Issue #250 – July 26 to August 1
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blurs genres at connect
cheer up Competitive cheering: tougher than you think altered states Technology + art at the Mendel the wolverine + frances ha Films reviewedÂ
Photo: courtesy of alan smith
NEWs + Opinion
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among the stars Saving lives from the air. 4 / Local
cheer on! Behind the scenes of competitive cheerleading. 6 / Local
policing the police Our thoughts on outfitting police officers with video cameras. 8 / Editorial
On the cover:
kytami
Rocking out at Connect Fest. 14 / cover
comments Here’s your say about cutting ties with the monarchy. 10 / comments
Photo: courtesy of West olson
culture
Q + A with faber drive On breaking down barriers. 12 / Q + A
buffet beastin’
come hell or high water
We visit the Best Asia Buffet.
Rock from the prairies. 13 / Arts
16 / Food + Drink
a cautionary tale
Music
Mendel exhibit fuses technology and biology. 13 / Arts entertainment
Flying Fox & The Hunter Gatherers, Macklemore + The Sadies. 17 / music
listings Local music listings for July 26 through August 3. 18 / listings
The wolverine + frances ha
on the bus
The latest movie reviews. 20 / Film
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Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 26 / comics
Nightlife Photos
Games + Horoscopes
We visited Red Zone Premium Sports Bar + Lydia’s. 22-25 / Nightlife
Canadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / timeout
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Photo: Courtesy of adam hawboldt
Shooting for the STARS Behind the scenes at Saskatchewan’s only air ambulance service by ADAM HAWBOLDT
S
tan is a dummy. Not the kind of dummy who lacks intelligence or common sense. Nor the kind of dummy in a sense that he does dumb things at dumb times because he isn’t paying attention to his surroundings. No, Stan is an actual dummy. A mannequin, made of rubber. Think of those mannequins you see in boxing gyms and CPR classes and you’ll get the idea. Day after day Stan rests in darkness, on a stretcher in a bright red trailer in the back of Hangar 16. Most of the time, all Stan does is lie there, covered by a white blanket with grey polka dots, waiting — if a mannequin can indeed wait — for the STARS team to bring him to life. STARS is Saskatchewan’s helicopter air ambulance service, and twice a month nurses and paramedics in the organization must run through a simulation session to keep their skills sharp. That’s when Stan comes to life. “We’ll have a transport physician or a clinical educator in this room over here,” says flight nurse Jaimie Ratcliffe, pointing to a computer room at the front of the bright red trailer. “They’ll set up a scenario for us. They’ll say we’re going to land in such and such
a place and pick up a patient that was involved in, say, a motor-vehicle collision. They’ll give us the vital signs and what kind of state the patient is in.” Then it’s the job of the flight nurse and the flight paramedic to save the patient’s life. To save Stan’s life. In a cramped little area at the back of the trailer, next to the computer room, Stan will show signs of a patient who has just been in an accident. His pupils will dilate, his pulse will weaken, his blood pressure will rise and fall. You can use a stethoscope to check his lungs and heart, hook up an IV and monitor the medication you’re giving him. “If you’re not ventilating properly, it does a true gas exchange,” says Gennifer Bergson, a flight paramedic. “So if you’re not fully managing that airway the oxygen will start depleting. He responds exactly how a human would respond.” Every now and then, a smoke machine will be brought into the trailer. It will be turned on and someone will yell, “The helicopter is on fire!” This doesn’t mean the simulation is aborted. Instead, the crew will continue to do their jobs, continue to work on Stan through the haze and chaos. They do this to get ready. They do this so, when a real-life situation oc-
curs, they’ll be prepared for anything and everything.
When a call comes into STARS headquarters, the air ambulance team has eight minutes to get the helicopter in the air, ten minutes if it’s night. Soon as it comes in the pilots check the weather to make sure it’s safe to fly. They aren’t just looking at the weather in the moment, though. They’re looking ahead, maybe an hour or so, to ensure it’ll be okay to go get the patient then bring him back to the city for treatment. While they’re doing that, the nurse and the paramedic are in the medical room collecting their stuff for the upcoming mission. If it’s for a patient that needs to be transported from a rural hospital to a metropolitan one, they’re conferencing with a doctor to determine the patient’s needs. If it’s an Early Automated Dispatch — like, say, a motor vehicle collision in which a person has been ejected from their automobile — there’s no deciding whether or not they’ll go. If the weather permits, they’re in the air. “On the ground, it’s usually a medical decision to go,” says pilot Yves Bolduc, “but once we’re up in the air, [the pilots] are the ones that are in control.” Continued on next page »
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Separated from the medical crew by a curtain, the two pilots go to work. The person on the right has one job — fly the helicopter. “It’s kind of like playing the drums,” says pilot Lee Davis, as he shows me the inside of the STARS’ BK117 helicopter. “One hand is doing one thing, the other is doing something else. Your feet are working the pedals. It may seem complicated, but after a while it’s like riding a bike. You can feel it in your gut if you’re ascending or descending too quickly.” And while the pilot on the right side is safely getting them from Point A to Point B, the guy on the left is talking on
getting the equipment ready for when the bird touches down and the injured person is brought on board.
The first STARS base was launched in Regina on April 30th, 2012. Since then, another base has been added in Saskatoon and have transported (and treated) more than 400 patients. Just because the crew is highly trained and skilled to the point where saving someone’s life is second nature, that doesn’t mean every call runs smoothly. On the pilot end of things, sometimes finding a proper landing zone can present problems.
…once we’re up in the air, [the pilots] are the ones that are in control. yves buldoc
the radio to people at the destination, planning the trip, doing fuel calculations, cross-checking the altimeter, the vertical speed indicator and air speed with the pilot on the right. A lot of the times these pilots don’t know the severity or nature of the call they’re responding to. The medical crew does, though. And while the pilots are flying to their destination, the flight nurse and paramedic are in the back of the helicopter, behind the curtain, discussing what they know about the patient, making a treatment plan and
“We responded to one call that was right in the middle of a hillside, on a cut line,” says pilot Bolduc. “It was a quad accident. Trees were all the way around, it was very hilly, very hard to find a place close by to land. Those things will happen. Some places are just more challenging than others.” Back behind the curtain, among the cardiac monitor, ventilator and IV pump in the mini ICU, the medical crew are no strangers to challenges, either. Once they bring a patient on board, anything can happen. That’s one of the reasons
why they use Stan the mannequin — to stay sharp and focused. “If a patient goes into cardiac arrest back here, the nurse can’t stand up so they’re trying to do CPR like this,” says paramedic Bergson, holding both her hands flat and making tiny up and down motions. “I can bend over to help, and often I have to. But then I can’t walk for a week afterwards.” “Or,” says nurse Ratcliffe, holding a small maroon device that looks like a gun, “if we have to intravenous super fast and we’re having trouble finding a vein we have to remedy the problem. Quick!” Ratcliffe pushes the trigger of the gun (known as an EZ-IO), and the bit spins around like an electric drill. “We attach a needle to this and drill it into your bone. The centre of your bone is hollow so that way we can give you all the medication and fluids we’d give you with a standard IV.” This is just the tip of an iceberg called “the challenges STARS faces.” But rest easy. Should you ever find yourself in the back of a STARS helicopter, you’re in the hands of consummate professionals. The kind of professionals who take great pride in what they do. In saving people’s lives.
