Bella and two other dogs were caged and kept in a basement. Bella’s back legs were weak and her paws had grown extra toes. You wouldn’t know Bella was a rescue dog now, carrying a large fallen tree branch with her teeth. Her tail was wagging, not between her legs. And her demeanor was friendly, newly accustomed to the family’s two-and-a-half year old son. Bella’s new owner told me she’d heard the original owner was taking out his anger on the dogs after he and his girlfriend split up. Not unlike the case of Queenie, a Cane Corso in New York. She was found starving to death in her home earlier this year. The abuser was a spiteful ex-husband, whose ex-wife thankfully saved the dog.

Dog abuse can also be caused by good intentions–if good intentions mean locking up 61 dogs in two windowless buildings, left to fight each other and live in their own waste. Their owner, Manitoban Peter Chernecki told news outlets that the dogs were strays he rescued from Gull Lake’s local landfill. He insists they were not malnourished, telling CBC News, “The dogs were all fed, they all had water. The dogs were in good shape. They weren’t starving, nothing like that.”

Even so, this September, he and his partner Judith will be sentencedafter pleading guilty to seven counts of animal under the Animal Care Act and Regulations. The Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer for Manitoba cites the distress-related charges on their Media Bulletin:

• failure to provide adequate medical attention when animals were wounded or ill,
• failure to provide adequate lighting, and
• confinement of animals in a way that impaired their well-being.

The couple will be facing a maximum penalty of six months in jail, a $5,000 fine, and a five year ban on dog ownership.

Even if Chernecki was telling the truth—that the dogs had food and water—every living thing needs more than that to survive. The conditions these animals were forced to live in left their fur matted with feces. When provincial officials rescued the dogs, the buildings were treated like a hazardous materials site. Neighbours would later tell the Toronto Star about a strange odour coming from the dwellings and the black flies surrounding the area.

These creatures are famously known to be our best friends, but they were overwhelming neglected. Over half of the animals were euthanized. The Winnipeg Humane Society saved some and others were sent to a U.S. dog shelter called Dog Town. Officials say the incident was a case of hoarding. Animal hoarding can be a result of OCD, addictions or attachment disorder. Whatever the case, 61 lives were abused and 34 of them didn’t survive it.

Jennie Lamere is the brain behind Twivo. She’s 18-years-old and a girl. She developed the program for TVnext Hack—a national coding competition, or “hackathon” held in Boston last month. Lamere took first place among 80 hackers including grown, experienced businessmen in the T.V. and tech industries. She was the only person to develop a program solo and the only girl to compete.

The gaping gender discrepancy in tech jobs is pretty apparent. But is Lamere testament to a new trend that sees women at the fore?

A recent study that looked at jobs in the tech sector debunked the idea that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. Instead it found payment was gender neutral.

Thing is, women still make less than men (on average $87,500 versus $95,900). But once you control for education and experience that difference disappears. People with the same skill levels—regardless of gender—earn the same kind of money.

But men and women don’t seem to hold the same kind of jobs. And the ones women fill happen to pay less than the ones men fill. A Forbes article reported on the study saying, “IT management, the fourth-most-common job held by men, pays an average of $123,000, higher than any of the other jobs men hold, and well more than the jobs held by women. For women, the fourth-most-popular job, quality assurance tester, pays just $71,000.”

The study also found women in the field have less education and experience than men.

So why the discrepancy?

Maybe it’s that women don’t want a part of the boys’-club culture surrounding tech jobs. Infiltrating male-dominated positions can be intimidating for a woman—or plain unappealing. Barbara MacDonald, co-founder of Willett Inc. told the Globe and Mail: “Women are inherently social, so they may view a tech start-up as being non-social – a bunch of guys in a basement sitting in front of a computer all day and all night eating day-old pizza.” Uh—no thanks!

In a survey released last month, Elance, an online job marketplace, asked 7,000 people why so few women hold tech jobs. Respondents agreed that lack of female role models was the biggest barrier.

And it’s true.

Only six of the top 100 tech companies in the States have female CEOs. And the 50 fastest growing tech jobs in Canada have just 14 females executives.

It’s a cyclical dilemma—women don’t pursue tech jobs because other women don’t hold tech positions. Fortunately, it’s a cycle that’s bound to break.

Organizations like Girls Who Code and CanWIT are giving women resources and support to enter and excel in tech jobs. And it’s not just important for women—it’s important for everyone. Blocking out perspective from 50 percent of the population limits ideas and collaboration—it stifles the creative process and potential for innovation.

