Boost This Week

If you don't know what Boost is already check the bottom of this page for details. So, this week:










Boost Music:
the Pack A.D. - Making Gestures



Boost: TV and Film:
Bruce McDonald's Pontypool



Boost: Literature and Boost: Art are still growing fast but given that each has only a few hundred members right now I just sent out links to good resources: View on Canadian Art and the Quill and Quire blog.

Boost: New Media - is just barely getting started - nothing there yet.

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Boost is a collection of Facebook Groups designed to promote Canadian arts and media. Once a week a message goes out to each group promoting a particular artist, group or resource. The groups include Boost: Canadian Art, Boost: Canadian Film and Television, Boost: Canadian Literature, Boost: Canadian Music, Boost: Canadian New Media.

Breaking Links: Saturday, December 1

Via Boing Boing: Renowned alt. copyright and 'participatory culture' system Creative Commons turns 5 on December 15.

"..and they're having parties all over the world to celebrate! The main one, in San Francisco, is on Dec 15 from 10PM to 2AM, at the Terra Gallery at 511 Harrison Street."

VoCA on an art project gone horribly wrong.

"According to City News, "The prank cost CANFAR, the Canadian Foundation for Aids Research, at least $100,000.""

Just as Canada reconsiders the safety of police tasers and the UN rules that they are a form of torture , a new, less expensive consumer model is sweeping the US.

"A few months ago, the world's biggest stun gun maker revealed a lower-cost model primarily for civilians. The device has energized a mini-revolution in Taser sales, fuelling everything from designer colours for the fashion-conscious to Tupperware-like Taser parties for Southwestern soccer moms."

It would appear that even big business no longer backs Conservatives: Via Vive le Canada Global business leaders call for a legally binding climate change pact.

"The leaders of 150 major global companies today called for a legally binding and comprehensive international deal on climate change.

In a communiqué, the businesses said they needed a mandatory agreement on emissions reductions to give them the confidence to invest in low-carbon technology."

If you don't know who Kat Maki is, that's only because she lives in Sudbury, not Toronto or Montreal. Kate is about to release her 3rd Album - I've heard parts of it (at Nathan Lawr's CD Release party) and you really want to get it when it comes.

""Kate Maki's music is kind of up and percolated.  She's a hardy country type of pioneer woman.  Her acoustic guitar pickin rhythm is like a drum and she can belt out, even when she is quiet, like a storm." – Howe Gelb



"With its near conversational style and unfettered, natural delivery, Kate Maki's voice is an instrument of immediate comfort and charm where every utterance is a delight." – Toronto's Eye Weekly



"There's something disarming about her gently fluttering country-folk delivery." – Uncut Magazine




"High school teacher by day, singer-songwriter by night Kate Maki comes over as a countrified Neil Young and doesn't need her behaviour management skills to force appreciation from the crowd for a smart and witty performance." – Soundsxp  



 "In her own way, Maki rocks as hard as the fiercest metal band.  Anyone that can get an audience stomping their feet and silently swaying in the course of a 20 minute set is well on their way to musical success." – ChartAttack"

Breaking Links: Friday, November 30

Bookninja on the American TV writers strike:

"I just want TV back on so more of the people I dislike will stay in at night at leave the coffee shops and pubs empty for me."

Exclaim! has an interview with Hidden Camera Joel Gibb:

"People don’t like Bavarians in Berlin, which is why I kind of liked wearing the lederhosen. "

Spacing has a good summary of the tragic developments in Queen West.

"Despite the best intentions of the city, I’m afraid I have a feeling of impending doom about all of this. The attempts to retain spaces for artists and affordable housing are honest and well intentioned. The result, however, will necessarily be the replacement of a vibrant, incidental place which harboured a vibrant culture, with a designed, manufactured place which will be home to a designed, manufactured culture."

VoCA's Top 5 are up

"Every *SECOND FRIDAY* VoCA will introduce our 'TOP FIVE' - five Canadian artists whose exceptionally well-made, well-conceived and original work we've recently featured, and recommend to art collectors."

Natalia Yanchak on Morrisey, NME and Cultural identity.

"Dear NME: Have you been to Quebec lately (Pop Montreal doesn’t count)? Have you heard about Bill 101, which since the late 70’s has sought to empower a forced French identity and culture on anyone who wants to live here? "

According to Fox, long known for their objectivity, Canadian beer drinkers are a threat to the planet thanks Radio 3

"The problem is that the beer fridges are mostly decades-old machines that began their second careers as beverage dispensers when Canadians upgraded to more energy-efficient models to store whatever Canadians eat besides doughnuts and poutine."

Radio 3 has a Tour Diary from the Barmitzvah Brothers

"...Brother Jenny Mitchell will cut your hair for free in exchange for a story. So far she's got 100 stories ..."

The RCMP has seized a computerat the CBC's offices in Winnipeg, though why it was seized remains a mystery.

""We did have an interest in a computer at that location, which is why we went there," Karpish said. She said the CBC is not being investigated by the RCMP. She would not say whether an employee is being investigated."

Art Countdown!

View on Canadian Art has just started a new tradition. "Every second Friday" Andrea Carson will introduce the Top 5: " five Canadian artists whose exceptionally well-made, well-conceived and original work we've recently featured, and recommend to art collectors." Definitely worth checking out even if, like me, your budged necessitates that you only look at the really good, potentially valuable art, online (no touching).

Nuit Blanche Previews

From now until the start of Toronto's Nuit Blanche on September 29 VoCA (View on Canadian Art) will be previewing some of the installations and giving you a heads up on what to look out for.

VoCA is written by Andrea Carson who, according to her About Me

writes on contemporary art, architecture and design. She returned to Toronto in 2003 after having spent six years in London where she managed several art galleries and received her Masters degree in Art Criticism from City University (UK). A current particular focus is the promotion of Canadian art internationally. Carson has curated a number of projects, including Revealed: New Canadian Video, a screening at Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London in 2003.

If you'd like to follow along VoCA is at http://viewoncanadianart.blogspot.com/ or you can subscribe to the feed at feed://viewoncanadianart.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.