Luminato in TO
Luminato was in Toronto and that lured a sparely used camera to the Waterfront. And there were many visual delights to be found. One is a tugboat, a Little Tugboat That Could in size, all spiffed up with a new coat of rouge:
White Wheel of Fortune
A Window Glimpse
The Rope that Binds
A thousand Stories come to mind …
Of course this little Red Tug was able to attract a steady crowd of admirers - especially kids. Maybe they enjoyed the same ruddy colors .. or they had read the story of the Little Tug That Could too.
April 11, 2009
York University
York University is in the midst of a campaign, especially in the Toronto subway system, to rescue its image as a university institution of repute . The glaring problem is that within the last 5 years the university community has ruined their brand with prolonged strikes and other actions that have tattered any claims to putting teaching and their student body as primary among the staff, faculty and administration (the primary warring parties).
But York University and their stakeholders can at least be consoled that they are not the only institution to have ruined their brand in the past 5 years. The Republican party in the US, Microsoft Windows worldwide with Vista, and the Financial Banking Community, primarily in the US, but extending throughout the world have also proceeded to ruin their brands as well. So with so many parties in the mea culpa business, York U might have a chance to kiss and make up with its students and the broader community it should serve. I will let you be the judge of how successful York University has been.
April 5, 2009
Rex Impressions
The Rex Hotel on Queen just west of University has been the scene for great jazz in Toronto for the past 30 years. Now that sometimes seems to be a fact as little known as the Rex’s Hotel business. I think of it as a jazz place, bar, and eatery in that order … and hotel maybe as vestigial appendix. But I am assured that a nite at the Rex is not to be missed.
Here are a few shots picked up at the Rex late last year that testifies to the Jazz and Blues mood that can be found 7 days a week including noon to 12PM on most weekends.
Blowing hot steam
Now some will argue that the Rex features the newer generation of jazz musicians with headliners rarely appear. Guilty as charged except for headliners not appearing.
Rex Jam
But the sounds of Rex Jamming is a special breed that takes off every night for you to see and sample. And being at the start of all the Queen West action - its right along the way on any city tour.
Rex Lite
Besides I can guarantee you will see and hear Jazz and Blues in a new light. So try the brew or cuisine and catch a whiff of jazz history at the same time.
February 7, 2009
Best Show in T.O. Tonite
The best show in Toronto tonight for Saturday February 7 is down at Nathan Phillips Square. And its a 1 hour outdoor show for the best price of all - $zero. You will be moved - literally. Close-ACT from Holland is putting on another one of its outdoor theater productions that mixes lights, flares, music and great mechanical machinations in a morality play of no small proportions. The story, Pi-Leau, is set in the future, after global warming has brought not only a rise in temperature but also in sea level (and the Dutch know about this as large chunks of their country can be engulfed by the North Sea).
People now survive by the sea … but something is amiss. At this point I will let you go down tonight and see the rest of spectacular showat WinterCity Fest. Last chance tonight.
February 5, 2009
Book Sale at Toronto Public library
The Metro Toronto Reference Library is having a book sale - well its always having a book sale, $1 per book no matter size, age, nor NYTimes Book Review or BestSeller List Rating. Just follow the sign saying Gallery in the lower part of the picture and you can’t miss the Library’s Book Store. Now the sale prices I mentioned above may perhaps be only for this Saturday’s sale out front as you enter the library, but Heavens know that I do not need any more books.
But at $1 per I was lured in and got these book beauties. Now I know its impolite to cite books that might be construed to be under duress; but this blog is all about reviews. So here goes:
Fiction
DaVinci Code - a mistake, which I have already pawned off to a friend who may not remain so
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - haven’t seen the movie but at least I know its not Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn though the protagonists are of the same age.
Non Fiction
Beginning Database Design by Clare Churcher - this looks perfect for the inevitable friend who asks for personal database design help at the going rate of $0/hour and some unenviable parting Draculan slurp … uhhh gift.
Wild New Zealand - is a sumptuous picture travelogue that confirms that New Zealand was the perfect place to be used for filming Lord of the Rings. The missing ingredient, some one with the geologic savvy to tell us something more about those bending blocks of rock and mountainous crags so lavishly depicted.
The Strategy Focused Organization, Harvard Business School Press - no excuse, I am sucker for HBSP books.
Now returning to the question of these books being on duress sale, I say nonsense because I saw a Harry Potter or 3 on the chopping block too.
January 31, 2009
Toronto WinterCity Fest
When the Dutch Outdoor Theater Company, Close-Act, is in town for a show - there are ample opportunities to get great pictures. Its almost as if all you have to do is to wander down to Nathan Phillips Square on Feb 6th or 7th by 7:00PM and not get trampled during all the machinations in the show.
Apocalyptic Vision
The latest Close-Act show is entitled Pi-Leau and portrays a water world post global warming of the glaciers. Now the Dutch who are dike oriented because they have reclaimed much land from the North Sea and are only a few metres above sea level for large tracts of their countryside - they are very conscious of the potential effects of global warming. So the Pi-Leau vision of a future water world is very real to them.
The Continental Icesheets Breaking Up
one of the most dramatic scenes from the show is the music and action showing the Arctic Continental ice sheets breaking up. The scene and sounds are at once thunderous but also haunting in beauty. If one has ever traveled to see the Northern IceCaps and witnessed the glacier break ups these images are equal parts elegant and visually stunning.