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The evolution of cheer
Photo: Courtesy of Shanda Leftley
Inside the world of competitive cheerleading by ADAM HAWBOLDT
H
ere’s something you might not know: the first cheerleaders
were men. True story. Cheerleading began back in the late-19th century when Princeton university students began yelling, “Rah rah rah! Tiger tiger tiger! Sis sis sis! Boom boom boom! Ahhhhh!” during a football game. Soon there were appointed “yell leaders” who sat in the stands, leading the chants. The fad soon caught on with other schools, and in 1898 a “yell leader” from the University of Minnesota ran onto the field and began leading the chant. Then and there, organized cheerleading was born. And for the next
Injury Research, cheerleading ranks second in America. The study went on to say that cheerleading is the #1 most dangerous sport for females, that 65.2 percent of all catastrophic injuries in youth sports occur in cheerleading, and that falling while performing a gymnastic stunt has a greater impact than being tackled by a professional football player. No such study has been conducted about cheerleading in Canada, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t as potentially risky in the Great White North. Cheerleading has evolved into a continent-wide competitive sport with human pyramids and high-flying stunts. And with this evolution comes the increased
Concussions are extremely common … I mean, we’re throwing girls in the air… shanda leftley
four decades or so it was men who were down on the field. Eventually women began to take part, and in the ‘50s Lawrence Herkimer (considered by many the great grandfather of modern cheerleading) came along and introduced aspects like pom-poms, spirit sticks, pleated skirts and more. This is the image many people have when they think of cheerleading. Problem is, most people are mistaken.
According to a recent study by the National Centre for Catastrophic Sports
chance of catastrophic injury. Just ask Shanda Leftley. A few years ago, back when she was a competitive cheerleader at the U of S, Leftley did serious damage to her knee. She doesn’t remember exactly how it happened, but she knows it hurt. “I have bad knees, patellofemoral syndrome,” says Leftley. “My knee caps and bones grind together. I’m not sure exactly how my injury happened, but I remember it was my third year at the U of S. We were going through a routine, I tweaked my knee and it popped out. I was supposed to take three months Continued on next page »
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off, but we had nationals the following week so I competed anyway. I never let my knee heal properly.” Given the competitive nature of modern cheerleading, none of this comes as a surprise. “In cheerleading you see injuries all the time,” she admits. “Concussions are extremely common, unfortunately. I mean, we’re throwing girls in the air and those catches are difficult, no matter how well-trained the bases are. If they do something they’re not supposed to do in the air … the girl could fall. Or she could fly out of the stunt group altogether. So concussions happen.” So too do injured ankles, hurt wrists, broken bones and dislocated knees. Which brings us back to Leftley: why didn’t she let her knee heal properly? The answer is, because she’s an athlete. And like a hockey or football player, cheerleaders compete through adversity because they don’t want to let their team down. “You can’t be missing someone from your stunt group,” Leftley explains. “You have to be there for each other no matter what. You don’t miss practice because you’re sick or sore. You need to be there. If you’re not, pyramids can’t go up or you can’t work
on your whole routine. You need to be there for your team. If you’re really sick or sore you can … take breaks, but you need to be there.” When people miss time, routines can’t be run. Setbacks occur and the team suffers. And when competition time rolls around, they won’t be ready.
One of the first things you’ll notice if you go to a cheerleading competition is the noise. They’re loud — really loud. In the practice area there are mats everywhere, with a team on each. All the coaches are screaming counts at their teams, the athletes are talking and yelling, practice music is playing. On the competition floor, maybe 20 feet away, they’re playing competition music at top volume. “There’s noise everywhere. It’s a very hyped-up atmosphere,” says Leftley. “Everyone is on edge.” And that’s something the casual cheerleading fan might not notice at competitions— the tension. “When you’re on your practice mat, you can’t help but notice the team on the mat next to you. You’re competing against them,” explains Leftley. “It’s easy to get distracted. You look and they just did a full-up and
think ‘We don’t have full-ups.’ It can be discouraging.” Combine that with anxiousness and maybe a couple of missed skills during a practice run, and cheerleading competitions can leave even the most calm athlete a tad frazzled. But you can’t let that get to you. Competitive cheerleaders spend three days practicing their routines, and countless hours in the gym working out to build muscle. The show must go on. “You can’t focus on what others are doing,” says Leftley. “You can’t change what they’re doing. You just have to focus on your routine.” And if you train hard enough, you may run a clean routine. And that, says Leftley, “is the best feeling. You leave the floor feeling like a million bucks. You’ve worked with this group for so long, so hard.” Which begs the question: did male cheerleaders at Princeton or the pompom waving ones from the ‘50s ever get the same feeling?
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Policing the police Outfitting officers with video cameras benefits everyone
L
ast week a disturbing video made headlines with every major news agency in the country. The video, shot through a car window, shows two Quebec police officers beating the ever-loving crap out of an aboriginal man in the Unamen Shipu community. And while many reactions to the incident range from outrage to questions about what precipitated such behaviour, we believe that there is a way to prevent such an occurrence from happening. And that’s why we propose that police officers be outfitted with a small camera to record what they are doing. A constant reminder that they are being watched will encourage police accountability, which in turn will help alleviate unnecessary violence. And at the same time, a visual recording will help protect officers by capturing their perspective of events. Yep, we believe attaching cameras to cops would benefit both officers and the public, and we think it should happen now.
