If they ever do a sequel I hope we get to see the Dark Judges or Chopper!
September 30, 2012
Judge Dredd 3D Review
About a week after it's release on September 21'st I got to see Dredd 3D. Being a huge fan of the 2000AD comic series I had high hopes for the film and I wasn't let down. The movie is simple and to the point just like Dredd himself. There are copious amounts of brutal violence for the gore hounds and plenty of inside visual references for the comic fans (like the Fatties).
I've already written about Dredd and the movie Here and Here so I won't repeat myself. If you're looking for a fun movie to see and don't mind a little bit of brutality, Dredd 3D is a great choice. I give the movie a 8/10.
If they ever do a sequel I hope we get to see the Dark Judges or Chopper!
If they ever do a sequel I hope we get to see the Dark Judges or Chopper!
Danko Jones - Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue
I recently got my European version of Danko Jones' 7th and newest album, Rock And Roll Is Black And Blue. I had to order one from over seas because it doesn't come out till October 9th in Canada and I didn't want to wait that long.
I don't think Danko Jones has made a bad album yet, and this one just continues his streak of being awesome. There are 14 tracks (including the bonus track "In Your Arms") and after only a few times listening through the album they are all quite strong. Some stand out tracks for me include Terrified, Get up, Legs, Just A Beautiful Day, I Don't Care, You Wear Me Down, Type Of Girl, Always Away, Conceited, Don't Do This, The Masochist, I Believed in God and In Your Arms (Oh damn I guess that's all of them!).
I give the album a 9.5/10. I'd give him twenty more points if they would put the song Mountain on one of their albums!
Buy the new album and check them out when they come by on tour. You won't be disappointed. Upcoming tour dates can be found HERE. I also read that Danko Jones has recently been added as a columnist for The Huffington Post if his podcast and radio show aren't enough Danko to get you through the day.
September 28, 2012
September 23, 2012
Mill St. Brewery Seasonal Sampler
I was out looking to pick up some beer when I saw the Seasonal Sampler (I'm assuming the summer season) from Mill St. sitting on the shelf at the LCBO. I was familiar with all the beer in the six pack except for the Walker's Blueberry Wheat and the Ambre De La Chaudiere. Two new beers? I had to buy it.
The Seasonal Sampler six pack was made up of Tankhouse Ale, Stock Ale, Original Organic Lager, Lemon Tea Beer and the previously mentioned Blueberry Wheat and Ambre De La Chaudiere. For the sake of brevity I'll just review the two new beers.
Walker's Blueberry Wheat was decidedly un-blueberry flavoured. I had to really use my imagination to taste any blueberries. Other than the misleading name the 5% beer was light to medium bodied with a dry finish. I give this wheaty beer a 6.5/10
The Mill St. Ambre De La Chaudiere is a fairly potent beer at 7%. The medium carbonated Biere De Garde was somewhat hazy and had a nice medium body. It had a malty, bready favour with some fruit taste at the end. I enjoyed the beer quite a bit and it's unfortunate that it is no longer available from the brewery. I give the beer a 8/10
Walker's Blueberry Wheat was decidedly un-blueberry flavoured. I had to really use my imagination to taste any blueberries. Other than the misleading name the 5% beer was light to medium bodied with a dry finish. I give this wheaty beer a 6.5/10
The Mill St. Ambre De La Chaudiere is a fairly potent beer at 7%. The medium carbonated Biere De Garde was somewhat hazy and had a nice medium body. It had a malty, bready favour with some fruit taste at the end. I enjoyed the beer quite a bit and it's unfortunate that it is no longer available from the brewery. I give the beer a 8/10
September 08, 2012
ExpoCycle Canada 2012
Today was the public access day for ExpoCycle. It was held at the Direct Energy Centre on CNE grounds and featured a large number of distributors showing off products for the 2013 season. Here are some of the products I got to see today:
Helmets
Wheels
Contact Points
Clothing
Miscelaneous
Bikes
Overall ExpoCycle was a worthwhile trip. I got to see some of the products and trends making it to the stores over the coming year. The big trend in bikes seems to be towards electronic shifting, mat paint jobs and high prices.
