http://www.steelbananas.com that post-pomo variety show Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:23:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/issue-21-july-2010/ photos by Madd Hattere It’s four o’clock in the morning in Montreal at a dive restaurant down the street from a student residence, where you go for the most drunken drunk food of your life. They're closed, but someone's in there, so a woman starts to bang on the door with six ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/killin-food-makes-use-of-this-hot-plate-to-avoid-an-actual-hot-plate/ “I usually just have an unamplified electric guitar handy and I write a lot of songs, or at least riffs on the guitar while watching bad movies and TV shows. For some reason, that’s just where the magic happens.” If you are in a two-piece band, particularly a two-piece band with ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nxne-2010-on-the-back-of-a-flying-space-lion-its-p-s-i-love-you/ Kate Beaton is the kind of artist that makes my job difficult. You see — she's awesome. So much so that it's difficult to write anything at all about her work without merely waxing poetical about said awesomeness ad nauseum. That is, without descending into a fangirlish quagmire so thick ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/kate-beaton-and-the-history-of-awesome/ The human being reacts to emotional stimuli, the easiest way to trigger such a reaction is between two beings. Gathering, celebrating, eating, lazing about just looking at something on the wall. For causes or for nothing, we’ll go anywhere for any reason, drawn to company by a leash. The dog ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nerdventures-oh-my-dog/ Patricio Betteo, son of South American parents, was born in Mexico City in the late 70’s. He studied  graphic design at the National School of Arts  but dropped out three years later because he wanted much more than that. So he started a big pursuit for comics ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/spotlight-patricio-betteo/ I don't know if you've caught on to this by now, but gee-whiz I like video games. I will buy video games for systems I don't even own because I like the cover art. I lose sleep wondering how great a new 7th Guest would be. Well, golly, I love ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nxne-2010-say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-anamanaguchi/ Maybe you haven’t had enough time to keep up with comics, or comic based cartoon series for the past twelve years, but that’s okay That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to help. So I wanted to bring you up to speed with a little bit of back and forth ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/back-to-where-we-started-a-case-of-inexplicable-property-handling/ Electing to mercifully skip my year-old diatribe about how wonderful theatre festivals are, I will begin with a message to those of you who only recently starting reading me: I love theatre festivals. They are concentrated awesome. They are where theatre begins; the hits of tomorrow, today. They are rugged, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/toronto-fringe-festival-2010-flash-fringe-ing-out-and-about/ There is no news worth reporting if it is not devastating. With all the news today, only the dead are determined heroic. [caption id="attachment_7950" align="aligncenter" width="380" caption="Illustration by C.S. Folkers"][/caption] The Terrifying Seafood Activity For Tien Pham death in black a dozen wounds no killer found there has been a shooting in a Toronto restaurant at a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/julys-cubist-news-the-terrifying-seafood-activity/ Photos: Patrick Moody-Grigsby Food Consultant: Michael Stacey Warning to the reader: Although this story should emerge top to bottom in chronological order (the higher up on the page something appears, the earlier it happened), the first person narrative bits are written in the present tense, while the conversation between Michael and myself ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/sf-a-week-of-taco-tourism-in-the-star-warsiest-city-in-america/ Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope for a real, tangible, practical, and effective movement that might take us beyond the logic of late capitalism into a more egalitarian and just society. Christine Harold's book OurSpace: Resisting the Corporate Control of Culture, published in 2007 by the University of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/the-surfer-does-not-conquer-the-wave-a-kairotic-approach-to-culture/ When the world sucks we'd like to go to music, even if we leave nothing behind in the process. Music is a healer, a gate into feelings just out of reach. When Florida band Surfer Blood breached the scene, music fans were ensnared by their addictive indie surf and unique ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nxne-2010-say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-surfer-blood/ Photos Courtesy of Style.com It is the calm after the thunderstorm. Fashion spent a 2010 Fall/Winter season worshiping Balmain’s party-girl aesthetic with studded handbags, navy sequined cropped jackets, body-con dresses and strappy four-inch gladiator heels that soared above the ground. Men and women raged the nightclub scene in disco colours like fuschia, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/sea-therapy/ Rochdale: Livin' the Dream Everyone’s heard tales of Rochdale College, Toronto’s infamous free-thinking, free-spirited, tuition-free college of the 60s. Residing in an 18-storey apartment building, it was Canada largest co-op housing program and a place for artistic exploration, political discussions, and guerilla academics. Trying to capture all that in a short ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/toronto-fringe-festival-2010-reviews-by-sarah-beaudin/ [caption id="attachment_7798" align="aligncenter" width="380" caption="Photo by Matthew Filipowich"][/caption] Contrary to my typical time/space arrangement, I do not currently exist in Toronto – and thus at Eastern Standard Time. Rather, as of last week I have temporarily returned to my roots: Western Canada, Edmonton to be exact, and will be here visiting ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/round-round-get-around-this-just-makes-me-want-to-puke-all-over-your-head-sir/ London's A Horse and His Boy are a band that I first caught wind of while attending the CD release show of last month's cover band, Krupke. They were the opening band on that bill and I managed to catch some of their set, though for reasons which require far ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nxne-2010-something-about-a-horse-and-his-boy/ I would say that people enjoy the conveniences of technology only slightly more than they fear a robot-infested apocalypse. I’m starting to think that when old people are reluctant to adapt to new technology, they’re not just befuddled by the complexity of some trendy new gadget. They’re actually sort of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/weird-news-shrodingercat-hey-pal-howsit-goin/ When the guitars first appear at the beginning of Guided by Voices’ Bee Thousand, they sound like a collection of car engines struggling to get started. It’s an alarming sound, albeit a perversely inviting one. Bee Thousand was recorded almost entirely on four-track tape recorders in garages in suburban Ohio. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nxne-2010-a-lo-fi-journey/ Editor's note: As you will no doubt ascertain, this article was written before the FIFA World Cup Tournament began. For the average North American sports fan, the month of June is full of excitement. Why? The NHL and NBA finals are being fought over, the new season of Major League Baseball ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/kicks-a-guide-to-football-culture-and-fandom/ The festival that can't seem to slow down has come and gone again. In a city that is already congested with great gigs, NXNE still stands out as an astonishing assemblage of talent from around the world. Big acts, small acts, locals and globetrotters, there are few experiences as exhilarating ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/nxne-2010-dreams-of-noise/ A few months back I got together with the Wilderness of Manitoba to discuss life, the universe and everything surrounding the making of folk music relevant in the 21st century. Now, half a year later, they've made a killer record and are currently touring Canada with slated dates in both ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/the-wilderness-of-manitoba-sounds-kind-of-like-a-weird-short-story/ Songs of the insane. Suicide music. The sort of sounds that can only come from a person at their deepest darkest moments, where the mind becomes unhinged and the music speaks about more than they could ever intentionally write into it. Many artists are famous because of these kinds of conditions. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/that%e2%80%99s-some-pretty-heavy-music-journalism-part-6-the-artist-formerly-known-as-an-artist/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/07/sb21/ Sharing in the Chicken of Knowledge Past was evidently not enough to satiate me. But it was cognitively far too much: the digestion has dislodged my primary processing and severely damaged my biological rhythms. I lay flummoxed at the side of the road, watching the traffic pass. My circadian rhythm ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/killin-food-wants-circadian-chicken/ Photos by King Frankenstein Back in May, Offworld editor Brandon Boyer told a packed bar full of starry eyed nerds that, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Toronto is the city that all game dorks envy.” Landing somewhere in between smug, flattered and sceptical, it was a large compliment that was also a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/nerdventures-city-at-play/ I spoke to Krupke shortly before the very successful release party for their debut album, The Pony You Always Wanted Died Today earlier this month at the El Mocambo. It was a pelican of a time. There were no pelicans there. That I saw, anyway. The pelican: This band: Photo by Matthew Filipowich Krupke. Krupke ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/this-is-not-an-interview-with-a-rock-band-this-is-a-frosted-flake/ Photos by Dave Hurlow This is what happens, almost every morning during this three and a half week period: I wake up and can't even decide whether or not I fell asleep. It's still dark out and I squirm out of my sleeping bag. It's probably cold, I curse and hate myself ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/the-golden-stretch-of-highway-and-the-infinite-road/ Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893–1910) is among the most well-known and widely reproduced icons of Western art. Given the four versions (in paint and pastel) plus a lithograph made by Munch himself, The Scream has been a somewhat promiscuous and democratic image from the start. Over the last fifty years, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/scream-but-hold-the-universal-angst-of-modern-man/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/issue-20-june-2010/ The other day, Steel Bananas editor Curran Folkers and I were listening to Billy Bragg as we discussed the upcoming G20 summit in Toronto. The tone of our conversation was one of fear, trepidation, and not a small amount of sadness. Both of us agreed that we'd rather be at ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/we-are-not-delinquents-we-dont-protest-for-fun/ (NOTE: I don’t know if I’m an activist or a protestor, or whatever. I’m not an anarchist, certainly. I’d say I’m a politically aware Canadian who occasionally goes out on the front lines to make his voice heard. That being said, this article is not meant to defame peaceful activists ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/opportunity-knocks-a-plea-for-sanity-in-an-insane-time/ Those heads who hear jazz and other 'experimental' freeformed musicks as being a phenomenon centered in the city should quit gazing at their shoes and take a road trip 800-some-odd kilometers to the north of our alpha metropolis, for the finest free jazz available in Canada is taking place in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/the-foul-owl-flies-in-thunderstorms-the-iconoclast-of-northern-ontario-free-jazz-if-only-because-no-one-else-is-doing-it/ NYC indie game developer Mark "MESSHOF" Essen, creator of the provocative sensory experience, Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist, the excruciatingly punishing Punishment and the hilariously bizarre game collaboration with Pixeljam, Cream Wolf, knows just how to both engage and aggravate players within a matter of seconds. But no matter how consistently ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/the-thrill-of-it-all/ The premise behind Civil War by writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven: after a tragedy in small town America involving some super hero types, an exploding man, and a schoolyard full of kids (here’s a hint: the exploding man was fine afterward), the government wanted to register all the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/thought-on-marvel-comics-civil-war-story/ The combination of an all American mother and a Puerto Rican father, Mia experienced cultural confusion from birth. At the age of 7 she was sent to live with her father in Sao Paulo, Brazil where she found a heavy aesthetic influence in the Catholic Church. At 14 she ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/spotlight-mia-calderone/ Twiggy Moves Rearranged and reappropriated BBC TV footage from the 1960s Music: "Jimmy Mack" by Martha and the Vandellas Marshall Lau | Toronto, 2010 Click here to view the film. http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/twiggy-moves/ Let's all have a big, gratifying round of FUCK YOU MARKHAM. Oh, I knew it was too good to be true, that something revolutionary could come from the majority of minds that run Markham. A vote that was meant to protect an additional 2000 hectares of viable farming land in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/killin-eye-on-organic-food-mostly-a-rant-about-markham/ [caption id="attachment_7453" align="aligncenter" width="380" caption="Photo by Matthew Filipowich"][/caption] So these past few months have been pretty slow for transit. Or at the very least, relatively scandal-free, which leaves me with relatively little to rant about. No major announcements. No negative press, because let’s be honest, the TTC can barely afford any ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/round-round-get-around-big-zero/ Please, not another cream-coloured, hand-beaded, silk chiffon, strapless bustier gown with a five-foot train that drags across the floor! Seeing another B-list celebrity wearing the same type of dress at every red carpet event is as depressing as watching a funeral march (or a wedding march?). Seeing them wear it ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/i-canne%e2%80%99t-take-it-an-obituary-for-the-red-carpet-dress/ The Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over tour is the epitome of the reunion gimmick – an overwrought spectacle of a wildly over-the-hill band content parodying themselves into pop culture oblivion. But we can’t really fault the Eagles, can we? By the end of the 1970s the Eagles were probably the biggest ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/hell-freezes-over/ When getting to know someone new I always try to get to know the why behind their personal tastes: music, film, literature, fashion, whatever. The reasons between our cultural and artistic preferences illustrate important parts of our identity construction. In short, they’re reeling in our years, ringing in our ears, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/that%e2%80%99s-some-pretty-heavy-music-journalism-part-5-message/ It's rare, but every now and then a pop-cultural artefact comes along that forces one to question one's own definition of art.  The television show Breaking Bad created by Vince Gilligan et al. may just be such an artefact. Excuse me. Work of art. We of course confront the question of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/breaking-bad-television-as-art/ Goddess! We seek creative harmony in your sweet, tragic paradox. Our city has fallen into blindness. Raise your mask and sweep from beneath us the demons of our frivolity! INT. GROUND FLOOR APARTMENT ON DUFFERIN - NIGHT The apartment is messy and two or three bugs dart from beneath the sofa. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/the-parable-of-the-stool-and-whip-an-invocation-of-melpomene/ June 15, 2010 Karen, Curran, Alex Armstrong, and I have just returned from the book launch of the fabulous Shannon Bell's Fast Feminism. All I can now think about are female phalli. Bouquets of female phalli. And big toes. Grown in vats. Like in a fucking Lovecraft story. I don't know ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/letter-from-the-editor-june-2010/ It's rush hour. You’re packed onto the subway like sardines in a can (with the same tinned-fish smell…). You’re doing your best not to look anyone in the eye, carefully fixating on the floor as you drown out the world with your ipod. As you’re exiting the train, someone bumps ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/06/fringe-preview-toronto-artists-get-their-hate-on-a-fringe-show-explores-the-darker-side-of-the-city/ At the Boutique | Photos brought to you by the Cheese Boutique I have said it before and I will say it again: the Cheese Boutique boasts stellar cuisine at every opportunity. A veritable cheese palace complete with ceremonial throne lording over the boutique from a position atop the stairs ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/killin-food-at-the-boutique-with-frank-and-anne/ "The self-image of Modernity that is rooted in bodily experience cannot wholly be grasped in this current preoccupation with the emblematic character of the body as a kind of social advertisement. In fact, the quality of embodiment is almost entirely lacking from this perspective. We might argue that this is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/neo-harmonics-notes-on-the-body-in-post-millennium-performance-art/ Russell Smith writes for the Globe and Mail. He just released a new novel called Girl Crazy. It is a sexy and fantastic novel that should be added to your summer reading list without delay. “Never underestimate the importance of a good pair of shoes. Go out and get yourself a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/the-sterile-hotel-on-the-frozen-lake-and-other-stories-an-interview-with-novelist-russell-smith/ Shoebox Terror: NOBED A shoebox experiment by Marshall Lau Toronto, 2009 Click here to view the film. http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/shoebox-terror-nobed/ Don’t you hate it when an article begins with a line like, “Let’s be honest here...”