Sotheby’s Vice President Michael Bouhanna is facing accusations of insider trading after making $1 million on art-themed cryptocurrency. 

Bouhanna — not only Sotheby’s Vice President but also their Contemporary Art Specialist as well as their Head of Digital Art and NFTs — plays a major role in operating the fine arts auction company.  

Though Bouhanna’s profile on the Sotheby’s website emphasizes his achievements for driving the company into the digital art world, his well-known status has landed him much controversy after social media users found that he anonymously created a “meme coin” that quickly became wildly profitable in the cryptocurrency universe. 

The currency was based off of Maurizio Cattelan’s conceptual art piece Comedian (2019) — the one where a fresh banana is duct taped to a wall — which resurfaced and went viral for a second time after Sotheby’s announced that they will be featuring Cattelan’s piece in their upcoming “Now and Contemporary Evening Auction” where it is projected to sell for $1.5 million. 

After Sotheby’s announced their involvement in selling Cattelan’s piece, Bouhanna anonymously created the “meme coin” called Comedian, or $BAN. According to Art Net, the coin became profitable incredibly quickly, citing a post on Medium saying that “an initial investment of $1,795” rose to “$873,000 in merely two days.” 

Soon after users online were able to identify Bouhanna as the creator of $BAN, suspicions about Bouhanna’s status in the digital art and cryptocurrency world spread quickly, questioning how this might have affected the coin’s profitable success. 

A particular instance of a trader profiting $1 million on the coin escalated suspicions surrounding Bouhanna, propelling accusations that the Sotheby’s Vice President used his connections in the cryptocurrency community to conduct an insider trading scheme — accusing Bouhanna of encouraging those he is connected with to buy the coin and garner more attention to it to maximize its value. 

Bouhanna wrote a lengthy post on X profusely denying the accusations of insider trading, saying that he did not “promote BAN or encourage anyone to buy it” and that the accusation that he profited $1 million dollars from the coin is “completely false.” 

Bouhanna said that he chose to launch the coin anonymously because of his status in the art world and involvement with its auction company, not expecting it to go viral. 

“When I created BAN, I shared the link with a small group of friends with whom I often exchange NFT and memecoin projects, again without advising them to buy it,” said Bouhanna. 

Bouhanna cited his creation of the coin not to Comedian’s current virality, but to his appreciation for its “conceptual questioning of value,” calling his actions a “satirical critique” and “a pointed commentary on the volatile, meme-driven crypto market.” 

He also denied Sotheby’s affiliation with the coin or the profits that might have been derived from it. 

Sotheby’s has yet to comment on the controversy as they continue to prepare for the widely anticipated auction of Cattelan’s Comedian later this month. 

Meta A.I. has teased a generative A.I. for filmmaking, and their reputation has taken a major hit. 

Filmmaker and screenwriter Aneesh Chagaty, known for his 2018 thriller Searching promoted the A.I. in a short egregiously titled “I h8 ai”. His commentary in the short is abhorrently out-of-touch with a foul stench of paid-promotion corporate jargon slop radiating through the screen.  

In the short, he takes previous examples of short films from adolescence and demonstrates how the generative program can modify backdrops and settings instantaneously. It’s disheartening to see his reflection on films made in his childhood as something that can still be perfected, not with human creativity but with a written prompt and the click of a button. 

It doesn’t help that the A.I. editing itself looks like crap. 

The fact alone that it was provided to filmmakers by the production company Blumhouse is a dark glimpse into a potential pathway the business side of cinema could take. However, the harsh backlash against A.I. from creatives in the film community has proven that it’s hardly a major threat in the first place. 

Chagaty’s so-called short film has an aggregate score of 1.6/10 stars on IMDb. Actors and directors belonging to SAG-AFTRA in Hollywood went on a lengthy strike last year in protest of their A.I. likeness being used without permission or credit. Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker and animator Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli called early developments of A.I. animation “an insult to life itself.” 

The historical recognition of human effort in cinema — be it from small film festivals for independent cinema or the Oscars — has rooted itself deep enough in culture and tradition that a paradigm shift favouring A.I. would be highly unlikely and radically opposed. Perhaps the side of the industry entertaining the notion of A.I. in movies is the production-oriented business side that lacks a connection with the demands of creatives. 

Furthermore, art and creativity are ultimately treated as commodities with value. The efforts of a prolific, award-winning director, screenwriter or actor are valued for the quality of their work and not the quantity. A.I. films made in a fraction of the time it takes to produce a feature-length film will carry no value as there will be a gross inflation of them. It’s like saying McDonald’s is the pinnacle of cuisine because it’s a worldwide corporation with locations in essentially every city. 

Filmmaking is a collaborative effort. Whether you’re working with a dozen people or a hundred, the symbiosis required between a team to create a film is a valued component of cinematic tradition. 

Contrary to what the ghoulish, salivating tech fiends of Silicon Valley hope, it’s unlikely that A.I. will sink its teeth into the entertainment industry and dismantle the traditions passed down throughout cinema history. What can be drawn from the presence of A.I. is a reminder of our capabilities as a species to involve lived experience in the creative process. 

