Monthly Archive for October, 2008

That Night in Toronto has a Bad Day

Published
by
Katherine
on October 26, 2008
in TNIT, Visual art, art, city, film, music, new media, photography and theatre
. 1 Comment

Click above for the video……

Hey y’all,

So Blair and I have been super busy and we have plans coming up, so you will see an episode soon enough!  In the meantime, check out the video above.  It is the first one that I did on my own, and with the slowness of my computer, might be the last for a while.  I went to the launch of the second issue of Bad Day Magazine at Studio Gallery .  You can check out the art until mid-November there, so please check out the gallery’s website for hours and such things.

I have been working nuts hours these days, but I still got to see Scratch at Factory Theatre.  If you are a woman/girl/lady person, you must see this play.  It will bring you back to when you were a pre-teen/teen and no one ‘got’ you, and you were really going through lots of ’stuff’.  If you are a man/boy/gentleman person, you should see it too.

For next week, there is tons going on…. almost every night is booked.  I’ll try to take pics and stuff and tell you about it next week.

Monday - Fu-Gen Theatre’s Gala

Tuesday - Rest (maybe make a bean salad for lunches)

Wednesday - The night I have been waiting for!!!!   Trouble the Water as part of the first Doc Soup of the season (as you will find out soon viewers, I am the hugest fan of Hot Docs Fest and Doc Soup series) then….  SHARON JONES and the DAP KINGS at Kool Haus!  Blair will be there too, but I am sure Sharon won’t let us take pics.  If you don’t know Sharon Jones, click on her name anywhere on this blog and the internets will take you to her.  She is a massive talent - soul to the limit!  Best band ever too!

Thursday - I have rehearsal, but there’s lots going on in the city

Friday - I am seeing The Black Rider at Tarragon but for the rest of you it is Halloween.  (you will also learn that Halloween is not my scene and I do everything I can to avoid it.  I hate halloween.)

See you dudes next week -

k

Episode 14 - October 9, 2008

Published
by
Blair
on October 13, 2008
in art and city
. 0 Comments

It’s Tuesday, October 14, 2008. What is the ONE thing you are for SURE doing today? Yes, that’s right, voting! Last Thursday, the Department of Culture held a fundraising concert at the Phoenix to raise money so they could advertise in key ridings in Toronto about the upcoming election and how to strategically vote. The night consisted of a ton of musical acts as well as video segements to highlight how important the arts are to the country and how much of an election issue they are (and should always be).

The video is a bit of a departure from our regular style, but we wanted to highlight some of the events of the night.

If you’re still not sure who to vote for, check out these great sites to help you decide:

Happy Voting!

Artists are ‘ordinary’ Canadians too …

Published
by
Blair
on October 8, 2008
in art
. 0 Comments

Episode 13 - October 4-5, 2008

Published
by
Blair
on October 7, 2008
in Visual art, city, dance, film, music, new media, photography and theatre
. 1 Comment

12 hours. What a night! We started our journey at 6:30pm at City Hall and our heads didn’t hit the pillow until 6am the next morning …

There is so much to cover from this years Nuit Blanche in Toronto. So much in fact that it’s best if you watch the video! :) But here are some of the highlights that we saw on our travels:

Zone A:

  • Stereoscope, City Hall
    An amazing installation turning the windows of City Hall into a giant ping pong game and lighting canvas
  • Our interview with Mayor David Miller
  • Conversation #2, 900 Wellesley Street
    12,000 books laid together to create a beautiful sculpture. The different coloured spines even created moasic images wrapped around the sculpture.

Zone B:

  • r u part of the art?
    An interesting mobile installation - subscribe to a texting service and receive updates throughout the night with various things to do like sing the song from The Muppets (Menamena do do dee do do …). We didn’t see many other people doing it, but it was fun to randomly do stuff during the night.
  • Le Labo, Distillery
    A very calming video/sound installation (for the first while we were there) at Le Labo or Le Laboratoire d’art - a “francophone media and integrated arts lab offering opportunities in production, training & showings.”
  • Higgs Ocean, Distillery
    While they weren’t part of the ‘official’ Nuit Blanche schedule, this installation in one of the alleyways of the Distillery, was a highlight for us as it featured many elements from our youth - Lite Brite, a Big Bird lamp, and old films on video projectors! Unfortunately we couldn’t find any info on the group online - so if you guys see this posting, let us know where to find you!

Zone C:

  • Overflow, Liberty Village
    A smaller scale installation by Michel de Broin of a waterfall coming out the window of a 3 storey building and crashing into discarded furniture on the ground.
  • Imagine Peace, Liberty St. & Jefferson Ave.
    Yoko Ono continues to spread the message of peace with this installation. The public is given tags to write a wish on and the hang on the trees lining the street creating weeping willows of wishes, as it were.
  • I Promise It Will Always Be This Way, Lamport Stadium
    At 5am, watching mascots run wild to mid-90’s techno music was a lot of fun - and a great way to end the night.

We took tons of photos that night and we’ll be posting them in our Facebook Group as well as setting up a flickr home soon for you to view.

What were your highlights? What did you think of the 2008 Nuit Blanche?

Be sure to check out our friends over at Dear Toronto and their coverage of Nuit Blanche!

Follow our journeys through the following ways:

Abdul Smooth remixes Nuit Blanche

Published
by
Blair
on October 6, 2008
in city
. 0 Comments

While you wait with bated breath for our coverage of Nuit Blanche (you are waiting, right? ;) ), check out this awesome video and sound remix by our good friend Qasim … we met up during the night and some of the video features us!


Nuit Blanche Toronto 2008 - footage remix from Abdul Smooth on Vimeo.

End of the night

Published
by
Blair
on October 5, 2008
in city
. 2 Comments

It’s 5am. We are exhausted. We are going home after a great Nuit Blanche. Videos to come soon. Hope you had a great night. What was the best thing you saw?

Recharging

Published
by
Katherine
on October 4, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Hey - it’s 1:30ish.  I’ve been admittedly cranky.  So, things don’t always go like you planned.  I missed a few things I wanted to see…. but still got some footage.  So I am recharging and getting ready for Zone C.  It’s insane out there.  Just insane!  Tons of people.  Comments that range from “This is Art?” to “This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!”.  Awesome!  Can’t wait for smashing stuff and other such insanity in Zone C!!!!!

Distillery district

Published
by
Blair
on October 4, 2008
in city
. 0 Comments

We’ve made it through the distillery and saw some great installations. The bakery is open till 12 so get some delicious brownies!! And check out Le Labo and a great sound and video installation. And the nostalgic alleyway. On to Cabbagetown…

It begins

Published
by
Blair
on October 4, 2008
in city
. 0 Comments

Katherine and I have begun our adventure at city hall! The blinkenlights are amazing!! Off to Zone B…

YouTube

Published
by
Blair
on October 1, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Just a quick note to let everyone know we’ve set up a YouTube account for our videos so we can share our adventures with even more people!

Be sure to check us out on our Channel!