? What does such a statement even mean? First of all, it presumes the author and reader are in agreement on whatever it is that follows. Kind of arrogant. Second of all, it attempts to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/fables-just-an-analogy/ Commonplace A Super 8 film by Marshall Lau Toronto, 2009 Click here to view the film. http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/commonplace-a-super-8-film/ This much we know: Dan Snaith of Caribou makes groovy-as-hell music. Yet, more often than not when discussing Caribou records it’s easy to get caught up in comparisons between his dance music output and his more pop-driven work (such as his second-to-most-recent record, Andorra). The latest release from Caribou, Swim, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/move-to-the-music-locating-caribou-in-dance-club-culture/ Thank dog I have long-since shirked the common attitude that it can't happen here and it won't happen to me. Whenever life is good, I remind myself that living means suffering, and some ugly misfortune is surely laying dormant in a nearby corner. I had been having myself a lucky ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/what-to-do-when-the-milk-runs-dry-a-short-note-on-nada/ When you register a new Myspace page as a musical act, there is a point at which you are asked to describe what your music sounds like in three short descriptors chosen from drop-down menus. The end result can be seen at the top of every band’s Myspace page: “folk/acoustic/ambient” ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/that%e2%80%99s-some-pretty-heavy-music-journalism-part-4-tradition/ “It always rains on the Weed March” says my brother as we look out the door. But I’m not heading out the door to get blasted by the smoke monster anyways (not saying I wouldn’t, just saying that’s not why I left). It’s yet another annual scouting outing marred by ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/nerdventures-getting-what-you-paid-for/ Let’s be honest here, when I gush sweet nothings about a given work of literature, it’s because I want you to drop everything immediately and rush to the nearest bookstore or library to purchase or borrow said work of literature and devour it in a single sitting. Will this happen? ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/devon-wong-tells-you-what-to-read-in-a-totally-non-fascist-way/ Recently I was asked by a friend for input into the cover art for his band's record, which is set to be re-released with, you guessed it, a new cover. It had been discussed and decided that a new look might be just what the doctor ordered to get the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/judging-records-by-their-covers-a-treatise-on-good-taste/ (NOTE: I was also set to review ‘If We Were Birds’ by Erin Shields and directed by Alan Dilworth, on now at the Tarragon Mainspace through May 23rd. Every time I tried to get tickets, however, the show was completely sold out. Encouraging, considering the workshop version I saw two ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/vintage-walker-a-review-of-featuring-loretta/ An acronym for the term “do it yourself” that came into use during the 1950s when home improvement became a cultural focus - you know, in a life before the condo boom when people were willing to do things themselves… Often associated with messy and unprofessional fixes, DIY gets a bad ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/exploring-the-urban-jungle-part-2-toronto-the-malleable/ Due to last month's interview with local cycling advocate queenpin Yvonne Bambrick, I was unable to comment on the outrage that was the now infamous budget cuts that have basically rendered Transit City a David Miller vanity project at best. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for me, this past month has been ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/round-round-get-around-or-whatever/ Canadian mastermind director Guy Maddin, behind the autobiographical "me trilogy" consisting of Cowards Bend the Knee (2003), Brand Upon the Brain! (2006) and My Winnipeg (2007), continues to explore the meaning of home with his latest feature film project Keyhole, an indoor odyssey exploring the surrealistic underworld of unbridled emotions, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/conversations-the-death-of-an-obsession/ Born and raised up and down the west coast of the Americas, acorn is a self taught sloth mimic and representative of the "skate-jutsu" methods. After a long stint of collecting seeds throughout Europe over the course of a couple years, acorn is now living in the bat-infested ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/spotlight-acorn/ "Banksy came to Toronto!" Ah ha (I think, too groggy for an exclamation point) so I didn't leave my cellphone set to "loud"— I merely dreamed the obnoxious ring-tone, and now for the surreal conversation. No doubt the scene shall soon shift without warning to a seaside resort or Santa's ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/when-banksy-comes-to-town/ Webcomics have become part of the internet trifecta. Or to put that in terms webcomic nerds would understand, now part of the tri-force. It's an immense and thick scene of marvelous gems and embarrassing haunts. Thankfully the good always outweigh the bad. KC Green? He's very good. His blend of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-kc-green/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/issue-19-may-2010/ May 15, 2010 Well my darlings, summer is frightfully nigh! Now that university classes are out, it seems like we can all get out and enjoy some of that newfangled sunshine everyone keeps talking about. Unfortunately, I've been made to understand that the city of Toronto has some kind of prohibition going ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/letter-from-the-editor-may-2010/ I’m sorry, classes have ended and my brain has more or less shut down so my attempts at rewording the title were futile. In fact, many of my failed titles were “things that seem like that they would be funny but aren’t really” which is ironicly amusing the-opposite-of-ironic. I remember accidentally ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/05/weird-news-things-that-seem-like-they-would-be-funny-but-aren%e2%80%99t-really/ Last month the Paprika Festival served up some spicy dishes. Founded by Anthony Furey in 2002, Tarragon Theatre’s annual festival provides a unique opportunity for young artists to meet and be mentored by experienced playwrights. It’s actually Toronto’s only free theatre festival for young people, showcasing the talent of those ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/the-paprika-festival-is-hot-hot-hot/ Look at this piece and tell me what you see. Microscopic organisms illuminating a dark passage, maybe an ever-expanding mass of fireflies or perhaps it’s just one of those trippy 3D graphs. Whatever it is, it’s surrealism to the core. The San Francisco-based Mario Martinez, better known as Mars-1, has ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/familiar-mutations-mars-1-and-infinite-tapestry/ It took a lot of time, but eventually I tracked down and read all of the Sandman comics - that series from the 90s that everyone loves. Now I could say I’ve read all the big comics out there, right? Wrong. There was still Preacher. Whenever I’d ask about Garth Ennis ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/once-again-gratuitous-violence-captures-the-hearts-of-the-people-a-skeptical-look-at-vertigos-preacher/ As long as there has been popular cinema in North America, there has been a tradition of adapting hits of the stage (especially Broadway) to the screen. Film producers regarded these theatre hits as sure-fire crowd pleasers in the cinema, and they set about committing them to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/the-medium-is-the-mess-young-frankenstein-and-why-cinema-should-never-be-staged/ The opinions expressed in the first few paragraphs of this column are in no way related to the interview that follows. They are expressly the views of the author and should not be taken as being connected to those of the Toronto Cyclists Union. Earlier today (April 13), it was ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/round-round-get-around-spring-is-a-newly-oiled-bike/ A simple request: Dear Kevin Drew, Your new songs are cool. However, I must humbly implore you to please stop trying to make Still Life Still happen. Still Life Still is not going to happen. That is all. Sincerely, C.S. Folkers Usually, when we think of local indie labels, our minds stray immediately ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/make-way-for-weewerk-a-profile-of-torontos-most-earnest-independent-record-label/ Monsters may hide in your closet and phantom your nightmares, but to many in this world it is a dream and delight. Since its golden age, a Hollywood tradition of grown actors masquerading around as freaks and ghouls is the foundation of many legacies. Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney of yesteryear, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-doug-jones/ “Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five All this happened, more or less. In fact, it’s happening right now. It also hasn’t happened yet. The media makes stuff up all the time, so I’ll leave it to you to figure out what’s real and what’s not. Whatever that means. It’s ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/ad-astra-where-devon-wong-becomes-unstuck-in-time/ People seem to really enjoy spring because it means that winter is over and it doesn’t get dark at 4pm anymore. Flowers start to bloom and birds are back from their ambiguous Southern location. There’s something romantic about spring. It smells good. Everyone just fucking loves spring. I can’t say I’m ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/weird-news-weekend-at-bernie%e2%80%99s/ [caption id="attachment_6559" align="aligncenter" width="380" caption="Photo courtesy of nytimes.com"][/caption] We just played, did the best we could and that was that. -Alex Chilton When I began writing this article I thought it would be best to kick it off with a quote that would effectively characterize the late Big Star frontman, Alex Chilton. In ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/and-places-where-they-send-you-and-its-easy-to-go-alex-chilton-in-death-and-success/ I had the privilege of sitting down with one of Toronto’s very incredible and very unsung songwriters this past weekend. [caption id="attachment_6523" align="alignnone" width="380" caption="Photo by Kirsten White"][/caption] Tamara Lindeman is The Weather Station. Both times I saw her perform she was backed by an extremely awesome folk ensemble, but due to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/hinterview-4-throw-away-your-kitchen-sink-with-the-weather-station%e2%80%99s-tamara-lindeman/ Last year I went on a slightly over-stimulated postamble on the calamitous events of Fan Expo, Toronto’s summer ending Hail Mary comic/sci-fi/horror/anime/tabletop/XXXL t-shirt convention. I had trouble identifying what role exactly the weekend held to our culture, but after seeing Wizard’s trembling foot in the door this past month, I ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/nerdventures-wizards-out-of-paradise/ Over the past two issues of Steel Bananas, there has been some conversation about Dennis Reynolds’ article “Am I Really Where I Say I Am?” in which he asked the question of whether music can actually be created to represent actual places within a globalized industry of consumption, with specific ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/that%e2%80%99s-some-pretty-heavy-music-journalism-part-three-locality/ Ambling up Ossington Ave. the other day (which, up-and-coming-neighbourhood status notwithstanding, I rarely do) I came across an establishment called Meta Gallery, located in a white-painted building built like an auto-mechanic's garage and set back from the side walk. The adjoining building's northernmost wall stretched out, painted black-on-black with a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/the-ghosts-of-rollys-garage-or-rediscovering-at-aws-orphans/ I want to contribute to this publication straight up and proper. I failed to follow up after just one issue and now I feel like it’s impossible altogether. I find that I only have snippets of things to say about any given topic at a time before I go adrift, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/the-antiprocess-of-my-filmmaking/ What this essay is about: John Cusack now, John Cusack in the 80s, golden years remembered, golden years misremembered interspersed with vintage pictures of my parents. Spoiler Alert: While this “film review” does contain Hot Tub Time Machine spoilers, curiously enough, it may also ruin the end of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat’s ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/hot-tubs-and-nostalgia-in-the-age-of-mechanical-reproduction/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/issue-18-april-2010/ Transcanadada motorway is a way. That is, a path, a route which can be followed but also forged, a route subjectively traveling toward a relevant destination, but objectively set between arbitrary points which have significance as destinations only subjectively. It is a way traveled by many subjects and objects, and ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/transcanadada-motorway-services-manifesto-on-motion/ Hello, my name is R. Nansen. Your poets have spoken of me. They have not said nice things. The people at Stolen Bananas paid me to write them articles. I am a busy man, I have many student papers to fail, lives to ruin. To fulfill contractual obligations, here is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/dream-manifesto/ April 15, 2010 It's April. Words are sometimes insufficient. Karen Correia Da Silva Editor-in-Chief Steel Bananas http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/letter-from-the-editor-april-2010/ The Burrito Odyssey | Photos by Matthew Filipowich Z-Teca (York University Campus): A sign reading, "BURRITOHEADZ WANTED!" hung for nearly a year outside an under-construction petty-bourgeois unit inside the mall at York University. The prospect of a burrito joint moving onto campus excited and delighted students and professors alike. Ted and Alex, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/04/wrap-ontology-the-toronto-burrito-odyssey/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/issue-17-march-2010/ Editor's Note: Be mindful that this review contains spoilers. It is one of life’s greatest frustrations that resolutions are drawn out over time rather than delivered in moments of sudden realization. Only in the most contained situations – in theatres and in stadiums – do we get to live out ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/great-expectations-our-life-is-not-a-movie-or-maybe/ You may remember Dan Perjovschi from last month’s piece: Illustration Proclamation: Gary Taxali and Dan Perjovschi.  After writing that piece, I decided to go down to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to meet Perjovschi and tell him about the uproar that Libeskind’s Crystal caused after its grand opening in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/post-millennium-architecture-in-toronto-crystallizing-the-rom-controversy/ Late Sunday night slash early Monday morning: Canadian Music Week and my sixth straight night of concert going is now over. A thin sheet of mist is currently dusting Toronto like the produce aisle of a grocery store. I’m exhausted, my head is spacey – I feel like my brain ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/groan-inducing-glory-the-best-of-canadian-music-v-the-worst-of-canadian-culture/ She's Intoxicated by Herself A short film by Marshall Lau Toronto, 2010 http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/shes-intoxicated-by-herself-a-short-film/ Sometimes the hilarious can turn serious fast. A case being brought to the Ontario Court of Appeals contains all the necessary elements for comedy: twins, a mistaken identity, lots of wine and sex. Such a set-up has turned ugly, as bitter questions of consent now pollute the otherwise humourous scenario ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/the-concept-of-sovereignty-and-the-sexual-switcheroo/ What this essay is about: intimate moments with an eloquent dead gay Frenchman, JD Salinger, the kinds of books that are appropriate to read in different spaces, sharing public spaces, books as fashion accessories, public transit, racism. Picture this: you are on a train full of people and you arrive at ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/the-gazelle-shaft-proust-in-the-bathtub-salinger-on-the-bus/ It’s always a pleasure when a performer takes a risk, when an artist throws him or herself into wholeheartedly into a project. It’s moments like this that make any kind of art exciting. It’s moments like this that have the potential to change the way the world thinks. Unfortunately, moments ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/you-win-some-you-lose-some-danceworks-180-in-review/ As this past January came to a close, the webcomic Axe Cop went pandemic over the internet. Of course a great many viral pandemics are sweeping the internet at any given moment, and under closer scrutiny they by and large develop little past the "How funny! I laugh!" first impressions ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/lets-pretend-playing-axe-cop-with-the-kid-brother/ If you walk into the Tranzac or any other comparable Toronto music venue on any night that the Om Tree Folk Collective are playing, you might be a little confused. There’s a dude centre-stage hammering away on an acoustic guitar, singing in a folk-troubadour-meets-Tom-Waits bark that’s as invigorating as it ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/hinterview-3-come-play-a-tune-with-chris-eakins-of-om-tree-folk-collective/ My old basement had ugly faded flesh pink walls, bulging vein-like ripples moving along it. I had a ritual of staying up late at night every Friday, falling asleep in front of the TV, giving myself undeniable nightmares from watching whatever horror film the SPACE network was showing. To add ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/nerdventures-any-basement/ Jamee Valin is a veritable bundle of energy sitting cross-legged on the couch opposite me. Moments before she had finished giving final notes on the dress rehearsal of locked on SHUFFLE, Valence Movement’s premiere performance of dance theatre, which received a stunning response after its one-night run at the Winchester ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/locked-on-shuffle-by-valence-movement-indie-dance-in-toronto-it-is-now/ In as much as I want my super heroes to be moral exemplars, I also want them to be consistent characters, even when that means my super heroes have flaws. Really, as much as this may surprise you, I can dig protagonists with faults! That said… everyone get out your ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/consistent-characterization-and-the-editorial-mandate/ The transition from post-secondary education to what many call ‘the REAL WORLD’ is certainly one of the most terrifying concepts young people can face. In theatre school, students are constantly bombarded with the idea that they will never be employed, that they will live below the poverty line, that there ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/the-forging-of-theatre-bassaris-an-open-letter-to-young-theatre-artists/ After seeing an ad posted on the TTC last month I attended the COG festival on February 20th, an organic growers conference held on Chestnut Street. I wanted to experience a gathering of the minority market in food production, a market vehemently protesting the dominant norm. I skipped down the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/the-killin-eye-on-organic-food-1-the-conference/ There is a world which exists somewhere between the living and the dead, the real and the surreal, the mundane and the absurd. This is the world in which reside the characters of And So it Goes, George F. Walker’s latest work for the stage which just finished an extended ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/lofty-ideas-for-a-lacklustre-play-a-review-of-and-so-it-goes%e2%80%99/ Jeff Magnum | Courtesy of dewdoobrefhugmachine.wordpress.com You know the old cliché: sensitive singer-songwriter, foot of the bed, softly strumming on an old acoustic guitar. The mood is quiet -- but the sound of the apartment bleeds through: old wood floors, maybe traffic outside. There is a conscious understanding of where the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/until-i-die-there-will-be-sounds/ This article is about object identification. A lot of people download music. Whether legally, through iTunes and the like, or illegally, the fact that music is trafficked in a mainly non-physical format is a significant shift that has taken place largely within the last fifteen years. This isn’t really news to anybody. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/that%e2%80%99s-some-pretty-heavy-music-journalism-part-two-the-tape-is-now-the-music/ And people wonder why there was a fare hike. It costs absurd amounts of money to operate a large-scale transit system, let alone to improve and upgrade it. I’ll never understand, though, why it seems to cost so much more to build new things here than it does in Europe, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/round-round-get-around-and-the-inner-child-says-ding-ding/ Ladies, gents, and gentiles, this is the first round of In-Fighting, where Steel Bananas columnists wrestle with their own. You may not know this, but we do bicker on occasion, and sometimes heated insults are exchanged, tears are shed, feelings hurt, sense is undone, forgotten, trampled in the dust. And ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/in-fighting-masochistic-self-critique-at-its-best/ Does the above quote by Deleuze apply to Theatre? Or better yet: can it apply to theatre as an art form? I think it does apply. The state of contemporary theatre ranges roughly from the profit-driven musicals on Broadway to the more independent, thought-provoking theatre pieces. Yet theatre, as with ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/we%e2%80%99re-still-waiting-the-workings-of-a-manifesto-for-theatre/ March 15, 2010 Brothers and Sisters: Rejoice, for the Vernal Equinox is NIGH! NIGH! When we think about March we think about spankings and bike rides. We have been to rock and or roll shows for Canadian Music Week for the last 6 days in a row, and have learned that goats ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/letter-from-the-editor-march-2010/ Alexis Barattin is an illustration student and a freelance illustrator from Toronto. She spends most of her time drawing and enjoys experimenting with collage and other media. Alexis also likes really expensive cookies and is trying to learn how to do the cryptic crossword. Check out more of her work ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/spotlight-alexis-barattin/ I feel somewhat hypocritical reporting this month’s weird news because it is all about people operating motor vehicles when they probably shouldn’t be and I’m fairly certain that I’m going to be one of those people quite soon. I don’t know how to drive. I remember nothing from driving lessons. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/03/weird-news-driving-woes/ February 15, 2009 What can I say about February? It's one of those contentious months with staggered reading weeks so university students don't throw throw themselves off of the Bloor street viaduct, Valentine's Day meets love-holiday-haters everywhere (does anyone actually buy those cheesy Hallmark bears?) and Family Day touts its obvious ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/letter-from-the-editor-issue-16-february-2010/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/issue-16-february-2010/ Conceptualizing a local music scene in the contemporary cultural landscape is plausible, but it seems to romanticize days when local communities were actual physical communities. I don’t mean to say that the Internet is crushing all our hopes for face-to-face community interaction, but it is impossible to ignore the effect ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/am-i-really-where-i-say-i-am-local-music-in-contemporary-space/ What this essay is about: Your life as a cinematic experience, narratives as emotional crutches. Question you may ask yourself halfway through this essay: How many times can a writer make reference to John Cusack while ostensibly reviewing a film starring Colin Firth? Relevant quotation from my notebook from a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/a-single-man-on-a-single-man-a-breakup-essay-slash-film-review/ The history of The Band is easily one of the most fascinating in the canon of popular music. We all know the story: four Canadian dudes and another American dude form under the banner of being rockabilly mainstay Ronnie Hawkins’ back-up band, have a falling out with Hawkins, become Bob ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/pomopop-4-acadian-driftwood-american-thanksgiving/ Getting off the bus, we were pinned in between the sign that said ‘Welcome to Toronto’ and another that said ‘Welcome to Markham.’ Across the intersection’s two cold crosswalks was a mall. Now I know, Toronto has plenty malls. Dufferin, Eaton, Yorkdale, there’s plenty options of places to shop and ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/nerdventures-east-by-north-east/ Sweet Shaddock | Photos by Madd Hattere The good captain Shaddock brought grapefruits to the sunny shores of Jamaica over one hundred years ago, and when Count Odet Phillippe planted the first Florida grove in 1823, he could not have foreseen the integral contribution the fruit would supply for the State ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/sweet-shaddock-winterlicious-highlight-chefs-in-training-attend-brad-moore%e2%80%99s-school-with-florida-grapefruits/ “You know, we’re really like the coffee-and-cigarettes generation, when you think about it. You know what I mean? In the ‘40s it was the pie-and-coffee generation.” Tom Waits It was a dry and unseasonably warm February morning - though this is Canada, so unseasonable is a relative term - when I met ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/on-the-noble-art-of-lying-with-david-nickle/ Gary Taxali and the team at Narwhal Art Projects have brought together a collection of original illustrations by Taxali. Hundreds of works are assembled in groupings that flow like a free form comic strip. Ranging over the generous displays is an experience that lends itself to playful associations amongst neighbouring ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/illustration-proclamation-gary-taxali-and-dan-perjovschi/ Hi my name is Megan, and I'm a Toronto-based freelance illustrator. Having grown up in the city, I attended the Ontario College of Art and Design to eventually graduate with a Bachelor of Design in illustration. When not hunched over my drawing table, you can find me immersed in a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/spotlight-megan-mckenzie/ Since I first laid my hands on their initial release in 2009, baffled by the logistics of perfect binding books by hand, I've been intrigued by the spirit of the Ferno House micro-press. Comprised of Spencer Gordon, Matt (The Door) Laporte and Arnaud Brassard, Ferno House is a fledgling press ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/ferno-house-the-emergency-response-unit-where-books-are-made-the-slow-way-and-dinosaurs-are-sexy/ Spoiler alert for them folks still preparing for An Education from Lone Scherfig. I shall spoil everything, just like the trailer. Let me throw it out right now that I have a thing with trailers: I can never make it to the end of them. Without any brain-blasting logic behind ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/an-education-in-the-crux-of-art-cinema/ Even those on the very periphery of the comic book landscape have heard of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen - it’s difficult to escape these two books. I can’t overstate the degree of influence the two have had on comics for better or worse since their debut in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/not-in-the-know-get-the-drift-two-comic-book-classics/ How does one discuss sound in a medium that necessarily removes it? Listening to music is so easy these days. Everyone knows about everything. Sure, things can still be under or over rated, I suppose, but the point is that no matter what you want to listen to, it will be ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/thats-some-pretty-heavy-music-journalism-part-one-a-rope-of-sand/ So… it was a weird month for the TTC. Off the bat I should point out that this piece slanders just about everyone involved in any recent TTC-related news, as well as a certain faction of TTC riders, and also the Toronto Star. The moral of this story: everybody sucks. Full disclosure: I ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/round-round-get-around-lets-all-suck-as-one/ Let’s face it: I love theory. I live for it, I crave it, and desire it. I’m a theory head. A theory junky. Yet there are some theories which are just plain idiotic and have no merit: I’m talking about conspiracy theories. What are conspiracy theories? How are they different ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/the-la-le-lu-li-lo-are-behind-it-all-or-how-conspiracy-theories-plague-modern-thought/ Over the past year or so, Dirty Projectors have gotten their due and David Longstreth has quickly been recognized for his outrageous musical output over the last decade or so. Over the next little while the band will perform their gloriously weird album The Getty Address in its entirety with ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/by-the-wayside-vol-5-don-henleys-building-the-perfect-beast/ Pedestrian:  Pe-des-tri-an (Puh-des-tree-uhn) 1. Walkers, jaywalkers, car-less wonders. Frequently mistaken for new-age hippies; this stems from the ecological aspect of their actions, though the aforementioned hippies are typically the cyclists of the city. 2. Pedestrian is a term referring to those who propel themselves forward on their own two legs, despite technological ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/exploring-the-urban-jungle-part-one-pedestrians-and-jaywalkers/ Here is a fairly legitimate neo-blue-eyed--soul outfit coming out of Calgary. Growing up in the territory of that city's bitter hockey enemy, Edmonton, seventeen-year-old me would never have believed that anything worthwhile ever came out of Calgary. Hell, I would never have allowed it. Which of course isn't to say ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/02/album-review-the-dojo-workhorse-weapons-grade-romantic/ January 15, 2009 Karen Correia Da Silva Editor-in-Chief Steel Bananas & Starla Bontecou http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/letter-from-the-editor-january-2010/ Marc Bell’s Hot Potatoe (sic.) is an irreverent mockery of the monograph.  A snicker (but never snark) at every turn keeps the tone lowered and the eye wandering. Each element of the typical one-man art-book is submerged into a deep fryer of schoolboy humor. No calm and levelheaded analysis of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/a-short-history-of-fizzy-pop-marc-bell%e2%80%99s-hot-potatoe-sic/ The "B" Word | Photos by Matthew Filipowich I have always been a bit hesitant towards the word myself. I thought brunch was a typically bothersome title given to a meal that didn’t fit within the standard pre-planned three-meal mold of childhood. My youth rarely gave me the opportunity for such ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/the-dreaded-%e2%80%9cb%e2%80%9d-word-what-it-means-to-brunch-in-toronto/ In matters of art on the internet, conceptual artists have a habit of getting there first and leaving behind little more than tedious ghosts of their abstract inspirations. Sometimes it takes an artist from the commercial world to build something truly awesome on that old territory, something destined to do ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/where-history-and-comedy-dance-beneath-a-hyperlinks-gentle-glow-on-the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace-and-babbage/ I’ve spent three out of the last four New Year’s eves running off to Montreal so I feel obligated to show Toronto some love for 2010 by sharing some weird news that happened RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW (or at some point in the past). I’m going to admit that this ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/weird-news-close-to-home/ Trying to explain why things are better than other things makes things difficult for everything. Canada is home to more incredible talent than anyone is usually willing to admit and this decade has been an incredibly awesome one to be a Canadian, musically speaking. That being said, creating distinctions of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/the-steel-bananas-music-team-presents-the-best-canadian-music-of-the-2000s/ Those of you who are regular readers of Steel Banana’s Theatre & Lifestyle section are aware of my admiration for the local festival circuit, as well as my high expectations for its role in advancing the state of contemporary Canadian theatre. These festivals bring together artists from all over the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/here%e2%80%99s-to-the-next-step-the-next-stage-festival-at-the-factory-theatre/ By now no doubt the more politically-minded of you have heard of the December 30th initiative by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to prorogue parliament until March 3rd. You are aware of the massive abuse of power and the threat to our national democracy that this exhibits. Those of you who ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/state-of-suspension-stand-up-against-the-prorogue/ Old Man Luedecke loves life. That’s about the long and short of it. If you take anything away from this piece, I’d prefer it if you think of Nova Scotia’s favorite singin’ banjo man as a guy who really digs living. And playing his banjo. Perhaps the most content guy ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/old-man-luedecke-in-there-are-a-lot-of-things-i-really-love/ Teatree 867 Danforth @ Jones Recently the boys (in this case referring to Matt Marshall and Colin Fallowfield) and I went shopping for an upcoming Theatre Bassaris show (more on that next month). After hours of trekking through the city in search of chairs, the perfect apparently non-existent chairs, our feet ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/caffeine-buzz-vol-10/ In the later months of 2009, the TTC announced the approved designs for four of the six new subway stations to be implemented as the Spadina Subway Extension. This past fall saw architectural plans for Highway 407, Steeles West, York University and Sheppard West stations brought to the table, which ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/round-round-get-around-revitalize-those-parking-lots/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/issue-15-january-2010/ Most theatre practitioners (and thus I assume most theatre-goers) like to drink. For most of us it’s a bit of a hobby, so naturally when Mirvish announced that they’re allowing alcohol in their theatres this season I was excited. This combines two of my passions, fine art and fine liquor! Immediately ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/i%e2%80%99m-not-an-alcoholic-i%e2%80%99m-a-theatre-patron-%e2%80%a8mirvish-allows-alcohol-in-its-theatres/ A woman was recently killed by an ancient driver who collided with her body on the streets of Toronto. She was a mother. She was walking her baby in a stroller as the car ran a red light and continued to roll towards them, full speed. In that split second, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/throw-out-the-baby-and-drink-the-bathwater-the-tragical-life-and-deserved-death-of-spay/ This is the death of auto-tune! I understand Jay-Z’s frustration, and, admittedly, I too am slightly annoyed with the overwhelmingly high amount of heavily treated vocals in pop music. Has my frustration reached the point where I am wishing its death? Not quite, but then again, I am not a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/examining-jay-z%e2%80%99s-declaration-of-death%e2%80%a6of-auto-tune/ I have a love-hate relationship with fashion. On one hand, it’s interesting, creative, and provocative. Fashion design is so fascinating. Some of the pieces that designers come up really ought to be displayed in an art gallery. Wearing a well-made garment must be some sort of sartorial sex. On the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/this-editorial-belongs-in-the-doghouse/ I'm sure you're real jazzed about turkey and stuffing, and frankly I can't blame you for being jazzed about stuffing, but Thanksgiving falls right after the high holidays. Me and my people, by that point, are pretty exhausted on the whole grand feast front. This isn't anyone's fault, but those ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/nerdventures-what-my-people-do/ Hello jerks. You know what sucks? Shitty games. I know I know, there's a lot of shitty things out there. Shitty bands, shitty movies, shitty wax museums, but the bulk of those will run you fifteen, twenty bucks top. A shitty video game? Son you just sunk forty to seventy ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/the-video-game-unawards-rot-and-rot-and-rot-and-rot-again/ Since the age of 4, I’ve been in school. When I was in grade school I wanted to be a firefighter, a palaeontologist, or Batman. In middle school I just wanted to survive. By the time high school rolled around and my grades had led me into a math and ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/the-bitter-ranting-of-an-armchair-theorist-3-kissing-ass-101/ I am an illustrator and a textile artist. Born and bred in Alberta, Canada, I have been drawing and painting ever since I was a kid. However, like every other member in my family, I decided to be realistic and became a chartered accountant. After five years in the field ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/spotlight-yien-yip/ I have a feeling that I’m part of the last generation of kids who will grow up listening to the radio in the traditional sense. I’m aware that satellite radio enjoys a certain amount of success in certain circles and that it technically constitutes radio listening, but I’m talking about ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2010/01/on-alan-cross-and-canadian-new-music-media/ December 15, 2009 Well, we survived 2009. I guess this warrants a sentimental retrospective of what has made this year so awesome for SB, but I'll leave it to the eager archive scrollers and search engine fiends to familiarize themselves with the oodles of fun we've had for the last twelve months. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/letter-from-the-editor-issue-14-december-2009/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/issue-14-december-2009/ Men and women are different. Captain Obvious, right? I mean, everyone knows that. But what is it that makes us different? And why is it that we are different? And how do we define these differences? In fact, how to we define men and women? Sounds like I’m launching into ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/men-are-from-mars-women-are-from-a-different-part-of-mars-a-review-of-co-ed/ Necessary Angel's Hamlet, with its recent run at the Enwave Theatre as a part of Worldstage, might be the perfect example of why the world needs at least a ten year moratorium on everything Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, this production didn't bring me to hate Shakespeare. It's the quite ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/10-years-off-why-necessary-angels-hamlet-is-a-case-for-some-time-away-from-big-s/ My chilling legs stamping up and down along Sherbourne street, breathing the fresh new ghost out of my mouth into the cell phone. Devo was in Toronto tonight. I could not miss it, I’d be dishonouring myself and everyone who thinks they know me. I couldn’t deny it any longer, friends. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/nerdventures-dee-ee-vee-otes-ft-alexander-armstrong/ The Carlton theatre closed down. It surprised little, and the only thing that jostles is how immediately it came to fruition. Though to me less so. Maybe I’m cold, but see it from my angle. Even pre-recession I’ve been surrounded by closing theatres. Within walkable distance is what used to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/carltons-last-stand/ Photos by Zach Hertzman // Through performance and body painting, Adrian Cohen-Gallant and Sophia Ilyniak have negotiated their relationship with several issues central to the artistic representation of sexuality and the gendered subject. The early successes of this artist couple are related to two tensions in their works. One tension is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/careful-smudges/ This weekend marked the seventh Spike TV VGAs, where Spike TV decided it would be up to them to decide what the best games of each year are. And by them they mean you, voting online, so in fact that really just makes them a glittery middle man between you ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try-vol-3-announcorizing/ Who says that snap judgments and prejudice aren’t a good thing? Not I, Daniel Bernstein that’s for sure. Every month I take a look at the movies that we the viewing audience are to be subjected to and give my often bitter, twisted thoughts about them. I don’t need to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/trailer-trashin-vol-11/ [caption id="attachment_5311" align="aligncenter" width="385" caption="Photo by Zach Hertzman"][/caption] I met Adrian Cohen-Gallant and Sophia Ilyniak at Gallery 1313. They were performing as part of a live Internet broadcast hosted by In My Bed Magazine. The artist couple has created a series of body paintings since their senior year at the Etobicoke ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/an-interview-with-adrian-cohen-gallant-and-sophia-ilyniak/ Owning records seems kind of redundant these days. Don’t get me wrong, I still collect albums and I prefer owning a record as opposed to just downloading it. I want to tell myself that the reasons for this extend beyond simple materialism. Yes, I enjoy my collection and I appreciate ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/digital-love-and-digital-ownership/ ‘Tis the season where commercialism and tinsel take over the city and people who are usually sane become superficially pious and even more obnoxious. The season where society expects you to see your family, even the distant relatives you don’t like, and your mother expects you to do all this ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/just-another-holiday-recipe/ It's a given that any review is going to hand the reader a pair of expectacles to wear when sallying forth to view the object in question with their own eyes. It's a rare thing to come across an object where that taint could make a significant difference in the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/weird-treasures-at-the-grange/ Every month Daniel Bernstein watches an old movie of questionable quality. Armed with the belief that there are lessons to be learned in all situations, he and another Steel Bananas columnist attempt to find meaning where maybe there isn’t any. This month, Daniel sits with Sarah Beaudin and examines the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/lessons-learned-jingle-all-the-way/ Before beginning the article proper, I feel obligated to turn your attention to a recent scandal much more important than whatever the hell Tiger Woods is up to. Canadian science fiction writer Dr. Peter Watts was recently beaten, pepper-sprayed, and arrested at the Canada-U.S. border by U.S. border guards when he ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/bakka-phoenix-seriously-independent-is-better/ If there’s one thing I can really appreciate in music, it’s things that cannot be described easily. Musical projects that defy the classic Who-Meets-Who model and that cannot be tied down accurately without necessitating a lengthy explanation are likely to intrigue me the most. I suppose by that measure then, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/braving-the-harshest-sonic-textures-and-minimalist-permafrost-the-post-folk-jazz-odysseys-of-muskox/ From the shadows of Detroit rises an electric dream. Musician Randolph Chabot had been crafting songs since his early teens, but now as his moniker, Deastro, he hits the world with an incredibly unique brand of synthetic sound. Light but powerful, and the vocal pipes to back it up, Chabot ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-deastro/ The seascape of this installment of Killin Food is ever a-changing. In the fish and chip scene in Toronto there have been some notable changes in the last few years: local Queen East favourite Wood Green has capsized permanently; Danforth and Broadview location Deep Blue has also abandoned ship, a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/attempting-to-find-port-in-the-shifting-waters-of-toronto%e2%80%99s-fish-and-chips/ My name is Dani Crosby. I am a graduate of the Sheridan BAA Illustration program and am currently based in Oshawa Ontario. I put my personality, emotions, and twisted sense of humor directly into my work to create strong visual messages that words alone cannot convey. Through my work I ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/spotlight-dani-crosby/ Q: How do you keep that pace up? Three solid hours! A: I don’t know, it must be…desperation or something. Bruce. For the past three volumes, it’s been the mandate of this column to shed light on the unrecognized, uncanonized albums of the past that, for whatever reason, have been excluded from critical ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/by-the-wayside-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town/ Bet all you commuters to York University are feeling pretty smug these days. You, with your fancy new bus lane, bet you’re feeling on top of the world; or at least as on top of the world as you can be until your subway finally comes rolling in to pick ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/round-round-get-around-introducing-your-fancy-new-bus-lane/ What is revolution? The question, I think, deserves to be asked now, when capitalism is at a crucial time in its history. The Western culture has turned the notion of revolution into something of a cliché, a reproduced image that circulates through various media outlets and as a result, is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/what-is-this-thing-we-call-revolution-short-meditation-on-alain-badiou/ This is the second in a series of spotlight articles on authors and works of genre fiction.  In the first, I looked at Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and attempted to define genre fiction.  I failed, of course, as all endeavours to define ultimately do.  I promised this article ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/china-mieville-the-hunk-of-science-fiction/ As a reflection of the chaos going on in my own life, this month’s weird news installment has no theme. Sorry holiday-lovers, there are no stories of Christmas mishaps or fubar Hanukkahs here. Prepare yourselves for wacky news stories (as usual) and many poorly-written segues. In 2005, Texas made an amendment ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/12/weird-news-december-free-for-all/ The internet should have been such a great thing. All the creativity and outlandishness of television and the world that makes television, why isn't that what the internet is made up of? Why do I despise Youtube, but adore cable access television? It can happen, right? That magic? That spark? ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-john-kilduff/ Photo Credit: Matthew Filipowich// Finding a good, reasonably priced chunk of cow in the downtown sprawl is no simple task. A couple of bars may have specific steak nights that allow for cheaper meat, combined with pitchers of cheap beer, but more often than not such events turn into drunken flops ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/heifer-hunt-a-carnivorous-crusade-through-economical-eateries/ Describing Polaroids is simple. It’s a big, black, paperback photography book containing all of the polaroids that Dash Snow selected to be enlarged and displayed as works of art during his career.  However, explaining Dash Snow’s polaroids takes much more consideration. One of the collections eight titles, 'Situations Galore', best ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/where-the-pathos-lies-dash-snows-polaroids/ Photos by Madd Hattere // Are You Man Enough? - Phil McAndrew I sure hope so. This 18-page mini-comic by Syracuse, NY-based illustrator Phil McAndrew is quite possibly - and I am pointedly not one for hyperbole - the funniest thing I've ever read. This is the sort of silly absurdism that ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/kickass-finds-at-canzine-2009/ Since encountering those flip-books from the bins in the kindergarten classroom, I've always had a soft spot for mix-and-match monsters. Surely you know the ones: sectioned like three-piece barn doors, the upper section bears images of various animal heads; the middle, torsos; the bottom one, legs. Flip to different pages ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/contemporary-wunderkammer-nicholas-di-genova-and-the-fantastic/ Photo by Matthew Filipowich // Sitting at the counter at Zoots Cafe on Dundas West, recorder running, I'm baffled by how vividly Pelee Island emerges in my mind; a small, isolated, forgotten place, low buildings and open land, log cabins and Victorian homes, trading posts filled with teacups. I lean my ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/simple-places-and-strange-things-melanie-janisses-orioles-in-the-oranges/ As much as I dread school sometimes, and as much as I am horrified at the idea that when I am finished all my education I would have spent 19 years or 76% of my life in school, I value education and recognize that it is a privilege that not ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/weird-news-tales-out-of-school/ Remember, remember the fifth of November, The gunpowder treason and plot, I know of no reason Why the gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot. As I write this sentence, November 5th is one hour and seven minutes away. Soon it’ll be Guy Fawkes Day, which some young people do remember these days thanks to the comic ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/the-bitter-ranting-of-an-armchair-theorist-vol-2-remember-remember-the-fifth-of-november/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/november-2009-issue-13/ You've double take'd at enough adverts by know to know that yes, The Toxic Avenger: The Musical is both very real and very here in the city. After Evil Dead and Reefer Madness, the cult film to stage musical craze is one mad ball that will probably continue to roll. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/heart-the-monster-toxic-avenger-the-musical-mutates-the-danforth/ Every month, Daniel Bernstein watches an old movie of questionable quality. Armed with the belief that there are lessons to be learned in all situations, he and another Steel Bananas columnist attempt to find meaning where maybe there isn’t any. This month, Daniel sits with Borna Radnik and examines the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/lessons-learned-the-net/ Who says that snap judgements and prejudice aren’t a good thing? Not I, Daniel Bernstein that is for sure. Every month I take a look at the movies that we the viewing audience are to be subjected to and gives my often bitter, twisted thoughts about them. I don’t need ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/trailer-trashin-vol-10-ten-already/ So, OK. The first time I tried to write this piece, it just turned into a standard write-up of an event that I went to and it very pointedly didn’t engage with the ideas presented therein at all. I even started it in the standard way that you would start ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/round-round-get-around-two-or-three-things-ive-learned-recently-about-cycling/ A few moons back, I visited local game developers Capybara who had given me two recommendations of things to hit up. One was a ramen noodle place that is apparently behind city hall. The other was The Hand Eye Society. They seemed to bring up this mysterious organization quite a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/nerdventures-winter-camp-and-skool-daze/ November sweeps in. A time to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our peace on the horrid stage of war. A time to wear the red poppy on your breast. A time to lose that aforementioned poppy on your breast somewhere around your apartment. A time to be ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try-vol-2-memorializing/ UNION STATION. Evening. Late summer, 1974. Lights up on a MAN, jeans, scruffy plaid shirt, brown jacket, either drivers cap or short-brimmed fedora perched on HIS head. Suspenders. HE speaks with the drawl and hard ‘R’s of a rural boy from Northern Ontario. HE is 21. HE must picture this GIRL. SHE ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/goddess-with-the-blonde-hair-a-monologue/ Kim Sokol is a recent graduate of Sheridan College's Illustration program. She's a Toronto-area illustrator, diving headfirst into the freelance business. She works with ink, watercolour, and a copious helping of Photoshop to create bright, dynamic narrative illustration. She's inspired by strange people, old hats, cars from before 1930, terrible movies, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/spotlight-kim-sokol/ “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” –Bob Dylan, "Like a Rolling Stone" "What a swamp the world could become without the call of socialism, the hope of socialism, and the 'danger' of socialism." -Mansoor Hekmat What is going on today? The on-going global financial crisis signalled the fragility of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/goodbye-mr-capitalism/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/caffeine-buzz-vol-9/ I took last month off to write a horror-theatre themed article in light of the holiday we just celebrated. That was with regard to an entire genre of theatre; this month, I return to my specifically Canadian critiques. A theatre is a building, a space, a warehouse, any physical structure in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/site-ing-the-guerrillas-the-canadian-theatre-tod-eh-pun-intended-part-4/ According to my macbook’s built-in dictionary: gam-bol verb (-boled, -bol-ing; Brit. –bolled, -bolling) [intrans.] run or jump about playfully : the man gamboled toward Connie. noun [usu. in sing.] an act of running or jumping about playfully “I guess this explains why I don’t really dance, I confuse running and jumping with dancing. I like ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/goofy-fun-and-silly-words-with-gravity-wave/ When was the last time you heard someone describe a type of music as “rock,” “rap” or “country?” In most cases, these delirious characters are the sorts of people, in the words of Rowan Atkinson, “one emigrates to avoid.” Overly general descriptors are for big-budget record stores and radio formats; ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/hinterview-2-what-the-folk-with-the-wilderness-of-manitoba/ Background music. In my experience with televisual media, there’s a lot of credence and attention given to jingles, to full bodied orchestras playing news themes, to the soundtrack of popular dramas, to the animated penis frog that infiltrates the minds of children by recycling a song named for an Eddie Murphy ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/by-the-wayside-vol-2-peter-sarstedt/ November 15, 2009 My, my! November has been a crazy month for SB thus far! We started off the month at Canzine 2009, we just launched our first print project, GULCH, with Tightrope Books on the 12th at the Trash Palace, and we're looking forward to the third installment of the Monthly ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/11/letter-from-the-editor-november-2009/ Oct, 15th, 2009 Good evening kiddies. I hope you weren't enjoying your stroll along the internet too pleasantly, because I have some... Horrifying news for you. Yes kiddies, the air is getting colder, the leaves are swirling to the ground, the air foggier, the moon more full and rotund. You know ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/letter-from-the-editor-october-2009/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/issue-12-october-2009/ Lately, I’ve been considering the possibilities of the universe. Put aside your skeptical post-postmodernist deconstructionist thinking, and consider. Doesn’t it seem ludicrous to assume we know all there is to know about the universe? Despite scientific developments, what we know about the universe is the equivalent of a grain of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-phantom-of-the-opera-house-and-other-haunted-theatres-in-toronto/ Justin Erickson is a Toronto-based artist with a particular passion for horror and the macabre. His compositions are generated by working with a variety of illustrative media techniques, digital manipulation, graphic design, and narrative concepts. After graduating from Sheridan College's Illustration program in the spring of 2005, Justin experienced three years ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/spotlight-justin-erickson/ In the spooky vein of what I suppose is being considered the Metallic Fruit’s ‘Hallowe’en’ issue (that’s how it’s spelled; look it up), I have elected to do a little pondering about the absence of one particular literary genre from the theatrical stage: the genre of horror. While finding its ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/when-theres-no-more-room-in-hell-the-decline-and-possibilities-of-horror-theatre/ Photos by Matthew Filipowich// Steel Bananas’ Photo Editor, Matthew “The Pro” Filipowich and I are sitting at some ill-lit corner booth at the ancient West End haunt, the Lakeview Restaurant on a dark, wet and miserable evening. I’m wrapping up the “official business” section of our meeting with Toronto’s the Schomberg ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/1840s-contemporary-the-schomberg-fair-set-free-fresh-hell/ I'd wager that for most everyone reading this, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the last places you'd think of when I say the words "horror," "ghostly," "creeptacular" or "Halloween." Since its recent reconstruction (what with its slick modern architecture and interiors so brightly-lit that shadows tell tales ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-ago-can-ignore-halloween-but-thats-not-stopping-me-a-guided-tour-for-halloween/ I guess there is a balance in the universe. When a field seems so saturated and overstuffed, it always shoots out a gem that makes the whole ordeal seem just worth it all. When you got sick and tired of zombie movies, Shaun of the Dead made you feel bad ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-faye-jackson/ Being an independent artist is a tough wrap. You need to have a day job, a pretty good work ethic and a Rolodex of excuses to legitimize your artistic aspirations. As the rough cut of Marc Boggio’s Fear the Reaper came to a close on the screen in front of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/hinterview-marc-boggio-director-of-fear-the-reaper/ For some reason, the search for spooky weird news this month yielded a disproportionately high number of baby-related stories. Maybe my biological clock hasn’t quite ticked long enough yet and I’m just irrationally scared of babies but I think there is something genuinely sinister about a parasite that grows inside ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/weird-news-temporarily-dead-baby-joke/ Every month Daniel Bernstein watches an old movie of questionable quality. Armed with the belief that there are lessons to be learned in all situations, he and another Steel Bananas columnist attempt to find meaning where maybe there isn’t any. This month, Daniel sits with Matt Marshall and attempts to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/lessons-learned-the-terror-or-the-best-defense-against-a-falcon-is-a-closed-fist/ A desk. A man. A radio. Come Together by the Beatles (Aerosmith cover) is heard. I’m telling you, I’m telling you, this is not the Beatles. No, listen – it’s not them! Does that sound like Lennon? Is that John fucking Lennon?! No. You’re a smart man, but you don’t know ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/matts-monologues-hey-dude/ October is here and that means that Halloween is right around the corner. Let's be honest here, Halloween is probably the greatest holiday ever invented ever. It encourages