The best time to be creative is now. There’s no need to make something perfect, or entirely what you expect it to be — that’s the whole point of growth. Filmmakers spend years refining their approach to realizing a vision; hiccups are bound to occur. The notion that all art must be perfectly realized is damaging and will leave you unsatisfied and defeated.  

If you have a book idea, start writing. If you have an instrument you wish to learn, pick one up. If the response to generative technology has taught us anything, it’s that the glossy finish of A.I. cannot hold a candle to even just a few of your own words written down on paper, even if all you’ve got is “untitled short film.” 

The 67th annual Grammy Award nominations were revealed on the morning of Nov. 8. 

Of the four major entertainment awards (EGOT), the Grammys are often the most polarizing. This usually has to do with the subjectivity of music compared to more comprehensive visual works like cinema, television or theatre. The record academy’s adherence to popularity as opposed to critical acclaim has resulted in countless “snubs” over the years, leading to a general skepticism surrounding the academy’s credibility. 

Nonetheless, the Grammys are a massive cultural event. For many artists it is a shot at something big, elevating their presence in the industry and thus their careers. The fanbase surrounding these artists frequently make the buildup to Grammy night heated, holding the attention of fans before and during the show. 

Here are five key takeaways from this year’s batch of nominees. 

Women lead in major categories 

Much like last year’s Grammys, the major categories are predominantly occupied by women nominees. The album of the year category features pop titans Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. For Beyoncé, Eilish and Swift, their nomination recognition in the major categories is predictable, but the immense success of Charli, Carpenter and Roan in 2024 have posed a challenge to these industry giants as they’ve risen to their level of acclaim and popularity at a shockingly fast rate.  

A surprising lack of nominations for Ariana Grande 

Fans of singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande have expressed shock and disappointment over the lack of nominations for her latest LP Eternal Sunshine. Grande received two nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album for the album and Best Dance Pop Recording for the lead single “Yes, And?”. Whether or not Grande deserves recognition in the major categories like album and song of the year is debatable, but for an artist of her scale and reach it’s surprising.  

Beyoncé gets a shoutout in the country categories 

After the Country Music Awards went radio silent on Beyoncé’s latest album, Cowboy Carter, the recording academy has nominated the album in the best country album category and her track “Texas Hold ‘Em” in the country song of the year. Beyoncé’s experience in country music should not come as a surprise upon learning about her Texan roots. 2016’s Lemonade received critical acclaim for the country/blues track “Daddy Lessons,” but attracted no attention during the award season. 

It really is impossible to downplay the scope of Beyoncé’s tremendous influence. She currently holds the title for most awarded artist in Grammy history, holding 32 golden gramophones. Her 11 nominations received this year, including Album of the Year, culminate to a grand total of 99 nominations across her prolific career, making her the most nominated artist in Grammy history as well.  

Despite this she has never won album of the year, a particularly baffling realization given the universal critical acclaim for her albums Lemonade and Renaissance. The extensive list of nominations for Cowboy Carter this year prompt speculation into whether this is the year she finally receives the big award. 

The Beatles are still beating 

If you told someone last year that The Beatles would receive a Grammy nomination in 2024, they’d think you took a journey with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Against all odds, legendary U.K. group The Beatles have been nominated for their previously unreleased track, “Now and Then,” in the Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance categories. Originally written and composed by John Lennon, the now released version was partially restored using machine learning artificial intelligence technologies. 

However, the use of A.I. to aid in the track’s audio restoration has generated conflict and discourse surrounding their nominations. 

Charli XCX finally gets her flowers 

The mainstream has seemingly started to catch up with U.K. pop artist Charli XCX. After a decade-spanning career, Charli has finally received an explosion of widespread recognition with her latest LP BRAT. While she has been nominated previously for her 2014 collaboration with Iggy Azalea in “Fancy,” it’s not until this year that she has been recognized for her creative efforts in pushing the boundaries of pop music. For the upcoming ceremony, she has received seven nominations including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Music Video, Best Pop Group/Duo Performance, Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Dance Pop Recording. 

For longtime fans, this calls for celebration, especially considering BRAT’s forward-thinking, experimental approach to pop music that would otherwise be deemed underground in previous years. Her recognition establishes new grounds for what the pop genre can be in the eyes of the general public. However, Charli remains ahead of the curve, keeping her fans and the public guessing as she introduces new ideas to the landscape of pop music. 

BrockTV’s annual Render This Film Festival took place at The Film House on Nov. 7, providing Brock students a chance to have a go at filmmaking.  

Students worked in teams of up to five members and were given a month to complete their films. They were additionally provided with a written prompt and a specific object that must be incorporated into the short film in some way. This year, students’ films were required to include mirrors. 

BrockTV’s Senior Production Manager Joel Antony emphasized this year’s goal of attracting students from outside the local and university film communities with the hope of broadening the appeal of filmmaking to more students. 

Screenings began at 7 p.m. A total of ten student films were showcased, spanning several genres and styles to creatively work with the provided prompts. 

Upon finishing the screenings, audience members were able to cast their vote for the winner of the audience choice award on a voting card while three judges deliberated their first and second place picks. 

