Sad Sack Serenade: March 25th

Thanks for letting me complain on air about my school problems. It definitely helps to get it out. But what a great show musically! So many wonderful songs, and by lots of smaller name artists, with the odd big name artist thrown in. This is the tracklisting for Sad Sack Serenade on CJSF 90.1FM for March 25th:

Mel Brown - Slow Moan
Rae Spoon - Death by Elektro
Silver Jews - Tide to the Oceans
Mirah - The Tears That Fall
Modest Mouse - Bankrupt on Selling
My Dad vs Yours - Ghost Horse
The Reindeer Section - Cartwheels
Stars - How Much More
Phono D'Enfant - Never Cold
The Decemberists - Red Right Ankle
Sean Nicolas Savage - Misery Mountain
Wye Oak - We Were Wealth
Bright Eyes - Lua

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Thanks for listening. Broadcasts of Sad Sack Serenade between now and our summer-time hiatus are dwindling, so don't miss out!

Sad Sack Serenade: March 18th

Thanks to the presence of our fabulous guest and his musical offering, yesterday's broadcast of Sad Sack Serenade on CJSF 90.1FM was extra special. This is what me and George played on the radio:

The Mountains & the Trees - Wedding Song
The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Breakup
Dan Mangan - The Indie Queens Are Waiting
Joshua Cockerill - Elvis
The Presets - If I Know You
Ohbijou - Barking At Your Door (Nathan Lawr cover)
Sufjan Stevens - Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)
Bon Iver - Re: Stacks
Max Richter - Journey 1
Julia Stone - This Love
Russian Red - Cigarettes
Gregory and the Hawk - For the Best

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Big thanks to Mr. Reagh for stopping by and sharing his record and his thoughts with us. It was nice not being all alone in the studio. Be sure to tune in again next week Friday at 9am to see if I'm super depressed from being kicked out of the school!

Sad Sack Serenade: March 11th

"The thoughts in their heads,
Manifest on their brow
Like bad scars from ill feelings
They themselves arouse
So hateful of anyone that is happy "

I was more than a little bit pleased to get through so many songs today. Usually I'm stuck at about 9-12 but today I got up to fourteen, which hopefully means less mindless yammering and more sad sackery. Regardless of quantity though, it was a good shmorgusborg of music as always. This is what played Friday morning from 9-10am on CJSF 90.1FM:

Lia Ices - Love Is Won
William Fitzsimmons - Beautiful Girl
Broken Records - Home
Suuns - Fear
Kiersten Holthe - Window Bird (Stars cover)
George Harrison - The Light That Has Lighted the World
Antony and the Johnsons - Swanlights
K.C. Accidental - Something for Chicago
John Frusciante - Dying
The Gertrudes - Blackbird and the Cedar
Adem - Tears Are In Your Eyes (Yo La Tengo cover)
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton - Reading In Bed
Elvis Costello - Alison
Radiohead - Codex

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Thanks for listening! Make sure you keep tuning in because the semester is winding down and there aren't too many broadcasts of Sad Sack Serenade left. Then it'll be summer and you'll forced to listen to cheery bubblegum pop all season. BARF.

Sad Sack Serenade: March 4th

Only held by gravity, faded with uncertainty, no longer young and not that pretty. How will he find me?

Welcome to March everybody! And what a red letter day it was, because I got to use the turntable this morning, which contained great music but was also just fun to play in itself. As the old adage goes, the medium is the message, and the message with the turntable is "fun fun fun".

Woods - I Was Gone
Zaac Pick - Foot of My Pride
Four Tet - And They All Look Broken Hearted
Regina Spektor - The Call
Deb Talan - How Will He Find Me?
Zac Crouse - The First Time
Xiu Xiu - I Am Hated For Loving
Jon Brion - Hook, Line, and Sinker
Mother Mother - Try to Change
Young Galaxy - We Have Everything
Damien Jurado - Rachel & Cali
Little Joy - Play the Part
Crissi Cochrane - Kinda Late

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Thanks everybody for listening to Sad Sack Serenade. Do it again next week Friday at 9am on CJSF 90.1FM for more sweet, sad music.

Sad Sack Serenade: February 25th

So tired this morning I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep at the control panel. Hope it sounded alright. This is what played:

Hilary Grist - Right For You
An Horse - Listen
All of the Above - All I Want Is You
Freelance Whales - Ghosting
Audio/Rocketry - Two Chords
The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Air
Swan Lake - All The Fires
Belle and Sebastian - Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
Angus & Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane
Metric - Collect Call
The Last Town Chorus - Modern Love
Flogging Molly - The Sun Never Shines on Closed Doors
 
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Tune in to CJSF 90.1FM again next week Friday at 9am when chances are I will be more lively. Have a great weekend!