Helmets
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| Giro Air Attack available in spring 2013. It was very light and looked kind of cool. I'd like one painted in a Judge Dredd helmet scheme. |
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| Wall of Catlike helmets |
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| Catlike Whisper Plus (on left) and Chrono (on right) |
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| Interior structure of the helmet |
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| ENVE wheels. Handmade in the USA. They also had some cool road forks (some equipped for road bikes with disk brakes!) |
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| Lightweight wheels |
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| Cole wheels |
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| Cinelli Ram integrated handlebars and full carbon saddle. |
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| Prologo saddles |
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| Absolutely awesome Sugoi jerseys! If anybody I know is looking at this these are an awesome gift idea lol. |
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| Arundel bottle cages, Bonk Breaker energy bars and K-Edge stuff |
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| Lezyne tools for pumping your tires |
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| Pretty Lezyne tools |
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| Prototype Yakima fork mount bike rack that matches the Whispbar |
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| Dura-Ace 9000 11 Speed |
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| Dura-Ace 9000 cassette |
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| Storck with Xentis wheelset |
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| Stunning frames from Stage Race distributing. The same owner also owns Blacksmith Cycles on Queen St W. |
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| More from Stage Race |
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| Van Dessel frame |
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| Merckx frames |
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| EMX-3 |
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| Merckx headtube badge |
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| Ridley Noah |
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| Masi Evoluzione bikes |
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| Felt |
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| Surly Pugsley. The large volume wheels allow you to ride through some normally unrideable terrain line sand and mud |
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| Surly Troll all packed up and ready to go |
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| Time NXRS. Love the angles |
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| Marin Stelvio |
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| Look 595 frames |
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| Canada themed Look 695 Premium Collection |
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| A Look frame that I can't identify but it had a crazy integrated stem. Update: Big thanks to markie for identifying the frame as the 675! |
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| Closer look at the integrated stem |
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| Brodie road bikes from Vancouver. I had a nice talk with one of the reps and the bikes seem like a good deal. |
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| My favourite bike of the show. The Masi Gran Criterium was a great looking steel frame. A bit expensive at over $2000 for a 105 equipped bike though. |
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| Closer look at the Gran Criterium downtube |
September 07, 2012
Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2012
A couple of months ago I went to a special summer screening put on by the Toronto After Dark Film Festival for the movie VHS. Today I received an Email listing the first ten films announced for this year's festival taking place October 18-26.
The trailers for the first ten films are available in THIS YOUTUBE PLAYLIST. The selected moves are:
REC 3: GENESIS (Spain)
An official selection of the SXSW Film Festival, the latest instalment of the hit Spanish zombie movie series relocates the action to a lavish wedding where the guests - including the bride wielding a chainsaw - try to survive a terrifying outbreak of the undead!
EXCISION (USA)
A disturbed teenager (AnnaLynne McCord) deals with the stresses of her home and school life by escaping into a world of bloody fantasies where she performs surgeries on herself and and those around her. A major hit at Sundance, the film co-stars cult icons John Waters, Traci Lords and Malcolm McDowell.
GRABBERS (Ireland)
In this Sundance audience crowd-pleaser in the mould of TREMORS, when a small Irish town is invaded by bloodsucking tentacled aliens, the locals discover that getting drunk may be their only way to survive as it gives them some resistance to the creatures!
A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING (UK)
A dark and quirky comedy about a very nervous writer played by fan favourite Simon Pegg (SHUAN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, STAR TREK, SPACED) struggling with a slew of mental demons while working on a new novel about Victorian serial killers.
DEAD SUSHI (Japan)
A vacation resort faces an attack of killer sushi in this outrageous horror comedy from the same deliciously deranged Japanese filmmakers who brought you MACHINE GIRL and TOKYO GORE POLICE!
LLOYD THE CONQUEROR (Canada)
A crowd-pleasing fantasy comedy about three male college students who are roped into battle with Derek the Unholy, a dark wizard who is determined to hold onto his title as champion of the Larpers. Co-stars Mike Smith (aka “Bubbles” from TRAILER PARK BOYS), Harland Williams (DUMB & DUMBER) and Brian Posehn (SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM).
DOOMSDAY BOOK (Korea)
Winner of Fantasia Film Festival’s Best Film Award, this trio of apocalyptic tales features the rise of sentient robots, a zombie virus outbreak and an asteroid on a fatal collision course with earth. Co-directed by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim (I SAW THE DEVIL, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS)
SUSHI GIRL (USA)
A reunion dinner for a gang of vicious criminals reopens old wounds with deadly consequences. This stylish, ultraviolent crime film in the mould of Tarantino’s RESERVOIR DOGS features a genre cast to die for including Tony Todd (CANDYMAN), Michael Biehn (TERMINATOR), Danny Trejo (MACHETE), Sonny Chiba (KILL BILL) and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill!
WRONG (USA)
A hit at Sundance, fans of David Lynch and the Coen Brothers will delight in this latest cinematic oddity from the deranged mind of Quentin Dupieux (RUBBER): an absurd crime thriller about a man and the very strange things that happen to him as he tries to track down his kidnapped dog.
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (USA)
Action legends Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme reunite in the latest bone-crunching chapter of the popular Universal Soldier sci-fi action movie series. Joining them is Scott Adkins (EXPENDABLES 2). This time to survive, the Unisols must battle anarchy amongst their order, weeding out the weak, and testing their strongest warriors in brutal, life-or-death combat!
The list looks good to me and I would totally be interested in checking out Grabbers, A Fantastic Fear Of Everything, Doomsday Book and Universal Solider: Day Of Reckoning! There are ten more movies to be announced at the end of September and I'll be sure to post them up here when the list becomes available.