The winning film, 7:39, was created and produced by Christian Fisher, Ryan Bokla, Tyler De Las Llagas, Nickado Elliott and Garrett Wager. Inspired by found-footage horror, it follows a group of students exploring the woods in hopes of finding research for a biodiversity assignment. As they journey deeper into the woods, they begin to drown in absurdity, losing contact with the world they once thought they knew. Strange occurrences and a mysterious mirror lead them to believe they’re not alone in the woods anymore. 

The short film won first place in a judge’s panel and the audience vote. The team has previously worked together on Brock’s 72-Hour Film Festival, where they won second place twice. 

Fisher described the decision to create a found-footage film as a welcomed challenge. “I imagined it would challenge us and that it would be restricting creatively,” said Fisher. 

Wager, who was responsible for the film’s handheld camerawork, cited The Blair Witch Project as inspiration for the style, but wanted to approach the genre from a contemporary angle. 

“All I could think about was how we were going to bring our ideas to life; found footage isn’t something we’ve done before so we had to depart from what we were used to,” said Wager, who also compiled and edited the recorded footage. Despite the end film being under 10 minutes long, the group had over an hour of footage to work with. 

“Daylight posed a challenge, since we wanted more dark scenes. We filmed early in the morning but by the time we got into the woods the sun already rose, so we had to work within that timeframe and get creative,” said Wager. 

The team emphasized the role improvisation played as well, building off ideas in the moment to make their chemistry effortless. Fisher said that many of the jokes were improvised as well. 

The Brock University Film Society (BUFS) is expected to host their annual 72-Hour Film Festival next March, where students will be given a chance to write, produce and edit a short film within a three-day period. The student-run Brock University Moving Image Society is expected to host short film productions in the winter term as well. The embrace of student filmmaking at Brock and in the surrounding community is a call for celebration and an invitation for creative minds to realize their ideas. 

Lydia Stephen, a recent Brock graduate, is trying to make a name for herself in the local music scene. Her recent performance at Cicada Music Festival suggests that she’s on the right track.  

The 23-year-old says she has always lived and breathed music. “I grew up in a household where my mother was a very talented musician, and so the piano was a big part of my everyday life,” said Stephen. While she only decided to pursue her passion for writing music in her teenage years, she says she has “always been obsessed with the idea of performance as a songwriter.” 

She thinks this fascination started when she was introduced to Demi Lovato in the early 2000s. “She was a star, and all I ever did in my free time was pretend to perform like her,” said Stephen. “Of course, my style has taken an entirely different shape than that of Demi Lovato in Camp Rock, but it remains a foundational part of my love for music and performance.” 

Even when she outgrew Disney Channel originals like Camp Rock, Stephen still found herself longing to play onstage. When she moved from her hometown of Markham to St. Catharines to attend Brock University, that urge grew even more. “Moving for school had a major impact on my exposure to local live music and playing gigs, witnessing how special that community of artists is,” said Stephen. “I saw this, particularly at Mahtay Café where I worked, and that was what drew me in and kept me wanting more.”  

From there, Stephen expanded her horizons, performing wherever and whenever she could. 

Throughout the last two years of performances, Stephen says her most memorable gig was at the Warehouse in downtown St. Catharines.  

“I remember it was so silent in there that you could hear a pin drop. The sound technician had found the sweetest spot for reverb in my voice and I could see the silhouettes of everyone swaying as they listened,” said Stephen.  

“I couldn’t believe so many people were resonating so deeply with my songs, and I recall several people approaching me afterwards telling me they had cried. Who knew the music I had written could make people feel so much?” 

Since then, Stephen and her work have only grown. Last month, the Brock graduate had the opportunity to play at Cicada Musical Festival, a well-known local music festival that toted big names like Serena Ryder and Andy Shauf on this year’s line-up. 

Last year, Katey Gatta, a folk singer and songwriter, messaged Stephen about playing at Cicada with Keaton Tye. Tye, a fellow musician, would often join Stephen on stage for a few songs when she played, but Gatta wanted them to play an entire set together. “A couple of weeks before the festival, we got together and wrote a list of songs we would often play with one another. We worked through a lot of different ideas around harmony and finally landed on a solid setlist,” said Stephen.  

While Stephen and Tye found their set to be a little underwhelming, it was special all the same. “The acorns from the oak tree above were pelting the tin roof of the bandstand we were playing in, the music from one of the other stages was blaring — but we were all smiling.”  

Still, just like many recent university graduates, Stephen doesn’t know where the next day will take her. 

“I flip back and forth between hoping I can be the next Lizzy McAlpine or just hoping I can be a teacher with a stable income, a place to stay, people to love and still be someone who still picks up her guitar sometimes.” 

Even then, she hopes people will still be listening to her music 10 years from now.  

“I hope I never stop learning about myself through my music. I look forward to seeing the way my lyricism will develop, and the most exciting part is that I won’t know until I get there.” 

Written by Stevie Nicks, “Landslide” is without a shadow of doubt one of mankind’s greatest gifts to the universe — yet Nicks’ rendition of the song is arguably not the best version of the track. 

