A&E Commentary

It’s half past three on a Monday morning and you’ve got that term paper due at eight. Looking at the computer screen, you see only the whiteness of your Microsoft Word page. After re-reading the one sentence you’ve written, you decide to take a well-earned break and Alt-Tab back to your browser for “one last round” of that addicting Flash game that’s been waiting, determined to get a lasting high score. But many people never take the time to reflect on just how much these simple “time-wasters” have done to save us from everyday monotony.

Ah, the late ’80s. The golden age for both 8-bit video games and shitty television programs like My Pet Monster and Denver the Last Dinosaur. Some of my fondest memories come from this time, and with no exception, this includes the 8-bit Mega Man franchise.

There’s no clear evidence to prove that the RIAA are a bunch of drug-addled head cases but if they were, it would certainly explain a few things about them. The association seems to be so focused on wringing all the money that they can from consumers that it’s clear they have no vested interest in the music industry’s health and only really care about keeping their coffers filled. The RIAA has done some stupid shit in the past, from suing unemployed single mothers to using borderline illegal tactics to try and get rid of file sharers. But now, the RIAA has a new target in its sights.

Let’s get this over with first: Caribou should win this year’s Polaris Music Prize for Andorra. With his album, Dan Snaith hopped in to a time-machine, set the dial to the 1960s, and then emerged with a disc of honey-sweet guitar-pop that was nostalgic, but in the good kind of way. It didn’t yearn for the old days of sugary, Beach Boys-style ’60s pop-rock, so much as nod politely to its beginnings, then plow forward at warp nine without looking back.

These are heady times for musicians Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh, originally of tiny Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Besides being endorsed by Radiohead when the English band hosted a session for BBC Radio One, they were recently nominated for the Polaris Prize, the most prestigious award in Canadian independent music.

As summer was beginning in earnest and the memory of finals was beginning to fade, I sat aghast in front of my television screen as I watched the characters of Desperate Housewives jump ahead five years in the dying minutes of the season four finale broadcast. Like many other viewers, I was shocked at series creator Marc Cherry’s flash-forward decision.