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Hamilton rock band Arkells made a triumphant return to the K-W area Thursday, Feb. 9, performing to a packed house at Kitchener's Elements Nightclub. The rising stars showcased the style and refinement of seasoned pros while still exuding the friendliness and on-stage relatability of a blossoming indie band.
Though Arkells are no stranger to K-W, they always manage to provide the crowd with an experience that is unique and different from their last performance. This most recent show was no... Read more
John Greene’s novel The Fault in Our Stars is one of those novels that forces the reader to feel every single emotion for which they have the capacity to experience. From the start, the reader is shoved into the precarious world of
Hazel, the novel’s protagonist, a 16-year-old girl with terminal cancer.
Thanks for a miracle drug, Hazel’s malignant tumours have shrunk - an event which instills hope for her well-being. Still, the reader witnesses her difficulties in day...
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Whether you are planning a vacation or staying in this reading week – make sure to drop by to take a look at our February reading picks. Select titles will be on sale February 15-16 including a new collection of five-dollar bargain books.
The world we found: by Thrity Umrigar
Umrigar’s latest tells the stories of four women during their days at university in 1970s Bombay. The protagonist’s lives are characterized by intense friendships, fierce ambitions, and a determination to... Read more
“Slash, burn, poison,” said Dr. Susan Love to describe the seemingly unchanged methods of treating breast cancer she has seen through her lengthy career.
This gruesome reality presented in the recently released Pink Ribbons, Inc., was used to counter the upbeat, idealistic perception of pink ribbon campaigns and unveil their corruption.
The documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc., screened at Waterloo’s Princess Cinema on Feb. 9, is based on the book of the same title by Samantha King, professor of kinesiology and... Read more
Stephanie Truong
On Sunday night, Chris Brown took the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, not once — not twice, but three times. First, Brown performed a medley of “Turn Up The Music” and “Beautiful People,” then accepted his... Read more
What in the hell happened to the sports movie? In the last decade or so the production of sports oriented films hasn’t diminished in quantity, simply, the few movies that have attempted to showcase the intensity and inspiration people watch these movies for have fallen down flat. They haven’t managed to evoke the same classic memories that films of predeceasing decades were able to.
In my mind, 2000 marked the last great year for the sub-genre. It was then that... Read more
“My mom introduced me to Agatha Christie novels when I was a kid and as a teenager my dad introduced me to Perry Mason, the old TV re-runs,” said Philippa Gates, associate film professor at Wilfrid Laurier, in an interview with The Cord. “I’ve always liked the crime genre.”
Gates, who published Detecting Men: Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective Film in 2006, followed up the book two years later with 2011’s Detecting Women: Gender and the Hollywood Detective Film which... Read more
The unavoidable stigma that film critics encounter is the belief that their career is superfluous. We all watch movies, we all have an opinion; so who determines ones ability to be a consistently credible critic?
Acclaimed journalist and film critic Adam Layman spoke to a Canadian Film Studies (FS244) class at Wilfrid Laurier University last Wednesday, delving deep into the downfalls of the career and not shying away from addressing these and other stereotypical assumptions about critics.
Layman has an... Read more
At the risk of being labeled “snobby,” I normally never hold film adaptations of novels at too high a standard, nor do I throw a hissy fit when minor details are changed or omitted.
In Lynn Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, a film version of Lionel Shriver's 2002 novel, the omissions are almost impossible to ignore. Fans of the book will feel betrayed and those unfamiliar with the book will feel like they are watching an incomplete film.
... Read moreAs the president and CEO of THEMUSEUM in downtown Kitchener, David Marskell is always interested in providing the Waterloo Region with a bit of culture.
But Marskell knows that even the richest pieces of art and historical artifacts don’t always drive the bottom line.
His... Read more
Miriam Smit
The prolific career of Buck 65 (Richard Telfry) has spanned two decades, though his 2011 album 20 Odd Years is arguably his most noteworthy musical achievement.
Telfry is adamant that the album signifies more than simply commercial success.
