By Kyle Francis
A message of brittle mortality delivered by a thing without life has an odd sort of poignancy. With Famous Puppet Death Scenes, the Old Trout Puppet Workshop invites audiences to laugh and ruminate with them at the misfortune of their beautiful wooden effigies, ultimately pointing inward, suggesting that the puppet’s lives aren’t far removed from… Continue reading Puppets die, everyone wins
By Kyle Francis
Sex and violence are often inescapable cultural forces. Whether it’s a lavalife ad on the bus or a sensational newspaper headline passed by, it’s no secret that most people’s day will almost always involve some kind of brush with their most base emotions. While often romanticized or dressed up pleasantly, 8-0-8 Productions’ latest pair of… Continue reading No Restraining Order Required
By Kyle Francis
By Kyle Francis
By Kyle Francis
Whether it’s sitting in front of a video game or standing on a street corner with a dioramic set, puppetry is a more pervasive cultural force than it’s often given credit for. Projecting human characteristics onto an inanimate object is done early on by most children, a knee-jerk throwback to the days of tribal totems… Continue reading The tragic history of dead puppets
By Kyle Francis
Though still relatively unheard of, Busdriver (born Regan Farquhar)has been twisting up eardrums since the early nineties with the vocabulary of a Pulitzer Prize-winner and elocution to trump Outkast. The tendency to flow with the melody of a track rather than the harmony produced an unmistakable style that carries Busdriver from album to album, but… Continue reading Spun: Busdriver
By Kyle Francis, Ryan Pike and Garth Paulson
The Boys – Garth Ennis and Daryck Robertson (Wildstorm) The Boys poses the classic post-Watchmen question: What if superheroes suddenly appeared in a world not unlike our own rather than one where it’s just as likely to get superpowers from a cereal box as an alien spacecraft? In Ennis’ world, someone with the strength to… Continue reading Best of Comics in 2006
By Kyle Francis
Theatre has been called a dying art. Enthusiasts of the medium have heard all the arguments, and anyone who’s willing to give it a chance learns there are some things that can’t be done anywhere but the stage. That said, it would be impossible to see a thirteen-storey robot punch down a skyscraper in the… Continue reading Pan runs out of fairy dust
By Kyle Francis
5- Mission Impossible III Though it suffered from some poor audience reception due to its “Tom Cruise is a nutjob” factor, the JJ Abrams directed spy-thriller is still easily the best of the series. Trumping even Casino Royale in sheer fun factor, MI:III suffered from none of the pacing problems plaguing its thematic cousin. With… Continue reading Top 5 films of 2006
By Jeff Clemens and Kyle Francis
Doctor’s Advocate is an album containing songs about an unrequited love, but not the sort everyone’s used to. This love is The Game’s obvious adoration of Dr. Dre and regret at turning his back on the rap legend. “When Doc says it’s a rap, it’s a rap/It’s aftermath and there ain’t nothing after that,” Game… Continue reading The Game