tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30316496593321534322024-03-17T21:04:18.741-06:00Brush TalkOrganic, free-range wordcraft with a side of pickled gingerBen Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-27011846194563707162015-03-15T23:13:00.002-06:002016-03-08T20:02:14.379-07:00(Poem) What's that sound?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VJe58FvdwRA/VQZmc9QBC4I/AAAAAAAABKw/RrS0ydWkpbg/s1600/Redspot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VJe58FvdwRA/VQZmc9QBC4I/AAAAAAAABKw/RrS0ydWkpbg/s1600/Redspot.jpg"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
This poem was written for the <a href="http://dance-conspiracy.org/" target="_blank">Jen Mesch Dance Conspiracy</a> performance at the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS) building at the University of Alberta on March 12, 2015. The poem was inspired by radio-telescopic recordings of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmWeZHsQzs" target="_blank">sounds made by the planets</a> in our solar system.<br>
<br>
All the celestial bodies referenced here are in the video linked above. Enjoy!<br>
<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
Yes, that one<br>
The ringing echoes<br>
of the orb that wears the crown<br>
This is Radio Free Jupiter!<br>
Pugnacious punk ambient radiophonic red-spot rock ‘n’ roll<br>
ringing through the solar system<br>
like it was hers to begin with<br>
Big sexy gas giant, switched-on solar circuitry with storms to burn<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
No, that one<br>
That rumbling in the shadows<br>
that frosty splash of sulphur ash aside the colossus<br>
Hadal contrabass counterpoint<br>
Volcanic blasts splattering at the swirling gaseous canvas<br>
spread across its sky<br>
Ionic artspace, Jackson Pollock studio, Jovian circuitry, silver and gold pockmarks<br>
with guttural undulating undertones<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
No, that one<br>
That swirling urgency<br>
that plaintive pulse<br>
from the dark side of the ringed one<br>
singing and sobbing<br>
Miranda is bleeding, scratched and forlorn<br>
Saturnine by nature and temperament<br>
forever howling at the canopy of night<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
Not that one, that one<br>
For whom does that bell toll?<br>
Ringing like arctic blasts<br>
through a hundred haunted bell towers<br>
Is this the solemn chill that calmed the waters to somnolent Sri Lanka?<br>
The dissonant chimes that calls the Milky Way to prayer?<br>
Váruna, Ouranos, sawing sideways through cosmic currents<br>
buzzsaw of the beyond, slicing space with morbid grace<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
Yes, that one<br>
That splash of blue ocean<br>
amid the black beyond<br>
delicately orchestrated typhoons<br>
of silver strings<br>
rhapsody in cobalt and ultramarine<br>
Holst never stopped to listen to the blue voice<br>
The Mystic, it turns out, was also the romantic<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
The slow hiss<br>
Hubble’s dilemma<br>
That pulsing spectral omnipresence<br>
the gears of the cosmic wheelhouse<br>
locking and grinding<br>
forever stretching the perimeter<br>
of the Eridanus Supervoid<br>
Hello darkness, my old friend<br>
<br>
In space everybody can year you scream<br>
hear you scratch and rage against the void<br>
skip along the stone paths of the Kuiper Belt<br>
and sing along with mournful Sedna’s<br>
Skeleton Woman blues<br>
pausing at Señor Gomez’s burger bar<br>
before a night swim in the gently lapping magenta lagoon nebula<br>
Sounds like a nothingth of an eternity in the universe<br>
where superlatives reign supreme and dark matter matters<br>
<br>
What’s that sound?<br>
Which one?Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-28199137602838294372015-03-06T00:16:00.000-07:002015-03-06T00:22:13.634-07:00I looked in the mirror, Jim. And this is what I saw.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First of all, can somebody smarter than me please explain to me what the hell is going on in this province?? First we were suddenly broke and hemorrhaging money left, right, and centre thanks to sagging global oil prices. Then, somehow, inexplicably, the province was running a surplus. And now gas prices are back up to nearly a buck a litre. And wasn't the whole gas price slide a punitive measure by the OPEC bigwigs against the psycho KGB cowboy in Moscow and his pals in Tehran and Damascus? I don't get it.<br />
<br />
Whatever the case, our boom-and-bust economy is now, apparently, bust again, and our esteemed crown prince now tells us, in a nutshell, that it's our own fault. According to Jim Prentice, we all have to “<a href="http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/prentice-comes-under-fire-for-look-in-the-mirror-comment" target="_blank">look in the mirror</a>” and take responsibility for the province’s precarious financial situation. OK Jim, I take responsibility. But what I want to know at this juncture is how much responsibility I, personally, should take. After all, I'm not from Alberta originally and have only been taking advantage of government programs and opportunities here since mid-2008. Does that mean I'm <i>less</i> responsible for our present mess than someone who's lived here all their life, while at the same time more so than someone who just arrived?<br />
<br />
If we were to portion out blame equally, among all Albertans, we would technically be looking at about 7.6 seconds of penance per Albertan per year. Given that there are now 4,146,000 of us in this province, and 365 days in a year, that's literally how our wages of guilt would be monetized. You know, like the flat tax our esteemed leaders still stubbornly stand by.<br />
<br />
But that's based on the assumption that everybody currently living in Alberta is equally culpable for getting us in the pickle that we're in. Which, as I previously mentioned, strikes me as unfair given our <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-leads-country-in-population-growth-1.2582062" target="_blank">current rate of population growth</a>. Alberta's population grew by <a href="http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/after-roaring-in-high-gear-albertas-population-growth-expected-to-gear-down" target="_blank">3.8 per cent in 2014</a>, which means that of the aforementioned 4,146,000 people, about 150,000 just arrived from elsewhere, and frankly it would be unfair to saddle them with this burden of economic shame. Especially given our provincial leaders' heretofore urgent tone with regards to <a href="http://www.canadianbusiness.com/economy/alberta-labour-shortage-increases-overtime/" target="_blank">impending labour shortages</a> here.<br />
<br />
This reduces our pool of culpable Albertans to around 3,996,000. That raises our individual burden of guilt to around 7.9 seconds. Still totally manageable. That said, I don't think our dear leader would see it that way. Clearly Alberta's urban centres bear more of the blame than rural areas, given their pesky demands for better roads, better transit, more schools, more . . . everything, frankly. As of 2011 (the most recent statistics available), <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo62j-eng.htm" target="_blank">83 per cent of Albertans</a> resided in urban areas. That takes us down to roughly 3,316,000 people who are <i>really</i> blameworthy. So if you've lived in an urban area in Alberta for more than one full year, you now officially have to feel bad for 9.5 seconds a year.<br />
<br />
Not so fast. At least 20 per cent of the remaining population is 18 years old or under, and clearly <i>they</i> can't be held responsible for the mess we're in - much as we'd like to blame them. So that takes us down to about 2,652,800 culpable individuals, or about 11.9 annual seconds of penance. And that's more substantial - more time than most of us stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed on Remembrance Day.<br />
<br />
And of course we haven't even begun to talk about the province's urban Aboriginal population, from whose ancestors the land now called Alberta was stolen in the first place, or the province's ethnic Japanese, Chinese, Ukrainian (that's at least 10 per cent of Edmonton), and Afro-Canadian populations, who at various times have faced fierce discrimination. Or women, who, it turns out,<a href="http://calgaryherald.com/storyline/call-it-the-alberta-disadvantage-study-finds-gender-wage-gap-largest-in-the-country" target="_blank"> earn less than 65 per cent</a> of their male counterparts in this province, putting Alberta nearly on par with South Korea, the OECD country with the<a href="http://www.movehub.com/blog/global-gender-pay-gap-map" target="_blank"> worst gender wage parity</a>. And while we're at it, LGBTQ Albertans, who still suffer from de-facto top-down discrimination through the provincial government's refusal to mandate gay-straight alliances in schools, get a pass as well.<br />
<br />
So who are we left with? Basically a coterie of overpaid straight white men who live in urban centres and occupy positions of power. In other words, people like you, Jim. Perhaps you need to, ahem, take a look in the mirror.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-78517479946644737152015-03-02T11:01:00.001-07:002015-03-02T11:11:21.646-07:00Home is where the food is (a 107 Ave serenade)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CCvYbDUb_2o/VPSlL6fOnpI/AAAAAAAABKI/bht4LkezE_A/s1600/al-Qudus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CCvYbDUb_2o/VPSlL6fOnpI/AAAAAAAABKI/bht4LkezE_A/s1600/al-Qudus.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Faces of 107 Avenue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Adobo
creative suites</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Masala
motion pictures<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mad about
saffron<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And high on wild
rosewater nocturnes and the sweet Rumi-nations of old Tehran<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Footsteps
springy like fresh <i>injera</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
With a fire-roasted
coffee and frankincence chasers at my heels<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Striding sing-song down the Avenue of Nations<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Calibrating my olfactory GPS; new-world coordinates in old-country code<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The <i>dhows</i> of Gwadar, Suquṭra, Muqdisho<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Safely
moored on a verdant bend in the North Saskatchewan<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Bringing
sustenance and satiety to shivering winter citizenry<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Cracked
cardamom pods, frim-fram shawarma sauce<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Weaponized
wild rice and a backup bottle of chili sauce for that extra zing<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here on the
Ave this is kind of our thing<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some say
home is where the heart is<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But the
heart falters when the stomach lies empty<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Others say
home is where the money is<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But money
for nothing? Have these chickpeas for free!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Home is
where the food is<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where
continents and condiments collide in cast-iron kitchen pots<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
With fierce
chillies, midnight meat sweats, and moose nose stew with bannock sliders<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Treaty 6
treats with Tagalog tagalongs<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And palak
paneer amid the backdrop of a bigos and kubasonic boomtown<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s
everything that’s good to eat<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Right out
there on the street<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yeggs
benedict for breakfast<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
E-town empanadas for lunch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Prairie chicken
Kiev with a side of doro. Wot?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s all
here. It’s all us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Give me a home
where the free-range buffalo roam (out at Elk Island)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where the kheer
and the cantaloupe come out to play for dessert<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where seldom
is heard a discouraging Urban Spoon word<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the
skies are as wide open as our doors, as big as our portion sizes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And as vivid
and alive as our spicecraft and foodscape<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Welcome home<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-80895307758737598812015-02-27T00:58:00.000-07:002015-02-27T15:19:32.578-07:00After the Artery - 6 ways Edmonton's arts community can continue to survive and thrive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wABugRq4Ny0/VPAiMXiIF4I/AAAAAAAABJk/nkminMb60Eg/s1600/Artery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wABugRq4Ny0/VPAiMXiIF4I/AAAAAAAABJk/nkminMb60Eg/s1600/Artery.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: John Lucas, Edmonton Journal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you're a member of Edmonton's arts community, you're probably ready to slouch down on the nearest park bench for a good long cry right now. That's assuming you haven't already done this. We're not even two months into 2015, and the year has thus far, for a lack of a better term, sucked balls. It all started with the heartbreaking demise of the venerable Roxy Theatre in an early morning fire on January 13. And now artistically inclined Edmontonians are reeling from the loss of yet another iconic art space, <a href="http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2015/02/26/edmonton-to-lose-another-music-venue/" target="_blank">The Artery</a>, which yesterday announced it would be closing its doors for the last time at the end of March.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Both of these occurrences would be heartbreaking enough in isolation, but the sad fact of the matter is that it's nothing new in this town. The list of performance and visual arts spaces that Edmonton has lost, or is on the verge of losing, has begun to resemble a list of names chiselled on a war memorial. Last year saw the demise of the <a href="http://www.gigcity.ca/2014/05/08/avenue-theatre-to-close-in-june/" target="_blank">Avenue Theatre</a>. In 2013 the <a href="http://metronews.ca/news/edmonton/714081/popular-edmonton-live-music-joint-closing-at-end-of-july/" target="_blank">Haven Social Club</a>, a jazz-focussed basement dive much loved by MacEwan University music students, bid the city farewell. Further back in time, the legendary <a href="http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=f40fad56-4321-4bf9-b172-b77fb27defda" target="_blank">Sidetrack Cafe</a>, which once upon a time played host to the likes of Canadian icons k.d. lang, Colin James, and Blue Rodeo, bid the world adieu in 2007.<br />
<br />
The list of dead venues in Alberta's capital city has become so extensive that the Edmonton Heritage Council has recently embarked on a <a href="http://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2015/02/25/dead-venues-the-indie-rock-alt-music-scene-1980s-2000s/" target="_blank">Dead Venues Project</a><span id="goog_723569121"></span><span id="goog_723569122"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a> as part of its <a href="http://citymuseumedmonton.ca/" target="_blank">Edmonton City As Museum</a> initiative, an admirable attempt to keep the city's indie/alt-rock heritage alive. While tributes are always welcome, such archival projects are cold comfort to Edmonton's artists who continue to see venues yanked from under their feet. No area of town has been harder hit than Old Strathcona, the once-spirited heart of bohemian Edmonton, which, thanks to skyrocketing commercial real estate prices, has seen much of its arts scene migrate to more economical pastures, with the <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Catalyst+Theatre+move+2015/10385328/story.html" target="_blank">Catalyst Theatre</a> (soon to be relocating to the Maclab Theatre at the Citadel) being its latest economic refugee.<br />
<br />
All this, of course, is happening at a time of great economic uncertainty in the province as a result of plummeting oil prices and a bewildering budgetary Chicken Little sky-is-falling performance on the part of our newly minted Progressive Conservative Pharaoh. (For the hammiest theatre show in town, just pop into the Alberta Legislature when the house is in session.) For people immersed in the arts community, as well as in post-secondary education (and I'm eyeball-deep in both - lucky me), this means cutbacks. Yes, that Alberta speciality. All this in spite of the fact that the government somehow, inexplicably, seems to have come up with a <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/02/25/don-braid-armageddon-interruptus-alberta-the-only-place-where-a-budget-surplus-is-bad-news-for-the-government/" target="_blank">budgetary surplus</a> (because, you know, we're broke) and that cutting funding to the arts to balance the budget makes about as much sense as shaving your head to lose weight.<br />
<br />
The irony, of course, is that Edmonton's arts scene has never been more vibrant than it is at present. On any given night in this city there's a bewildering array of performance and visual art on offer in the city, albeit in a slow but steadily contracting constellation of venues. Edmonton is well known for its big-name festivals - <a href="http://www.edmontonfolkfest.org/festival-info" target="_blank">FolkFest</a>, <a href="http://theatrenetwork.ca/shows/season/season40/nextfest-2015/" target="_blank">NextFest</a>, the <a href="https://www.fringetheatre.ca/" target="_blank">Fringe</a>, the <a href="http://edmontonstreetfest.com/" target="_blank">Street Performers Festival</a>, the <a href="http://www.edmontonpoetryfestival.com/" target="_blank">Poetry Festival</a>, and so on, but that scarcely scratches the surface as to what's going on. As a relatively new Edmontonian (a resident here since the fall of 2008), it's taken me quite a few years to fully appreciate the quality and quantity of artistry in my adopted hometown - even in the middle of winter when it's an uphill task to persuade winter-weary residents to trudge through minus-twenty temperatures to check out a poetry slam or a modern dance spectacle.<br />
<br />
Yes, Edmonton's arty folk are a stubborn, tenacious bunch who can probably survive anything. But why must their existence always be such a perilous one? The problem is an economic one (as well, let's admit, of economic priorities on the part of the city's mandarins). Regrettably, artists get screwed in both good <i>and</i> bad economic times. In bad times, funding for the arts invariably gets cuts. In good times, real estate prices inflate to the point where theatre companies, club owners, and other artistic stakeholders can no longer stay above water.<br />
<br />
So what can be done to support the arts in this city so as to curb the tide of venues going under? I'm no expert, but here are a few ideas.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1) Go see more shows.</b></span><br />
<br />
This might sound flippant, but seriously, go see something cool. On a random Tuesday evening, even. Edmonton may not have the prestige of Paris or New Orleans, but the flip side to that is that artists in this city are far more accessible than they are in larger centres. There are improbable art galleries run by medical doctors who really love the arts. There's a devoted (and I mean VERY devoted) heavy metal scene. There's typically three nights a week of wild electronic music at <a href="http://artmuzak.ca/" target="_blank">Bohemia</a>. And there's no shortage of theatre, dance, and whatnot. Go to <a href="http://yeglive.ca/" target="_blank">yeglive,ca</a> and find something cool - and go to it! C'mon, you're too young to spend every evening crocheting scarves and taking Instagram photos of your cats!<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">2) Get to know your local community league.</span></b><br />
<br />
Edmonton's outsized artistic scene owes a large debt to the city's longstanding network of local community leagues. While not an exclusively Edmontonian phenomenon, Edmonton's community league system is, as far as I know, unique in its extensiveness and civic clout, thanks in no small part to steady funding from the municipal government. If you're an Edmonton-based artist, volunteering for your local community not only gives you the opportunity to lobby on behalf of your fellow artists at the neighbourhood level (i.e. where it really counts), but also gives you affordable access to community league facilities, whose purpose it is to serve as a local venue for stuff the community wants. Not an opportunity any artist would want to pass up.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">3) Think outside the box in terms of venues.</span></b><br />
<br />
Capital A "Art Venues" may be in full-tilt contraction mode in Edmonton, but with anywhere between 18 and 22 cranes punctuating the city's skyline like boreal giraffes, buildings are most definitely not. Moreover, with more per-capita green space than any other Canadian city and a larger land area than Toronto (with about a third of the population), the city is not lacking in places to perform. They just might not be traditional performance spaces. Edmonton's perennially overachieving modern dance scene has, out of both necessity and ingenuity, turned the city's great outdoors into its venue, with the undisputed masters of this being Mile Zero Dance and its artistic director Gerry Morita, whose venues have ranged from Churchill Square to the river valley park system to the delightfully trashy <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2014/06/sho-tel-wild-night-at-aurora-motel-with.html" target="_blank">Aurora Motel</a> in the city's unloved industrial west end.<br />
<br />
Others are doing the same thing. I myself have had the honour of being invited to contribute a spoken word component to the latest instalment of <a href="http://marcjchalifoux.photoshelter.com/gallery/Jen-Mesch-Dance-Conspiracy-Takes-Over-the-Science-Building/G0000ahYC2dzhB14/" target="_blank">Jen Mesch Dance Conspiracy Takes Over The Science Building</a>. Dancer/choreographer/science nerd Jen Mesch is another Edmonton artist with a penchant for improbable locations, ranging from Edmonton's river valley to <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cavern--2" target="_blank">actual caves</a>. And the University of Alberta, with its picturesque cliffside setting atop the river valley and its motley assortment of fascinating structures, is a cornucopia of potential performance spaces - including some <i>actual</i> performance spaces like the amusingly toilet-shaped Timms Centre.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">4) Forge stronger ties with arts communities elsewhere in Alberta.</span></b><br />
<br />
Edmonton is essentially an island city. At least that's how it feels much of the time. But while it's a relatively isolated city, it's not really <i>that</i> far from other pockets of civilization. Calgary is a three-hour drive to the south, and is no slouch when it comes to the arts. And it's a treasure trove of great venues. Edmonton's once vibrant underground punk scene may be history now, but Calgary's still has quite a bit of life to it thanks in no small part to places like <a href="http://www.calgaryjournal.ca/index.php/profiles/2375-clink-pike-the-unsung-hero-of-calgary-s-underground-music-scene" target="_blank">Vern's Tavern</a>, a venue that helped launch the careers of bands like Sheepdogs and Marianas Trench, and continues to provide an open stage to the weirdest, most obnoxious acts around - bands like "witch punk" Riot Grrrl revivalists <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o172IuatcnE" target="_blank">Hag Face</a>, my current YYC faves.<br />
<br />
Even closer to Edmonton is the increasingly energetic live music scene in Red Deer, which, thanks to Alberta's explosive population growth in recent years, now has a population close to that of Reykjavik, Iceland. It's not a scene I know well at all, but reliable sources tell me that it's getting steadily better - at least on the musical front. Even further south in Alberta is the oddball town of Lethbridge, where heavily bearded and headscarf-clad Hutterites and Mennonites rub shoulders with heavily bearded and keffiyeh-clad hipsters from the University of Lethbridge who frequent events like the <a href="http://thelemf.wix.com/lemf" target="_blank">Lethbridge Electronic Music Festival</a> and more regular arty happenings at <a href="http://owlacousticlounge.ca/" target="_blank">Owl Acoustic Lounge</a>.<br />
<br />
Anybody who thinks of Alberta as simply Edmonton, Calgary, and a hillbilly hinterland needs a Lonely Planet update. The problem, of course, is that the province of Alberta has a larger land mass than France and a far worse transportation infrastructure, which means that unless you plan on sleeping in your car (which is only a viable option half the year in this province, and even then not a very attractive one), you need lodging in whatever municipality you find yourself in - particularly given that your typical artsy event ends after the last Red Arrow of the night leaves the station for Edmonton. A network of dedicated artist crash pads on either end,in said cities, perhaps modelled on <a href="http://www.habitat-nola.org/about/musicians_village" target="_blank">New Orleans' Musicians' Village</a>, would solve this problem.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">5) Forge stronger ties with communities <i>within</i> the city.</span></b><br />
<br />
Edmonton is distinctly unlike places like Vancouver and Toronto in its relative lack of distinct ethnic enclaves. With the exception of the South Asian community in Mill Woods (an area also replete with new Canadians from elsewhere around the globe) and the East African community on and around 107 Avenue (forever the starting point in the city for whichever immigrant community is the most recent), Edmonton's multicultural population is a true salad bowl. There is nearly as much Ethiopian food in Edmonton's Little Italy than there is Italian, and the city's Chinatown is decidedly more Vietnamese than Chinese. And given China and Italy's past predilections for invading Vietnam and Ethiopia respectively, it's poetic justice in a way.<br />
<br />
That said, Edmonton's artistic mainstream (i.e. white people) could all do a better job engaging with the city's many and varied ethno-cultural communities. The spoken word/slam poetry scene is excelling on that front thanks in no small part to <a href="http://titilope.ca/" target="_blank">Titilope Sonuga</a> and her heir apparent <a href="http://www.ahmedknowmadic.com/" target="_blank">Ahmed Knowmadic</a> of the <a href="https://breathinpoetry.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Breath in Poetry</a> collective - slam poetry at its least obnoxious and most inclusive. Edmonton is also home to what may now be the country's largest urban Aboriginal population, and with it one of Canada's most energetic Aboriginal arts scenes - ranging from Métis country music to raw rez hip hop and stand-up comedy. It's out there. You just need to seek it out.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">6) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaoLy7PHwk" target="_blank">Fight the power.</a></span><br />
<br />
Yep, put on your best gold Flava Flav teeth, hang a clock around your neck, and fight the power that be. But in all seriousness, the city of Edmonton would have far fewer historic buildings standing were it not for its citizens' willingness to get organized and fight the forces of organized redevelopment. Much of Old Strathcona would have been razed back in the 1970s were it not for the grim determination of its residence to save its innumerable architectural gems. Today the city's venerable McDougall United Church is the latest historic building on the chopping block, and while its future <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/McDougall+United+Church+future+have+prayer/10839205/story.html" target="_blank">remains very much in doubt</a>, a campaign to save the building has recently shifted into high gear.<br />
<br />
Sometimes you just have to be like Arthur Dent in the <i>Hitchhiker</i> books and lie in front of the bulldozer. And call it a work of art. Because sometimes it is.</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-65230069385463985032015-02-25T23:47:00.000-07:002015-02-25T23:47:15.743-07:00Skindiving in Tokyo Bay<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jLOu3KA1ub8/VO7AsS-RrTI/AAAAAAAABJI/7fCTXPTW3co/s1600/bioluminescence_by_DragonWinter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jLOu3KA1ub8/VO7AsS-RrTI/AAAAAAAABJI/7fCTXPTW3co/s1600/bioluminescence_by_DragonWinter.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Natalie Kelsey (deviantart.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The sea wall
shoots straight down<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beyond the
threshold of the eyes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beneath the
inky evanescence above<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the
silky nothingness below<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That
centrifuge where the mind stops minding<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the
extremities embrace the moonless chill<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And in the
unblinking undertow<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yamashita’s
gold glistens, then vanishes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yet another
bioluminescent blur<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beyond the
precipice of the abyssal plain<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where spider
crabs bide their time<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And
searchlights dissolve like sugar photophores<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The curve of
your back<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your pearldiver
skin<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Freezeframes
in front of me as I fumble<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Dusktreading
and night terrorfoaming<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Over angry
tectonic ridges, rusted warships<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the
barnacled skeletons of young men pressed into death<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
By imperial
dreams and decrees<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And yet
still you urge me forward through the cross current<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beckoning
with a supple serenity to surrender<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
To the will
of the waves and the boundaries of reason<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When one
climactic zone transitions to another<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Do we change
our name or simply inch forward as we are<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">それ</span><i> . . . </i><o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Why don’t
you turn around to face me<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As I flail
about amidst the black surge<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Edo-wan at
dusk is lonely beneath the skin<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At odds with
the detritus below and the neon crescent wrench<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That grasps
it tight at night<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When the
denizens of the depths recoil from reach<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Why don’t
you relight, ignite, send a pulse, a flair<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At least
make clear<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That your
crystal tips and grey-eyed equanimity<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Were no
deep-sea deceit, midwater mindfuck mirage<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Minding your
own business on the seabed is no trouble at all<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When you
were there all along and doing it anyway<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Skindiving
in Tokyo Bay<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Past the
shored-up satiety of Odaiba<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Past the
rusted-through remnants of the showy and the Showa<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Past the
echo-bait of subterranean human mazecraft<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Past where the
plateau pauses, then drops into the deep beyond<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That place
where the sawn edges of the Pacific parted ways<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Leaving only
memories of electric Taisho and the swordsharpeners of the Shitamachi<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Blades
brandished to keep the merchants at bay<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Skindiving
through the black machinery of now<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Moorings
loosened and discarded<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Caution fed to
the crabs, eyeless in the cold abyss<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Reaching out
to your lips with ease and understated grace<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">それ</span><i> . . . </i><o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shreds of
red sky refract through the surface zone<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Twilight
ignites with new dreams and tender memories<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sexy exits,
sleek décolage<br />
Runway lights through the depths signalling a bridge beckoning to the abyssal
plain below<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beyond the
Minamibōsō
boundary and into the open ocean<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where no
one will dare follow<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where
drunken <i>tengu</i> sharks swim sentinel<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Round the
rusted hulls of prison ships and drowned memories<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
That place
where chemosynthesis keeps me warm<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Where all
our junctions jut out to face the spectral surface<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The weight
of four million square feet of sensory overload<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Rolls my
eyes back as my back imitates the nautilus, twirling and fading into you<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And through
the midwater zone<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Curviline
contours shade in and out of sight<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beyond the
convection of currents into the discrete vocabulary of night<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ribbons,
cloaks and shields tumble to the depths<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As my senses
lose all defences<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And sea and
sky turn black and fiery phosphorescent<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I’ve seen
you here in the sightless jagged caverns of the hadal zone<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shimmering
self, alive as angry weight attacks my eardrums<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sparks
flying upwards, depth charges blowing holes through my sense of space and
self-imagination<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
No choice at
all but to follow the pinpricks of light and crawling cloudbursts of belief<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Maps of the
universe splashed across the void<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In violent
disarray<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">それ</span><i> . . . </i><o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The depths
breathe and churn<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Viperfish
stir from their sleep<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shipmarks
dissipate in distant darkness<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We venture
on inch by endless inch<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your
tenderness and spark my only beacons<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your sonar
my only sight<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Nothing left
but to face the light<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And dive
deep through rifts and currents<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ocean sinew
unconstrained by mind or pressure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And then the
<i>tsubo</i> markers of the ocean floor open
outwards<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
With soft
landings in sheets of silt ensured<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Alone
together enveloped in empty space<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Freezeframe,
endgame, freeze still, stay the same<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There’s no
pain in paralysis<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Grasping
hold of the moment and never letting go<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Even as the
silt and sediment scratch the membrane, erode the nerve endings<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Hollow reeds
bending and snapping<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Broken on
our piece of seabed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
All my
fibres, all your curves, connected and alive<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Safely sheltered
from the angry currents above<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Beyond the
ridges and rift valleys that tear at our senses<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Leaving only
echoes of their teeth-grinding tension<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Growing
softer and more distant<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As we settle
in for the long night<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Shore . . .