“Landslide” was released on Fleetwood Mac’s self-titled album, which was the band’s first record featuring lead singer Stevie Nicks and her on-again and off-again partner Lindsey Buckingham. While technically a Fleetwood Mac song, Nicks is the only credited songwriter on “Landslide” and maintains that it was written in 1973, before she joined the band.  

Whether or not 27-year-old Nicks initially thought much of the track that she claims she wrote in approximately five minutes is hard to say, but upon its release in 1975, “Landslide” would top numerous charts. In 2021, nearly 50 years after its debut, it would even be included in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” 

Considering all this, there is absolutely no question that Nicks’ rendition of “Landslide” was and still is a hit — but it’s not the best version of the song.  

In 2002, The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) released a version of the song on their essential album Home. While it is one of many different covers of the track that have been performed over the years, The Chicks’ version of “Landslide” is one of a few instances where the cover is better than the original.  

Nicks’ version of “Landslide” is a great example of a song that maintains musical simplicity to highlight emotional intensity. A stripped back fingerpicked ballad, the track trades the band’s usual pop-rock sound for intricate intimacy and delicate quietness. Nicks’ longing vocals are poignant and haunting, echoing throughout space and time with a uniquely human message that will never become obsolete. In many ways, the song is a masterpiece. Yet, in comparison to The Chicks, the rendition of the track that appears on Fleetwood Mac feels empty.  

Warm and bright, the version of “Landslide” that appears on Home is the perfect mix of Nicks’ quiet longing and The Chicks’ signature country drawl. It’s easy to get lost in the song’s tender and yearning three-part harmony as it imbues the track’s sonic atmosphere, drawing in its listener with overwhelming emotion. The inclusion of the twangy banjo line and the enthralling polyphony of strings round out the track so sweetly that it’s hard not to fall in love with it. Yet what makes this cover better than the original is that The Chicks never lose the exceptionality that Stevie Nicks brought to the song, simply adding even more.  

Instead, The Chicks learn from the version of the song that was released on Fleetwood Mac and grow past its (albeit minimal) flaws. Most importantly, they don’t confuse musical simplicity with musical monotony. Their version of “Landslide” maintains a simple melodious backdrop from which the spellbinding poignancy created by their interweaving vocal euphony can flourish. That musical ambience, while simple, wasn’t diminished in order to highlight the song’s emotional intensity. Rather, both elements work together to support the other, creating an astonishing paragon of melodic greatness.  

There is no denying that Stevie Nicks is a genius. Her shuddering, affecting vocals and her unmatched lyrical prowess undoubtedly made both her and Fleetwood Mac some of the best-selling musical acts of all time. Moreover, “Landslide” and its eternally pervading message, the paramount reason for the song’s success, would never have existed for The Chicks to cover had Nicks not written it in 1973. But in this one instance, Stevie Nicks’ musical pre-eminence was taken and made better by The Chicks when they covered “Landslide” in 2002. 

Alternative rock band Inhaler has posted a video edit teasing their third album on social media.  

The band Inhaler recently took an extended hiatus from touring following the conclusion of their year-long world tour for sophomore album Cuts & Bruises. During this 11-month break, the band — made up of founding members Eli Hewson, Josh Jenkinson, Ryan McMahon and Rob Keating — was relatively quiet on their social media, only posting occasionally.  

This near radio silence was broken on Oct. 7, when the band deleted all their previous posts and uploaded a short video across all their social media pages. The video, a roughly edited collage of random clips of various landscapes, people and the band members themselves, was captioned: “Where we’ve been these last few months. Third time’s the charm.” 

After watching the video, many fans began to speculate about the phrasing of the caption, predicting the release of a new album. These theories were confirmed on Oct. 10 when Inhaler posted a series of eight film photos of the band in the studio, the final of which is focused on a dry-erase board that read “Inhaler LP. 3.”  

While there is no word on when this new, currently unnamed album will be released, Inhaler has already begun a new North American tour. The concerts, which started on Oct. 11 in Nashville, have mostly been a mixed bag of hits from their first two albums, suggesting that another North American tour dedicated just to their upcoming LP is in the works. Still, the band has been treating their fans to a sneak peek of what’ is to come.  

On the first night of the tour, Inhaler opened with a new track, “Your House,” and tacked “Eddie in the Darkness” onto the encore. They have also played “Open Wide,” another unreleased song, at a handful of recent shows.  

While this could have been the end, the band seems to enjoy teasing their fans.  

Things only got more mysterious when fans noticed a series of four posters that featured a red question mark and the date ’10.29’ pasted on a wall in Dublin. While there was initially no link between the posters and the band, Inhaler confirmed their involvement by posting a picture of them on X.  

On Oct. 17, another video was posted of bass player Keating, only identifiable by his bleached hair, playing the keyboard. While the clip isn’t very long, captioned “Barefoot in the street,” it includes a bass-heavy hook from what is likely another one of the new album’s tracks.  

Still relatively new to the music scene, Inhaler has shown a lot of growth throughout their past two albums, but they have room to develop.  