The Brewing Heat Wave
There are many red caustic images in this show there are reminders of Kevin Costner’s WaterWorld imagery - especially the use of flippered sea-goers and great whales. But the mood is menacing and well conveyed with the use of dramatic lighting, smoke spewing red and white flares, and loud beating drums. The tale is moral and apocalyptic, the sound and vision Sturm und Drang - and the ending - ambivalent.
However for photographers this is must see and click - the number of great shots available are very great indeed.
January 30, 2009
Tamil Tiger Tale
There is a demonstration by supporters of the Tamil Tigers of NorthEast Sri Lanka at the Toronto midtown corner of Bloor and Yonge Streets. It is notable because this is a continuing series of ever more heated protests so the police and TV media are out to “cover” the protest each in its own ways. I am interested because of the number of victims cited in the above protest sign - 5,00,000 ??? I decided I wanted to see how quickly I could get useful and “non-inflamed” information about the “number” and the situation.
Since I was next to the Toronto Municipal Library - I went there and got on one of the more than 300 free web connected terminals. I did not go to any of the TV stations covering the story - needless to say they would not have any links to useful information. Instead I tried the Toronto Star and the GlobeandMail first. The GlobeandMail had the background story but it is Toronto bound. The Toronto Star went well beyond the immediate protest articles and filled in the blanks on the broader Sri Lanka picture very well here. But the best resources were- Surprise Surprise -Google and wikipedia. Google led me to the superb novel by Canadian/Sri Lankan author Michael Ondaatje which tells the story in “captivating” style in Anil’s Ghost. As one finds in the novel, this civil war is very nasty and very brutish on all sides.
So what did we learn about getting quick and cogent info on this flashpoint. TV coverage was lowest on the totem pole, the newspapers of mixed but better value, but Google and Wikipedia the best and quickest.
By the way, the number 5,00,000 is 500,000 and that is roughly the number of Tamils potentially exposed to fire like in Gaza (but not dying)in the fighting zones. For a comparison, the Gaza Strip has a population of 1.5M in 139 square miles versus 0.6M in about 2000 square miles, much of it wooded lands in Northeast Sri Lanka.
December 21, 2008
Toronto Lights
For the past few years Torontonians have had an ever improving buffer against the approaching Winter Solstice - the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square. Each weekend marching up to the Solstice a show alights the Square adding color and lightness to offset the ever waning days. This year’s evening lights appear to be more evanescent:
But from these images one can see the origins of the stars above as seen here:
And in turn these images spawn like fireworks into ever more fanciful bursts of color and light:
Truly these images have their own spectra of feelings. But may be also a sense of tripping the lights fantastic.
December 17, 2008
Runt AKA Alex Currie
The Title to this posting is the exact listing on Google when I searched for “Alex Currie” Toronto artist. The following description was even more revealing:
“Runt otherwise known as Alex Currie is a infamous Toronto artist noted for his murals and voted best graffiti artist by Now magazine five times.”
But almost all attempts to find Alex’s website ended up in a search returning to PixOfToronto.com where I featured Alex pictures of Alex’s show from the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition of 2004. But that gallery is being dismantled. So to show you why one might be interested in the infectiously ribald world of Alex Currie I present the following slide show of his art works:
Like the Colbert Report these images are disturbingly hilarious and sometimes just plain fun.
But even better in the process of hunting down Alex I came across a lot of other Sideshow Artists as collected below.
 Does this have a hint of Runt and the CNE sideshow attractions ? Click on the link and you will find the works of the artist known as Willard J. The placks have some of the Hell and Brimstones which this party happened upon in not a few MidWestern Preacherships. |
  Kevin House is a musician and artist in Vancouver that definitely has a bIzzarro fault line in his humorous vein. His work has taken a turn on the curved underside as he is now painting absurd on vinyl. I kid you not - go see for yourself here. |
 Mark Bryan has a biting artistic wit similar to Los Tres Grandes - Jose Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros who drew the stifled screams and sentiments of the social revolution in Mexico at a wall mural scale. Mark has the same sense - as you can discover here. |
December 15, 2008
The Toronto Marlies at Ricoh
I have been arguing to my Sports buddies that the best place in the city to see hockey is down at Exhibition Place - the Ricoh Coliseum. There is not a bad seat in the house. No nose bleeds - this a place to watch hockey. What makes matters more interesting is that the Toronto Marlies are playing better hockey.
Here is some of the action I saw the other night versus Wilkes-BarreScranton Penguins. By the way this is AHL hockey - these teams are the number one farm clubs to the NHL. And with injuries and impatience plaguing NHL teams these guys know that they are just one break away from the big time. So the quality of the play is pretty good.
In fact as the pictures imply the speed is as good as the NHL. And so is the hitting. The biggest difference is the quality of the passing and playmaking. In three games at Ricoh I failed to see games without a lot of passing turnovers. At times it looked like a NBA game gone wrong - turnovers galore as neither team could get a shot on net before coughing up a pass to the opposition.
To be sure, there were some tic tac toe passing plays - and then the second weakness became obvious. The ability to put a shot on Net. Okay so the shots were on goal - and the NHLers are far from perfect. But OUCH! - the number of errant shots, it was scary.
However, for sheer fun of good up and down the ice hockey - these games are hard to match. And best of all you can find a great seat for just over a double fin. Not too shabby!
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