phones — devices small enough to be clipped to a collar or sunglasses or a hat — which recorded their interactions with the public. The officers were expected to activate the devices whenever they left a patrol car, and the recordings were automatically uploaded to a central server back at
Now, in the aforementioned incident there was a camera rolling, but it wasn’t official police video. Films shot by the public are too one sided, and often don’t tell the whole story. And while it’s impossible to say whether a camera attached to the officers would have prevented such
…having a camera attached to a cop dramatically improves safety for all. verb magazine
headquarters. The rest of the force went about business as usual. And what the data revealed was nothing short of staggering. In the first 12 months the cameras were in use, the Rialto police department experienced an 88 percent decrease in the number of complaints filed against their members. What’s more, the study revealed that officers used force 60 percent less often; interestingly, when force was exercised it
a situation, it is likely that the officers would not have been quite so quick to resort to what appears to be rather extreme measures. Actually, it’s more than just likely. It’s almost a certainty. You see, police officers in Rialto, California have conducted something of an experiment in conjunction with the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology. 54 officers were outfitted with miniature video cameras and micro-
was twice as likely to be used by a cop without a camera. And to mitigate concerns that the cameras would only be switched on after something had happened, the devices boast a feature called a “pre-event video buffer.” Essentially, this continuously records and holds the most recent thirty seconds of film when the camera is off. That way, whatever happens that would cause a police officer to turn the recording device on is likely to be automatically captured, as well. Now, the trial wasn’t without its detractors, and many officers weren’t thrilled by the idea of being forced to wear a camera, feeling it was unnecessary to have “big brother” watching everything they do. Which is odd, don’t you think? After all, the police are essentially the instruments of big brother, and isn’t it fair that if big brother is watching the public then it should also be watching the police? But we digress. The point of the matter is that having a camera attached to a cop dramatically improves safety for all. It makes perfect sense:
on the one hand you have the police on camera, which has been shown to diminish abuse of power. On the other hand you have Joe Public who, upon realizing an officer is wearing a camera, is much less likely to do something to cause an altercation. As a result there are less incidents, less arrests without reasonable grounds, less “he said, she said,” less of darn near anything. We think it’s about time Saskatchewan police start using this new technology. The cameras have been shown to work, and would improve both public and police safety, so why not start now? We all stand to benefit from this. These editorials are left unsigned because they represent the opinions of Verb magazine, not those of the individual writers. Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372
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On Topic: Last week we asked what you thought about cutting our ties with the monarchy. Here’s what you had to say: – Cutting Monarchy ties is like saying Santa isn’t a symbol of Xmas. Those waisting time on such pursuits should spend time figuring how to improve Seniors lives.
– It is dishonourable and disgusting to suggest that we shouldn’t be honouring the Queen. The Royal family is a symbol of tradition, and we should not be taking that relationship lightly. People who suggest otherwise clearly do not understand all she does for our country. Shameful!
– Shame on you for saying that we should do away with the Queen and her family. It is a proud tradition to have the royal family as the head of our country, and they represent so much history. There is a new generation coming up, renewing everyone’s faith in the monarchy.
text yo thoughtsur to 881 vE R B 8372
If we cut our ties with them we’ll be just the same as the USA.
and Kate...they’re so likeable! I just can’t. I want to not like them but I do. So long live the Quen!
OFF TOPIC – Nice article on Sam Klass. Great to read about an inspiring artist doing something a little different. Thanks for getting me pumped for Connect Fest VERB! In response to “Fluid Identity,” Feature,
– Yes! We should absolutely sever our ties to the monarchy. It is insane that in this day and age our head of state isn’t even a Canadian. I agree the Queen is charming, and the boys sort of feel like some neighbour’s kids I’ve watched growing up over the years, but just because they’re nice doesn’t mean we should keep them around. We are an independent country and should strive to do whatever we can to establish that.
– Yes, cut our ties with the monarchy. I am so sick of everyone blabbing on about “tradition.” Their tradition is one of colonialism and exploitation. Why celebrate that?
– Oh man I agree we should cut ties with the monarchy, but Will
#249 (July 19, 2013)
sound off – “People are used to getting home in 15 minutes---we have easy access to downtown”- Atch -- maybe at 11PM after a coucil meeting- 4 not so much
– First dance with a girl. 42 yrs ago grade 7. CJME put on a dance for the city’s school safety patrols. Asked a skinny blonde from a diff school. 1 dance never got a name. Danced with a few more that day. I was awkward spazzy hadn’t found the pelvis yet but same for everyone else. We all had a great time. Thanks CJME! Got a first dance story?
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Powered by the crew at moga mobile
– Buying a gram of weed that’s wrapped in tin foil is DOWNtown - Z
– Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
– I can deal with hot weather, rainy weather, mosquito weather cause they are part of living here. BUT, bad drivers and crappy roads dont need to be part of living in SK..
– What happened at Lac Megantic proves there are some businesses that need regulations that are enforced stricktly ..
– Where’s ROBO COP like in the movie of the same title when Detroit needs him?? :-D
– Can’t believe Joni Mitchell said those things. Very harsh, and uninformed when was the last time she even lived here? Return her crap to her who cares.
– If you are wondering what happens after we die why don’t you find out and get back to me.
– To answer the question, that part of you which is animal dies. That part of you that is higher being lives on. If you spend your life indulging the animal focussed on the crotch the material money etc. There isn’t much higher being grown to live on. You will go out like a light bulb!
Next week: What do you think of cameras on cops? Pick up Verb to get in on the conversation: We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind.
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lost in paradise Photos: courtesy of the artist
Faber Drive release third LP, break down barriers by Alex J MacPherson
L
ate last summer, Faber Drive released their third studio album. Drawing heavily on the titanic beats and shimmering textures of contemporary pop, Lost In Paradise marked a shift for the band from Mission, British Columbia — away from their punk rock roots and toward the glistening sounds of commercial radio. I caught up with Dave Faber to find out more. Alex J MacPherson: We don’t hear much about the difficulties involved in recording a third album. How did you approach Lost In Paradise? Dave Faber: I think we just wanted it to be the best record we could make. We spent about two years, twoand-a-half years writing songs for it. I think the hardest part was picking the ten or eleven songs that would go on the album out of the sixty or sixty-five songs that we had written. We loved them all, and it’s kind of like saying to one of your children, ‘You don’t get to go on this one.’ AJM: It feels like you’re in a great place, musically. DF: I think for us it feels like a constant struggle in a sense. You always want to outdo yourself. I don’t know if we ever feel that we’ve made it, in the sense that we’re at that point where we’re happy. Not that we’re not happy with what we’ve done, but we always want to drive further, push harder, write a better song, write a better melody. But I think with this record
and kind of cheesy.’ But we ended up going with it. I went down the corner store and bought about $150 worth of candy, came home with twelve bags of groceries — all candy. We wrote the song on a sugar rush.
we definitely hit a lot of things right on the target. AJM: I want to ask you about the song “Solitary,” which closes out the album and is the most straightforward rock and roll song you’ve released in awhile.
AJM: If nothing else, that song shows there are still a lot of directions you can move in.
DF: I don’t think it’ll be a single, but “Solitary” is just a solid rock song.
…it’s so hard for us to stay with one sound. That’s not who we are. dave faber
DF: One of the hardest things about being in a band is that oftentimes people will listen to one of your songs and they’ll judge you on that one song. They’ll judge who you are by your music. Our guitar player, J.P. [Jordan Pritchett], two of his favourite bands are Pantera and Metallica. Two of my favourite bands are Green Day and the Cars. I also love Def Leppard. There are so many influences, so many bands that we love, but it’s so hard — you want to stay true to your fans, but at the same time it’s so hard for us to stay with one sound. That’s not who we are.
