Author Archives: Johncole Mikhael Abiog

Historical Samurai Show Writes History

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Unless you’ve been living under the rock or isolated yourself from the internet, the 2024 Emmy awards just completed it’s run! with many TV shows winning multiple awards, there was only one show that seemed to destroy the competition, and that show was none other than Shogun.

Shogun is an American historical drama television series created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. The show itself was based on an old 1975 novel written by James Clavlell with the same name as the series.

Being a series about historical Japan around the dawn of the Edo period, the Cast were mainly Japanese and the shows dialogue were usually Japanese too. However many may think the show was filmed at Japan (me included) but it turns out that majority of the show was filmed in Vancouver & Port Moody! So in a funny way, you could say that you were once living at the Edo period of Japan when you were at Port Moody!

So how exactly did the critically acclaimed Samurai history show win a grand total 18 out of 25 Emmy awards? Well lets look at some of the awards the show has been awarded that night

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
As you may have known by now, Shogun won the Outstanding Drama series award in competition to Fallout, The Gilded Age and Mr. & Mrs. Smith with it’s beautiful writing, immersive scenes and of course, it’s investment on drama.

The Primetime Emmy Award For Outstanding Lead Actor
It couldn’t be anyone else other than legendary actor Hiroyuki Sanada, with his legendary performance in the show as one of the lead roles, Lord Yoshi Toranaga, a powerful daimyo (feudal lord). Sanada was very well known for his profound Samurai-like acting, you can find such examples in big movies like Bullet Train, John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Last Samurai. Hiroyuki was selected the winner as the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy award, with other nominees including Donald Glover, Dominic West and Idris Elba.

The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress
Not only did Shogun win with their male lead acting prowess but they also dominated the female lead acting as well, with the help of star actor Anna Sawai. Sawai was known for her previous roles in the Fast & The Furious franchise and Pachinko. With Sawai being one of the first ever Japanese Actors/Actress’ to win the Emmy awards, we can only expect more projects under her name that’ll only further boost her career. This was also her very first Emmy nomination and Win in her wonderful career.

and that should be all about the Shoguns dominant win in the Emmys! with the show also being greenlit for 2 more seasons, are you excited to catch on or binge the show? I sure will! you can watch the 18 Emmy award winning masterpiece on Hulu streaming services.

 

The Best Of The Bublé

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You like Jazz? I know I do, but what if I told you one of the coolest Jazz legends is releasing a new album this September? that’s right! Michael Bublé is dropping a new album on September 27th! Here’s some really cool tracks that will be featured in the upcoming album!

So who’s Michael Bublé? Bublé is a FIFTEEN time Juno Award winner, and five time Grammy award winner, he’s known for his Jazz revivals and original pop/jazz music. Michael grew up in Burnaby Canada before rising up to become a global star! his first album released in 2003, achieving platinum status twice.

Well alright, his next drop isn’t exactly a full album filled with new music, but it’s still a nice compilation of all his best tracks throughout the year, you may even recognize some of these tracks!

here’s a quick overview of what you’re expecting to see in the upcoming album:

Spider-Man
That’s right! if you didn’t know, Bublé covered the main Spider-Man theme that had a total viewership of 4.4 Million views on YouTube, the tracks instrumental brings out that classic 60’s vibe, definitely a track you should check out if you ever get the chance to!

It’s A Beautiful Day
One of Michael Bublé’s original hit songs! this track has a whopping 66 Million views on YouTube. The track is about moving on from a toxic relationship, unbinding your chains  from a relationship and being free, hence why the name “It’s a Beautiful Day”. So if you’ve just broke out from a toxic relationship, this is definitely a track you should check out!

L.O.V.E
A beautiful revival of Nat King Cole’s 1965 classic record with the same name. Michael adds a little swing and jive into the mix, bringing more energy into the track. L.O.V.E (Michaels Version) had a total viewership of 5.9 Million views.

