 I am a huge proponent of the multiculture. It informs my design and my world outlook. I also teach English and through my teaching have met students from literally every corner of the globe. In my artistic life, as Mikooshka (my musical alter-ego), I craft music which crosses over from genres like reggae, rock and hip-hop to Latin, African, and Brazilian.
For many Torontonians, summer in the city means getting an opportunity to catch a little of the flavor that the world brings here via Toronto’s immigrant communities. The major festivals are a great place to start and I will outline some here and offer a few quieter “year-round” activities you might consider as well. Continue reading Toronto Summer Festivals – A Glimpse of the World at Home
 I’m a teacher and designer offering a free online course for people interested in developing skills in areas like Graphic Design and Marketing. I’m offering the course to people who are not artists, but who have “artistic” or “artsy” tendencies and would like to develop some materials to promote themselves, their business or their organization. Continue reading Free Online Course – DIY Graphic Design and Marketing – July 5- Aug 9
The opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup is taking place right now, and it’s reminiscent of the large-scale ceremonies I remember from the Vancouver and Beijing games. The stadium is ginormous and hundreds of Africans, primarily women, are performing synchronized dancing as performers do songs blended together in medleys.
I just saw the singer of a classic Ghanaian group called Osibisa perform “Sunshine Day.” I still remember this first time I heard that incredible positive funky rock song. It reminded me of the anthem quality in the positive rock/reggae crossover songs by Bob Marley. One of the astonishing images from the first part of the ceremony was the giant patchwork quilt that spread out on the floor of the stadium – in the shape of the African continent. And then slowly the other continents slowly formed around Africa as the participants roamed the floor. The quilt was a beautiful metaphor and a stunning visual. Watch for it in highlights on TV and video.
One of the amazing things that I just discovered is that K’Naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” is apparently NOT an official song for the World Cup. Continue reading The World Comes Home to Africa – FIFA World Cup 2010 – A Musical Perspective
It’s amazing to think about the importance of Photoshop in my life. As a graphic designer I have fired up Photoshop nearly every day for the last ten years, and for a few years prior to that, friends were doing the “firing up” and I was just along for the amazing ride.
In 1996, with the help of my friend Pete, I started designing logos for t-shirts. My first design was a pure bite of the Kiss logo – my brainstorm was that “kiss” (pronounced) backwards was “sick.” And so Sick was clothing was born. Continue reading Photoshop Turns 20
Can my site rank higher than Facebook and Yahoo? Yes, in the right circumstances, and with a terrifically crafted post on a specific subject.
The Contact Photography Festival just passed and my blog’s Google rank was higher than EYE weekly magazine and both the Facebook page for the fest and a page in Yahoo Business. The Google result for “Contact Photography Festival” placed me on the third page of results (out of millions) and confirmed to me that my online marketing strategies are paying off.
People do come to my site, read my articles and check out my videos. The question is: “How to convert that into something tangible”? You’ll also note that my blog contains no advertising of any sort, so some might ask the more elementary question “Why blog?” Continue reading Build It and They Will Come – Self-Marketing in the “DIY” Digital Age
This movie looks like a “must see.” The director, Kevin McMahon has directed some amazing documentaries, including one of my favorites, “McLuhan’s Wake” – a doc on the Canadian media communications theorist Marshall McLuhan.
Green Screens presents WATERLIFE
Directed by Kevin McMahon, 2009, 109 minutes.
Tuesday June 1 at 7pm
FREE
NFB Cinema – 150 John St (at Richmond St W), Toronto
Waterlife follows the epic cascade of the Great Lakes from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, telling the story of the last huge supply of fresh water on Earth. Filled with fascinating characters and stunning imagery, Waterlife is a cinematic poem about the beauty of water and the dangers of taking it for granted.
Continue reading “Waterlife” Documentary – Free Screening at NFB on June 1st
 The annual Contact Photography Festival is taking place through the month of May. Unlike the other famous Toronto festivals, including HotDocs and TIFF, this one is completely free – so there are no excuses – check some stuff out!
This year’s theme is “Pervasive Influence: Exploring the social and political consequences of the medium of photography, in a world devoted to the image.”
The following is from the Contact website:
“…In this era of instant information the image is stimulating unprecedented change in the way we communicate… In 1964 Marshall McLuhan wrote of the photograph as “the brothel without walls”. He described photographs as “dreams that money can buy” which could be “hugged and thumbed more easily than public prostitutes.” If we consider his metaphor within today’s global culture rife with image saturation, is the illusion images create now preferable to reality? …Is its ability to convey meaning now diluted by the widespread dissemination of images?