In his NME review of Inhaler’s Cuts & Bruises, Thomas Smith noted that the record, while impressive for a sophomore album, still leaves the band with “space to grow and continue developing a sound more distinctly their own.” 

“While they do lack that Fender-esque grit in their story, they are similarly zealous and charming — they’re fast carving out their own worthy place in the scene.” 

Perhaps with this third album, they will do just that.  

The squelching sound of sneakers pivoting on damp grass fills the air as the tired and freezing festival crowd shift their weight from one aching foot to the other, waiting for the set to start.  

The roaring sound of Canadian indie rock band Born Ruffians has stopped echoing across the open space between the two mainstages erected on Henley Island for the Cicada Music Festival. Their set finished only a minute or so earlier, but the people pressed against the barricade in front of Henley Stage are getting anxious.  

Crammed between a PDA-heavy couple and the tallest man I have ever seen; I start to shiver. The dark-haired girl beside me must be cold too as she pulls her oversized jean jacket tighter across her chest. Watching as she cracks open a bottle of water she’s pulled from her coat, I press my dry lips together to prevent a longing sigh. For a moment, I wondered how she got that thing to fit in such a small pocket and if might be able to do the same before shaking my head. My lunch, a small tray of plain french fries I shared with my companion, cost me $15. 

I don’t even want to know how much a bottle of Dasani would put me out.  

I can’t ponder it for long though, shaken out of my reverie when my body, unwillingly, rockets into the PDA-heavy couple in front of me. While Andy Shauf has quietly taken the stage without me noticing, the tall guy behind me hasn’t missed a beat and currently seems to be attempting to phase through my body to get closer to the stage. A series of aptly guided elbow jabs and a glare seem to set him straight.  

On stage, Andy perches on a wooden kitchen chair with his legs crossed. While behind him a full-size drum kit and a variety of string instruments are veiled by misty shadows, Shauf is a one-man show — just him and his acoustic guitar. Purportedly a Saskatchewan native who should be used to the cold, Shauf starts to shiver as he takes a sip from his tea-filled thermos.  

As warm, syrupy guitar tones fill the crisp air, hush falls. Shauf’s unique voice unravels out over the crowd like a blanket, encapsulating everyone in a cozy hug that staves off the cold. Bodies sway in unison as each song starts to blend together with only a quiet “thank you” from Shauf to break up the set.  

He meanders through “Wasted on You,” “Halloween Store,” “Spanish on the Beach” and “Yvonne” before briefly stopping to take a sip of tea and flex his cold fingers. Picking away at his guitar again, Shauf is a mastermind of quiet authenticity. While each song he plays fits into the larger fictional story he has created for his work, Shauf sings each track as though he has lived each experience he is speaking of in full. There is no denying that he is believable in his craft, of which he appears deeply engrossed.  

Towards the end of the set, he admits to the crowd that he has absolutely no idea where he is, only that he is happy for the chance to perform at all.  

Quietly he ends his performance with “Satan,” leaving the audience in a fuzzy haze of warmth. Before long, a heavy bass drum beat shudders the crowd awake and toward the other stage, where Serena Ryder is ready to rock.  

Festival life continues and each set starts to blend into the next. Yet, Shauf’s unique quietness and authenticity will not be easily forgotten by those lucky enough to experience it. 

Florida-born singer-songwriter Hayden Silas Anhedönia, known by her stage name Ethel Cain, released the single “Punish” on Nov. 1 in promotion of her upcoming project Perverts, which is set to release in January. 

Cain’s music is a fascinating intersection of American music genres and themes. She takes inspiration from slowcore bands like Duster and Midwest-emo bands like American Football, whom she paid tribute to on her cover of their song “For Sure”. She amalgamates her inspirations into something that feels both refreshing and familiar, with a complex storyline as a companion. 

Numerous memes online have denoted her visual “aesthetic” and associations with traditional rural, religious American iconography as “very Ethical Caine Vinyl”.  

Although this term may humorously apply to Cain’s visual artistry, which has helped define a new wave of Americana among Gen Z, her music hardly fits within such a meme-ified, narrow-minded perspective. Her debut album Preacher’s Daughter is a sprawling epic of a concept album that demands patience from its listener; the long, droning tracks are meant to be drowned in. 

“Punish” asks the same thing from listeners as her previous work, though there are several qualities that show a shift towards new sonic ideas. Musically, it is distinctly more barren and cold than the occasional warmth felt in Preacher’s Daughter, but Cain’s narrative lyricism is still willing to explore religious themes. 

The track opens with an eerie, wobbling synth that could be likened to a door creaking back and forth on rusty hinges. It has an uncanny vocal quality to it, creating a tense sense of questioning. Is this sound an instrument or a voice? What could cause a voice to make such a disturbing sound? 

The melody introduces itself as a powerful piano chord, progressing into several other notes. Cain’s ghostly vocals introduce the narrator with the line, “Whatever’s wrong with me, I will take to bed.” The narrator feels something is wrong, or has perhaps committed wrongdoing, yet they will not live with the realization of this, preferring to swallow their guilt. It’s implied that their indignity comes from sexual perversion with the line, “Little death like lead, poisonous and heavy,” a translation of the Frencher metaphor “La petite mort.” The narrator’s source of pleasure hits them like a gunshot afterwards. Each moment of indulgence is followed by a rude awakening, yet this does not stop them from returning again and again. 

