Nuit Blanche

Toronto

VastRight off the bat, I love the concept of Nuit Blance. Love love love. Public art and an all nighter seems to me like a fun combination, especially right at the crest of Autumn when we need that little oomph past summer into the cold.

But last night made me want to stay home and doodle.

First, I’m not one for drunk crowds. I can handle massive amounts of people ok, I can handle drunks, but I’m not cool with having to shoulder my way through the combination of both. The last two Blanches seemed overrun with drunk 905ers and Ryerson students. I saw just as many people walking and drinking as I did for Pride. Am I getting old and grumpy because I can’t handle a city wide party? Probably.

Secondly, the crowds made it impossible to experience anything, and I was sure as shooting I wasn’t going to wait until 3am when the viewing time eased off. The one exhibit I wanted to see (the cage match Lucha wrestlers at the Bus Station) had a throng of people so deep to get in, it surrounded the building 40 feet deep. Sorry Sgt Dickson, I only got to see you in Twitter feeds!

Giant SpidersThirdly, the good stuff was on the other side of the city. All the interesting, engaging pieces were at Liberty Village, apparently. I know the organizers can’t judge what area gets the “cooler” exhibits, but they could condense them a bit more into one area? Yeah I know, then it loses the “city-wide” feel. Well if I can’t get out to see art, then the artist’s actions are pointless, n’est-ce pas?

Weirdly enough, our greatest ridicule from last year became our favorite area: Cabbagetown had some interesting pieces that weren’t overrun with drunks or gawkers. Glowing spiders, plant shrines, nests you can sit in, bike art and Photojunkie’s Horror Movie Storyboard, which SharkBoy and I got a panel each in! Cheers, Rannie!

I think next year we’re going to pass on the big stuff (city hall, extremely popular exhibits, etc), if we go out at all.

Lenzr Contest – Ontario Tourist Attractions

Personal Bits

kanetixListen up people! Lenzr has a new contest out sponsored by Kanetix insurance & mortgage rate quotes (ding!) and it is called “Ontario Tourist Attractions”

No brainer in the description of what they’re looking for: all things Ontario, all things Tourist, all things Attractive. Which excludes 90% of my Hanlan’s Point pictures (bada-cha!). However, I do know some people who have excellent camping pictures that might make the grade.

Upload your pictures to Lenzr and watch people judge you! Get a cool pic in there and you can win a cool American Express Gift Card loaded with $200. Second place is an Amex Card worth $100. Easy peasy!

Special note here: Lenzr has updated their judging system too. No more Like/Dislike, which I thought was pretty harsh. Its now a sliding scale 1 to 10, which I think is much kinder and gentler.

So get over there and share! That’s what the internet was created for!

Disclaimer: I wrote about Kanetix in the past and was paid good money for it. That’s the price you pay for having an ad-less website!

Formative Pop – Halloween Story #1

Personal Bits

My sister used to dress me.

Not all the time, just for Halloween. I was her big Ken doll and she took great pride in her costumes for me. Granted the costumes were simple, out-of-the-closet (stop snickering) ready mades like a Pirate, or a Chef or a Cop. Nothing elaborate. But she would unquestioningly dress me up in whatever was around and whatever she thought was fun. I had no say in the matter.

One year I rebelled. I demanded that I was to be a mummy. I have no clue where I got this idea, but I do remember insisting so much that the dark clouds of tantrums were building on the horizon. My sister thought about it for a moment and then started a test run on my arm, which we ran out of cloth midway. Apparently you needed more than one twin bed sheet to cover a kid in 2″ strips head to toe. I stood firm on my decision and she turned to the only readily available supply we had in the house: toilet paper.

She started to roll somewhere inside an hour of when I was suppose to go out. Within 30 minutes she had done my arms and legs. She was smart: she made me dress in a white t-shirt and pants to shorten the long task of covering me, but it still took a long time. I’d fidget, the paper would tear, it wouldn’t stay where it should…

She never got me entirely covered. I looked more like a chubby kid with toilet paper on my head, forearms, legs.

I remember many people not knowing what I was: Genie? Accident Victim? Snow flake? Q-tip?!?

I think that was the last time she ever tried. From then on it was store bought onesies with the tongue cutting thin plastic masks. Love her dearly for trying, though!