people to dress up, wander the streets at night, and indulge in both candy and liquor. You show me a person who ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/trailer-trashin-vol-9/ My aunt used to have the best Halloween decorations. They were both the highlight and most dreaded part of my childhood Halloweens. I often wondered how much of the design she based solely on the elements that irked me. After all, that would explain why it began to feel like ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/nerdventures-house-on-forest-hill/ would have been a great Halloween show if it hadn’t closed just shy of the 31st. Walking into the Forest City Gallery to see the works meant passing through a sunny front room into what felt like the dim, sparsely decorated living room of someone long gone. Most of the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/dim-lights-dirty-panties-and-blazing-bills-illuminated-still-lives-at-the-forest-city-gallery/ Sure, no one can shut up about vampires right now, but some people, and I mean this, actually know a thing or two about vampires. And of that handful, Elizabeth Miller is probably a key digit. Not only one of Canada's top Vampire experts, she's one of the most respected ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-vampire-expert-elizabeth-miller/ These are some guys. These are some serious guys. These are some guys who take their name from a Jane Austen novel, but play one of the most deafeningly loud and intense live sets you are likely to catch in this town. These are some guys who are so ballsy ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/these-are-some-excited-guys-the-darcys-and-the-top-secret-mega-record/ A man walks into a restaurant with his family, chatting amicably and smiling in preparation of a casual meal out, until he looks over the shoulder of another restaurant patron and witnesses utter carnage to a degree that he has never encountered in his narrow aesthetic with cuisine. He takes ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/insurmountable-injera-an-in-depth-excavation-of-toronto%e2%80%99s-ethiopian-eateries/ Balance folks, it's all about balance. I wrote reviews, and alas summer is gone, so both the time and money that's typically required to play, and then talk about, new video games may no longer available. Yet somewhere in the back of my mind I cannot help but shake the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try-vol-1-terrorizing/ When last we left our time-traveling rock and roll heroes, Jacqui, Steve and Liam, they had just slain the terrible dragon, known to many a villager as Shitty Music. I’m not going to give a full recap of their previous adventures, but needless to say, the Balconies kicked some serious ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-balconies-in-balconyquest-2-a-post-punk-adventure-with-goblins/ Ted Killin Tuesday Sept. 29, 2009: Banana Boy took an easy cross-country jaunt into Sneaky Dee's, only to be blown clear across the room by a shockwave of a larger-than-usual dose of PURE UNADULTERATED ROCK! He has, ever since, turned mystic and reads premonitions... of the future, which is how ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-steel-bananas-one-year-anniversary-party-or-the-peculiar-legend-and-history-of-banana-boy/ Tinto Coffee House 89 Roncesvalles Avenue @ Marion Roncesvalles is littered with coffee joints, yet we’ve never ventured out there for our Caffeine-Buzzing purposes. What’s up with that? I don’t know, but it was something that needed to be rectified and rectified it certainly was. The Chief and I, we hopped on ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/caffeine-buzz-vol-8/ First of all, this is not a book review. As a rule, I don't much like book reviews. And what can I say of Michael Chabon's novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union that hasn't already been said? It only takes a glimpse at the disgustingly abundant neon blurbs from North America's ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/do-the-genre-mash-michael-chabons-the-yiddish-policemens-union/ Cannibals clamoring in hordes throughout Ontario, snapping necks with confused slackened jaws, repeating short strings of language that drip off their rotting lips as slowly as the congealed blood of their victims. A crazed man in a car with a crying child, a stroke victim, a news broadcaster, a community, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-slandering-of-linda-hutcheon-language-zombies-a-semiotic-virus-what-could-be-more-allegorical-autobiographical/ HELLO KIDS, COUNT DUKE FUNKYSTEIN HERE, in case you have yet to notice, this month's issue is extra CREEPY. I did it all for you kids, but the ghost train won't stop there, oh no. Turn down the light, grab a flash light and place it directly under your monitor ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-steel-bananas-midfright-society/ Despite being a relative misnomer, the term Can lit does have its loose parameters, at least as far as public perception is concerned. Open spaces. Prairies. Cold. Boring. Pastoral shit. Where and how this odd reputation came to be (I'll sidestep the obvious reference) is unclear, but for small-press kids, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/i-definitely-cant-lit-peculiar-prose-and-outlandish-lit-from-the-resident-outcasts-at-broken-pencil-magazine/ Frankenstein is probably the most popular horror icon in all of English literature, perhaps only rivaled by Dracula. When we usually think of Frankenstein, we think of either Boris Karloff or some bad rendition of the story. Suffice it to say, no one in popular culture actually talks about Mary ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/frankenstein-is-you-i-is-an-other-or-how-mary-shelley-promotes-universalism/ September 22, 2009 Continuing on with our fruits and veggies thing that we've got going on, Steel Bananas recently launched a monthly reading series called the Monthly Eggplant to be held on the third Tuesday of every month - though this was not the case for the first instalment. Hilariously enough, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/10/the-monthly-eggplant-episode-1-birth-of-the-gulch/ September 15, 2009 When Karen and Curran asked me to write the Note from the Editor for this month's issue, I was quite surprised. Why was I surprised? They just asked the freakin' photo editor to do it. And that's why I love Steel Bananas so much - although our Moose ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/letter-from-the-editor-september-2009/ When Latour was first recommended to me, it was under the guise of his being an anti-postmodernist. Preying on my open-mindedness, some of my pomophobe friends so very often try to deter me from my postructuralist leanings, or at least try to get me to acknowledge the relative truth of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/the-slandering-of-linda-hutcheon-pomophobia/ Somewhere round grade eleven I was having one of those really lousy Fridays. No don't leave, this isn't about to get moody, honest to god I can't even remember what I was being such a foss about. Anyways, having nowhere to go that I wanted to go and nothing to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/nerdventures-homecoming/ "Doo Doo Doo-Doo Doo, Doo Doo-Doo Doo!" - David Bowie, Rebel Rebel "There is no doubt that for Marx it was a real disaster to have been transformed into the leader of a sect by his young enthusiasts; he would have produced much more useful work had he not become the slave ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/the-bitter-ranting-of-an-armchair-theorist-vol-1-rebel-rebel/ What do you do when the people can’t come to the theatre? You bring the theatre to the people, of course. How do you do that? It takes guts, it takes gall. It takes reckless abandon. It takes disregard for one’s personal (and financial) well-being. Most of all, it takes ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/the-canadian-theatre-tod-eh-pun-intended-part-three-escape-is-at-hand-for-the-travelling-band/ Every month, Daniel Bernstein watches an old movie of questionable quality. Armed with the belief that there are lessons to be learned in all situations, he and another Steel Bananas columnist attempt to find meaning where maybe there isn’t any. This month, Daniel sits with Colin Fallowfield in an attempt ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/lessons-learned-waterworld/ The Art in Slow Food | Photos brought to you by the Cheese Boutique Cheese is simply the most versatile food I can think of, for the inclusion or exclusion in a dish often acts as the catalyst for the entire success of the meal. And one dish consisting entirely of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/the-cheese-boutique-the-art-inherent-in-slow-food/ Okay guys, so here's the plan: We get off at St. Andrew station, right? Or Osgoode - what's closer? We head up to the street-train-thing. You get out your transfers and let me do all the talking. I'll say, look buddy: these are my friends from out of town. I'm really drunk ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/matts-monologues-the-plan/ Games are a tricky little bitch. There's a chorus of wanks going on about how "games are art", meanwhile most developers just hammer out more dreck and these same wanks keep doling out the cash and the cycle goes on. Now, I am one of those wanks who think games ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/nine-gaming-concepts-that-should-be-put-down-lassie-style/ Photo by KF/SB Much of the nerd lifestyle has been co-opted, sadly. Either as chic or genuinely popular, comics to video games are as common in social culture as big pizzas, rock songs and weed. However, if I was to single out one property that still seemed to be cherished near ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-max-brooks/ Last month I was the fill-in guy for Nancy on Weird News, today I am holding up the mantle for everyone's favorite cranky bastard, Mr. Daniel Bernstein. I've always enjoyed Trailer Trashin'. Furthermore, I've always enjoyed being something of a cranky bastard myself, so it makes perfect sense that when ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/trailer-trashin-vol-8/ Let me preface this article by saying that, even though we’re having another creature-themed post, no ewes will be mentioned. The title was just too cute to pass up. Sorry, ewe-lovers. Anyway, my technical difficulties have been cleared up (read: the dust from the fan was sucked out). Many thanks ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/weird-news-ewes-in-the-news/ Toronto has plenty to be proud of, those Canadian Heritage ads constantly reminded us that Superman may not have been originally from Krypton after all, we've been the backdrop of superflicks (even if they claim it's still NYC) and above all, writer, artist and inspiration Darwyn Cooke calls it his ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-darwyn-cooke/ Ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I have been a huge Joss Whedon fan. Whedon’s witty dialogue got me hooked on Buffy and Angel, Firefly had space cowboys (enough said) and, well, now Dollhouse is just badass. Yet, throughout his entire corpus, Whedon is dealing with concrete philosophical ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/joss-whedon-is-my-master-now-identity-and-the-human-experience-in-dollhouse/ Living in the West End, I don’t often journey to Leslieville. I wish I did. I like it there – it’s a good place. Alas, it is rarely meant to be as my chronic North-of-Bloor-Syndrome is coupled with a crippling East-of-Parliament-Malady. It is a sordid state of affairs… Fortunately for those ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/caffeine-buzz-vol-7-the-super-cracked-out-too-much-coffee-too-little-sleep-edition/ Explosive, surreal, invasive, aggressive, natural, Bill Sienkiewicz' art is as hard to describe as his name is hard to spell. One of the most memorable new talents of the 80's, Sienkiewicz has graced his brush on everything from the works of Frank Miller to Moby Dick. His style has become ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-bill-sienkiewicz/ Screens of all sorts consort with art these days. For instance, as you read this, computer-based media are forging mind-bogglingly new aesthetics and new ways to interface with viewers... but screens and art go back way before the Commodore 64. The kind of screen I'm about to discuss here is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/screening-mistakes-or-how-i-learned-to-d-i-y-the-hard-way-in-six-easy-steps/ Apparently we’re prudes. I’m sorry girls, it’s true. Despite being able to use the c-word in public, watch violent news without batting an eye and crack crude jokes on par with truckers, when it comes to peeing we’re positively prudes. The realization of this came shortly after visiting the facilities in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/pass-the-toilet-paper-an-exploration-of-washroom-etiquette/ I am an interdisciplinary artist currently exploring photography, print media, video, sound and performance. I am interested in using art as a tool to connect with individuals in an attempt to understand the human condition. My openness to ideas and willingness to explore new mediums have created a portfolio of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/spotlight-jessica-vallentin/ I make a mental note to remember Tony Dekker’s constant fidgeting, tracing his fingers around the staples that hold a piece of plastic to cover the table he sits at. He circles them, he pinches them. He does all this ungracefully and nervously. He appears so tense, exhausted, perhaps even ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/constant-fidgeting-expansive-folk-castles-tony-dekker-of-great-lake-swimmers/ “The best that can be said for Don Juan's Reckless Daughter is that it is an instructive failure.” –Janet Maslin, Rolling Stone, 1978 “Adrift! A little boat adrift! And night is coming down! Will no one guide a little boat Unto the nearest town?” -Emily Dickinson, 6, 1-4 The first time I heard Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/by-the-wayside-vol-2-don-juans-reckless-daughter/ Awards are, almost as a rule, more than slightly lame – that much is to be certain and it is without a doubt an overwhelmingly silly notion to judge an artist based around the number of awards that adorn their bathroom walls, regardless of the credibility of the giver. No ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/you-could-do-so-much-worse-summing-up-canadas-surprisingly-legit-critics-prize-polaris/ Dorks need music too, and there are only so many video game OSTs and anime themes one can morally download from Kazaa. While browsing the Fanexpo show floor I came across a particular booth that would offer the tune starved nerd a healthy alternative. While it was their large draped ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-kirby-krackle/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/09/september-2009-issue-11/ My name is Thomas Girard and I've lived in Toronto for 3 years now. I'm a professional web developer, aspiring visual artist and armchair neroscientist. When I moved here I was inspired by the artistic community Toronto had and I just wanted to immerse myself in that. I got started doing ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/spotlight-thomas-girard/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/august-2009-issue-10/ At the outset of my thesis research this year, my exposure to Linda Hutcheon's concept of  historiographic metafiction really made me feel as though I would never ever come across a more shamelessly coined term of absolute emptiness. I know, I know, this column has already, in its title, implicated ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/the-slandering-of-linda-hutcheon-how-electronic-literature-scholar-espen-j-aarseth-managed-to-coin-yet-another-convoluted-literary-term-while-bashing-literary-studies/ More than anything else, the theatre is a community. It is an art form that necessarily involves more than one person working together to create something from nothing; professionals (or no) collaborating, working toward a common goal. It is not an easy industry to break into, and the financial rewards ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/the-canadian-theatre-tod-eh-pun-intended-part-two-a-festivus-for-the-best-of-us/ Taste of the Danforth | Photos by Matthew Filipowich Expecting over one million attendees over the span of the weekend, a Taste of the Danforth has vastly exceeded its humble beginnings: starting as a mere response to Taste of Chicago, Toronto’s festival grew exponentially every year starting 1994 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/mediterranean-madness-%e2%80%9909-the-latest-chapter-in-danforth-history/ A legend of film and good taste, Lloyd Kaufman is the maestro behind Troma films, churning out beloved classics such as The Toxic Avenger, Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, Cannibal the Musical, Surf Nazis Must Die and most recently, Poultrygeist: Night of The Chicken Dead. Lloyd Kaufman is also an author and ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-lloyd-kaufman/ photo/Ingram Barass As it turns out, Joel Plaskett is exactly as nice of a guy as I had thought he would be before I met him, if not even more so: it was almost gratuitous how disgustingly charming he is. If I’m not careful, I’m going to have a big, fat, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/one-mild-and-saucy-guy-joel-motherfucking-plaskett/ STEEL BANANAS IS LOOKING TO HIRE A VISUAL ART + DESIGN COLUMNIST THAT'S RIGHT! If you possess: extensive knowledge of and/or experience with contemporary visual art and design awareness of the goings-on in the art scenes of Toronto/Montreal/Calgary/Vancouver and/or other major Canadian cities the ability to write engaging conversational prose a yearning to be able to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/steel-bananas-is-hiring/ Walking through the door and gathering my breath (because in the heat of the moment RUNNING up four flights of stairs seemed like a really great idea) I slid into Capybara studios. I had never been in a game studio and did not know what to expect in a business ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/nerdventures-getting-critter-crunk/ As a music addict, every so often I have the alarming pleasure of discovering a band or album that is totally amazing and has somehow slipped past my radar. This has been a common problem that I've noticed; there always seems to be way too much music out there for ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/by-the-wayside-vol-1-adventures-in-modern-recording/ The following piece is being developed as part of "The Beer Show" by 91 Days Theatre Company. "The Beer Show" is intended for performance in a pub. Specifics of performance would depend on the configuration of the pub, but the best configuration would be a thrust performance space, with a section ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/a-preview-of-the-beer-show-a-piece-being-developed-by-91-days-theatre/ What is Elitism? The terms 'elitism' and 'elitist' are thrown around a lot these days. Phrases such as: “That’s so elitist!” are a charge many (including myself) use to critique others, but what do these mean exactly? What is elitism? In order to properly grasp the meaning behind the use of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/an-essay-on-elitism-is-so-elitist-or-the-nature-of-critique-in-our-post-pomo-culture/ The sponsor of the Taste of the Danforth since 1997, Pilaros has been filling the demand for Mediterranean food in Canada for many years now, particularly notable as the largest importer of olive oil into North America. I was able to correspond with Nancy Antypas, Director of Marketing and Operations ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/nancy-antypas-proof-that-the-mediterranean-can-follow-its-citizens-wherever-they-go/ Considering that we at Steel Bananas just gratefully received an exceedingly generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, surely it is entirely inappropriate for me to - on the heels of this phenomenal event - go right ahead and mention that the way in which the Canadian government’s ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/iron-and-just-fine-the-edmonton-folk-music-festival-2009/ This month's guest: Borna Radnik Despite all of my ramblings about the gallons of crap that Hollywood shovels on to us every month (see Trailer Trashin’) I actually love terrible movies. There is nothing quite like sitting down with a group of people and heckling the idiots on screen. It seems ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/lessons-learned-twilight/ Trash Panic (PS3, Pub:SCE, Dev: SCE Japan, Rated E for Ewwwww) Lowdown: A Sentiment Torontonians Have Uncomfortably Grown Accustomed To. -/+ For People Looking For Another Tetris Tetris-like is usually the best description for any arcade puzzle game, but Trash Panic throws a wrench into the machine, and a lightbulb, and a desk, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/game-reviews-thank-god-it-was-slow-my-eyes-are-starting-to-hurt/ "People have the desire to take everything, to pillage everything, to swallow everything, to manipulate everything.  