We’re a rock band at heart. It’s kind of where we started, and it’s where we are inside, and that’s what we love to do. To be totally honest, we just loved the melodies in it. To me, lyrically, it’s a little bit on the negative side, and I don’t like to have too much negative in our songs. We always want to try and be a positive influence in the world. That song does have a negative undertone to it, but I think there is positive in it. AJM: I also wanted to ask about “Candy Store,” which feels like a big departure for the band. DF: Originally, we wanted to write a song that was more of like a Jack Johnson, sitting on the beach, chilling in Mexico kind of vibe. But when you’re writing songs you sometimes end up turning angles. And then [writer Jeff Johnson] had this idea: ‘What about a kid in a candy store?’ We were sitting there like, ‘Oh man, it’s kind of old
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come hell or high water
Frantic rock and roll from a Saskatoon-based trio
C
ome Hell Or High Water, a noisy rock trio specializing in punchy guitar riffs and melodic vocal lines, started life as a solo acoustic project. After writing and recording several demos he now describes as “kind of crappy,” Matthew Stinn decided to put a band together, so he recruited drummer Keegan Stretch and David Petrishen. Together, they started work on the songs that became their debut EP, Burn It Down. “I got approached to do a couple shows, and they were always surprised to find out I didn’t have a band,” Stinn says of the group’s genesis. “The best thing that’s ever happened to this project is making the switch from it being just my little gongshow. Everybody brings in their own different thing, and our sound definitely got heavier.” Burn It Down, which was recorded by Jordan Smith at the Avenue Record-
by alex J MacPherson
ing Company in Saskatoon, draws on influences from both sides of the band members’ experiences. The title track is driven by Stinn’s heavily distorted guitar, a nod to the propulsive crunch embraced by the modern rock movement. “Heart Stays Strong,” on the other hand, is reminiscent of the seminal California punk bands. “I think we all have a pretty good idea of where we want to go with it,” Stretch says of songs on Burn It Down, which are linked together by the gentle sweep of Stinn’s vocal delivery. “Maybe with less people you sacrifice a broader sound. But maybe for lack of a better word, there’s less standing in the way of our final destination.” The strongest song on Burn It Down is the frenetic party anthem “Twenty Going On Eighty,” which Stinn wrote shortly after he left his teenage years behind. “It was a big birthday for me,” he says wryly. “I no longer had the
Photo: courtesy of laura pritchard
excuse of being a teenager; I looked at it as coming out of that happy young age and getting stuck being old.” Capturing in less than four minutes the fear of age and the unknown that rests at the heart of all humanity, “Twenty Going On Eighty” is the best song the band has produced — but it is only the beginning for Come Hell Or High Water, as they take the next few steps in their career. Come Hell or High Water August 8 @ Louis’ $10 (advance) / $12 (door)
a cautionary tale
Altered States explores the fusion of biology and technology
by alex J MacPherson
T
Photo: courtesy of the mendel art gallery
1. Cate Francis, Don’t Look Back, 2012, screenprint on gamp, chine-colle.
here is an old adage that literature reveals more about the time in which it was written than the time it was written about. This idea rests at the heart of Altered States, an exhibition of paintings and mixed-media screenprints by Iris Hauser and Cate Francis. Part of the Mendel Art Gallery’s Artists by Artists series, Altered States explores the division between mind and body created by biological and human engineering — the intrusion of technology into the organic form. “I’ve been noticing more and more in scientific discourse and science fiction this idea of the body being a machine that is separate from what is intrinsically human,” explains Francis, whose screenprints depict the fusion of raw technology and organic forms, a world where the line separating body and machine is murky and indistinct. “I
don’t know how I felt about that, so I wanted to explore it. There’s a little bit of anxiety about where it’s going, but also intrigue.” Unlike Francis, Hauser, whose paintings reflect a much more violent mating between human and machine, did not have the luxury of growing up in an age where computers were part of life. And while her paintings represent the horror of a future where computers can take over from the fragile agglomerations of flesh and blood we call bodies, the ideas underpinning her work are much older than even the most ancient computer. “If you go right back to the origins of Christianity, that was when they started to make the split between the body and the mind,” she explains. “The last century was really all about saying no: the body and the spirit, everything human, is integrated, it’s one. And I think this really fits into that really old
dialogue that is exalting the mind above the body, and just saying we can change the body.” In this sense, both artists address the same question: is it permissible to modify the human form, and where is the line between organism and machine? And while these ideas seem like the stuff of science fiction, developments in bioengineering have made some of them very real indeed. Altered States is not an open condemnation of genetic or biological modifications, but it is a cautionary tale. But Francis says Altered States is anything but a call to return to some pastoral ideal. She wants to embrace the future cautiously. “I just want people to think about it
so that we can be informed as a society and move forward in the most ethical fashion possible.” And while Altered States may not depict reality fifty or one hundred years from now, it was never meant to — it addresses developments happening in laboratories across the world right now. Altered States Through September 15 @ Mendel Art Gallery
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Just the beginning Photo: courtesy of Xavier Walker
Kytami on her new solo album and musical vision by Alex J MacPherson
W
hen Kyla LeBlanc was sixteen years old, she knew exactly how the rest of her life would unfold. After more than a decade of formal training and countless thousands of hours spent practicing her beloved violin, LeBlanc was poised to find a job as a classical musician. She was determined to join a symphony orchestra and perform some of the finest pieces of music ever composed. And then everything changed. “When I was seventeen and graduating high school I switched violin teachers — and we did not get
along,” LeBlanc says, a trace of bitterness creeping into her voice. “She would give me s**t. I got sat further back in the orchestra. I lost some status. And I just stopped enjoying it as much.” The situation continued to deteriorate and, shortly after she finished high school, LeBlanc put her violin back in its case. She wouldn’t pick it up again for almost four years. Today, Kyla LeBlanc is recognized as one of the most innovative and exciting violin players in the country. Performing under the name Kytami, she draws on a wide range of musical ideas, from the shards of
her classical career and the rolling sounds of traditional fiddle playing to the edgy breakbeats of drum and bass. Her sound is entirely her own, a genre-bending mixture of analog and digital, old world and new. She believes music should not be limited by artificial boundaries, and that constructs like genre and style distract from the power of music to create meaningful connections between people. “People need to define and label things in order to understand what they are,” she concedes, referring to the impassable gulf between language and music. “I guess things need to be defined by words. But music is not.” Continued on next page »