no shore<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sure . . .
unsure<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">それ</span><i> . . . </i><o:p></o:p><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">あれ</span><br /><i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
This poem was written for the <a href="http://www.milezerodance.com/" target="_blank">Mile Zero Dance</a>'s show <i><a href="http://www.milezerodance.com/season/performances/without-borders/" target="_blank">Without Borders</a></i> - and specifically for a dance-spoken word collaboration with the amazing dancer/choreographer/human being <a href="http://dance-conspiracy.org/" target="_blank">Jen Mesch</a>. It was performed with Jen at <a href="http://www.dc3artprojects.com/" target="_blank">dc3 Art Projects</a> in Edmonton on February 20 and 21, 2015.</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-71024883126217528942015-02-04T14:32:00.001-07:002015-11-10T22:17:06.932-07:00A Poem About Heartbreak<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qka3dbePbBw/VNKPyAX2UxI/AAAAAAAABIk/vS5G6QKi2Nc/s1600/Bullet%2BAnt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qka3dbePbBw/VNKPyAX2UxI/AAAAAAAABIk/vS5G6QKi2Nc/s1600/Bullet%2BAnt.jpg"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
I could
couch this poem in any manner of metaphor</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Take your
pick<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
How about
plate tectonics?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Crust rent asunder – the substrate to your super-narrative<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
How about butterflies?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Forty-eight
hours to live and wreak havoc on everything around you<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Or bullet
ants<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Woven into
an Amazonian initiation glove<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Temporarily
tranquilized by shamanic smoke<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Only to wake
up in a biting stinging frenzy of self-actualization<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But no<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You don’t
deserve literary devices<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Poetic
subterfuge will simply edify your ego further<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Truth is<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You’re your
own natural disaster<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Unworthy of insect similes or geological symbolism<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
After all the ant dies when the glove is discarded</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
butterfly falters and fades, leaving only melted wings and empty cocoons in its wake<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Plates collide with continents<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But you get
to go on being you, insouciant you<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You and your
Gospel of Luke and your daddy-issue flotsam<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yahweh, Vader – take your fucking pick<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s all the
same to the plebs left behind<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The unseen
casualties of your catastrophegraph<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now just
another set of muddy footprints<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
On my weather-worn
tatami<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yet another prick through the packing sheets of snap-crackle-pop monogamy<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Calculated
breakups in the name of destiny fulfillment<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
No arc, no
character development, no shimmering soliloquies<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I’m not your
plot device – and you don’t get your pick of mine<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And if your
dreams of love and heroism simply shrivel on the vine<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Then this shitty
little poem about heartbreak</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Has fulfilled
its fuction as assigned</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-50000474060179434082014-12-31T16:01:00.000-07:002014-12-31T16:59:23.581-07:00(Poem) The Sacred<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T47zBJRT4gM/VKR_v9HP7nI/AAAAAAAABHg/vHK9mV7rmT4/s1600/Allisonpincherphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T47zBJRT4gM/VKR_v9HP7nI/AAAAAAAABHg/vHK9mV7rmT4/s1600/Allisonpincherphoto.jpg" height="398" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Allison Nichols, December 30, 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The sacred heartbreakers are codebreakers, armed with usernames and passwords<br />
They enter, scramble with our circuitry and steal our SIM cards<br />
Leaving us to writhe and reel through the consequences<br />
Of their consequence-free cosmos<br />
They leave us wondering why the hell we invited them in in the first place<br />
And in doing so remind us of why we live and breathe<br />
And of the sacred faults in our holy programming<br />
We are alive - and that's kind of our own problem<br />
We feel, we crave connectivity - and that's most definitely our own problem<br />
We seek to share with others the fiber of our fabric - and this is definitely a terrible idea<br />
And lest we forget, the sacred heartbreakers remind us of the futility of feeling<br />
And hoist down our hearts from their swingsets on the ceiling<br />
<br />
The sacred serenades emanate through iTunes and AM radio<br />
Country boys from Kainai and Cowley through the Crowsnest Pass<br />
All telling us to head on down to the riverside<br />
With that ever-elusive gurrrrrl with five R's, double-D's and those jeans painted on<br />
Leaving us wondering what river I'm supposed to turn off at<br />
And whether the Oldman River Dam is a good scenic place to have sex<br />
Why not? The water gushes, rushes and electrifies<br />
Together with the towering turbines amid the fescue grass of the southwest<br />
While the wind drowns out the drone of Chantelle J, Mountain Radio<br />
Stopping here was the best idea ever<br />
And lest we forget, that J-shaped scar from that twilight tumble<br />
Will snap us back in a second without a fumble<br />
<br />
The sacred coping mechanisms are always alive and ready<br />
Kicking into action whenever we need them the least - and the most<br />
They embarrass us in public, forever reminding us<br />
Of how fucking underwhelming our better angels can be<br />
Especially when they're drunk, stoned and overdrawn after a month off their medications<br />
These mechanisms are inevitably embarrassing<br />
Until they remind us of our own humanity, and the humanity of others<br />
Whose better angels' behaviour we're quicker to forgive than our own<br />
It's not our fault we're all walking disasters<br />
In scripture we were rigged for reptilian recoil, and in science built to bloom and bust<br />
And lest we forget, the universe's coping mechanism is simply to keep on exploding and rebuilding<br />
Is that any better than any of ours - or more fulfilling?<br />
<br />
The sacred fallen ones teach us a lesson in humility and focus<br />
Provided we're awake enough to hear it<br />
That guy who fell on his ass on the black ice ahead of us<br />
That sad figure who disappeared in the labyrinth of Lagos after a sweet e-serenade from the son of Sani Abacha<br />
And that nameless crazy lady down in Georgia, Alabama and windswept Wakayama<br />
All telling us to pay a bit more attention than we currently are<br />
And what we might do differently<br />
Buzzfeed tells us to feel smug, but experience dictates otherwise<br />
Reminding us that we're all someone's cautionary tale, their sacred stupid-person<br />
And lest we forget, we all have a rendezvous with destiny<br />
Just around the corner - you'll see<br />
<br />
The sacred walk is the one we all feel compelled to start anew<br />
Every time we buy a new calendar at the mall kiosk<br />
Switching Doctor Seuss with Penguins, Puppies with Monster Trucks, all as arbitrary as ourselves<br />
And each new skeleton we grow every seven years or so seem to irk onlookers all the more<br />
Even as we're supposed to be striding through the Serengeti stronger and more springingly than before<br />
The sacred walk is one to be taken as lightly and lotus-footedly as possible<br />
Shedding the scorns and scars of bygone barfights and blunt force trauma<br />
Marking our own time, righting wrongs and wronging rites of passage<br />
Refusing to scream for attention through the unforgiving lens of McLuhan's bastard Zuckerberg baby<br />
The medium is the medium<br />
And lest we forget, see Thermodynamic Law Number Three<br />
And absolute zero is wherever we make it be<br />
<br />
The sacred ones are our fellow voyagers<br />
The wondrous weirdos that latch onto our lives and hold on for dear life<br />
And in doing so become us<br />
Their joy is ours, their pain is ours<br />
Their neuroses and infantile indignation become the burden we grit and bear<br />
Part of the package deal lest we not be party to their dance parties and dazzling states of grace<br />
We are the ones that made it, the infinitely improbable<br />
The monkey that made his name in musical theatre, the swan that survived the storm<br />
Still pretty ugly yet mighty pretty; barefoot, pregnant and full of rage<br />
Full of resolutions and revolutions, depending on your whereabouts amid that yawning gulf between Tofino and Tegucigalpa<br />
And lest we forget, those eight bright Edmonton lights stubbed out in a terrible December flash<br />
Now seared immortal in our tribal memory cache<br />
<br />
Here we all are, those who stand, those departed<br />
I love you all - and on this I've only started.<br />
<br />
<i>- Pincher Creek, AB, December 31, 2014</i>Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-51373234964617807152014-12-24T00:05:00.000-07:002014-12-24T11:01:28.748-07:0010 Sexiest World Leaders of 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FmH9YkgSSB0/VJpj68bY1dI/AAAAAAAABHQ/T2MO07yRR1I/s1600/HelleXavier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FmH9YkgSSB0/VJpj68bY1dI/AAAAAAAABHQ/T2MO07yRR1I/s1600/HelleXavier.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
It's time again for that most hallowed of Brush Talk traditions: the annual Top 10 Sexiest World Leaders contest!<br />
<br />
All in all it was a rough year for many of <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2014/02/10-sexiest-world-leaders-of-2014.html" target="_blank">2014's Top Ten</a>. Of the previous ten, four (Bratušek, Tymoshenko, Yingluck, and Touré) have since been put out to pasture (some democratically, some otherwise), and Haitian President Michel Martelly's days in the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince may be numbered, with ongoing protests and a <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/haiti-first-family-under-corruption-probe-cloud/2568952.html" target="_blank">corruption probe</a> threatening his tenure. Meanwhile, Mexico's <i>guapo</i> president Enrique Peña Nieto has lost a great deal of lustre over his country's <a href="http://www.coha.org/the-mexican-media-blackout-pena-nietos-war-on-bad-press/" target="_blank">declining press freedom</a>, a recent mass kidnapping of students in Iguala and frequent gaffes, while Italy's young premier Matteo Renzi faces an uphill battle against his country's old guard.<br />
<br />
This year's list features an almost entirely new lineup from previous years. While Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is still a hottie, after two years atop the sexy list it was time to move on from the Kingdom of Bhutan. And while Albanian prime minister Edi Rama continues to charm, most recently taking steps to improve his country's long frictious relations with neighbouring Serbia, we decided it was time for fresh blood. Except for Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is simply too glamourous and wonderful to leave off the list. She makes the Top 10 for the third straight year.<br />
<br />
It should perhaps be mentioned that when we're talking about 'sexiness' we're not simply talking physical attractiveness. Nope, we may be shallow here but we're not <i>that</i> shallow. Our contestants are rated on a totally non-objective range of criteria, including looks, fashion sense, personal charm and magnetism, and, wherever possible, competence in their line of work. Also, pains have been taken to assure that all regions of the world are adequately represented, although this has never proved to be a problem in these posts. So without any further ado, here is our Top Ten International Political Hottie list for 2015!<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Helle Thorning-Schmidt</span></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mllgBmeuR0A/VJiwOFgonvI/AAAAAAAABE0/DL_BXH_Wjkw/s1600/Helle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mllgBmeuR0A/VJiwOFgonvI/AAAAAAAABE0/DL_BXH_Wjkw/s1600/Helle.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: dagbladdet.no</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Why HTS again? Well, in addition to being arguably Europe's most glamourous sitting head of government, Denmark's Gucci-toting, Obama-selfie-snapping PM has a lot to show for her three years in office. Under her leadership, Denmark has emerged as one of Europe's best-performing economies, with an unemployment rate half the eurozone average, the lowest youth unemployment rate in the EU, and a <a href="http://www.thelocal.dk/20141029/denmark-best-in-europe-for-doing-business" target="_blank">global ranking of fourth</a> in 'ease in doing business' (best in Europe). The country also continues to lead by example in combating climate change, with Denmark now on course to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.<br />
<br />
Of course Give-em Hell Helle hasn't been without her controversies. Obama selfies aside, the centre-left leader has antagonized many on the left in her country by clashing with teachers' unions, cutting corporate taxes, and overseeing the proposed sale of Denmark natural gas consortium DONG Energy shares to Goldman Sachs. Up for reelection in 2015, she currently trails behind Lars Løkke Rasmussen of the centre-right Venstre Party. But with an impressive list of achievements under her designer belt, Gucci Helle still enjoys substantial support - and is certainly not to be discounted.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Xavier Bettel</span></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_S7kry-UQYg/VJixJCAm4MI/AAAAAAAABE8/joUcDM-i1kQ/s1600/Xavier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_S7kry-UQYg/VJixJCAm4MI/AAAAAAAABE8/joUcDM-i1kQ/s1600/Xavier.jpg" height="265" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: purple-monkey.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Luxembourg? Really? C'mon, I thought we were sticking with <i>real</i> countries here! Well, aside from having roughly similar sizes and populations, the postage stamp-sized Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also shares a certain va-va-voom factor with the similarly liliputian Kingdom of Bhutan. Instead of a smoking hot Dragon King, Luxembourg has as head of state the dashing Grand Duke Henri, who has presided over this curious vestige of the Holy Roman Empire since the death of his father Jean in 2000. But while the Grand Duke might be a looker, no man has of late been turning heads in the tiny country like its dreamy head of government, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who in December 2013 became only the third openly gay world leader in modern history.<br />
<br />
So how is Bettel faring thus far as Luxembourg's PM? Hard to tell. Luxembourg remains the second wealthiest country in the world by per-capital GDP (trailing only Qatar), with it and Singapore the only non-oil-based economies in the top five. Moreover, the <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/lux-leaks-jean-claude-juncker-facing-credibility-crisis-after-latest-luxembourg-tax-avoidance-1473543" target="_blank">Luxembourg Tax Avoidance Controversy</a> that dogged his predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker appears to have had little impact on his popularity. And in August of this year the country was treated to the <a href="http://www.wort.lu/en/panorama/xavier-bettel-to-tie-the-knot-luxembourg-prime-minister-engaged-to-be-married-53f59a46b9b3988708058726" target="_blank">PM's wedding</a> to longtime architect partner Gaultier Destenay. That and, well, how hard can it be to govern a place as small and placid as Luxembourg? Well, giventhe spectacular implosion of Iceland (a country with a population even smaller than the Grand Duchy) in the global financial crisis, that the political fallout that ensued, perhaps it's not as easy as it looks.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Joko Widodo</span></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5OZIyzQCz0/VJj2lbXRoaI/AAAAAAAABFM/8cDsSVEEGd4/s1600/Widodo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5OZIyzQCz0/VJj2lbXRoaI/AAAAAAAABFM/8cDsSVEEGd4/s1600/Widodo.jpg" height="184" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: metalsucks.net</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Given the fact that Indonesia is a) the world's fourth most populous country; b) the world's third-largest democracy; and c) the world's most populous Muslim country, it's remarkable how little media attention the country's 2014 presidential elections received. While John Oliver famously lambasted the US media for ignoring India's general election (before Prime Minister Narendra Modi became a post-election neoliberal icon), the Indian election was a relative global media circus next to Indonesia's, which went by practically without a murmur. That said, the Southeast Asian nation's 2014 presidential election was a refreshingly placid and uncontroversial affair, which, given the country's relatively recent history of violent coups, ethnic cleansing, communal violence and systematic kleptocracy, is a refreshing sign of a maturing democracy that has come a long way from the end of the ugly Suharto era.<br />
<br />
Indonesia's newly minted president Joko Widodo, or 'Jokowi' as he is universally known, shares Modi's rags-to-riches story, but that's where the similarities between the two leaders ends. Whereas Modi's past is clouded by controversy and his present tinged with strident religious nationalism, the colourful former governor of Jakarta appears to be remarkably controversy-free, and his presidential campaign was one centred on pluralism and religious tolerance, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/07/indonesia-election-religious-tensions-201478610125765.html" target="_blank">earning him the ire of the country's Islamists</a> and the support of just about everybody else in a country long fraught by religious and ethnic conflict. He has also pledged to grow the country's economy by <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/24/jokowi-aims-7-percent-annual-growth.html" target="_blank">seven per cent a year for the next three years</a> while continuing to overhaul its strained infrastructure.<br />
<br />
Aside from his humble background as the son of a village furniture maker, he is probably best known for his abiding love of heavy metal, most notably Metallica, Lamb of God, Slayer and Napalm Death, leading <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6214201/joko-widodo-napalm-death-barney-greenway-interview" target="_blank">LoG frontman Randy Blythe to dub him</a> the "World's First Heavy Metal President." And at age 53 he looks at most half his age. Guess metal really does keep you young!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AW6i8mZRAYY/VJkEddrv5aI/AAAAAAAABFc/Bh3EWIGXQuc/s1600/Cristina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AW6i8mZRAYY/VJkEddrv5aI/AAAAAAAABFc/Bh3EWIGXQuc/s1600/Cristina.jpg" height="210" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: pri.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Argentina's Iron Lady and <i>Presidente de la República </i>since 2010, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has perhaps been something of an oversight in the last two years' top ten lists - if for no other reason that she seems like too obvious a choice. Style-wise she falls into the same category as Denmark's governing glamourpuss, with whom she shares a love of designer labels and <i>haute couture, </i>but Argentina's cougar-in-chief's sexy points stem mainly from her status as a fierce, take-no-shit political warrior with few equals. While Argentina's inflation-ridden economy remains as wobbly as ever, the widow of former president Néstor Kirchner has proven herself to be a fighter equal to her late husband, taking on <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-07/argentinas-vulture-paul-singer-is-wall-street-freedom-fighter" target="_blank">billionaire US hedge fund managers</a> and <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/david-cameron-and-cristina-fernandez-de-kirchner-diverging-voices-on-terror-and-extremism-in-the-modern-world/5406474" target="_blank">British prime ministers</a> with equal aplomb.<br />
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Of all of Argentina's leading lady's jousting matches, the most spectacular may have been her KO against the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known to the world as Pope Francis. While the current pontiff has made admirable, if tentative, steps towards softening the Church of Rome's hardline stance against homosexuality, it was the same Argentine cleric who took to the ring against Señora Kirchner on the issue of same-sex marriage in Argentina. She won, making Argentina the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage, and in doing so just might have helped push the Vatican's sexiest virgin in a more liberal direction. <i>Gracias, Cristina</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Michelle Bachelet</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jDX9dWZCELs/VJkMNpUiKZI/AAAAAAAABFs/kzQ_8-9q0mA/s1600/Michelle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jDX9dWZCELs/VJkMNpUiKZI/AAAAAAAABFs/kzQ_8-9q0mA/s1600/Michelle.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: paula.cl</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Remaining in South America's <i>Cono Sur</i>, 2014 saw the return to power of another one of the continent's leading female political pugilists, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, after four years in opposition. While on the surface, the hippie chick-turned-political refugee-turned-bookish socialist politician might seem like the polar opposite to her <i>Rioplatense</i> counterpart, the Chilean president is no less of a fighter. In her first term as president, Bachelet wasted no time exorcising the country's Pinochet-era ghosts by refusing to grant the late dictator a state funeral following his death in 2006, and three years later opening Santiago's <a href="http://www.museodelamemoria.cl/" target="_blank">Museum of Memory and Human Rights</a> - a museum dedicated to documenting the horrors of Pinochet's 16-and-a-half year dictatorship.<br />
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After four years out to pasture, Señora Bachelet appears to have lost none of her old fire. Her current legislative priorities include <a href="http://panampost.com/panam-staff/2014/06/26/bachelet-to-redact-chiles-abortion-prohibition-before-end-of-2014/" target="_blank">legalizing abortion</a> in this longstanding bastion of conservative Catholicism (abortion remains banned under all circumstances in Chile) and educational reforms aimed at narrowing the country's still pronounced socioeconomic divide. At age 63, the guitar-strumming, poetry-loving physician remains one of South America's most eligible bachelorettes. Just be prepared to take a back seat to her three children and her beloved country.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6. Taavi Rõivas</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9n9wZ_8iUQ/VJnGUQoG8cI/AAAAAAAABF8/ZZdoguOSb08/s1600/Roivas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9n9wZ_8iUQ/VJnGUQoG8cI/AAAAAAAABF8/ZZdoguOSb08/s1600/Roivas.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: LinkedIn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Estonia may not immediately spring to mind when you think of 'sexy' countries, but the small Baltic state has certainly earned its share of coolness cred since gaining independence from the USSR in 1991. From a melancholy backwater of the Soviet Union, the country has since emerged as an economic and cultural powerhouse, with the <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303734204577464343888754210" target="_blank">highest concentration of tech start-ups</a> anywhere in the world and one of the world's most exciting <a href="http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/global/1098116/estonias-fast-rising-music-scene-gets-its-shine-at-tallinn-music" target="_blank">contemporary music scenes</a>. And while the country took a severe beating during the the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, Estonia's healthy business climate, strong ties to Scandinavia, and growing tourism industry helped make its recession far less painful than many of its fellow ex-Eastern Bloc countries.<br />
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If geek-chic has become Estonia's new <i>modus vivendi</i>, the country definitely has the right leadership for the job. In the largely ceremonial role of president Estonia has a bow-tied Bill Nye lookalike named Toomas Hendrik Ilves, a social media-obsessed tech maven who famously got into a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/the-president-of-twitter#.ukl8B8YXr" target="_blank">Twitter spat with economist Paul Krugman</a> over Estonia's 2008 austerity program. Meanwhile, this year's parliamentary election brought to power the baby-faced Taavi Rõivas, who at age 35 is currently the EU's youngest head of government. Combining Justin Timberlake's hair, Leo DiCaprio's jawline, and an easy fluency in four languages, Rõivas might just be the dishiest figure on the EU scene. But don't get your hopes up - his marriage to local pop princess Luisa Värk is one the the best-known things about him.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7. Portia Simpson Miller</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bONdTogg0GY/VJnN55FrP-I/AAAAAAAABGM/aKqIPwW9jhI/s1600/PSM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bONdTogg0GY/VJnN55FrP-I/AAAAAAAABGM/aKqIPwW9jhI/s1600/PSM.jpg" height="267" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: pri.org</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When it comes to Gross National Sexy, the land of rum, reggae and rastafarianism has it made. Jamaica may have its problems, but lack of sex appeal has never been among them. From the seductive Irish-influenced lilt of Jamaican English to the island's bad-ass cuisine and its irresistible musical smorgasbord of reggae, ska, dancehall, rocksteady etc., Jamaica oozes sex appeal like few other places. Sadly, however, the island's politics have been decidedly less sexy over the course of the nation's young history, as its diverse economy has long been hampered by corruption and fiscal mismanagement to such an extent that a 2011 revealed that 60 per cent of Jamaicans would, if put to a vote, opt to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009487/We-stayed-Britain-Shock-poll-reveals-60-Jamaicans-think-theyd-better-colony.html" target="_blank">return to direct British rule</a>. Such sentiments are further compounded by the island's stubbornly high rate of violent crime, with poverty and corruption continuing to fuel the country's notorious gang problem.<br />
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Jamaica's current prime minister Portia Simpson Miller represents a significant departure from the island's previous leaders. As the country's first female head of government, Sista P, as she is commonly known, has shown a willingness to swim against the current when dealing with her country's warts. Most notably she has been the first Jamaican leader to <a href="http://www.advocate.com/news/daily-news/2012/01/04/jamaicas-new-female-prime-minister-stands-gay-rights" target="_blank">publicly advocate on behalf of LGBTQ rights</a>, a thorny issue in one of the world's most notoriously homophobic societies. While her performance on this front has been mixed in recent years, her administration has overseen a gradual opening of dialogue with gay rights groups and <a href="http://mg.co.za/multimedia/2014-11-24-homophobic-violence-in-jamaica" target="_blank">reforms aimed at curbing homophobic violence</a>. And at age 69 she still looks glamourous, which helps when you're <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/09/jamaican_prime.php" target="_blank">blowing kisses at LGBTQ rights protesters</a> in New York City.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8. Joseph Kabila</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WN0OHMwowHI/VJn3gIrbvPI/AAAAAAAABGc/hsTLgE7X78c/s1600/Kabila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WN0OHMwowHI/VJn3gIrbvPI/AAAAAAAABGc/hsTLgE7X78c/s1600/Kabila.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: gabonlibre.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unless you're a wannabe mercenary with a serious danger fetish, the Democratic Republic of Congo is about the furthest thing from a sexy tourist destination one could possibly think of. The Central African country formerly known as Zaïre and previously known as the Belgian Congo has for most of its post-independence history been the sum of every negative cliché about the continent, from the cartoonish kleptocracy of dictator Mobutu Sésé Seko to the horrors of the country's two post-Mobutu civil wars, which together resulted in as many as 5.4 million deaths - more than any armed conflict since World War II. Even now, over ten years after the end of the Second Congo War, the eastern regions of Kivu and Ituri remain humanitarian disasters, where rape continues to be employed as a weapon of war with terrifying regularity. Indeed, using the word <i>sexy</i> in the same sentence as the DRC might strike some as inherently in bad taste.<br />
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That said, there once was a time when the nation's capital Kinshasa (formerly Léopoldville) was a hip and happening metropolis known affectionately as 'Kin la Belle' (Kin the Beautiful), which teemed with jazz joints and cafés, even as Mobotu and famously hosted Foreman and Ali for their legendary 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle' bout. And while much of the country remains a humanitarian nightmare, there are signs that life in the capital and other more peaceful regions is returning to normal - such as an <a href="http://www.arise.tv/headline/jazz-in-the-congo-2067" target="_blank">emerging jazz festival in Kinshasa</a>. As for sexy leadership, former guerrilla fighter-turn-president Joseph Kabila is certainly the handsomest head of state the country has had since the assassination of its dapper founding president <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/patrice-lumumba-50th-anniversary-assassination" target="_blank">Patrice Lumumba</a>. While Kabila's 2012 reelection was marred by irregularities, he's been a saint compared to his predecessors - and at the very least is easy on the eyes.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9. Atifete Jahjaga / Tatiana Turanskaya</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4GfpLyrl-9o/VJn8tkip8mI/AAAAAAAABGs/GMRaxBpGhOo/s1600/AtiTat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4GfpLyrl-9o/VJn8tkip8mI/AAAAAAAABGs/GMRaxBpGhOo/s1600/AtiTat.jpg" height="230" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sources: gazetadita.al / iefimerida.gr</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the ninth spot we have a split decision between two leaders whose countries fall into the category known to political scientists as 'places that don't exist'. The post-Cold War disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia left in its wake a bizarre assortment of self-declared nation states ranging in size from Kazakhstan (about four times the size of Texas) to places small enough to defend with a single large man with a Kalashnikov and a pack of rottweilers. It is into this latter category that fall the republics of Kosovo and Transnistria, two 'countries' that remain unrecognized by either much or nearly all of the world. On this front, Kosovo is on slightly more secure ground. Nearly nine years after its declaration of independence in 2008, it enjoys full diplomatic recognition from most developed western countries, including most of Europe. Transnistria, on the other hand, only enjoys recognition from fellow unrecognized breakaway republics Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia, although Russia, which maintains a troop presence in the region, continues to accord it '<a href="https://www.globalpolicy.org/nations-a-states/emerging-states--claims-to-autonomy-and-independence/transdniestria/50025-russia-ready-to-compromise-with-moldova-on-transnistrian-conflict.html?itemid=1449" target="_blank">special status</a>' - whatever that means.<br />
