Duzun

Just a couple of videos today. First is Gil-Scott Heron. Watch it in HD if you can. Well good.



And that was a bit moody for you, try this on for size.

Vanishing Point from Bonsajo on Vimeo.

Ta la

Legs

So it was the G20 summit in Toronto this weekend which bought along with it the usual rash of heavy-handed policing and idiotic `protesters`smashing stuff, including burning a few police cars. That is absolutely the best way to be listened to by the leaders of the world, yes. Go and smash up that Starbucks and they`ll give you a personal audience. Oh and the McDonald`s. Instant progress, ya bum. Most everyone I know was on board with this attitude, because honestly, it was just annoying. You do not need tear gas and paintball guns, police. You do not need `medics`and documentation of beatings, protesters. Everyone just needs to grow the hell up. Regardless, a friend and I headed out on Saturday afternoon to have a look and see if we can get a few photos. The atmosphere was very...tense. The police were not messing about.I didn`t get photos of any actual protesting because most of it was being done downtown, and this big blockade was at one of the major intersections stopping from more folks getting there.

In other news, England stink at football, water is wet and the sky is blue. I was gonna give every player a review and a mark out of 10, but that seems redundant as I could just write `dissapointing, 5/10`for everybody. Miserable. I`m still looking for a place to get 120 film printed as well. I`ve found a place that`ll develop it ok, but no printers as of yet. You`ll no doubt be thrilled to be kept updated. I got a new pair of kicks today too. Real fresh, from a great shop that was having a beaut of a sale. I got a sweet old briefcase for $10 from a yard sale as well, so that was killer.
Laters

Zen

Oh yeah! In other news, Canada absolutely loves the Maple Leaf as a symbol of it's nation. Like, Really. It's everywhere, and everyone digs on it, it's the coolest thing. Peep that doughnut as evidence of that. Consider it Number 1 in a series. Also, not sure what happened to the text colour on the last post, and you ever noticed how good Missy Elliot is?




Boom. Legit.

Nein

Oh word. Mondo Apologies for being so slack I've been busy, y'know, living life and crap. Usually that's pretty good blog stuff, and certainly has been so far, it's just that I stacked it hard with regards to taking my camera anywhere, so no photos. What follows is an apologetic text-based account of the past weekend.

So my good friend Charl came up from New York on Thursday and that was bumpin'. I'm down like a clown for hanging out with that guy and he always smacks the perspective and motivation back into me, so it was all good news. No photos of him though. Sorry.
Friday night bought about the opening of the new show at the gallery I've been working at. It's super cool to see it all come together after I've worked so hard on it (sort of). But really, I feel like I helped put it together in some tiny little way and it's ace. It's a pretty freaking good show too, all kinds of good stuff, in particular the Javier Tellez piece is utterly beautiful. Really, really good. I've got to give a guided tour of it on the 11th of July, so I'm working on getting a thread together for the tour, but I'm still crapping my pants about it. Again, no photos of the opening. Sorry.

Saturday I waved goodbye to Charl before going to see Iggy Pop and the Stooges. For free. Outside. It was rad, I'm not gonna lie. I was a mile back and I could still tell Iggy was as mad as he ever was and I have to say, his voice sounds better to me now than it did when he was younger. I'm not sure why, just something about the old, raspy edge to it seems to fit with the music. Search And Destroy killed it, for reals. It was completely ballistic. The one thing I will say is that the crowd was full of jerks. It was either punks who were around the first time, or a bunch of pushy hipsters who thought they invented rebellion and pushing past people in crowds. Jerks. Also, an excellent piece of scheduling having punk rock iconoclast Iggy Pop in town the week before the G20 summit. Nice work. Once again, no pictures of this one. Sorry.Sunday was spent recuperating and going to the gallery for a tour with one of the artists in the show. They do it every Sunday and, as mentioned, I'll have to do one myself. The artist was Robyn Cumming and I can put one of her pictures in here instead of a sad animal so that's good. She was real good and smart and you could tell she was a teacher. It was pretty intimidating as I'm not sure the observations I'll have will be as astute, but I'll probably tell more jokes so that's a win in my book.Sunday night was then spent watching De La Soul. Gosh what a great show. Straight up, this was a better experience for me than Iggy. It was less crowded, I was closer, the crowd was more focused on having a good time and dancing around instead of being pushy and being seen in the right place. Good stuff all around from everyone. They were great as well, telling jokes and stories and being excellent hosts, even if they did seem a bit disappointed in the reaction they were getting from the crowd. But it was a free show on a Sunday evening, it's not exactly going to be a barnstormer is it? Still great fun though, and I'm completely pleased about the whole experience, so there. Again, no photos, but you've already had enough cute for today.

That brings us up to Monday and is pretty much all. I will do my very best to update more often, even if it's more smaller posts and videos and what have you, rather than mammoth updates like this one. If it becomes a habit, I'll do it more often and better. FACT.

(h)eight

Just a few videos that I saw that were ace.
First:

And if that's too amateurish and silly, try this on for size:


That's all for now. Gotta get a job and clean my room as my buddy Charl is coming up from New york to stay. Hyped. The new show opens at the gallery on Friday, so expect some photos of that.

The 7th Door

Last Thursday was a fundraising ball at the gallery I work at. Called the Power Ball, it's a pretty big deal and the cheapest ticket is $160. Blam. The VIP ones were even more, flipping ridiculous, and what you got was fancy finger food and a free bar stocked with everything you'd ever need, Real Talk. I spent much of the day helping out getting the place set up, hanging fabric, Christmas lights and putting helium into red balloons. About 1000 in all, but not on my own. The results are pictured above, but I can safely say that it looked better in real life. Standard. It looks like this from above. Apparently they did the math(s) and worked out how many balloons they can hold. Did you know a fully blown up balloon can hold 14 grams? True story.

There was a bamboo bar that was staffed by folks in panda costumes, one of which got incredibly drunk and belligerent, which was pretty funny as long as you weren't involved. One man got very irate and slapped him so he was pulled off and made to stand in a corner, no joke. He looked a bit like Lewis Baker for anyone who knows what that means.
There was this Drag Hole thing too, where if you stuck your hand in you'd get a drag queen makeover. It's an interesting idea, but witness the dreadful planning with regards to the material choice on the letters. Illegible. Disappointing.
They also had hot tubs. Indoors. Yeah, all bets were pretty much off.
As a side note, the parties main sponsor was Hugo Boss. They had a stand involving stuffed animals, steamer trunks and clothes that only the people at the party could afford. Not for the likes of me. Apparently in the past they've had problems with people stealing the clothes, just straight grabbing the mannequin and running for it. No such excitement this evening though. They had a few of these cut-outs outside. This one was probably the best. I saw a few folks using them, but mostly they went ignored the whole evening, with the planned silent auction for them completely abandoned in the end, so I reckon I could have had a cheap table if I'd got in there. Would been pretty interesting too, although you would have had to watch where you put the potatoes. This is Paul, the chap in charge of putting the gallery in order and getting everything built. Crew Chief I guess you could call him. Or Project Manager, whatever. Here he is throwing balls at...The Dunk Tank. Yup, that's John McEnroe. More or less anyway. He was the only one who got in all night, and was suitably hammered and abusive the entire time, so that was a bit of a giggle. Final photo (I didn't take too many because I was either working or, y'know, partying) of the evening is an attempt to capture the nature of the chaos. Drag queens, over styled haircuts, too much money. Good times if you know how to circumvent it all, or just double fist free beers for two hours, which is the option I went with. Anyways, good times had and friends made. Nice work Power Ball.