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This idea rests at the heart of everything she does and serves as the focal point of her second solo album. On a very basic level Kytami, which was released in early 2012, feels like an attempt to fuse classical violin with the enormous rhythms and grooves of electronic music. But this is simplistic. Kytami is much more than a crossover or an experiment; it is a reflection of its creator’s utter disdain for labels and conventions. The album is a testament to LeBlanc’s unquenchable thirst for new sounds and ideas, as well as her belief that erecting artificial barriers, linguistic or otherwise, are an offense against the power of music to transcend borders, political or otherwise. But LeBlanc did not come to embrace this view of music overnight. After abandoning her dream of working as a classical musician, LeBlanc moved from Vancouver to Whistler, British Columbia, where she spent her days riding her mountain bike and snowboarding. During this period, a boyfriend with an extensive record collection exposed her to a completely new range of sounds — electronic music emanating from England. “I guess the first electronic bands I listened to were New Order and Depeche Mode,” she says with a laugh. “Then I started dating this DJ from the U.K. who had an amazing record collection. That was my introduction to drum and bass and jungle, and it became a huge passion. I wanted to get to England
four years later, she helped found Delhi 2 Dublin, a fiery party band whose fusion of Celtic and Bhangra sounds has won fans and acclaim across the country and around the world. “It wasn’t like, ‘A-ha! This is what I’m going to do!” she says of her desire to explore electronic music with her violin. “I didn’t know anyone else who had done it or was doing it; it just sort of happened over time. Part of my style, my personal style, is that I try to be non-judgmental, so maybe that comes through in my music.” These ideas are embedded in Kytami, which derives its strength not from the tension between the relentless pulse of the electronic rhythms and the blistering snarl of her violin, but from her uncanny ability to fuse them together. Most of the album was written and recorded in Toronto. LeBlanc chose to travel across the country because she wanted to work with producer Steven Mek, who shares her view of a world where music is a truly universal language. “When it came time to do the album we’d been working together on and off for years,” she explains. “I knew he understood my sound, what kind of sounds I wanted coming out of my violin. And we have a lot of similar influences.” The pair spent long days working in Mek’s studio. Some songs grew out of simple violin melodies LeBlanc had preserved on tape, others from Mek’s bass-heavy electronic arrangements. “It was
pastiche that mimics the depth and movement of a symphony while demonstrating that stately violin melodies can be fused with pulsating electronic grooves. “2 Lions” sets the tone for the album, which casts LeBlanc’s fiery violin playing against a bed of luscious electronic sounds. “Safehouse Anthem” is a spacey synthesis, a fusion of menacing keyboard sounds, sparse violin, and vocals by Vancouverbased dub singer OSC. “Stay,” on the other hand, is a song for the morning after, a languorous melody cast against delayed and distorted vocals by Josh MacDonald. The most unusual song on the record is “Unity” which drops the melody from Johann Pachelbel’s famous “Canon in D” into an internationalist anthem featuring vocals by a trio of LeBlanc’s close friends and collaborators. The song began as a tongue-in-cheek ode to Pachelbel’s “Canon,” which has been played to the point of meaninglessness by a wedding-obsessed society, before evolving into something else entirely. “I work so much with men,” LeBlanc explains. “It’s constant. So I wanted to do a track with all my girls who I work with and think are really talented.” Recorded in two sessions, one in Vancouver and one in Toronto, “Unity” emerged as LeBlanc’s attempt to transcend time and distance. “I had this idea of an east meets west type of thing,” she says. “It started with a beat, but it actually turned into something much more serious.”
Part of my style, my personal style, is that I try to be non-judgmental, so maybe that comes through in my music. kyla leblanc Photo: courtesy of West Olson
but it never happened.” Eventually, she began relearning how to play her violin by jamming with punk and metal bands. In 2002 she released her first solo album, Conflation, which featured a slew of hip hop producers and established her as a restless innovator. Then,
really collaborative, and yet he gave me a lot of freedom to experiment and try things out,” she recalls. “We also had a lot of ideas we’d been sitting on for years, so we resurrected those and turned them into songs.” Kytami opens with the sprawling and evocative “2 Lions,” a
The strongest song on the record, and the one which best captures the essence of LeBlanc’s musical vision, is “Lotus Land,” which feels jagged and raw after the glassy perfection of the previous nine songs. An eightminute romp through unexplored sonic territory, “Lotus Land” shifts
the focus from melody to emotion. It also gives a rare insight into LeBlanc’s creative process. “We’d sit together, I’d add some violin, we’d work on arrangements, we’d work on adding sounds,” she says of her collaboration with Mek. “[‘Lotus Land’] is just a jam we did. We got really stoned and we were just jamming out. He was playing his keys and I was going through this Zoom multi-effects unit, just experimenting with sounds. It’s fun to run my violin through effects units and just find my own sounds. It was a cool moment in time, and that’s how it ended up on the album.” And while “Lotus Land” might sound listless and meandering to some, it captures not only LeBlanc’s fascination with new sounds, but also
her innate sense of pace — the song builds a series of related ideas without ever finding resolution. Ultimately, the final moments of Kytami leave the listener wondering what LeBlanc will come up with next. And that is exactly what she wants. “Learning how to master your instrument is just the beginning,” she says with a laugh. “There’s so much more out there.” Kytami August 4 @ Connect Fest 18 $130+ @ connectfestival.ca
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Buffet beastin’ Photos courtesy of Adam Hawboldt
Our food writer tackles mounds of food at the Best Asia Buffet by adam hawboldt
Y
ou know how some allyou-can-eat buffets serve boxed food? Not all of it, mind you. But at some places you go, the egg rolls or the perogies or (heaven forbid!) the mashed potatoes come straight from a box. Well, that’s not the case at the Best Asia Buffet, on the corner of
brought out I stood there and stared as the chefs battered shrimp and rolled the sushi. In everything they did there was a concerted effort on quality. And it shows in the final product. But more on that in a bit. For now, let’s look at the restaurant in and of itself. The Best Asia Buffet on Circle Drive is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. Two large dining rooms with hanging lights and sharp, clean lines greet you when you enter. Off to the far right is a lounge, in front of you there are three substantial rows of buffet food. Don’t let the name of the restaurant mislead you, though. Sure, they serve food from Japan, China, Singapore and Vietnam at the Best Asia Buffet. But there’s also Greek ribs, turkey, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, mussels, desserts — a little something for any palate. Unsure of what I felt like eating, an old familiar feeling washed over me. “If you don’t know specifically what you want, be adventurous” I said to myself, grabbing a plate from a back-lit table, “and just eat
Circle Drive and Quebec Avenue. How do I know this? Simple. The other day when I was there for the grand opening (lunch specials are only $9.99 till the end of July), I watched the chefs prepare the food in the kitchen. With the restaurant’s open kitchen concept it was easy. Waiting for all the food to be
let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide SAKE SCREWDRIVER
Ingredients
Chances are, at some point in your life, you’ve had a screwdriver. You know, the vodka and orange juice cocktail that goes down just as easy in the morning as it does at night. They’re delicious. But why not add a twist to the original and give it some Asian flavour.