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Transnistria and Kosovo also share the distinction of being led by two of the youngest female political leaders around. In 2013, the parliament of Moldova's breakaway eastern sliver selected as its prime minister the 40-year-old Tatiana Turanskaya, a <a href="http://memim.com/tatiana-turanskaya.html" target="_blank">former city administrator and mother of two</a>, which is about all we could find out about her. (Concrete English-language information on the secretive Transnistrian Republic seems to be hard to come by.) More, however, is known about her Kosovar counterpart Major General Atifete Jahjaga, the country's former Deputy Director of Police who in 2011 became the region's youngest and first female head of state at age 35. While her ambition to move Kosovo towards EU membership might seem a long way off, she looks to have at least secured her country's place <a href="http://www.president-ksgov.net/?page=2,6,3616" target="_blank">within the International Olympic Committee</a>. Which is more than can be said for Transnistria, whose athletes have no option but to compete under the Moldovan flag.<br />
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Jahjaga and Turanskaya are both lookers - and therefore both make the list, but for all intents and purposes Jahjaga's worldly charisma and tough cop image puts her on top in the beautiful-women-running-tiny-states-struggling-for recognition category. Turanskaya appears to be more of Eastern European Danielle Smith than anything - possibly ready to cross the floor to Russia or Moldova at any moment.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10. Park Geun-hye</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ffsT5x7BFro/VJpfYUgVJ9I/AAAAAAAABG8/h0mjQrhiz3I/s1600/Park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ffsT5x7BFro/VJpfYUgVJ9I/AAAAAAAABG8/h0mjQrhiz3I/s1600/Park.jpg" height="320" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: New York Times</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Of all the innumerable US-backed dictators of the late-twentieth century, few cut as jaunty a figure as South Korean strongman Park Chung-hee, who dominated his country's political scene from 1961 until his assassination in 1979. A former Imperial Japanese military officer during the colonial era who seized power in a 1961 coup, General Park is simultaneously loathed by modern-day Koreans for constructing a police responsible for a laundry list of human rights violations in the 1970s and 1980s (including the infamous Gwangju Massacre of 1980), and revered for his instrumental role in the country's spectacular economic ascendancy from the 1960s onward. Koreans' conflicted relationship with their former dictator has been thrown into sharp focus in recent years with the dramatic ascension of his daughter, Park Geun-hye, to the office he once held, making her the first female leader of any of East Asia's 'tiger' economies.<br />
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A little-known fact about South Korea's sitting president is that in 1974, as a 22-year-old university student in France, she suddenly found herself in the official role of First Lady following the death of her mother in a botched assassination attempt on the president - a direct link to the country's most autocratic period that makes many Koreans uncomfortable. But while her administration took a beating in the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster (although her <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-19/an-sk-president-apologises-for-handling-of-ferry-disaster2c-di/5461826" target="_blank">decisive response to the disaster</a> earned her many plaudits) and more recently has been shaken by an <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/12/12/no-festive-cheer-as-influence-scandal-shakes-blue-house/" target="_blank">influence-peddling scandal</a> within her Saenuri Party, she remains East Asia's most powerful woman according to Forbes Magazine, and her popular nickname 'Queen of Elections' if nothing else confirms her unquestionable commitment to the democratic principles her father once usurped.<br />
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While 'sexy' might not be the right adjective for the stern, buttoned-down mother of the nation, she nonetheless manages to blend Margaret Thatcher's charisma and resolve with the maternal streak of Michelle Bachelet. She remains unmarried, alluding in the past to being '<a href="http://www.plaidavenger.com/leaders/profile/park-geun-hye/" target="_blank">married to South Korea</a>'. It's therefore doubtful that Korea's Iron Lady has a profile on Plenty of Fish, or whatever the Korean equivalent to that is. But with her maximum term in office to expire in 2018, one never knows for sure.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-4008398796624031772014-12-14T12:45:00.000-07:002014-12-16T17:44:52.118-07:00Hey Melanie! (In Loving Memory of an Old Friend)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br>
Hey Melanie<br>
<div>
Yeah you</div>
<div>
You with the fearless eyes and solid gold smile</div>
<div>
You are not forgotten</div>
<div>
Not for an instant</div>
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Your words, etched against time in high school yearbooks</div>
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Imploring me to live life more fully</div>
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Words to live by, words that depth-charge and catapult me now more than ever</div>
<div>
Look at me now, Mel!</div>
<div>
Look at all of us inlet kids</div>
<div>
Scattered like summer driftwood</div>
<div>
But still singingly alive</div>
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Just like that grin of yours</div>
<div>
Never to fade away.</div>
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<br></div>
<div>
Hey Melanie</div>
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You who was always the life of that perpetual party</div>
<div>
Forever the summer of '93</div>
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Can't you hear us?</div>
<div>
We're right behind you, cuz us inlet kids never quit</div>
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Can't you hear the house band?</div>
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They're not half bad, I think</div>
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With Tyler on drums and Brian D on guitar</div>
<div>
That's me on the microphone</div>
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And that song? That's the one your electric spirit</div>
<div>
And that note you passed me in grade 9 French class inspired</div>
<div>
Riotous times ensue</div>
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With you at the centre, egging us on</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Hey Melanie</div>
<div>
Yeah you, soul sister from the straits</div>
<div>
Central Saanich will never be the same</div>
<div>
Without your raven hair, raucous laugh and roiling spirit</div>
<div>
Durrance Lake is still the place to be in summer</div>
<div>
'Cept the trees cinched in an inch or two</div>
<div>
With news of your departure</div>
<div>
An endless shout still echoes through the rainforest</div>
<div>
And amid the rocks and stones of Island View</div>
<div>
The beauty became you, and you it</div>
<div>
Distinctions now melted away.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Hey Melanie</div>
<div>
Don't you know that smile of yours</div>
<div>
Still ignites the night sky</div>
<div>
Over the island canvas of my childhood</div>
<div>
Paths long diverged but never forgotten</div>
<div>
They say you can never go back home</div>
<div>
But us Brentwood babies never truly leave</div>
<div>
That place where summer nights are long</div>
<div>
But memories linger longer still</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">We'll see you again w</span>hen all us inlet kids<br>
join you on the beachhead of the day after<br>
fire alight, spitting at the moon, rainclouds running scared<br>
with you in the middle, forever keepin' in real<br>
<br>
Hey Melanie<br>
Don't you know on the island there are no goodbyes<br>
Only catch-you-laters<br>
But until then our hearts will cry out for your sassy smile<br>
All our thoughts and candlelit <i>pujas </i>cast loose upon the ocean<br>
For you to catch on the other shore<br>
Eternity begins tomorrow - not that long to wait really<br>
But until then, stay warm and be loved<br></div><div>And don't let go</div><div>Cuz we sure as hell won't</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-37202436670905001952014-12-01T23:17:00.002-07:002014-12-03T14:50:56.450-07:006 PR lessons from clinical depression (or "How mental illness made me a better communicator")<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality."</i><br />
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This very telling quote is by author, journalist and mental health advocate Andrew Solomon, from his deeply moving TED lecture entitled <i><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_depression_the_secret_we_share?language=en#t-691329" target="_blank">Depression: The Secret We Share</a></i>. It was midsummer of this year when I first heard the lecture, and at the time I was in the midst of the deepest, most serious bout of depression I have ever experienced. For whatever reason, Solomon's lecture struck a chord in me like nothing I'd yet heard on the subject of depression, and for a few days I listened to it over and over, latching myself onto the man's pristine prose and light-hearted pathos as though it were a life raft. It felt like a roadmap out of my malaise.<br />
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Here is the video. I highly recommend it - whether you're depressed or not.<br />
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In May of this year I announced to the world, through this very blog no less, that I was "going it alone" as an independent PR contractor. It had been tumultuous and stressful spring, but one from out of which seem to spring unexpected opportunities, and feeling adventurous at the time I embraced them. And for the first month of my voyage into the seas of freelance work, all seemed to go well. It didn't last.<br />
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The other thing that happened to me at around the same time I left my old job at the airport is that my doctor recommended that I try going off my anti-anxiety medications. I had been prescribed Duloxetine about two years previous during a time of similarly high stress, and I had been taking it religiously ever since in what had ended up being two years of tremendous professional growth and productivity. Why I thought this was a good idea at this turning point in my professional life I still can figure out, but I took my doctor's advice. This, it turned out, was a colossal mistake.<br />
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By the end of May there were plenty of outward signs that my overall mental state had deteriorated. It began with seemingly constant memory lapses, lapses that I simply put down to the stress of client-hunting and financial uncertainty. But by the end of June things had deteriorated to such an extent that I could no longer be blind to what was going on. Work assignments that would have been a breeze months before became epic struggles. All I wanted to do was sleep and hide from the world. My emotional outbursts became more and more extreme. My only moments of reprieve were swimming, running and walks with the dogs in the river valley.<br />
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Amazingly enough in retrospect, it wasn't until the first few weeks of July that I came face to face with the true depth of my depression, and when, like Andrew Solomon in his personal account in his book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Noonday-Demon-Atlas-Depression/dp/0684854678" target="_blank">The Noonday Demon</a></i>, I found himself completely paralyzed - and reached out to my father for help. This was the start of a long climb out of the abyss I had found myself. I found myself a new doctor and I began once again with the medications and the therapy, realizing only then that I would probably have to be on some sort of mood stabilizer for the rest of my life.<br />
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I also returned to the job market, figuring that given everything I had been through I was better off in a permanent position with good medical benefits (namely a plan that offered psychological services) and a paycheque I could count on every other week. After several months of job-hunting I figured I would have to take the next semi-decent thing on offer and then hold tight until I found something better. Instead, I landed in a fantastic position that thus far (it's only been three weeks mind you) appeals to me more than any job I've had up to now.<br />
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I'm back. A little shaken up still, but I'm back. The vitality I so sorely lacked this summer is back in full force. I'm writing again, back in classes (finishing the PR department I had to put the kibosh on in my previous job due to the onerous commute), involved in the spoken word/poetry scene and in far more of a mood to socialize than I've been in a long time. But my climb out from the abyss this summer has also meant mending relationships strained by my moods. The only way truly to break free from my summer of hurt was to be open and frank about what I had gone through, and in doing so fire a broadside at the taboo that still prevent so many of us about talking frankly about depression.<br />
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The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality. And as a professional writer and communicator, a key component of that vitality is being open about my experience, with the hopes that it might help others who have dealt with - or may currently be dealing with - similar struggles. And in the last few months, in my numerous conversations with friends and colleagues, I've come to several conclusions, namely:<br />
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<li>Most of the really smart people I know feel like they're barely holding it together much of the time.</li>
<li>The communications profession is particularly rife with mood disorders, probably through a combination of the stress that comes with the job and the emotionally sensitive nature of the type of people generally drawn to the profession.</li>
<li>People are generally forgiving when it comes to this sort of thing. And if they're not, chances are they're not people you want in your life anyway. In other words, there's nothing like a serious bout of depression to tell you who your real friends are.</li>
<li>We all medicate. Be it uppers, downers, booze, weed, obsessive exercise, RPG games, work, reality TV, porn, Pinterest - we're all on drugs of one form or another.</li>
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But enough about me. What can we, as public relations practitioners, take away from our struggles on the fringes of mental health so as to make the world a better place, and be better at our jobs. Because ever since returning to the work world with a refreshed mind, body and soul, I've honestly felt like I'm better at my job than I was before. Could it be that going through what I went through, as unpleasant as it was (and something I wouldn't wish on anybody), was one of those "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" things? I've never been a fan of this cliché, but my bad run of mental health made me, if not stronger, certainly more aware and mentally agile.</div>
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So what were my 'educational takeaways' from this experience? Here's my attempt at distilling them into words. I'll probably have more to add later, but here's what comes to mind now, for what it's worth.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. The truth lies.</span></b></div>
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Any experienced public relations person will tell you that "telling the truth" is only the start of your ethical obligations in the profession. Being honest and transparent is, of course, of vital importance and a baseline requirement of any credible organization, but blurting out truths without framing them in a manner that protects you and your organization is potentially as injurious as lying. Some might interpret this as tacit dishonesty of a sort, but a comparable example would be to rephrase the sentence "We're all going to die" (an indisputable truth) with "We only live ones, so let's make the most of it." Is this a spin? Perhaps, but it's one that we're all better off with.</div>
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Anybody who has ever battled clinical depression will tell you that, when you're in the throes of it, you feel as though a veil has been lifted from you, thereby forcing you to stare unflinchingly at the dark and horrible truths of the world - and of you yourself specifically. And while some of the statements that a depressed person habitually makes are easily refutable (i.e. "Nobody loves me."), others are less easy to fend off, such as "What, concretely speaking, is the point of it all? I'm a mid-level word-monkey who's out of a job - what the hell am I contributing to the well-being of the world?"</div>
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This of course, on a basic level, is true, but at the time it's the equivalent of a company telling its shareholders that "Well, in the fullness of time the sun is going to swell to the size of a supergiant and swallow the four innermost planets of the solar system, incinerating the earth and everyone on it, before going supernova, so what, concretely speaking, is the point of expanding into the European market?" This of course is a caricature, but if nothing else it's made me all the more sensitive to the wording of both internal and external communiqués. The truth lies - this is one of the most impactful statements in Andrew Solomon's TED talk, and one that has stuck with me ever since.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. SWOT analyses are awesome.</span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: bizbingo.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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Anybody with any training in public relations, or has spent enough time in the profession, has at one point or another sat down to do one of these. For those of you unfamiliar with the practice, read my early post entitled '<a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2012/03/if-fictional-characters-conducted-swot.html" target="_blank">If Fictional Characters Conducted SWOT Analyses</a>'. And for those of you who are well versed in them, you may be interested to know that the process is not only a crucial step in writing a communications plan, but also a useful process for bushwhacking your way out of a deep depressive episode.</div>
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Why a SWOT analysis? Simply put, it helps you filter out all the noise that clouds your judgment and keeps you paralyzed while at the same time giving you the 'comforting' base of cold, hard facts devoid of the cloying platitudes of <i>The Secret</i>-style positive affirmations. In other words, it appeals to the emotionally calloused mind of the depressed individual while at the same time offering a way out, and by way of the 'Weaknesses' and 'Threats' boxes you're neither invalidating nor giving undue credence to what the toxic voices in your head are saying. Because if you simply try to wallpaper over those voices with sanctimonious clichés, in my experience you just end up strengthening their resolve.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Aw hell, why not write yourself a whole goddamn communications plan?</span></b></div>
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I didn't actually do this, but I nearly did. I certainly wrote myself elements of one - key messages about myself and all. And all in all, I think this was more helpful than most of the self-help books I picked up and subsequently tossed aside. After a few weeks back on my medications, I felt like I once again had the energy to get up and do something useful towards getting my life and career back on track, and feeling like I was completely out of touch with my profession, the process served as a useful refresher. It also felt more real, like my own personal change management process. In other words, I was determined to sound good until we feel good - or at least have the right messages.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Writing will never let you down.</span></b></div>
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Once it became apparent to me that I was in the midst of a severe depressive episode, one of the first things I did was disentangle myself from as many commitments as a reasonably could. I quit a summer class. I resigned from a board I was heavily involved in at the time. I simply felt I couldn't fulfill the responsibilities I had taken on, and admitting this fact to myself was one of the first steps in acknowledging that what I was dealing with was an illness - not simply a case of head-up-ass syndrome. Like a drug addict entering treatment, it was an acknowledgement of my own weakness and vulnerability - the first step on any road to recovery.</div>
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But at the same time as I was pulling back from my numerous extracurricular activities, I was thoroughly burying myself in my writing - the one place, it seemed, that my brain was still working. I wrote poetry. I revived a novel project I had long abandoned. And I took on new freelance writing projects, projects I knew I could still do a bang-up job on in spite of my fragile state of mind - the type of work I've been doing for ten years now and can virtually do in my sleep. And in my writing work I found a semblance of sanity, and rediscovered my love of words and communication. And from that I started to rebuild my professional life.</div>
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In actual fact, I managed to get quite a lot of work done during the summer, in spite of it all. Much of it I feel was on some sort of automatic pilot, and the fact that I was able to keep moving, albeit slowly, through this morass proved, in the end, to be a source of pride. After all, I could scarcely have been able to do that it was truly sucked at my job. Whether you're deeply depressed or at the peak of mental fitness, write your guts out! I have no doubt that Emily Dickinson would have made a fine PR professional had she had access to the types of treatment that exist today.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Never lose faith in your network.</span></b></div>
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Probably the hardest thing about coming out of my midsummer depression, apart from the job hunt, was the fear I had that my depression had made a mess of my own personal and professional social life. After all, PR people, even the most introverted among us, are at heart social animals whose profession is centred on interpersonal connections and imparting meaning between people. And with Edmonton's marketing and communications community being pretty small and close-knit, I found myself re-entering the workforce with a profound fear that my sudden disappearance from the scene and my failed attempt at going independent would leave me scarlet-lettered in the profession.</div>
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All this turned out to be classic paranoia. One of the worst aspects of depression is that it's an inherently selfish and self-centred condition that causes one to spend an inordinate amount of time fixated on oneself and one's flaws (real and imagined), which to all around you is practically as bad as being a narcissist who is constantly flaunting their positive attributes. In other words, unless your mental state has caused you to behave in a truly egregious matter, chances are you're still regarded in the same light as you were before things began falling apart. To put it bluntly, people don't really pay that much attention to you most of the time, unless you're <i>really </i>out there screwing things up.</div>
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Sure enough, once I had built up the courage to start reconnecting again, it was as though nothing had happened. Moreover, for those with whom I did divulge what I had been through during the summer, the reaction was universally sympathetic, usually followed either by a similar personal account or accounts of people they've known. This is, after all, a line of work full of people who 'feel all the feels', people generally endowed with high levels of emotional intelligence, and as safe a crowd as any for talking frankly about mental illness. That and my poetry circle, of course.</div>
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A good friend and mentor of mine told me early on that whatever happens in this line of work, "The network will provide." And in my own struggles this year I've really come to realize how prescient this remark was. The network did provide, and I am now back on my feet, feeling stronger than ever.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6. We need to be talking about this stuff.</span></b></div>
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As a privileged, educated and well-connected urban professional living in a progressive city and working in a profession dedicated to communicating truth in an emotionally nuanced way, I, if anyone, should feel comfortable talking frankly about ups and downs in my own mental health. And yet I don't. Not really. Even though I live in a country where I enjoy legal protections from discrimination due to mental health, the stigma persists. Even as I write this blog post, the hesitant Piglet archetype lurking in the back of my mind is urging me not to press the 'publish' button. "You don't know what this is going to do to your reputation!" it chirps. "Have you really thought this through?"</div>
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My answer to this is a definitive yes. I have thought this through. This is a post I've been wanting to write for months now, and it's only been my schedule and my cognizance of the persistent taboo around discussions of mental health that have kept me from doing so. But I truly believe that as professional communicators, we have a duty to talk frankly about depression and other mental health issues (bipolarity, BPD, OCD and so on). It is estimated that <a href="http://www.cmha.ca/media/fast-facts-about-mental-illness/#.VH1DS2TF8vF" target="_blank">one out of five of Canadians</a> will personally experience mental illness in their lifetime. That means that not only one out of five of our fellow PR professionals will go through it, but that a full 20% of our external and internal publics will. That's a hell of a lot of people!</div>
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I am fortunate that I now work for an organization that not only provides a stellar health plan for its employees that includes mental health care, but one that also 'walks the talk' through active promotion of health and wellness (including mental health) to its staff and is also on the frontline in training community support workers to help the most vulnerable people in this province - and help empower them economically. Awareness of mental illness continues to increase in our society, and it is heartening to see more and more employers taking the problem seriously. But at the same time, the taboo around disclosing such conditions to anyone other than a clinical psychologist behind a closed door persists, and it is up to people like us to 'push the needle' big-time on this issue.</div>
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And like any paradigm shift, it seems to me that it needs to start with us, among ourselves as a professional community. I know for a fact that I'm far from the only professional communicator who has struggled with clinical depression or worse. We are a sensitive, highly-strung bunch as a profession with a penchant towards workaholism, insufficient sleep and one or two extra glasses of wine at the end of a long event that we perhaps don't need. And a lot of us are prone to an acute sense of isolation (especially those of us who specialize in writing) that creates the perfect breeding ground for all manner of mental malaise. We talk a good talk, but lots of us are kind of a mess deep down.</div>
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My challenge to you all is this: let's keep it real when it comes to depression. Let's actively engage in conversation about it, whether that means being frank about our own struggles or acknowledging those of others - and prioritizing the promotion of mental health and wellbeing in our work. As a person who has been through a nasty spell of it and come out the other end, I'm extraordinarily thankful to my family, friends and colleagues who have stood by me and helped me put my life back together. And I'm also more determined than ever than ever to use my position to help make a difference - and that has to start telling my own story.</div>
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A number of years ago a campaign entitled <a href="http://1000conversations.ca/?m=200906" target="_blank">1,000 Conversations</a>, spearheaded by <a href="http://www.ncsa.ca/online/" target="_blank">Native Counselling Services of Alberta</a> (through its National Day of Healing and Reconciliation event-planning department), set out to trigger a nationwide wave of conversations about truth and reconciliation in relation to past injustices committed on Canadian soil - primarily the Indian Residential School System but also the internment of Japanese Canadians and other skeletons in Canada's closet. Among the project's greatest champions were CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers (who this May was appointed <a href="http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/cbc-s-shelagh-rogers-named-university-of-victoria-chancellor-1.1088613" target="_blank">chancellor of the University of Victoria</a>), a woman who in recent years has gone public about <a href="http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2008/05/06/turning_on_the_light_to_deal_with_their_demons.html" target="_blank">her own struggles with depression</a> - which she has likened to "sliding into caves of emptiness." </div>
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To my mind we need something akin to the 1,000 Conversations campaign for sufferers of depression and the like - a consciousness-raising campaign aimed at ending the stigma once and for all. And if anybody's going to spearhead something like this, it's people like us PR folks. Not that I'm necessarily offering myself up for the job. After all I've got a new job to focus on and a school program to finish - not to mention a poor, neglected blog to revive. Down the road, who knows? But for the time being, I float the idea out there for all it's worth.</div>
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The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and we communicators are in the vitality business. The news we communicate isn't always good news and we're certainly not in the business of spinning bad news as good. But it is our job to empower our publics, internal and external alike, with calls to action and offer solutions. And the more we can collectively chip away at the taboo surrounding depression and other forms of mental illness, the more empowered we'll all be in our efforts to elucidate and punch through the noise.<br />
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(Special thanks to Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams' <i>Hitchhiker</i> series for his timely visual appearances in this text. Even though I can't lay claim to a brain the size of a planet, I still feel your pain!)</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-89907894955412694222014-10-24T14:43:00.000-06:002014-10-24T14:43:38.136-06:00(Poème) Celui qui me poursuit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Celui qui me poursuit</div>
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s'agit de ma maladie</div>
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et dès minuit</div>
