Author Archives: Sophie Tomei

The Beaches take on The Orpheum

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Whooooosh!

I have to admit, my eyes did widen a bit as I watched both a thong and a bra being thrown on stage at The Beaches’ show. The sentiment made sense, though, because the Toronto-based pop rock girlies put on a performance worth fangirling over. 

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(Hunter Soo / Flickr)

Let me introduce you to the girls:

The Beaches consist of Jordan Miller doing lead vocals and bass, Kylie Miller (they’re sisters!) doing backing vocals and guitar, Leandra Earl playing keyboard, guitar, and backing vocals, and Eliza Enman-McDaniel on drums. They’re from Toronto, and they’ve been together since 2013–so over a decade now!  The band name is a nod to the neighbourhood in Toronto of the same name, where they grew up. They pack a powerful punch, and each member stands out on her own while still maintaining the band’s cohesive image. The Beaches have a distinctive alt-pop/rock style that gives them their signature sound. It’s simple–these girls are rock stars in every sense. 

They’re on their Blame Brett tour right now, promoting their second album, “Blame My Ex”, that came out this year. The Vancouver show at the Orpheum on November 12th was sold-out, and it was packed. I’ve always found the Orpheum to be an odd venue for shows like this–the explosive sound contrasts starkly with the ornate, baroque-inspired interior. Regardless, the crowd was electric, and the performance itself was, too.

Pre-Show Thoughts

I was going into this concert as a relatively neutral party–I listened to their album “Blame My Ex” when it came out back in September, and I didn’t have any particular affinity for it. In any case, I enjoy live music, and was curious to see them perform. 

Upon arrival, I took notice of the merch they were selling. I was impressed at how nice everything looked–the designs were cute. The red, white, and black colour palette kept in line with the band’s colours, and the shirts featured vintage-inspired SoCal/surfer prints with some silly slogans, like “itty bitty titty pizza delivery”.  Also, the merch line was one of the longest I’ve ever seen at a show. These fans did NOT come to play.

The Show

The Beaches had an American pop/indie rock band called (fittingly) Beach Weather as their opener. These guys were pretty good, their set was long, too. They all had a Harry Styles, modern 70s, tight pants kind of look to them, complete with lots of tattoos and long, shaggy hair. They played a good amount of songs off of their album “Pineapple Sunrise” that came out earlier this year in March, including the single “Sex, Drugs, etc.”, which was pretty fun to see live. After a while, though, Beach Weather gave up the spotlight to welcome The Beaches themselves. 

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(Hunter Soo / Flickr)

The girls kicked off their set with “Kismet”, a song that is not actually about anything break up-related, but rather meeting someone new and being excited about them. This felt like a great song to open the set with–full of energy, and immediately, the crowd was enthralled. I could really get a sense that these fans were passionate. I’ve been to a fair amount of shows now, but even with my sort of outsider’s perspective at this one, I could tell that these were some truly adoring fans. 

Jordan and Leandra both had incredible stage presences. Their interactions with the crowd were fun, personal, and made it clear that these girls care about their fans and enjoy fostering connections with them. The two of them definitely seemed to have some great chemistry, too, as they both shared a kiss later on in the show. And I’d like to note that the whole band looked super cute, too. They’ve got such a great balance between skater-girl chic and total punk-rock babe, it’s great to see. The highlight of the night for me was when the underwear got tossed on stage, like I mentioned earlier. I have never seen something like that happen before, so at first I was quite shocked. After The Beaches made it obvious that they thought it was funny, though, I was able to laugh along with them.

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(Hunter Soo / Flickr)

Their set alternated between “Blame My Ex” and “Late Show”, their first album from 2017. Overall, it flowed well and kept the audience engaged throughout. It was long, too–they did around 20 songs or so. I also found out that they had opened for the Jonas Brothers the night before, which is huge!

They closed out the night with, of course, an awesome performance of “Blame Brett”, the lead single from “Blame My Ex”. Now, I was already quite familiar with this song, so it was great to dance to it and see it performed live. This is also when everyone truly went nuts. The crowd’s energy was barely containable, and I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone there was belting out the chorus along with the band. 

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(Hunter Soo / Flickr)

The Beaches put on a show to remember, and it was honestly such a blast. I’m sure this won’t be their last appearance in Vancouver, and they are definitely worth seeing. They’ve got such a vibrant, infectious energy that really makes them shine. 

SOUP WORLD TOUR & Evolution Soup Survey results

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THIS ONE GOES OUT TO ALL THE SOUPBROS OF THE WORLD!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx89K7IBJv7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Soup noun: “a liquid dish, typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables, etc., in stock or water.”

I want you to imagine a delicious bowl of soup. I want you to really visualise it; there should be a clear image of SOUP in your brain (unless you’re someone who can’t conjure up images in your head, in that case, sucks to suck). What kind of soup do you see? Creamy lobster bisque? Silky egg drop? A smoky salmorejo? No matter the soup, I’m hoping that just thinking about it is bringing you a warm, comforting, and satisfied feeling. 

