10 Ruble Russian Coin featuring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Photo by Mike)

Today is “Day of the Soviet Space Program (Cosmonautics)” for Russians – a day to remember the cosmonaut and national hero Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, fifty years ago, was blasted into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

His famous quote, and [...]]]>

10 Ruble Russian Coin featuring cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (Photo by Mike)

Today is “Day of the Soviet Space Program (Cosmonautics)” for Russians – a day to remember the cosmonaut and national hero Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, fifty years ago, was blasted into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

His famous quote, and a good one to say when you are toasting your Russian friends over some vodkas is “Поехали!” (Paya hellei – Let’s go!).

I would encourage you to check out some video and articles that explore the first orbit by Gagarin and the Soviet/Russian space program – some recommendations follow.

Watch:

“First Orbit” real-time video recreation (uses HD international space station footage and original audio)

http://youtu.be/RKs6ikmrLgg

Read:

Article on Star City (Soviet / Russian Space Program Headquarters) at Russia! Magazine. First link is to web site, second is to actual magazine spreads using the Issue viewer (worthwhile to see some Laika – the space dog – cartoons).

http://readrussia.com/magazine/winter-2008/00044/
http://issuu.com/russiamagazine/docs/russia__magazine

Article on Star City at Wired Magazine

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-09/ff_starcity

Here [...]]]> Mike has been an earnest student of film since he studied the “History of Cinema” and “Italian Cinema” at university. Mike is an aspiring filmmaker with a few short videos under his belt. Currently he is working on “City Symphony” – a hybrid documentary / music video that includes music by his alter-ego “Mikooshka.”

Here are some of my favourite docs – in alphabetical order. After you read this please feel free to comment or use the share button to send this on to your colleagues, friends and family.

* Canadian movie, director, or content

*9 Blocks, 6 Months – Dir. Christopher Romeike – Poignant interwoven stories in Toronto’s working class Parkdale neighbourhood. A sensitive and quiet movie that is emotionally rich and beautifully shot.

Barbarians at the Gate – Dir. Spike Jonze – Fun cross-America skateboard tour with Foundation/Blind teams. Frames the hi-jinx and skate action with the “American Vacation” style narrative and visuals.

Watch scenes from this movie via my playlist at YouTube
Barbarians at the Gate – Dir. Spike Jonze

Big River Man - Dir. John Maringouin – Follows Martin Strel, a burly hard-drinking Eastern European, who swims the longest rivers of the world, and in this feature, attempts to swim the length of the Amazon. Incredible mix of drama, humour, and scenery.

DC Movie – Dir. Greg Hunt – DC Shoe Co. + skateboard superstars = amazing production value. One of the most incredible “action sports” videos of the last ten years. Danny Way’s record-setting airs off the big ramps set to Metallica are easily the highlight.

Food Inc – Dir. Robert Kenner – A highly professional documentary that utilizes some slick motion graphics and cinematography in its production, while illuminating the current crisis in American/global agricultural practices (co-produced by Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation”).

*Gambling, Gods and LSD – Dir. Peter Mettler – a psycho-geographical journey into the modern day world via beautifully filmed scenes in North American casinos, evangelical churches and contrasted with scenes from exotic locations like India.

Grizzly Man – Dir. Werner Herzog – A story about a man who lived and died with grizzly bears in the Alaskan frontier – absolutely essential viewing from the quintessential documentarian. Also recommended is the more recent ”Encounters At the End of the World” (about his travels to Antarctica).

*Manufactured Landscapes – Dir. Jennifer Baichwal – Photographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscape due to industrial work and manufacturing. Some of the most striking scenes demonstrate the awesome scale of development in China.

*Mayor of Tent City – Dir. Rosalie Bellefontaine -  Gritty urban tale of hope and redemption for homeless in Toronto’s “Tent City” shanty town. You may be only able to find a copy of this in the library system.

*McLuhan’s Wake – Dir. Kevin McMahon – Excellent overview of the life, career, and work of Marshall McLuhan within a narrative framework that centres on “The Laws of Media,” his last scholarly work. Also look for Kevin’s newest work, Waterlife – a doc focused on the ecology and issues of the Great Lakes.

My Architect – Dir. Nathaniel Kahn – Kahn searches to understand his father, noted architect Louis Kahn, who died bankrupt and alone in 1974.

