When will the love stop?

One of the best things I did in recent memory is write an article for Spacing magazine. I'm proud to contribute to a magazine that's adding to the discourse around urban issues in Toronto. I'm also thrilled to share pages with writers like Sheila Heti and Ryan Bigge, who I'm big fans of.

Well there's more love coming our way. Maisonneuve's Christopher DeWolf gushes (that's Murmure in French!). I should also learn French. It's strange that I can't read a good chunk of Canadian literature because it's written in another language and that there's a huge swathe of Canadian pop culture that I can't access (although about Spacing, my friend's multi-city project MurmurMitsou is doing her darndest to help me). Most importantly I'm not about to put Val's writing through Babelfish. She deserves better than that.

Boy Reporter in NYC

I'm heading out to NYC for about five days. I'm taking the train down on Friday and flying back up Wed.

Things I plan to go see:
The Gates in Central Park
The new MOMA
The Whitney
Williamsburg
My cousins
An ex-girlfriend

Not in that order of course.

You Like Me... You Really Like Me!

I'm pulling a Sally Field and getting pretty excited about a cheeky little write up that media critic/Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias gave Torontoist. Apparently we're cute.... but really need a little more sass. Hmmm, that's like the girls I want to date, cute and with a little bit of sass.

Boy Reporter *hearts* Chicagoist

It's kinda like when your big brother or sister does something to make you proud. Chicagoist, kinda a big sister blog to Torontoist, has been teed off about a "ban" on photographers taking pictures of sculptures in Chicago's Millenium Park. Well after much haranguing the city realized what it was doing wrong and has decided to fix the problem and set the record straight! And of course they did this in style with their snazzy contemporary art inspired shirts as well! All we can say is "you go sis!"

And I almost forget... thanks boing boing for the link. And Andrew Peerless for the illustration of the 'bean.'

American Apparel, also like cancer

I recently referred to CanWest's soon to be launched youth daily, Dose, as similar to cancer. Despite the possibly insensitivity I believe the analogy to be accurate.

In the same bent I would also like to point out the frightening ability of American Apparel to metastize. They're opening a third location and a fourth will be opening soon. That's four stores in a year! Yikes!

Mixed Media Watch criticizes AA's fetishization of its mixed model employees. The ads are reminiscent of those Calvin Klein ads of yore. I still remember the backlash against those, but this time hardly a peep. Oh how things have changed. Image aside, I still think it's better to buy from a company that doesn't use sweatshops but may objectify its more attractive employees vs. Abercrombie and Fitch's rather problematic t-shirts. As if paying your asian workers pennies an hour wasn't enough.

Other things that are also like cancer, swedish clothing retailer H&M. I am now placing a moratorium on comparisons of anything to cancer!

Hobnobbing with artists

I'm heading out to the Untitled Art Awards tonight! I actually know a few of the nominees as well. Shawn and Gabe are nominated for murmur in the exhibition in a virtual space category, a few other people I know curated a few of the shows that are nominated and of course the very talented and whip-smart Julia Dault, who I had the pleasure to interview over the weekend.

Minimalist blogging

I'm posting two (maybe three stories) on Torontoist today, that doesn't leave much room for blogging.

I just wanted to point out Zoilus' manifesto like column in the Globe this weekend about Canadian Indie music and why the industry seems to have their head stuck up their asses.

Also, because I'm way too lazy to re-post what I wrote on my livejournal about the wavelength fifth anniversary.... here's the link.

The Creeping Somebodies

Let the Toronto indie-rock love in continue. The fifth anniversary of local indie-rock series Wavelength has been getting full-court press coverage. I pitched in my two cents with my interview of Jonathan Bunce, Wavelength founder and all-around musical force. The Star weighed in with their profile of the Creeping Nobodies (who are pictured here, aren't they cute?). Now gives us more reason to love Owen "Didn't I see you on Conan O'Brien" Pallett. Stu Berman from eye Weekly tops it all of with his High-Fidelity style top-five Wavelengths ever!

I'll post photos of the weekend shows soon.

I need to gush...

I gush about something at least once a week. This time it's mixedmediawatch.com. A blog out of NYC that fights for the positive and constructive representations of people of colour and mixed races in the media! I check it almost daily now!