Soup Confessional Time–

I personally am a big soup fan. In fact, my real name isn’t even Sophie, it’s actually Soupie. I like telling people that my favourite food is just “soup”, because it’s such a broad category. But I really mean it! Soup is the perfect meal because it isn’t too heavy, but is still pretty filling. It’s also one of the most underrated comfort foods out there–usually people tend to pick carb-heavy or richer foods, but soup has been quietly warming up our souls for centuries now. There’s a reason we drink soup when we’re sick…it’s a magical dish. Well, maybe not magical, but it is a pretty effective way to ingest medicinal herbs and spices that can help speed up the healing process of an illness or ailment.  It’s also a really great way to sneak like, a lot of veggies into your diet, especially if you’re blending them all up into a delicious purée. In the same vein, you can use a ton of leftover or about-to-go-bad vegetables in soups because you’re boiling everything down anyway. The best part of soup is that there are seemingly endless varieties–there is a soup for EVERY occasion. 

Soup is a really great category of food because it’s one of the few that is basically universal across all cuisines. All of the humans in all corners of the world independently realised that, hey, heating up some water and adding a bunch of stuff in it makes for a really tasty meal! To celebrate the ubiquity of soup, I’m going to be showcasing three soups from each continent (minus Antarctica, humans never made it there so I don’t know what the soup situation is like but I can’t imagine it being anything more than snowmelt and ice).

South America 

Encebollado – Ecuador

  • FIsh stew from Ecuador that is made with albacore, pickled red onions, and boiled cassava. It’s also Ecuador’s national dish!

Locro – Andes Mountains

  • Thick and hearty stew made from either squash, corn, potatoes, beans, or pumpkin.

Tacacá – Northern Brazil

  • Northern Brazilian soup made from jambu (type of fruit), tucupi (tapioca  broth), yellow pepper, and dried shrimp

North America

Soup joumou – Haiti

  • Soup made with winter squash, beef, potatoes, and carrots

Kak’ik – Guatemala

  • Soup with dark turkey meat in a spicy red broth

Menudo – Mexico

  • Soup with cow’s stomach in a red chilli pepper broth

Europe 

Meggyleves (sour cherry soup) – Hungary

  • Cold soup made from sour cherries, sour cream, and sugar.

Kjötsúpa – Iceland

  • Soup made from lamb, potatoes, and carrots

Revithia – Greece

  • Hearty chickpea soup

Africa

Chorba frik – Algeria and Tunisia

  • Soup made from lamb or beef, a bunch of veggies, and frik, which is a type of wheat

Ofe Onugbu – Nigeria

  • Soup made from bitter leaf juice, corn, and fish

Cassava Leaf Soup – Central Africa

  • Soup made from cassava leaves, beef, and onion

Asia

Thukpa – Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan

  • Noodle soup with chicken, but can be made vegetarian

Aush reshteh – Iran

  • Soup made from beans, lentils, noodles, and a bunch of different herbs

Tinola – Philippines

  • Soup made from chicken, papaya, and chili peppers in a ginger broth

And now, for possibly the most exciting portion of the article, the long-awaited results of my very professionally-conducted Evolution Crew Soup Survey. It really wasn’t much of a survey–I just went around and asked second-year Radio Arts students what their favourite soups were and compiled them into this neat little list. WIthout further ado, here are the preferred soups of the Evolution Crew:

  • French onion soup
  • Cream of mushroom
  • Ramen
  • Pho
  • Sopa de tortilla
  • Carrot soup
  • Doukhobor borscht
  • Creamy potato soup
  • Gumbo
  • Caldo verde
  • Cream of broccoli
  • Wonton soup
  • La Mian soup

We got a great variety of answers here! Clearly, we are very serious about our soups here at Evolution. I will say, we had one person who admitted that they just didn’t like soup at all, which was a bit crazy. In conclusion, soup rocks, it’s really tasty, and I’m going to go have some right now. Soup you later!

Is Vancouver truly a habitable city, or should it just be plastered with one of those long-term nuclear waste warning messages?

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If you’re unfamiliar, the messages the title refers to were proposed as a way to warn future generations about the dangers of areas of land that were once nuclear waste deposit sites, because, you know, radiation sticks around, and it’ll mess you up big-time if you’re not careful. They sound cool and dark and eerie–very dystopian. Before you start totally freaking out on me, no, Vancouver does NOT sit on top of a nuclear waste deposit site (to my knowledge). I’m just being silly…because the topic of discussion here is whether Vancouver is a city that the average young adult can feasibly live in. My quick, off-the-dome answer? NOPE. Too expensive!!! Nowhere to live!!! Wah wah wah!!! But really, as someone who is not from Vancouver (and not even from British Columbia for that matter) Vancouver is this unattainable, inaccessible, mystical land, akin to Atlantis or El Dorado. 

I’ve lived here for just over two years now, and I have felt like a perpetual tourist this entire time. Sure, I (somewhat) know my way around and can navigate via bus and train, but none of that has done anything to change the fact that I still feel like an outsider. Whether I’m on transit or walking down the street or getting groceries, I can’t shake this sensation that I stick out like a sore thumb. I’ve talked to other people who live here but aren’t from here, and this sentiment is relatively common. What is it about Vancouver that makes it feel so alienating? I’ve also heard other transplants mention that the general Vancouver population has quite the unfriendly vibe, which I kind of agree with, but I feel like that probably goes for any urban landscape. 

