Go Glee!

At first I was watching Glee because I liked the singing and dancing, and then I enjoyed the guest appearances, but I have to admit that I'm really getting hooked. I really enjoy their ability to make fun things in the top-40 music world and even the show itself. I haven't hit the point where I'm appreciating the long-term storylines though. I'm purely enjoying each episode as a discrete entity. The way that they've packaged the episodes thematically is lovely. Keep it up, Glee.

Moncler does it again!

Love it!
I love Moncler more and more. Feel free to watch their previous fashion show again. And I still want to be part of a dance-party flash mob. A good one.

New experience

Sweet. I think I have laryngitis. This no voice thing is kinda cool.
It was especially cool during my presentation today.

And I'm a benevole...

18 hours after the day started (and it began when I was already tired, with a nice cold developing), a delayed, no - canceled flight and expensive taxi ride later (fo shiz...but I didn't have to pay the bill), I am finally home from North Bay. At least I have raspy-sicky voice to show for it.
Stellar weekend.

Seriously?

And now it's 'Copacabana'.

Strange musical choices

When checking-in at the airport, 'The Right Stuff' by New Kids on the Block was playing. I'm waiting at the gate to board my flight and being serenaded by 'Stop' by the Spice Girls.
So strange.

James Stewart

I don't know if I'll write a textbook in the future, but if I do, I probably won't be as successful as James Stewart.
I used his Calculus: Early Transcendentals text (4th Edition) for MATH120 in first year university. We fondly referred to it as Stewie. My copy is sitting in a box with all of my other math textbooks in my storage room.
The reggies used his Calculus: A First Course for OAC calculus.
I want an integral house.

Thunder Soul

Before I do my little write up about this most recent installment of Doc Soup, I have to talk about the screening that I missed last month. In January, I remember hemming and hawwing about whether or not to go to The Mouth of the Wolf. The write up wasn't particularly compelling. The trailer wasn't particularly compelling, but it has gotten rave reviews at some other film festivals.
Turns out, I made the right decision. Prior to this week's film, we were read some of the e-mails that Hot Docs had received after last month's film. We were read a selection of comments that were all supposed to be negative. They were pretty funny to hear. I think my favorite was, "Too innovative!" So Hot Docs didn't choose the best film for their audience. But I do agree with them that it's nice to throw a curve-ball at us every so often. They just now know not to go too far. Hilarious.
Anyway, so this month, the documentary that they screened was Thunder Soul. This film had been part of Hot Docs 2010 and won the People's Choice Award, so they thought that they should bring it back from Doc Soup. The write=up from the Doc Soup website is as follows:
Conrad "Prof" Johnson composed original funk songs and arranged fantastic stage antics with Houston’s Kashmere High School Stage Band. He became the first black high school bandleader with an all-black high school band to win the Texas state championship in the 1970s. His "give it all you got" attitude made the group unstoppable, leading them to win 42 out of 46 contests over the course of the decade and establishing them as international funk legends with tours in Paris and Japan. THUNDER SOUL combines archival footage of the kids in action, showing off their James Brown showmanship, platform shoes, and Bootsy Collins-type rhythms, with the band members' recent reunion. With nothing but love for the father of funk from their youth, they practice for the first time in three decades, hoping they "still got it" enough to perform a tribute show for the ailing 92-year-old Prof.
So the film was great. I mean, it had me at music and education. When that band played at the final reunion...whoooooo wheeee! If you didn't feel like dancing or at least bopping your head, there is something wrong with you.
Apparently the band played after some screenings at other festivals. Jea-lous.
I think some seriously musical folks would enjoy this film as well. There's some music history and talk about genres that I don't know much about in there. Click here to hear the Kashmere High School Band sampled by DJ Shadow. This is a film that has quite a few different levels.
So on top of the music, my heart was melting at one of the main messages of the film. The Post-film Q&A with director, Mark Landsman confirmed that the film was trying to bring attention to the lack of funding towards the Arts in schools. In the film, Prof made it clear that he believed that music in schools does more than just provide students a chance to learn an instrument. So much more.
And of course, the other message of the film: a great teacher can be...life changing.

