Living without a heart In March of 2011, two doctors from the Texas Heart Institute Billy Cohn and Bud Frazier helped Craig Lewis set a world record. They replaced their patient’s heart with a device that allowed blood to circulate throughout his body without a pulse. Essentially, the device uses[Read More…]
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Karneef – Love Between Us
What place does retro pop have in the contemporary indie and electronic soundscapes of Montreal? Local musician Karneef doesn’t seem to care, and his debut LP Love Between Us presents his fastidious funk vision, with all its offbeat lyrics and diverse instruments, largely arranged and played by Karneef alone. Karneef[Read More…]
Where have all the role models gone?
In our sex-saturated society it’s easy to wonder where all the positive female role models in pop music have gone; tweens and young women are bombarded with images of barely-clothed women writhing around on the floor, or, oddly, humping foam fingers. Sometimes, even the few female artists who donít have[Read More…]
Science fiction: Space travel
The itch to explore has always played a key role in our culture. It has also been an important anchor upon which many works of science fiction are based; many stories feature tales about exploration. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Unparalleled Adventures of One Hans Pfaall featuring a man visiting the[Read More…]
Lady Gaga – ARTPOP
Although ‘dull’ isn’t a word you would usually associate with the avant-garde, publicity stunt-loving ‘Queen of Monsters,’ the first time I listened to Lady Gaga’s new album, I skipped pretty much every song. The only one I managed to listen to all the way through was piano ballad “Dope,” which[Read More…]
Navigating the next steps: graduate school applications
Undergraduate degrees today are gradually becoming the high school degrees of yesterday. According to Shawn O’Connor, founder of Stratus Prep New York’s test preparation and admissions consulting firm, graduate degree programs are increasingly receiving more and more applications. O’Connor regularly travels with universities’ admissions groups across North America. On Nov.[Read More…]
Kazu: a hidden treasure of Japanese cuisine
Who would have thought a restaurant barely the size of a bedroom would serve impressive food? With its handwritten menu thumbtacked to the wall, most people would walk by without giving Kazu a chance. A hole-in-the-wall authentic Japanese restaurant that opened in 2011, Kazu may not have the best outward[Read More…]
Research brief
Traffic Lights Arguably the very worst part of commuting is hitting one red light after the other, and it’s all the more frustrating when you’re hitting these reds while driving on an otherwise empty street. A University of Toronto Postdoctorate Fellow, Samah El-Tantawy, recently installed a new system in Toronto[Read More…]
Sebastien Grainger – Yours to Discover
In this LP, Canadian Death From Above 1979 singer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger deftly embraces the breezy Los Angeles style into his past punk persona. After signing with Saddle Creek Records in 2008, he is now releasing his second solo album Yours to Discover. The album flows from one electronic synth ballad[Read More…]
The beauty behind the brawn
It’s the closest you can get to floating: the light whisper of feet brushing over canvas, the natural rhythm of the body, and the push and pull of the dance. Everything quiets when you step on the floor; it’s just you and your partner. I always get weird looks when[Read More…]