On the other end, the friends that I have that were born and raised in Vancouver seem to have this weird elitist attitude about the city, like they have some kind of inexplicable advantage over the rest of us. I haven’t really been able to figure out why this is beyond the fact that most people from West Vancouver experience a level of privilege and/or wealth that others do not, because let’s be honest, living out there is not cheap, as most of us know. 

I know that I’m being quite negative here, but don’t fret, I’m not writing this article for the sole purpose of bashing Vancouver. Like I mentioned before, I would want to live here, if the fates allowed it. I just think it’s important to acknowledge feeling like “the Other” in the place that is meant to be your home. 

Let’s take a look at what living in Vancouver is like via a good-old-fashioned pros and cons list. 

VANCOUVER CONS:

    • It. Is. Expensive. Everyone is really quick to bring this up when Vancouver discussions arise, but it’s true. The average cost of living for a single person who rents is OVER $4000 per month, which is quite the bleak figure. Owning property is a whole other ordeal, with the average cost of a home in Metro Vancouver sitting at a nice $1.2 million. So…basically in the realm of impossibility. Between food, housing, bills, and all other expenses, just surviving here is one of the most expensive things you can do. Yikes!
    • The homelessness and drug crises. This one speaks for itself; it is a very well-known fact that Vancouver has a highly visible homelessness crisis, with several contributing factors. Lack of support for mental health issues and drug abuse combined with unattainably high costs of living and a limited amount of affordable housing has led to the situation we have in the city today. The drug crisis is made worse by widespread opioid abuse and inconsistent access to harm reduction services. Fentanyl is also a major issue. These problems are unfortunately pretty prevalent in the city, so that’s something to consider.
    • Isolation. Being as far west as possible in Canada, Vancouver can sometimes feel like it’s in its own little world, separate from the rest of the countries. This isn’t really a huge issue, but it’s still a factor.

Alright, let’s get positive.

VANCOUVER PROS:

  • Pretty! For what it’s worth, Vancouver is a picturesque city. There’s a reason that so many movies are filmed here (and cheaper production costs but SHHHH, that’s irrelevant right now). The mountainous skyline, bustling downtown, manicured neighbourhoods, pretty beaches, stunning natural beauty…all of these things contribute to Vancouver’s overall beautiful landscape.
  • Access to nature. If you’re into hiking, biking, running, skiing, snowboarding, and basically any other outdoor activity, Vancouver is not a bad place to be. You’ve got mountains, ocean, forests, and urban sprawl to use as your outdoor recreational playground. There aren’t many other places in the world that can boast the same natural surroundings that Vancouver can. I also feel like every person between the ages of 22-32 is into hiking around here, just an observation.
  • Best public transit system EVER! As someone who does not own a car, I am personally a very big fan of public transit here in the city. Outside of my own enjoyment, the transit system is well-planned and laid out, and while it is not without its problems, for the most part it’s highly efficient and reliable. The SkyTrain, buses, and sea buses make it easy to get around the city in reasonable amounts of time WITHOUT having to drive. 

Both of these lists could be much longer, but that’s basically the long and the short of it. I feel like Vancouver’s positives somewhat outweigh the negatives, but it’s hard to say. To answer my original question though, I do think that Vancouver can be a good city to live in, if you have the means to make it happen. This city is complex, and it is ultimately up to you, my sweet reader, to figure out where you stand on the whole matter.

All alone…trials and tribulations of moving out

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Erda Estremera/Unsplash

If you are in your 20s and live outside of your parents’ home, I have a question for you; do you ever feel like a baby bird that’s been pushed (or shoved) out of the nest? Going out in the world and living on your own is a big step in the arduous quest for independence. Everyone experiences “leaving the nest” at different ages and stages in life—for some it’s easy, and for some it’s not. In North America, there is a particular pressure placed on the youth to move out as soon as possible. I grew up in the states, and I had a friend in high school who was obligated by her parents to be fully moved out and independent as soon as she turned 18. That always seemed to be a bit intense to me, but people from different cultural backgrounds will place different amounts of emphasis on this kind of thing. I feel like at 18, you’re hardly an adult. I can’t speak for everyone else, but when I was 18, I was kind of an idiot–there’s no way I would’ve been capable of living on my own at that stage of my life. With how the current housing market stands, I would say that it is becoming increasingly difficult for young adults to just move out. Even renting a place these days is tough and expensive, and a lot of the time the most cost-effective situation is to stay with your parents. I feel like the ideal scenario would be to work and save up enough money to move out at around 25, but unfortunately that’s not really in the realm of what’s considered acceptable, at least in western society.

My parents weren’t as harsh, but they did want me out of the house and on my own after high school. Covid kind of threw a massive wrench in those plans, but when I was 19, I left home to live in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. I had always considered myself a pretty self-sufficient, independent person, but living on my own for the first time definitely proved me wrong. I’ve been on my own for the last two years, and I can confidently say that it is still hard. I still struggle with cooking for myself, and being away from family can get pretty lonely. Sometimes it can feel like you’re just pretending to be an adult. Everyone else seems to have everything figured out, but there you are, trying to come up with the best way to cut a carrot into strips without slicing a chunk of your finger off. Don’t worry–the vast majority of young adults genuinely have no clue what they’re doing, where they’re going, or what’s going on. The ones that look like they do are either faking it or are just insane. 

