Snow and Colour

Will this be the snow that actually stays? I certainly hope not.  If we can keep going snow-less for awhile I will be most pleased.  While today was quite grey outside, (and probably will be for the next few months) I was on a shoot getting my vitamin D from some spring colours.

Wow, is that bright enough? I promise I did not change the saturation of this image.  Shazam! Instant pick-me up. Not surprisingly there is lots of brights for spring 2012 in fashion, nicely summed up in this Refinery29 slideshow.  Care to wager a guess as to what Pantone has named their colour of the year for 2012? Give up? Why it's Tangerine Tango, a rich orange hue that brings to mind a Montreal landmark: the Orange Julep! It's your year to shine!

Page One: Inside the New York Times

Above is a still inside the offices of the New York Times from the documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times.  The film follows several editors and journalists during a period of the fallout and bankruptcy of many municipal papers throughout the US, questioning the survival of print journalism as the founding pillars of reliable hard news.

The film took place over a period when the WikiLeaks released the Iraq war logs, when Comcast took over NBC/Universal and the release of the iPad.  There is no shortage of material to weave an interesting tale. While there are several members of staff that carry the story, the journalist David Carr provided the film with a character we can attach ourselves to, with his wit and sometimes scathing commentary.
In a segment where Carr interviews the founders of Vice Magazine/VBS.tv*  on their collaboration with CNN, one of the founders claims that they are covering Liberian cannibalism while the Times is covering surfing. To which Carr replies:

"Just a second, time out...Before you ever went there, we've had reporters there reporting on genocide after genocide and just because you put on a fucking safari helmet and looked at some poop, doesn't give you the right to insult what we do-so continue, continue."

There are many more of these colourful commentaries, I'd love to write them all down, but...

*note* vbs.tv doesn't seem to exist anymore and is redirected to the video section of the main site.

Smart Design Mart - Souk @ Sat (and more)

You know its almost the holidays when the art and design markets are upon us.  This year was the third edition of the Smart Design Mart, a cornucopia of all things crafty, design-y, artsy, fashion, vintage and more! Oh and local! Above from left is the colourful creature design by Tyson Bodnarchuk.  Look closely and the letter pillows spell out his name-how subliminal! In the center we have leathery and and hairy jewelry by LaLaYeah. And if you'll look above to your right, this fine bicycle is sporting a leather wine rack by Nuevo.  Next summer that's how I'll be bringing my wine to the picnics!

So if you didn't find that perfect present for your mom, might I suggest the souk @ sat?  From the 8th-11th of December, this market is in it's eighth edition after a hiatus last year due to renovations at the sat. The souk will feature a whole slew of local designers, art and fashion-makers to tickle your fancy, so you can stuff your stocking for yourself and your loved ones.

Oh, did you want some more?

Lucky for you Montreal contains the highest concentration of artists in Canada. Then I shall mention the Holiday Puces Pop Craft & DIY Fair by the fine folks of POP Montreal, the CEASE Art Collective holds their Holiday Flea Market, and of course the granddaddy of them all the Salon des Métiers D'art, which has way more to sell than you can handle- and be sure to sample the locally produced Québec ice wines!

Did I miss any? Let me know!

Helmut Newton

I was fortunate to see one retrospective of Helmut Newton's work at the Barbican in 2001, which grouped many of his iconic images including a roomful of his "Big Nude" series, which are in fact "big" at heights of around 8 feet tall!

After a long while I was pleased to finally see the 1989 documentary Helmut Newton: Frames From the Edge. Above is a still where Newton is instructing the model to pose with a roasted pig.  Audacious, funny and definitely frank are words to describe Newton as he reveals himself in an intimate portrait.

Here are little gems of a quote in the section that discusses the photographing of wealthy women:

June Newton: "...he loves the idea of these idle ladies, as he calls them, that have nothing to do, but just waiting to have something to do."

An unidentified woman on being photographed by Newton: "...he put me in a black velvet evening cap- uh cape-leaning on a telephone pole and behind me was an oil well pumping-ah it wasn't even my oil well!"

A little trivia here: Newton's "Sumo" book was the biggest and most expensive book production of the 20th century-so claims the publisher.  I saw one well preserved copy in someone's home perched on it's Phillippe Starck book stand. As there was a pair of white gloves placed on top of the book, I decided to leave the book alone.

Kale

Kale! How I love thee!
I'd like to thank my mom for that day you introduced me to kale (sauteed with sausage, might I add, cochon!) This awesome green has become my go-to veggie for any and all cooking inspiration.

Here is my super simple easy-breezy kale salad recipe:
-kale
-a super awesome olive oil (I have one flavored with fennel seeds at home, deeeelish!)
-chili flakes
-redstar nutritional yeast (for extra tastiness and B12 for the vegans among us)

Toss
Serve
Yum

I like cooking it as well because it retains crunchiness, as opposed to spinach which can get borderline mushy.  The very entertaining Debbie Wong's Wok and Gong does an easy saute of dark greens and kale.
And while we're at it, I found a blog ALL ABOUT KALE, it's called 365 Days of Kale- high fives indeed. Bonne appetit!

I found through 365 Days of Kale, a small t-shirt business in Vermont called Eat More Kale.  They are currently being sued by a large chicken company who's slogan is "eat mor chikin" for the use of their intellectual property.   Read about the petition against corporate bullying.

Escarpment School

While I'm an unashamed fan of Hollywood filmmaking (something you should never admit out loud in film school), I like to give my cinematic brain a bit of a workout with some experimental film.  I seem to have a 50/50 success rate with this type of fimmaking, in the most diametrical sense.  Where on one hand I am thrilled, rejuvenated and leave the cinema with all cylinders firing; then on the other hand, I am completely frustrated, cranky, and/or falling asleep.  So I approached the part three screening of 16mm films of the "Escarpment School" series curated by Brett Kashmere at the Segal Centre with a bit of trepidation.

 

I am pleased to say that there were many films that kept my eyes wide open.  A particular favorite was Sweetblood by Steve Sanguedolce (get it? fantastic name!), his 1993 short film using collages of family photographs, voice over and contrasting subtitling to create a vivid memoir.

One film that surprised me was Mike Hoolboom's White Museum. His 1986 film consisted of thirty-two minutes of clear leader! Upon reading that in the program, I predicted that I would be out like a light as soon as the film started.  But instead we were treated to Hoolboom's voice-over narration of witticisms and critique on cinema.  Here is a little except:

    "Has everyone had a chance to introduce themselves to one another? Or is this one of those movie houses where you're supposed to pretend you can't see anyone but the people you came with? Maybe for the people who came late maybe we could have the lights turned on for a minute, just to have a look around, just to see who's here. Could the projectionist please turn the lights on for a second? "

And yes, the projectionist turned the lights up momentarily. It was great.

Safewalls

Yves Laroche Galerie D'Art hosted a Safewalls exhibit of the original works and prints of the new Cirque du Soleil poster art project.  The artists selected for the project hail from the broadly termed movement of "lowbrow art," which has its relations to street art, grafitti art, outsider art , diy art and surrealism (or pop surrealism if you like).  Whew! Did I cover all my bases?

I was very pleased to have almost pressed my nose up against the Ron English and Travis Louie pieces (his black and white Zarkana poster is above) and to gawk on their insane technique!  Merci beaucoup!  Now I would like to do the same to a Chuck Close please.