Tag Archives: giveaway
Another giveaway! Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is back with their new album Specter At The Feast, and they’ll be playing Kool Haus in Toronto Thursday night in support of it. I couldn’t be happier. They’ve been one of my favourites since they released the absolutely flawless Howl in 2005 – one of the strongest albums of the decade.
Thanks to Live Nation you can win a pair of tickets to see them play by subscribing to TTRO – just enter your email in that little box on the left sidebar and once you click the confirmation email you will be entered. If you’re already a subscriber and you’d like to enter, just comment below using the email you used to subscribe – where it asks for your email (not in the body of the comment!) – so I can confirm.
Contest ends and the winner will be contacted Thursday morning. Watch the video for the gorgeous new track “Returning” below:
The Strokes are back with a new album, Comedown Machine, and I have a copy to give away on vinyl as well as a copy on CD!
To enter you just have to subscribe to TTRO by putting your email into the box on the sidebar where it says subscribe. You will get an email asking you to confirm your subscription and once you confirm you will be entered to win. If you are already a subscriber, just comment below using the email address you used to subscribe where it asks for your email so I can verify.
Contest ends and winners will be contacted on Thursday May 2nd! This giveaway is open to Canadians only.
Watch the new video for “All The Time” below:
Come Thursday, another Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is upon us for 11 days, and I couldn’t be more excited to be covering it. Documentary film is the most reliable format for great filmmaking, in my opinion, because real stories always resonate – even if the camera work and production value are poor – the aspect of humanity being portrayed is almost always palpable.
With that said, Hot Docs has asked me to give you guys tickets to some of the films I am most excited to see. I have a pair of tickets to giveaway to the first screenings of both The Exhibition and When I Walk.
It is no secret that I have a very strong interest in crime stories. I’m obsessive about shows like Dateline, 48 Hours, Dexter, Breaking Bad and Criminal Minds. The Exhibition blends that interest with my true passion for arts, creativity and artists who aren’t afraid to break the rules – making this one of my top picks for this years festival.
It looks at the largest serial murder case in Canadian history – that of Robert Pickton and his pig farm back in 2007 – and an artist, Pamela Masik, who created paintings based around the faces of the 69 missing women police revealed at the time. Masik created gruesome portraits of the women – meant to highlight a racist and sexist society that let such violence against women take place for so long. But of course, using real victims for your art is going to piss a lot of people off, and for it, she faced a shitstorm of criticism that forced her to cancel the exhibition of this massive collection of work.
Win tickets to see it on Saturday April 27th at 9:30pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
When I Walk is the personal story of director Jason DeSilva and his diagnosis and subsequent battle with a severe form of multiple sclerosis at just 25 years old. As a filmmaker he was used to a life of travelling the world and creating. The disease, as it quickly stole his ability to walk, took this from him.
I watched my aunt live with multiple sclerosis for the first 10 years of my life – visiting her at the hospital every weekend with my dad – watching her turn into a skeleton until she finally passed away. It created within me a fear of hospitals that remains to this day. Not because of her – she was incredible despite all the pain, lighting up with joy anytime we were in the room – but because she was stuck there in this bland place surrounded by a rotating sea of geriatrics on their death bed – young and alive but unable to live – a true nightmare for someone as fun as she was (a rebellious Beatles fanatic and a mod, I wish I could have known her once I was older as I obviously got a lot of my personality from her).
MS is a terrible, incurable disease that strikes a very large portion of Canadians because of our cold climate – and while things are a lot more hopeful now than they were back when my aunt was diagnosed – there is still a lot more that can be done. Films like this have the potential to educate and humanize something that is very hard to understand unless you have experienced it. A cure is within reach.
Win tickets to the Friday April 26th screening at 9:30pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
To win, leave a comment with the name of the film you are interested in seeing (or both, if you’re interested in both), using an email address I can contact you at where it asks for your email address (do not put your email in the body of the comment).
You can also enter by becoming a Facebook fan and commenting on my status about this giveaway with the film you would like to see.
Both winners will be chosen and notified on Wednesday morning either via their email address or on Facebook, depending on method of entry.
What are you doing next Thursday? I hope you’re planning on going to see Papermaps play the Horseshoe, and if you are – I have a pair of tickets to giveaway to the show (February 7th @ 10pm). Even better – you can also win a copy of their latest EP, Inferior Ghost, which was released on limited edition vinyl (see my copy above? I love it).
Win by commenting below using an email address I can contact you at, noting if you would like to be entered for the tickets, the vinyl, or both. As usual, Facebook fans (aka my favourite peeps) can double their chances of winning by liking my status about this giveaway.
Contest closes February 4th and winners will be contacted at that time via email.
Sorry international friends, but the vinyl can only be shipped out to addresses located within Canada.
Watch the vinyl spin on my favourite track off the EP, “Reaction Formation,” below:
Courtesy of my favourite film festival turned all year home of documentary, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, I have FIVE pairs of tickets to giveaway for the opening night screening – Friday January 18th at 9pm – of this amazing documentary on legendary lunatic drummer of Cream fame, Ginger Baker.
Oh and just an FYI if you didn’t know – Bloor Hot Docs serves alcohol – one of the only (certainly the only one that I’m aware of) cinemas in the city to offer this option while you watch amazing films.
I caught this last year during the Hot Docs festival (read my short review here if you’re interested), and I can more than vouch that this is a must see for any music fan. Ginger Baker is one of those musicians that, like Keith Richards, should have died a LONG time ago, but like the quote on the movie poster above notes, he is somehow still here.
While Cream and Blind Faith were both short lived 60s bands, he remains one of the most influential drummers of all time, and the film brilliantly shows why that is. He is a madman and the true definition of a cliche selfish musician asshole, but the director Jay Bulger manages to shed light on what made him become so angry and how necessary that kind of fire is to be truly original and compelling as a musician. Most people don’t pay much attention to the drummer in bands, but there’s no way you could hear (or watch) Ginger and be anything but captivated.
To win a pair of tickets, comment below (be sure to use an email address I can contact you at where it asks for your email) with the name of your favourite drummer (can’t be Ginger!).
As always, Facebook fans can get an extra entry by liking my status about this giveaway on my Facebook page.
Winners will be chosen and contacted via the email address they used to comment on Wednesday January 16th!
