Ladyhawk/Punishment Park Fan Video

Hope you like this li'l video I edited attempting to honour a great song and a great movie.

If you've never heard of Peter Watkins, the director of Punishment Park, you should really check out his films. He makes speculative-documentaries that don't get caught up in mockumentary artificiality. Dystopiamentaries. Movies like the Gladiators and War are stunning and not to be missed.

As far as Ladyhawk go, this song is from their most recent album Shots from 2008. Lately, the Vancouver based band seems more occupied with side projects like Sports and Duffy and the Doubters. You can also hear Duffy Driediger and Ryan Peters on the new Phil Spector/Burt Bacharach inspired Maintenant by Gigi (myspace).

St-Hubert: Roi Du Poulet

Celine knows what's up. Swiss Chalet doesn't hold a candle.

Nothing beats childhood memories of a St-Hubert dinner with the family after getting a good report card.

Ad Revivalism: You're No Jane Rivers!

I say "Yes" to advertisement nostalgia. It really strikes my TV addled brain when I get a taste of an old ad that I saw a thousand times as a kid. Especially in Canada, where they used to play the same commercials endlessly.

I saw this formerly ubiquitous coffee crisp commercial being replayed the other day. Now I might not get so many blank stares when I accuse someone, "you don't know from jokes!"



Now all they have to do is bring back this infamous Oil of Olay "Ms Fitzhenry?!" ad:

The Log Driver VS Iran's President-Select

An ode to Canada's Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon for walking out on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's UN speech yesterday:



"These nuclear materials we are seeking to purchase are for medicinal purposes... It is a humanitarian issue..."

Voice Swapping in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Leading up to the release of the new G.I. Joe movie, I had a sinking feeling that something was awry with Cobra Commander.

In all the movie's promotional materials, the only reference to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's portrayal of the character was snuck into the background of a single poster. Even the film's trailers didn't tease us with any glimpses of Cobra's evil leader.

At first I thought they might be keeping him hidden for a big dramatic reveal. But thinking back to Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight as a counter-example, why would producers who are desperate to build buzz and sell a movie keep something cool under wraps...? Well, because that something actually sucks.

Then a rumor emerged that director Stephen Sommers was fired from the film during post-production. That has since been denied, but either way, it speaks to problems on the set/in the lab.

Now having seen the film, my suspicions were confirmed when Gordon-Levitt's Cobra Commander was strangely absent for most of the film and didn't sound at all like the actor to boot.



It seems the filmmakers (whoever they were) swapped out his vocal performance for an anonymous and uncredited voice actor.

And unlike David Prowse's voice being replaced by James Earl Jones in the Star Wars films, this swap seems to have been unplanned. Consider these comments from Gordon-Levitt before the film wrapped:

"I love that voice [from the cartoon]," enthused Gordon-Levitt. "Chris Latta [the original Cobra Commander] is a fantastic voiceover artist, but if you did that exact voice it would sound ridiculous in a live-action movie. I guess it's half Chris Latta and half me."

Turns out the his half-and-half vocal take didn't impress. Because if this isn't another actor, then there's some serious auto-tuning going on:



I'm not even going to get into the flawed character design of Cobra Commander's mask/helmet, but that disembodied voice really got to me. And further fueling my conspiracy theory, Gordon-Levitt has been conspicuously absent from the films promo interviews and premieres.

Interpol Checks into the Waverly

Interpol's Paul Banks has a new solo album out under the name Julian Plenty (Is... Skyscraper).

The first video from the album features two Toronto musicians - Emily Haines (of Metric) and Andre Ethier (of the Deadly Snakes) - in a very Toronto locale - the Hotel Waverly.



This isn't the first time this seedy hotel has played a seedy hotel on film. It was home to Mickey Rourke's Indian hitman in the unfortunate flop Killshot and it's also been the set for music videos from the likes of K-Os and Buck 65.

Buck 65's "Devil's Eyes" clip is especially notable for Toronto-centric cameos from Nick Flanagan (of the Brutal Knights) and Dan Burke (show promoter for Waverly's neighbour, the Silver Dollar).



Which video do you like better?