{"title":"Entertainment","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"9780771016042","title":"Ways of Listening","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWays of Listening \u003c\/i\u003eis a love letter to music, a sharp analysis of our current cultural reality, and a joyful celebration of the artists who keep creating against all odds.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow has the internet changed the way we listen to, and love, the music that shapes our lives? Award-winning musician Rollie Pemberton (Cadence Weapon) interrogates our current musical landscape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMusic occupies a curious place in modern life, somehow omnipresent and disposable at the same time. Computers have democratized song creation. There is more music being produced now than at any point in human history and streaming platforms are the ultimate distribution model for this vast bounty.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut streaming relies on an algorithmic discovery system that guides the user’s choices and encourages them to listen passively to the company’s curation, while also dissuading the listener from searching for music and developing their own taste. Streamers offer meagre royalties to artists on their platforms, largely devaluing music in the public sphere. And social media companies have taught a whole generation of young listeners to perceive music as merely background noise for content.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis all adds up to a bleak landscape for the true fan, but there’s another way. Pemberton delves deep into his own music discovery process to present a gentle reminder of another path for the contemporary music lover. He explores the obsession with the “mysterious artist” archetype, studies Charli xcx’s groundbreaking \u003ci\u003eBrat \u003c\/i\u003ealbum rollout, assesses the magic of demo recordings, breaks down the Kendrick Lamar - Drake beef, and examines AI’s struggle to understand Italo disco’s strange balance of classic and cringe.","brand":"Rollie Pemberton (CA)","offers":[{"title":"Hardback Paper over boards","offer_id":46850986934460,"sku":"9780771016042","price":35.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/8559\/2764\/files\/BNCImageAPI_7db0945b-89eb-4057-975b-a5fe604f86e8.jpg?v=1779376495"},{"product_id":"9780306831935-1","title":"Down with the System","description":"\u003cb\u003eTHE *INSTANT* \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK \u003c\/i\u003eTIMES BESTSELLER \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA TODAY\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System Of A Down, Serj Tankian.    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Serj Tankian will be the first to admit that his band, System Of A Down, was an unlikely chart-topper. After all, as Serj concedes, “it’s not easy listening.” Even so, there’s no doubt that System’s music had struck a chord with millions of listeners across the globe ever since they burst on the scene in the mid-1990s. With nearly 40 million album sales, three albums topping the Billboard charts, and a devoted legion of fans, the band dominated the alt-rock and metal scenes just as the world hurtled into a new millennium, redefining the very idea of what rockstars could and couldn’t talk about, could and couldn’t do, could and couldn’t represent. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eDown With the System\u003c\/i\u003e, Serj presents readers with a memoir that is far more than just a rock 'n' roll fable. It's an immigrant's tale, it’s an activist's awakening, and it's a spiritual journey from darkness toward light. And all of this comes down to the fact that Serj himself has had the chance to live an extraordinary life—thanks to a combination of luck, circumstance, struggle, talent, and spiritual awakening. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Born to Armenian parents in Beirut, Serj grows up hearing bombs drop outside his childhood home during the country’s civil war, before moving to Los Angeles at the age of seven. As a young man, he is immersed in the SoCal community of “Little Armenia,” learning more and more about the brutal genocide faced by his ancestors while helping his parents adapt to the constraints and contradictions of the American Dream. Then, during a pivotal drive home from an LSAT class, Serj decides to turn away from a promising future in business and law to make music instead—a decision that leads him to touring five continents as the lead singer of a hugely popular rock band, hitting number #1 on the Billboard album charts the morning of 9\/11, and then having the hit single from the same album banned from radio two days later. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the years that follow, his uniquely singular story continues, as he evades glass bottles hurled at a cancelled show by angry Slayer fans, teams up with Tom Morello to push social justice causes on unsuspecting metalheads, argues with LAPD officers over the best way to quell rioting fans, and defines new sounds and singing tactics with Rick Rubin.    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Braiding together Serj’s thought-provoking insight with heartfelt and poetic prose, \u003ci\u003eDown With the System\u003c\/i\u003e retraces Serj’s remarkable and unlikely journey, and explores what it’s taught him—about music, about art, about activism, and about himself. It’s an unforgettable ride that will leave you breathless—and an absolute delight for new fans and old ones alike.","brand":"Serj Tankian","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":46872731353276,"sku":"9780306831935","price":25.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/8559\/2764\/files\/BNCImageAPI_4b3b4f8e-0cee-4aab-abd9-54451bed497c.jpg?v=1779814734"},{"product_id":"9781419789571","title":"With a Little Help from Their Friends","description":"\u003cb\u003eA surprising, charming, and kaleidoscopic history of the Beatles, told through 100 people close to them\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story of the Beatles is more than just their omnipresent songs and their iconic albums. It’s more than the hair, the clothes, the generational defining spirit. It’s even more than Paul and John and George and Ringo. The Beatles wouldn’t be the Beatles without a little help from their friends.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese four legends didn’t change the world in isolation; their story has an incredible supporting cast of family, friends, managers, producers, publicists, ex-bandmates, fellow musicians, and more. These somebodies shaped the Fab Four through ambition, power, friendship, heartbreak, tragedy, intrigue, humor, lust, and of course, love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Stuart Maconie’s \u003ci\u003eWith a Little Help From Their Friends \u003c\/i\u003eis the epic story of the iconic band through the people who made them, from childhood days in Liverpool through the crucible of Hamburg and on to international superstardom. It’s a charming mosaic of a book, a fresh look written with deep knowledge and passion.","brand":"Stuart Maconie","offers":[{"title":"Hardback With dust jacket","offer_id":46876414771388,"sku":"9781419789571","price":41.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/8559\/2764\/files\/BNCImageAPI_db820035-283c-464e-afd6-66494c244cfe.jpg?v=1779978988"}],"url":"https:\/\/wordsquirrelbooks.com\/collections\/entertainment.oembed","provider":"Word Squirrel Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}