*Souvenir of Canada – Dir. Robin Neinstein – Explores Doug Coupland’s life story, “Souvenir” photography-based books of iconic Canadian products, his family, and artistic life (his preparations for an art show called “Canada House”). One of my all-time favorites. Compelling, profound, and funny.

That is my list – I’d welcome yours! It’s an interesting exercise to do this. What do our favorites say about us? I know for one thing, that at this moment it’s even easier for me to concoct a list of docs than regular flicks. These days I am ravenous for documentary film and there is a mountain of great material out there. I get my movies in equal number from my local video shop – the amazing “Big Daddy’s” on Dundas St West – and the Toronto Public Library, which has an extensive catalogue.

Related Note 1: Read my book review of Douglas Coupland’s “Extraordinary Canadians: Marshall McLuhan”

Related Note 2: When I was googling these movies to confirm the director info I found my own page at the top of the Google results for “Barbarians at the Gate” (#1 of 353 listings for “Spike Jonze Barbarians at the Gate”). Spike Jonze is a famous Hollywood director these days, but he got his start in more humble skateboarding industry productions.

My original “review” page with stills from Barbarians at the Gate is here:

http://strongandfree.ca/skateontario/video/classics.htm

I just saw the singer [...]]]> 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. I think the Canadian media and World Cup sponsor Coca Cola have slid this in by the backdoor. In fact, if you look at the Wikipedia page and read some news stories on World Cup music, you’ll discover that the official song is called “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” and it will be performed by Colombia’s Shakira, with a South African group called Freshlyground at the closing ceremony. Even the official “anthem” is by R. Kelly.

Interesting. Seems somehow the hype machine of both Coca-Cola and the music business have blended fact and fiction, and as is very common these days —  often a commercial branding initiative with TV commercials and catchy music will blend the line between culture and commerce. Have we been duped? Or are we just dumb consumers? Many reputable publications, including Exclaim Magazine, and the NME from Britain, misreported this story.

I really like K’Naan’s “Wavin’ Flag,” and I had the pleasure of teaching it to a group of LINC ESL students a week ago. It really is an amazing song – capturing a certain momentum that K’Naan has been building for the last few years. I downloaded “Soapbox” and a half dozen other songs from eMusic about 3 years ago. The kid from the rugged Somalian capital Mogadishu whose family now calls Toronto home, has crafted a truly epic, anthemic song. the song however is Coke’s official song, and I’ve just witnessed it in the background of commercial spot on the CBC broadcast.

I have to admit I’m mildly disappointed. YouTube has a video labelled “Official World Cup theme song” and the buzz has all been building toward K’Naan = World Cup 2010. I thought it was a great fit. Apparently, Coca Cola did too but even asked K’Naan to modify his lyrics, which they found to be dark and dour (and which I celebrated as an echo of the beautiful but plain-spoken lyrics of Bob Marley, see “Buffalo Soldier” which K’Naan references in his song).

This is the latest from Exclaim‘s website (other sites including Dose are reporting this too so hopefully it’s factual):

In a recent interview with Billboard, it was revealed that before the song could be used by the soft drink giant, Coke asked K’naan to rewrite the lyrics, which called Somalia “a violent prone, poor people zone,” referring to its people “struggling, fighting to eat.” K’naan complied, and in the interview, defended his choice before anyone could cry “sellout.”

“I saw it as an opportunity to reach more people,” he said. “I don’t work for Coke or anything; what I do is my music. This was a really great opportunity for them to use my song, without compromising my integrity as a musician. This is what I write, these are the songs I make. I’m happy about it.”

What about the games and the sport you ask?

Well, as you may know this blog is about people, culture, language and arts. So, in short, I am not a huge soccer fan, but I will tune in to a few World Cup games. Like most things in my life these days, I’d rather play and participate than watch. As a spectator I hope to catch some of the magic of South Africa, from the people to the music to the other aspects of African culture which hopefully will shine and benefit from this spectacle.I with the people of South Africa well and hope this World Cup is truly on the positive side of the boon/bust ledger. I also hope the platinum selling “Wavin’ Flag” will be a boon to K’Naan and remain an inspiration and beacon of hope, and not just a mass-marketed jingle for a soft drink multinational.