I’m not saying science and tech jobs are the be-all, end-all to success in this world. As a woman, I’m no more proud of Sheryl Sandberg for presiding over Facebook than of Anne-Marie McIntyre for raising five thankless kids (love you, Mom!). Just so long as women have the right tools to take on whatever jobs they want.

What makes Jennie Lamere an exception—what let her dominate a room full of tech-savvy men—is that she had those tools. Her dad, a seasoned hacker, took her to her first hackathon three years ago and she’s been to five since. That’s an opportunity most girls, or any high schoolers, never get.

Now, thanks to ladies like Lamere, women are seeing they do in fact have a place in the technological sphere and will eventually shrink the gender gap. And as Rachel Sklar, co-founder of Change The Ratio said, “In the meantime, I am stoked to use Jennie’s invention to enjoy Mad Men at my own pace.”

From April Reimer's Twitter: "For those who were thinkin @happyelishas and I were rolling our eyes @ eachother. Was the jerk beside us #rudecomment"

If you didn’t hear, the Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs, a first since 2004. The last time they won the Stanley Cup was in 1967. This is all newsworthy stuff, history made with the youngest team in the playoffs.

But it was a look between two women that made the news for days. “DRAMA! Elisha Cuthbert and Leafs Goalie’s wife caught in a serious death stare,” tweets one sports journalist. A CBC web post showed six gifs of the non-verbal exchange, “Or stink eyes, or ‘bitch faces’ or whatever,” it reads (They managed to find three expressions for women looking at each other, but couldn’t get the team name right regarding the goalie). If sports journalists felt the need to cover this, of course Extra TV would chime in, too: “It looked like the making of a catfight.”

The media manufactured hockey wife feud did start out with the aforementioned sport. The Leafs lost to the Boston Bruins in game four, 4 to 3 in overtime. The Bruins scored on Leafs goaltender James Reimer after a bad play by defenceman Dion Phaneuf.

The cameras panned the audience section for the team’s family members’ reactions. April Reimer, married to James, and Elisha Cuthbert, engaged to Phaneuf, looked at each other and did not seem impressed. I’m willing to bet a lot of people watching that game looked unimpressed. But this happened between two women, thus, bitchcraft must have been involved. This “news” was talked about for days—even after the two women clarified the situation (Who asked them anyway?) and said they were reacting to a rude comment made by a nearby fan.

In case you didn’t know: Women can be friends and interact with each other. We don’t actually isolate ourselves until it’s time to fight to the delight of our audience. In response to all the speculation, Cuthbert tweeted, “Things are not always what they seem. I’m insulted and disappointed by a lot of these comments. That’s real. Not a 3 sec. Clip.”

Woman on woman hate is nothing new to television and film, “You don’t, as a woman, get to be in films with too many women,” says Susan Sarandon in an April interview with HuffPost Live. “And if you do, you hardly ever are in scenes together. You’re usually, naturally, pitted against each other.” We see this in The Real Housewives series where female “friends” do nothing more than scream at each other and shit-talk behind closed doors. Or in the modeling industry, like with Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, where the media collectively decided two black women can not be successful in modeling at the same time, thus they must hate each other. In American politics we had bitch-labeled Hillary Clinton versus “ditzy” Sarah Palin.

This assumed inherent sexism between women further trivializes our existence. If we are taught from a young age, watching interchangeable Disney princesses fighting likewise evil step-mothers, we will grow to learn that fighting something that’s supposedly silly—like, say, earning less than our male counterparts—is less meaningful than figuring out who is and isn’t a slut. The alienation of friendships between women just means a further dependency on our male counterparts. Things will forever remain imbalanced.

Now, like a commentator said during game six of the Leafs-Bruins series, can we quit talking the lady stare down, and get back to hockey?

The Force Four Entertainment-produced series, called “Border Security: Canada’s Front Line” is currently on season two and has not yet been cancelled. Thankfully, though, the common sense of others won out in regards to one particularly exploitative episode.

The filming of a March 13 Vancouver construction site raid and the arrests of eight migrant workers will not air as part of the series. Also, there are now restrictions on where cameras are allowed. Filming is done away from the border and kept on the inland enforcement of those with “serious criminality.”