Finally being on your own is a strange feeling. Living at home comes with that growing feeling of wanting to be independent, but as soon as you leave and you find yourself face to face with true, unrestricted freedom, it’s hard to feel 100% comfortable right away. All of sudden you have to worry about food, bills, rent, utilities, possibly tuition, and every other expense. The worst part? You’re most likely all alone. OK, maybe not entirely alone…but despite roommates, friends, partners, and everyone else, you’re still expected to be self-reliant. I live completely across the country from all of my relatives and immediate family, so sometimes I do feel the consequences of isolation. Having a solid group or network of friends is pretty crucial to maintaining your well-being while on your own, at least in my experience. I used to view myself as being a really introverted loner who was just fine with being alone, but as soon as I moved out, I realised just how much I actually value human contact. Living with roommates is also quite the first-time experience. I moved into my first apartment with one of my friends, and while we worked well together as friends, actually having to live together and be roommates was an entirely different story. You quickly realise when someone’s lifestyle and habits don’t exactly align with your own, and this more often than not will cause conflict and strife. I live in BCIT residence now with eleven other people, but everyone has been cool so far and there haven’t been any issues. My golden tip for living with people is that if you’re planning to move in with friends, make sure you’re aware of their living habits FIRST before making any concrete decisions. Trust me, you don’t want to lose a good friendship by being bad roommates with someone. 

As scary and daunting as it may seem, moving out is a simple fact of life that most of us will have to contend with at some point in our lives. And if you still live at home, consider yourself LUCKY, enjoy the time spent at home and save money!

YAY IT’S FALL NOW! Fun fall history & autumnal activities to do in and around Vancouver

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Brrrrrrr…

Did you feel that? That gust of wind was strong…

CRUNCH

Ooh, that leaf was so crunchy! Love when that happens.

Ugh, it’s only 5 but it’s already dark…

Have YOU experienced any of the following within the last few weeks?? All of these things can only mean ONE THING…it’s finally fall!!

This season is always a pretty magical time of year–the leaves turn, the weather gets chillier, the fashion gets better, and best of all, we get much-needed relief from the oppressive heat. Everything from beverages to desserts to candles to soaps seems to be tinged with pumpkin spice, and both Halloween and Thanksgiving occur during this beautiful time of year. All the autumn advocates out there understand where my enthusiasm is coming from. Fall in the modern age (like most things) has sadly taken on quite the consumerist tinge…go look back and see how many of the things I just listed are products that need to be purchased. Yikes! Not much we can do about that now, unfortunately, but things haven’t always been this way…there was a time where the transition from summer to autumn meant more than just unearthing the UGG boots from storage and getting a pumpkin spice latte. First, though, let’s get into some etymology. Why is autumn called autumn, and why do we call it fall in North America? Well, it’s actually a bit mysterious. The word “autumn” comes from the latin autumnus and possibly auctumnus, but the origin of these words is somewhat unknown. In Old French, from around the 13th century, the word became autompne and eventually automne, which is the modern spelling of the word in French today. Up until the 16th century, the season was referred to as simply “Harvest” in English, until it got replaced by the word autumn. After having typed it over and over again, “autumn” hardly even looks like a real word anymore. In North America, the season is often referred to as “fall”, and the reason for this is very complex and in-depth; during autumn, leaves fall off the trees, so…it’s called fall! The West is always on another level of intelligence. The beginning of the season is always marked by the autumnal equinox, which, in the Northern Hemisphere, can occur on September 22nd or 23rd. In very simple terms, the equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator going in a southern direction. The season was referred to as the harvest because this time of year is when a bunch of produce is ripe and ready to go! Some of the many delicious crops that are ready for harvesting in the fall season include pumpkins, squash (and most gourds), corn, beets, carrots, potatoes, and tons of others. Since this time of year is so bountiful, harvest festivals and celebrations have been celebrated throughout history. In North America we have Thanksgiving, but many different harvest festivals are celebrated around the world, like the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival in Chinese culture and Samhain in Irish culture (which is actually where Halloween originated from). 

I hope that you’re sufficiently in the fall spirit now, because I’ve got some fall activities to share with you that you should check out this season:

  • Fright Nights at Playland. Fright Nights is a seasonal event held at the PNE Playland Amusement Park. They basically deck the park out in Halloween decor, with haunted houses and actors running around to scare you. Although I haven’t been myself, I heard that it can be relatively scary (thanks to the actors), so proceed with caution! Fright Nights is happening from October 6th to October 31st.

