Jun/101
Bzzzz.
So I spent Friday evening watching the "riveting" tie between South Africa and Mexico, actually a decent game to start off the World Cup. I'm jazzed up, but am I the only one finding it annoying that instead of a killer cheer here and there throughout the 90 minutes of play, for the teams in attendace, my ears are drowned and battered by the sound of a bloody hive of bees?
Its the sound of the World Cup horn, or the "Vuvuzela" horn, like the kind the one fan from a CFL game brings to compensate for the lack of 35,000 other fans... This vuvuzela horn has been the only sound heard at World Cup 2010, as tens of thousands of South African fans take them to games, and blowthem as loudly and for as long as they can. So there is my point, its annoying as hell, but now its a danger? Read on.
Jun/102
LAND.
I recently had the pleasure to view a debut screening of a documentary by local Toronto director and friend, Julian Pinder. The film is called Land, and tells us an intimate story of recent neocolonial issues in Nicaraugua. The film deals with themes of power and corruption, as former revolutionaries clash against gringo land developers from the north, vying to construct luxurious condominuims and hotels in a quiet town along the coast as they seek to transform it into the "Nicaraguan Riviera."
But the tables turn, and the political battles that took place in the elections of 2006 bring about land reform and power is returned back to the people. But it is the corruption of this power that ironically renews itself in the hands of the Nicaraguan natives.
LAND trailer for feature documentary from Julian T. Pinder on Vimeo.
Power corrupts, and the 28 year old director captures the essence of this fact with some ballsy documentation and filming with almost no budget, yet with great ambition. This film has garnished rave reviews, including a rare 4/4 stars in the Globe and Mail. It screens this week on Wednesday the 9th at 9:00 p.m. and Thursday the 10th at 7:00 p.m., at The Royal Theater on College Street in Toronto. I highly recommend this film to anyone who supports Canadian film and for those of us who can appreciate relevant, provocative and informing media from an entrepreneur like Julian. With a potent mix of the eye opening truths that can be compared to those of Noam Chomsky, and the raw vision of a budding new director, I too give this Canadian Doc a 4/4 stars. Big ups, yo.
Jun/100
Helmut Newton.
A German born Jew in the 1920's, Helmut Newton or Helmut Neustädter, began his work from the age of twelve working in the fashion industry in Germany. The war and Nuremburg caused his family to flee the country and he soon found himself working as a reporter in Singapore. Eventually, Helmut made his way to Australia after being comissioned by the British army where he joined and served as a truck driver, constantly working on his film as he served. Helmut created his own studio in Flinders Lane, a fashionable area in Victoria, Australia. He quickly rose to fame sharing success in the affluent post-war years with Wolfgang Sievers, a fellow German refugee and architectural photographer. Helmut eventually left Australia for London, and in 1956 landed a publication in Vogue Magazine, the rest is of course, history.
The vanguard of women in this first photo wear their skin as if it is a costume to which they are more or less indifferent, having removed themselves from their personalities, they become "specimens." Fine ones at that. Newton's portrait skills from 1930's Germany showcase well, and even Andy Warhol, the veritable king of pop art, new age, 1960's portraits, was a subject of Newton. These photos above and below, represent "Big Nudes," an erotic urban style that pinnacled in the 1980's.
Jun/100
The oil teet.
Let's face it. We are addicted to oil, and by we, I mean the entire developed and developing world. Energy is at the core of economics. You cannot mine, make, move, or grow anything without it.
What we demand most of all is oil. Earth Day came to be, in part due to the blowout of an oil platform off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. In 1973, OPEC and allied oil producers in the Middle East showed how quickly they could derail international economies by withholding supplies. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 demonstrated the damage crude oil can do to the environment. And now we have the Deepwater Horizon disaster on the Gulf of Mexico, spilling 5,000 barrels of oil into the sea each day, maybe more.
Will this latest disaster spur further efforts to wean the world off petroleum and toward the development of new sources of energy? History suggests not.
"We are absolutely addicted and we have no methadone. All we have is the hard stuff," Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, told the Associated Press. "The reality is we're on it, this incident has happened and what we have to do is figure out how we can move forward."
In my opinion, we're a long way from curing this addiction, but we have taken the first step of admitting it. This is more than an oil spill, it has to be. We need a catalyst that will bring about a significant change in the way we view how we live on Earth, and like the polluted waters of the Gulf Coast, the political systems and policies that surround the consumption and harvest of oil, must be cleansed.
Jun/104
The human soul.
I decided some years ago, because of my personal beliefs and for the purposes of such an occasion that may warrant a discussion on the matter, that the concept of the human soul is complicated, misunderstood and somewhat of a blurry concept. Yet I believe it is an intrinsic and real phenomenon, something tangible. For what it’s worth, I believe that the human soul is the complete collected experiences, interpretations and memories that every living creature, capable of such complex processes has gathered from the contact, be it small or large, insignificant or not, of a human being from the duration of his living life and in the legacy he or she leaves behind.
