The title of my review says it all. This book is a masterpiece. Each chapter is about a dozen very short first-hand account stories (averaging about a page each) about the thirties from slightly different perspectives. Every possible emotion is here - triumph, despair, greed, humility, sadness, humour (the book is surprisingly funny). It's humanity in a book like I've never seen. By far the best entertainment value I've ever gotten from a book.

Endless Wire is in no way the beginning of the end of Gordon Lightfoot. Don't listen to the professional music reviewers who say that Gord bottomed out on this one and never recovered. Gord's late 70s/early 80s albums are some of his finest, superior in my opinion to his 3rd and 4th albums for United Artists. I actually prefer this album to his previous one (Summertime Dream) too, which many regard as a masterpiece. You have to remember that the industry went through a drastic change in the late 70s. Garbage disco tracks were topping the charts. Folk and real rock became uncool and many great artists from the late 60s/early 70s struggled to stay relevant. So the fact that Gord's chart performance and record sales declined after Summertime Dream in no way reflects the quality of his music. His follow-up to this album (Dream Street Rose) is truly one of his finest and even many of the reviewers who had dismissed him consider the one after it (Shadows) to be a masterpiece.

Bottom Line: Gord himself considers Endless Wire to be one of his best. If you like any of his previous albums from the 70s, you'll like this one. But don't take my word for it, give it a listen and decide for yourself.

This is Gord's most commercially successful album and certainly some of his best work - possibly his very best (although I have a slight preference for Don Quixote and Summer Side of Life). The sound of Sundown is an extension of what he was developing in Old Dan's Records. You can't really call it folk anymore. It borders on country, but without the steel guitar that would show up on his next few albums. To me, Sundown is unique in the Lightfoot library because of the confidence and frankness with which he sings. This almost provocative sound results in some of his most memorable lines. Listen to the criticism of urban life in "Seven Island Suite", his frustration with hopeless low-lifes in "Circle of Steel", and his jealous reprimand of an unfaithful lover in the classic "Sundown". My personal favourite track on the album is "The Watchman's Gone", a simple song about a transient parting with an acquaintance before jumping aboard a train while the watchman is busy "kickin' the bums about". Lightfoot's "theme" of frankness and dissatisfaction is again evident in the line "Whatever I was, you know it was all because/I've been on the town washin' the bull***t down". I like to think that this relates to why Gord has fallen from public consciousness in recent years. Popular culture doesn't reward the truly authentic. It rewards the bull***t.

In Summary: the music is relatively simple on Sundown, the talk is straight, the hits are there, and the talent is incomparable.

This is my personal favourite Gord album, just edging out Summer Side of Life. There aren't many well-known songs here but Don Quixote plays like a greatest hits album (except much more smoothly). Every song here is an absolute gem. There is an overall upbeat feel, although there's plenty of emotion on songs like "Looking at the Rain", "Second Cup of Coffee", and "The Patriot's Dream" (I consider the latter to be one of his finest songs). If someone were to ask me "Which album best represents Gord's style?", I would point them straight to this one. Pretty much all of his albums are great and there are few mediocre songs in his library, but the selection on Don Quixote is even more consistent than on his other great albums (eg. Sundown, Summertime Dream). Buy it!!!

The first time I watched this movie, I was a little bit tired and I fell asleep 20 minutes in, concluding that it was the most boring movie I had ever seen. A few years later, in a more energetic state, I decided to give it a try, this time lowering my expectations and bracing myself for the slow pace. This time, I still found the slow pace bothersome, but I found that the movie was so wonderful in every other aspect that I could look past some of the (excrusiatingly) long sequences and enjoy the masterful visuals, music, tension, and mystery that Kubrick assembled. Honestly, this might be the most beautiful film ever made. Every shot looks like it could be an award-winning photograph. Technically, it appears superior to many current films. The movie's ending is highly perplexing, but it didn't bother me too much since it is obviously meant to be pondered by the audience. Overall, it's easy to see why this is considered one of the greatest films ever made and I consider it my favourite of Kubrick's. The only problem I have with it (I say this at the risk of receiving some negative reviews) is the pacing in parts. I feel that 20 minutes or more could be easily shaved off if some of the sequences were shortened slightly. For example, there are numerous times in the movie where we watch a person or object float slowly in space for minutes at a time. While I can appreciate the devotion to realism, I'm still tempted to press the 1.3x feature on my remote for such parts. But overall this is a fantastic work of science fiction and shouldn't be passed by simply because it is slow.

This is another great season of arguably the greatest tv phenomenon ever, The Simpsons. There's a general consensus among most Simpsons fans that Seasons 4-8 are the show at its pinnacle, and that's a fair assessment in my opinion. Season 8 is certainly great but this is where some cracks start to form in the show. The plots become zanier, the characters begin to behave differently (especially Marge, in my opinion), and the writers start throwing in self-referential jabs about running out of creative steam. The entire episode of "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochy Show" is about trying to save a cartoon that's past its prime by uncomfortably throwing in a new gimmick, and the Spin-Off episode near the end of the season is another signal from the writers that all they really have left is cheesiness. And that's pretty much what the Simpsons have been for the last 15 years, notwithstanding occasional flashes of genius and Season 9, which I'll admit is another great season, but definitely the last. For Simpsons at its absolute finest, I recommend Seasons 2-7, but Season 8 is still better than most shows could ever dream of being.

What I'm about to say is heresy but I'll say it - this might be the best Tribe album (*MIGHT). It's that good. It doesn't have even one mediocre song. I'd say the songs all range from Very Good - Excellent and they're interwoven perfectly, even better than on Low End Theory. I can't believe something like this was released in 2008. Unsurprisingly, it got little fanfare but seriously if Kanye had released the exact same album it would have been heralded album of the year easily.

Don't listen to the haters. Coldplay is a good band and Viva La Vida is a great album. Haters gonna hate.

I had never heard any of Crowded House other than "Don't Dream It's Over" before I bought this album last year. I bought it on a whim after I heard them performing on TV and thought I'd give it a chance. At first, I was pretty underwhelmed. The songs seemed to have no hooks and always seemed to end just as they were picking up. In other words, absolutely no radio playability. However, I was determined to not admit that I had wasted $15 on this CD and gave it a few more spins, and it got a little better each time. Within weeks, I was in love with this CD. Over a year later, this album still gets regular play and ranks among my favourite finds in recent years. Now I can't even imagine how I didn't find the songs catchy the first time I heard them. It's mature songwriting and the tracks really don't get old -- true quality by professional musicians. It's hard to say what the best song is. At first my favourite was "Amsterdam" but lately it's been "Either Side of the World". Give this album a go and hopefully you'll be hooked after a few listens!

First off this is a great album. It's in my top 5 for sure and I'm not even usually a gangster rap fan. And I really think this can be called the Pulp Fiction of rap albums for several reasons. Like in Pulp Fiction, this album deals with "lurid matter". Also, it's very intense and features bad guys as the main characters. But also, it's supremely stylish, witty, and undeniably fun. I can't think of a more fitting analogy. The Chronic is like a day-in-the-life of an especially fun gangster rapper, and the day is jam-packed full of action, darkness, and humour. Enjoy! And make sure you play it at high volumes in suburban neighbourhoods!