This film is getting wide release in the States in the fall. That probably won't help my readership in any way, but this is a darn good film. And maybe one day you'll watch it.

- picture courtesy of www.thundersoulmovie.com

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a hoppin' good year!

Snowstorm!

Apparently there's going to be a big snowstorm tonight. I'm looking forward to wearing my Moon Boots. Wheee!
An ex-pat friend was asking if this was a 'regular' winter, but I didn't know the answer. Other people tell me that the past couple of years have been very mild, and of course I wasn't in the country prior to that. And then before that, I was living in K-town which was ridiculously cold and snowy.
So basically, I don't remember what 'regular' Toronto winters are like.

FEAST Toronto

A couple weeks ago, I attended the inaugural FEAST Toronto event. It was splendid.
As the website states:
FEAST (Funding Emerging Artists with Sustainable Tactics) is a community dinner and funding event. Artists and designers are invited to present proposals for art-or design-based, community-oriented projects during the dinner. Everyone attending the dinner votes on which project they would like to fund, and the project with the most votes is given a grant from the money that is raised from the dinner.
I wasn't really sure what kind of crowd would turn up for this sort of event, and I'm not entirely sure what kind of crowd it was, but the people whom I chatted with at the event seemed really nice. I happened to be sitting at a table that seemed to be comprised of friends of one of the organizers of the event and many of the other tables seemed to be comprised of presenting artists and their supporters. I think our table was the only one that didn't have participating artists at it. It was a pretty small venue.
Anyway, we got to know our tablemates over appetizers and as we got settled into our main course, the presentations began. There were 9 project proposals spanning a wide range of ideas and media. There was visual art, performance art, participatory art, sculptural art, and multimedia. I found it hard to decide which one to vote for. The three that I found most interesting were:
Psychic Cooking - The simple story is that David Frankovich does a tarot card reading and instead of the traditional cards, he uses various canned goods. Each of the food items has a symbolic relationship to the real tarot cards. Then, along with basic ingredients of rice and spices, he makes you a meal out of the food that turns up from your reading.
Field to Feast - They did a pilot project with a rabbit. So they killed a rabbit, and did all that taxidermy business. The rabbit was the guest of honour at a dinner that contained, ummm...it. Other ingredients to the dishes were part of the rabbit's diet and habitat. The dinner also consisted of diagrams to illustrate what part of the rabbit diners were eating, and a really neat detail was that each diner had a napkin with the diagram to illustrate how the rabbit was prepared. Not to be eaten, but to be, errr, stuffed. They were hoping to have a lamb the next time around.
Out of the box planters - You may know of Sean Martindale from his Poster Pocket Plants project. It was amazing. This time, Sean wants to take busted up planters (think, the big square ones on University Ave. on the sidewalk that each have a tree in them) and do something cool with them. He didn't seem to articulate exactly what he was going to do, but with his track record, I was game.
I ended up picking the project that I thought would get the most exposure. I want as many people as possible to experience art. And in the end, Sean won the grant.
A student grant was also awarded from two proposals. Matt Moreland, an OCAD student who created Xeroxr.com won the grant and his plan is to create a Xeroxr magazine.
It was a wonderful night, and I'm hoping to attend the next event. I think Sean and Matt are supposed to give a report about what they ended up doing with the money and I'm looking forward to seeing what other artists decide to participate and what great ideas they come up with.

Good to know

...that good fashion and academia are not discrete entities. Sure, the Venn diagram may not have a huge intersecting section, but it exists all the same. There was a prof wearing some really slick, navy, Etro pants today. This is the prof who I often see wearing all-black. There was another prof who was wearing a pair of stand-out, mustard-coloured socks today. The man is going up for tenure, yet he still has enough sense in him to wear amazing socks. Something to strive for.

Nobis

In my continued hunt for a great winter coat, I discovered Nobis. I'm almost afraid to write about it, because I know that word is getting around that this company is making some great coats and heaven forbid it become out of control like those Canada Goose coats. These companies have definite similarities, but I assert that these coats are nicer. Umm yeah, so apparently, Nobis got someone who used to be at Canada Goose to come over and design their stuff. The goal was to make a more upscale product.
Yeah. I enjoy.
Now, if only someone could decided to make an upscale UGG.