Continue reading Contact Photography Festival 2010
I am offering this course again soon – please contact me if you are interested. Here’s the most current post:
http://iam.strongandfree.ca/blog/free-online-course-diy-graphic-design-and-marketing-july-5-aug-9
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Mike Simpson is offering a free online course. The topic is “Do It Yourself” Graphics and Marketing. iDIY and uCan too! You are invited to participate! (Printable PDF Version).
If you have an entrepreneurial streak or have always wanted to learn a little about graphics, websites/blogs, or multimedia (audio/video) then this course may be the perfect opportunity to “get your feet wet.”
Class Level / Objectives
The course is targeted to beginners and intermediates. The class will last 6 weeks and be done online – where we will have the opportunity to share our discoveries and our work via chat, message boards, and blog postings. How far you go, how much you create is up to you – everyone will be expected to contribute to the process by creating a simple website and posting their work and comments.
At the simple end of the “prior experience” range, beginners or “newbies” will be encouraged to edit photos for an “e-card” or create a graphically-pleasing PowerPoint presentation (too often an oxymoron!). Intermediate students will develop vector illustrations or perhaps a video podcast. Many of the tools are free and the only limit with be your time and imagination!
Continue reading “iDIY” – Free Online Course in DIY Graphic Design and Marketing – May 24th – June 28th
Wow. It’s been quite a week for arts and entertainment in the city. The HotDocs Documentary Film Festival opening and Contact Photography Festival mark the beginning of the many arts-focused festivals which take centre-stage during summer months. Venerable website Torontoist has a story and photographs of the founders of a new repertory theatre which will open mid-May in the Queen and Spadina neighbourhood.
Boasting 700+ seats and formers managers from the Bloor Cinema, the theatre will play second-run and art house style fare to the locals. They hope to benefit from large-scale development like the TIFF Lighbox theatre project and all the condominiums that have overrun the entertainment district. Proximity to arty Queen West, colleges like OCAD and the general downtown core doesn’t hurt either. I have been a fan of the large theatre since the days of places like the Uptown, and the storied Bloor was a destination of choice for many years. I wish a sincere “welcome” and “best of luck” to owners Alex Woodside, Charlie Lawton, and Nigel Agnew. I will be sure to check out the theatre in the coming weeks.
Torontoist article
http://torontoist.com/2010/04/toronto_underground_cinema_rises_up.php
Located at John and Richmond St. in downtown Toronto, the National Film Board’s Mediatheque centre is an inspiring place. You can check out all kinds of short films, animations and documentaries. Once I took a group of students there for a field trip. The presenter was amazing – it was one of my favorite all-time field trips. The staff are always friendly and helpful.
One of the main reasons to go to the NFB Mediatheque site is to check out the viewing stations. I have taken my students there just for that purpose on a number of occasions. Recently I watched an animated short, “The Necktie,” that’s also available online. In fact, the NFB are digitizing most of their catalogue and making it available via their website. Another favorite is called “Film Club,” by Cyrus Sundar Singh. It’s about a 20-year reunion of former childhood friends who were immigrants and in grade 8 banded together in an after-school film club. So far this title is NOT online – so get thee down to the Mediatheque and watch it!
Check out:
Mediatheque
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/mediatheque/
The Necktie – animated short – 12 mins.
http://www.nfb.ca/film/necktie/
Flemingdon Park – Global Village – documentary – 47 mins
http://www.nfb.ca/film/flemingdon_park_the_global_village
“Across Cultures” – NFB clips from 60 different films!
http://www3.nfb.ca/acrosscultures/toutvoir.php?print
Mediatheque
150 John Street
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3C3
416-973-3012
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About Mike Mike Simpson is a teacher, writer, musician and designer from Toronto, Canada. He is a new media enthusiast and has been "strongandfree" since 1996.
Mike is studying Graphic Design, developing websites and multimedia, and leading training workshops on weekends.
Please contact him at this address:
mike | strongandfree.ca
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I am a huge proponent of the multiculture. It informs my design and my world outlook. I also teach English and through my teaching have met students from literally every corner of the globe. In my artistic life, as Mikooshka (my musical alter-ego), I craft music which crosses over from genres like reggae, rock and hip-hop to Latin, African, and Brazilian.