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il me prend</div>
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avec toute sa force</div>
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et m'écorche de mon écorce</div>
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On connait bien ce noirceur</div>
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à travers la poésie</div>
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par les funèbres d'Emily</div>
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et les cadavres dans mon lit</div>
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ce même chien noir me poursuit</div>
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dans la brume implacable, tout étourdi</div>
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Elle m'entour</div>
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et puis je cours et je cours</div>
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je fuit le jour</div>
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arraché de mon amour</div>
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à qui je pense à chaque jour</div>
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et maintenant c'est à mon tour</div>
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de monter l'ascenseur à l'entrée du four</div>
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les flammes qui lèchent à ma peau</div>
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et murmurent</div>
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on t'attendait ici depuis des jours</div>
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Hier soir je me suis aperçu</div>
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parmi mes reveries</div>
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une somnolence replète de violence</div>
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étourdi et sans abri</div>
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dentelles et ficelles compriment mes ailes</div>
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débile et siphoné</div>
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ensorcelé et noyé</div>
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consciemment abruti</div>
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mais incapable de m'en sortir</div>
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Mais un matin</div>
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en attendant Godot</div>
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je me suis trouvé</div>
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une paire de ciseaux</div>
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et en me libérant de mes bandeaux</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
j'ai pu saluer aux oiseaux</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
et ensemble nous vaincrons</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
et survivrons a savourer la prochaine saison.</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-56377587177342250972014-10-10T14:57:00.002-06:002014-10-10T14:57:50.509-06:00(Poem) King of the Capsules<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JjeAFtzIbWU/VDhIAfqlZdI/AAAAAAAABBA/_95w9ANB6dg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-10-10%2Bat%2B2.53.45%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JjeAFtzIbWU/VDhIAfqlZdI/AAAAAAAABBA/_95w9ANB6dg/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2014-10-10%2Bat%2B2.53.45%2BPM.png" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I love my
pills<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They have
cool names<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let me
introduce you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This is
Duloxetine; he’s a French nobleman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Who slays
werewolves between romantic conquests<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Here’s
Cymbalta, a new dance craze<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Born in the
basement dives of Buenos Aires<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">From a
generation cut down by financial ruin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And reborn
in fiery, fitful embrace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And then
there’s Zoloft – the planet beyond the wormhole<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Where all my
socks and flash drives go<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They’ve
built a civilization over there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And lead
happy lives in loving pairs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But on this
side of the event horizon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My little
multicoloured space capsules<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Keep me warm
and safe from the dark void outside<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And allow me
to breathe<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They stand
sentinel before me every morning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My valiant and
trusted pawns<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Sure, they only
move one square at a time<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But always
forward, never retreating<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">All the
while dispatching the diagonizing demons<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That attack
at will, bursting through fences<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Where once I
stood with no defences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I love my
pills<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They’re my
mini time capsules<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Like the one
we buried at my old high school<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Treasure
troves of happy memories<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Of the
sweetness of rain coast sunshine<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Of youthful
kisses in treetops<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Of beach
fires, bong hits and starry canopies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">All that in
powder perfection, sealed in coloured shells<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That melt on
my tongue and set me free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Not with
happiness, but with real vitality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I’m the king
of the capsules<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My wish is
their command<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They salute
me at the front line</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;">As we brave
uncharted land.</span></div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-1671654504908598172014-06-20T18:49:00.001-06:002014-06-21T19:01:23.079-06:00Enter The Muskwa - My Proposal for a New Edmonton CFL Team Name<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y0d8GbwOa-E/U6TCclGTDjI/AAAAAAAABAE/OzRKU0sii74/s1600/Edmonton+Muskwa.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y0d8GbwOa-E/U6TCclGTDjI/AAAAAAAABAE/OzRKU0sii74/s1600/Edmonton+Muskwa.png" height="231" width="320" /></a></div>
This afternoon I was interviewed by CBC Edmonton on a subject I never thought I'd be interviewed about - the issue of politically incorrect sports team names, and in particular the Edmonton Eskimos. When the network contacted me, my first reaction was, of course, "Why me of all people??"<br />
<br />
The reason they sought me out, it turned out, was <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2012/05/why-do-racist-sports-team-names-persist.html" target="_blank">a post I wrote back in May 2012</a> on the subject of racially problematic team names. The article focussed largely on the Cleveland Indians, in part because I'm a longtime baseball fan but also because the backstory to the name is a fascinating one. But I also took a pot shot at our local football team, a team I otherwise have tremendous admiration for, not only for their on-the-field excellence but also for their superb communications team and stellar track record for community involvement - by players, alums, the cheer squad and their front office. The only thing the Eskies have going against them, in my opinion, is their name.<br />
<br />
The Edmonton Eskimos is, in my humble opinion, a terrible name - for two reasons. The most obvious and talked about reason is the fact that the word 'Eskimo', while still in common parlance among Alaska's Inuit, is today considered a pejorative by the Inuit of Arctic Canada as well as in Greenland, owing to the name's alleged origins from an Algonkian term meaning "eaters of raw meat". (The Cree language cognate would be <i>askamiciw</i>, which is pretty close.) Furthermore, even if the etymological roots of the word are in some doubt, the mere fact that the word hearkens to colonial ethnocentrism for Arctic Canada's indigenous people makes the issue worth taking seriously.<br />
<br />
But that's only part of my issue with the name Eskimos. In addition to being a now-offensive term, it's also a name that has absolutely nothing to do with the Edmonton region. Edmonton, as anybody with any familiarity with the city knows, is located in traditional Cree territory, and is situated a word away from the nearest Inuit settlement. Geographically speaking, Edmonton is closer to Los Angeles than to Iqaluit, and given the complete lack of ethnocultural connectivity between the Cree and the Inuit, it would make just as much sense to call the team the Navajo or the Aztec.<br />
<br />
Defenders of the name will argue that it is a reflection (if a somewhat unlettered one) of Edmonton's historic role as "gateway to the north". But as we Edmontonians know, this epithet has always been something of a kiss of death for us. Just ask novelist and Edmontonian-at-large Todd Babiak what he thinks of the "gateway to the north" boilerplate - a characterization that for many in city implied that we're nothing more than a transit point to other places than a place where people might actually want to stay. The crux of the popular #MakeSomethingYEG campaign has been about changing the way Edmontonians talk about ourselves, because most of our slogans, from City of Champions to Gateway to the North, frankly suck. And having a football team - especially one with hallowed history and an impeccable community reputation - called the "Eskimos" isn't helping us.<br />
<br />
No, we can do better than this, and this is why I'm proposing, for what it's worth, a new name for the team. Let's not make the whole <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/washington-redskins-fight-could-put-pressure-on-edmonton-eskimos-1.2680161" target="_blank">Redskins controversy</a> force our hand - let's do it ourselves. Over the phone I was asked what I would like to see the name changed to, and I didn't have an answer. But shortly thereafter a new named dawned on me: the <i>Edmonton Muskwa</i>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eMiMfD_Afew/U6TEXMxE8OI/AAAAAAAABAQ/_-9QKC6HAno/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-20+at+5.29.54+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eMiMfD_Afew/U6TEXMxE8OI/AAAAAAAABAQ/_-9QKC6HAno/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-20+at+5.29.54+PM.png" height="237" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chubui Manitou Muskwa</i> ("Ancestor Spirit Bear") by Dwayne<br />
Frost, aka Gitchi Manitou Muskwa (source: Artslant.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Muskwa</i>, for those who don't know, is the Cree word for 'bear'. But it's more than that. The word <i>muskwa</i> (or <i>maskwa</i>, depending on the romanization) holds a deep significance for the Cree people, as the bear one of the most hallowed figures in Cree cosmology. It's a name that has deep resonance among Alberta's Cree population, as evidenced by the decision by the band councils of the adjacent Samson, Ermineskin, Louis Bull and Montana First Nations (located south of Edmonton) to <a href="http://samsoncree.com/name-change" target="_blank">change the name of their combined municipality of Hobbema to <i>Maskwacis</i></a> (Bear Hills), a name that long predates European colonization.<br />
<br />
Edmonton Muskwa - think about it. In addition to being a nod to the Edmonton region's original inhabitants and a name far more reflective of the region than the Eskimos, here are a few other arguments for the name:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>It's a classic football name. Muskwa is a protector and defender with a mean arm, surprising speed, and he'll maul you if he has to. And besides, it hearkens nicely to one of professional football's other legendary teams, the Chicago Bears.</li>
<li>It also meshes nicely with Edmonton's other great gridiron squad, the University of Alberta Golden Bears.</li>
<li>As an Aboriginal name, it still, in a way, pays homage to the legacy of the Eskimos. It just <i>corrects</i> the name a bit.</li>
<li>It shortens to the "Muskies", which has the same ring to it as the "Eskies".</li>
<li>No pesky pluralization problems - it works as singular <i>and</i> plural. Just ask the Toronto Maple Lea<i>ves</i> about this problem.</li>
<li>It sounds kind of badass. Like a war cry of some sort. Or like something the Apache Chief from the <i>Super Friends</i> would utter before doing something heroic.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YnHA7lvIz1A/U6TICHbmqbI/AAAAAAAABAo/7zaQt-ya7Fo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-20+at+5.46.53+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YnHA7lvIz1A/U6TICHbmqbI/AAAAAAAABAo/7zaQt-ya7Fo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-20+at+5.46.53+PM.png" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or we could just do this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In sum, I would like to see the team's name changed, although not necessarily for the reasons that are being trotted out. Unlike with the Redskins and the Indians (and to a lesser degree the Chicago Blackhawks and the Atlanta Braves), we really haven't seen the kind of polarized acrimony over this issue north of the border.<br />
<br />
My sense is that this is because we're a little easily inflamed people than our southern neighbours, and Edmontonians in particular are a sanguine bunch who don't come to anger quickly (unless it's over Neil Young making silly remarks about the black viscous livelihood to the north). That and Albertans are a pretty libertarian bunch who tend to take poorly to being hectored by the standard bearers of political correctness. Moreover, the Eskimos have never had a racially caricatured mascot like the Indians or the Redskins have had, which has, I think, allowed the Edmonton public to disassociate their team name from the ethnic group it was once applied to. To most Edmontonians, the word "Eskimo" means football - and nothing else. Hidden in plain sight.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Still, I say let's change the team's name and start a new chapter of sporting history here in Edmonton. Do it because "Eskimos" is really a silly name for a region with no relation to the Inuit, and because we have a beautiful cultural inheritance of our own in this city. In my <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2014/01/6-edmonton-resolutions-for-2014.html" target="_blank">January 2014 post on Edmonton New Year's resolutions</a>, I challenged the city to take more ownership of its Aboriginality - after all we're, by some counts, the most Aboriginal city in Canada. Adopting the name Edmonton Muskwa for our beloved football team would be a decisive step in that direction.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That and it would be fun. And it's a cool name. At least I think it is. MUSKWAAAAA!!!!<br />
<br />
To see my interview with CBC Edmonton go to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Edmonton/ID/2466526850/" target="_blank">15:30 here</a>.</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-7627172604868294902014-06-01T23:14:00.000-06:002014-06-03T00:28:24.596-06:00Less Politics, More Rock 'n' Roll - 10 Franco-Canadian Artists Worth Getting To Know<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A9PMCXzk7qc/U4Xu-8W5NJI/AAAAAAAAA9c/u1AaEBk8nYE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-28+at+8.03.18+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A9PMCXzk7qc/U4Xu-8W5NJI/AAAAAAAAA9c/u1AaEBk8nYE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-28+at+8.03.18+AM.png" /></a></div>
Between the Quebec Liberal Party's triumphant return to power in April to the Montreal Canadiens' inspiring run at the Stanley Cup (alas no more), something interesting has happened in Canada in the first half of this year: English-speaking Canadians seem to be rediscovering a love for <i>La Belle Province</i>.<br />
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What a difference a year makes! A year ago the rest of Canada seemed to have all but given up on Quebec. From the standpoint of most English Canadian media outlets, Quebec was a basket case mired in cultural and political isolationism, economic dysfunction and an alarming xenophobic streak in the form of the Parti Québécois' so-called "Values Charter" that would have passed a raft of laws against public displays of <i>hijabs</i>, turbans and other religious accoutrements. At the peak of the Values Charter debate, Western Canadian animosity towards Quebec was reaching such a fever pitch that it appeared a "yes" vote on sovereignty would actually be welcomed by many.<br />
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Today, however, the mood appears quite different. Canadians coast to coast cheered as the myopic, mean-spirited PQ government of Pauline Marois crashed and burned in April's election and mild-mannered brain surgeon Phillippe Couillard took the reins in Quebec City. All of a sudden National Post, a paper that can normally be counted on to blast Quebec's provincial leadership, started printing articles with titles like "Time to take Quebec seriously again" and whatnot. Even the Sun Network (once led by would-be PQ Sith Lord Pierre Karl Péladeau) has softened its usual anti-Quebec stance.<br />
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All of this is of course music to the ears of western Canadian Francophiles like myself. At the same time, though, we've seen enough of this teeter-totter in Anglo-Franco Canadian internal relations to know that if we're to build a bona fide bridge between Canada's two "solitudes" we need to try something different. My modest proposal, and one that's a win-win for everybody in my opinion, is that Anglophone Canadians can start by not only getting to know Quebec's lively homegrown music scene, but genuinely embracing it as part of a greater Canadian scene.<br />
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The fact is, in spite of all of Quebec's current problems - a moribund economy, rising unemployment, skyrocketing provincial debt, ugly (and still lingering) ethnocultural friction and the ever-present spectre of separatism and language politics, Quebec's cultural scene, and in particular its music scene, is as vibrant as it's ever been. Trouble is, almost nobody west of the Ottawa River knows this, as Francophone artists hardly get any radio play outside Quebec - and Quebec artists (understandably) feel it's more worth their time and effort booking tours in France and Belgium than in Alberta or BC.<br />
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It's a real tragedy - and a really unnecessary one at that. Unlike French-language TV and movies, which is unlikely to develop a significant following outside the French-speaking world, music has the well-demonstrated capacity to travel well outside their geolinguistic roots. Back in the fall of 2012 I wrote a post about the history of <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2012/12/why-english-speaking-world-needs-more.html" target="_blank">foreign language hits within the English-speaking world</a>, including one of the few French-Canadian pop hits to ever hit the Anglo-Canadian charts, Mitsou's extremely silly but equally catchy 1988 hit '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aI0QTEJjIg" target="_blank">Bye Bye Mon Cowboy</a>'. (To Anglos she's a one-hit wonder; to Quebeckers she's a pop icon and the granddaughter of a legendary playwright who's still in the public eye as a TV host.)<br />
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The real paradox of Anglophone Canada's complicated relationship with the country's rogue province is that Anglos love visiting Quebec, especially the city of Montreal, especially in summer when the city's bazillion performing arts festival are in full swing. But as much as the rest of Canada has a love-in for Montreal's cultural scene, they tend to regard it as a foreign country - basically Paris except you don't need a passport to travel there. The result of this, of course, is that while Just for Laughs, Osheaga, the Montreal Jazz Festival and other cultural extravaganzas are well attended by non-Quebeckers, the province's homegrown acts (unless they're English language acts) are completely overlooked. Why is this? If a nerdy-looking Korean rapper can command the attention of English-speaking Canadians, why not our fellow passport-holders east of the Rideau?<br />
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My theory is that English Canada's reluctance to embrace French Canadian artists is rooted, at least in part, in fear - fear of the unknown, fear of reproach from the other "solitude" for some sort of perceived cultural Philistinism. I suspect this goes both ways, which is why Quebecois bands and solo artists hardly ever make appearances in Canada's other major cities, even as they make appearances in Paris and Brussels. Quebec and English Canada are like a strained married couple who haven't had sex in far too long, and are now in marriage counselling and trying to make amends but each one is scared to make the first move in bed.<br />
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To my mind the best prophylactic against future sovereignty SNAFUs is a genuine cultural rapprochement, starting with a genuine embrace of Quebec's currently exciting Francophone music scene. In other words, less politics, more rock 'n' roll. And for those Anglos looking for a primer to get them started, here are ten very different acts worth getting to know.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1. Ariel</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Glam Rock, Post-Punk, Electroclash<br />
Recommended for fans of: T. Rex, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Libertines<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQYuRGvuJbM/U4IuiwpklyI/AAAAAAAAA8w/ANyhzqDRjRY/s1600/Ariel+(francophil.ca).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQYuRGvuJbM/U4IuiwpklyI/AAAAAAAAA8w/ANyhzqDRjRY/s1600/Ariel+(francophil.ca).png" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: francophil.ca</td></tr>
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Noisy, sassy and glamourous, Ariel is one of the most exciting rock bands on the Canadian scene today - and one that graphically illustrates Canada's linguistic problem when it comes to arts and culture. One of the freshest young rock acts in the country today, Ariel is virtually unknown in Canada outside <i>La Belle Province</i> in spite of a growing following in Paris and Brussels. Founded in 2007, this Montreal-based quintet is made up of members from across the province (including Baie-Comeau, Saguenay, Sherbrooke and Quebec City) and centred on a fetching, multitalented Richey Edwards lookalike named Ariel Coulombe.<br />
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Since the release of their 2010 debut album <i>Après le crime</i>, the grungy, synth-heavy glam punk of Coulombe and his gang have gained considerable critical acclaim for both their music and their outlandish music videos, including best emerging artist at the 2010 Osheaga festival and a Juno nomination for the video for "Chargez!" (see below). Their latest lineup for their brand new 2014 release <i>Fauve</i> features an unorthodox twin bass configuration and a darker sound overall, according to Coulombe in a recent interview. Having already established themselves as one of Montreal's most exciting young bands, the next obvious step would be a western Canadian tour.<br />
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Which, I should mention, I've already bugged them about on Facebook. So if you see these kids in a western Canadian city near you in the next little while, I say "de rien" in advance.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Jimmy Hunt</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Folk Rock, Alt-Rock, Shoegaze<br />
Recommended for fans of: Wilco, Bright Eyes, Mojave 3, Robert Charlebois<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nu0M57_-Zoo/U4LYpY2E3FI/AAAAAAAAA9M/V6z-CBX6QlY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-25+at+11.32.58+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nu0M57_-Zoo/U4LYpY2E3FI/AAAAAAAAA9M/V6z-CBX6QlY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-25+at+11.32.58+PM.png" height="280" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: jimmyhunt.bandcamp.com</td></tr>
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Montreal is a busker's paradise, as anybody who has spent anytime there in the summer months will attest to. And indeed it has been this street music scene that has launched the careers of many a Quebecois singer-songwriter, including that of newcomer Jimmy Hunt, who in spite of his Anglo-sounding name is a thoroughly Francophone singer-songwriter very much out of the tradition of Robert Charlebois, Gilles Vigneault and other iconic Quebecois song crafters. After about 12 years as a guitar and harmonica-toting street busker, Hunt made his recording debut in the mid-2000s with the briefly successful alt-rock combo Chocolat before going solo with his distinctive blend of Dylanesque folk rock, twangy alt-country and synth-laden pop evoking everything from late-seventies Bowie to the early 1990s British shoegaze scene.<br />
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Like so many Quebec artists, Hunt's acclaim, while widespread in his own province, has largely ground to a halt at the provincial borders, forcing to look across the pond for touring opportunities. Which is a real pity given that his poetry remains firmly rooted in the scenery and vibes of the city of Montreal, particularly in his critically acclaimed latest album <i>Maladie d'amour</i>, which beautifully merges his many and varied musical influences. If anybody truly captures Montreal's inimitable street vibe, it's this guy. And Montreal, last time I checked, was still in Canada. So it would be worth the rest of Canada's time to give this Jimmy Hunt guy a chance.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Forêt</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Dreampop, Trip Hop<br />
Recommended for fans of: Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, Lamb, St. Vincent, Portishead<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ki2rsMdo3S0/U4lnUumeomI/AAAAAAAAA94/aPskziZTgZ4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-30+at+11.22.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ki2rsMdo3S0/U4lnUumeomI/AAAAAAAAA94/aPskziZTgZ4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-30+at+11.22.43+PM.png" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: journalmetrocom.files.wordpress.com</td></tr>
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Montreal's rich musical legacy has generally come in two flavours: French and English, with the city's Francophone artists usually taking their cues from Paris and their Anglo counterparts from London and New York. But while the political divide between French and English Canada has never been more pronounced, there are signs that the artistic (or at least the musical) divide is starting to narrow. Case in point is the highly acclaimed new group Forêt, a group that's been lauded by numerous Quebec music critics as a breath of fresh air in the province's music scene. Unlike the electropop of groups like Le Couleur that hearken to Daft Punk, Stereolab and other continental <i>artistes</i>, vocalist Émilie Laforest and her group combine French-language lyrics with a very British sound evocative of Cocteau Twins' hypnotic dream pop and the melancholy trip hop of Portishead - one of the band's oft-stated seminal influences.<br />
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With Laforest's haunting, Liz Fraser-esque vocals and Joseph Marchard's shoegazey guitar work, Forêt is most definitely a departure from the music typically associated with La Belle Province. And as a brand new act (only a couple of years old), these trippy Montrealers make great candidates for some serious music bridge-building with the rest of Canada - if the rest of Canada can get over its phobia of French-language lyrics. But in the shoegaze/dream pop genre, the lyrics really don't matter much, do they? After all, is there a single Cocteau Twins or Slowdive song where the lyrics were actually intelligible?<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Lisa LeBlanc</span></b><br />
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Origin: Rosaireville, NB<br />
Style: Alt-Country, Blues Rock<br />
Recommended for fans of: Dixie Chicks, Riff Cohen, Bonnie Raitt, Karen Zoid<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ckYPUiJhgI0/U4lvFbhg1PI/AAAAAAAAA-I/A_lt2cjqxsM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-30+at+11.55.57+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ckYPUiJhgI0/U4lvFbhg1PI/AAAAAAAAA-I/A_lt2cjqxsM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-30+at+11.55.57+PM.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: newslestudio1.files.wordpress.com</td></tr>
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It should be noted at this point that La Belle Province is not the only provincial player in Canada's Francophone music scene. New Brunswick's 200,000-strong Acadian population (roughly a third of the province's population) has long had an outsized artistic presence, fired up by a turbulent history and a gnawing aggravation from having been forgotten about by both Quebec and English Canada in equal measure. While Acadian music remains, for most Canadians, synonymous with cheesemeister Roch Voisine, the Acadians' long tradition of great poetry has made Francophone New Brunswick a treasure trove of great singer-songwriters, including the late Angèle Arsenault, legendary hillbilly-hippy country star Réginald "Cayouche" Gagnon and the multitalented singer-poet-actor Marie-Jo Thério.<br />
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The latest addition to the ongoing Acadian musical love-in is the young and sassy Lisa LeBlanc and her unique brand of twangy, raunchy 'trash rock' delivered in the characteristic 'Chiac' dialect of northern New Brunswick - a blend of French, English and lumberjack drawl. At 23, LeBlanc is getting a great deal of exposure in the Francophone media, and her star is clearly rising. At any rate she should made a refreshing departure from Roch Voisine's suburban <i>fromage</i>.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Syncop</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Worldbeat, Reggae<br />
Recommended for fans of: Abdel Ali Slimani, Michael Franti, Riff Cohen, Asian Dub Foundation<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pEA8l0O5mUU/U4lcnEphZ1I/AAAAAAAAA9s/d3GO_JZCZKU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-30+at+10.37.02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pEA8l0O5mUU/U4lcnEphZ1I/AAAAAAAAA9s/d3GO_JZCZKU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-30+at+10.37.02+PM.png" height="170" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: festivalnuitsdafrique.com</td></tr>
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For a province that gets more than its share of flak from English Canada for its supposed isolationism and ethnocentrism, Quebec is a pretty diverse place. Roughly ten per cent of Quebec's population belongs to a visible minority, putting it smack dab in the middle of the provincial pack and only a tiny bit below the national average of 11 per cent. That said, Quebec's "ethnics" (to quote Jacques Parizeau) are disproportionately concentrated in the Montreal region (and to a lesser degree in Quebec City), with the 'Pure Laine' rural ridings, with their outsized electoral sway, ensuring that the xenophobes in the Parti Québécois have plenty of ethnocentric outrage to tap into. But even this is slowly weakening, as the latest provincial election results would suggest.<br />
