Archive for: 2008
Graphic Novel Review: Fun Home
I love Alison Bechdel’s Dykes To Watch Out For, and have from the day I came out and picked up my first GO-Info (strip # 140, “The Last Tango”, where Mo and Harriet have sex one last time before breaking up for good). Until it ended earlier this year, it was the first thing I read when picking up Xtra! West, and I could always count on it to make me laugh make me think, or both. I own all the collected books, including The Indelible Alison Bechdel.
But, there was one book of hers missing from my collection: a non-DTWOF book I didn’t even know existed until this summer, when I saw it as part of an exhibition on animation and comics at the Art Gallery. I read it all the way through in one sitting, absolutely captivated.
Let It Snow
The weather here on the West Coast’s been very cold for the last week, with some snowfall and a bit more on the way. It hasn’t been as bad as the last major snowfall two years ago, which suits me just fine. This is just enough snow to make the holiday festive. It looks like we’ll have a white Christmas after all.
The Physics of Thumbnails
The square-cube ratio: when an object doubles in size, its surface area quadruples but its mass is multiplied by eight (oh, I was tempted to write “its mass octuples,” but that’d be a little much. Also, Firefox’s built-in dictionary doesn’t recognise “octuples”).
Home Is Where The Art Is
For the Culture Crawl this year, I decided to do things a little differently. Instead of visiting just two buildings, I’d try to wander around, hit as many studios as I could and get a broader feel of the whole festival.
East Side
Some photos I took last weekend at the East Side Culture Crawl. Only one of actual art, the rest are shots of Strathcona and the Downtown Eastside.
The Reveal
Remember the project I mentioned a couple months back? Wondering how that’s going?
“After the flood all the colours came out…”
President-Elect Barack Obama. It’s got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
Lost Souls
Boy, I hadn’t been to the Parade of Lost Souls in years! Sorry to say, I almost forgot about it. But no more!
I am unbreakable
Following up on my last post: after two weeks, my scrapes and bruises are healing nicely. Some deep bruising in my side and lower back is still bothering me, though only in the morning when I get up. And even then, I only go “Ow!” instead of “OWOWOW MOTHERF***** OW!” like I used to do for a few days after the accident. So it’s all good.
Getting a little too close to nature
So this weekend some friends and I went up to Whistler for an ATV guided tour. I’d never gone ATVing before, but it sounded like fun, right? Broaden my horizons, that’s what I say. It worked pretty well with the zip-lining.
This is the scariest trailer I’ve ever seen
So first Matt Damon said this:
It’s like a really bad Disney movie. The Hockey Mom. “Oh, I’m just a hockey mom from Alaska,” and she’s facing down Vladimir Putin using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It’s absurd. It’s totally absurd, and I don’t understand why more people aren’t talking about how absurd it is. [...] I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago.
Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?
Let’s check…
Not that doomsday crackpots haven’t tried to stir up fear of black holes swallowing the Earth, and whatnot.
Sunset and PNE
Not one new gallery but two:
I’d say Jack Chick’s lost it, except I don’t think he ever had it to begin with
Seriously, what the hell?
Laugh At Me
The Queer Film Festival is in full swing. Last night I they showed The Coast is Queer, a showcase of shorts by local filmmakers that’s become an annual tradition. There was so much excellent material this year that it’s hard to pick a favourite, but I’d have to go with David C. Jones’ Laugh At Me. Which, good news, has been on YouTube for a while
Lost Lagoon
I gotta say, being unemployed in the West End at this time of year has its up sides.
Fireworks, Part Deux: Trust The Machine
So I learned a lesson: on Wednesday, (the previous Wednesday) I was experimenting with relatively short exposure times, about 1/4 sec. That had given me good results the first time, but this week I wasn’t doing so well. China’s show didn’t have a lot of big showy ‘splosions like Canada’s, instead focusing on short, small bursts that disappeared quickly. I thought it was quite neat and original, but a lot more challenging to shoot. I ended up being disappointed by most of those photos, and had to rethink my strategy.
Red Umbrella
I took this shot after grass volleyball last Wednesday:
Light!
Last Wednesday I saw the first installment of the Celebration of Light. It was amazing, though far too short. On the bright side, I found a good spot to set up my camera–not as close as I would have liked, but I had a perfect view.
I am full of hot air
…literally. Or I was until Sunday night.