Recommended Viewing:

Look up the CBC “Q” video on YouTube for an excellent acoustic “unplugged” style rendition of K’naan performing “Wavin’ Flag.”

This year’s theme is “Pervasive Influence: Exploring the social and political consequences of the medium of [...]]]> 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?

CONTACT 2010 will consider the ways in which photography informs and transforms human behavior. The festival will recognize the influence of Marshall McLuhan, on the 30th anniversary year of his death. We will present images that examine connections between mass media, advertising, art and photography.”

Primary Exhibitions include:

The Brothel Without Walls – U of T Arts Centre

Susan Anderson, Evan Baden, Douglas Coupland, Jessica Dimmock, Marina Gadonneix, Clunie Reid, Stefan Ruiz, Joachim Schmid, Christopher Wahl
http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/primary-exhibitions/182

Media satirist Barbara Kruger — AGO – Art Gallery of Ontario – installation
http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=2962693

Toronto Star Recommended exhibits by writer Murray Whyte
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/whatson/article/801893–contact-festival-plenty-of-eye-candy-in-the-brothel-without-walls

Murray Whyte’s recommendations (first 3):

1. The Mechanical Bride, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art: The festival is heavy on Marshall McLuhan this year — the exhibition title is borrowed from the legendary media theorist’s book of the same name — and, in a nutshell, tries to embody his remarkably prescient notion that photography was being enslaved by an advertising industry amping up seductive lifestyle appeals as a way to push product, with the female form as the main lure. Imagine that. Here, 60 years on, artists like LaChapelle, with a disturbingly robotic image of Lady Gaga, and Dana Claxton, who filters the appropriative gloss of marketing through her lens of First Nations’ experience, underscore McLuhan’s role as a soothsayer, proving him right, only more so. May 1

2. The Brothel Without Walls, University of Toronto Art Centre: Further on the McLuhan theme — in his landmark 1964 book Understanding Media, he called photographs exactly that, and “dreams money can buy”— this show includes work by, among others, Douglas Coupland, Jessica Dimmock and Evan Baden, whose images of amateur online exhibitionists seem to take McLuhan’s notion, of an artificial reality spurred by the easy ubiquity of picture-making, to its logical extreme. May 1

3. Untitled (It), Art Gallery of Ontario, Dundas St. façade: For decades — long before it became a de rigueur street-art standard—Barbara Kruger’s withering satires of advertising in the public realm made her an art-world superstar. Kruger’s iconic aesthetic of text and found images speaks advertising’s language of vapid non-sequitur-ese so fluently, at first glance, as to be near-indistinguishable; a double-take yields results both hilarious and sobering. Here, she festoons the AGO’s 90-metre-long Dundas St. glass awning with a new work commissioned specifically for the festival — a coup

Today I fired up Google Chrome and saw the Olympic graphic (or “doodle”) Google created for their homepage. (It’s pictured at the end of this article). The image is subtle and appealing. It doesn’t even [...]]]> The branding and identity work for the Olympics features some stunning illustration. Kudos to the Vancouver Olympic committee!

Today I fired up Google Chrome and saw the Olympic graphic (or “doodle”) Google created for their homepage. (It’s pictured at the end of this article). The image is subtle and appealing. It doesn’t even use the color scheme that the Vancouver Games have been using – relying instead on a range of subtle blues punctuated by a dull orange flame. On the other hand, I’m fed up already with the punishing barrage of TV commercials from CTV, McDonalds, HBC, and the dozens of other companies that have jumped on the back of the Olympics in an effort to increase their brand appeal.

Perhaps you have seen the amazing illustrations that were created for the games. I didn’t know much about who created these icons and images until I picked up a couple of magazines recently – Applied Arts, and How Magazine – both of which feature articles on the talented people behind the look of the 2010 Olympic graphics. A Vancouver company called Karacters Design Group consulted on the project but the work was done in-house by the Vancouver Olympic Committee. The key designer on the VOC project, Leo Obstbaum, apparently passed away in the summer of 2009.