200 all-access passes are available for purchase now. For $168 (40% less than buying the tickets individually) you get admission for all the films and priority access (they let you enter the theatre first).
The trailers for the first ten films are available in THIS YOUTUBE PLAYLIST. The selected moves are:
REC 3: GENESIS (Spain)
An official selection of the SXSW Film Festival, the latest instalment of the hit Spanish zombie movie series relocates the action to a lavish wedding where the guests - including the bride wielding a chainsaw - try to survive a terrifying outbreak of the undead!
EXCISION (USA)
A disturbed teenager (AnnaLynne McCord) deals with the stresses of her home and school life by escaping into a world of bloody fantasies where she performs surgeries on herself and and those around her. A major hit at Sundance, the film co-stars cult icons John Waters, Traci Lords and Malcolm McDowell.
GRABBERS (Ireland)
In this Sundance audience crowd-pleaser in the mould of TREMORS, when a small Irish town is invaded by bloodsucking tentacled aliens, the locals discover that getting drunk may be their only way to survive as it gives them some resistance to the creatures!
A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING (UK)
A dark and quirky comedy about a very nervous writer played by fan favourite Simon Pegg (SHUAN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, STAR TREK, SPACED) struggling with a slew of mental demons while working on a new novel about Victorian serial killers.
DEAD SUSHI (Japan)
A vacation resort faces an attack of killer sushi in this outrageous horror comedy from the same deliciously deranged Japanese filmmakers who brought you MACHINE GIRL and TOKYO GORE POLICE!
LLOYD THE CONQUEROR (Canada)
A crowd-pleasing fantasy comedy about three male college students who are roped into battle with Derek the Unholy, a dark wizard who is determined to hold onto his title as champion of the Larpers. Co-stars Mike Smith (aka “Bubbles” from TRAILER PARK BOYS), Harland Williams (DUMB & DUMBER) and Brian Posehn (SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM).
DOOMSDAY BOOK (Korea)
Winner of Fantasia Film Festival’s Best Film Award, this trio of apocalyptic tales features the rise of sentient robots, a zombie virus outbreak and an asteroid on a fatal collision course with earth. Co-directed by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim (I SAW THE DEVIL, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS)
SUSHI GIRL (USA)
A reunion dinner for a gang of vicious criminals reopens old wounds with deadly consequences. This stylish, ultraviolent crime film in the mould of Tarantino’s RESERVOIR DOGS features a genre cast to die for including Tony Todd (CANDYMAN), Michael Biehn (TERMINATOR), Danny Trejo (MACHETE), Sonny Chiba (KILL BILL) and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill!
WRONG (USA)
A hit at Sundance, fans of David Lynch and the Coen Brothers will delight in this latest cinematic oddity from the deranged mind of Quentin Dupieux (RUBBER): an absurd crime thriller about a man and the very strange things that happen to him as he tries to track down his kidnapped dog.
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (USA)
Action legends Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme reunite in the latest bone-crunching chapter of the popular Universal Soldier sci-fi action movie series. Joining them is Scott Adkins (EXPENDABLES 2). This time to survive, the Unisols must battle anarchy amongst their order, weeding out the weak, and testing their strongest warriors in brutal, life-or-death combat!
The list looks good to me and I would totally be interested in checking out Grabbers, A Fantastic Fear Of Everything, Doomsday Book and Universal Solider: Day Of Reckoning! There are ten more movies to be announced at the end of September and I'll be sure to post them up here when the list becomes available.
200 all-access passes are available for purchase now. For $168 (40% less than buying the tickets individually) you get admission for all the films and priority access (they let you enter the theatre first).
September 06, 2012
Yanjing Beer
I was in the LCBO the other day looking for some new beer to try and I wound up buying a six pack of First Draft Lager which I will review in the future and a single 500ml can of Yanjing beer.
The can proudly proclaims that it is the "No.1 Beer From China". I don't know how true that statement is but I can't think of any other Chinese beers off the top of my head so it might as well read "Only Beer From China".
The beer was clean, crisp and refreshing. It was easy to drink and I think it would make a great choice to bring along to a party. You'd probably be the only person there with a six pack of Yanjing so there would be no confusion in the fridge. While obviously not the best beer in the world (I'm still looking for that one), it is quite drinkable and I give it a 8/10.
The can proudly proclaims that it is the "No.1 Beer From China". I don't know how true that statement is but I can't think of any other Chinese beers off the top of my head so it might as well read "Only Beer From China".
The beer was clean, crisp and refreshing. It was easy to drink and I think it would make a great choice to bring along to a party. You'd probably be the only person there with a six pack of Yanjing so there would be no confusion in the fridge. While obviously not the best beer in the world (I'm still looking for that one), it is quite drinkable and I give it a 8/10.