6 4 8 2 4 7 9 6 1 3 5 5 6 1 3 2 4 9 8 7

timeout

Horoscopes June 6 – June 12 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

You will experience a breakthrough in an area of your life this week, Aries. Could be in a project, could be with a person. This might bring you some relief.

Get acquainted with your innovative, irrational side this week, Leo. Always keeping to the straight and narrow can be a little boring, don’t you think?

Try to bring a wonderful breath of fresh air to any group you’re with this week. Someone near you could use the helping hand.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

Ever get the feeling that no matter how hard you try, you just can’t win?

Don’t worry — something big is coming your way to change all that.

This is going to be one of those weeks where it’s best to stay in, pull down the blinds, and have a civilized evening.

Don’t get bent out of shape if things don’t go according to plan in the coming days, Capricorn. There might be something bigger on the horizon.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

Every now and then you have a tendency to be stubborn, Gemini, but it’s important to remember that other perspectives can be just as valid.

You may not be firing on all cylinders early in the week, Libra, but never fear. With a little perseverance, all that can change.

You may be feeling exceptionally vulnerable this week, Aquarius. If that’s the case, hide and find shelter from the storm.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

Intellectually, you will excel this week, Cancer. Emotionally, on the other hand — well, let’s just say things could get rather dicey.

It’s important to examine your emotions in the coming days, Scorpio. If you don’t, they may get you in trouble down the road.

Unexpected events will crop up in the near future, Pisces. You might not recognize them for what they are right away, but brace for the best … and worst.

sudoku 6 1 2 4 2 5 3 8 9 4 7 2 3 7 9 9 4 1 8 5 1 6 3 7 5 2 8 4 7 6 1 5 6 3 9 8

crossword answer key

A

7 3 1 2 3 5 1 9 6 4 2 8 5 4 7 9 6 9 1 9 8 7 5 3 2 4 3 6 5 4 8 2 1 8 6 7

B

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