A memo from CBSA cites, “negative public response may continue,” as the reason for the episode’s cancellation. Such negative public response includes: Amnesty International, BC Civil Liberties Association, LeadNow, Council of Canadians, No One Is Illegal and the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), all of which have spoken out against the series, and wish for its cancellation. Thompson’s petition on change.org has over 24,000 signatures and an open letter addressed “To Force Four Entertainment, Shaw Media, Global BC, National Geographic, Canadian Border Services Agency, and all other producers, financiers, and broadcasters of Border Security: Canada’s Front Line,” has garnered 250 signatures from media professionals.

Diana Thompson, wife to Tulio Renan Hernandez , a worker who has been deported to Honduras told the activist group No One is Illegal: “We all feel extremely relieved by the news and are grateful to everyone who spoke out. We want this episode and the whole show cancelled.”

Picture from Diana Thompson's Change.org petition

The show, which follows CBSA, has been criticized for exploiting the confusion and language barriers of people. Or as the Border Security site says, “From confused visitors to phony immigrants.” National Geographic gets more dramatic while describing this trashy TV, “Passengers react in a variety of unpredictable ways—they lie, argue, play the victim, plead ignorance and even threaten legal action.  But they are no match for the investigative tactics of the CBSA officers.  After all, the law is on their side.”

Concerns about the show regard harming not only the dignity of fellow human beings but in some cases putting them further in harm’s way. A letter addressed to Toews from the CBA explains that those seeking refuge for themselves and their family may be endangered further, having their faces filmed for television. The letter also says what many are worried about: “We question whether those foreign nationals participating in the filming can be considered to have provided free and informed consent.”

Though people are asked to sign a waiver, they are filmed first, then asked while they are detained. Language barriers, confusion and fear that not signing will affect their release factor before signing.

Force Four Entertainment released a statement after the raid, saying they were being mis-characterized and that the show was not exploitative tabloid television but a documentary about the CBSA. However the letter originally sent to Toews for approval wasn’t trumpeting education but sensationalism calling the project a, “documentary-style reality television series.” The letter, fit for Tory propaganda continues, “It would be a valuable opportunity to promote important messages about Canada’s commitment to border security to give profile to the agency as a professional and effective law enforcement organization.” And so the show was approved and funded by our federal government.

Josh Patterson, executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association also appealed to Parliament Hill at a Vancouver news conference in March, “The federal government must respect the rights of every person it deals with, regardless of their immigration status.”

The show airs Mondays at 8 and 8:30 on the National Geographic Channel. For now.

If you search hard enough, tucked away in the 111 pages of unrelated motions, you’ll piece together the government’s plan to tighten control over crown corporations. Via Rail and Canada Post are among the 49 companies threatened, but the bill’s implications on the CBC could severely compromise democracy. As a crown corporation, the CBC is funded by the government but maintains independence similar to a private company. But now the government wants control over salary and contract negotiations so it can cut costs and thus taxes. This undermines unions’ right to negotiate and threatens the media’s independence.

Conservative MP, Pierre Poilievre put it this way: “I am not here to take marching orders from union bosses. I represent taxpayers and, frankly, taxpayers expect us to keep costs under control so that we can keep taxes down. It is for those taxpayers that we work. Not union bosses.”

So the government is just looking out for Canadians, right? They’re acting in our best interest so we can save money.

Not everyone’s buying it. Sure, Canadians are an apathetic breed, but does the government honestly think we’re that naïve?  We’re supposed to believe the CBC’s content will be independent while Stephen Harper dictates each journalist’s salary? We’re supposed to believe he won’t reward those who report favourably on the government? This isn’t just about the money, Mr. Harper, is it? It’s about control.

And it’s control Harper’s been tactfully garnering for years.

Take, for example, the feds’ letterhead re-design. In 2009, the Conservatives changed government stationary from “Government of Canada” to read “Harper Government”. It’s subtle, but the message is significant; this is Harper’s Canada—not yours. When public servants finally did approach the Canadian Press about the Harper-centric rebranding, they did so off the record “for fear of retribution”.

When Harper made office in 2006, he introduced the tightest media censorship system parliament had ever seen. Reporters couldn’t access even basic information until it was vetted by the communications and consultations unit of the Privy Council Office.

Already at the CBC, the board of directors (which the government appoints) is stacked with conservative cronies. Eight of eleven directors are Conservative Party donors, including the chair Rémi Racine who gave $1,200 last year. To stay on the board, directors have to maintain “good relations” with Heritage Minister James Moore and his staff—another of Harper’s initiatives.

And some MPs have tried to topple the CBC completely, gathering signatures to support either cutting all funding to the CBC or selling the company. The $1.1 billion annual fund, they said, gives the broadcaster an unfair advantage over competitors, and of course, an unfair burden on tax-payers.