Movies 2010: A Year in Review

I've been putting this off expecting that I would eventually get around to seeing a number of popular and critically well-received titles that are still in theatres. Unfortunately, I still haven't seen a few that might seem obvious, but the Academy Awards are on Sunday and it might be a little bit late to post a year in review list after that, so I thought I'd go ahead and gleefully put together my favourites from the previous year in film based on what I have seen so far.

I developed a lot of favourites in 2010, although I might be more spoiled than most thanks to my rich experience at the Vancouver International Film Festival in the fall. I thought the year was particularly notable year for the display of female talent, with a host of a fantastic performances (too many to include all of them in my list), and evocative and smart films from female directors like Lisa Chodolenko, Nicole Holofcener, Debra Granik, and Andrea Arnold. Also interesting, this was the first time in a while that I was compelled to include documentaries in my top 10, with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever I might add.

My Top 10 of the Year
1 - The Ghost Writer
2 - Blue Valentine
3 - Inside Job
4 - Han Jia (Winter Vacation)
5 - The Kids Are All Right
6 - Armadillo
7 - Black Swan
8 - Fish Tank
9 - Another Year
10 - Please Give

Absolute favourites are in bold.

Direction
Roman Polanski - The Ghost Writer
Hongqi Li - Han Jia (Winter Vacation)
Derek Cianfrance - Blue Valentine
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank

Original Script
Mike Leigh - Another Year
Lisa Chodolenko & Stuart Blumberg - The Kids Are All Right
Abbas Kiarostami - Certified Copy
Nicole Holofcener - Please Give
Derek Cianfrance & Cami Delavigne & Joey Curtis - Blue Valentine

Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini - Winter's Bone
Robert Harris & Roman Polanski - The Ghost Writer
Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy - 127 Hours

Lead Male Performances
Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
James Franco - 127 Hours
Javier Bardem - Biutiful

Lead Female Performances
Annette Benning - The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Catherine Keener - Please Give
Juliette Binoche - Certified Copy
Lesley Manville - Another Year

Supporting Male Performances
Pierce Brosnan - The Ghost Writer
Andrew Garfield - Never Let Me Go
Ben Kingsley - Shutter Island
John Hawkes - Winter's Bone
Christian Bale - The Fighter

Supporting Female Performances
Rebbecca Hall - Please Give 
Lola Dueñas - Yo, Tambien (Me, Too) 
Maricel Álvarez - Biutiful
Greta Gerwig - Greenberg
Barbra Hershey - Black Swan


Editing
Blue Valentine
Armadillo
Black Swan
127 Hours
Biutiful

Cinematography
Shutter Island
Han Jia (Winter Vacation)
Curling
Black Swan
127 Hours

Musical Score
Inception
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Han Jia (Winter Vacation)
Black Swan
The Social Network

If you're interested you can check out how I rank every 2010 release I have seen on my Flixster list.

Films I have not seen yet include: Rabbit Hole, Howl, The American, Fair Game, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Sweet Grass, Dogtooth, Animal Kingdom, Buried, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Jack Goes Boating, Of Gods and Men, Somewhere, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, True Grit, The King's Speech, The Town, The Illusionist, Toy Story 3, I Am Love, Restrepo, Tiny Furniture, Life During Wartime, Wild Grass.

Sad Sack Serenade: February 18th

And despite what they say, we're not like birds or even aeroplanes. We'll never get to fly, fly, fly away.

Happy post-Valentine's Day! A beautiful day in Burnaby and a bounty of great songs this morning on Sad Sack Serenade on CJSF 90.1FM. Here's what played from 9-10am:

Rogue Wave - Christians in Black
Lia Ices - After Is Always Before
Immoor - Porno Queen
Jim Bryson & the Weakerthans - Constellation
Joshua James - You're the Cocaine
Dolorean - Fools Gold Ring
K.C. Accidental - Residential Love Song
Priscilla Ahn - Dream
The New Pornographers - Go Places
The Mad Caddies - Drinking For 11
Cloud Nothings - Forget You All the Time
Meaghan Blanchard - Gotta' Let

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Comment on the show, leave requests, and be sure to tune in next Friday at 9. Also, you should totally come be social and party it up with awesome radio people at CJSF's FM Party on February 26th. It shall be rad.