Google Doodle for Vancouver 2010 by artist Dennis Hwang

Links:

How Magazine article on Olympic Design Process

http://www.howdesign.com/article/winterolympics/

"World's Tallest" Illustration by Strongandfree.ca

From our old building  we could see, through a sliver of highrises, Toronto’s downtown and the CN Tower. Now we look west to the green canopy of the west end and if we peer south from the balcony edge we have a view of the immensity of [...]]]>

"World's Tallest" Illustration by Strongandfree.ca

From our old building  we could see, through a sliver of highrises, Toronto’s downtown and the CN Tower. Now we look west to the green canopy of the west end and if we peer south from the balcony edge we have a view of the immensity of High Park, where we walk and cycle, when the weather’s warm.

When my girlfriend’s parents see a clip of Toronto on Russian TV there will inevitably be a shot from the harbourfront with the tower prominent. I know my former students, scattered around the world, in Asia, Mexico, Brazil and Europe, will reminisce and the CN Tower, and Toronto’s skyline, will forever be a backdrop to their memories. Why is the tower so compelling? What does it mean to us? How did the CN Tower come to be?

Conceived as both tourist attraction and communications tower, ultimately the size of the tower was the result of a motivation to go higher than the Ostankino tower in Moscow. A claim to be “the biggest and the best” was central to the mission. Today it is both landmark, reminding locals and tourists which way is south, and decorative addition to the skyline – with its thousands of LED lights lit up at night — the world’s tallest free-standing Christmas tree. The construction of the tower (1973-1976) followed the buzz of 1967 (the Montreal Expo, Canada’s world coming out party) and remains a symbol of hope and pride to Torontonians and visitors to the city.

This weekend’s Saturday Star had an article by the architecture critic Christopher Hume, about the excesses that have wracked Dubai and produced the Burj Khalifa tower. Hume tends to write about the positives on the Toronto skyline: new green buildings, LEED certification, and rooftop gardens, among many other discussions. (In a recent blog post I referred to his article on Douglas Coupland’s new waterfront park in Toronto’s downtown).

The Star’s critic writes:

Of course, there’s nothing new about the desire to build higher and higher. The “edifice complex” has been around at least since the ancient Egyptians started building pyramids 4,500 years ago. Since then, things have grown ever taller.

In North America, the heyday of the race to the sky was played out in New York during the 1920s and ’30s. It reached a climax with the rivalry between the Chrysler and the Empire State buildings.

Toronto’s flight into the architectural stratosphere came in the 1970s with the construction of the country’s tallest building, First Canadian Place, and more dramatic still with the world’s tallest free-standing structure, the CN Tower.

Hume astutely compares the Burj tower to another modern relic, the Hummer. They both represent conspicuous consumption and a new world order that worships at the “bigger is better” altar, and stubbornly refuses to economize for the common good. The Burj was constructed in part with a massive crew of immigrant labor, and as we have seen unfold, under a badly mismanaged financial system which worked furiously for a brief moment to convince the world that they were building a modern utopian cosmopolitan and super-rich city.

What will the Burj come to represent for the locals? The names refers to the “caliph” or “successor” (to Muhammad). Will the tower be a destination for rich locals and foreign tourists? Will it be a point of pride on their horizon? Does it represent a changing of power away from the west, or the rise of the “developing world?”

_ _ _ _ _

Post-script: It is worth noting that China is constructing a half-dozen gargantuan towers (one of which is not finished and already taller than the CN Tower), all of which rival the biggest skyscrapers in the world. Today, the CN Tower is the 3^rd tallest “man-made structure.” The next biggest Canadian structure on the list is the “Inco Superstack” nickel smelter in Sudbury (29^th in the world).

Read more / watch video

Christopher Hume says the “proletarian” Burj may be iconic but lacks “poetry” and could have been the perfect Soviet skyscraper. He also argues that we often forget that architecture is “not just an economic phenomenon, but also an art form.” In any case the Burj tower is fascinating and Hume’s article is an engaging devil’s advocate view. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/747815–hume-tallest-tower-emblematic-of-dubai-s-ugly-excess

This is my team - We be strong and free baby!

Yesterday the Swiss beat the favoured Russian team at the World Junior Hockey Championship. I was shouting “davai Swiss!” (Go Swiss! in Russian) with Irina cheering her homeland. I was rooting for the underdog I told her, [...]]]>

This is my team - We be strong and free baby!

