Blues Folk to Pull at Your Steel String Heart Strings: Timber Timbre’s album “Medicinals”

“Oh the mountain top

Oh the visions stop

And I will reap the locust crop

‘cus I love you like a mountain Oh the mountain top

Oh the bleedings stopped

And down goes the hatchet on the chopping block

‘cus I love you like a mountain”

- Like A Mountain, Medicinals, Timber Timbre

Medicinals by Timber Timbre is a stunning example of largely unrecognized musical talent. This sensational folk and blues record is characterized by its twisted sounding progressions and macabre lyrical insight’s.

Its simple lyrics are spattered with typical Christian concepts of Devils and Locusts. It’s instrumentation is largely traditional folk, like the guitar and violin, but is combined with atypical sounds, like the crackling of a needle on vinyl, or the sound of a rusty spinning bike wheel.

Though not all songs have an entirely minor appeal, they all sound in some way corrupted, and none of them may be categorized as upbeat. This album is best described as an echoing nightmare of a disturbed blues legend, or an ephemeral wisp of evil. It must be understood, though, that despite this, it is a work of musical genius.

The song Like A Mountain is particularly incredible. Although the lyrics are vague one could posit they elude to the Old Testament stories of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his only son, or even Moses’ journey up mount Sinai. Its rich symbolism adds a refreshing flare of intellect into the desperate froth of today’s music.

There is an ultimately heart wrenching deformity captured in the demonic melodies and broken vocals displayed by the album Medicinals by Timber Timbre. It captures the sort of fleeting despair of a man who has buried his heart at the crossroads. It encapsulates a drowning sensation of folk morbidity.

Stud Your Own Leather Jackets!

Fashion is proven to be cyclical as each season  styles are adapted to certain eras. Now that winter is on its way, Montrealer’s seek refuge from the brisk cold winds in their wool pullovers ranging in dark colours schemes.  Now this is fairly typical and expected seeing as winter is cold as heck up here in Canada; but as the seasons transition so does Montreal’s street style  and good ol’ punk rock has put its foot in our doorway.

Honestly I’m ecstatic for this new trend for I can now finally wear my ratty and tattered clothes and not look like such a bum; but what catches my eye and annoys me beyond belief are pre-studded leather jackets! When I come across a girl with a brand new leather jacket and I can see that she has put no effort into adding those two inch spikes on her shoulders I want to scream.

Please excuse my bluntness and my extreme opinions regarding this topic but coming from a punk enthusiast’s standpoint; these pre-studded leather jackets take away from all that is punk rock and lacks one major component to the scene: AUTHENTICITY!

A true punk jacket should be bought second hand from the depths of some smelly discount store and should take at least two months of serious searching to find. Once the jacket is found, the owner should look through all their old band tees to see which ones they can cut up and make into patches. Afterwards they should save their spare pocket change until they can afford to buy a handful of studs. The jacket owner should then spend hours toiling over the thick hide of their jacket getting blisters on their fingers from trying to pierce through the material; and only then, will they have a jacket to call their own!

I know this may sound like some recipe for a DIY leather jacket and it may come off as commanding (which is hypocritical and not punk in the slightest) but it’s important to understand the necessity of this process. A punk leather jacket is a continuous process that eventually becomes your second skin. You need to put in the effort to make it your own so that you appreciate that garment that covers your back.

If you don’t follow this process or a similar one; you take that edgy look for granted and as the seasons change that pre-studded leather jacket will find itself in the back of your closet next to your UGG boots, “nerd” glasses, and pink Juicy Couture velour sweat pants.

Neil Gaiman’s “Endless Nights” comic review

‘On Desire, Happiness, and Love’

 Neil Gaiman’s Endless Nights is a refreshing side note to the famous Sandman series. It follows God-like characters, called the endless, in a procession of 7 unrelated tales. The most enthralling of these tales is the second comic merely entitled Desire. In this comic Gaiman illustrates the role of desire in human experience by unveiling a tragic glimpse into the romance of two young people in pre-Roman Britain.