The song’s chorus repeats the line, “I am punished by love.” Although the narrator’s perverse feelings are a cause for disgust and shame — a punishment — they still understand their desires to be a sign of love. 

The nature of the narrator’s so-called “love” is confirmed by the line, “He was a natural Plauché, saying ‘You won’t forget this.’” This line is a direct reference to the case of Gary Plauché, a Louisiana man charged with murdering Jeffrey Doucet, who was responsible for kidnapping and molesting Plauché’s son. The narrator has rationalized their selfish lust as a symptom of love. The creaking, uneasy synth introduced in the opening raises its volume, its distorted cries more noticeable.  

We’ve come to learn the narrator is not the hero of this story, they are despised for their heinous acts and are cast out by their community. Cain’s perspective explores the minds of wrongdoers, individuals swallowed by their own shame yet somehow still rationalizing their actions. Deep in their denial, the narrator thinks that “only God knows” their intentions and will judge them with what they believe to be fairness. 

They assign themself the title of a “fallen angel,” cast out by heaven and unjustly treated, though in this rationalization, they inadvertently admit to their own devilish actions, coming to terms with the consequences. The song erupts into a distorted, droning guitar over the last chorus. The line of “being punished by love,” is perceived differently now. It is devoid of the gothic glamour of a tortured romance, mutated into a grotesque attempt at rationalization for the narrator’s vile acts. In a press release, Cain confirmed the track explores shame, and the limits people will go to avoid confronting it: 

“I wonder how deep shame can run, and how unforgivable an act could be that I may still justify it in some bent way to make carrying it more bearable. Would I tell myself it’s not my fault and I couldn’t help myself? Would anyone truly believe that? Would I?” 

Cain confirmed that Perverts is not a full-length narrative album akin to Preacher’s Daughter. Instead, it serves as an impressionistic exploration of the sounds that inspired Preacher’s Daughter. Cain has taken this approach before, slowly but intentionally presenting her ideas. She adopts a multimedia strategy on social media and her YouTube channel, uploading photos and videos to deepen the complexity of her artistic world. 

Pensive and ghostly, “Punish” is a welcomed addition to Cain’s artistic chronicle. Every note feels intentional, not only to serve the song itself but to deepen Cain’s ethos and creative vision.  

4/5 

Aaron Schimberg elevates his filmmaking to promising heights with his latest film A Different Man, casting him into the pot of independent directors to keep an eye on. 

A Different Man’s plot follows Edward, an aspiring actor living with facial disfigurement from neurofibromatosis. While a kind-hearted, empathetic man, his condition leads him to live a solitary life, spending his time off work inside his apartment. His closest relationship is with his newly moved-in neighbour, Ingrid, an aspiring playwright who shows kindness towards Edward and draws inspiration from him. Following a visit with his doctor, Edward is presented with an experimental treatment capable of curing his condition, drastically transforming his face. 

Upon agreeing to the procedure, Edward notices immediate differences in the way he interacts with the world. He abandons his acting pursuits for a career in real estate and becomes the face of a firm in the industry. Initially, the transition is seemingly the solution to his insecurities — that is, until he meets Oswald, another actor with the same facial condition except he oozes with self-confidence, charm and sociability. He’s known in bars, local venues and has several hobbies, each given their own attention in a single day, everything Edward doesn’t have. This makes Edward feel as though his life has been upstaged. It’s often darkly comedic, sometimes nightmarishly so, but still offers an abundance of substance to take away. 

Sebastian Stan delivers one of his strongest performances to date in the film. He convincingly portrays someone looking at their new face for the first time, unrecognizable in his own eyes. Edward’s psychological spiral comes with several hiccups and emotional outbursts. Stan holds his attention on the role until a satisfying final scene.  

Even given the unique conditions Edward experiences that lay the grounds for his transformation, it’s impossible not to see yourself in his struggle with sacrificing his identity. The suffocating, oppressive feeling of having your identity stripped away even after you’ve forsaken it for what you think you want could happen to anyone. 

Pearson is a delight to watch as Oswald. Perhaps it is Stan’s emotionally potent and reactive performance that makes Oswald feel like a genuine threat to his livelihood, though it’s hard not to love the joy Pearson brings to his character. 

A Different Man serves as a sharp satire on identity comparison. Schimberg morphs the narrative and tone of the film several times, though no matter what mask the film wears, its core questions and themes are kept close and reiterated constantly. Perhaps by the end, the film doesn’t fully tie itself together, burying the lead in the layers of satire and making communication with audiences difficult. For others, the beginning may be a weak point as well, as the film doesn’t begin to find its rhythm until the second act when it begins to mirror its questions back to the audience. 