Oh, those tech-savvy people

In the workshop today, the guy beside me pulls out a slick-looking wireless keyboard. Uh, okay. At first I thought that he was going to pull a stunt like those folks who practice the piano on cardboard keyboards. Yes, it's ridiculous, but given the topic of the workshop, it was vaguely plausible - especially since I had no idea where he was going with just having this wireless keyboard. Anyway, he finally pulled out an iphone, propped it up against his Moleskine, pushed his keyboard close to it for a second and then I saw the devices synch, the screen popped up like a regular monitor, and the typing began.
Amazing.

Also, he was wearing a great scarf. I don't think it's a coincidence. He was, however, wearing a Canada Goose parka. I knew it was too good to be true.

This could be useful...

So apparently there's a new textile dye that doesn't fade. "More than 50 per cent of clothing is black." Really, that's it? Oh right, they're talking about in general, not just for me. Ha.

Museum Secrets

There's a 'documentary' series about Museums around the world that is being aired on the History Channel (and then posted online - woohee!). Episode 3 stars Toronto's very own Royal Ontario Museum. Of course, the museum is very excited about this. I am also excited, so I clicked to watch the trailer for the episode. Ummm...they make it look like some E! True Hollywood Story expose or something. Or at least the narrator's voice does.
I'm wondering if the episode will highlight anything that I didn't already know about the museum, as the trailer didn't seem to give me any great insights into the place. Based on the title of the series, I thought that they might talk about the ROM's resident ghost, but nope, it seems like it's more about how we had a barosaurus under our noses this entire time! Incroyable!
Anyway, I'll still watch the episodes. I'm sure I'll get something out of it.

Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome

I'm still bummed that I wasn't accepted to be an audience member for TEDxToronto, but thanks to TED, I can catch a glimpse of what I missed.
I've seen the book in stores, but of course I was never compelled to open it up and read it. Obvious character flaw.
I just quickly perused the website and it is pretty awesome. It's true, we have our bumps in the road, but all in all, life is awesome. There are so many things that we encounter, see, experience, smell, accomplish, touch, and the list goes on...there are just so many things that are awesome.
Reminding yourself and those around you about the awesome things, well that's awesome too. I'm wondering what will happen once Neil gets to 1000. Clearly, there are more than 1000 awesome things, so I hope that he keeps going.
So awesome people, in this awesome world...have an awesome night!

The Cube

I've been scoping out the winter coat situation for awhile now, and while I probably won't buy a new one anytime soon, this one seems interesting...at least in concept.
Max Mara has a collection called The Cube. These down filled coats pack themselves into bags. Okay - they're not the most stylish bag, and it's not like this is a new idea, but I'm intrigued nonetheless.
For someone who needs a super warm coat, and one that can be packed easily (and discretely), this might be a nice idea. Am I going to act on it? Doubtful.

Crawling back towards world domination!!! I mean, control.

I win!!!
Yesterday, I was stressed out about not being able to find a bracelet.
Today, I looked around in some more places that I could have possibly put the bracelet, but to no avail. And then, thanks to a jaunt down memory lane on flickr, I was reminded of the last day that I remember actually having (and almost wearing) the bracelet. That day had been crazy but since I actually am in full control of my life, I was still able to figure out a couple more places to look.
And I found it! Booyah!

It's all downhill from here...

I think I'm slowly starting to loose it. Literally.
Awhile back, I realized that I misplaced my old passport. I still can't find it. Last night, I couldn't find a special bracelet. Both have extremely high sentimental value (yes, I realize that I think that everything has sentimental value). I didn't have a lot of time to look for the bracelet last night and somehow managed to suppress a frenzy, but looked for it today. I looked in all of the spots that I thought it would be, but to no avail.
I really hope that all of my misplaced items turn up. You see, I'm convinced that I'm immune to loosing things. I like to think that I'm on full control of my life and all of my belongings. We'll see how that goes...
Please don't make jokes about me getting old. I'm happily in denial. Thanks.