Toronto Summer Festivals - A Glimpse of the World at Home

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 [...]

“Waterlife” Documentary – Free Screening at NFB on June 1st

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 [...]

Torontoist announces Rep Theatre Opening - Toronto Underground Cinema

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 [...]

Mediatheque and NFB - Great Toronto Film and Documentary Resource!

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 [...]

Interview with Toronto Author and Publisher Michael Redhill

Toronto author and publisher Michael Redhill

Michael Redhill is a Toronto-based author and publisher. He has taught at the University of Toronto, where he is also presently the “Writer in Residence.” A few years ago, I was fortunate to have him as my instructor for a Creative Writing (Poetry) course. He has written a number [...]

Greatest Indie Canadians

Recently I got to playing around with a graphic of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and a picture of artist/writer Douglas Coupland. I was compositing the two and came up with the image at left, which I really quite like. I started thinking about what makes Doug Coupland one of my favourite Canadians, and who [...]

New Design Work

Click to open larger version

This is a design based on stills I’m working with from a “city – streets” themed video I’m making called “Step Forward.” The dancer in this scene is Andy Wye. I want to composite him at various sizes dancing across a primitive cave background with prehistoric art.

The Internet is Forever - Wayback Machine Retrieves Borat Site

It’s no secret that the Internet is a vast repository of virtually any and all kinds of information. Recent stories about Facebook retaining our info after we delete our accounts makes me hopeful that Canadian and American authorities will reign in the behemoth. What you currently post in cyber space may well continue to cycle [...]

Adventure Travel to Chernobyl, Ukraine (Vice DVD)

Ferris wheel in Chernobyl amusement park

Yesterday, the Metro newspaper ran a column by Julie Dimon, the resident ‘Travel Junkie,’ about the infamous Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine. It’s a pretty odd place to travel and reading the article reminded me about my first exposure to Chernobyl (forgive the pun) about a year ago, via [...]

Late May – Events and Activities

It’s that time when interesting things are happening around Toronto.  I have a variety of suggestions for you:

May 26 and 27 – Doors Open Toronto – An opportunity to wander around in parts of buildings and public spaces that we normally have restricted or no access to. 150 buildings! (Including the infamous “Lower [...]