Everything from scratching an itch on a dogs ear, the camaraderie of childhood rivalries, the intangible feeling someone felt from a kiss, the admiration from a kind gesture, the relief from a helping hand, the pride felt in the accomplishment they created to the images, smells, touches and sounds of a brother or sister, son or daughter, nephew or niece, friend or foe, acquaintance or colleague, all coalesce in a living bubble of memories and experiences that is carried in the minds and hearts and stories of the literal thousands of people and living beings that came into contact with a human being. It is of course something that cannot last, but this is important to note, for like the whole, the sum of its parts are fleeting and each and every thought and memory should be cherished, held true and given meaning. Such is life, and in this day and age, it is important to understand the value of such a thing.
Apr/100
Voluntary simplicity.
In 1981, Duane Elgin wrote a book titled Voluntary Simplicity: toward a way of life that is outwardly simple, inwardly rich. This concept was, and still is a timely one, and one that incorporates some key values that have been lost over the past decades. Voluntary Simplicity comes as man, particularly in developed countries, pursues the avenues of capitalism, consumerism and the “American Dream.” The question that has to be asked is, why is it that Horatio Alger (the average North American) has impacted such thought, generated such a movement and an anti-consumerist lifestyle as retaliation against capitalism, and a focus inward, towards the family and the individual? The answer is simple and is given by the voluntary simplicity movement itself. The planet’s environment is now endangered, resources need to be conserved for our children’s future and working for a wage is, for the most part, not fulfilling and often requires us all to do things we 
may not think are right, that society is unjust, and that social resources are not equally distributed, therefore this cultural movement seeks to correct these problems. Voluntary simplicity is a virtue, and as year after year the earth becomes more and more polluted, robbed of its non-renewable resources and the majority of its inhabitants become overweight, unhealthy, abused and unjustly treated, this concept comes closer and closer to a universal idea that could trump any other. This article identifies the core values and ideas of Voluntary Simplicity and examines whether or not the concept will solve the environmental problems we face today.
Just what exactly are the tenants of the movement, and how does it seek to solve the problems we all face today? It can be separated into a few ways of thinking.
Mar/101
The rave scene.
Defining Rave Culture is a 
complicated and difficult task. So many of its aspects are subjective and compile a myriad of experiences that can range from the spiritually enlightened to the sobering, apathetic negativity that contrasts at the other end of the spectrum. The definition of “rave” can be as complex, and sometimes as highly structured as a rave event itself. Raves could exist for a few hours, a whole night, or an entire weekend. A rave could be an indoor party with 10 people or an outdoor extravaganza with thousands. Participants could be anyone, young or old. There may have been two DJ’s or a dozen, all spinning an endless supply of electronic genres and sub-genres of music, like techno, happy hardcore, trance, jungle, house, breaks or drum and bass. Many “ravers” took drugs like ecstasy, MDMA, acid, marijuana, and some may have taken nothing at all. Other than DJs, electronic music, willing participants and a venue, what can be called a rave defies limits. “Rave eventually came to signify a culture that [was] in constant flux”. This article seeks to ask and answer why and how the scene came to be and discuss the rave, that of its origins in the 1980’s and its hazy phasing out in the late 1990’s into the dance club based scene of today, the people who inhabited the culture, the facets that made the culture what it is, and the scene now.
Mar/101
Tron: Legacy makes me want to rev up my light cycle.
So, after much deliberation, I've decided that I'm going to pop my 3D film cherry on Tron: Legacy. This is kind of a big step for me, as in the past I've largely decried the growing trend towards throwing some extra effects into a movie and charging double the price. For me, a movie is at its best when it's able to be enjoyed on a majority of technology; sure, it might be a little too much to ask to make sure that the latest HD films work on my crappy 12'' CRT, but when I'm not getting the "full experience" on a TV that's only maybe 5 years old? Gentlemen, we then have a problem.
But this is different. This, my friends, is Tron. This is the sequel to the film that made every nerd's pants tight when it came out in 1982. This is what gave them (and by extension, us) fantasies about living in a video game.
Feb/105
Brad Nowell.
Ever since about 1997, shit, when I was fourteen, I’ve been in love with Sublime. I remember paddling down the Sand River in Lake Superior Provincial Park, bobbing my head to the killer sound of Wrong Way and April 29, 1992 (Miami), in a canoe and on my Sony Discman… Wow, those were the days. There was just something perfect about the ska/punk sound, the lyrics, which were so easy to pick up, and Brad Nowell’s voice rivals any of the greats, living or dead and you all know it. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a party or a cottage or the beach without someone righteously demanding and playing Sublime, it just goes without saying. Sublime means summer and is essential to it; one cannot be without the other. I've always been intrigued by what really happened to Nowell, so I figured you guys would too.
Dec/093
Goodbye, 2000s, you shitty decade.
9/11, eight years of George W. Bush, two new wars, economic collapse, and you killed George Carlin. Fuck you, 2000s. Seriously.
On the other hand, you elected a black dude, proved the Internet as an incredibly powerful tool for freedom and democracy, birthed the private spaceflight industry, gave us the Large Hadron Collider, the Mars rovers, iPhones, Avatar*, and you killed Robert Novak.
What are the high and low moments for the naughts, in your opinion?
* I mention Avatar only because I expect it will get the credit for moving 3D into the mainstream.
PH0T0ADAY.
FLICKR TAG W0RD.CA.