1.5 oz sake 1 cup orange juice and ice 1 orange slice
Directions
First things first: you can leave the ice cubed or crush it for a more slushy drink. Your choice. After that, pour the sake over the ice. Add orange juice, garnish with orange slice, and serve.
a little bit of everything.” So that’s precisely what I did. I sampled everything from spring rolls to egg rolls, from chicken satay to chicken balls to fried chicken, pizza and so much more. And remember when I said I watched the attention that the chefs put into their food? I wasn’t lying — it really shows. The batter on the fish and shrimp and chicken balls was light and flaky and delicious. The fried chicken? Oh my! Perfectly spiced, perfectly cooked … it was the best piece of fried chicken I’ve eaten in some time. The rest of the food was pretty darn good, too.
And you know what? I managed to get through nearly every dish they served at the Best Asia Buffet. Except for the salads and the desserts. Guess I’m just going to have to go back for another round one of these days. Best Asia Buffet 300 415 Circle Drive E | 306 974 5611
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Next Week
coming up
Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
The Sadies
@ Lydia’s Pub Friday, August 2 – $5
@ Credit Union Centre Tuesday, August 6 – $62.25+
@ Broadway Theatre Wednesday, October 16 –$25
How does one describe the music of Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers? Gypsy-jazz orchestral? Operatic Rock? Does it even matter? Nope, the only thing that matters is that the music this five-piece from Winnipeg makes is all kinds of good. It’s the kind of music that, since releasing their first full-length album in 2011, has been honed in venue after venue all across this vast country of ours. Consisting of frontman Jesse Krause, Lindsey Collins, Andrew Littleford, Kyle Wedlake and Jaime Carrasco, Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers sing dark, beautiful, imaginative tales that grab audiences’ attention. Their sound is hip and haunting. Check them out when they play Lydia’s in early August.
Rapper Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore, and his DJ/producer Ryan Lewis make the kind of music you remember after just one listen. It’s catchy, infectious, and lyrically and sonically different than most other rap music out there these days. With rapid-fire, offtime rhymes flowing over trumpets, violins and some of the sickest beats you’ll ever hear, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis make music about everything from drug addiction to same sex marriage to deceased baseball announcers. The result has been a one-way ticket to instant fame. Their first album together, The Heist, blew up iTunes and propelled Macklemore and Ryan Lewis into rap’s limelight. One of the hottest acts in rap today, this dynamic duo will be in Saskatchewan in early August. Tickets through Ticketmaster.
The Sadies are no strangers to working with other bands. They’ve collaborated with Blue Rodeo, The Tragically Hip, and Jon Langford. They’ve toured extensively with the always terrific Neko Case. And they’ve toured and recorded with Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray under the moniker Heavy Trash. Yes indeed, these guys know how to work well with others. Oh, and they’re pretty darn good playing music on their own, too. Consisting of Dallas Good, Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky, this quartet from Toronto play a biting style of alt-country that is oh-so-good. Don’t believe me? Give any one of their albums a listen. From Pure Diamond Gold to The Tigers Have Spoken, The Sadies have, through the years, continued to make music that people dig. – By Adam Hawboldt
Photos courtesy of: the artist / the artist / the artist
Sask music Preview The SaskMusic CCMA Country Music Week Travel Bursary is a program that provides financial support to music industry professionals to assist in travel, accommodation and other related expenses incurred in their professional activities at the CCMAs. Funds are provided by the Saskatoon Country Music Week 2012 Host Committee. This is a first-come, first-served program; the application deadline is August 15, 2013. Please see www.saskmusic.org/index.php?p=Travel%20Bursaries for more information. Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org
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July 26 » august 3 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon. S
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28 29 30 31
Friday 26
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26 27 2
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House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs. 9pm / No cover The Moas / Amigos — Energetic indie rock from a local band. 10pm / Cover TBD Riff Raff / Buds on Broadway — A night of classic rock. 9pm / $5 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover BPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/vocal house music. 10pm / $5 DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax Niteclub — It’s all your favourite party hits. 9pm / $5 cover Vibonics / Lydia’s Pub — Infectious acoustic rap from Toronto. 10:30pm / $5 DJs Big Ayyy & HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5 The Mudd Brothers / Piggy’s — A rockin’ talented four-piece. 9pm / No cover
The Worst Pop Trio Ever / Prairie Ink — Playing smooth jazz licks. 8pm / No cover Iron Kingdom / Rock Bottom — With Naraka and Desecrate Scripture. 9pm / TBD DJ Fink / Freehouse — Spinning tunes that’ll make you wanna move. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — Classic tunes and audience requests. 10pm / $5 DJs Dubz + Mern / Tequila — Tequila turns 3! 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD Fuzz Kings / Vangelis — Edmonton’s underground troubadours. 10pm / $8
Mikey Dangerous / Odeon — A Junowinning reggae sensation. 8pm / $20+ DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5 The Mudd Brothers / Piggy’s — A rockin’ talented four-piece. 9pm / No cover The Dave Nelson Trio / Prairie Ink — Light jazz and latin standards. 8pm / No cover Dead Past Due / Rock Bottom — Also featuring Phantom Radio. 9pm / Cover TBD Mitchy the Kid / Freehouse — Come check out this dope act. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — Classic tunes and audience requests. 10pm / $5 DJ Anchor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the world famous video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD DJ Dislexik + more / Tequila — 10 DJs will spinning for you. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Thorpdeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD Ray Elliott Band / Vangelis — A local folkrock/alt-country band. 10pm / $8
Saturday 27
House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Wizards / Amigos — Leaders in the Prairie Surf Revival movement. 10pm / Cover TBD DJ Aash Money + DJ CTRL / Béily’s — These two DJs throw it down. 9pm / $5 cover Riff Raff / Buds on Broadway — A night of classic rock. 9pm / $5 SaturGAY Night / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes. 10pm / $5 DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax — Ladies’ night with the Jax party crew. 9pm / $5 cover Apollo Cruz / Little Stone Stage (Victoria School) — It’s Broadway’s “Live at Lunch.” 11:30pm / No cover Sean Burns Band / Lydia’s — Folk/roots music out of Oshawa. 10:30pm / $5
Sunday 28
Industry Night / Béily’s — With DJ Sugar Daddy. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff DJ KADE / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Jam / Vangelis — Blues and more. 7:30pm
Monday 29
Apollo Cruz / Buds — Local trio playing high-octane blues. 9pm / $5 DJ Audio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD
Classical Variety Night / Grosvenor Park United Church — Local musicians play the music they love. 7:30pm / By donation Metal Mondays / Lydia’s — Hard, heavy awesomeness. 9pm
Tuesday 30
Apollo Cruz / Buds — Local trio playing high-octane blues. 9pm / $5 DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Deuce — This crowd favourite rocks. 9:30pm / $4 cover DJ Nick Ruston / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD verb presents OPEN STAGE / Lydia’s — Show your stuff! 9pm / No cover Open Mic / Somewhere Else Pub — Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No cover Loon Choir / Vangelis — An indie rocking kind of night. 9pm / $8
Wednesday 31
HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 — With DJ Chris Knorr. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 after Apollo Cruz / Buds — Local trio playing high-octane blues. 9pm / $5 DJ Memo / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Souled Out’/ Lydia’s — Dr. J spins hot funk and soul. 9pm / No cover WILD WEST WEDNESDAY / Outlaws — With DJs Big Ayyy & Henchman. 9pm / $4 Open Mic / Rock Bottom — Hosted by Chad Reynolds. Sign up and play. 10pm / No cover CJWW Karaoke / Stan’s Place — Your talent, aired on the radio! 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — Classic tunes and audience requests. 10pm / No cover
Thursday 1
Throwback Thursdays / Earls — With Dr. J. 8pm / No cover DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover My Constant / Louis’ — Local punk rock band playing a comeback show. 7pm / $10 The Current / Lydia’s Pub — An intimate music showcase. 9pm / $5 Trooper / Odeon — Canadian rock icons. 7pm / $34.50+ (www.theodeon.ca) Triple Up Thursdays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Stikman. 9pm / Cover TBD
Friday 2
House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs. 9pm / No cover DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — It’s a top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 BPM / Diva’s — It’s a party! 10pm / $5 DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover
DJ Stikman / Jax — It’s all your favourite party hits.. 9pm / $5 cover Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers / Lydia’s — Operatic rock. 10:30pm / $5 DJs Big Ayyy & HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5 Ian Martens / Prairie Ink — Acoustic folk rock. 8pm / No cover Dead City Dolls / Rock Bottom — Unfiltered rock from Edmonton. 9pm / Cover TBD Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — Classic tunes and audience requests. 10pm / $5 Party Rock Fridays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Anchor. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD
Saturday 3
House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover frankie mcqueen / Amigos — Blues-heavy rock from Calgary. 10pm / Cover TBD DJs Aash Money + CTRL / Béily’s — It’s a high-energy top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 The Mavericks / Dakota Dunes — A country-steeped garage band from Miami. 8pm / $55 (www.tickets.siga.sk.ca) SaturGAY Night / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes. 10pm / $5 DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax Niteclub — Ladies night with DJ Stikman and the Jax party crew. 9pm / $5 cover Ninja Funk Orchestra / Lydia’s Pub — Ninja tek tunes from Toronto. 9pm / $5 Mikey Dangerous / Odeon Events Centre — A Juno-winning reggae sensation. 8pm / $20+ (theodeon.ca) DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 No Hurry Trio / Prairie Ink — Acoustic classic rock. 8pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5 DJ Anchor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the world famous video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD Sexy Saturdays / Tequila — A night of hot tunes. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Thorpdeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD
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Death comes knocking
Photo: Courtesy of 20th century fox
The Wolverine is a character-driven superhero movie worth watching by adam hawboldt
A
spectre of death hangs over The Wolverine movie. Just lingers there, like a pitch-black cloud. And that’s not a sideways prediction about how the new X-Men spin-off movie may do at the box office. Nah, it’s a comment on the actual movie itself. For those of you unfamiliar with Wolverine (aka Logan), he’s a comic book mutant with adamantium
own death. See, Logan/Wolverine has had it. He doesn’t want to go on living. He wants to join Jean Grey in the great hereafter. But how do you kill yourself if you’re basically indestructible? One day a Japanese assassin (Rila Fukushima) comes along and gives him the answer. Well, actually, she invites Wolverine to come back to Japan with her to reunite with a soldier he saved during the Second World War.
The wolverine James Mangold Starring Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Hal Yamanouchi + Rila Fukushima Directed by
136 minutes | 14A
Khodchenkova), and a bunch of action that will give summer blockbuster fans something to talk about. But The Wolverine isn’t really a summer blockbuster. Instead of going the route of other comic book movies (read: The Avengers, Superman, etc.), director James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma) opts for a more serious tone, a more character-driven story. That means a lot more inner turmoil, a lot less explosions. And you know what? Kind of like Iron Man 3, the character study of this superhero works. That’s not to say The Wolverine is perfect. It shoots for a classically styled serious tone, but comes undone near the end and winds up more blockbuster than serious flick. But, for the most part, it’s a pretty good addition to the comic-book-turned-movie genre. Much better than, say, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Kind of like Iron Man 3, the character study of this superhero works. Adam Hawboldt
claws, an adamantium skeleton, and the uncanny ability of self-healing. Meaning, the dude is nearly impossible to kill. And that’s an issue for Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in this movie. You see, being basically unable to die has its drawbacks. You can live through darn near everything, sure. But it also means (especially when you’re in the superhero racket) that people close to you (people who can be killed much more easily) will eventually die. For Wolverine, that person was his lover, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). When we first meet Wolverine in this film, he’s living off the land in northern Canada, alone with himself and his thoughts — thoughts of his
But when Wolverine arrives in Tokyo, still wrestling with his inner demons, he soon realizes this isn’t just a simple reunion. The soldier he saved, Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), is now old and dying, and he wants to repay Wolverine for saving his life way back when. How do you repay someone who saved your life? Well, if that guy is Wolverine you give him the one thing he wants more than anything: death. To do this, Yashida proposes to transfer Wolverine’s mutant powers into himself so he can continue living. There’s more to The Wolverine than just this simple plot line. There’s a a damsel in distress (Tao Okamoto), a run-in with a bad villain (Svetlana
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The new indie darling
Greta Gerwig’s star burns bright in Frances Ha by adam hawboldt
Photo: Courtesy of ifc films
T
here comes a time in many people’s existence when it feels like they’re going nowhere. We’re not talking about the shiftless existence of the recent university grad No, what we’re talking about is what comes after that, years after, when your 30s are looming and you still have no damn clue what you’re doing with your life. You don’t have a career to speak of, you’re broke, all your friends are getting hitched and
There’s something infectious and endearing about [Gerwig]… Adam Hawboldt
moving on towards gold-plated futures. And there you are, adrift in the tumultuous sea of life with no direction at all, waves crashing all around. You know you have to do something … but what? This is the central premise of Noah Baumbach’s latest flick, Frances Ha. The main character of the story, Frances (Greta Gerwig) is a 27-yearold free spirit who has been content just stumbling her way through life with no specific aim, rhyme or
reason. She’s an apprentice at a dance company in New York, but at her age has no chance of becoming a professional dancer. She has a boyfriend who she stays with until something better comes along. And she has a BFF, Sophie (Mickey Sumner), with whom she shares an apartment in Brooklyn. Frances and Sophie are close. Super close. They’re like an old lesbian couple that doesn’t have sex anymore — her words, not mine. They share their most intimate thoughts and secrets, and wander the streets of Brooklyn chatting about life and love and everything in between. But there’s a catch. Sophie and her boyfriend are serious and have begun planning for their future. This drives a wedge between Frances and her BFF. Sophie goes off to plan her future and Frances is stuck. She decides to get her act together, but it isn’t as easy at it seems. Every path she takes leads her in the wrong direction, until one day… Well, there’s no need to spoil the movie for you, is there? So instead of focusing on the plot (which isn’t much of a plot, really), let’s focus on the feel and style of the film. Shot in black and white, Frances Ha is the kind of movie that would happen if Woody Allen got together with the Duplass brothers and tried to pay homage to both French New Wave cinema and the HBO hit show Girls.