It is, nonetheless, a captivating film that offers a lot for audiences to reflect on and relate to. The execution of the film’s subject matter feels fully fleshed out in a captivating way. The storyline is easy enough to follow as well, making it easy to click with what the film is telling you. Schimberg knows exactly what he wants to pull from this film to make it stand out in a line of films about identity and beauty standards and accomplishes doing so. By the end, you’re left with a film full of excellent material to reflect on and revisit. 

To the average passerby, the congregation massing at New Vision United Church on the night of Nov. 1 might seem an odd one, what with all the Halloween costumes, mullets and concert tees. 

The church, an unsuspecting enough building in downtown Hamilton, goes by another name: The Music Hall. Originally built as a Victorian-Romanesque Centenary Methodist Church in 1868, the building now hosts burlesque shows, fashion events and hardcore rock concerts. Case in point: The Dirty Nil. 

A Canadian rock ‘n’ roll band born from the scene in Hamilton, The Dirty Nil announced this “special hometown show” on Instagram at the end of September. It was titled “Let There Be Nil,” and its prescient poster image detailed a church with flames swirling out of every door and window. With special guests Mile End, the Nil vowed to “save your soul with some rock and roll.” 

Upon entering the venue, concert-goers are greeted by robed attendees, who provide a program for the sermon ahead. “Brothers, sisters, everyone. Thank you for joining us for a very special night of cathartic communion,” the leaflet reads. With “hymns from The Book of Nil and The Book of Bon,” the program tells people to “prepare to be bathed in the cleansing light of rock and roll” and to “sing loud as to be heard from the heavens.” 

That this was no ordinary show was abundantly clear. But the extent of how special it will be is yet to be seen. 

As the room fills, the lights darken and Mile End takes the stage. A concussive force of sound erupts as the band sets the tone for the rest of the night, encouraging the crowd to get moving. Within minutes, the mosh pit becomes a mass of ragged, frenzied movement; limbs fly in every direction as bodies crash into one another. 

When asked, the audience expresses that it’s many of their first times seeing Mile End, but heads abound bounce nonetheless. After playing for about 30 minutes, the band thanks the audience and gets them screaming for the upcoming headliner. 

The Dirty Nil begins a bit later than promised, taking the stage donned in the garb of priests and tossing communion wafers into the front rows. While the program does say that one Father O’Connor — not a member of the band — will be leading the sermon, it is somewhat confusing to see him taking the central microphone instead of lead singer Luke Bentham. But as soon as they start playing, the reason is apparent. 

This guy sounds just like Bon Scott, and The Dirty Nil is covering AC/DC. 

Opening their set is “Let There Be Rock,” and once the track is finished, O’Connor leaves the stage and the band takes up a more traditional formation. They play some early singles, like “F****n’ Up Young” and “Nicotine,” Bentham screaming with palpable enthusiasm, and the moment the crowd hears an original song is when the moshing begins. In the intimate space of the church, the audience feels united; the floor sags and bounces under their collective weight. 

Hardcore Nil songs like “Doom Boy” and “Blunt Force Concussion” imbue the moshing crowd with untold strength. One member, dressed in a hot costume complete with a scarf and plush jumpsuit, finds himself trapped in the middle, sweating and panting, on the verge of passing out, but dancing nonetheless and loving it all the while. Just when he thinks he might die in the most hardcore workout of his life, the band switches up the pace with some slower songs and he’s able to escape the ceaseless crowd. 

After a Nil set that felt somewhat short, O’Connor returns with an addictive energy for some more AD/DC covers, including “Big Balls” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top.” O’Connor dances around the stage and imitates the splashing of holy water with his mic in such a way that you know he’s having the time of his life. Some seem upset that the band isn’t playing more original songs, but the energy remains high until the electrifying closer, AC/DC’s “Live Wire.” 

Then, in true rock ‘n’ roll fashion, Benthem, O’Connor and bassist Sam Tomlinson fall backwards off the stage and crowd-surf over their congregated fans. O’Connor and Tomlinson only make it about halfway, but Bentham not only makes it to the back of the room but up to the front again, where he is placed back on the stage and delivers one final bow to the cheering audience. 

Once the band is gone, the crowd waits anxiously for an encore. Being only 10:45 p.m., there’s time for at least one more song, if not two or three. Many chant “encore” or “Dirty Nil,” eager for one last romp with the band. 

But then some music comes on over the speakers, a tell-tale sign that it’s time to leave. If that’s not bad enough, the lights come on shortly after. Still, the crowd refuses to leave. When the lights turn off, those who’ve remained feel a rush of vindication, but it is a false hope. The lights return and so does Tomlinson, saying that they hadn’t planned an encore, but he’ll go backstage to see what he can do. 

It is no use though. Not two minutes later, he returns and says they’re not doing it, but it doesn’t mean they love their fans any less. The whole ordeal leaves somewhat of a sour taste in the mouths of attendees after such a fun show, but there is nothing to be done except to leave the way they came, back out the doors of this rock ‘n’ roll church. 

Regardless, this unfortunate ending does not reduce the memories they’ve made with The Dirty Nil and friends on this cool, autumn night. Catharsis has been achieved, souls have been saved and rock lives on another day. 