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  • Harvest Days at VanDusen Botanical Gardens. VanDusen Botanical gardens offers a fun little fall event on weekends from October 7th to October 29th. There are a bunch of food vendors and photo spots, as well as fun fall activities. I would say that this event is definitely geared towards a younger demographic, but it’s still cute and worth going to…especially as a date spot!
  • Hockey Season Begins. This one is for all the sports fans reading this right now. Hockey season is about to begin, which means that there’ll be plenty of opportunities to watch and/or attend Canucks games. And if you’re really into it, try to see if you can join a fantasy hockey league. I’ve heard that they’re fun, but I cannot personally attest to this.
  • The Great Outdoors. Fall is a great time for hiking, biking, and doing stuff in the mountains–it’s not too cold out and not too hot, and the foliage is breathtaking. Just going on a walk in your neighbourhood to admire the pretty orange and red leaves is worth it. Since fall may be the most visually stimulating season, I’d say it’s one of the best times to get outside.
  • Laity Pumpkin Patch. Who doesn’t love a good pumpkin patch? Laity Pumpkin Patch in Maple Ridge is a super cute, classic pumpkin patch that is definitely worth the visit. Nothing compares to picking out the best pumpkin, bringing it home, and carving it up into the best jack-o-lantern the world has ever seen. At this particular patch, they’ve got animals, a corn maze, and, of course, plenty of pumpkins to pick from. They’re open for the fall season now, so check it out!
  • Apple Picking at Willow View Farms. Like I’ve been saying, fall is the season for the HARVEST, so if you want to make the most of it, you have to go apple picking. Willow View Farms in Abbotsford (kinda far, but worth the trip if you can manage it) is a great place to pick some apples. They have a “U-Pick” system where you can bring your own bags and/or boxes for the apples that you pick. If you’ve never done it before, apple picking is pretty fun, and it’s a fall-exclusive activity. Give it a try, even if you don’t like apples.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx_ANJ2R9a1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Fall marks a significant time of change–from the leaves, to the weather, to the produce. It’s also a time of preparation since Winter is not far off–humans getting all their provisions ready, and animals gathering food and preparing to hibernate. It really is a beautiful time of year!

How to totally and effectively mitigate the effects of prolonged internet usage-induced brain rot: an expert’s guide to disconnecting

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I am almost 100% certain that at some point in your life you have fallen victim to the dreaded doom scroll trap. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Consider the following scenario:

You tell yourself you’re just going to lay down for 15 minutes to look at your phone before getting started on homework. 

This is fine, you think. 

I just need a quick break before I start being productive. After this, I’ll be able to work extra hard, since I’ll be so well-rested.

Three hours later, you find yourself in the exact same position. Only after you snap out of your TikTok-fuelled trance do you realise what just happened; three hours of your life are now just…gone. That awful feeling starts to sink in after you come to your senses, and instead of feeling recharged and ready to tackle the work ahead of you, you feel significantly worse than when you initially laid down to scroll. 

It’s not fun, it sucks, and it makes you feel like kind of a terrible person (even though you’re not!). 

Maxim Ilyahov / Unsplash

“Doom scrolling” specifically refers to scrolling through tons of negative news and stories on social media, but recently it’s been used to describe just mindlessly scrolling through anything and everything for hours at a time. A big part of it is feeling like you’re unable to pull away, whether you’re in a full-on trance or just incapable of putting the cell phone down. There are a few reasons that this scrolling phenomenon occurs:

  1. While you’re scrolling and continuously interacting with more and more positive stimuli, your brain produces dopamine, which is a hormone that gets released whenever you do something that makes you happy since it is associated with pleasure and the “reward centre” of the brain. The more you scroll, the more stuff you interact with, the more dopamine you make, and the happier you feel. 
  2. On apps like TikTok, Instagram, X (Twitter), etc., the content there is endless, meaning you can just scroll for infinity. You will never run out of dumb videos to watch or pictures to look at or posts to read. The apps are designed this way to encourage you to just keep scrolling without providing any endpoints, which is what makes it so difficult to stop. 
  3. Whenever your phone dings and beeps to alert you of a text or whatever it may be, a lot of us experience an almost uncontrollable compulsion to check the notification, even at the most inconvenient of times. Receiving a notification is a strong pull back to the phone in many cases as well.

As cool and useful as smartphones are, it sure does feel like they’ve got us in their clutches. Have you ever seen those “political cartoon” drawings that your old relatives repost on Facebook about the younger generation being addicted to their phones and stuff along those lines? That’s the feeling I’m trying to invoke here. When I end up spending way more time on my phone or even just one the computer, I wind up feeling pretty guilty about it. By the end of it my brain feels like MUSH. Can you relate? 

–

Another aspect of this issue I’d like to touch on briefly is information overload. I mean, there has been no other point in history where humans have had unfettered access to this much information. If you want to learn anything about anything, you can easily do so thanks to The Internet. Learning a new skill can be fast tracked thanks to ever-helpful YouTube tutorials, and the answers to all of the questions in the universe can be delivered to you in a matter of milliseconds with a Google search. Honestly, I don’t believe that we were ever meant to know this much stuff. Sometimes as I’m scrolling or reading my 20th nonsense article of the day, I feel like my brain is about to explode from trying to absorb way too much info at once. 

