2016 has been bad. I have never looked to the end of the year with more excitement, and looked back on what happened with more exhaustion and cynicism. Every month felt like a knockout punch and every time we got up, the next one swiftly followed.
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There is really only one person who springs to mind when I hear the word “diva,” and that person is Mariah Carey. Case in point — the title of her last album was Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse. She really did that and I love her for it.
Christmas season isn’t always the greatest time of year when you’re the Jewish kid. Oh, it isn’t because of the whole presents thing anymore. In case you guys didn’t realize it by now, we get eight days of presents.
Today, I am writing and there is actually snow falling outside… and we’re in Vancouver. I think on a day like this, even if I wasn’t sitting here writing this album review, I would still be listening to Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song.
After the epic ode to the tradition of Canadian facial hair that is “Can’t Be Shaved,” the titular “Ogopogo Punk” directs its attention to the mythical land-locked monster, the Ogopogo, based in Okanagan Lake.
The entire album is a great mix of traditional music with a rock and roll twist. Nearly every song is a journey to listen to, with a classical build-up into epic guitar slams, lots of bass and heavy drums.
It’s the holiday album that millions of screeching teenagers wanted, and also the holiday album that nobody on earth needed. You must’ve known this review was coming — Justin Bieber has officially ruined everything from Selena Gomez to Christmas
The album starts off strong with “Sleigh Ride,” a festive medley of classic carols, tinged with a little early-2000s hip hop. A jolly piano riff carries the song through various choruses, carols and raps, tying it all together and making it work.
We were invited to the media premiere — an event on November 24 which ran from 5 to 10 p.m. Foolishly thinking that we had time to kill, a bunch of us decided that a trip to Tap and Barrel to get beer and kill time before heading over.
I truly do feel that Christmas is the softest holiday. The whole yuletide season needs to harden the fuck up. There needs to be an injection of brash, youthful angst into the oppressive Christmas season, starting with the boring, old carol songbook.
“All Alone on Christmas” kicks off the album with simple, somber piano chords. When you're feeling alone and abandoned during the darkest days of the coldest months, this song is the warm blanket of validation that you needed.
On Monday, November 21, Mohamed Fahmy – the now famous reporter falsely imprisoned for nearly two years in Egypt on terrorism allegations– held a talk at the Fredric Wood Theatre to promote his new book, The Marriott Cell.
You didn't ask for it, so here it is — the Syrup Trap Christmas album Christmas Happens Every Year, where all the lyrics are “O Christmas tree.” Not the full song, mind you — the entire album is just a few satire artists mumbling “O Christmas tree”
UBC’s Museum of Anthropology opened their newest exhibit to much fanfare last Thursday. Drawing from Western Canada’s largest textile collection, Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures displays 136 polychromatic pieces.
Mesmerizing and powerful, Madrid-born Cigala’s voice carried, lingered and haunted throughout the theatre. His voice has been called “natural, inspired [and] drop dead gorgeous” by the BBC. It was not surprising then that the show was sold out.