Maurizio Cattelan’s viral 2019 art piece Comedian is forecasted to sell for $1.5 million this November, which is a big price to pay for a banana and duct tape. 

Currently sitting in the Sotheby’s auction house, Comedian is a piece that displays a fresh banana stuck to the wall with a diagonal strip of duct tape. The piece first rose to fame in 2019, when it was sold for $120,000 at Art Basel in Miami Beach and dubbed the “Art Basel Banana.”  

As a conceptual artist, Cattelan’s work relies on the meaning and context behind the art, not the visual work itself. This is best represented through his famous work from 2016, in which he placed a functioning 18-carat-gold toilet in New York City’s Guggenheim Museum and called it America. 

According to a statement from Galerie Perrotin, the original gallery the piece appeared in, Cattelan did not originally plan to include a real banana in his piece. He experimented with resin, bronze and bronze paint before determining that his message could be best conveyed through a 30-cent banana from a Miami grocery store. 

While the piece was assigned a high monetary value in the art world, others have criticized the piece for its simplicity. 

Performance artist David Datuna responded to the piece and its critiques by taking the banana off the wall and eating it, calling his performance “Hungry Artist.” He says this was done out of appreciation for Cattelan, but the act subsequently led to a slew of other people attempting to do the same thing, causing the piece to be removed from its original installation location in Miami amidst “public safety concerns.” 

A visitor to Seoul’s Museum of Art also ate the banana during Comedian’s installation at the museum, justifying his choice by simply saying that he was hungry. 

Despite the lighthearted response to the piece, Cattelan said that his work was not an attempt to be humorous; rather it was a response to the concept of value in relation to art. 

“At art fairs, speed and business reign, so I saw it like this: If I had to be at a fair, I could sell my banana like others sell their paintings,” said Cattelan. “I could play within the system, but with my rules.” 

Sotheby’s head of contemporary art in the Americas, David Galperin, commented on the irony of the piece’s exploration of value and its increasing bid for their upcoming auction. 

“If at its core, Comedian questions the very notion of the value of art, then putting the work at auction this November will be the ultimate realization of its essential conceptual idea — the public will finally have a say in deciding its true value,” said Galperin. 

Whoever splurges on the piece will be provided with a fresh banana, a roll of duct tape, a set of instructions for how the art should be displayed and a certificate of authenticity.  

As the banana is fresh and frequently replaced at its installations, the piece’s price tag revolves more around owning the conceptual idea behind the piece rather than the piece itself. 

Sotheby’s “Now and Contemporary” auction is to take place on Nov. 20 in New York, reaffirming what the value of a 30-cent banana is to the art world. 

In another shocking moment for fans of classical music all around the world, a rare and unknown waltz that may have been composed by Chopin has been unearthed in New York City. 

Frédéric Chopin was a 19th-century Polish composer whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation.” Known worldwide for being one of the leading musicians of his time, Chopin wrote mostly piano solos, one of which may have been rediscovered very recently. 

Robinson McClellan, an American composer and curator at the Morgan Library and Museum, stumbled upon the waltz while cataloging different items from a collection the museum had been given in 2019. The composition had been written on a small piece of paper no larger than an index card and the name “Chopin” had been printed at the top of the work. But when the piece couldn’t be matched to any of the composer’s other works, McClellan realized he might have something special on his hands. 

“I thought, ‘What’s going on here? What could this be?’” McClellan told The New York Times. “I didn’t recognize the music.” 

After trying to play the piece at home on a digital piano, McClellan had doubts about the piece’s authenticity, stating that it was unusually volcanic. Still, he was unsure and decided to send a photo to Jeffrey Kallberg who is a leading Chopin scholar.  

Kallberg, upon seeing the piece, said his “jaw dropped… I knew I had never seen this [composition] before.”  

This discovery comes just weeks after researchers in Salzburg announced that they had uncovered a previously unheard work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s in their collection. Findings such as these are often greeted with skepticism in the classical music community where it’s not uncommon for unearthed “masterpieces” turning out to be fake.  

In an attempt to dispel concerns about the composition’s authenticity, McClellan and Kallberg enlisted the help of other Chopin experts. During this process of authentication, the two encountered some problems. 

The first problem was the composer himself had not signed his name on the document as the printing belonged to someone else, a fact that was revealed by a handwriting analysis. And secondly, the piece was much shorter than Chopin’s normal compositions and its structure was strange. “Several moody, dissonant measures culminate in a loud outburst before a melancholy melody begins,” the museum said. “None of his known waltzes start this way.”  

Furthermore, while it is believed that Chopin has written dozens of waltzes, only 17 were published, meaning that any new findings attributed to him are quite rare.  

Still, after testing the paper and ink used to note down the composition and analyzing the handwriting and musical style, the Morgan Library and Museum strongly believe that the piece was composed by Chopin. As the piece dates to the 1830s when Chopin was in his 20s, the strange and unusual style could be the result of an early period of his life during which the composer was experimenting.  

“There’s quite a bit of juvenilia which Chopin kept in his drawer and never intended to publish,” classical pianist Sir Stephan Hough told the BBC, “and this [piece] probably belongs in that drawer.”