frances ha Noah Baumbach Starring Greta Gerwig + Mickey Sumner Directed by
86 minutes | 14A
That may sound a tad pretentious, but the end result is anything but. Maybe that’s because of Gerwig. As Frances, this indie darling’s carefree attitude combined with a certain joie de vivre makes for a character that is impossible to dislike. There’s something infectious and endearing about her that erases all pretension from the movie. And speaking of the movie, Frances Ha is rather different from Baumbach’s other films. Sure, like The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding or Greenberg, it has that distinct feel of being Baumbachian. But unlike those other films, the main character isn’t difficult or standoffish. Instead, Frances is happygo-lucky, hopeless and a little silly. Which is refreshing and makes for a terribly pleasant movie experience. Frances Ha is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.
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sunday, july 21 @
Red Zone
Red Zone Premium Sports Bar 106 Circle Drive West (306) 978 6514 on the screen / The Saskatchewan Roughriders at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Featured deals / Buckets of Pilsner (4 bottles) for $16 Drink of Choice / Pilsner top eats / The tailgator platter — wings, dry ribs, chicken rolls and poutine coming up / Two Norco bikes are being given away on July 27; receive one entry per Great Western product purchased. For every Riders away game that is followed by a home game the next week, swing by Red Zone for your chance to win tickets to the home game
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Photography by Patrick Carley
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Friday, July 19 @
Lydia’s pub
Lydia’s Pub 650 Broadway Ave (306) 652 8595 Music vibe / Eclectic, changes all
the time depending on the live acts on stage Featured deals / Domestic pints for $5.25 Drink of Choice / Paddock Wood beer top eats / Burger and fries something new / A new stage has just been built coming up / Vibonics July 26, Sean Burns Band July 27, and Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers on August 2
24 July 26 – Aug 1 entertainment
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Photography by Cortez
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Š Elaine M. Will | blog.E2W-Illustration.com | Check onthebus.webcomic.ws/ for previous editions!
26 July 26 – Aug 1 entertainment
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timeout
crossword canadian criss-cross DOWN . Fair-haired 1 2. Depressions 3. Naturally occurring mineral 4. Arum lily 5. Satisfy a hunger 6. Day before 7. Strip of shoe leather 8. Limited 9. Part that faces forward 11. Cheer up 12. Beverages served hot or iced 14. Put in the mail 17. Letter after delta 20. Groom oneself with elaborate care
21. Gruesome 24. To do wrong 26. Family man 28. Number of different kinds 29. Printed mistake 30. Valentine symbol 31. With no part left out 33. Slip away 34. Nest built on a cliff 35. Cut of meat 38. Open, in a way 41. Part of a parka 43. Bridge section 45. Carry with difficulty 47. Furious feeling
sudoku
Horoscopes July 26 – August 1
Aries March 21–April 19
Libra September 23–October 23
You may lose your sense of self this week, feel like a stranger in your own skin. Don’t worry, Aries. It’s a passing phase.
Alone time. It may not be your favorite thing, Libra, but you are damn well going to need it in the upcoming week.
Taurus April 20–May 20
Scorpio October 24–November 22
You have been following a path towards your goals that seems like it will never end. Don’t complain, just keep walking.
You know that old saying, “never judge a book by its cover?” Well, that applies to you this week, Scorpio. Judge not lest ye want to look like a fool.
Gemini May 21–June 20
Sagittarius November 23–December 21
You are beautiful on the inside and out, Gemini. Never forget that. Not even if someone next week thinks otherwise.
Sometimes you have the urge to try to fit square pegs into round holes. Fight that urge this week.
Cancer June 21–July 22
Capricorn December 22–January 19
You may be feeling a tad restless in the upcoming days, Cancer. Don’t just sit around complaining. Do something about it.
The old ways aren’t working, so it’s on you to find a new approach, Capricorn. Be creative!
Leo July 23–August 22
Aquarius January 20–February 19
I see travel in your near future, Leo. A great adventure that will carry you through the rest of the summer with a smile on your face.
You may be forced make a massive decision this week, Aquarius. Be bold and mighty forces may come to your aid. Or not.
Virgo August 23–September 22
Pisces February 20–March 20
A good tip to remember: When speaking of others, be sure to speak well. Especially during the next week or so.
Easy things may seem complicated this week. Like cooking dinner or driving an automatic car. Don’t force it, Pisces.
sudoku answer key
A
B
2 8 3 4 7 5 1 6 9 6 9 1 2 8 3 5 7 4 4 5 7 1 9 6 8 3 2 8 1 2 6 4 9 3 5 7 9 4 5 3 1 7 2 8 6 3 7 6 8 5 2 9 4 1 1 6 8 9 3 4 7 2 5 7 3 4 5 2 1 6 9 8 5 2 9 7 6 8 4 1 3
© walter D. Feener 2013
29. Pertaining to heat 32. Just as one would wish 36. Craving 37. Like new parents 39. Zodiac sign 40. A way for walking 42. Hotel in the country 43. Draped garment 44. Golden-yellow bird 46. Dessert apple 48. Freshwater fish 49. Remove all traces of 50. Nervously anxious 51. Unit of heredity
8 5 2 3 1 4 7 6 9 9 1 3 7 6 2 4 8 5 7 4 6 5 8 9 1 3 2 4 8 9 1 3 6 5 2 7 5 3 7 2 4 8 6 9 1 2 6 1 9 7 5 3 4 8 1 7 8 6 2 3 9 5 4 3 9 4 8 5 1 2 7 6 6 2 5 4 9 7 8 1 3
ACROSS 1. United group of countries 5. Medieval farmworker 9. Plant life 10. Be of use to 12. Mason’s tool 13. Game played with racquets 15. Billions of years 16. Garland of flowers 18. Acrobatic plunge 19. Furthermore 20. Relating to the pope 22. Start of a countdown 23. Take the helm 25. One with homework 27. Mediterranean resort
crossword answer key
5 2 4 7 3 2 8 5 4 5 8 1 4 9 3 7 2 4 6 1 2 1 9 8 7 8 6 3 5 9 6 6 9 7 1 3
A
2 3 5 1 6 9 8 3 4 6 3 2 2 7 4 5 3 1 8 7 8 5 9 1 1 6 9 7 4 2 6 9 5 7 8 4
B
27 July 26 – Aug 1 /verbsaskatoon
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