Seeing, deciphering, learning does not touch them." - Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation I recently spent a month living in the south of France, sharing an apartment in Nice with a rotating cast of usually seven ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/tourists-on-display-a-month-in-the-south-of-france/ There has been a continuous public outcry towards the civil workers from CUPE Local 79 and TCEU Local 416 since their collective strike put an immediate halt to several government funded services, including the weekly garbage pickup, as well as city-run daycares, recreation programming, park maintenance and applications for building ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/litter-rests-delicately-on-the-palate-as-toronto-restaurants-and-residents-discuss-the-summer-civil-strike/ A night out on the town is easy with all of the exciting nightlife in our fair city. Weekend after weekend we get gussied up in our Sunday Best, steppin’ out for the entertainment district and Toronto’s many clubs. The culture of ‘clubbing’ has always been a fascinating one for ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/a-few-dry-humps-away-from-a-brothel-the-clubbing-scene%e2%80%99s-prominence-in-youth-culture/ Our fabulous regular Weird News columnist, Nancy Situ has been experiencing some technical difficulties as of late and was unable to present the grotesque and hilarious results of her web scouring this month. However, we at Steel Bananas feel that to not give our readers a dose of the strange ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/weird-news-goats-and-popes/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/caffeine-buzz-vol-6/ Sketch Youth is a wonderful collective which encourages homeless Toronto youth to find themselves through artistic endeavors. The organization is top-rate and its mandate is both unique and inspiring: it attempts to foster hope in a demographic that is often disregarded by the general public. Their collectively created theatre work, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/just-a-sketch-with-potential-sketchin-toronto-at-summerworks-2009/ What do you do in Barrie on a Tuesday night? In a town known solely for its commuter proximity to Toronto, especially on a mid-week evening there’s not a heck of a lot going on. But just off the waterfront, in a little bar across the street from the ever-classy ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/society-of-the-spoken-word-speaks-out-with-dr-b/ Summer days are drifting away. There is no use fighting this fact anymore. What this means for the world of cinema is that we will be getting a few more end-of-the-summer blockbusters and then we are right into horror movie season. I admit I do have a certain affinity when ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/08/trailer-trashin-vol-7/ I haven’t seen the movies that I am about to review. For the most part, I do not really plan to. Part of the reason is the cost of the ticket is far too much for my poor wallet to endure every week. However for the most part it is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/trailer-trashin-vol-6/ Bionic Commando (PS3/XB360, Dev: GRIN, Pub: Capcom, Rated M) Lowdown: Bionic Comando is back, and all the RAD and BAD is just MAD. REALLY REALLY MAD. - God I Hate Nathan Spencer As Much As Nathan Spencer Hates Everything RAD is now Nathan Spencer. Nathan Spencer is a total dick. Just looking ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/game-reviews-ode-to-my-tax-return/ I told the kid manning his post. My right arm leaning on the table, elbow pressing into a flakey laminated sale flyer. The kid twirled a pen in his jaw, eyes fished by the ending light of the display window. “Excuse me,” he said, “pardon my low wage distraction, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nerdventures-im-looking-for-a-dog-named-mccree/ Canadians live in a culture of subscription. We constantly dole out incredible amounts of money for season tickets to watch our favourite local sports teams not make the playoffs… again. We subscribe to ideologies, to political theories. We subscribe, if we are slightly left, to the Toronto Star; if we ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/the-canadian-theatre-tod-eh-pun-intended-part-one-don%e2%80%99t-subscribe-to-this/ Taste of Little Italy | Photos by Matthew Filipowich A Taste of Little Italy: so easy to say that it rolls off the tongue, so enjoyable to taste that it rolls down the tongue and leaves me yearning for more. Luckily getting more is hardly a challenge as all food ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/the-succulent-snackfest-of-little-italy/ John O’Regan; every time I’ve seen the unreasonably tall musician and artist in person, he’s been wearing a vintage basketball jersey. I don’t know what the deal with this is. I’m not sure if he really just likes basketball, really just likes irony or really just has a thing for ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-the-theatrical-one-man-glam-pop-of-diamond-rings/ The Book is not dead, nor can it die. The future of the book is its continuous present, its ability to change, adapt, expand, and move with the people who sustain it, the communities who foster it, the lovers of literature. The book is not dead, nor can you place ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/scream-back-on-the-supposed-death-of-the-book-and-the-demise-of-cyclical-apathetic-narratives-at-the-hands-of-their-own-unsustainability/ These are a few of my favourite things, all of which find their happy home inside surrealism. Surrealism is ultimately indebted to Freud, which the group [the Surrealists] credits solely for enlightening people of the unconscious mind; Surrealists love psychoanalysis, which posits that the conscious mind does not merit the primary ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/freud-fetishism-and-frottage-oh-my-the-art-gallery-of-ontarios-surrealism-exhibit/ Canadian cinema: the very mention of such a phrase is liable to make some gag with terror as images of Paul Gross, mountains, mounties and bad jokes about Anglo/Franco relations stream violently through their heads. Indeed, when Men With Brooms and Bon Cop Bad Cop are the most prevalent Canadian ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/long-live-the-new-flesh-and-other-pearls-of-wisdom-from-the-baron-of-blood/ If you want to tell the truth, the best way to do it is through comedy. If you want to make people laugh, the best way to do it is through comedy. If you want to write a play titled after psychotic genitalia, the best way to do that is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/toronto-fringe-festival-2009-sex-drugs-and-buddhist-rock-and-roll-part-one-crazy-pussy/ One of the best parts of Fringe is the opportunities it creates for emerging artists, particularly for the playwrights who might otherwise write for years with nowhere to stage their new scripts. Katie Alguire is one of many young artists taking advantage of this in Toronto’s 2009 Fringe festival. As ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/toronto-fringe-festival-2009-sex-drugs-and-buddhist-rock-and-roll-part-two-the-keepers-secret/ Ah, the paradox of Fringe: on one hand we are finally given a willing audience for all our absurd experimental theatre (albeit for only two weeks); on the other hand, there is never enough time, money, or experience to produce these experimental pieces well. And then, what is supposed to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/toronto-fringe-festival-2009-sex-drugs-and-buddhist-rock-and-roll-part-three-brigittes-bardo/ By the time father tries to fuck son, Icarus Redux has already left its lasting impression on you. From the image of the fabled wings top-lit in eerie blue inside a cupboard up-centre stage, to Daedalus relentlessly searching the stage for his fallen son with a lantern just before the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/toronto-fringe-festival-2009-like-father-like-son-icarus-redux/ Two years ago I was at a party with a close bundle of buds. Three of them, despite the nicest of atmospheres, where slouching and had gestures that showed a great deal of sore bodies and wearing muscles. I had to ask, "Dear hombres, why so bogged down?" But ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-blood-ceremony/ [Photos/Matthew Filipowich] Jason Ball, the man behind the lush sixties-pop throwback project, Hopeful Monster, has just put more sugar in his coffee than I ever thought was possible. Has he recently spliced his DNA with that of a fly and I’m Geena Davis? It strikes me that this would be a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-the-decidedly-sixties-retro-space-pop-of-hopeful-monster/ It's hard to off the cuff drop a noise rock band when asked for a a new sound suggestion by a bored pal. The mere sound of the genre can permafreeze a padawan to the ground. So the fact that LA noise rock group HEALTH has made so much ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-health/ Well, it’s finally the most romantic season of the year and with all the chocolate, flowers, and vacation flings comes hormones and lots of passionate lovemaking. In celebration, this instalment of Weird News is sex-themed. Though, be warned that by the end of this article, you’ll all be so traumatized ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/weird-news-oops-i-didnt-know-i-could-talk-about-sex/ I’ve said this on the SB blog and I’ve probably said it a bunch of times in other places, but Fox Jaws totally saved my fucking Friday that one time. We were wandering around Little Italy and Kensington for hours looking for a decent band, but alas, all we caught ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-the-epic-indie-space-folk-rock-shoegaze-of-fox-jaws/ Lined up along Whyte Avenue – essentially Edmonton, Alberta's equivalent to Queen West – for the weekend of July 10-12, over 230 E-Town-area visual artists set up shop in front of the many pubs and stores along the strip to sell their wares and get a little work done in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/expensive-portraits-of-heath-ledger-and-other-curiosities-edmontons-whyte-avenue-art-walk-09/ “I’m kind of cooking dinner while I talk to you, I hope that’s Okay?” I’m informed midway through my telephone interview with Annie Clifford, banjo-player and co-frontperson of Kingston’s twelve-piece bluegrass band, The Gertrudes, whom I recently saw tear down the Rivoli on the last night of this year’s NXNE. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-the-occultish-nerdgrass-of-the-gertrudes/ The United Steel Workers of Montreal (Montreal, PQ) I didn't expect to be so blown away by a band I had been so unfamiliar with, nevermind an "alt country" one, but once this rugged posse took to the stage I was pretty much transfixed. Their stage presence was practically intoxicating, from ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/nxne-2009-steel-bananas-staff-picks/ TOM sits USC, nursing a bloody nose. There are a few other bruises and scratches on his face – nothing too bad. His back pack is tossed to one side. A small stack of Tim Hortons-branded napkins lay at his side. He is holding one against his nose. He pulls ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/unlabelled-a-dramatic-monologue-by-matt-marshall/ Here lies the chronicle of pretty much the best thing I’ve ever done. Despite haphazard tents, lost reservations and the constant fear that my job might discover that I wasn’t attending an “academic workshop” (although I maintain that I could make a pretty good argument that I did end up ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/bonnaroo-2009-a-living-dialogue-between-awesomeness-and-the-commodification-of-hippie-dom/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/caffeine-buzz-vol-5/ I am not a feminist. Can I say that? Well, I’m not. I’m an equal opportunist - I don’t burn bras or hate men. In fact, I like my breasts well supported and I enjoy hetero sex on a regular basis. I also don’t believe that there is anything inherently ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/shes-shameless-learning-to-appreciate-vaginas-and-feminist-literature/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/july-2009-issue-9/ July 15, 2009 So with The Chief out and about busy working on her thesis, this month's installment of everyone's favorite Post-Pomo Variety Show was left in the hands of this guy. Apart from the minor nervous breakdown and several bouts of tears, I had a lot of fun doing it. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/07/letter-from-the-editor-issue-9-july-2009/ June 15th, 2009 I love new shit. I really do. That might sound like the cooings of a capitalist, but I don't mean new Nikes - I really love new and innovative ideas. Whether or not that manifests itself in me drooling over the new Vena Cava collection this month is neither ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/letter-from-the-editor-issue-8-june-2009/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/june-2009-issue-8/ Sarafin first showed the signs of a young artist after a concussion at the age of two, when she began drawing a series of anthropomorphic traffic light people. Growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she was often found sculpting with foam rubber and a glue gun, painting with acrylics and watercolour, and even making crude animated ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/spotlight-sarafin/ Back in his day, our good friend Shakespeare asserted that "All the world's a stage", but now in the age of the technological reproducibility of art and everyday life, what about the virtual world? This is exactly the domain of The Builder's Association. Founded in 1994 with the aim of using ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-the-builders-association-creates-a-continuous-city-through-multimedia-theatre/ In high school, we learned that there are four purposes of prison: punishment, protection (of the society from the convicted and of the convicted from society), deterrence (from the general population and recidivism), and rehabilitation. Someone commits a crime, is convicted, and goes to jail for the above-mentioned reasons – ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/weird-news-the-ins-and-outs-of-prison/ First impressions are important. We all know this even if we do not admit it. To me, this holds especially true for the modern art of cinema. Every year producers spend millions of dollars on promotional materials designed to make you, the consumer, go out and spend fifteen dollars to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/trailer-trashin-vol-5/ In an age of tramp stamps and TLC saturation, it’s hard to imagine a time when tattoos walked hand in hand with the title of 'Badass' along a field of broken dreams and shattered bottles. Erich Weiss can, however, spending over a year documenting stories from legends such as ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-erich-weiss/ The Most Brutal Burnout Ever So listen, the 60s died brutally. We all know that. All that optimism and goodness, the fond things, just got absolutely suffocated and beaten down by too many years in the jungle, unforeseen technological advances and the inevitable rise of globalization. The Beatles broke up in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/pomopop-3-the-homoerotic-sci-fi-freakout-boogie/ Chris Eaton is a man who likes his narratives like he likes his schemes for world domination: elaborate. Truth be told, as per my interview with the Toronto-based songwriter/novelist, I was unable to ascertain whether or not this jovial, bearded troubadour indeed had aspirations for any sort of global takeover ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/everyone-says-chris-eaton-conversations-with-a-canadian-renaissance-man/ Forgive me while I indulge in a Curran-esque personal anecdote to start my article this month… When I was little I always wanted my favorite story books to be turned into movies. I could picture them perfectly in my head, devising untold details right down to the colour of dresses the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-tales-of-the-nightwood-back-burner-productions-does-it-again/ The primary question posed at the panel discussion on the Art of Children’s Books at OCAD was a very simple one: what is a good picture-book? Is it the writing, the illustrations or a combination of both? Is it a given book’s ability to appeal to both children and adults, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-curran-and-the-mid-day-discussion-of-the-future-of-childrens-literature/ What's In A Name? Why do we label things? Name things? The simple and obvious answer to this is that we, as intelligent beings, need to categorize and name objects, people, places, ideas—in short our whole world—in order to function. Labels aid in our daily functioning, so to speak, yet, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/two-micro-essays-by-b-rad/ photo/Matthew Filipowich I have undertaken, in these notes, the challenge that a vegetarian faces every day: not eating meat. I am skeptically hanging up my canines to embrace the molar action that I predominantly deem less important. Not that I am against the vegetarian movement in general – I mean hell, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/journals-of-a-staunch-carnivore/ Ninety years is a pretty big gap by today’s standards. While in the past it was entirely commonplace for whole millennia to just zoom by without much really changing in the way of, well anything, what with the rate that things progress these days, fifteen minutes ago might as well ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-terror-at-dundas-square/ Climbing up the grassy hillock towards a sushi bar that faces another sushi bar across the street is a young adult sporting fox ears and a bushy tail. Beyond him, waiting to cross the street, is a man dressed as Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, complete with unnaturally yellow spiked ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/industry-and-sexual-repression-in-a-doujinshi-society/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/caffeine-buzz-vol-4/ Punch-Out!! (Wii, Pub: Nintendo, Dev: Next Level Games, Rated E10+) Lowdown: +++ Can’t Knock the Design (Heh Heh WHAT A PUN RIGHT!) If I’m the first source to tell you, Punch-Out!! is not really a fighting game, straight up. It’s a pattern recognition and reflex game. You go head to head with ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/game-reviews-yesss-i-now-own-all-the-systems/ My first Luminato experience this year – or ever really as I was scarcely aware of the seminal arts fest until this year (my bad!) – was an installation from New York City-based artist Tony Oursler called Forty One – Five, a collection of three (though I only saw two ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-spy-on-your-neighbors-with-tony-oursler/ As you approach the Club Saw patio from the grungy parking lot on Rideau over to Nicholas Street, the first things that strike you are the light and the noise. Christmas lights hung in the ceiling of the tent on the left give a luminescent glow to the scene and ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/some-better-than-others-on-the-ground-at-the-compass-points-symposium/ Opera on Steel Bananas? Really? I know, opera isn't something that independent artists in Canada often consider within their realm of influence. Powdered wigs, haughty Italian vocals, fat ladies, and the inevitable presence of the pretense-ridden bourgeois? Our beloved Richard Huelsenbeck is turning in his grave as I write this. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-opera-revival-in-an-industrial-playground/ Back down the corridors of my mind, in the darker ends, covered in dust and thorns lies a chest. A chest of guilt, of secrets and of poisons that the very passing of through the rest of my lobe sends shivers coiling down my spine. Somewhere among the clutter ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/nerdventures-deliver-me-from-eva/ Let me make one thing perfectly clear. That Friday night I got there about an hour in, my whole attendance was an impulse move, spur of the moment. This won’t be the most formal capturing of events, but then again I won’t be exactly writing about what Cirque du ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-cirque-de-lemeute-de-personnes-agees/ Ah yes, that time of years again. Time to lay down your controller, your wiimote, your custom Tekken golden joypad to watch a stuttering streaming keynote online. It is, well, was E3, and like every year before the nerds are a-buzz with chatter and clamour. Unlike last year though, we ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/mystery-science-theatre-e3000/ It starts with the reinvention of the body, a lone dancer becoming both horse and rider. Barefoot and strong bodied, she is the epitome of beauty and grace as the herd welcomes her. The sun rises on the prairie plane revealing this story of birth and re-birth, a celebration of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/luminato-2009-it-doesnt-get-more-multicultural-than-tono/ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 It’s about 7:30pm and the Pokémon Sealed Deck Tournament has just finished25. On my way I see the most realistic furry I’ve ever seen, complete with a fake putty nose with whiskers and everything, watching the LARP table and looking like she doesn’t want to be talked to. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/industry-and-sexual-repression-in-a-doujinshi-society-4/ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 3:00pm: AH, KF, and I are making our way to the Renaissance Hotel, whose programming is divided into two halls, yaoi/hentai-related panels in the north wing and all types of gaming in the south, and a lobby with a bar20 that’s as orderly and clean as the Doubletree. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/industry-and-sexual-repression-in-a-doujinshi-society-3/ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 In the downstairs of the Doubletree Hotel, an exceedingly nice woman provides us with press tags and Anime North booklets5 and we make our way back to the lobby. A few booths hawk gimmicky merch and beverages across from the Orchid Cafe, where the waitresses ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/industry-and-sexual-repression-in-a-doujinshi-society-2/ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Toronto Congress Center, 9pm: another crossdresser, and another that KF tells me I missed for my tally. Back where I heard Crystal Castles at the beginning of the day is what appears to be the j-pop dance off. KF and I dub it, “when the antisocial socialize.” The J-pop is ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/06/industry-and-sexual-repression-in-a-doujinshi-society-5/ May 15th, 2009 Jesus Christ, I am tired and overworked. I'll be honest, I'm far too tired to write any personal anecdote about sunshine etc. because I'm tired. Life is beautiful, I am overworked from doing things I love, this issue has a shit-ton (to use the technical term) of awesome goodies ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/letter-from-the-editor-issue-7-may-2009/ I have a confession to make. Wait did I already start an article that way? Whatever shame makes for a decent opener. So I’ve been a baaAAaad nerd, it’s goddamn Dexter season two all over again. I miss one small episode of the story, get lazy fall behind and some ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/nerdventures-king-frankenstein-and-the-2d-mutants-from-out-of-town/ After that self-indulgent wankfest that I wrote last month on the Balconies, I’ve been hard-pressed to figure out what to do with myself in present and future articles. Even King Frankenstein, our esteemed Assistant Editor asked me how I planned to up the ante this time - and with great ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/everyone-should-give-jon-rae-fletcher-a-gigantic-hug/ The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Multi, Pub: Atari, Dev: Starbreeze Studios, Rated M) Lowdown: ++ Even if you don’t like Vin Diesel this is still the best of Vin Diesel Vin Diesel’s professional role of being macho man pedal slammer to Disney movie hilariDad probably doesn’t fancy everyone, but ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/game-reviews-okay-cool-your-jets-shes-back/ How did the thought process work?   “A monotonous green carpet would look great in front of my house… I’m so sick of these adorable yellow and purple flowers. I will stop at nothing to rid my yard of biodiversity.”   “Yes I agree. Clearly, dangerous chemicals are the best idea."   I bet it sounded ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/pesticide-run-and-hide/ The summer movie season has officially kicked off. After a bit of a whimper from Wolverine and an enormous bang from Star Trek, we now have an entire four months of cinema gold to look forward to. At least that’s what I am hoping – this next month of releases ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/trailer-trashin-vol-3-2/ The Beatles as Postmodernists As with most things Pop-related, the best place to start this madness is with – yeah – The Beatles. It is utterly impossible to escape the relentlessly extensive range of their mighty influence - and all the same, why would you want to? Opposed to the vast ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/pomopop-2-30-songs-without-a-home/ Born in Santiago, Chile in the magical 1980's, Rodrigo grew up in a loving environment where he was encouraged to express himself through the arts. He was even expelled from a grade school for drawing caricatures of the faculty. [caption id="attachment_1630" align="alignnone" width="353" caption="© Rodrigo Bravo"][/caption] Arriving in Canada in 1996 to join with the ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/spotlight-rodrigo-bravo/ As a lover of contemporary cultural theory, I've made myself entirely incapable of functioning properly as a well-oiled cog in the system. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as much of a cog as everyone else, with my Facebook profile and airborne seat in the Twittersphere. Hell, I run a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/the-ultimate-narcissistic-telos-of-debords-spectacle-hal-niedzvieckis-the-peep-diaries-and-why-were-all-perverts/ We are all hardwired to respond, emotionally and physically, to the cataclysmic times we are living in.  Amidst global unrest, a recession, and the sickening capitalistic struggle for money and power, we are hardwired to live, to love, and to persevere.  Perhaps because this is nothing new. It is, however, new ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/the-revolution-will-be-catered-with-food-for-thought/ Photo Credit: Stephanie Loftus We* have all come to the conclusion that most “classic” theatre from the old white males’ traditional canon is boring.  Overdone. Uninspired and unimaginative. But what are we replacing it with? Not that Shakespeare is likely top be replaced, but alternative theatre is on the rise.  Unfortunately not ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/shooting-the-shit-with-matt-marshall-fuck-%e2%80%9cclassic%e2%80%9d-here%e2%80%99s-to-new-theatre/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/issue-7-may-2009/ I remember being fifteen or so and watching some trivial music news segment where this guy interviewed a whole bunch of people on the street asking them who the most feared woman in music was. Courtney Love narrowly lost to Yoko Ono. I didn’t really know anything about Yoko Ono ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/live-peace-in-montreal-2009-the-imagine-exhibit/ Sure, Batman, Ironman, Watch... Men may be out there making superheroes and graphic novels look cool to the masses, but if anything it’s just making it harder for the comics that inspire these social phenomena to live up to the cool quota. Well, maybe for most, not for artist/writer, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-paul-pope/ I really wish I could have made it out to more of the HOT DOCS film festival. I managed to make it out to only one night of the Toronto Jewish Film Fest last month, and on my way out of the Q & A with the Director of Zrubavel, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/outrageous-throwing-tomatoes-of-justice-at-closet-case-republicans-with-kirby-dick/ As someone planning to enter the legal profession, I hesitate to announce that I find crime and delinquency to be kneeslappingly hilarious. Well, when it goes wrong, that is. I can’t be the only one who loves vigilante justice or criminals who are terrible at committing crimes. You guys like ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/weird-news-poor-intentions-poor-results/ Convenience stores have only entered common usage relatively recently – since the 90s became the dubious decade that wholeheartedly embraced convenience, these stores have cropped up as a necessity that had never before seemed essential. According to the Canadian Government, there are three denominations of these stores: -    Convenience Store: specializes ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/vincent-sushi-a-convenient-lens-into-the-nature-of-convenience/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/05/caffeine-buzz-vol-3/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/april-2009-issue-6/ Fear is a funny stupid thing. Most spinetinglers should logically be trumped by logic, but no matter how many monsters you try to debunk or sounds you try to explain there’s always some shadow looming over you that just unsettles your skin and leaves you pulsing. Oh me? I’m a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/nerdventures-frankenstein-v-frankenstein/ I’m not a music critic. When I look at a lot of music reviews I so often feel they’re speaking some different language, about progression, qualities and if it’s “the time”. Me? I like music I can get wasted to, fist pump and bash my face into something. I like ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-japanther/ Jakub Tywoniuk is a 20 year old graphic design student with masculine features and a feminine grace. He resides in Toronto where he draws bizarre comic books with the intention of corrupting everyone. For him, drawing is not a pleasant process, but a stressful pastime fraught with self-loathing and criticism. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/spotlight-jakub-tywoniuk/ I think if Edgar Wright was any less friendly and I any more creepy, my weeks of pressing to get a few questions out of him could have ended in police sirens and tears. But so sue me I wanted to speak to Edgar Wright. They guy’s done some hi-holarious ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-edgar-wright/ Finally! Here we are in the middle of April and it's only now that we are starting to see some movies that are more than just the leftovers from the previous year. In fact as we get closer and closer to the summer months (Still a long way away, I ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/trailer-trashin-vol-3/ “We want the death of rock and roll. This is the music of the minions. This sound is a terminal condition.” -Constantines, from “Arizona” (2001) Typically, or at least, from what I’ve gathered, the venerable Postmodern Stamp of Intensity, when it comes to music only seems to pertain to that most discerning ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/pomopop-1-an-introduction/ I feel like I’ve fallen into a kind of formula with my interview pieces lately. I dunno… it sort of seems like they all fit into a pretty strict format and personally, I don’t condone this repetition; it's boring. Typically, when I set to writing out a piece after doing ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/ottawas-the-balconies-in-balconyquest-a-post-punk-adventure-with-dragons/ Comic books are fun. And in an age where the most household comic scribe names are usually known for creating the most demolished and grit riddled interpretations of once smiling heroes, we, the comic geek ilk, know there will always be one writer waiting on the side lines always ready ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-keith-giffen/ Being at the top of the food chain doesn’t seem to exclude our species from ending up in absurdist “how did this even happen?!” situations. In fact, I think our superior cognitive abilities are sometimes the reason our lives are often so full of disappointment. How many times have you ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/weird-news-good-intentions-poor-results/ The Bewitched was once described to me as “A syphilis-ridden carnival of death”… that alone should entice a modern (er, I mean, postmodern, or post-postmodern) audience.  The fact that this show is of excellent caliber, with conservatory actors making their debut under the direction of Dora Award-winning Nigel Shawn Wiliams, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/the-bewitched-at-theatreyork/ A lone girl walks to the front of the stage. She climbs down softly, into the audience. She takes out a compact, and with a neutral face, applies makeup. She then digs in the other pocket, removes a single bullet, and gently places it at the front of the stage. It ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/almighty-voice-and-his-wife-the-life-and-the-afterlife/ ACME Burger Company A little place called ACME Burger Company exists just west of Bathurst along Bloor street, and with thoughts of Road Runner and Coyote running through my head, I look above me to check for the requisite anvil drop. The coast looks clear so I stop to grab a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/burger-bonanza-a-progressively-positive-look-at-the-toronto-burger-scene/ DotA Allstars is a custom-mapped Warcraft III modification that has been around for quite some time, cited as one of the most popular non-supported game mods on the market. Dota is a strategy game such as none that I’ve ever played, supporting 93 heroes and 107 different items/item combinations, which ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/dotamania-defense-of-the-ancients/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/caffeine-buzz-vol2/ Yeah well it happens to the best of us. Guy just has to lift up his head, take a deep breath, slow the heart, relax, think aboaaaaaaaaauuuuuuu UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU AGGHHHHHHHHHHHAHGHSHHHHHH FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUC MadWorld (Wii, Pub: Sega, Dev: Platinum Games, Rated M and HOW) Lowdown: What’s black and white and red all over? +++ YEAAAAH I think this game ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/game-reviews-king-frankenstein%e2%80%99s-damn-xbox-is-broken/ "How did froth-head and barm evolve clouds overcast with winter's brume, moulding Man to primordial word-slime. Man the word-mime, jellied in woolpacks - gummed in hazes, scuds. Man the glue, cooked egg-white of hoots and cuckoo calls." ///Meredith Quartermain: Matter I love Bookthug, not only because their catalog absolutely rocks, but because they've introduced me to amazing ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/rogets-taxonomy-deleuze-and-darwin-words-as-beings-in-meredith-quartermains-matter/ Mom jokes are the longest lasting jokes from childhood I can recall; well after the “in your faces” and “I know you are, but what am Is,” people were still making fun of each other’s mom. I still remember as a kid when these first started to permeate into common ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/nancys-a-haggard-bitch/ Shakespeare is so elitist. It is so canonized that it has become a subject of political critique. English departments do still teach the Bard, but it is received as an example of high culture, rather than an actual art. Most of us today would rather read Cloud Nine by Caryl ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/hamlet-is-a-becoming/   April 14th, 2009 Plantains!   There's something so awesomely badass about waking up with the sun on your face. My new apartment has an east-facing window and every morning for the last month of sunshine I've been waking up early in an awesomely bright warmth. A close friend of mine dared to call ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/04/letter-from-the-editor-issue-6-april-2009/ ...thinks it's time for a Raffle! These awesome dudes (see below) - who just released a badass Final Fantasy Cover - will be tearing up the Whippersnapper Gallery in Toronto on March 26th! To celebrate, Steel Bananas is giving away a pair of tickets along with a copy of the band's full-length, Endless ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/indie-feature/ Mr. Stephen Harper was right (I’ll pause a moment to let you get over the shock…), apparently artists do throw galas, and do it quite well.  Mind you, this was a gala run by “ordinary folks”, and largely attended by those with “regular” jobs… Saturday March 14th, 2009, was the first ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/emerging-artists-cut-loose-cuttin-it-for-cancer-benefit-gala/ March 15th, 2009 Oh My, this has totally been the busiest month for us Steel Bananas folk. We've been running around like crazy people, attending shows, checking out new talent, and trying to keep up with personal projects while, for most of us, also keeping up with homework. This issue emerged from ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/letter-from-the-editor-issue-5-march-2009/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/march-cover/ Street Fighter 4 (PS3/XB360, Pub/Dev: Capcom, Rated T for TAIGUR) Lowdown: It took thirty seconds after starting the game for me and my pal to exclaim, “Oh DAMN” ++++ This is Not Quite SFII (But Most Definitely NOT SFIII) But not quite a total departure either. This is something magical. Returners will be ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/super-king-frankenstein-hd-turbo-3rd-strike-alpha-ex2-vs-plus-remix-anniversary-jam-edition/ Photography has always been a recognized aspect of my life. Growing up, I was constantly reminded by my father to make sure that I wasn’t cutting off heads in portraits and he did his best to help me understand the difference between a good photo, and a not-so-great photo. Little ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/spotlight-marlee-maclean/ An expressionist drama about zombies and war, what more could you ask for from theatre in Toronto?  