Feeling Good
Probably my favorite song to listen to when I was growing up, and probably the biggest songs in Michaels career, and that’s no joke. Feeling Good has a whopping 255 Million views on YouTube and even more numbers on other platforms. This track served as a revival to Nina Simone’s 1965 “Feeling Good” record. A beautiful love song with a flavor of sexy and tension, which explodes into a free, blissful track, if you haven’t heard of this song, I highly recommend you checking it out!

Will you be purchasing the upcoming album? I probably will, as a Jazz fanatic myself I would love to grab myself a CD!

Shadow Hits The Theatres This Christmas

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You heard it right! Shadow The Hedgehog will be arriving at the big screen this winter season as he headlines alongside Sonic The Hedgehog at the third installment of the franchise. Here are some interesting things that you may want to know before coming in to watch it!

https://twitter.com/paramountnz/status/1828417180591104453

The Voice Of Ultimate Life Form
So you may be wondering who’s voicing the possible new antagonist of the third establishment of the Sonic movie franchise…actually you know what? take a guess, a very good guess. If you guessed Keanu Reeves then you’re absolutely right! Keanu played pretty huge roles in his career, movies include The Matrix, Speed and of course, John Wick.

It actually isn’t the first time Keanu was featured in the sonic franchise! in the first movie, there’s a scene in “Sonic The Hedgehog” where Sonic was watching Keanu’s hit movie “SPEED”

I’m personally excited to see Keanu Reeves play Shadow The Hedgehog in the upcoming movie, he’s got that smooth edgy voice that perfectly fits that rough yet really cool character that Shadow portrays, what about you? Are you excited?

Funny enough, Keanu Reeves isn’t the only one making a surprise return in this movie

The Return Of The Egg-Head
As you may know, Jim Carrey will be coming back to reprise his role as Dr. Egg-man for the movie! He was previously the antagonist in the last 2 movies of the franchise, Carrey is very well known comedy actor for his roles in classic movies such as The Mask, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Batman Forever!

Jim Carrey is well known for his hilarious quips, expressive facial expressions and obviously, his style of acting which can breath so much life into a character! and his work as Dr. Robotnik throughout the movies was nothing but spectacular, being a crazy scientist who desires nothing but evil is perfect for Jim Carrey.

With the upcoming scene, it seems that Dr. Eggman will be in Sonics side this time, well of course he’s the last person you would want to trust but with the circumstances that may end the whole world you just never know right? though naturally I’m expecting another betrayal from the crazy Doctor.

Have you seen the trailer? What did you think? I think this year has been great for Shadow The Hedgehog fans! If you’re interested in watching this movie, you’ll be find it being released December 20th 2024!

The Tragedy Of The Heart Part 6

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You know Drake, Canadian, Multi-Millionaire, Pop Artist, Child Actor and a Super Star. A role model to many of the youth and young adults, with his lyrical melodies and catchy tunes, Aubrey Drake Grahams career was set to break records. Until one summer 2024 when everything almost fell apart for him, and even worse, the release of this forgotten diss track that aged as poorly as a gallon of milk, The Heart Part 6.

The Track
“The Heart Part 6” is the latest track that was released during the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef at this time, with it’s purpose being as a response to Kendricks “Not Like Us” with the lyrics being a lot more defensive than his previous tracks, by attempting to debunk all the allegations Kendrick has placed onto him, however it wasn’t really the strongest defense since well…the lyrics aged poorly

The Lyrics
A lot of the track lyrics can be quite confusing and well, manipulative. On the first verse of the track, Drake went straight to denying the allegations of him ratting out or testifying to the authorities in the past. Which is pretty half baked since there was speculation that his co-operation with the police lead to an arrest of fellow Toronto rapper Sizzlac.

He then continues to talk about the “fed information” that he supposedly gave to Kendrick which lead to the drop of “Meet The Grahams”

Which felt contradicting since he stated that “He fed the information on purpose” but in a couple lines earlier he called them a bunch of clowns? it doesn’t make any sense drake, are they on your side or are they clowns???