But this latest motion is the biggest blow to press freedom yet, with the most backlash, too. Because, well, it’s hard to maintain the guise of a democracy with a state-run media.

What if, for example, the NDP was the government of the day and tabled this same motion. Would the Conservatives not accuse them of being communist or Marxist? It’s true we associate state-controlled media with nations like China and the former Soviet Union—countries that tend to have weak economies and poor human rights records. And of course, there are exceptions, but I’m not sure Canada is one of them.

The federal government boasts for being a leader in human rights. But last week, 83 UN member countries agreed Canada human rights record isn’t good enough and asked for big improvements. Sorry, Mr. Harper, but press censorship isn’t exactly a step in the right direction.

So maybe Harper really has become transparent. He’s lost his sly, secretive way of undermining democracy and everyone can see through it. At last, there’s serious outcry over Harper’s media control. Political activist group, Avaaz, is circulating a petition which already has more than 50,000 signatures. Now that we’ve cut through the political speak, the onus is on us to not only call bull-shit but do something about it.

WHAT: Director Nicolas Renaud takes us to James Bay, where hydroelectric development has been a controversial topic for decades—especially between the government and the Cree there who’ve called the area home for centuries.

WANT MORE? Check out our September 2011 story by Will Braun. In it, Braun tells us why Canada’s $50-billion hydro boom brings environmental perils, too.

When I Walk
Saturday, May 4 at 1:30 p.m.
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WHAT: Filmmaker Jason DaSilva hides nothing in his reflective and inspiring documentation of his seven-year struggle with multiple sclerosis, which he was diagnosed with at age 25.

WANT MORE? Check out our archive of frank, thoughtful, and often funny ThisAbility blogs by Aaron Broverman.

Buying Sex
Sunday, May 5 at 1:30 p.m.
Scotibank 4

WHAT: This documentary puts one, big question to the viewer: Does decriminalizing prostitution make for a more just society, or a more unjust one?

WANT MORE? Check out our feature story “Lost girls” by Sinead Mulhern in This Magazine‘s May/June issue. The in-depth investigation into human trafficking along Hwy. 401 in Ontario is on newsstands soon!

NCR: Not Criminally Responsible
Sunday, May 5 at 1 p.m.
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WHAT: There are only rush tickets left for John Kastner’s masterful examination of NCR laws in Canada—through the story of one man who brutally attacked a woman in a shopping mall, the woman, and her family—but it’s worth trying your luck.

WANT MORE? Make sure to pick up the May/June issue of this for a discussion on proposed changes to Canada’s NCR laws. Also, check out our June 2010 story about how the NWT’s prison has become a de facto psychiatric hospital.

Chi
Saturday May 4 at 1 p.m.
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WHAT: West Coast actor Babz Chula convinces her friend and director Anne Wheeler to accompany her to India for Babz’s cancer treatments. When they return, they find that Babz’s cancer has spread throughout her body and she doesn’t have much longer to live.

WANT MORE? Look out for our July/August issue, which has a feature on cancer and industry—and explores why we need to change our whole economic structure if we ever want to beat the evil C.

Check out the full schedule for Hot Docs here.

facebook.com/pages/MAY-DAY-Global

Montreal Anti-Capitalism Convergence rallied demonstrators across from Montreal’s city hall. The group planned to denounce corporate corruption and protest its way to the super fancy, super elite club—357c—the meeting spot that was popular among businessmen and politicians conspiring in the Quebec construction scandal. But police derailed the plan, arresting 447 protesters on the way to the club and slapping them each with a $637 fine for unlawful assembly. Most people were arrested for wearing hoodies, scarves, or masks—violating Quebec’s bylaw P-6.

Toronto The city hosted all your civil disobedience classics—rallies, speeches, drum circles, and of course, a mandatory dance segment. In Little Norway Park, protesters supported Porter Airlines employees striking for better pay and safer work conditions.

Outside Loblaw’s on Queen Street, the wrath of at least 1,200 protesters  forced Joe Fresh to shut down early on Wednesday. The company is recently black listed by labour activists for selling garments made in the Bangladesh factory that collapsed last week.

By May Day’s end, just three people were arrested for re-Occupying Alexandria Park, because what’s a protest without police doing their job, right?