Speaking to The Cord prior to his Feb. 2 show at Waterloo’s Starlight Lounge, the rapper explained the significance of the album in his own eyes.
“I’ve been striving these last years to remove ego from what I’m doing as much as... Read more
On Thursday night, a small crowd at Maxwell’s Music House in Waterloo enjoyed an intimate performance by Toronto-based band Little City.
The opening acts, singer/songwriters Amy Carson Hunter and Robyn Dell’Unto delivered performances which provided excellent segues into the beautiful folk sounds of Little City.
Little City, whose musical style is defined by band member Thom Mcfarlane as “whimsical pop with folk sensibilities,” is an eclectic collection of skilled musicians who have united behind the name to deliver the dense... Read more
Tony McGuinness and Jono Grant of the superstar DJ group Above & Beyond spun a powerful and engaging set to a sold out crowd at Beta Nightclub on Sunday, Jan. 29.
The UK-based duo are the founders of the Anjunabeats music label and the creative minds behind Above & Beyond, alongside the Finnish-born Paavo Siljamäki, who was notably absent on Sunday.
One of A&B’s greatest additions to the world of electronic music has been through their projects with other prominent... Read more
Obama bumps up Al
After singing a few bars of the song “Let’s Stay Together” at the Apollo Theatre last month, President Obama sparked a sales surge for the song’s original singer, soul legend Al Green. Apparently Green’s record sales have gone up 500 per cent since the president belted it out. Since then, fellow 70s soul fixtures such as Earth, Wind and Fire and The Commodores have been pestering the White House for them to be next on Obama’s... Read more
On Thursday, Jan. 19, an email was sent out to the English and film students at Laurier, announcing a competition to be held by Alliance Films — the winner of which would be given the chance to interview Daniel Radcliffe at the Toronto premiere of his first post-Potter film, The Woman in Black.
Being one of the competitions three finalists, I was able to attend the Jan. 26 premiere at the Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto of a film that... Read more
“We had enough songs to make a full length record, but we wanted to release an EP first, to introduce the band,” explained Jake Palahnuk. Palahnuk, Toronto based musician and one third of indie-up-and-comers Young Empires, caught up with The Cord prior to the band’s Jan. 25 show at Starlight Lounge, to talk about the upcoming release of the band’s inaugural EP.
Young Empires is a three-piece band based out of Toronto who have been enjoying a steady increase of... Read more
Ann Roberts, a slight, tentative woman, addressed numerous fans at the Knox Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon, to launch the show Ann Roberts.... With both fear and intrepid enthusiasm at the Waterloo Clay and Glass gallery.
Roberts is an accomplished ceramics artist, who has twice been nominated for the Governor General’s award.
Robert’s work has been featured in numerous books and journal articles and in over 150 exhibitions.
The Ann Roberts.... With both fear and intrepid enthusiasm exhibit features pieces... Read more
Festival performances: In review
Property Stars Canada Written & Directed by: Keegan Chambers
Written and directed by Keegan Chambers, Property Stars Canada was a look at a day in the life of a door-to-door salesman pedalling driveway repairs. Chambers, who also starred in the play, delivered a solid performance while directing quips at the invisible John, her trainee for the day.
In the evening’s opening act, Chamber’s delivers a sales pitch to several hillbillies, a mime, a shirtless teenager left... Read more
You can’t say the Academy didn’t make it interesting this year. With the unveiling of the 84th annual Academy Award nominees on Tuesday morning, the film world was treated to a number of surprises — both good and bad.
This year’s ceremony promises to provide the first real competition the Oscars have seen since 2005.
The obvious surprise going into the Best Picture race was the newly implemented “5 – 10” rule, under which any number of films within that... Read more
Laurier Musical Theatre (LMT) has been practicing tirelessly for months to perfect the Great American Trailer Park Musical, which entertained audiences last weekend with drama and non-stop laughs. In three performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the cast impressed with their theatrical talents.
The play... Read more