However the most weirdest lyric Drake tried to deny was the pedophilia allegations that Kendrick placed upon him, under the same stance of feeding him false information, Drake states:

“Speakin’ of anything with a child, let’s get to that now
This Epstein angle was the sh** I expected
TikTok videos you collected and dissected
Instead of bein’ on some diss-direct sh**
You rather fucking grab your pen and misdirect sh**”

which is super confusing, why are you expecting the pedophilia angle? isn’t that something you DON’T want them to know about? Drake continues to discredit himself in the track with these lyrics:

“I never been with no one underage, but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with
Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I’m too respected
If I was f**king young girls, I promise I’d have been arrested
I’m way too famous for this shit you just suggested”

So to summarize it all, Drake pretty much said “liar liar pants on fire!” on this verse here. Alluding to the whole “I’m way too famous to have sexual relationships with minors” which is just immature and just not great defense at all.

Mother I Misunderstood The Song
by far the biggest blunder Drake made in this track was him talking about Kendrick Lamar’s “Mother I Sober” which touches on the topic of generational trauma and Kendricks guilt for his mother being a victim and being unable to protect her despite being at such a young age. However Drake got confused by this entire premise and assumed that it was Kendrick who was the victim (When Kendrick explicitly explained it was false at the track itself) which then lead to Drake making a complete fool of himself.

Ultimately, Drake really dug himself a grave with this track, manipulative lies, confusing self-contradicting lyrics, and just lyricism that aged poorly.

What do you think? What was something Drake could’ve done that would’ve not backfired? I’d love to know your opinions down below!

Because personally, Drake done messed up.

The Art Of Comedy In Deadpool & Wolverine

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Yea I know, “another article about Deadpool and Wolverines success, how boring…” Give me a chance! because what I’m about to tell you isn’t about how good the movie is (because I assume that you already think that it is) but more so allowing me to relay to you about the comedic writing that this movie holds. Also? Spoiler Alert.

Where exactly do I start? well maybe at the literal start where Deadpool visits Wolverines grave from the 2017 film “LOGAN” which itself was a gag. Prior to the release of the movie, Ryan Reynolds stated in one of the promotional trailers that he will “definitely” protect logans legacy ever since his death in the film…which he immediately disrespects in the first scene of DP&W when Deadpool straight up digs up Wolverines grave!

What’s special about DP&W is the awareness of their own flaws and turning it into an hilarious flick by breaking the 4th wall, which is something Deadpool is very well known for, a great example would be around a couple minutes into the movie when Deadpool was calling himself “Marvel Jesus” believing he was called to “Save the MCU” since the recent MCU movies has been struggling in terms of box-office standard. Not to mention a funny little jab towards the FOX studios who previously owned the rights to Deadpool and the X-Men.

Another incredible thing to take note is the attention to detail the writers had throughout the movie, for instance, when Deadpool had an entire montage to find a Wolverine for his universe, which lead him to find well, different variants of Wolverine that you may not expect! However what’s impressive is the comic accurate details that the writers have placed on towards each version of Wolverine

I remember when I was watching the movie with a couple of my buds and just the amount of times the theatre burst out laughing throughout the film, whether it be quick quips, reoccurring jokes, and whimsical 4th wall breaks but the one scene we always end up talking about was the whole segment about Nice-pool not having a healing factor. I would love to share the clip but it’s wayyyy too violent for your own eyes!

And that should be some of the scenes that highlighted some of the best comedic writing, obviously there’s a lot more but then you may as well just watch the movie! I’m pretty sure it’s still on your local theatres at this time so go on grab a ticket!

 

Controversy At The Juno Awards

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With the 2025 Juno Awards coming to Vancouver on March 30th, many people were speculating what’ll be some changes coming this year, however not many were expecting the Juno Awards to remove a total of 4 categories from the award show. Here are the unfortunate categories that are being cut.

The news came about when a letter was received by the Canadian Press, which had the organizers of the award show telling the committee to put an immediate “hiatus” on records that fall under Reggae, Children Albums, Christian/Gospel tracks and International Album of the year.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts stated that the decision to remove these categories was simply to be a part of “broader set of updates” which they have yet to announce as of this moment.

As you may have expected, the backlash that occurred from this decision is clear as day, with reports of some members from the reggae community contacting the Juno organizers to express frustration. You can even find a petition online trying to reinstate the reggae genre back into the Juno award show, created by Shana McCalla.