Seattle What started as a peaceful demonstration for workers’ and immigration rights turned into a full-on violent feud. Police set off “flash bangs” and pepper sprayed the crowd after protesters pelted cops with rocks and bottles. Seventeen people were arrested. This is the second year in a row Seattle got aggressive on May Day. Last year, protesters smashed the Niketown and American Apparel storefronts. Check out the video of this year’s May Day bedlam.

Havana, Cuba photo: facebook.com/pages/MAY-DAY-Global

Hava Hundreds of thousands (just check out that photo!) of Cubans rallied in Revolution Square on Wednesday. Many people wore red and held posters of Hugo Chavez, paying tribute to the late Venezuelan leader, Cuba’s “best friend.”

Jakarta Tens of thousands demonstrated in Indonesia’s capital Wednesday. The country is in the midst of an economic boom, growing by about six percent annually. But low income workers aren’t seeing the evidence. Protesters in Jakarta demanded higher minimum wages—a promise the government keeps retracting. Right now, May Day isn’t officially a holiday in Indonesia, but President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised Wednesday that next year it will be. Meanwhile, Minister Dahlan Iskan joined in on the protest, who, by the way, is running for president in 2014—shall we say…politicking?

Dhaka In the Bangladesh city where a clothing factory collapsed last week, and estimated 10,000 protesters demanded the death penalty for the man who owned the building and for those who ran the factory. The Guardian posted this video of the demonstrations:

Istanbul Taksim Square, a massive pedestrian street in Turkey’s cultural capital, is a hub for protest on any given day. But activists of all causes banded together on Wednesday with not so peaceful results. Some busses and ferries were shut down to block more protesters from reaching the square and 22,000 police trolled the streets to maintain order. Check out this video and see how they did:

He could be the one, soul mate, husband, loving father to your children. But first, you’ve got to get him to say hello. These are actual words from an actual Crest 3D White Arctic Fresh Toothpaste commercial that started airing last November (and is still on air). Naturally, the commercial suggests the only way to get “him” a.k.a. “The Perfect Man” to say hello is to use Crest. As a recent Media Smarts report says: “The fascination with finding out what men really want also tends to keep female characters in film and television busy.”

Here’s a play-by-play of the ad in all its absurdity: A woman sits alone, destined to be an old maid. She spots the man of her dreams. Her pearly 3D White smile is not held back, knowing this may be her only chance and the stakes are high. She envisions herself and this stranger in Paris, then on the beach in wedding attire. Finally, she dreams of rubbing that coveted baby bump, made possible by “the loving father to [her] children.” He sits with her by the end,  and she is one step closer to acquiring a ring on her finger and a bun in the oven.

Because that is what every woman wants: to be a white, heterosexual lady who meets a white, heterosexual prince to marry and have babies with. All in under half a minute.

Media Smart’s section titled How to Catch (and Keep) Your Man looks at Women and Weight: Gendered Messages on Magazine Covers by Amy Malin, Kimberlie Wornian and Joan Chrisler. As it turns out, having white teeth is only one way to catch your man. Another, of course, is to be skinny: “messages about weight loss are often placed next to messages about men and relationships … ‘Get the Body You Really Want’ beside ‘How to Get Your Husband to Really Listen,’ and ‘Stay Skinny’ paired with ‘What Men Really Want.’” The section also includes research findings from The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media: “A 2008 study of female leads in G-rated films found that nearly all were valued primarily for their appearance and were focused primarily on winning the love of a male character.”

Crest 3D White’s official YouTube channel has this awesome commercial for those of us who need to relive the magic when we’re surfing the net instead of channels. The comments worry me. Some people got the offensiveness right away. Their comments range from the simple, “Why can’t she say hello to him?” to the blunt, “That’s sexist.” There were a few too many comments hinting that the female character’s thought process is typical of all women. The largest demographic for US YouTube subscribers is the 18 to 34 years old crowd at 67 per cent, male and female viewers are nearly equal.

One comment reads, “I am SO fucking glad I’m not the only one who finds this commercial weird and creepy.”

Right?

“Bitches be trippin’ hardcore if you just see a dude and automatically think about spending the rest of your life with him.”

And that’s where they lose me.

I won’t get into the obvious about not being keen on my gender being referred to as “bitches” but this is Internet land and I’m not so naïve to think it is void of such language. The issue is that people weren’t voicing that the commercial itself was crazy, but the woman’s character. People think is an accurate portrayal of a woman’s thought process and goals. How are we having this discussion in 2013?

