For some time I laboured under the mistaken impression that I was running the Kubuntu operating system on my computer at work. I had installed Ubuntu, and then the KDE desktop environment, and Ubuntu with KDE is Kubuntu, or so goes the conventional geek belief. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as that, as I discovered […]
The Amazing Five Minute News Cycle
by guest blogger Zeff Davies You’ve heard of the 24-hour news cycle created by the incessant need of cable TV news for new sensations? Well, always glad to advance the state of art, we here at backofthebook.ca now present The Amazing Five Minute News Cycle: 5:35 p.m. I, Zeff Davies, would like to announce that […]
Avast ye, eh?
Avast ye, and listen well. Ol’ Joe Biden has turned his guns to North and is taking aim at our Great White Land o’ the Pirates, aye. Seems he and his Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus gave fair warning three years ago when they put us on a watch list, but e’en so we did not […]
Music that wants to be free
I’ve been distracted by a lot of really cool things lately (Never Drank the Kool-Aid, bloggin as nihilism, Little Mosque on the Prairie, and a spate of good weather). And music, of course. In light of what’s happened with DJs Drama and Canon recently, I’m going to try to use this post to give you […]
Goodbye, Brave New Waves
This — this is a lament. This is an ode and a eulogy. Good bye Brave New Waves. You shall be missed. It’s been a while since last we spoke. Sorry about that. Been very busy. Please, don’t take it as a slight — everyone’s busy these days — we had our separate lives and […]
Rhythm and sex?
I’ve been wondering for a while — since when did modern soul/ r ‘n’ b become synonymous with sex? I was digging through the r ‘n’ b bins of my local record store when I stumbled on a modern soul comp, Midnight Soul 3. The track listing was tight — remixes from cats like Japan’s […]
December playlist: Ho ho friggin’ ho
I’m glad that Christmas only comes around once a year. I dislike the season, a lot. I hate the forced cheer, the over-priced crap we’re forced into buying: everything about the season makes me cringe, and especially the music. I was asked if this month’s playlist would have any good Christmas music. I responded that […]
myCBC: Integration or homogenization?
“Our reporters will no longer be radio reporters or TV reporters — that particular T-shirt will be put aside and there will be far more contributions to the web, far more mixing and movement among the various networks and platforms.” Tony Burman, CBC News Editor-in-Chief. Things are a-changing at the CBC (yes, again). They’re killing […]
Canadian TV: The Inferior, The Poseur, The Invader
According to University of Calgary professors Bart Beaty and Rebecca Sullivan, Canadians should be worried about HDTV. They argue that the new format will weaken Canada’s cultural independence. I haven’t read their book, Canadian Television Today, so I won’t comment on their theories or arguments. I’m also not interested in discussing desperate attempts to sex […]
Memo to Jesus: you need a better ad agency
Maybe you’ve seen the above ad. Maybe you haven’t. It’s part of a new controversial and irreverent campaign put together by the United Church of Canada. The church needs to renew its steadily aging congregation and they’re targeting a younger, more liberal audience that already sees itself as Christian but doesn’t necessarily attend church, and […]