Shana also had this statement to share at the description of the petition:

“Since the early days of reggae, Jamaican artists have come to Canada, bringing with them the richness and vibrancy of reggae music. Despite their immense contributions to the music scene and Canadian culture, these pioneers were never given the acknowledgment they deserved.” – Shana McCalla, September 9th 2024

Do you think these categories should be reinstated into the Juno awards? personally I believe that keeping them gives the deserved acknowledgement these artists deserve. Removing cultural genres like Christian/Gospels and even international albums can really reduce the amount of awareness listeners may be looking for.

To show some respect, I decided to share you some of the previous winners of the prior Juno awards that held these categories!

Kirk Diamond

one of the notable winners from the reggae record category is definitely Kirk Diamond himself, with his album “DREAD“, in collaboration with Finn, Kirk Diamond would be a 3 time Juno award winner.

K-Anthony
 K-Anthony is the most recent winner for the Juno Awards Gospel category for his hit EP, “ARROW“. K-Anthony’s lyricism and love for the lord is inspiring and admirable, not to mention that mellow feeling with his music that gives you that sense of ascension and elevation.

With many people hoping to see these categories back into the Juno, it seems that may not be the case this coming year. What are your thoughts?

WWE PLE Coming To Vancouver!

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You heard it right folks, WWE is coming over to Vancouver for the Survival Series: War Games this year! and if you didn’t know, the WWE has been cooking for a while every since Triple H took over. In this article, I’ll be discussing what my thoughts and future bookings may look like for the upcoming Premium Live Event!

Around a month ago, Triple H went on X (twitter) to announce that WWE is coming over to Vancouver! and with all the hype around the current storylines this year, this is what I think some booking matches may go.

Team Tiffany vs Team Bayley
As we may know by now, Nia Jax defeated former Womens Champion Bayley at SummerSlam earlier this year, mostly because of the help with Tiffany Stratton when she faked cashing in her MITB (Money In The Back) contract. And ever since, Bayley has been chasing Tiffany every time she’s on the ring to get revenge. So come November I’m expecting to see the Woman’s war games match to be a solid end between the Tiffany and Nia beef.

Cody Rhodes VS Kevin Owens VS Randy Orton
This one’s a bit of a stretch but it isn’t impossible, Cody Rhodes has recently defeated Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Champion title at Bash in Berlin, but it seems that their story isn’t completely over, with small hints from Kevin himself that he might just turn on his dear friend. So how does Randy Orton fit into this situation? well Randy always has had his eyes on WWE hardware and the Universal title is no exception, I wouldn’t think there would be beef between him and the other two wrestlers but it’ll most definitely be an interesting turn for the triple threat match.

BLOODLINE VS BLOODLINE
 This match is what I’m most excited about, the original bloodline fighting against the new bloodline for the main event for the survival series, all the pieces have already come together. Roman Reigns returning beefing with Solo Sikoa for the Ula Fala, a potential return of the Final Boss, The Rock, and this one’s a mighty guess, but I believe Sami Zayne himself, a former honorary Uce will return to help the original bloodline at the main event, another absolutely insane reach would be the WWE Universal Champion, Cody Rhodes making an appearance to support Roman Reigns officially regain the title…The Tribal Chief.

So what are your predictions for the upcoming PLE? I’m super excited to see the show that’s coming in November 30th 2024! so grab your tickets while you still can if you’re interested to watch it live…if I had the money I’d probably grab one myself too!

Big As The Super Bowl

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Just when you thought it was all over, the storm has settled, the nightmares has passed, American Hip-Hop artist Kendrick Lamar Duckworth comes back again to announce his headline for the 2025 Super Bowl Half time show, how does this affect the legacy of Aubrey “Drake” Graham?