Thinking about this stuff too much can definitely inspire dread, but fear not! There is hope yet!! As someone who essentially grew up on the internet, I’ve had to learn throughout my life how to pull back, disconnect, and live in the real world for a little while. Here are some epic strats that I try to implement in my life when I can:

  • DO. NOT. DISTURB!!!
    • All smartphones have the ability to turn off notifications by putting the phone in “Do Not Disturb” mode (at least, iPhones do). This means that your phone will no longer beep and buzz anytime something happens, and you can experience true PEACE. But really, having notifications off on your phone makes it a million times easier to forget about its existence and curb your desire to check it constantly. If you’re wanting to put your full attention into something, I recommend giving Do Not Disturb a try. When I’m reading, journaling, crafting, or doing homework (like I am RIGHT NOW), I always try my best to make sure that I’m not receiving any incoming notifications. These things can wait!
  • Bye Bye Phone…
    • Simply keeping your phone out of reach is another very effective way to stay off of it…because, you know, it’s physically distant from you. With this method, you won’t be able to just reach over and grab it, or at least that’s the idea. When I’m sitting down to get some real work done, for instance, it helps if I keep my phone in my backpack, or put it in the closet or something. I find that if I have my phone physically near me while I’m trying to be productive, the temptation to check it is just too high, so keeping it far away helps quite a bit. 
  • Keep track of screen time
    • This one is scary, I’ll be the first to admit. iPhones have the ability to track your app usage and total screen time, and if you allow it, it’ll give you a little summary report at the end of each week. When Apple first rolled out this feature, I remember immediately turning it off out of embarrassment. I really did not want a weekly reminder that I was spending seven hours a day staring at my cellular phone. I’ve learned since, however, that having it on is a good way to 1) humble yourself and 2) manage the amount of time you’re actually spending on the phone. Holding yourself accountable is important here. Aiming to lower your average daily screen time is a great way to actually commit to doing it!

My best piece of advice is really just to ignore your phone and/or computer as much as you can, and invest your time into other things. Even if those other things aren’t necessarily “productive”, it doesn’t matter–having hobbies outside of scrolling is what’s important here. At the end of the day, being mindful of the time spent on your phone is what will be beneficial to you in the long run.

Three little album reviews: OPN’s Again, Duster’s Remote Echoes, and Animal Collective’s Isn’t It Now?

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Music!!! Here at Evolution, we LOVE music. Being a radio student is so fun because we get to listen to only the best tunes all day. 2023 has definitely been a compelling year for music releases…lots of good, but also lots of bad. I am certifiably insane and I like to listen to as much new music as I can, even if it’s something from a genre that I don’t necessarily listen to all that often. Expanding horizons, broadening perspectives, etc… In the last little while, several notable drops have dropped, and we shall be taking a look at three of them within the confines of this article.

Starting off strong with Oneohtrix Point Never’s new album Again. Daniel Lopatin, who will henceforth be referred to as OPN (a whole lot easier than having to type out Oneohtrix Point Never every other sentence), is an American experimental electronic producer and composer. He’s got a pretty extensive discography, and he did the music for Uncut Gems (2019), which is pretty cool. His production work is pretty solid, too–he produced indie girly Soccer Mommy’s 2022 album Sometimes, Forever as well as The Weeknd’s 2021 album Dawn FM. 

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Again honestly blew me away. I’ve only heard two of his other albums–Replica from 2011 and R Plus Seven from 2013, which are probably his most popular releases. I really enjoyed both of them, and Again proved to be no different. I hesitate to call music “boundary-pushing” because I feel like that doesn’t really mean anything, but in this instance it seems appropriate. This album isn’t just progressive electronic music–it builds upon itself in a way that makes the whole thing feel like a cohesive listen, albeit a very layered and somewhat dense one. There’s definitely a lot going on here in terms of style, but he makes it work, and it’s effective. I will say that this record feels like it has more emotion than your standard lyricless electronic stuff. It didn’t just feel like a bunch of beeps and boops, you know? The classical elements were fantastic as well and added a lot of depth and texture to certain tracks, particularly on “Locrian Midwest”, “Gray Subviolet”, and “The Body Trail” (the last one being my favourite track on the album).  Each track felt like its own unique collage of sounds, and yet they all make sense together as one album. I will say, this might not be the most accessible and/or digestible album if you haven’t listened to that much electronic music before–there’s a lot going on here–but that doesn’t make it any less immersive, in my opinion. Give it a listen if you’re looking for something that’ll take you out of whatever you’re doing and drop you into some cool new soundscapes.

Next up we’ve got San Jose’s slowcore sweethearts Duster with their “newest album” Remote Echoes (it’s in quotes for a reason, you’ll see). Duster is an American indie rock, lo-fi band that’s been around since the late 90s. A lot of their stuff isn’t available on streaming, which means that I have most of their discography downloaded on my computer, sourced from totally legal means and definitely not pirated at all. Thankfully, though, they’ve slowly been making their stuff more accessible, and Remote Echoes is a part of that effort. Kind of a side note here but they were supposed to play in Vancouver at the end of October, but the show got CANCELLED. None of the other shows on their tour got cancelled, just ours. Quite disappointing!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxnwZ3FxnD0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Anyway, the reason that I put “newest album” in quotes is because the material…isn’t new. It’s a compilation of old demos, basically, so I hesitate to call it a full-fledged record, but hey, for the purposes of this article, that’s what I’ll be doing. Overall, Remote Echoes is pretty solid. Duster is one of those bands that never really differs in sound, which is why they’re one of my favourites–they’re nothing if not consistent. This record is their usual stuff; downtempo, rough recordings, melancholic lyrics, and it all works well. All of the tracks are pretty short, with “Untitled 84” being the only one that actually clears 3 minutes. While I do wish that some of the songs were a bit longer and more fleshed out, for a collection of old demos, I can’t really complain much. Duster makes great music to have on if you’re just chilling. Relaxing. Vibing. I enjoy listening to them at night a lot, and I’d say that Remote Echoes makes for a great nighttime album. My favourite track is “Moon in Aries” because it feels like one of the more polished songs (as polished as you can get with Duster) compared to the others. This album is a bit tough to really give a definitive review to but just know that it’s good for what it is. If you’re in the mood for some stripped-back easy listening lo-fi indie rock, then Remote Echoes is the record to put on.

