The Pocket Dwellers, a Toronto-based septet—that means seven, count ’em, seven people—are veterans of the scene, but of what scene is hard to say. The group incorporates aspects of hip hop, jazz, rock, and most other imaginable genres into their music.

Do you love the populist euphoria of the Aberdeen street party, but hate all the unnecessary violence and nasty aggression? Well, I suggest you head on over to The Grad Club this Thursday and Friday to experience the fist-pumping frenzy that is Cuff the Duke.

Saturday night, for the second time this month, the Miller Hall parking lot was transformed into a rock arena. For the concert’s organizers it was all about spectacle—“HOMECOMING ROCKS QUEEN’S ALUMNI AND STUDENTS” was projected in white letters onto two nearby buildings, while a chain of balloons arched over the Union Street entrance.

While the film is definitely a worthy addition to his career, it is a little too slight to be considered one of his best works. Broken Flowers is fun, but it is so light and breezy that it does not really stick with you long after you see it unlike Stranger than Paradise and Dead Man. But, if you are a fan of either Jim Jarmusch’s distinctive style or Bill Murray’s recent work, then it is a film that cannot be missed.

The simplicity that their name suggests is a blatant contradiction to their diverse sound. Don’t be fooled. This Austin, Texas band isn’t about dressing up in uniforms and playing John Philip Sousa medleys between football games at KCVI.

Before a visitor even gets a chance to see any of the works featured at Modern Fuel Gallery’s Disquiet exhibit, his or her ears are assaulted with the harsh screeches and haunting vocals of the Japanese or Russian national anthems. For anglophone ears, the effect is cold and unsettling, but it impacts the way visitors look at the images that preface the exhibit’s video installations.

One fall tradition hits Kingston this week: the annual Kingston Jazz Festival. Taking up residence in the new Wellington Street Theatre, this Kingston legend offers up a bevy of jazz performances and clinics for the community. The Kingston Jazz Festival is an annual presentation of the Kingston Jazz Society (KJS), which consists of a group of jazz-loving citizens and players who look to spread their musical passion to the rest of the city.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a curious piece of work. Marketed as a horror movie, it is in fact a courtroom melodrama. The plot concerns the trial of Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), a priest charged with the murder of Emily Rose, who died as the result of a failed exorcism Moore conducted.

A year and a half ago, the eccentric drum ’n bass duo of Worby and Lougheed took to the stage as Tomate Potate, quickly earning a name for themselves in the realm of wild and wacky entertainment. Especially on campus.

Listening to The Art of Breaking makes me wonder how Thousand Foot Krutch ever got to where they are. After wallowing around southern Ontario’s indie community for the better part of a decade, the God-rockers hit it big with 2003’s Phenomenon. So how are these Jesus freaks spending their 15 minutes?

For the last time, Whitney Houston is not coming to Kingston. But Whitey Houston is.
In fact, Whitey Houston doesn’t even take its name from the aforementioned songstress.

Kid Koala is the kind of DJ who can win over even the most skeptical of haters. Everyone’s got that self-righteous, musical purist friend, who fiercely believes (and never shuts up about it, in fact) that no music created after 1969 is worth listening to. Well, take that friend to see Kid Koala, and I bet he’ll grudgingly groove alongside the fanatics, saying things like “I guess this guy’s okay,” and “Holy shit! How’d he make the record do that?”

Union Gallery, on the first floor of Stauffer Library, is a space usually devoted to students’ artwork, but for the next month, it is housing Skin Deep, or Poetry for the Blind, an exhibition by Montreal artist Nadia Myre. An artist of Algonquin and French-Canadian heritage, Myre attended Emily Carr Institute and Concordia University. Her best-known piece is a beading of the Indian Act, called Cont(r)act.

While K-OS may earn his moniker by his erratic and versatile stylings on the mic, the atmosphere at Friday’s annual frosh concert was surprisingly tame. Sure, there were a few crowd surfers who coasted quickly into the arms of the yellow-garbed Stu Cons. Sure, there was some pushing, shoving, and the occasional waft of marijuana. But by the time the Whitby-based M.C. took the stage, most crowd members were able to stand back and happily soak up the beats and melodies emanating from the speakers.

Call it stress-relieving, call it marvellous, call it antisocial—odds are, the average student will be doing a lot of DVD-watching this year. Maybe it’s because you don’t have time to watch prime-time television on a regular basis. Maybe it’s because cable is an expense you just can’t seem to justify to yourself, or maybe it’s because after a long day of class, your couch looks a hell of a lot more appealing than a sticky, exorbitantly-priced movie seat.

Tucked away in the basement of Carruthers Hall is an often-overlooked pillar of Kingston culture. CFRC, Kingston’s campus and community radio station, has a proud past as Canada’s oldest radio station. But in the past decade the station has suffered a slump due to a lack of student interest.

Every few years, a groundbreaking series appears that changes the landscape of television. There was I Love Lucy, Dallas, The Simpsons and the first Survivor. These shows undeniably altered what would pour out of the “idiot box” for years to come.

The Constant Gardener is probably one of the most misleading film titles of all time. It suggests a quiet drama about a focused gardener, which could not be a more inaccurate description of the tense, angry, political thriller it is.

A brown metal breadbox, a wall covered in cherries and various other signs of a 1970s farmer’s kitchen adorn the stage for Domino Theatre’s production of The Drawer Boy. This touching story of three men connected by stories of the past and their desire to understand the present speaks to those of all ages.

Like a mother disappointed in the child she loves, I have to admit that the Great Lake Swimmers show on August 25 at Elixir was not good. Though, if I had to lay blame anywhere for this night’s debacle—and as reviews go that’s pretty much the point—I would lay a substantial amount on the opening band, Akron.