I didn’t think I’d have to say this, but women aren’t twiddling their thumbs waiting for some man to grace them with love, a home and babies. And men aren’t around merely to give ovaries that special child-making ingredient. Some think marketers have grown wise, if not ethically conscientious, to the fact that commercials like these are offensive and passé. This Crest ad was, “just the frosting on the cake I’ll be baking in my kitchen where I belong,” says Katie Speak in a blog post on this topic.

The commercial asks, “What will a 3D white smile do for you?” Nothing. The thought of buying this garbage makes my teeth grind.

Screen capture from MissRepresentation.org

Earlier this month Disney stores pulled sexist Avengers girls’ T-shirts with slogans like “I need a hero” and “I only kiss heroes” off the shelves. The boys’ shirts reading, “Be a hero” remained. These old clichés were quickly called out on the internet. The message to boys that they need to be tough, the notion that girls need saving, and the idea that only heterosexual females want to kiss a hero. These messages did not go over well. And rightfully so.

Over 1,000 tweets about the shirt were sent with the hash tag NotBuyingIt, made by feminist and media watchdog organization Miss Representation, named after Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s popular documentary. Nearly 8,000 people signed the group’s petition over the shirt.

The NotBuyingIt hash tag is used when people find a type of media sexist. Go Daddy commercials, for instance, have earned top place with the most #notbuyingit tweets ever at 7,829. Miss Representation is currently campaigning on Indiegogo to raise money for a new app. (Pssst … This Magazine also has an Indiegogo campaign to check out.) The app, also named Not Buying It, will allow users to upload media they find sexist, or inspiring, to share with peers and the companies involved. It will also track and share the geographic locations getting the most attention and the areas where people are speaking out the most. Canada’s center for digital and media literacy, Media Smarts, reports people living in urban centres see up to 5,000 ads a day (Find out the mediums they list here). This app will offer the chance to use media in a positive way when faced with offensive marketing.

Apps geared to the ethical consumer aren’t new. In fact, they have a witty moniker: Apptivism.

The Not For Sale Campaign released the Free2Work mobile application. It was first released a couple years ago in time for the holiday season. A consumer can scan a bar code while shopping to see which company makes the product. They can then view the company’s ratings, based on the organization’s evaluations, on transparency, policies, monitoring, and worker’s rights.

The Good Shopping Guide app, by The Ethical Company Organisation, has information on over 700 famous brands, organized into seven categories: food and drink, health and beauty, travel, energy, fashion, home and office, and money. Included are ethical ratings and in-depth reports on each company.

Shoppers in Europe have Barcoo. Users can scan a barcode to find information such as sustainability, nutritional information and a seasonal vegetables list.

Games have also entered the scene. The Apptivist Studio’s slogan is, “Game for change.” It released its first game, Minke Rescue, where players must survive as Minke Whales living in the “harsh” Antarctic Ocean and dodging whaling ships.  The game sells for $2, sixty cents of which goes to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Applications can have a more narrowed focus. Vegans and vegetarians can find a wide variety of helpful tools in iTunes. PETA and Ethical Bean Coffee, among other groups, have also gotten in on the fun.

Last year half of Canadian cell phone users were using smart phones and Rogers research found 68 per cent were buying and using apps. An eMarketer 2012 forecast predicts 14 million Canadians will be smartphone users by next year.

Last month, the power of #notbuyingit forced Amazon UK to take down offensive shirts reading, Keep Calm and Rape a lot and Keep Calm and Hit Her, under 24 hours. Go Daddy received 7,000 Not Buying It tweets during the Super Bowl.

So now when those villainous Angry Birds pigs have pushed you over the edge, or you’re bored of zombiefy-ing pictures of your cat, your app prowess can be used to make informed, ethical, shopping decisions.

While crushing stoner metal is the easiest way to describe the vast, fuzzed-out sound of Vancouver-based Anciients, to limit them to this description is a disservice. Beneath the fat, distorted guitar tone and acrid smokiness is a deep vulnerability. There are moments of wonder, of tentative exploration on their debut, Heart of Oak, that speaks to a precocious musical and emotional intelligence.

“Raise The Sun” is an excellent example of everything that makes Heart of Oak an extraordinary debut. The sludge-heavy, powerful riffing comes to the fore, but it is cut by the clarity of the soaring vocals, transforming the contrasting heaviness into a throbbing ache. For all the weight they are capable of conjuring, Anciients are also skilled at wandering off into intricate, light progressive passage with surprising deftness, which they showcase repeatedly on this nonetheless lean and compact album opener.