Have you ever had one of those dreams where you’re having a normal day, going to school or work, and then suddenly to your utter em‘bareass’ment you realize you’re only wearing underwear? I had a dream like that the other day… except it wasn’t a dream. I actually found myself riding the subway in my underwear. It wasn’t nearly as scary as nightmares would have you believe, but that might be because 300 other people were also in their underwear. We were rallying for a very important cause: pure harmless rebelliousness. The “Pantless Subway Ride”, an event organized by Improv in Toronto, ...Read More
I can't lie, the description on the Canadian Stage Company's website citing the "graphic portrayal of sex" in Stephen Sach's adaptation Miss Julie: Freedom Summer totally hooked me. Come on, in February, when everything is gray, cold and gloomy, who wouldn't want to see some graphic sex on stage? Especially if Caroline Cave and Kevin Hanchard are involved. Yeow. Sex aside, I was also interested in seeing what a modern adaptation of August Strindburg's 1888 play, which was banned in Europe until 1939, would be like. Stephen Sachs, Co-Artistic Director of The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles and author of the ...Read More
Is the movie-going experience leaving you dry nowadays? Are the films too full of themselves, too pristine and artificial? Are the theatres you see them in too uncaring? Is there no heart at the concession stand, where some gangly apathetic teen awaits to serve you a dusty box of Glossettes and some of the poorest excuses for nachos on God's sweet earth? Do those cushy love-seats deliver only frigid loneliness? Does HD screen projection only leave you feeling small? Is everthing too... clean in your average movie going experience? There might be a theatre for you. But shhhh, it's a ...Read More
“I make music that I enjoy the most. It’s really all about me; I basically just make music for myself. Call me selfish… but if people dig it, that’s cool. I don’t try to fucking cater to anybody.” So I’m hanging out at the Rivoli over a few pints of Amsterdam Blond with Toronto’s DJ Hemingway and filmmaker Marshall Lau, when the eccentric electro-house wiz with an unapologetic shrug unloads this nugget of brute honesty upon me. I love it. Sometimes I find that a lot of musicians are not unlike hockey players when it comes to interviews – no ...Read More
I’m at least fairly certain that the vast majority of the hits to Zeus’ Myspace page are from me. Ever since I first saw them at Lee’s back in October with Jason Collett and Rock Plaza Central, I have been checking back to their site with frightful regularity for at least two reasons: one – to find out when their debut album, Something Awesome is going to be released and two – to listen to ‘The Renegade”. Incessantly. The play count for Zeus as of this writing stands at 7,110 total plays, but I’m pretty sure I’ve thrown on “The ...Read More
What imagery comes to mind when you hear the term or see the words "Canadian Film Industry?" Take several seconds to mull it over. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1.... Now let's compare notes. For me it's Paul Gross (that "Due South" RCMP bloke). Like a piece of gum, which I accidentally stepped on three blocks ago that I gracefully try to wipe off without losing a beat, that to me is Paul Gross. Unfortunately, to this point he has dominated everything else that could potentially be present when thinking of the "Canadian Film Industry". It's kind of similar to those who think "Canadian Lit" and then think, Margaret ...Read More
Curated by Emese Varga with the intent of bringing "contemporary Canadian artists and a composer together under one roof to juxtapose perspectives and expressions of what music/sound is to them", Permeate features visual artists Katie Pretti, Scott Everingham, Amanda Clyne, Ezra Gray, Margaret Nieradka, Sarah Fardon-Choi and Christopher Wong, all inspired by the intersection of visuals and sound. When I initially caught wind of the concept of this exhibit, I figured it would explore the intersection of art and music through new media and video, but I was pleasantly surprised when - as composer Ted Dawson stood up to speak ...Read More
In no time at all the video game industry has grown from two pong paddles into a multi-billion dollar industry with triple-A titles running budgets that could rival many Hollywood blockbusters. Tens of thousands of programmers, artists, designers, writers, and testers work out of hundreds of studios around the world. While there is a definitive distinction between the East and West video game markets, you could say video games have blossomed into the first truly ‘global’ artistic medium. Large studios like Rockstar can develop a game in Vancouver, fire it off to the Lincoln, England studio for Quality Assurance, then ...Read More
Canadian Music Week isn’t so much a week as it is a Canadian Music Weekend. It runs from March 12-14 at venues all over town. It would certainly seem, judging by the official poster, that the organizers of the twenty-sixth annual Canadian Music Week festival and conference don’t want you to come to their event at all. Or at the very least, as with the vast majority of the larger Canadian media outlets, they are completely and utterly clueless about how to appeal to their core audience – not even a vague semblance of a clue. Maybe I’m just a huge ...Read More
You wake up in your room and slowly manage to get yourself to a point where you’re sitting on the edge of your Ikea futon. You sit there for a moment…yawn...and then stare at that Bob Dylan poster you bought a couple of months ago from your school bookstore. You cringe a bit as your mouth is unbearably stale from those two cups of coffee you had last night in an attempt to defy sleep as you put a little more work into perfecting your masterpiece. Your stomach growls at you… You lift yourself off of your futon and lazily ...Read More