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It's worth noting, particularly amid the recent anti-religious accoutrement hysteria in Quebec, that the province's third most widely spoken language (after French and English) is Arabic, a fact due primarily to immigration from the former French colonies in North Africa, as well as from former French Middle Eastern mandates Syria and Lebanon. Arab cultural influence is particularly evident in the city of Montreal, and is starting to find its way into the local scene thanks to worldbeat artists like Karim Benzaïd, the Algerian-born frontman of the popular Afro/Arab/reggae crossover project Syncop. Founded in 1998, Syncop mixes Berber-style <i>raï</i> and chaoui music together with reggae, hip hop and Afrobeat, with lyrics centred on the immigrant experience in Montreal. Their party vibe coupled with punny titles like <i>Scirocco d'érable</i> and <i>Cabane à souk</i> have made them festival favourites.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6. Ponctuation</span></b><br />
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Origin: Quebec City, QC<br />
Style: Garage Rock, Punk<br />
Recommended for fans of: The Who, The Cramps, Ramones, The White Stripes<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-REDq8uKOYzg/U4tYXJcmobI/AAAAAAAAA-4/52LYDaPrtTk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+10.43.39+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-REDq8uKOYzg/U4tYXJcmobI/AAAAAAAAA-4/52LYDaPrtTk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+10.43.39+AM.png" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: nightlife.ca</td></tr>
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Thus far with the exception of Lisa LeBlanc this list has focussed solely on the city of Montreal, but with half of Quebec's population living outside the Montreal region, it's only fair that the rest of the province be given its due attention. Further up the St. Lawrence River in the province's eponymous capital city, a smaller but nonetheless energetic music scene has long churned out great artists, including iconic poet-musician-activists Félix Leclerc and Gilles Vigneault, legendary theatre artist Robert Lepage and, of course, Q-pop starlet-turned-media personality Mitsou. Having long been overshadowed by Montreal on the global music scene, Quebec City has, out of necessity, grown a scene all its own, but thanks to a thriving club scene and steady tourism revenue, the town continues to do well artistically.<br />
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One of Quebec City's most interesting current band is the gnarly garage rock duo Ponctuation, made up of brothers Guillaume and Maxime Chiasson. With Guillaume on guitar and vocals and Maxime on drums, Ponctuation's gritty analogue recordings and stripped down garage punk sound makes them one of the most refreshing rock acts to come out of anywhere in Canada in recent years - let alone poor, neglected Quebec City. Established in 2011, Ponctuation are definitely a band to watch - and yet another candidate for some welcome language divide-bridging.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7. Dubmatique</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Hip Hop, Acid Jazz<br />
Recommended for fans of: Gang Starr, Mos Def, MC Solaar<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bEBPfjZpcPU/U4vxkv93cZI/AAAAAAAAA_I/-8bzAXh9lXg/s1600/Dubmatique+(lametropolo.com).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bEBPfjZpcPU/U4vxkv93cZI/AAAAAAAAA_I/-8bzAXh9lXg/s1600/Dubmatique+(lametropolo.com).png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: lametropole.com</td></tr>
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While French-language music in Quebec has generally taken its cues from across the Atlantic in France, one notable area of musical divergence between the two French-speaking "nations" in the domain of hip hop. Since its first appearance in the <i>banlieues</i> of Paris in the early 1980s, rap music has been embraced by the French (particularly within its Afro-Caribbean immigrant community) like few other countries, and today France is the world's second largest hip hop market after the US, with French rappers like MC Solaar, Doc Gynéco and La Fouine achieving international success. Quebec, on the other hand, has been much slower to embrace hip hop music and culture, perhaps out of a knee-jerk resistance to perceived Americanization. (Indeed MC Solaar among others have criticized their country's scene for being overly derivative of American hip hop.)<br />
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But while Montreal still miles behind Toronto as a hip hop city, beats and rhymes are on the rise in this increasingly cosmopolitan metropolis, thanks in large part to increased immigration from the same cultural influences that brought the genre to France. Among the scenes most notable pioneers are the duo Dubmatique, featuring the duo of Cameroonian-born Jérôme-Philippe "Disoul" Bélinga and Senegalese-born Ousmane "OT MC" Traoré. Founded in 1992, the group's acid jazz-infused freestyle and Solaar-esque word craft made them Canada's first commercially successful Francophone hip hop act. Today Disoul and OT remain Quebec's hip hop "elder statesmen" and are frequently called upon to speak about the state of the current Montreal scene.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8. Le Couleur</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Synth Pop, Disco<br />
Recommended for fans of: Dragonette, Daft Punk, M83, Depeche Mode, Serge Gainsbourg<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGNTclyBmIA/U4I00X6BjfI/AAAAAAAAA9A/2Sykvhw4IS0/s1600/Le+Couleur+(3.bp.blogspot.com).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGNTclyBmIA/U4I00X6BjfI/AAAAAAAAA9A/2Sykvhw4IS0/s1600/Le+Couleur+(3.bp.blogspot.com).png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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Both Montreal and Buenos Aires vie for the title 'Paris of the western hemisphere'. Generally speaking Montreal hits closer to the mark - both in terms of language and pop culture proclivities. Quebec's largest city has long taken many of its cultural cues from Paris, and nowhere more so than in the former's long love for schmaltzy synth pop music. It was Montreal that gave the world synth pop icons Men Without Hats in the 1980s as well as bubblegum pop princess Mitsou, and the genre has continued to thrive in the city, inspired by the likes of Daft Punk, Air and M83 across the pond. The genre also spans the city's linguistic divide, featuring notable Anglo-Quebec artists like Chromeo and Vancouver-born Claire "Grimes" Boucher (just goes to show Francophone names can be deceptive - just ask Jimmy Hunt) as well as numerous Francophone standouts in the genre.<br />
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Newcomers Le Couleur are the latest exponents of a genre synonymous with Canada's sexiest metropolis. Bilingual, kitschy, sexy and unapologetically hipsterish, Le Couleur hearkens to late-1970s, early-1980s Eurotrash disco pop along the lines of Giorgio Moroder and Gainsbourg's <i>Love on the Beat</i> era, an influence further emphasized by vocalist Laurence Giroux-Do's lighter-than-air Jane Birkin-esque vocals. Established in 2008, this combo has a well established fan base in La Belle Province and has toured extensively in Europe, and this year have made inroads into the English-speaking world, albeit in the UK courtesy of Liverpool's Sound City Festival. Western Canada next? We can only hope.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9. Akitsa</span></b><br />
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Origin: Montreal, QC<br />
Style: Black Metal<br />
Recommended for fans of: Gorgoroth, Bathory, Burzum, Rudra<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gkzDvC3zJSw/U4v6MUH6MKI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/uq598KNlPoE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+10.13.59+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gkzDvC3zJSw/U4v6MUH6MKI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/uq598KNlPoE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+10.13.59+PM.png" height="275" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: metal-archives.com</td></tr>
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I have to be honest here - I really can't tell the difference between all the myriad different sub-genres of extreme metal out there. While many of my best friends are metalheads and I certainly have an abiding respect for a music style that perhaps more than any other has managed to implant itself in virtually every part of the world, the evolutionary family tree of metal has become so dizzyingly complex (perhaps a reflection of its global ubiquitousness) that I really can't begin to tell the difference between so-called 'black metal' and other subgenres like 'doom metal', 'technical death metal', 'goregrind', 'deathgrind', 'mathcore', 'war metal', '<i>blackened</i> death metal', 'seared and pan-fried trout metal in a white wine sauce' et cetera. So if you're one of my metalhead readers - and I <i>know</i> you guys are sensitive about people getting this taxonomy wrong - I would love a tutorial on how to navigate my way through this terminological labyrinth.<br />
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All I know for sure about the Montreal-based group Akitsa is that they are officially categorized as 'black metal', putting them in the same genre as the infamous Scandinavian noise merchants Gorgoroth, Bathory and Burzum that more or less defined the idiom. Other than that, all I could really ascertain about these guys is that they were founded in 1999 and are still apparently active (but with no locatable website), they have two permanent members (OT and Néant) who play 'all instruments', and that they 'sing' in French. C'est tout! The one interview I could find with the band, by <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/extreme/terror/akitsa.html" target="_blank">some Finnish guy back in 2001</a>, raises more questions than it answers. Anyone know more about these guys? I'm intrigued.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10. Samian</span></b><br />
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Origin: Abitibi-Témiscamingue, QC<br />
Style: Hip Hop<br />
Recommended for fans of: Rezofficial, Eekwol, Eminem<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eb8_etUZLAA/U4v_sbolvCI/AAAAAAAAA_o/dwa4T2krSvI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+10.37.46+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eb8_etUZLAA/U4v_sbolvCI/AAAAAAAAA_o/dwa4T2krSvI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+10.37.46+PM.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: hebdosregionaux.ca</td></tr>
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Quebec's Aboriginal population may only be two per cent of the province's total (Alberta's is over five per cent), but the province's ten First Nations and 13 Inuit settlements have long punched above their weight politically thanks to their vastness of their traditional lands, which represent over half of Quebec's total territory. Quebec's Aboriginal leaders have historically never been afraid to assert themselves in the face of provincial governments indifferent to their cultural and economic needs and desires (including an ongoing threat to 'separate' from Quebec in the case of a vote to withdraw from Confederation), up to and including armed standoffs with the provincial police. That said, the post-Oka story of Aboriginal relations in La Belle Province has been <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/quebecs-special-relationship-with-its-native-peoples/article7368805/" target="_blank">relatively serene</a>, and while many of the province's more isolated indigenous communities remain mired in poverty and social ills, many other communities have enjoyed steady economic growth and improving quality of life indicators.<br />
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While Aboriginal artists' impact on Quebec's music scene has generally been limited, the most notable exception in recent decades has been the acclaimed Innu folk rock duo Kashtin, whose trilingual (French, English and Innu) songs gained brief international fame thanks to Robbie Robertson's 1994 album <i>Music for the Native Americans</i> and cameos in the soundtracks for shows like <i>Northern Exposure</i> and <i>Due South </i>and the Bruce McDonald rez drama <i>Dance Me Outside</i>. Currently the province's fastest rising Aboriginal star is young rapper Samuel Tremblay better known by the stage name Samian. A member of the Abitibiwinni First Nation north of Val-d'Or in western Quebec, Samian raps in French and Algonquin and achieved a critical breakthrough in 2010 thanks to an appearance at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. With two albums and concert appearances in Europe and China under his belt, this Franco-Algonquin hip hop star is definitely worth following.<br />
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Bonne écoute!Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-87123655874161262572014-06-01T01:04:00.000-06:002014-06-01T13:33:17.262-06:00"Sho-Tel" - A Wild Night at the Aurora Motel with Mile Zero Dance<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_EaPjkE-rw/U4q5f_33XcI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/x8PfiLubpNw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-31+at+10.58.10+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W_EaPjkE-rw/U4q5f_33XcI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/x8PfiLubpNw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-31+at+10.58.10+PM.png" height="265" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Allison, Jen, Gerry and Jodie descend on the Aurora Motel (source: Edmonton Journal)</td></tr>
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I live in the west end of Edmonton. And for the most part I quite like it, and wish it would get more love. While Edmonton's city centre is green and increasingly inspired architecturally (as it should be), the west end is a mishmash of industrial and commercial sprawl - economically vital, teeming with life and hypnotic in the way a vintage Skinny Puppy album is, but on the whole unloved.<br>
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While Edmonton's new-found love for its downtown core is a welcome development, that love doesn't seem to extend west of 124th Street. The rest is pre-Mandel Edmonton - functional and essential to live but underpinned by a nagging sense of "It's better in the Bahamas."<br>
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But thanks to <a href="http://www.milezerodance.com/" target="_blank">Mile Zero Dance</a>'s invasion of the classy confines of the <a href="http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Alberta/Edmonton/Aurora-Motel/2103992.html" target="_blank">Aurora Motel</a> for one of their most memorable performances to date, I have a new appreciation for this repudiated part of town. In a show that felt like part Fernando Arrabal play, part Coen Brothers film (of the <i>Barton Fink</i> and <i>Fargo</i> vintage) and part episode of <i>Portlandia</i>, MZD again did what they do best - take an under-appreciated piece of Edmonton real estate and turn it into something wild and phantasmagoric.<br>
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Going to the show I had no idea what to expect, but it turns out a motel is a perfect space for an interdisciplinary dance-music-visual art installation: a bunch of rooms one after the other, occupied by a mix of MZD performers and actual paying tenants. At least I assume they were actual paying tenants, as in this show you were never quite sure who was a spectator and who was a conspiring member of the company whispering things you're supposed to hear into your ear.<br>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x8tsFS5XAXA/U4rPuTDIEFI/AAAAAAAAA-o/IT4NkrTwosE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+1.00.36+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x8tsFS5XAXA/U4rPuTDIEFI/AAAAAAAAA-o/IT4NkrTwosE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-06-01+at+1.00.36+AM.png" height="319" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos courtesy of <a href="http://instagram.com/allisonjnichols" target="_blank">Allison Nichols</a></td></tr>
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The show began with simultaneous performances on opposite ends of the motel by Alison Towne of the <a href="http://www.goodwomen.ca/" target="_blank">Good Women Dance Collective</a> and Jen Mesch of the <a href="http://dance-conspiracy.org/" target="_blank">Jen Mesch Dance Conspiracy</a>, the latter featuring bass saxophone of <a href="http://newmusicedmonton.ca/" target="_blank">New Music Edmonton</a> Production Manager and U of A reed instructor <a href="http://www.allisonbalcetis.com/" target="_blank">Allison Balcetis</a>.<br>
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Alison-with-one-L's performance was a sort of shopping-trip-from-hell dreamscape in which she dances through a never-ending series of gigantic President's Choice shopping bags, while mezzo-soprano Michelle Milenkovic (the star of this month's <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2014/05/not-your-typical-modern-classical-music.html" target="_blank"><i>Body of Colour</i></a> show) serenaded the crowd from her bubble bath in the other room in what was clearly the cushiest gig in this show. A gig that anyone who saw <i>Body of Colour</i> can agree she earned.<br>
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Over on the other side of the motel complex, Jen Mesch managed to defy both her impressive dance resume and her US Midwest origins by inhabiting the role of a nameless Alberta rig pig with a fixation on cologne and lofty aspiration (if questionable aptitude) as a dancer, in what was one of the most compelling pure acting performances ever thrown up by Mile Zero. Her performance was punctuated by the constant trolling of the character's gnawing subconscious self, as portrayed by Allison-with-two-Ls' bass sax, a rare instrument that she employed in a similar role in <a href="http://www.beams.ca/Bios/gene_kosowan.html" target="_blank">Gene Kosowan</a>'s <i>Ghosts that Guard the Gateway</i> back in <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2014/03/compose-something-edmonton-why-new.html" target="_blank">New Music Edmonton's <i>Now Hear This</i></a> performance back in March.<br>
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And then it went on - with one of Mile Zero's most endearing performances to date courtesy of Jodie Vanderkerkhove and Artistic Director Gerry Morita in what was the only show to date I've ever been to (with the exception of a couple of <i>Rocky Horror Picture Show</i> screenings) where I've been offered toast - with butter and honey no less. Which admittedly was nothing compared to the pair of live lobsters in Jen's room, which she repeatedly offered up for dinner - although no actual lobstercide was committed.<br>
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With this closing show in Mile Zero Dance's 2013-2014 season, a troupe best known for their outlandish reinventions of the urban landscape truly outdid themselves. With the additional participation of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RoyalBisonCraftFair/posts/530674173638755" target="_blank">Le Tivoli</a> performance art madman Patrick Arès-Pilon (owner of the Sho-Tel megaphone car), installation artists Carly Greene and <a href="http://devonbeggs.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">Devon Beggs</a> and sound design by <a href="http://www.danbrophy.ca/" target="_blank">Dan Brophy</a>, <a href="http://yeglive.ca/artists/pk3l6580/jeff-carpenter" target="_blank">Jeff Carpenter</a> and <a href="http://davewallmusic.com/about/" target="_blank">Dave Wall</a>, Sho-Tel was a tour-de-force by some of Edmonton's most outside-the-box arteests in a piece of creativity run wild that will forever change the way I look at cheap motels - in Edmonton and elsewhere.<br>
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We've all, I'm sure, been fascinated by what goes on behind closed doors in places like the Aurora Motel. And MZD, in their endless quest for new perspectives on, well, everything, just gave us a glimpse of some of the wild dreams and raw, chafed dialogue that invariably goes on in half-asleep, half-awake states in places like these. And coupled with the olfactory component of the show - the cigarette smoke, the cologne and the weed (the weed may have been an audience contribution), it was as raw and all-encompassing a performance as I've ever seen - with absolutely no fourth wall whatsoever.<br>
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The name 'Mile Zero' has always made me think of a repudiated, end-of-the-road cul-de-sac somewhere - kind of like that motel that you always drive by but never give a moment of thought, that still has VHS and doesn't turn up anywhere on Yelp or Trip Advisor. and this time, more than ever, they owned that name. Happy summer, MZD! Thanks for a wonderful season - and an epic closer!<br>
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See you next year!Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-31385368278643345542014-05-17T13:59:00.001-06:002014-06-09T19:30:14.865-06:00(Poem) An A for Amnesia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xiTWddv9dq8/U3e_HAOv__I/AAAAAAAAA8c/xAHZe1cVfzI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-17+at+1.56.47+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xiTWddv9dq8/U3e_HAOv__I/AAAAAAAAA8c/xAHZe1cVfzI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-17+at+1.56.47+PM.png" height="276" width="320"></a></div>
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pear-shaped silhouette</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">meets compound pulsing insect eye</div>
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aglow from shadowy<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> tessellated rafters</span></div>
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singed retinae and smoking cochlea</div>
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and the sweetsmoke smell of the nineties</div>
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16-hole doc stomping</div>
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jackbooted German gyrotechnothump</div>
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blaring out through every crack</div>
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of the nicotined plaster walls</div>
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and here I am, trying to figure out</div>
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how to manoeuvre in this space</div>
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and how to be alone in a crowd</div>
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and not to carry the countenance</div>
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of washed up refugee status in a tide of desperation</div>
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I was never a natural born killer</div>
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a twisted firestarter</div>
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or the son of a black hole</div>
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I never smelled of teen spirit</div>
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or fucked like an animal</div>
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and the beautiful people</div>
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always dwarfed my steeple</div>
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and E was just another letter of the alphabet</div>
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somewhere between C the consequences and Y the fuck not</div>
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I only ever rode the edges</div>
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of a wave that never truly formed before rolling back</div>
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will it stick this time?</div>
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long enough for me to find my way</div>
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I hope so</div>
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this time I know what I'm doing</div>
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I think</div>
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Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-32608719200093972672014-05-17T00:15:00.000-06:002014-05-17T13:26:03.291-06:00New Music Edmonton's 'Body of Colour' will mess with your mind!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JOL-4mhqP1k/U3b-W_lMrZI/AAAAAAAAA7I/IHbDa2tznC4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-16+at+11.16.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JOL-4mhqP1k/U3b-W_lMrZI/AAAAAAAAA7I/IHbDa2tznC4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-16+at+11.16.18+PM.png" /></a></div>
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Seeing tonight's performance of <i>Body of Colour</i> at the ATB Arts Barns in Old Strathcona reminded me of why I adore Edmonton's arts scene. In artistic terms Edmonton is truly the Goldilocks City - big enough that there's always something interesting going on but small enough that the local scene is accessible, friendly and relatively free from the sort of tribal fault lines that tend to carve up the scenes of the world's larger cities.<br />
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A number of years ago I interview <a href="http://www.milezerodance.com/" target="_blank">Mile Zero Dance</a> artistic director and <i>Body of Colour</i> collaborator Gerry Morita for an article in <i>Avenue Edmonton </i>magazine. When I asked her what it was that kept her in Edmonton after having lived and worked in Vancouver, Montreal and Tokyo, she responded that, among other things, it's Edmonton's natural inclination towards interdisciplinary artistic collaboration, a trait she attributed to the city's lack of 'tribalism' in the arts.<br />
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Having had the good fortune to be <a href="http://www.newmusicedmonton.ca/" target="_blank">New Music Edmonton</a>'s blogger-at-large, I've come to realize how true this observation really is. Spend enough time in artistic circles in this town and you tend to see many of the same names in projects and contexts that you'd never expect. In this particular performance, Morita, the 'big name' on the ticket, opted for a supporting role for the show's real 'star', mezzo-soprano Michelle Milenkovic, whose magnificent instrument was matched only by her incomparable stage persona.<br />
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Nobody - not even NME director Ian Crutchley - really knew how to introduce this show. A few minutes into it revealed why. <i>Body of Colour </i>is in essence a collective brainstorm run wild, courtesy of singer Milenkovic, dancer Morita and stage, set and lighting designer Daniela Masellis. The dramatic set pieces (giant musical score canvas screens) and jarring lighting, combined with Milenkovic's haunting musical soliloquies, gave the show the dramatic tension of a Greenaway or Pasolini film, while Morita's understated choreography, much of which was behind the giant screens, had all the impish mystique of Balinese shadow puppetry.<br />
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The show began with a piece originally conceived for Mile Zero's <i>Bodies in O</i> show, featuring one of Edmonton composer <a href="http://www.spinchbeck.com/" target="_blank">Shawn Pinchbeck</a>'s characteristic noise soundscapes shoved against a lachrymal aria from Henry Purcell's opera <i>Dido & Aeneas</i>. The performance focused largely on the innovative solo voice compositions of Greek-French composer Georges Aperghis, an innovator best known for his blended singing-spoken word text looping compositions written for French stage actress Mariane Viard, as well as vocal works by NME favourite Luciano Berio.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7QB9QnpoZ10/U3b99piJpAI/AAAAAAAAA7A/H9HDIlHyQ2E/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-16+at+11.21.47+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7QB9QnpoZ10/U3b99piJpAI/AAAAAAAAA7A/H9HDIlHyQ2E/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-16+at+11.21.47+PM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An excerpt from Georges Aperghis' <i>Récitations</i> (source: sepia.ac-reims.fr)</td></tr>
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But there was none of the dry, antiseptic sting that often comes with this sort of music. The show's steady parade of unlikely props, which included (in no particular order) a wheelchair, various carpentry tools, playing cards, a bathtub and honest-to-god shots of grappa kept things interesting.<br />
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The second half of the show was particularly rivetting. After some particularly flirtatious and sarcastic material by Aperghis, the mood shifted to the emotionally roller-coastery with a gut-wrenching performance of <i>Cigane</i>, a Serbian-language Roma (Gypsy) protest anthem that was adopted as the official Roma anthem for the First Roma Conference in 1971. (Spoiler alert: this is when the grappa shots were distributed among the audience. <i>Ziveli</i>, y'all!)<br />
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The show concluded with some re-imagined Mahler <i>lieder</i> centred on nostalgia and the beauty of the ephemeral, as represented by the 'Lindenbaum' (linden tree). And this too was taken to its dramatic logical conclusion, with Morita morphing into a shadowy forest imp and Milenkovic donning a tree goddess crown and assuming the role of some sort of Jesus of Nazareth/Lorax hybrid. These things don't explain themselves, but as a BC boy who's had his share of transcendental experiences in forests, I think I get it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QeYPN5yZMw0/U3e3ogYOa3I/AAAAAAAAA8M/QsDIGz62md4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-17+at+1.24.27+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QeYPN5yZMw0/U3e3ogYOa3I/AAAAAAAAA8M/QsDIGz62md4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-17+at+1.24.27+PM.png" height="320" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The incomparable Michelle Milenkovic<br />(Source: New Music Edmonton)</td></tr>
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The second-last performance of the 2013-2014 NME season might just have been its highlight. Funny, sexy, intense, disturbing at points and totally compelling from start to finish, <i>Body of Colour</i> is, if nothing else, a great showcase of what this city's artistic community does best - put a bunch of creative people in a room together (usually in the dead of winter) and get them to come up with something cool and improbable. And if you're in Edmonton and are looking for something interesting to do tomorrow night, I highly recommend checking this show out, which runs again tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Arts Barns.<br />
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And if you can't make it, at least carve out some time this summer to get down to the river valley with your Dr. Dre headphones, find an isolated corner of the wood and meditate to some Mahler. Or some Berio. Or whatever. We're a cool, weird town here - we all owe it to ourselves to take full advantage of that fact.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-4557346590176940782014-05-15T23:43:00.000-06:002014-05-16T08:53:20.056-06:0010 Asian Artists Everyone Should Know - Part 2<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2vJgLMyf0M/U3Wk6UOfpxI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/f--YgzNMaIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+11.40.27+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v2vJgLMyf0M/U3Wk6UOfpxI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/f--YgzNMaIU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+11.40.27+PM.png" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: scmp.com</td></tr>
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My post from last August entitled "<a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2013/08/10-asian-bands-you-should-know.html" target="_blank">10 Asian Bands You Should Know</a>" was one of my most popular - popular enough that I felt compelled to write a follow-up post on the same subject. For one, the research that went into writing it unearthed far more than ten candidates, requiring some culling, and since then I've stumbled over countless others, making the original ten seem like a paltry representation of the musical cream of a continent that's home to over half of humanity. So here we go with Part 2.<br />
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Notice the slight change of title. I opted to open things up to include solo artists, as the term 'band' is unnecessarily limiting. I've also done my utmost to cover countries that weren't included in last year's list. Here we go again!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. Faiza Mujahid</b></span><br />
