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BRET HART
HITMAN:
MY REAL LIFE

Bret “Hitman” Hart has just released his
second book. While the first one totally
sucked, this one was actually pretty
good.

The book is really detailed,
and has a lot of good stories, some
funny, some serious, that you can’t get
anywhere else. One positive is that Hart
really doesn’t hold anything back. He’s
not afraid to tell the type of stories that
don’t usually make it into the “tell-all”
books.

The book did have some
negative points. Hart comes across as
very self-righteous and you’d be hard
pressed to find a more bitter individual.
He loves talking about how he was
screwed by different people but he has
trouble finding perspective as to why
his hardships happened. All in all a
good read, but you have to keep an open
mind, because some of his views are
very biased.

-Garth McLennan

 

SHUYLER JANSEN

TODAY’S REMAINS

God bless prairie boys, if only for the
reason that they can play guitar and
sing like love-weary, hungover angels.
Case in point is Saskatoon’s Shuyler
Jansen, who just released his second
solo CD after parting ways with former
band, Old Reliable. Jansen’s voice has
a mineral quality—it is stable and flinty
and perfectly suited to his melancholy,
contemplative country songs. His lyrics
are at times flat, often simple, and
occasionally evocative. Local music
kingpin Steve Dawson plays no fewer
than twelve instruments on Today’s
Remains and his contributions enrich
these songs with doses of gospel,
bluegrass, and soul, particularly on
“Don’t Ask Why.” The cello and violin
on “Cowgirl” give the song a torchy
feel, while plenty of reverb and steel
guitar create genuine honky-tonk on
“Rivals.” This is front porch music,
good listening for watching an evening
thunderstorm roll in after the first half
of the bottle has taken effect.

-Leah Giesbrecht

4

Teh
Tats) n As

BILL O’REILY

CULTURE WARRIOR
(paperback edition)

Culture Warrior is the fifth book
authored by Bill O’Reilly, the
curmudgeonly like-him-or-hate-him
pundit from FOX News. Like many

of his past works, the latest offering

is largely an extended thesis of “The
World According to Bill,” in this case
Bill’s analysis of the differing value
systems that motivate the American left
and right, and why their clashes seem to
be getting increasingly heated.

O’ Reilly is no intellectual,
and there are many other conservative
authors who have argued the central
message of Culture Warrior—that
secular, progressive, liberals
disproportionately dominate the
American media, courts, schools, and
entertainment industry —in books
that are both better written and better
researched. Still, there is an undeniable
charm to O’Reilly’s clarity and self-
confidence, and the book is a quick and
fun read. Left-wingers will hate it, but
hey, that’s the point.

-J.J. McCullough

 

  

GUANTANAMERA
CIGARS

Made in the heart of Havana,
Guantanamera Cigars are some of the
finest cigars produced in the Caribbean.
While they’re not as smooth or aromatic
as Cohibas, the Guantanamera brand
has a pleasing, moderately light flavour,
and with its reasonable price, is a good
choice for neophyte cigar smokers.

Keep in mind, these are real
cigars, not glorified cigarettes like Colts
or Primetimes; Guantanameras are
full-flavoured, so you may not want to
smoke the whole thing if you have a
larger sized smoke. Guantanameras are
great for a special occasion with friends,
but if you or the boys aren’t used to
full-sized cigars, you may find them a
little too rough for regular consumption.
-Liam Britten

   
 

(the ONION

” OUR DUMB
_ WORLD

THE ONION
OUR DUMB WORLD

Written in the style of a grade-school
atlas (with a remarkably authentic-
looking graphic design), Our Dumb
World profiles the over 190 countries
of our planet, offering each nation a
full page or more of smarmy, sarcastic
analysis in typical Onion style.

Though the book is funny, it
suffers from being overly ambitious.
With a daunting amount of countries to
cover—about which many readers will
know virtually nothing —the Onion cuts
corners. Many nations are mocked with
a single superficial joke spread over
several paragraphs. So the joke with
Burkina Faso is that no one can read
there, while the joke with Argentina is
that it’s full of elderly Nazis, and so on.
It’s sometimes very arbitrary, tedious
humor, and certainly a far cry from the
much more sophisticated satire of Our
Dumb Century, an infinitively funnier
book also by the Onion.

-J.J. McCullough

 

 

TheWeakerthansconion!

 

THE WEAKERTHANS
REUNION TOUR

During my teenage angst punk rock
phase, there were two things that I
didn’t like: artsy poetry and the John

K. Samson songs on Propaghandi
records. His whiny, proto-emo songs
always seemed out of place amongst the
anarcho ragers that characterized most
of the band’s catalog. I’m a lot older
now, and a little wiser, and while I still
don’t really like poetry (or poets for that
matter), I must begrudgingly confess

a newfound fondness for Samson, his
poetic lyrics, and his post-Propaghandi
band, The Weakerthans.

Reunion Tour is their latest
offering, and while it’s not quite as good
as Left and Leaving, it is a record that
introduces us to future classic “Civil
Twilight,” reacquaints us with a cat
named Virtue, and as a whole, proves
that Samson deserves to be rubbing
elbows with Canada’s songwriting elite.
There’s something meaningful to be
found in each one of his songs, whether
he’s singing about felines, bus drivers,
or even Winnipeg.

-Luke Simcoe

January 28, 2008

 

 

MENTOS GUM

Wow, it really tastes like Mentos!
Normally I’m a Juicy Fruit guy, but

I can’t help but be impressed at how
they’ ve managed to seamlessly combine
a mint and a gum. It’s like chewing on a
Mentos that just lasts and lasts.

This is one of the longest-
lasting gums on the market, only
surpassed by those expensive Trident
Splash gums. At less than a dollar for
a pack of 12 (compared to $1.25 for
the luxury Splash brand), it gives you
the best value for your money of all
gums currently available. Also, with
its round shape, it’s less of a choking
hazard than the more typical narrow
rectangular gum. The only drawback
is that you can’t blow bubbles with it,
but unfortunately that seems to be the
direction that gum is going in these
days. But the real question is can the
freshness of the gum version of Mentos
help someone to deal with awkward
situations in the same way the mints
do? I’ll soon find out when I attempt to
explain to Luke why I didn’t submit any
articles to him last week.

-Mark Fisher

 

HAYDEN
IN FIELD & TOWN

Paul Hayden Dresser, or Hayden to

his fans, first landed on our radar with
1995’s Everything I Long For, a record
that captured Hayden’s combination of
unrequited romanticism, self-loathing
and post-teenage angst. The result was a
schizophrenic record packed with quiet
introspective ballads, loud introspective
ballads, grungey rockers, and lo-fi
instrumentals.

Hayden’s done a lot of
growing up over the last 13 years, and
his last couple of records have shown
him settling in to the realm of tenderly
crafted acoustic folk and alt-country.

In Field & Town belongs firmly in

that camp (c’mon... the name gives

it away), but unlike previous outings,
there’s a lot more of Hayden’s fingers
on the ivory keys. There’s not much else
to say; if you like Hayden, you'll like
this record.

-Luke Simcoe

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