Alright, last–and certainly LEAST–is Animal Collective’s new album Isn’t It Now?. Before we get into the review itself, I have to get a bit personal (what else is new?). Animal Collective is one of my favourite bands Of All Time. One of the best presents I’ve ever received was a Strawberry Jam record that was signed by all four of the members and even has a little “to Sophie” dedication to me written on it. I have also taken a photo with a member of the band at one of his solo shows. I would say I’m a pretty big fan! Their music is special to me and I’ve liked basically all of their releases thus far…until this one. I was already a bit on the fence about their last album from 2022 Time Skiffs, and this one feels like Time Skiffs if it actually just sucked. Alright, I’m being a bit harsh, but that sentiment will be the basis of this review. Animal Collective started out with a psych pop, freak folk sound, but their last two albums have taken a turn towards jam band territory. Nothing wrong with jam bands, but I just can’t get into listening to 10 minutes of guitar noodling nonsense that’s meant to be enjoyed alongside a joint. “Gem & I” was basically the only song that I actually enjoyed, the rest were pretty unforgettable. Their production is still good, vocals are still good–they’re still talented musicians, but the sound has changed so much that I can’t say anything that is positive beyond that. I’m chalking the jam band shift up to the members being old now and smoking a ton of weed. Also, I have to mention that one of the tracks on the album, “Defeat”, is 21 minutes and 58 seconds long. It’s not a bad song at all, and I really don’t want to be accused of having a short attention span here, but man. That track alone makes up for a third of the album’s entire runtime. Food for thought. I will note, however, that the album is receiving a lot of praise on the internet, so maybe I am just being too much of a hater here. I’ll let you be the judge, though; give it a listen and decide for yourself whether Isn’t It Now? rocks or flops.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CvFgha5riim/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This has been “Three Little Album Reviews” with yours truly, Sophie Tomei. Definitely check out these albums for yourself if you get the chance. I often find myself falling into the bad habit of reading other people’s reviews of music and movies and letting them colour my own opinion, but I’m here to tell you to NOT do that!! Get your headphones on and listen to the albums yourself!!!

 

Year in film: a brief look at the state of cinema in 2023, as it stands (PART 2)

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Welcome to part 2 of the movie article. You should probably read the first one before this one but honestly it doesn’t really matter. Do whatever you feel is right <3

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I kind of despise even having to bring this up, but the whole “Barbenheimer” sensation is something that unfortunately needs to be discussed if we’re talking about movies of 2023. For the sake of my own sanity, we’re not going to be dwelling on this for too long, but bear with me. If SOMEHOW you do not know what the accursèd “Barbenheimer” brief (but incessantly pervasive) cultural zeitgeist of summer 2023 is, let me explain: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023), a film about Mattel’s beloved blonde (revenue-generating) belle, and underground indie director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023), a zesty biopic depicting the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of WWII’s Manhattan project, were BOTH set to hit theatres on July 21st of this year. Since the two films differ drastically in tone and aesthetic, the internet thought it was quite humorous that both films were releasing on the same day. Hence, the disgusting birth of “Barbenheimer,” with the idea being that you must see both movies on the same day as a double feature. This really exploded online–it became a massive marketing campaign as well, particularly for Barbie. For a while it felt like every brand and company under the sun was hopping on the Barbie train and doing some sort of collaboration or partnership. It was truly inescapable for the months of July and August, which is where a lot of my distaste for it comes from (but I am primarily just a hater). Having something like that being shoved down your throat doesn’t really seem like the best way to generate excitement and enthusiasm, but maybe that’s just my negative outlook talking. With all this highly-fabricated hype, Barbie absolutely demolished the previous record for highest grossing live-action comedy film of all time, with box office sales reaching $1.430 billion worldwide.

Anyway, yeah, that’s Barbenheimer. Back to the second point of my clearly-laid out thesis: movieverses based on existing IPs. Barbie (2023) is not a movie that uses Barbie herself as a character that goes on a fun adventure (like previous installments in the BCU, or Barbie Cinematic Universe), and is instead a movie that focuses on the Barbie franchise itself. It’s supposed to be meta, self-referential, tongue-in-cheek, whatever, blah blah blah. The entire movie basically boils down to one giant advertisement for the Barbie brand–a Western viewer’s consumerist wet dream. 

Things are bleak right now. Mattel has confirmed that they intend on bringing way more of their IPs to the silver screen, too. This is only the beginning. Now, this information naturally raises the question of…

What the heck are we doing???

Is this what mainstream cinema is going to be like from now on?

I have a dreadful feeling that this is, unfortunately, the direction that things are heading in. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) that came out earlier this year is another example of this new phenomenon. Nintendo wants to make more movies based on their games, naturally, so I feel like our fate as movie viewers has already been sealed. We can probably expect to see a lot of these movies in the near future. 