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Origin: Lahore, Pakistan<br />
Style: Pop-Rock<br />
Recommended for fans of: Karen Zoid, Lily Allen, Cyndi Lauper, Sarah McLachlan<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--4XZZ7qvXPE/U3P5cJ4BuSI/AAAAAAAAA4o/rju_GlGBoiM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+5.16.36+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--4XZZ7qvXPE/U3P5cJ4BuSI/AAAAAAAAA4o/rju_GlGBoiM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+5.16.36+PM.png" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: tribune.com.pk</td></tr>
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The emergence of preteen human rights heroine Malala Yousafzai as a global household name following her near-death at the hands of local religious extremists has done much to shed light on the deplorable state of women's rights in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. While Pakistan was among the earliest countries to elect a woman leader and women have held notable positions of political power, the country ranks near the bottom of virtually every study on the global status of women. Bride murders, acid attacks, child marriage, honour killings and domestic violence remain epidemic in much of the country, but thanks in large part to Malala's remarkable activism, there appears to be slow but tangible progress in pushing back the country's barbaric <i>Hudood</i> Ordinances and combating misogynistic tribal notions of 'justice'.<br />
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Paralleling Malala Yousafzai's emergence as a global figure in the fight for women's rights has been the emergence of Pakistan's new leading lady of rock music, Faiza Mujahid. Born and raised in the musical hothouse of Lahore, home to icons such as the late Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Sufi rock legends Junoon (a band often referred to as the U2 of Pakistan), the young star has quickly become a fixture on Pakistani TV and radio thanks to her catchy pop-rock anthems and her <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/661500/faiza-mujahid-making-music-on-her-own-terms/" target="_blank">promotion of women's rights</a> through her music. Her latest single 'Uth Oye' ("Wake up") was accompanied by a critically acclaimed video by Pakistani filmmaker Fatima Shah, which features literacy crusader Farah Deeba, acid attack victim Sabira Sultana and the members of Pakistan's national women's field hockey team in one of the most triumphant feminist music videos in recent memory.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2</b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">. Chthonic</span></b><br />
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Origin: Taipei, Taiwan<br />
Style: Thrash Metal<br />
Recommended for fans of: Sepultura, Slayer, Lamb of God<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kP08YKQMHSY/U3PdcQCmr2I/AAAAAAAAA4c/kbw6Xv1dUhw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+3.17.12+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kP08YKQMHSY/U3PdcQCmr2I/AAAAAAAAA4c/kbw6Xv1dUhw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+3.17.12+PM.png" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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The past few decades have seen the island "nation" of Taiwan emerge as arguably Asia's most vibrant and energetic civil society and liberal democracy. In spite of the country's perpetual geopolitical conundrum vis-à-vis mainland China and ugly political factionalism (or perhaps because of it), the Little Island That Could enjoys, in addition to one of the region's highest standards of living, Asia's highest press freedom rating, a thriving media culture and some of the region's most progressive social attitudes. (Taiwan is set to become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.)<br />
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As I noted in my original Asian band post last summer, Taiwan's complicated and often traumatic history and its present-day crisis of identity have helped engender a diverse and vibrant modern music scene. Of the island's musical exports, none have achieved the notoriety of Taipei's premier thrash-metal hellraisers Chthonic. Founded in 1995, Chthonic combines heavy metal theatrics with lyrics in Mandarin, Japanese and a handful of Aboriginal Taiwanese languages and incendiary political messages and have courted their share of controversy over the years. (Their antics have included <a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/10/24/2003516559" target="_blank">burning the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) flag</a> in commemoration of the 2/28 Massacre of 1947.) Outspoken in their advocacy of Taiwanese independence from China, land rights for Taiwan's Aboriginal tribes, Tibetan and Uyghur liberation, feminism (bassist Doris Yeh is a noted women's rights activist) and animal rights, Chthonic have been banned from mainland China on multiple occasions, while their popularity - in China and elsewhere - continues to rise.<br />
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Heavy metal may not be able to bridge one of Asia's most protracted geopolitical impasses, but at least it's worth a try. And given this band's uncanny ability to broach topics that have long been taboo in the region, Chthonic might just be the ones to lead the way.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Miila and the Geeks</span></b><br />
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Origin: Tokyo, Japan<br />
Style: Punk, No-Wave, Riot Grrrl<br />
Recommended for fans of: Bikini Kill, X-Ray Spex, PJ Harvey, Cibo Matto<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZkBIFATCTYk/U3QDGOj1OXI/AAAAAAAAA40/L_WtBL9wkUM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+5.57.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZkBIFATCTYk/U3QDGOj1OXI/AAAAAAAAA40/L_WtBL9wkUM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+5.57.26+PM.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: nohopesofun.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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Japan may still be very much a man's world, but when it comes to the country's indie rock scene, it's anything but. In the early nineties as the Riot Grrrl scene was flourishing in the northwestern US, a parallel female-driven rock scene was brewing in basement clubs in places like Shibuya (Tokyo) and Shinsaibashi (Osaka), from which internationally successful girl bands like Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter, Shonen Knife and Red Bacteria Vacuum were born. Not that Japan's Riot Grrrl scene was born of a vacuum. Japan is home to a long and under-recognized tradition of female musical experimenters from postwar big band jazz innovator Toshiko Akiyoshi and the future Mrs. Lennon (a lynchpin of the 1960s Fluxus movement) to DNA drummer Ikue Mori and electronic music pioneer Sachiko M. Certainly a far cry from the "good wife, wise mother" stereotype.<br />
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The girl-punk scene in Tokyo and Osaka <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2011/02/11/music/miila-and-the-geeks-take-tokyo-riot-grrrl-sound-international/#.U3WiF1hdWaM" target="_blank">still appears to have plenty of life to it</a>. Among its latest exponents are Shibuya kids Miila and the Geeks, who consist of vocalist-guitarist Moe Wadaka, drummer Kaoru Ajima and saxophonist Ryota Komori. Sound-wise they're an amalgam of Stooges-era garage rock, late-seventies No Wave punk in the spirit of DNA and Teenage Jesus, the Olympia, Washington scene of the early nineties that gave the world Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney and the rest and a dose of <i>Shibuya-kei</i> glam. Komori's sax gives the band a sound akin to vintage X-Ray Spex, while Wadaka's sexy vocals are reminiscent of a young PJ Harvey. A relatively new addition to the Tokyo music scene, Miila and the Geeks have cultivated a strong following in Japan but have yet to branch out overseas. Time will tell if they can follow in Cibo Matto's footsteps.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. MastaMic</span></b><br />
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Origin: Hong Kong, China<br />
Style: Hip Hop<br />
Recommended for fans of: Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Kanye West, Eminem<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--B1Wgzlehxc/U3QQXnGAV5I/AAAAAAAAA5E/72d3zCEwGec/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+6.54.32+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--B1Wgzlehxc/U3QQXnGAV5I/AAAAAAAAA5E/72d3zCEwGec/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+6.54.32+PM.png" height="197" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: timeout.com.hk</td></tr>
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In my previous post on great Asian music acts, there were two notable omissions: hip hop music and the city of Hong Kong. Both have something of a reputation problem within the context of this topic area. Hong Kong, in spite of its outsized presence in the global economy, has long been an underachiever in the arts (with the notable exception of its film industry), owing to a lack of public investment, a dearth of performance venues and, until 1997 at least, political isolation, which until made it difficult for Hong Kong artists to tour in mainland China. Likewise, hip hop music, in spite of its remarkable ubiquitousness across the globe (arguably only heavy metal can match hip hop's track record for travelling well) has long been a hard sell in Asia. While foreign rap artists have long enjoyed popularity in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and elsewhere, homegrown rappers in these countries have had an uphill battle gaining respectability. And in spite of Psy's recent transpacific success, the notion of Asian rap still elicits snickers in the west.<br />
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Tong Sung-ching, aka MastaMic, is a one-man machine dedicated to raising the bar for Cantonese language hip hop and gaining respectability for the Hong Kong scene. Active since 2005, the 28-year-old MC has already been dubbed Hong Kong's "Freestyle King" and is currently the city's best known rapper. In addition to his prodigious rapping talent, MastaMic has also earned recognition for his scene-building activities, namely the establishment of the 'Justice League' - a motley assortment of musicians, break dancers and graffiti artists - and Hong Kong's first hip hop news community at <a href="http://www.urbanation.hk/">www.urbanation.hk</a>. While rap in Asian languages may not yet have earned respectability outside the region, Cantonese rap is certainly no longer considered a joke in Asia's World City. And much credit is due to this guy for fighting on its behalf.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Avial</span></b><br />
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Origin: Thiruvananthapuram, India<br />
Style: Alt-Rock, Jam Rock<br />
Recommended for fans of: The Police, Phish, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Asian Dub Foundation<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IHOL-uQtA6Q/U3PVtQq1C4I/AAAAAAAAA4M/H8xmerD8vDI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+2.43.58+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IHOL-uQtA6Q/U3PVtQq1C4I/AAAAAAAAA4M/H8xmerD8vDI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-14+at+2.43.58+PM.png" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Cochinsquare.com</td></tr>
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Cosmopolitan, laid-back and socially progressive, the tiny, densely populated southwestern Indian state of Kerala has long punched above its weight in cultural and artistic terms. Thanks to a long history of cultural cross-pollination, a large diaspora population in the Middle East, East Asia and elsewhere and high levels of literacy and media penetration, Kerala has emerged as something of a powerhouse in literature, film and music, combining a rich tradition of Malayalam-language poetry and Carnatic music with modern influences from around the globe. Kerala's best-known musical export is legendary classical-pop crossover singer K.J. Yesudas, who has recorded over 50,000 songs in a phenomenal 17 different languages over the course of his 50-year career.<br />
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Rock music in India has long enjoyed an outsized following in the country's southern states, with prosperous southern cities like Bangalore and Chennai being home to sizeable indie rock scenes. Of Kerala's current crop of bands, the most celebrated has been the Thiruvananthapuram-based band Avial - a name taken from the state's signature spicy vegetable curry dish. Founded in 2003, the quartet of vocalist Tony John, guitarist Rex Vijayan, drummer Mithun Puthanveetil and bassist Binny Isaac stands out among south Indian rock bands for their almost exclusively Malayalam-language material and their infectious blend of traditional melodies, rich politically charged Malayali poetry and hooky jam rock. Their name perfectly captures their sound: rich, complex, sometimes fiery but always delicious.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6. Pesawat</span></b><br />
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Origin: Ampang, Malaysia<br />
Style: Alt-Rock, Post-Punk<br />
Recommended for fans of: We Are Scientists, The Killers, Deadmau5, Manic Street Preachers<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AqP2ZWTrbXs/U3RuzPSKvgI/AAAAAAAAA5U/0ESzVr01oXU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+1.37.11+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AqP2ZWTrbXs/U3RuzPSKvgI/AAAAAAAAA5U/0ESzVr01oXU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+1.37.11+AM.png" height="195" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: juiceonline.com</td></tr>
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Malaysia, like Hong Kong, is something of an underachiever on the international music scene, although for somewhat different reasons. While the country has all the ingredients for a great music scene - cultural diversity, a rich indigenous musical tradition and a growing middle class, social conservatism, authoritarian governance and creeping Islamism have long conspired to make life difficult for homegrown and visiting international artists alike. International stars ranging from Madonna to Linkin Park have felt the sting of Malaysia's censorship laws, and more recently Erykah Badu was <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17187560" target="_blank">banned from performing in Kuala Lumpur</a> because of a tattoo featuring the word 'Allah'. While the current prime minister has called for a retrenchment of the country's censorship regime and recent concert dates by Katy Perry and Adam Lambert have gone ahead in the face of Islamist ire, Malaysians still have a long way to go before they can enjoy the sort of artistic freedom their counterparts in Taipei and Tokyo take for granted.<br />
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Censorship notwithstanding, Malaysians are still a musical bunch and there are plenty of bands around, especially in cosmopolitan Kuala Lumpur. Among the most celebrated bands at present is the KL quartet Pesawat ('Airplane'), whose punchy, bilingual (Malay and English) indie rock anthems have gained them a substantial following both at home and in neighbouring Indonesia, and earned them a spot at the 2010 Music Matters festival in Hong Kong alongside Jason Mraz and other international headliners. The band's love of all things aviation-related is a tad awkward in the wake of their country's worst ever air disaster, but their musical chops are undeniable. It will be interesting to see, though, if they lose the aviation fixation in light of the MH370 tragedy.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7. Sliten6ix</span></b><br />
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Origin: Phnom Penh, Cambodia<br />
Style: Hardcore Punk, Deathcore<br />
Recommended for fans of: Slipknot, Murderdolls, Napalm Death<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tbmcuzWxUI4/U3R0m8NqKmI/AAAAAAAAA5g/Dl_MlxY5BLA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+2.02.10+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tbmcuzWxUI4/U3R0m8NqKmI/AAAAAAAAA5g/Dl_MlxY5BLA/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+2.02.10+AM.png" height="145" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: khtrends.wordpress.com</td></tr>
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The demise of Phnom Penh's once vibrant rock 'n' roll scene is one of the most tragic chapters in modern Asian music history. While Cambodia under the rule of King Sihanouk in the 1960s was mostly characterized by poverty, corruption and mismanagement, the country's worldly capital city burgeoned with artistic energy, including what was once Asia's most fertile rock music scenes, a scene that persisted into the early 1970s amid military coups and carpet bombing. Then in 1975 it was completely silenced, obliterated by the Khmer Rouge forces. The vast majority of the country's musicians were physically eliminated by the new regime, either executed or worked to death in rural 're-education' camps. Some pre-revolutionary rock stars amazingly survived the Khmer Rouge nightmare, including 1960s Cambodian rock legend Touch Seang Tana, who succeeded in passing himself off as a peasant in a tale recounted in the recent documentary film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipq4FefX5Ps&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank"><i>Cambodia's Lost Rock 'n' Roll</i></a>.<br />
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While Pol Pot has been dead for a decade and a half now and the Khmer Rouge are long gone, the colossal blow to Cambodia's cultural life that they dealt is one the country is still struggling to bounce back from. Cambodia remains an extremely poor country, and even in Phnom Penh musicians struggle to make ends meet. That said, there are signs of a musical renaissance in the country, particularly within the <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/roads/2014/01/cambodia_punk_rockers_the_southeast_asian_country_is_home_to_a_new_hardcore.html" target="_blank">capital city's hardcore punk scene</a>, with a new crop of fierce young bands like No Forever, the Anti-Fate and Sliten6ix giving voice to some of the country's pent-up anger. Of these, deathcore band Sliten6ix has garnered the most attention for their extreme sounds and confrontational lyrics. If there's any band active in Cambodia today that truly encapsulates this traumatized country's lingering pain and anguish, it's these guys.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8. Rudra</span></b><br />
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Origin: Singapore<br />
Style: Death Metal, Black/Pagan Metal<br />
Recommended for fans of: Children of Bodom, Burzum, Dimmu Borgir, Tengger Cavalry<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mtdZOwG6bLI/U3VFuj1r4UI/AAAAAAAAA5w/pTUavBO3tA4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+4.54.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mtdZOwG6bLI/U3VFuj1r4UI/AAAAAAAAA5w/pTUavBO3tA4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+4.54.13+PM.png" height="160" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: citynomads.com</td></tr>
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The city-state of Singapore broke away from the Union of Malaysia in 1963 (actually was pushed out - it's a complicated story) but inherited much of the latter's authoritarian governing style and socially conservative temperament, giving the city the unfortunate nickname "Fine City" thanks to its penchant for issuing fines for trivial offences ranging from gum-chewing to not flushing the toilet. Fortunately, southeast Asia's Garden City has loosened up a great deal in recent years, a move that has coincided with a veritable music boom. Things started to get interesting in Singapore in the early 1990s with the birth of the <a href="http://www.worldhitz.com/2014/03/lion-city-hardcore-music-in-singapore_10.html" target="_blank">Lion City Hardcore (LCHC)</a> scene, a homegrown hardcore punk scene inspired by the New York Hardcore scene, and one that brought the likes of NOFX, Fugazi and The Oppressed to a town still struggling to overcome its 'No Fun City' reputation.<br />
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More recently, Lion City has seen the rise of a small but significant heavy metal scene, spawning a . Singapore's metal community stands out not only for its energy but also for its ethnic diversity, and appears to have an outsized following among the youth in the city's Malay and South Asian minorities. Of Singapore's recent metal exports, the two most electrifying acts are the terrifying grindcore ensemble Wormrot, who have gained substantial international exposure thanks to a recording contract with the British label Earache (of Napalm Death and Carcass fame) and the hypnotic 'Vedic Metal' group Rudra. Originally formed back in the days of LCHC in 1992, the Indo-Singaporean band is the South Asian answer to the Viking Metal of Scandinavia, combining Indian classical sounds with Sanskrit Vedic literature with brutal death metal riffs.<br />
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Singapore may be a world away from Oslo or Reykjavik, but the spirit captured by Rudra is much the same as that of their Nordic counterparts. It's as though there's a direct correlation between orderly, law-abiding societies and thriving death metal scenes.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9. Yat-Kha</span></b><br />
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Origin: Moscow, Russia<br />
Style: Space Rock, Post-Rock<br />
Recommended for fans of: Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Magma, Mogwai<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0lG__cWEkyE/U3VRQ8xBgZI/AAAAAAAAA58/KN1mA8p_dNo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+5.43.38+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0lG__cWEkyE/U3VRQ8xBgZI/AAAAAAAAA58/KN1mA8p_dNo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-15+at+5.43.38+PM.png" height="232" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: bbc.co.uk</td></tr>
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In 1922, in the wake of Russia's post revolutionary civil war, the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva broke away from Russia to form an independent socialist republic in central Siberia that was recognized by nobody except for the USSR and Mongolia. The country was a total disaster, ruled by a mentally unstable Kremlin stooge named Salchak Toka - a man primarily concerned with suppressing nomadic cattle husbandry and Buddhism (Tuvan society's two most defining pillars), and in 1944 the country was reabsorbed by the Soviet Union. But the Tuvan region's fierce sense of national autonomy never wavered, and in the post-Soviet era this remote corner of the Siberian steppes with longstanding cultural ties to Mongolia and Tibet has experienced a cultural renaissance, all the while avoiding the sort of separatist strife that has plagued Chechnya and other wayward backwaters of the Russian Empire.<br />
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In the early 1990s the Tuvan Republic's iconic <i>kargyraa</i> throat singing enjoyed a period of world music cachet thanks to albums by Philip Glass, Kronos Quartet and others. In the meantime, exiled Tuvan folk rocker Albert Kuvezin joined forced with renowned Russian electronic composer Ivan Sokolovsky to form the band Yat-Kha (named after a distinctive Tuvan-style zither), a unit that remains one of the Russian Federation's most innovative rock bands. Combining throat singing with synth and guitar-driven space rock reminiscent of vintage Hawkwind, Yat-Kha has over the past few decades featured a rotating cast of premier musicians from the Tuvan region and elsewhere and earned plaudits from the likes of Brian Eno and Russian music journalist Artemy Troitsky, who <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/mongolian-throat-singer-kuvezin-is-the-latest-pride-of-jura-1.1080055" target="_blank">famously lauded Kuvezin</a> as one of "two unique voices on earth" together with Luciano Pavarotti.<br />
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Unlike Pavarotti, Kuvezin is still around, as is Yat-Kha - still channelling Tuva's ancient traditions into the 21st century. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10. Side Effect</span></b><br />
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Origin: Yangon, Myanmar<br />
Style: Alt-Rock, Pop Punk<br />
Recommended for fans of: Green Day, Blink 182, Foo Fighters....aw hell, anyone likes to see rock 'n' roll triumph over totalitarianism!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: pri.org</td></tr>
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Myanmar? Burma? I don't really know which name to use. Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi says 'Burma' but atlases say 'Myanmar'. Regardless which name you go with, until very recently this country was about the last place you'd expect to find a thriving rock scene, being home to the most despotic regime in Asia not named North Korea. Yet even through the darkest years of repressive military rule, music had a way of squeezing through the cracks. A curious industry emerged in the Burmese capital during during the junta years known as <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar/130909/rock-pop-plagiarists-copy-tracks-Myanmar-Burma" target="_blank">"copy tracks"</a> wherein 'professional plagiarists' would deliver bang-on renditions of everyone from Metallica to Lady Gaga to cheering throngs. Illegal? Definitely. Necessary for a beleaguered nation's sanity? Almost certainly. And so far Lars Ulrich hasn't kicked up a fuss.<br />
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It may well be that a decade of Metallica, Motley Crue and Coldplay knock-offs have paid off in grand style in Myanmar, as the country has seen a veritable explosion of homegrown rock music since its military rulers began loosening their grip in 2012. Myanmar's long <i>deeply</i> underground punk scene is now so prominent that a German film crew recently shot a documentary about the scene, entitled <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz7qK38yZyo" target="_blank">Yangon Calling</a></i>. Of this new generation of angry young Burmese bands, the one that's garnered the most international attention thus far has been Side Effect, a Yangon-based pop-punk unit who have successfully <a href="http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sideeffect" target="_blank">crowdfunded their way to the 2014 SXSW Festival</a> in Austin, Texas - a triumphant first for a Burmese band. Based on their sound, one can only imagine they've paid their dues in Yangon bars doing Blink 182 and Green Day covers, but their exuberance is that of a country taking its first tentative steps into democracy. <i>Chee kyu ba de,</i> boys - you've made it!<br />
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Happy listening!Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-17749748952547463182014-05-02T08:24:00.000-06:002014-06-23T18:35:08.252-06:00Harpertown: A Motion Picture Tribute to Canada's 22nd Prime Minister (Potential Cast List)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QlDmK3YrJnM/U2Osdp8orII/AAAAAAAAA38/7Mrf7ndDYSs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-02+at+8.31.45+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QlDmK3YrJnM/U2Osdp8orII/AAAAAAAAA38/7Mrf7ndDYSs/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-05-02+at+8.31.45+AM.png" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: montrealsimon.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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<b style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 18px;">Tchéky Karyo as Maxime Bernier</b></div>
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<b style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 18px;">Mandy Patinkin as Tom Mulcair</b></div>
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<b style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 18px;">Ralph Macchio as Justin Trudeau</b></div>
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<b style="color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 18px;">Kathy Bates as Elizabeth May</b></div>
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Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-2049124752079340332014-04-21T00:03:00.001-06:002014-04-21T00:03:48.912-06:00Going Freelance Next Month!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The title for this post is pretty self-explanatory, but it's perhaps worth giving some context. After nearly two years at <a href="http://flyeia.com/" target="_blank">Edmonton International Airport</a>, I'm finally doing what I've talked about doing (mostly to myself) for years but never felt quite ready to do. I'm starting my own shop under the banner of Freeland Creative Communications, and while the website and whatnot are not yet up, the work is starting to pile up - and I'm now openly soliciting clients.<div>
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What services am I offering exactly? Here's a brief overview:</div>
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<li>Web/Print Copywriting</li>
<li>Blogging</li>
<li>Communications Audits & Content Planning</li>
<li>Media Relations</li>
<li>Social Media Planning & Communications</li>
<li>Event Communications</li>
<li>Strategic Communications Planning</li>
<li>Copy Editing & Proofreading</li>
<li>Translation Services</li>
<li>Communications Research</li>
</ul>
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Why now, you may be asking? A number of reasons really. After the third - or maybe the fourth - phone call from colleagues past and present asking if I was available to do freelance work of various types and having to say no, I started asking myself if my "one more year" refrain was perhaps misguided. And it's not just me. All of my independent communications contractor colleagues, at least here in red-hot Alberta, are up to their eyeballs with work at the moment, with some eager to offload some of it to people like, well, me.</div>
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Over the past decade I've had the privilege of doing communications work for a wide range of industries, including tourism and aviation, construction and infrastructure, legal education and social services, education, financial services, science and technology, and arts and culture. At Edmonton Airports I've had the pleasure of being part of one of the Edmonton region's most creative communications teams, and have helped EIA develop the highest per-passenger social media following of any Canadian airport - while generating a number of local admirers along the way. This <a href="http://www.btedmonton.ca/" target="_blank">Citytv Breakfast Television</a> clip from last week certainly made my day.</div>
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It's been a fun ride with EIA, but I've reached a point in my professional development where I feel I have the most to offer as a freelancer rather than a member of a specific company or organization. That may well change, but for now I'm delighted and excited (and, yes, more than a little nervous) to be going out on my own. The website should be up in a few weeks. More info to come!</div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-90286081071559070082014-04-08T09:46:00.000-06:002014-04-08T21:01:38.623-06:00(Poem) Sun Structures<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XzZEN1cZKh4/U0QZdBAAISI/AAAAAAAAAz4/kY7U0lAelak/s1600/hoodoos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XzZEN1cZKh4/U0QZdBAAISI/AAAAAAAAAz4/kY7U0lAelak/s1600/hoodoos.jpg" height="267" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(source: trekearth.com)</td></tr>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"></span></span> </div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Deserts form where seas once reached</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Where water carved and sunlight bleached</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">On seas of stone and painted sand</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">The sentinels of Shadowland.</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"></span></span> </div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Rocky sinew landscape formed</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">The tower guards with caps adorned</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">They ring of time and streams run dry</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Telltale tattoos of time gone by.