The principal character is a young girl named Kara, who is infatuated with a beautiful young boy named Danyal. It so happens that one day Danyal goes on a hunting trip in the woods while his father, the tribal chief, goes to negotiate with other bands in the area. The negotiations end with the murder of Danyal’s father.

When word reaches the town Kara decides to set out and bring the news to Danyal. She tracks his path through the woods but she loses direction. She soon finds herself standing in front of an androgynous character of sublime beauty who reveals ‘himself’ to be Desire. Desire shows Kara how to make Danyal love her.

Kara finds Danyal and delivers him the bad news. On the journey back to the village Danyal begins to profess his love for her, but she responds by denying him. His advances become clearer and more desperate as the journey continues, culminating in a proposal for marriage, which she eventually accepts. When they return to their village they live in happiness for a short time.

One day when Danyal is out hunting a group of strange men enter the town.  They want to rape Kara and steal the village’s riches. They show Kara the head of her husband and laugh. But she pits the men against each other by twisting their desires for her, and has each one of them killed. The final page of the comic shows Kara’s portrait as she crumbles from youth into dust, and laments the terrible life she has led.

 When writing on matters of love Neil Gaimen has the tendency to cause the reader to actually love his characters. He accomplishes this because he has an almost inhuman ability to give a multidimensional personality to a fictional character. Moreover, his characters are relatable and typically admirable. He, however, also has no problem with ruining the character’s lives using tragedy that can only be compared to ancient Greek myth.

The result is most often a work of stunning emotional genius and relative philosophical insight. The moral of this particular story is that the pursuit of ones desires is not necessarily a road to happiness. It reminds me of his work Dream Country (Sandman Volume 3) where he writes, “the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted”.

The insight that Neil Gaiman lends to the human experience through the medium of comics is extremely valuable. If there were ever a comic book that justified the classification of comics as an art form it would be Endless Nights.

Dressed in Drag

By: Jessica Williams

Every Halloween, Daniel Altenburg, a third semester Vanier student studying Pure and Applied Sciences, puts on his fishnet stockings, applies a little rouge to his cheeks and finally puts on his vibrant red go-go stiletto boots to strut his stuff at the one event he can feel like his true self; the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

On Halloween night, the Impérial Cinéma hosts the production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show where hundreds of Montrealers come to experience one of the most talked about and loved performances. Altenburg seizes this event to get in touch with his effeminate side dressing as a character he calls Kelli-Lyn Koch. 

“It’s the one time I can let my closeted homosexuality loose and reconnect with the emotions I supress for 12 months,” explains Altenburg, “Nothing makes me have more confidence than walking down the street in my red boots.”

Altenburg has a process of getting ready for the show which he describes to be almost “ritualistic”. He begins his night by lifting weights while listening to the 80’s cold-wave band Marquis de Sade. He then carefully selects his outfit trying on as many as 16 different combinations. “I can seldom walk out of my house dressed as a woman so it’s important I wear the right thing,” says Altenburg. Once he finally decides what he will wear he dances the Time Warp until it is time for him to meet up with his friends and attend the show.

 “I feel at home at the Rocky Horror Picture Show,” says Altenburg, “Even with the flying toast and water pistols something about the atmosphere makes me feel like it’s okay to be in tune with my sexuality. It’s the one setting where everyone accepts the unordinary, the odd balls, and men dressed as women.”

Altenburg is uncertain of his sexual orientation which is why he uses The Rocky Horror Picture Show to experiment. “I know I have gay tendencies but I can’t say I am gay,” Altenburg explains, “I am highly involved with my church and if I were to come out and say that I like men I’d probably be excommunicated. With The Rocky Horror, I can leave my house as Kelli-Lyn Koch and not have to worry.”

This Halloween, Altenburg says Kelli-Lyn will be the most flamboyant persona he has yet to unleash. “I’m not going to go into details,” Altenburg laughs, “but let’s just say there might be glitter and a lace collar involved this year.”