What a year it has been…with only a few months left to go, I can’t really say what the last releases of 2023 will be like, but you better believe I’ll be paying attention. 

Year in film: a brief look at the state of cinema in 2023, as it stands (PART 1)

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This year has proven to be an interesting one for film. I have two main observations right off the bat–the rise of movies based on existing IPs/franchises (as well as a brief discussion of “Barbenheimer”), and a welcomed resurgence in the horror genre. 

Don’t you just love a good, straight-to-the-point-style high school thesis statement? You’re welcome. Now, read on…

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(NOTE: the article ended up being way too long so I had to split it into two parts, check out part 2 for the franchise movie discussion. I didn’t want to ruin my beautifully crafted thesis so that’s why it’s still here. Thanks for bearing with me!)

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There have already been a pretty significant number of horror movies released this year, and they’ve been decent enough for someone as bitter and distrustful of current pop culture opinions as me to have them on my radar. And 2023 isn’t even over yet…I mean, we still have Saw X coming out in a few days. Honestly, the entire Saw franchise deserves its own thinkpiece, but that’ll be for another time. Anyway, not only have I been actually paying attention to what’s coming out, a lot of these releases have been…good…which is crazy because horror movies actually have this amazing reputation of consistently being bad. Cheesy, corny, lame, not scary, bad writing, bad acting…it’s become so commonplace that it’s a definitive part of the meta now. If you’ve seen any horror movie made in the last 10 years or so–no matter how big or small the budget–there’s a likely chance that it wasn’t the greatest. No shade to the creatives working hard to bring us these films–horror is a really tough genre to write for–but man, the late 90s/early aughts had some bangers. We saw the rise and continuation of some killer (pun intended) franchises like Saw (2004) (of course), Final Destination (2000), Scream (1996), and other classics like The Ring (2002), The Blair Witch Project (1999), and Ginger Snaps (2000). I guess it’s kind of debatable whether these movies are “good” or not because the writing and acting isn’t always stellar, but that’s what makes horror such a tricky genre to write about from a critical perspective. And, at the end of the day, taste in film is subjective, so you can choose to disregard and/or disagree with everything I’m about to say. 

These movies were box-office successes and definitely have cult status within the horror movie community to this day. After about 2009 or so…there’s a significant drop-off in quality. We were getting a lot of sequels, prequels, and everything in between, but nothing of great significance. It wasn’t ALL bad, obviously I’m generalising here, but you get the point. Definitely a valley, but as it usually goes in the world of pop culture, a peak is never far off…and I would say the last year has been a peak. So far, we’ve had releases like Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid and Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, and the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is coming out next month, so tap in, FNAF bros. In terms of established film franchises, this year rocked–we’ve been blessed with new Scream, Evil Dead, Exorcist, and, of course, Saw coming up. And they didn’t totally suck. In the past years, these franchise continuation movies haven’t been the best, but from what I’ve seen so far, they’ve actually been pretty decent. I saw the new Scream movie earlier this year with my friends who had never seen any of the previous films in the franchise before, but after seeing this new one, they expressed interest in seeing the other movies, which is a win!

So…why this sudden spike in quality?

I’m not entirely sure, like I mentioned before, I think we’re just entering a peak period for horror movies. For all we know, next year might SUCK. 

Also…what even is the criteria for “good” horror?  

Let me try to spell it out for you as best I can with a list that is partially objective, partially entirely my own opinion:

  • DECENT to GOOD SFX
    • To stand out as a Good horror movie, the film needs to feature effects that are well done, i.e. not cheesy (if effects are necessary in the first place, which they typically are). They need to be believable, and sometimes that’s more difficult to pull off with smaller budgets, but not always! Skinamarink (2022) is a great example of a lower budget film that still manages to be scary without crazy sfx. This goes for costumes and makeup, too, by the way. BONUS POINTS if a film features good practical effects!!!
  • SUSPENSE IS PALPABLE
    • Suspense creates fear, and that is the goal of good horror–to give you a good spook! Even if it’s only included in a brief sequence, suspense is one the key players in the horror genre. Now, I must make it known that I am not a fan of Spielberg’s movies in general, but I can absolutely acknowledge that he is good at creating suspenseful sequences; the first beach sequence in Jaws (1975) and the kitchen raptor sequence from Jurassic Park (1993). Both pretty iconic, and both pretty good examples of suspense-building in cinema. BONUS POINTS for slow burn suspense…that’s good stuff (see Black Christmas (1974) or The Thing (1982)). 
  • KILLER (haha) SOUNDSCAPE
    • Nothing builds atmosphere better than well-timed sound effects and appropriate music and/or ambient sounds. Some of the most effectively scary and disturbing films rely heavily on their scores. The Exorcist (1973) and Halloween (1978) are some great examples here.
  • WELL-WRITTEN SCRIPT AND SUPERB ACTING
    • Yeah, no, these are totally optional, actually. Get a five-year-old to write your screenplay, for all I care.
  • *REMEMBER*: The main goal is to BE SCARY! Following the very credible and foolproof list above will totally guarantee a successful scary movie!!

That basically wraps up my thoughts on the current horror filmscape–things are great right now, but I don’t think it’ll last. But hey, if you’re in the mood to get spooked, I recommend taking a look at some of the scary movies of this year!