Yesterday the Swiss beat the favoured Russian team at the World Junior Hockey Championship. I was shouting “davai Swiss!” (Go Swiss! in Russian) with Irina cheering her homeland. I was rooting for the underdog I told her, and the red color of the Swiss jersey reminded me of Canada I guess. Today there’s a Canada-Swiss game coming up at 5pm and I’ll certainly be cheering for Canada, but hoping the Swiss can give them a good challenge. It was in the 1950s that the Russians/Soviets began competing in earnest at the stellar levels of play that we always expect from them. Canada invented the game a half century before. And these days it is said that 5-6 teams could win the senior championships, be they the worlds or the Olympics (Teams like Canada are heavily favoured but hot goal-tending especially can propel any team into the finals). Is there really a reasonable level of parity in the international hockey scene? Certainly not in women’s hockey, where the championships seems to see-saw back and forth between the Canadians and Americans. This year I predicted a Canada-Sweden rematch at the World Juniors, and I think we just might get there yet. There is certainly a minor discrepancy between the talent on display at the junior (u20) level and that of senior teams. Perhaps it’s a question of what professional development does to a player. Canada may supply more than 50% of the players to the NHL and have more than half the top 20 scorers which indicates  a serious level of skill, but when you put any 20 players on the ice who are used to competing at elite professional leagues, anything can happen. The Swiss team has players as young as 17/18 playing their Elite league (one of the best leagues in Europe as those who watch the Spengler Cup might already know). Apparently they populate the junior systems here and a couple have NHL experience. It all adds up to a serious polish and readiness to play with anybody – so watch out Canada. Today should be a dandy if the Swiss can carry over their fine play from yesterday. Canada is shooting for six straight Gold medals. they have won 6 of the last 13 years (almost 50% overall).

Interestingly at the senior World Championship,  Canada has won 3 times in the last 10 years. Canada has won 1 of the last 3 Olympics. The under-18 has one 2 of the last 10 Worlds. If you have a comment please feel free to join the discussion.

Canada World Junior Results last 13 competitions:

2009 – Can - Win 5-1 over Sweden
2008 – Can – Win 3-2 over Sweden
2007 – Can – Win 4-2 over Russia
2006 – Can – Win 5-0 over Russia
2005 – Can – Win 6-1 over Russia
2004 USA
2003 Rus
2002 Rus
2001 Cze
2000 Cze
1999 Rus
1998 Fin
1997 Can

It’s no secret that China has long been the world’s factory and is increasingly looking to change its position from that of producer [...]]]> Art by a Chinese artist named Liu Bolin. He specializes in camouflage painting. His work challenges us to think about identity and ambiguity in contemporary Chinese society. Click to view larger image.

It’s no secret that China has long been the world’s factory and is increasingly looking to change its position from that of producer to creator. Once upon a time the US, Japan and Germany were engineering new technical marvels and China was simply where the production would happen. That is starting to change, and China is developing new capability for aspects of design, and increasingly, seeking to grow by instigating a kind of new Cultural Revolution – one in which art and artists have new freedoms and the government recognizes that creativity needs to be encouraged to bolster the still emerging economy.

Here in Toronto we have long had government support for the arts and some long-standing galleries, museums and private art spaces, but even here artist zones or development are a relatively new idea. Liberty Village and the Distillery District are two such former industrial areas converted to live/work loft spaces with lots of cafes, galleries and condos in the mix. According to a recent TO Star article, China is incubating these new projects at a furious pace. They may not have pioneered this process but they’re ahead of the global pack (Beijing has dozens of these areas and Shanghai has hundreds). It’s all part of China’s quest to obtain what the article describes as “soft power.”

The article in the Star focuses on artist Yue Minju, one of a number of rising Chinese art stars who earn millions of dollars for their works. If you read the TO Star article 798 Art District doesn’t sound far off from Toronto’s Distillery District. Here’s a snippet to pique your interest:  ”As he spoke, Minjun sat perched at a chic outdoor café in Beijing’s 798 Art District, a massive former munitions factory repurposed by the government in 2002 as a home for artist studios, galleries and boutiques. Across the way, a tourist shop’s shelves were filled with versions of his personal brand-name icon: a self-portrait frozen in a cackle of grim hysteria, on coffee mugs, calendars, notebooks and picture frames.”

Read the TO Star article.

Read about and see more of Liu Bolin’s amazing urban camouflage work at the Inspiration Room blog.