Sound Academy, Toronto ON
February 4, 2010
I don’t care what Lester Bangs said: Cheap Trick was, is, and will always be the best rock and roll band of all time.
They more than proved this (again) at Thursday’s Sound Academy show in Toronto.
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By Less Lee Moore
Batman Begins, 2005
8. He can play creepy.
Let’s get this one out of the way first. If I had a nickel for every time I heard or read the word “creepy” (or worse, “BUT he’s so creepy!”) associated with Cillian Murphy, well, I’d have a hell of a lot of nickels.
By Less Lee Moore
Shortly before last Christmas, fellow pop culture enthusiast and Popshifter writer Chelsea Spear sent me a link to a YouTube video and referred to it as ” HOLY CRAP THIS IS THE MOST FACE-MELTINGLY AWESOME THING EVAR.” (This is a direct quote.)
Without even questioning her expert judgment, I clicked and found the oddly-named but utterly mesmerizing “Prisencolinensinainciusol.”
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By Less Lee Moore
The recent launch of Movieclips.com, a website featuring “over 12,000 movie clips” that one can “search, find, view, discuss and share scenes from” seems like a great idea. From a practical standpoint, trying to find YouTube movie clips can be challenging as they are often taken down due to copyright infringement issues. (Movieclips has the express permission of several of the major studios to showcase these clips.)
On the other hand, why would we need a site like Movieclips.com (or movie clips on YouTube, for that matter)?
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In an editorial called “An Argument Against Year End Lists” Dusted‘s Ben Tausig calls them both “viscerally disgusting” and “overdone” and accuses those critics who write them of being lazy.
Point taken, Mr. Tausig.
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By Less Lee Moore
I like to troll thrift stores for old craft books and the best ones are usually found at the “Bibles For Missions” shop down the street from my building. Recently, I came across a hardcover Better Homes and Gardens’ book called Easy Bazaar Crafts. It just reeked of “country ducks” and calico, so naturally I had to peruse.
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By Less Lee Moore
Since after nearly thirty years I still remain somewhat obsessed with Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” single (despite how ridiculously offensive it is), naturally I was overjoyed when Megashaun pointed me in the direction of a MIDI version of the song.
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By Less Lee Moore
As a longtime Duranie, I remember all too well the anti-Duran Duran sentiments of the 1980s. Duran Duran’s career has now lasted about thirty years and due to the band’s impressive longevity, unique sound, undeniable influence, and general affability, I thought that phase was long past.
After seeing one incredibly nasty comment made about the band recently, I felt almost personally offended, shocked that anyone still clung to such negative thoughts after all this time. Haven’t Duran Duran more than proven themselves by now?
I invite such haters to watch the newly-released Hammersmith ’82! DVD and defy them to feel anything but joy after seeing it.
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I know this song’s privileged, paternalistic attitude is totally inappropriate, but it just reminds me so much of teenaged Christmases, I can’t help but love it. Plus, it features many of my teen musical crushes: Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Boy George, and of course, Marilyn (before the drugs took their toll).
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Rupert Everett in Dance With A Stranger, 1985
It wasn’t the Beatles; despite Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and select songs from the White Album, I could hardly tell they had accents. And it wasn’t David Bowie because he wasn’t even from Earth, never mind the UK. I should probably blame Julie Andrews, since it was surely my obsession with The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins that started it.
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