In class assignment Nov. 6th

New Home, New Lineup and a Fresh Result

What is the thesis/ main idea of the article?:

1. The main idea of the article is the new basketball team The Brooklyn Nets

What is effective about the article? Does it have a good hook? Pertinent details? Good open and close?:

2. The article is effective by emphasizing the support the team received by it's townspeople. There were good details such as having a sold out game that really let the reader see how important the game is. The hook was a little misleading mainly because it had a small reference to hurricane Sandy which made me assume the article would be about both topics. 

What didn’t work in the article in your opinion? Were all the details clear? Did you know what the subject was from the beginning? Were there any inconsistencies or things left out?:

3.  To be honest I didn't really like the article but that's mainly due to the fact that I don't like sports, especially basketball. I found the article to be bland. I did not know what the articles subject was from the beginning because of the mention of hurricane Sandy, I thought that both topics would coincide but they didn't. 

Hurricane Sandy

1.What kind of impact did Sandy have?

Sandy had a major impact on New York immobilizing it for many days. I have friends in        New York who's apartments and homes have been destroyed do to the flooding. 

2.Where effective measures put in place to effectively reduce the destruction?  

I don't think that effective measures were taken to reduce the destruction. It just seems like they suggested a mass evacuation and let the storm hit New York unprotected. 

3. How have people been coping with the aftermath?

 It seems like everyone is trying to pick up the pieces and reconstruct everything that broke. It's astonishing that the hurricane made 60 billion dollars worth of damage!

4. Will this storm have an impact on U.S politics? 

I think the storm will have an impact on U.S politics because the race is so tight between Obama and Romney and the storm can be the deciding factor for peoples votes. The storm can be seen as an opportunity for the politicians to stand up look 'presidential' by helping people recover from the storm. 

5. What rippling/global effects did the storm have?

The storm really made people realize the effects of global warming. New York never gets hurricanes but due to the planet warming up we have been going through odd weather related instances. 

6. Did Sandy personally affect you?

Sandy had absolutely no affect on my life. It's probably because there wasn't any direct problems in Montreal. Through out the whole storm all I was thinking was ... 

"Sandy just called, she's taking a rain check"

Our Insensitive Youth: Amanda Todd Mocked After Death

“Tough Titty: The Amanda Todd Story” is brought to you by PROZAC, the drug of choice for attention whores” – Claire Myers, Facebook Status.

In recent social media, the story of Amanda Todd has gone viral broadcasting the importance of anti-bullying campaigns and the effects of bullying altogether. As most Facebook users interpret Amanda Todd’s suicide as a tragic event; there is still a small group of people who continue to insult Todd in order to gain acknowledgement or Facebook fame, passing off Todd’s death as a mere joke.

This leaves me thinking: ‘Do I actually live in a society where someone’s misfortunes are seen as opportunities for others to display their humorous characteristics to the world?’ and while dwelling on this question and surfing the internet, I’ve concluded that: ‘yes, I do’.

There seems to be a regular pattern on Facebook where whenever some ‘cause for the greater good’ is posted or gone viral, people must denounce and demoralize it.  It is a cycle that targets all causes and it breaks my heart to see that Todd’s suicide isn’t excluded from its wrath.  Statuses and photo-based memes litter newsfeeds spreading distasteful jokes about her death worldwide and worst of all they are being liked! The fact that people are still making fun of Todd after her death makes it seem as though the bar for moral sensitivity over the internet has lowered by many notches or has just all together disappeared.

But what I believe to be the worst aspect about these Facebook posts is the reason why people do it. For some odd reason being insensitive on the internet is appreciated and those who insult others or stir controversy are praised. People thrive at other’s expenses in order to get likes and comments and are insensitive for others amusement and of course, the quest for self-fame on the internet. It is as though people believe the internet is a safe haven to say these heartless things rather than saying it directly.

It’s sad to say this but I guess I’ll end this article with a small tip regarding safe internet use. If you’re going through a rough time or someone has recently passed away, don’t post it on the internet and if you do… prepare yourself for some backlash. The internet isn't as friendly as you may think.