For one, maybe a better audience turn-out… The best theatre that you weren’t watching last week was Banquo’s Banquet and Back Burner Productions’ portrayal of Irwin Shaw’s surrealist drama, Bury the Dead. With stellar ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/you%e2%80%99d-think-zombies-would-be-good-for-publicity%e2%80%a6-review-bury-the-dead-at-giggleshorts-theatre/ A spectre is haunting Western societies- the spectre of Political Incorrectness. All the Powers of old Western liberal societies have entered into a holy alliance to exorcize this spectre: multicultural liberals (for whose agenda is to create a space of inclusiveness through advocating the of ‘tolerance’ of the Other), proponents ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/rethinking-the-politics-of-recognition-in-times-of-economic-instability-or-how-it-is-politically-incorrect-to-talk-about-political-correctness/ Oh yes, it's that time of year again, when forward-thinking fashion trendsetters in the GTA - who have been salivating, trembling and planning for weeks prior - break out the vintage BCBG pumps, buy a new Vena Cava dress, and get an edgy (albeit pretentious) haircut. From March 16th-21st, fashion-savvy ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/holy-fuck-i-totally-have-to-buy-a-new-dress-preferably-short-with-a-boatneck-a-classy-ladys-preview-of-lg-fashion-week/ (Photo credit: Maxime Côté) There’s something to be said about watching a play in a foreign language. Of course, had I been a good and fully literate Canadian citizen, French probably wouldn’t have been a “foreign” language (apparently it is useful after grade 9, who knew?), but I digress: there’s something ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/review-the-french-can-do-theatre-too-je-suis-un-chat-at-national-theatre-school/ Here we are post-Oscars, now the year in film can truly begin. It always seems that everything that is released before the Academy hands out their awards is simply garbage dumped on an unsuspecting public, now we can finally start to see some quality entertainment… Or maybe not. It looks to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/trailer-trashin-vol2/ I walk down College Street, struggling against the throng of Torontonians moving briskly in the opposite direction to try and escape the cold weather. As I get within sight of Fran’s diner I only have one, pervading thought: it is time to eat. As I walk in the front door, before ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/omelette-bout-the-diner-tradition-of-tying-hair-back-tight-ensuring-the-strain-on-your-roots-becomes-nigh-unbearable-%e2%80%93-vs-%e2%80%93-the-cafe-tradition-of-high-end-dramatics/ Madame ou Monsieur, do you remember the first time you saw magic? For many people it was likely an older member of the family, like a grandfather performing a simple trick and it would generally go something like this: he’d show you his hands, Okay, the hands are empty you’d ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/before-michel-there-was-melies/ Do you ever find that when you try to do anything productive in your house, you always just end up reading arbitrary Wikipedia pages and back-articles from Pitchfork? Does the combination of rumbling roommates, a cat that's always doing something weird and having all of your personal belongings in one ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/caffeine-buzz-vol1/ This basement isn’t big enough for the energy it contains. It is bursting at the seams with people from all walks of life who have found their way down dark alleys and stumbled into a haven of emerging artists, I myself had trouble getting here, relying solely upon the kindness ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/welcome-home-to-in-house-theatre-review-what-are-you-doing-down-there-arts-fest-%e2%80%9909/ I'm a shameless litslut. I devour short fiction. There is nothing more intriguing to me than the immediacy of short prose; the narrative's directed focus and inherent sense of urgency within a limited space. In the same way, I've courted a mistress in the contemporary prose-poem, with its stricter boundaries ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/who-the-hell-doesnt-love-prose-poetry-kyle-buckleys-the-laundromat-essay/ Can I be perfectly sincere for a moment? Is... is multiplayer gaming, despite being more technically competent than ever, dying? I remember inviting everyone over for Goldeneye, or hitting the Playdium for House of The Dead 2 on time card and having unshakably the best times of my life. Nowadays ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/nerdventures-king-frankenstein-and-the-underground-technically-speaking-street-fighting/ 1. You behold, therefore I am. In Toronto if you ever have eye contact with a stranger on the street, the common logical ensuing action would be looking away. Unless you’re trying something, it’s just rude and uncalled for to stare. Flying back to Hong Kong for the first time in ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/on-bullcrap-individualism/ For years now I’ve been telling people that there are few material things in this world I’d like more than a banjo, and people always think I’m being ironic – “Yeah, a banjo, that’d be great! Ha! Ha!” – because you know, banjos are for like rednecks and such. I ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/ill-bring-the-beaerds-a-bold-study-of-canadian-music-that-may-or-may-not-confirm-regional-stereotypes-a-steel-bananas-choose-your-own-adventure-series-part-one-ill-bring-the-bears-with/ “I’m probably the most Canadian French-Canadian I know,” chuckles Antoine Bédard, usually known by his electro-moniker, Montag, to which I inwardly sigh a heavy groan of relief. Have I become so complacent in my Canadian ways that I forget that to ask a staunch Montreal Man like this a question ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/ill-bring-the-beaerds-a-bold-study-of-canadian-music-that-may-or-may-not-confirm-regional-stereotypes-a-steel-bananas-choose-your-own-adventure-series-part-two-ill-bring-the-beards-with/ You know that it’s kind of a weird day when it’s eleven at night and you hear your roommate waking up to go to work for twelve; you hear him rumbling around, coughing or whatever, and you’re sitting there trying to write your piece half thinking that you’ve stayed up ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/ill-bring-the-beaerds-a-bold-study-of-canadian-music-that-may-or-may-not-confirm-regional-stereotypes-a-steel-bananas-choose-your-own-adventure-series-part-three-ill-bring-david-bowie/ I first met performance artist Jeff Giles at a burger joint in North York. After realizing we both hailed from Steeltown, we sat down to discuss theatre experiences in our native city - but somehow it became a discussion about the fact that he had recently learned to hammer nails ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/rhythm-and-blues-in-the-city-introducing-jeff-giles/ Daft Punk are devout creatures of habit: they create all their album covers in the same motif, they’ve hosted large live tour circuits on both ends of a decade and, regularly as clockwork, have released a studio album every four years in March (please don’t disappoint me!). In lieu of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/03/cyborgs-descend-from-the-mountaintops-praying-for-new-daft-punk/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/miss-julie-freedom-summer-at-the-bluma-appel-theatre/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/feb-issue-cover/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-shad-k/ “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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/atmosphere-biosphere-blogosphere-hemingway-and-the-music-of-the-internet/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/terror-on-the-ttc-crumbling-cities-bodies-and-minds-in-maggie-helwigs-girls-fall-down/ 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.  ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/spotlight-landon-speers/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-victor-lucas/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/whats-on-theatre-in-toronto-feb-march/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/totally-not-in-that-gay-way-seriously-adventures-in-man-man-love-cont%e2%80%99d-or-a-little-sexual-tension-never-hurt-anybody/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/curran-folkers-in-excessive-name-dropping-canadian-music-week-2009-a-preview/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/collaborative-artforms-exploring-music-and-visual-art-at-the-opening-of-permeate/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/nerdventures-king-frankenstein-and-the-trash-palace-mountie-bbq/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/king-frankenstein-in-games-grade-five-me-would-go-bazonkas-for/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/kalendar-the-date-place-for-your-mom/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/celebrating-70-years-the-national-film-board-of-canada-shows-us-that-its-not-just-gross-its-sick-sick-in-that-cool-urban-sense-of-the-word-you-know-the-way-that-the-kids-are-saying/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/all-the-world%e2%80%99s-a-stage-and-the-ttc-commuters-are-an-unsuspecting-audience/ “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. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/trailer-trashin/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/carlin-mike-and-the-swan-the-magnificent-facial-hair-of-the-gods/ “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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/what-the-frak-are-you-talking-about-a-discussion-of-transhumanism-the-post-human-and-its-ethical-implications-or-why-science-fiction-matters-even-more-in-the-21st-century/ 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. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/complete-and-utter-badassery-made-in-canada-to-the-max/ 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 ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/02/i-will-starve-ive-%e2%80%9cstarving-artist-the-show%e2%80%9d/ http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/january-issue-cover/ Since 2001, Chris Onstad has been producing an online comic that has inspired, confused, enlightened and enriched lives en masse. Achewood, with Onstad's unique brand of humour has labeled him a cut above any other webcomic with praise from even Time Magazine. The adventures of Ray, Pat, Téodor and very ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/say-a-thing-with-king-frankenstein-and-christ-onstad-of-achewood-fame/ The word postmodern gets thrown around more than a cheap South-Korean hooker. Every now and then, a friend or acquaintance of mine recommends me some piece of art or literature, citing this word and the vague characteristics associated with it as sufficient proof that I'll fall in love with whatever ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/post-pomo-the-bizarre-post-millennium-anti-movement/ For those of you looking to enliven this nasty winter by indulging in a little more culture, Steel Bananas presents a quick and easy guide to notable upcoming theatre in Toronto.  From indie to queer to classical, the city's theatre scene has it all. Show: East of Berlin Theatre: Tarragon Theatre Dates: Jan. 6th – Feb. ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/theatre-411-janfeb-2009/   When first asked to write an article about being an artist in Toronto or an art student trying to make as an artist in Toronto, I realized that I was neither. As of November I decided to take a year off in my final year of animation (Seneca College). I do live ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/spotlight-chad-verhaaff/ There are some human experiences that cannot be so easily communicated through mere words and language. This problem of intelligibility, that is the complexity of communicating some kind of meaning or experience exists everywhere in our modern world. A prime example of this form of incomprehensibility is the short story ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/the-modern-problem-of-intelligibility-franz-kafka%e2%80%99s-the-silence-of-the-sirens/ Jane's Party - The Garage Sessions (Self-Released) www.myspace.com/janespartyband  Aside from maybe a handful of Brit-Pop records here and there, I'm fairly certain that the most recent album that Jeff Giles owns is Deja Vu. The primary songwriter and keyboard-player of local troublemakers, Jane's Party, has such an acutely developed lyrical and musical style, so thoroughly rooted ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/review-janes-party-the-garage-sessions/ Say what you will about Dinosaur Bones (bearing in mind that as of this writing, I have heard nothing negative about them), say what you will about indie-rock and the Toronto scene and all that other jazz; just ask yourself this: do you get your eight glasses of water a ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/kiss-your-twelve-bucks-goodbye-because-you%e2%80%99re-getting-nachos-dinosaur-bones-and-the-awesome-toronto-shit/ Actual Trivial Pursuit Question: How many blowholes does a toothed whale have? I got it wrong; it’s two, apparently. I thought it was one - what do teeth have anything to do with an animal’s respiratory system? Unless every whale, when it’s developing it’s teeth, doesn’t quite know what to do with ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/does-the-wholesale-consumption-of-krill-somehow-make-seemingly-enhanced-breathing-capabilities-for-some-reason-less-necessary-its-whale-tooth/ 2008 was weird for a lot of reasons and for a lot of people (for such reasons). It's a weird time to be a Canadian and indeed, a citizen of the world; everything just seems to be in limbo. For one thing, we don't even have a government anymore, technically, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/steelbananascoms-top-ten-albums-of-2008/ He takes me in his arms and embraces me tenderly, yet firmly with one hand cradling the back of my skull and the other reaching across the plain of my back and he squeezes me and whispers something to me and I tell him I've missed him, where has he ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/contemporary-masculinity-part-two-in-defense-of-bro-love-or-social-climate-change-preventing-needless-erosion-of-the-brozone-layer/ Slumthing special has been taking place in the cinematic world over the past several months, Slumthing that has managed to captivate critics and amaze audiences throughout North America, Slumthing as hot as your morning coffee (or chai) and dare I say Slumthing that has more buzz than Barack? Well maybe ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/golden-globalization/ Ashcliffe October 2, d. Martin Scorsese, w. Laeta Kalogridis, Steven Knight, s. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley Martin Scorsese’s first post-Departed flick has a fairly badass cast and is based on a novel by the same dude who wrote Mystic River (Dennis Lehane), which I enjoyed ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/when-all-else-fails-a-belligerent-douchebag%e2%80%99s-guide-to-hollywood-in-2009-or-a-few-movies-this-year-that-might-not-totally-suck/ From the get-go, Mirror's Edge from EA DICE was an ambitious project. An FPS without the 'S' slash parkour simulator with a stunning visual design and a seductive soundtrack. Once this trailer got out a few months before its release, a lot of heads starting turning including my own. Unfortunately, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/game-review-mirrors-edge/ “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it sometimes necessary to give the stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.” -Miss Piggy   Long before there were fashion magazines and prosti-tots on TV, the Ancient Greeks strove for and celebrated beauty.  Today’s aesthetic-crazed world isn’t any different than the previous eras; ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/post-modern-beauty-yeah-that%e2%80%99s-right-i%e2%80%99m-fucking-beautiful/ I have been playing games for a long time now. While I may be studying theatre now, I have always come back to video games as a source of entertainment/escape/. Despite playing Duck Hunt on NES, Mortal Kombat on Genesis, Myst on PC, Final Fantasy 7 on PSX, Gears of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/cliffyb-made-me-contemplate-art-and-beauty/ Hello cold world, King Frankenstein again here. Now I know we haven't been together long (if at all) but as the new year begins also begins a special time for every dork who rants about video games on the internet. No, not putting up awkwardly narrated video guides on youtube, ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/king-frankensteins-majestic-video-game-un-awards-of-two-thousand-and-eight/ Ancient Greek plays are usually modernized with the intent of connecting the morals of the past with contemporary contexts, but Wesley Enoch's interpretation of the Medea in his modern play The Black Medea takes Euripides' concept to a whole new level. Using the story of the woman scorned to symbolically ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2009/01/review-wesley-enochs-black-medea-at-berkeley-street-theatre/ It's another ho ho ho holly jolly holiday season, and for every dork with too much time on his or her hands this usually heralds the nerd's most bittersweet ritual, playing the massive onslaught of holiday game releases. So for all yee dweebs whose eyes are focused on this page ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/12/king-frankensteins-proconcarne-holiday-game-reviews/ Yesterday I was reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, for school - a novel I was determined to find mildly amusing at best - when I came to a point about two-thirds through where I was forced to rest the Norton Critical Edition on my chest, take a long swig of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/11/do-girls-parts-need-some-sort-of-oil-or-equipment-like-cotton-balls-or-wooden-dowels-a-manifesto-for-the-contemporary-male/ Jane's Party w/ Big Stero Thursday, November 6, 2008 C'est What, Toronto I think that the moment I realized that I actually like Jane's Party more than I originally thought I did came about midway through their hour-long set when I was trying to plan out in my head how I was going to ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/11/concert-review-janes-party-w-big-stereo/ There are two types of people in the world, those that like drafting and those that are sane. I certainly don't fall into the former category, so I'm putting away my 4H for a while and taking a break. Mainly because I just spilled coffee all over my assignment (I'm ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/10/drafting-is-a-virtue/ I once said that Will Sheff from Okkervil had the best hair ever. As it turns out, Jason Collett can definitely compete for the title. That guy has awesome, awesome hair. I should do an entire post devoted to comparing their respective haircuts. This is just one of ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/10/concert-review-jason-collett-w-rock-plaza-central-and-zeus/ Every year, as the nominees for the Giller Prize are announced, I'm both intrigued by the choices of notable contemporary Canadian fiction, and saddened that Margaret Atwood, for another year, has exercised her hegemonic weight over the Canadian literary world. It seems as though Canadian authors must always live beneath ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/10/contemporary-canadian-literature-the-giller-prize-2008/ I am about $20 000 in debt. That's not rare for a person my age who is attending university, but it still kind of sucks. You see, I've recently entered the terribly cyclical world of artistry and debt, in which I learn to create art, which incurs debt, and then ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/09/to-some-degree-it-matters-or-the-realization-that-im-screwed-for-life/ When people ask me the obligatory "What's your major?" question in polite conversation, I reply with the obvious "English Lit" and dodge the requisite"So i guess you want to be a high-school teacher" by throwing out "...and I want to study postmodern literary theory". The reference to postmodernism tends to throw most people ... http://www.steelbananas.com/2008/09/in-pursuit-of-the-postmodern/