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"></span></span> </div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Like pillars to the sun they stand</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Since Old Man Napi walked this land</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Through canyon folds and sanded curves</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Primeval language to the nerves.
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"></span></span> </div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">The threshing storms and solar flairs</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">And endless pounding windy wear</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Do none but deepen old resolve</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">As countless starry nights dissolve.
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"></span></span> </div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">A sunburned splendour comes to life</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">As dawnlight trickles through the blight</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">The somber guardsmen rouse anew</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">As Napi’s dream is once more true.
</span></span></div>
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<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null"></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Deserts form where seas once reached</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">Where water carved and sunlight bleached</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">On seas of stone and painted sand</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span data-measureme="1"><span class="null">The sentinels of Shadowland.</span></span></div>
Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-37026422829028513332014-04-03T16:20:00.002-06:002014-04-03T16:57:29.103-06:00Top 10 Rejected Buzzfeed Personality Quizzes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Is anybody else getting tired of these yet? What started out as a mildly amusing time-wasting activity on Facebook has now become a full-on obsession, with personality quizzes generated by Buzzfeed, Zimbio and other procration-enablers becoming stranger and more obscure by the day. Having pretty much torn through every pop culture reference available (from Which SuperMario character are you? to Which Disney prince is your true love?), it's now gone beserk, with quizzes like 'What vegetable are you?' and so on. It's like Kindergarten collided with a Barbara Walters interview!<br />
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There is, of course, a dark side to these seemingly harmless diversions. Marketplace tech writer Stacey Vanek Smith contends that quizzes such as these are little more than "<a href="http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/quizzes-are-free-data-mining-tools-brands" target="_blank">free data mining tools for brands</a>" in an era where privacy is becoming steadily eroded. As Smith notes, if you, for example, complete the 'How would you die in a Game of Thrones episode' quiz, HBO now not only knows you watch the show but also what your preferred alcoholic beverage, what your last meal was .and what your most crippling fear is. Depending on your perspective, it's either a brilliant market research strategy or yet another corporate invasion of privacy.<br />
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And what do we get in return? Generalized responses that fall within the ambit of the Barnum Effect, much akin to the blurry, ambiguous predictions dished out by so-called psychics that could potentially apply to any living, breathing human being. And when put to the test, they're reliably inaccurate. Back in February Gawker reported that Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson took the <a href="http://gawker.com/shirley-manson-takes-buzzfeeds-alt-grrrl-quiz-doesnt-1515001875" target="_blank">'Which 90's Alt-Rock Grrrl Are You?</a>' quiz - and didn't get herself, even though she was clearly one of the available answers. I'm sure the <a href="http://www.randi.org/site/" target="_blank">James Randi Educational Foundation</a> could have predicted this.<br />
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So why are we hooked on these things? Is it because we're all intolerably narcissistic? Far from it, says <a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/03/buzzfeed-quizzes/" target="_blank">Wired writer Devon Maloney</a>, who purports that it's a crippling sense of insecurity over our true identities that is fuelling this craze. He also argues that it's nothing new. "For the same reason that IQ tests or the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator have been popularized well beyond their scientific origins, quizzes that tell us we really should be lawyers (or that if we were a Game of Thrones character we’d be Tyrion Lannister) help us to order our sense of self when faced with the gaping vortex of an unknown future," he explains.<br />
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That said, this meme seems to have reached the shark-hurdling point, with quiz titles becoming more and more of a stretch. Makes you wonder which online quizzes have been rejected as too obscure, too tasteless or just too damn weird for the denizens of Zuckerbergistan. Here are ten possibilities.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">1) What blender setting are you?</span></strong><br />
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Are you a quiet slow-blend type or a fast-moving, go-go-go purée type? Or a veritable ice-crusher of a personality not to be trifled with. There's potential here.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">2) What type of insect sting are you?</span></strong><br />
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Is your personality type more akin to the creeping, prickly pain of fire ants or the blinding agony of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk" target="_blank"><em>pepsis</em> wasp (aka tarantula hawk)</a> sting? Either way, you probably don't have many friends.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">3) What Central African despot are you?</span></strong><br />
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Are you a fan of Napoleonic coronations and beating defenceless school children with wooden bats? Then you're probably Jean-Bédel Bokassa (aka Emperor Bokassa I) of the Central African Republic. That is unless your tastes run more towards leopard-skin hats and shopping trips to Paris on a chartered Concorde, which clearly makes you General Mobutu of the DRC (formerly Zaire). How about cowboy hats and cannibalism? You get the picture.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">4) What telltale sign of human-induced climate change are you?</span></strong><br />
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Are you the type who storms into a room like a Category 5 hurricane or one who simply slips away from parties like a collapsing icefloe? Or are you a counterintuitive type who likes to mess with people's minds à la polar vortex? I'm sure I've nailed you somewhere here.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">5) What sexually transmitted infection are you?</span></strong><br />
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Are you an outgoing person with whom people get to know quickly and thoroughly? Then you're probably syphillis. Or are you more of the subtle yet persistent personality, akin to crab lice. Whatever the answer, you're most likely not going to want to 'transmit' it to your friends.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">6) What white supremacist group should you belong to?</span></strong><br />
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Are you a bluff old traditionalist who likes parades and barbecues? The Ku Klux Klan is still inexplicably around and, I'm sure, eager for new members to shore up its long-dwindling ranks. But if you're a bad-ass entrepreneur who likes the rough-and-tumble life of narcotrafficking and doesn't mind collaborating with Mexicans, then the Aryan Brotherhood is probably more up your alley.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">7) What famous historical assassin are you?</span></strong><br />
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Are you a crazy spontaneous type who loves the outdoors? Then you're probably Gavrilo Princip, the plucky young Serbian nationalist who gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austro-Hungary in 1914, thereby triggering the outbreak of World War I. Love the outdoors but more reticent and calculating than this? Then you'll probably get Lee Harvey Oswald. More of a culture lover? Then you'd be more of a John Wilkes Booth type.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">8) What flu strain are you?</span></strong><br />
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In your social life, do you prefer regular but brief visits with friends or do you prefer to keep yourself at a distance so as to make your appearances more memorable and longlasting? If the latter, you might just be the H1N5 bird flu. If the former, you might be asked if you like sangria and flamenco music, which would clearly gives you an affinity with all things Spanish, including H1N1.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">9) Which Edmonton social media personality are you?</span></strong><br />
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Does your gregarious personality and flair for witty repartée require that you be everywhere, all the time? If the answer is yes you're probably <a href="http://www.kikkiplanet.com/" target="_blank">Kathleen Smith (aka Kikki Planet)</a>, forever stuck in a 1980s movie yeg-topia that veers wildly from cute animals and fashion tips to scorpionic venom unleashed on errant local officials. Or you might be a mild-mannered <a href="http://blog.mastermaq.ca/" target="_blank">Mack Male (MasterMaq)</a> type, forever patrolling the landscape looking for news like a saint bernard with a laptop. And if your overwhelming obsession is food and all things culinary arts-related, <a href="http://linda-hoang.com/" target="_blank">Linda Hoang (aka @lindork)</a> is more up your alley.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">10) What Buzzfeed personality quiz are you?</span></strong><br />
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Sadly, this living definition of the prefix 'meta' <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/what-kind-of-online-personality-quiz-are-you-74629682289.html" target="_blank">has already been done</a>. Sort of. Oh well.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-56222503650898739692014-03-26T01:53:00.001-06:002014-05-17T00:17:31.572-06:00Compose Something Edmonton (Why New Music Edmonton is the best show in town)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Back in March of 2012 I wrote a post about <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2012/03/10-possible-new-names-for-edmonton.html" target="_blank">possible new names for Edmonton International Airport</a>. Based on the premise that many of the world's most famous airports are named after famous individuals (John F. Kennedy, Lester B. Pearson, Charles De Gaulle, Indira Gandhi etc.). I came up with a list of 10 famous Edmontonians that might be considered airport name material, of which my personal favourite at the time was Leslie Nielsen International Airport, in homage to his career-transforming comedic breakthrough in <i>Airplane</i>.<br />
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I missed one. I definitely should have included Violet Archer on the list. After all, composers figure prominently among major airports. Rio de Janeiro has Antônio Carlos Jobim International. Budapest has Ferenc Lizst International. Warsaw has Chopin International. And of course New Orleans, where I recently visited, has the wonderfully named Louis Armstrong International Airport. Who do we have? We have the Montreal-born pupil of Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith who joined the U of A music faculty in 1962 and remained a fixture in Edmonton's music scene until her death in 2000. Edmonton-Archer International Airport - I love it!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UzVLqRkoea0/UzJ0MfJ1xlI/AAAAAAAAAyw/Yt_jGytbS8Y/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-26+at+12.30.28+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UzVLqRkoea0/UzJ0MfJ1xlI/AAAAAAAAAyw/Yt_jGytbS8Y/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-26+at+12.30.28+AM.png" height="320" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who says we can't be great up here? Edmonton's<br />
own Violet Archer. (source: musiccentre.ca)</td></tr>
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Of course I'm scarcely holding my breath for our local airport to be renamed after an avant-garde composer who the majority of Edmontonians haven't even heard of. Nevertheless, it is heartening to know that the spirit of the city's greatest exponent of new music is alive and well in the form of the organization she inspired, New Music Edmonton, the city's leading standard bearer for wild and woolly musical experimentation.<br />
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Last month I launched a series of blog posts about this great organization with a review of the <a href="http://brushtalk.blogspot.ca/2014/02/new-music-edmonton-review-ensemble.html" target="_blank">NME-produced world premiere</a> of some spooky Ligeti-inspired electroacoustic music by ex-pat Toronto composer Chiyoko Szlavnics by the Montreal-based Ensemble Transmission. And this past weekend I had the pleasure of attending NME's <a href="http://newmusicedmonton.ca/now-hear-this/" target="_blank">Now Hear This festival</a>, focused on the work of Canadian modern music icon R. Murray Schafer.<br />
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While Schafer was the festival's main attraction, Now Hear This felt like as much of a tribute to Violet Archer owing to the prominent role of the newly formed Violet Collective, a new Edmonton ensemble formed under the aegis of NME and named in honour of the late musical experimenter. While I was only able to attend the Saturday program of the three-day festival, what I heard reminded me of why I have crazy love for my adopted hometown. Our winters may be awful and our alleged professional hockey team even worse, but when it comes to artistic experimentation, we've got it made. With local ensembles like the Violet Collective, the <a href="http://www.windrosetrio.ca/Home.html" target="_blank">Windrose Trio</a> (joined by dancer Gerry Morita from <a href="http://www.milezerodance.com/" target="_blank">Mile Zero Dance</a>), <a href="http://procoro.ab.ca/" target="_blank">Pro Coro Canada</a> and the <a href="http://www.strathconastringquartet.com/" target="_blank">Strathcona String Quartet</a> as well as hometown sonic explorers <a href="http://www.spinchbeck.com/Audio/SPinchbeck-PhD.html" target="_blank">Shawn Pinchbeck</a> and <a href="http://www.beams.ca/Bios/gene_kosowan.html" target="_blank">Gene Kosowan</a> doing their thing, it was the best local festival you probably didn't hear about.<br />
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Highlights? There wasn't much that wasn't one. Violet Collective reedwoman and U of A instructor <a href="http://www.allisonbalcetis.com/" target="_blank">Allison Balcetis</a> demonstrated exactly what the saxophone in all its permutations is capable of, deploying the full saxophonic range from soprano to the rarely seen bass sax on <a href="http://www.colinlabadie.com/" target="_blank">Colin Labadie</a>'s minimalist <i>Strata</i> and Brazilian composer <a href="http://www.andremestre.com/" target="_blank">André Mestre</a>'s Passion of Christ-themed <i>Sorrowful Mysteries</i>. Chilean-born, Edmonton-based composer <a href="http://www.raimundogonzalez.com/#!about/c1enr" target="_blank">Raimundo Gonzalez</a> used the space of Old Strathcona's Trinity Anglican Church like few others by piping (literally) the sound of violinist Tatiana Warczynski through electronically doctored copper pipes, creating otherworldly sounds that you truly had to be there to experience. And Vancouver composer <a href="http://www.music.ubc.ca/faculty-and-staff/full-time-faculty-biographies/dr-robert-pritchard.html" target="_blank">Bob Pritchard</a> conspired with Edmonton flutist <a href="http://www.electrocd.com/en/bio/anderson_ch/" target="_blank">Chenoa Anderson</a> to deliver one of the day's most electrifying performances, the audiovisual <i>Rebirth,</i> featuring electronic armband-triggered surround sound effects and mesmerizing visuals.<br />
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The evening continued with some classic R. Murray Schafer vocal works courtesy of Edmonton choral group Pro Coro, most memorably the wonderful <i>Magic Songs</i> - a composition inspired by Schafer's famous hippie retreats in the Ontario backwoods (to which he would invite select friends and colleagues), replete with firefly chirps and Whitmanesque barbaric yawps. And then the evening got even wilder, delving into deep improvisational territory with bassist <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/thomgolub" target="_blank">Thom Golub</a> and dancer <a href="http://www.goodwomen.ca/biographies/kate-stashko/" target="_blank">Kate Stashko</a>, some very dark electroacoustic landscapes with Gene Kosowan's <i>The Ghosts that Guard the Gateway</i> featuring Allison Balcetis' otherworldly bass saxophone, and then some mad live improv by local lunatics <a href="http://pigeonbreeders.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Pigeon Breeders</a> - featuring visuals by Montreal-based Edmonton filmmaker <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3109452" target="_blank">Lindsay McIntyre</a>.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TBCg-9xo34w/UzKHCGHZHoI/AAAAAAAAAzI/111tEzP9NNI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-26+at+1.50.09+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TBCg-9xo34w/UzKHCGHZHoI/AAAAAAAAAzI/111tEzP9NNI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-26+at+1.50.09+AM.png" height="157" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edmonton's Pigeon Breeders (source: inb4track.wordpress.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Admittedly, I missed much of the R. Murray Schafer content on which this particular festival was focused. That said, the man's influence was all over the music on the menu. Now Hear This was, above all, about 'soundscapes', a concept that Schafer pioneered during his studies at Simon Fraser University in the 1960s, through which he sought to foster a deeper appreciation of sound as a whole by way of cutting and pasting sound from its original source to a 'musical' context (which he famously referred to as <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophonia" target="_blank">schizophonia</a></i>). As with much of Schafer's output, the works on display at Now Hear This challenge the very notion of 'composition', and the late-night 'Astral Ghosts' session featuring Kosowan, Pigeon Breeders and others pushed well outside what many would consider to be 'music'.<br />
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But as experimental as the proceedings got, it never ceased to be fun. Fun and totally unpretentious, a fact that anyone who's been forced to sit through a "highly serious" program of serialist music by the likes of Schoenberg, Webern and so on. Somehow the program managed to exude a certain Edmonton-ness, which I can only characterize as self-deprecating cleverness. In this town you can be as smart as is humanly possible provided you never lord it over your audience. That's the hallmark of the <a href="http://www.fringetheatre.ca/" target="_blank">Edmonton Fringe</a> and many of our other festivals - we'll happily do 'challenging' but only if you don't throw unnecessary forbiddingness into the mix. And on this front New Music Edmonton and its incredible cast of artists hit it out of the park once again.<br />
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I'm sure Violet would have approved.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-69697776363169410442014-03-13T23:10:00.001-06:002015-08-18T17:09:34.266-06:00Top 40 Sexually Suggestive Canadian Place Names<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Looking for an off-the-beaten-track theme-based trip across this great country of ours? Why not go from east to west (or west to east, whatever your taste) via the 40 raunchiest place names in the country - a tour that ought to dispel any notion that Canadians, as a people, are undersexed. That said, you're going to be spending a disproportionate amount of our travel in the great province of Newfoundland, with some extensive travel in Québec and Saskatchewan. And not much time in Manitoba or New Brunswick, both of which clearly need to get their act together.</div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">1) Anse à Mouille-Cul, Québec</span></strong><br />
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Located southwest of Rimouski on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, Anse à Mouille-Cul, for the Gallically challenged among you, translates to 'Wet Ass Cove'. No idea why, but we're sure the story behind it is highly amusing.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2) Balls Creek, Nova Scotia</span></b><br />
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A small town on Cape Breton just outside Sydney, NS. No idea if the town has a slogan, and if so if it's a variant on "Grow A Pair," but I certainly hope so.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">3) Balzac, Alberta</span></strong><br />
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Situated west of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway roughly 40 km north of Calgary and 12 km south of Airdrie. Founded as a railway town, it got its name from turn-of-the-century rail baron William Cornelius Van Horne (stop it) in honour of his favourite author, Honoré de Balzac. But you can rest assured that 19th century French literature is not what the name conjures up among 19-year-old frat boys whipping through town.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">4) Biggar, Saskatchewan</span></strong><br />
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Located roughly 90 km west of Saskatoon, the town of Biggar's unofficial slogan is "New York is Big, but this is Biggar." At least this is their publicly stated slogan, as I'm sure there are X-rated variants of this. No word on whether Biggar intends to pursue a sister city partnership with Tiny, Ontario, but it would be a wonderful thing if they did. After all, I'm sure Tiny needs some love.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">5) Blow Me Down, Newfoundland</span></strong><br />
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A provincial park in eastern part of the Rock, situated, appropriately enough, on a long, vaguely phallic peninsula that juts into Conception Bay. Like you didn't know that!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6) Brise-Culotte, Québec</span></b><br />
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A small town on the north bank of the St. Lawrence about 40 km northeast of Trois-Rivières, this town's name translated to 'broken underpants'. Or possibly crotchless panties. Either way, we're on our way!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7) Bummer's Roost, Ontario</span></b><br />
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While technically not an actual municipality, the <a href="http://www.ontarioabandonedplaces.com/upload/wiki.asp?entry=1017" target="_blank">now-abandoned village of Bummer's Roost</a>, located in the Lount Township of northeastern Ontario, still makes the cut - not only because of its name but due to the story behind it (pun intended). Apparently the name came from a local vagrant who was known as Dick the Bummer (actually), who famously scrawled the words 'Bummer's Roost' on a shingle with a piece of charcoal at what was to become to the site of the town. The name stuck - even after the town was abandoned in 1926. Is anybody even remotely surprised?<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">8) Climax, Saskatchewan</span></b><br />
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A village with a population of 82 in the municipal district of Lone Tree No.18 (about 160 km from Swift Current and not especially close to Regina - you <i>know</i> you were thinking it!), the proud little town of Climax is probably best known for its welcome sign which, according to Trivial Pursuit, says "Please come again" on the opposite side. I've never been there so I can't confirm this, but I really hope this is the case.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">9) Come by Chance, Newfoundland</span></b><br />
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According to Google Maps, it takes around 50 minutes to get from Dildo to Come by Chance. Which is somewhat longer than I was expecting.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">10) Conception Bay South, Newfoundland</span></b><br />
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With Conception Bay, Dildo and Come by Chance all clustered closely together in the same part of eastern Newfoundland, it's little surprise that most statistics show Newfoundlanders to be the most sexually active people in Canada.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">11) Crotch Lake, Ontario</span></b><br />
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Situated on exactly the opposite side of Algonquin Provincial Park from Bummer's Roost. Appropriately enough.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">12) Dildo, Newfoundland</span></strong><br />
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Situated, fittingly enough, due north of 'Broad Cove', Newfoundland and across from the appropriately long and slender Dildo Island. It is not, as has occasionally claimed, the birthplace of former Playmate of the Month Shannon Tweed, who, while a proud Newfoundlander, was actually born in St. John's. But you can go on thinking that if it makes you happy.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">13) Ecum Secum, Nova Scotia</span></strong><br />
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Located approximately 100 km due south of Antigonish, on the northeastern coast of mainland Nova Scotia. A long way from Come by Chance, but clearly in the same spirit.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">14) Fairy Glen, Saskatchewan</span></strong><br />
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Located east of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and roughly 200 km northeast of Saskatoon. No, we don't know who 'Fairy Glen' was, but can only assume he was a lot of fun - fun enough to name a town after.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">15) Fertile, Saskatchewan</span></b><br />
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A small town in the southeasternmost corner of Saskatchewan, Fertile is, it should be noted, nowhere near Climax. Which makes you doubt the connection between these two things.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">16) Finger, Manitoba</span></b><br />
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Technically not an actual town; just a flag stop along the VIA Rail line through Manitoba. Still, it sounds obscene, so it made the list.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">17) Garden of Eden, Nova Scotia</span></b><br />