Right on the cusp of Little Italy sits Kalendar, an Italian style restaurant that brings calming jazz and crooner music to sooth you into a mood of dining and conversation. Slothrop and I are waiting for Katje so I have ample time to check out the background. As we sit down I am amused to see Kalendar still rocks Christmas decorations: all the easels are adorned with fake vegetation, hanging birds, tinsel and even lights in addition to wreathes that still hang over mirrors. We are surrounded by older furniture made of dark wood, only marred by the presence of ...Read More
Hey folks. Much like everyone else, that gloomy winter season's getting me down, something about that sepia sky constantly bearing down on me really executes the spirit. People are fighting in the world, money seems to be fizzling into the ether and everything just sort of sucks. The only comfort is thinking of simpler times, or at least times when I simply couldn't give a crap about the awful world because Bob and Enzo were saving Mainframe from a giant purple box. Ahhh yes, nostalgia, the dork's most humble pleasure. With old TV themes on Youtube and new movies based ...Read More
Born in Kenya and raised in London Ontario, Shadrach Kabango, Shad K for short, has made no time in making an equally interesting name for himself on the hip hop scene, Canadian and otherwise. His lyrics identify with the new generation of music fans, reflecting on a culture raised on the sounds of years past and ready to evolve into a new diverse future. His last album The Old Prince received critical acclaim, getting a nom from both Polaris and the Junos. I caught up with Shad at Winter City, where after seeing a bunch of acrobats dressed like clowns ...Read More
You play video games. I mean why else would you be reading this unless you do? Video games have been both the youngest and most impactful new sect of our youth culture. Be it old game, new games, from Mario to Rock Band, there is a spot in everyone's heart for the digital art, but this hasn't always been the case. Ten years ago video games were a child's toy, assumed to only be enjoyed by the likes of children and child-like stoners in smoky basements. One man, however, knew it was so much more than that. Now the undeniable ...Read More
Often times I feel like I’m too interested in too many things at once. Other times I feel I’m not interested in enough. Then there’s times where I feel I don’t have enough time, hands and brain power to ever do everything I want to do and I get frustrated. I think I’ll always feel too fresh and new to everything to not feel even a little bit strange calling myself an artist. On the other hand I think it’s that very same feeling that makes me feel so excited and eager to pursue my passions. It’s a feeling of ...Read More
Born and raised in the GTA, I'm a public transit kid. I take it everywhere. Even when I moved out to the suburbs for the bulk of my childhood, my Mom didn't have a car and I shelled out my $2.25 daily to ride the godawful Mississauga transit to high school. When I turned sixteen, the age that auto-show suburban boys dream of, I didn't even think of getting my license. I figured it was pointless and I'd save my three-hundred bucks for driving school and plant some trees or something. I never did. So, being a transit guru, now living ...Read More
Ah, the Man-Crush, is there anything more beautiful or more hilarious? I implore you, do tell, for I can’t think of anything. What could possibly be better than watching one man (especially if he’s the sort of chap who maintains an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality) unashamedly swoon and fawn over another man? All signs point to ‘very little’, I’d say. What’s up with Man-Crushes? What is it that makes straight men fall into fits of uncontrolled, giddy hysteria over the mere mention of another straight man? I’ve seen many a Bro descend deep into the silly passions of Man-Crushdom and ...Read More
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Every child is taught this life lesson some time in kindergarten. Usually it is right after they make fun of the fat kid or the girl with the lazy eye. When it comes to people, yes these are good words to live by. However I am here to tell you that first impressions are important. The guy that comes off like a bit of a prick the first time you meet him probably is one. This idiom holds true for modern cinema. Before a movie comes out we are treated to a two-minute clip ...Read More
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.” –Friedrich Nietzsche The Toronto Transhumanist Association is an organization which strives to promote proactive thinking about the ethical nature of technology in relation to the future of humanity. Transhumanism essentially aims at bringing the findings of modern science and human beings together in hopes of transforming the ‘default’ human condition and transcending it. Let’s be clear here: it is exactly what it sounds like. Think of Blade Runner, Star Trek: TNG’s ...Read More
Need a theatre fix? Bored with 2009 already? Check out what the Toronto theatre scene has in store for you this month: Looking for a show that will impress your date? Show: Ubuntu (The Cape Town Project) Dir. Daryl Cloran Venue: Tarragon Theatre Dates: Jan. 28th – Mar. 1st, 2009 Ticket Price: $19 - $38 Box Office Contact: 416-531-1827 or tickets.tarragontheatre.com A collaboration of Canadian and South African artists about the ties that bind us all. Looking for something to review? Show: Toronto the Good Dir. Philip Akin Venue: Factory Theatre Dates: Jan. 31st – Mar. 1st, 2009 Ticket Price: $15 - $37 Box Office Contact: 416-504-9971 or boxoffice@factorytheatre.ca Proof that the personal is political. And ...Read More