On September 8th 2024, at 8:31 in the morning, Kendrick tweeted on X (twitter) that he will be headlining the 59th Super Bowl Half-Time show at February 9th 2025. The tweet was pretty straightforward, but it gives you everything you need to know. Included is a video of Kendrick Lamar standing in front of an American flag while using a Jugs machine, launching footballs across the field with some…interesting words to say

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PkgTQPcMQnI

A lot of crazy reactions immerged from the internet, mixed with excitement, hype and even confusion some may say, but of course, the biggest question everybody is wondering right now is, how will this affect Drake?

In case you’ve been missing out on the drama, Canadian rapper/musician Aubrey “Drake” Graham had recently been in tangles with hip-hop Pulitzer prize winner Kendrick Lamar back in April 19th 2024 when he released “Push Ups“, a diss track responding to Kendricks verse from Metro Boomin’s and Futures record “Like That”

The feud spanned over the summer between the two rappers, with jaw dropping records from each sides, however each track seemed to get even more personal as time goes on. The most personal being “Meet The Grahams” by Kendrick Lamar, which was a track directed towards Drakes entire family. The track was also released just 20 minutes after Drake dropped “Family Matters“, taking away the spotlight from the Canadian rappers supposed “red button” to end the beef.

But that’s not all! You would think that Meet The Grahams would’ve been the end of it all but the next morning, Kendrick Lamar dropped the bombshell that was “Not Like Us” A record breaking track that shook the world and had many claim that this was the track that buried Drake in the beef.

So where does that lead us? Well at August 25th 2024, Drake alluded on his burner Instagram account story with a cryptic video, suggesting he’ll be back to win “Game 2”

Which Kendrick cleverly responded at the Super Bowl announcement video, with a little sneaky jab quoting:

“You know there’s only one opportunity to win a championship, no round two’s”  – Kendrick Lamar

Personally, I’m excited to see how Kendrick Lamar will take on the Super Bowl Half-Time show performance, what do you think? Will he be performing Not Like Us? Or will he stick with the classics and bury the beef with Drake?

At the end of the day, I got Kendrick.

The Road To Polaris

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In case you didn’t know what’s coming up next week, The Polaris Music Prize will be held at September 17th 2024 to commemorate full-length Canadian albums based on the artistic storytelling and merit regardless of sales and genre. In this article, I’ll be going through two of the nominees (or possible winners) at this years awards! 

Tobi
Juno-award winner Tobi is in this years shortlist, with his second album “PANIC.” being in nomination, which isn’t an unfamiliar place for his as he was previously shortlist nominee with “ELEMENTS Vol.1” back in 2021.

“PANIC.” was released in October 12th 2023, with it’s R&B Soul, Hip-Hop/Rap sound reminding you of artists like J.Cole, Anderson Paak and Mick Jenkins. The album most definitely shows a more personal side of Tobi’s life, with his sharp and precise lyricism showing his struggles with heartbreak, growing up in a racist society and his experience with toxic masculinity and trauma.

one of my personal favorite tracks out of the album was most definitely the albums opener “Someone I knew” with it’s thoughtful lyricism and beautiful sampling from Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrisons 1973 track “What We Need” with Phil himself making a cameo at the end of the track.


Bambii
Getting into the longlist for the Polaris Music Award is already an impressive feat. however getting into the shortlist is a whole other level, which is the first for Bambii, a producer from Toronto who previously won the Juno-Award for Electronic Album of The Year earlier this year.

that said Album was “Infinity Club” an 8 track album that mainly touches on Electronic music, the kind you’d jam to at the club with your friends at 2 am! her music transcends the genre of Electronic music, with her interesting splicing and challenging sounds that can absolutely get you hooked.

And by getting you hooked I mean that almost literally, since one of her best records from the album is called “Hooked“. Which is a beautifully produced piece, with horns and drums being played over an addictive bassline, featuring Aluna’s alluring vocals over the record. Definitely a track I would listen to during late night vibes or even special date nights!

And that should be the taste of the possible winning nominees for the Polaris Music Prize this year! there are most definitely other musicians you should check out from this years shortlist are artists like Allison Russell’s “The Returner“, DijahSB’s “The Flower That Knew” and Jeremy Dutchers “Motewolonuwok”

You can find the shortlist at the Polaris Music Prize website for more information and artists that may be awarded next week! and good luck to the nominees!