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A small town in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Garden of Eden was founded by a group of ex-pat Scots fleeing the second Jacobite Rebellion in 1845. The town is now a draw for cottagers and tourists. Whether any of that tourism is of a naturist or otherwise scandalous nature is unknown.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">18) Jackhead, Manitoba</span></b><br />
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Jackhead is a First Nation community situated on west bank of Lake Winnipeg in central Manitoba. Nowhere near Finger. Or Climax.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">19) La Grosse Roche, Québec</span></b><br />
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La Grosse Roche (lit. The Big Rock) isn't so much obscene as extremely unimaginative. It's a big rock-like island in the middle of Lac Kénogami in the Saguenay region of Québec. The phrase "get your rocks off" doesn't translate directly into French, but if it did it would make for a good tourism slogan.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">20) La Visitation-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie, Québec</span></b><br />
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Now <i>this</i>, on the other hand, is a good one! A tiny town on the opposite side of the river from Trois-Rivières, the town's name literally translates to 'The Visitation of the Very Happy Virgin Mary'. We're not sure what this 'visitation' entailed, but you can rest assured it was a happy one. What people from this town call themselves is something I would very much like to know.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">21) Legal, Alberta</span></b><br />
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The central Albertan town of Legal (pronounced Lay-GAL) makes the list, if only because the outskirts of town are known as "Barely Legal". Or so I hear.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">22) Meat Cove, Nova Scotia</span></b><br />
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Meat Cove is the northernmost settlement on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Due north of Balls Creek. Naturally.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">23) Mission, British Columbia</span></b><br />
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The town of Mission straddles the Fraser Valley - directly between Surrey and Chilliwack. Titter all you like - it's a very pretty place, and pretty meat-and-potatoes in its tastes.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">24) Nipper's Harbour, Newfoundland</span></b><br />
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A tiny outport of 100-odd souls on the northern coast of Newfoundland, Nipper's Cove isn't as overtly sexual as some of the Rock's more colourful place names, but it still sounds vaguely naughty. Sort of in the same vein as Pincher Creek, Alberta - a town whose motto really ought to be "Pinch Her What?"<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">25) Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs, Québec</span></b><br />
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While Newfoundland reigns supreme in the overtly raunchy place name category, La Belle Province leads in the nation in place names that sound like nunnery-themed BDSM parlours. Top dog in this cagetory is Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs (literally 'Our Lady of the Seven Agonies'), a tiny hamlet on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, opposite the Saguenay Marine Park whose name makes it sound like a Marquis de Sade theme park. And in the heart of PQ separatist country. More scary than titillating.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">26) Nut Mountain, Saskatchewan</span></b><br />
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About 280 km due east of Saskatoon, this town's name is just plain funny. Not sexy per se, but definitely worth a giggle or two.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">27) Old Cummer, Ontario</span></b><br />
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Like Finger, Manitoba, Old Cummer is technically a rail stop (on the GO Train system) rather than a municipality per se. But the fact that this name exists on a map at all merits its inclusion on this list. Whether Old Cummer ever met Dick the Bummer of Bummer's Roost fame is, alas, lost to the annals (sic) of history.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">28) Pain Court, Ontario</span></b><br />
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Québec may have Brise-Culotte and Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs, but it's not alone in the sadomasochistic name department. But it still seems to be a French thing, as this small agricultural town in southwestern Ontario (in the municipality of Chatham-Kent) is largely Franco-Ontarian, and the name actually means 'Short Bread'. Still, we like the English pronunciation better.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">29) Pitouneville, Québec</span></b><br />
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In Québecois slang (<i>Joual</i>), the word <i>pitoune</i> occupies a place somewhere between 'hot girl' and 'slut' - not quite as derogatory or overtly sexualized as the latter but more overtly sexualized than the former. Doesn't quite translate fluidly. But whatever the case, this small town in Québec's Eastern Townships (near the ill-fated town of Lac Mégantic) gets more than its fair share of Beavis and Butthead-type giggling in La Belle Province.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">30) Placentia, Newfoundland</span></b><br />
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Not sexual per se, but definitely in keeping with the Rock's predilection with reproduction-themed place names (see Conception Bay). About equidistant from Conception Bay South and Come by Chance.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">31) Sexsmith, Alberta</span></b><br />
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A short 20-minute drive due north from Grande Prairie in northwestern Alberta, this town's name has the word 'sex' in its name but is otherwise a pretty unsexy place. Although it may have a cottage porn industry we don't know about.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">32) Smuts, Saskatchewan</span></b><br />
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Like Bummer's Roost, Smuts is a ghost town, and as far as anybody knows was never particularly smutty. (Moose Jaw, the bootlegging capital of sin of old, has that honour in the province of Saskatchewan.) The <a href="http://www.pbase.com/impalass/smuts_sk" target="_blank">only structure left standing</a> in Smuts is a church, which suggests a pious place, but perhaps there's a Sodom and Gomorrah story here that we don't know about.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">33) Spread Eagle, Newfoundland</span></b><br />
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Only a 19-minute drive from Dildo. Like <i>that's</i> a surprise to anyone!<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">34) Spuzzum, British Columbia</span></strong><br />
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Situated on the Trans-Canada, about 40 km north of Hope, BC. I myself have driven through Spuzzum many times and the name never fails to make me giggle. According to Wikipedia, the name comes from the Stó:lō language and means something like 'little flat'. I personally don't buy it, and suspect the Stó:lō people are having us all on, because this is <em>obviously</em> a rude word. More research is definitely needed.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">35) Ta Ta Creek, British Columbia</span></b><br />
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Located about 40 km north of Cranbrook, Ta Ta Creek is a scenic spot amid the majestic peaks of the Kootenays. Alas, this author was unable to find out what Ta Ta means in the indigenous Ktunaxa language, so I'm going to assuming it's something to do with boobs.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">36) Tiny, Ontario</span></b><br />
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Literally half a continent away from Biggar, Saskatchewan. Poor thing.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">37) Two Hills, Alberta</span></b><br />
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A small farming town northeast of Vegreville - a town best known as the home of the world's largest Ukrainian easter egg. With a name that sounds like breasts.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">38) Westward Ho, Alberta</span></b><br />
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I've seen the signs for this place many times. Turn off the Queen Elizabeth II Highway at Olds and go west, and that's where you get. It's a campground. It's westerly. Whatever else goes on there I cannot say.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">39) Woodcock, British Columbia</span></b><br />
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Situated, appropriately enough, among the Seven Sisters Peaks in northern BC, on Route 16 between Smithers and Terrace. Pick an Austin Powers quote and it probably applies.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">40) Wood Point, New Brunswick</span></b><br />
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It's the province of New Brunswick's only contribution to this list. And it's situated just outside Sackville. That's about all I can say about the place.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Honourable Mention: Regina, Saskatchewan</span></b><br />
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All the places on this list are, shall we say, far from major urban centres. The only 'real' city in Canada that stands a chance of making the cut is the perennial titillator, Regina, which, while not a sex word, rhymes with one. And since the Saskatchewan capital seems to make a lot of Americans giggle, it would be sacrilegious not to mention it.<br />
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So there you have it - Newfoundland wins with seven out of 40 on this list, followed by Saskatchewan with six plus the aforementioned honourable mention. Did I miss any? Let me know.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3031649659332153432.post-90495712191932610222014-03-06T22:07:00.000-07:002014-03-08T16:37:58.403-07:006 Reasons To Re-Watch The Original RoboCop Before Watching The Reboot<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UpQdcbbRVt8/UxlQbdejgqI/AAAAAAAAAxE/49JDhKq2FjE/s1600/RoboCop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UpQdcbbRVt8/UxlQbdejgqI/AAAAAAAAAxE/49JDhKq2FjE/s1600/RoboCop.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: IMDB.com</td></tr>
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For the record, I have yet to see the brand-new remake of the 1987 action classic <i>RoboCop</i>. Moreover, until a few days ago, I felt no particular need to go out and see it. These days the price of movie tickets coupled with the existence of Netflix means I hardly ever go <i>out </i>to see movies, especially Hollywood blockbusters. But after having re-watched the original <i>RoboCop</i> for the first time since I was a kid, I'm now quite curious to see it. Although in all honesty I'm probably going to wait until it comes out on Netflix. I'm cheap that way.<br />
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I was around 10 years old when I first saw the original film, which means a) I was definitely too young to be legally watching it without a parent or guardian (sorry mom, sorry dad); and b) a lot of its content went completely over my head at the time. Seeing it now made me think there's more to movie age restrictions than simply sex and violence, of which there was none of the former but a great deal of the latter. The graphic shoot-em-up scenes in the movie certainly made a big impression on my young mind, but the subtler aspect of the film, like its socio-economic critique and liberal use of Biblical symbolism, were beyond what I was able to process at the time. If anything, the "inappropriate content" was the stuff I wasn't intellectually ready to grapple with.<br />
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The original <i>RoboCop</i> was, in many ways, ahead of its time. While critical reception of the film was on the whole positive in 1987, it received considerable flak for both the quality and quantity of gory on-screen violence as well as its liberal use of profanity. While still most definitely stomach-churning at points, the film's violence pales in comparison to much that was to come within a decade thanks to movies like <i>Reservoir Dogs</i> and <i>Natural Born Killers</i>, which in turn pale in comparison to the likes of the <i>Saw</i> and <i>Hostel</i> franchises - which make the original <i>RoboCop</i> look like <i>My Dinner With Andre</i> by comparison. As for the profanity, it certainly shocked my 10-year-old sensibilities at the time but in an era when F-bombs are a dime a dozen on primetime TV, there's no shock value there.<br />
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That said, I definitely wasn't ready to appreciate <i>RoboCop</i> at age 10, and as a result dismissed it for the next 20-plus years as simply one of the many gratuitous big-biceps shoot-em-up extravaganzas that defined much of 1980s Hollywood. It wasn't until this Monday that I rediscovered the film and completely changed my mind about it. Granted, I still hate the way the film ends, with the villainous Omni Consumer Products CEO Dick Jones (brilliantly played by Ronnie Cox) being blown out of a glass window atop the company's skyscraper, in one of the worst cliche movie deaths ever. That said, it's still an excellent film, and one that definitely needs to be re-watched before going anywhere near the re-boot. Here's why.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">1) Peter Weller's performance</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VIyqYvzJ9KU/UxlRESMIGLI/AAAAAAAAAxM/QnaSyYaVSnk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+9.54.07+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VIyqYvzJ9KU/UxlRESMIGLI/AAAAAAAAAxM/QnaSyYaVSnk/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+9.54.07+PM.png" height="215" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: robotsinmasquerade.blogspot.com</td></tr>
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One of the most interesting aspects of the original <i>RoboCop</i> film is director Paul Verhoeven's very counterintuitive casting choices. For the titular role, Verhoeven initially considered A-list action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and fellow Dutchman Rutger Hauer for the role, but ultimately settled on the smaller and highly cerebral Peter Weller, a guy whose other most memorable roles have been Dr. Buckaroo Banzai in the cult sci-fi classic <i>The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension</i> and William S. Burroughs in David Cronenberg's twisted 1991 rendering of <i>The Naked Lunch</i>.<br />
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The decision was made in large part because the diminutive Weller had an easier time moving in the RoboCop suit than the aforementioned big guys, but it ended up being a brilliant move. Weller's portrayal of both the mild-mannered Detroit cop Alex Murphy and the brooding titular cyborg gives the film an intense humanity that Arnie would have been hard-pressed to deliver. Hauer, on the other hand, would have been an interesting choice given his own track record for playing emotionally disturbed androids. But Weller's acting combined with his delicate features makes the original RoboCop really stand out in the predominantly brawny and brainless domain that is '80s action heroes.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2) Two iconic '80s movie villains for the price of one</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWn02GgJw_c/UxlRy66YxVI/AAAAAAAAAxY/hTxMKKCDaYI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+9.57.20+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IWn02GgJw_c/UxlRy66YxVI/AAAAAAAAAxY/hTxMKKCDaYI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+9.57.20+PM.png" height="160" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: whatculture.com</td></tr>
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If there's one thing 1980s action movies did right, it was creating awesome over-the-top bad guys. While the action heroes of this era tended to be bland and one-dimensional, Hollywood directors made up for it by delivering the likes of Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) in <i>Die Hard</i>, The Kurgan (Clancy Brown) in <i>The Highlander</i>, Koji Sato (Yusaku Masuda) in <i>Black Rain</i>, Johnny Lawrence (Billy Zabka) in <i>The Karate Kid</i> and, of course, Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the 1989 <i>Batman</i>. The 1987 <i>RoboCop </i>goes one step further by delivering two of the decade's most memorable bad dudes in a single film.<br />
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As with the main character, Verhoeven made a point of making counterintuitive casting choices for the film's two antagonists, CEO Dick Jones and 'Old Detroit' crime lord Clarence Boddicker. For Jones he went with Ronny Cox, an actor and singer-songwriter best known for playing genteel fatherly figures in series like <i>Apple's Way</i> and <i>St. Elsewhere.</i> In a similar vein, Verhoeven cast Kurtwood Smith, an actor best known for playing uptight squares in <i>That Seventies Show</i> and movies like <i>Dead Poets Society</i> as probably the only ever movie supervillain named 'Clarence'. Both men clearly embraced their anti-typecasting roles and threw themselves into their respective evil characters will full aplomb.<br />
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(As an interesting side note, Clarence Boddicker's trademark rimless glasses were a key element in Kurtwood Smith landing the role, as Verhoeven thought they made him <a href="http://whatculture.com/film/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-robocop.php/2" target="_blank">resemble Nazi SS commander Heinrich Himmler</a>.)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3) A great female action hero</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPdnG6oD9oY/UxlSMyX-iCI/AAAAAAAAAxg/3sNnuiQplb8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+9.59.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPdnG6oD9oY/UxlSMyX-iCI/AAAAAAAAAxg/3sNnuiQplb8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+9.59.08+PM.png" height="172" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: imfdb.org</td></tr>
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In her seminal critique of post-second-wave culture <i>Backlash</i>, feminist author Susan Faludi dismisses <i>RoboCop</i> as simply one of "an endless stream of war and action movies" in which "women are reduced to mute and incidental characters or banished altogether." While I have the deepest respect for Faludi and <i>Backlash</i> and I have to agree with her overall characterization of 1980s action movies, I think she is dead wrong about this one. Aside from the titular character, the strongest character in the movie is without doubt Murphy's stoic and determined partner, Officer Anne Lewis (played by Nancy Allen) - one of Hollywood's toughest and most memorable female cops.<br />
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While her character is clearly secondary to Murphy/RoboCop, Officer Lewis is the type of female character you still rarely see in Hollywood films - a shrewd, independent, non-objectified woman in a typically male role. Most strikingly, the relationship between Lewis and her ill-fated partner is very much in the classic buddy-cop mode and is refreshingly un-sexualized. (<i>RoboCop</i> is a lot of things, but it's about the least 'sexy' film I can think of.) Depressingly, I fear Hollywood has gone downhill in this category since the 1980s. In the 2014 reboot, Officer Lewis is gone, replaced by Officer Jack Lewis (played by Michael K. Williams), and the only female character in sight is Murphy's wife, played by Abbie Cornish. So much for that.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4) Symbolism galore</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1Dn9Z4zfvrA/UxlSwaC5G1I/AAAAAAAAAxo/fCANZzQvNv4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+10.01.14+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1Dn9Z4zfvrA/UxlSwaC5G1I/AAAAAAAAAxo/fCANZzQvNv4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+10.01.14+PM.png" height="171" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: screened.com</td></tr>
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An interesting (and little-known) fact about Paul Verhoeven - a man best known for sci-fi blockbusters <i>RoboCop</i>, <i>Total Recall</i> and <i>Starship Troopers</i> and then-scandalous 1992 suspense thriller <i>Basic Instinct</i> - is that he is also a dedicated Biblical scholar and a onetime member of now defunct <a href="http://virtualreligion.net/forum/" target="_blank">Jesus Seminar</a>, an scholarly association dedicated to shedding light on the historical Jesus of Nazareth. Of all his output, <i>RoboCop</i> is without doubt the most overtly 'Christian' in theme. Indeed, Verhoeven asserts in the documentary <i>Flesh and Steel: The Making of RoboCop</i> that he intended the main character to be a 'Christ figure'. Christian symbolism abounds throughout the film, from Officer Murphy torturous death at the hands of a mocking rabble to RoboCop walking ankle-deep in water during the climactic showdown at the abandoned steel mill.<br />
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Biblical allegories aside, the most obvious literary parallel is, of course, Mary Shelley's <i>Frankenstein</i>. Indeed, there is a certain Boris Karloff-type quality to Peter Weller's performance in this film, while the amoral and singularly driven Bob Morton (Miguel Ferrer), RoboCop's creator, is clearly a modern-day stand-in for Dr. Frankenstein. In this sense, <i>RoboCop</i> fits more within the classic horror cannon than within the annals of science fiction, as does Verhoeven's later ultra-violent riff on the Book of Revelations, <i>Starship Troopers</i>. Interesting stuff at the very least.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5) An eerie caricature of Reagan-era America</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TNrfiinJmAs/UxlTLRF-ElI/AAAAAAAAAxw/2DyqisZD4T8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+10.03.10+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TNrfiinJmAs/UxlTLRF-ElI/AAAAAAAAAxw/2DyqisZD4T8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+10.03.10+PM.png" height="281" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: empireonline.com</td></tr>
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While socioeconomic and cultural caricature are not hard to find in the 1980s Hollywood action movie cannon, in many if not most cases directors felt the need to critique American culture within a 'foreign' context. In <i>Die Hard</i>, the protagonists are American but the villain is, of course, German and the corporate context in question belongs to the then Leviathan presence of Bubble Economy-era Japan, a context that reappears in Ridley Scott's <i>Blade Runner</i> (ostensibly LA in 2019 but clearly 1980s-vintage Tokyo with flying cars) and <i>Black Rain</i>. Meanwhile, the <i>Rambo</i> saga starts on the <i>terra firma</i> of the United States but then heads off to the safe refuge of Commie-ruled Vietnam.<br />
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<i>RoboCop</i>, by contrast, focuses unflinchingly on a decaying (and increasingly crime-ridden) post-industrial US, centred, appropriately enough, on the city most frequently held up as a poster child by both the left and the right for everything wrong about the country. While the exact epoch of the movie is left intentionally ambiguous (set at "some point" in the near future), the cultural setting, from the over-the-top corporate greed to the cowboyish gangsters, is unquestionably the 1980s America of Gordon Gekko and company - complete with a severe case of the military industrial complex. In that sense <i>RoboCop</i> can be seen in a similar light to <i>Heart of Darkness</i>, where, like with Verhoeven's film, it took a foreigner (the Polish-born Joseph Conrad) to shine a light into the skeleton closet of British/Belgian colonialism.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6) Future echoes</span></b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bs8Yk8zduwA/UxlTx3E9dwI/AAAAAAAAAx4/aYyesBh3nIw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+10.05.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bs8Yk8zduwA/UxlTx3E9dwI/AAAAAAAAAx4/aYyesBh3nIw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-06+at+10.05.45+PM.png" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: blackagendareport.com</td></tr>
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In an ironic development, the character of RoboCop has become an iconic figure in the beleaguered city of Detroit where the film was set. In 2011, following then Detroit mayor Dave Bing's announcement of the building of a 'New Detroit', the mayor was asked (as a joke) if he planned to erect a statue of the iconic movie cyborg, and his rejection of such plans led to an Internet campaign aimed at <a href="http://detroitneedsrobocop.com/" target="_blank">raising money for a RoboCop statue</a>. Today it looks increasingly likely that the statue will indeed happen.<br />
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In a very real sense, the nightmarish, dystopian Detroit dreamed up by Verhoeven did become reality. Between 2000 and 2010 the city lost 25 percent of its population, dropping to just over 700,000 (down from a peak population of 1.8 million in 1950), and in July of last year the city filed for bankruptcy in the largest municipal bankruptcy case in US history. This ongoing decline has resulted in notorious urban blight, with the abandoned industrial structures of <i>RoboCop</i> eerily reminiscent of the city of today, while the city continues to grapple with stubbornly high rates of violent crime.<br />
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In spite of its deeply entrenched problems, Detroit remains a city with intense civic pride, and since the city's bankruptcy filing in mid-2013 there's been an upsurge in social and economic activism in the city aimed at bringing the city back to health, by groups such as <a href="http://revivalofdetroit.com/" target="_blank">Revival in Detroit</a> and <a href="http://www.weareworldhope.com/causes/revival-of-detroit/" target="_blank">World Hope</a>. In that sense, the character of RoboCop himself can be seen as an allegory for Detroit itself - agonizingly shot to death but still managing to cling onto life and re-emerging stronger than ever. At least that's the hope of Motor City's stubbornly proud residents. Perhaps a RoboCop statue isn't that far-fetched an idea after all.<br />
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So, in sum, before you go pay however much tickets for the 2014 Jose Padilha reboot of <i>RoboCop</i>, I strongly suggest sitting down to watch the old one. If for no other reason, by what I've read of the reviews of the new film, the old one is definitely better. But I should really go see the new one before I say that.Ben Freelandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16280442367623797116noreply@blogger.com0