*Photo's taken from [Controversial Humor] Cell

Responses to editorials

**For my response I'm going to refer to the editorials by numbers so 1is Mastio: Dead bodies demand organic food moratorium by david Mastio and 2 is Karen Levy's "Let's Ask the Right Questions about Organics and Health**

1. What was compelling? Was there a good hook?
I found the first editorial to be more compelling for it automatically grabbed my attention with a good hook mentioning death by eating organic bean sprouts. Meanwhile the second article didn't strike my attention. It had a family oriented hook which I cannot relate to. Mastio's shocked me where as Levy's bored me. 

2. Did the author make concessions? 
3. Is there a one sentence statement of the author's position?
For the second article had a clear one sentence statement where she says that people should eat organic. The first article doesn't have a clear statement 

4. Supporting details, research stats
5. Strong conclusion, recall hook? 
6. Call to action

Response to photo journalism exhibit:

1.      I believe the photographer`s motivation behind the series of the child brides in Yemen is to highlight the age difference between the wives and husbands and to capture the emotions the wives are feeling. The photographs feature young girls who are being married off to older men and the looks on their faces are cheerless. The observer is then able to see that these girls are miserable and do not want to be married.

2.       The protests in Libya were incredibly important events with life altering affects. Having a photojournalist exhibit on the protests was in my opinion vital. With photojournalism pivotal moments are caught on camera and emotions are evoked especially with this series on Libya. I believe that photojournalism will be the predominant form of journalism in the future. This medium has a larger effect on readers for it’s easier to sympathize with a photograph of a person than to read simple words on a page.

3.       Arnanda`s image is extremely emotional as you can see Zayed is in pain as he rests in his mother’s arms. This image shows the after effects of a protest. Typically people focus on what happens in the street but never really focus on what happens afterwards when the protests die down. This picture adequately depicts the aftermath of the protest.

4.       My favourite picture in the exhibit is by Massoud Hossaini where a woman wearing a green veil is screaming as she stands among a circle of dead civilians mainly children. This image was one of the first to catch my eyes mainly for its horrific content. The woman in the photo looks under such distress and the bodies around her are worse. Looking at this picture made me realize that I am not alone in the world and made me more aware of the tragedies that go on in the world.

5.       My favourite series in the exhibit was the one focusing on the crisis in Argentina during the 90’s. I found it interesting because I wrote a research paper on that crisis in high school and it has always been a topic of interest for me. Seeing the images really gave me a new perspective on the issue. Although I had researched it nothing compared to seeing the picture of the skeleton. It really made the issue pop out.

6.       An effective press photo for me has to have impeccable timing. It has to capture the right moment or facial expression that evokes emotion. A good press photo has to have meaning behind it, it has to convey a message that stands out and grabs the reader’s eye. 

Fatal Fest 2012

Once a year crust punks from across the province gather around the St Henri lofts known as Fatal for a festival filled with debauchery, booze and punk rock. However, the first night, Friday August 24th didn`t go as planned when police arrived threatening to arrest the audience.

Fatal Fest is a yearly punk festival organized solely to piss off the slumlord Farzad Fatal who owns and “maintains” the complexes. For years tenants’ requests for simple renovations have been ignored leaving the infrastructure in a dire state. So as a form of retaliation the punker inhabitants decided to host one of the biggest punk festivals in Quebec. Although it may seem counterintuitive to host an event which results in major damages as a way to refute the buildings poor state; nothing says a good “f*** you” like two hundred pissed off and intoxicated youths pushing one another to loud music.

Since I’m a fan of the chaotic lifestyle of punks and wholeheartedly love the music, this was an event I had to attend. Also a few of my friend’s bands were playing such as AIDS, Chix n Dix, and The Bloody Cunt Rags. When I arrived to the event it was packed with people and it was almost impossible to push my way through to my friends set. They played quite the tumultuous show considering the cops arrived as their stage made out of scrap wood and bricks broke down simultaneously. It would be foolish to assume that the organizers of the festival actually got a permit, so it wasn’t long before the power was shut off and everyone was forced to leave. Punks were left astray to wander the streets of Montreal leaving behind a trail of broken beer bottles and spit.