Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012

"Artists are 'builders.' Making things is at the core of what they do. Visual artists are those individuals who combine ideas, materials and technologies with the view to modelling an original way of seeing and interpreting the world. Curators working with the art of today are tasked with discovering, following, understanding and processing a varied range of production.

"This diversity is reflected in Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012, a survey of more than 100 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, video and multimedia installations created by 45 artists and acquired by the National Gallery of Canada over the past two years."

At the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Nov 2, 2012 to Jan 20, 2013

Melanie Authier

Marcel Dzama

Dil Hildebrand

Vikky Alexander

Will Gorlitz

Qavavau Manumie

More about the exhibition here

Hold me, thrill me kiss me

For larger photos, click the first or any one

Pic of the day

A centre of stillness

We all have within us a centre of stillness surrounded by silence.

---

Dag Hammarskjold 1905 - 1961

Pic of the day

Clisk the photo for a larger one

Playing on my ipod - Franz Ignaz Beck (1734 -1809)

Bits & Bites

• In an unusual move, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, becomes the Governor of the Bank of England. He is the first foreign national to hold the post.

• It's status quo after the federal by-elections. The Conservatives retain 2 seats and the NDP 1. House standings remain: Conservative - 165, NDP - 101, Liberal - 35, Bloc Québecois - 4, Green - 1, Independent - 2.

• Rob Ford the Mayor of Toronto, Canada's largest city, is ousted for conflict of interest. But he's not going without a fight or without blaming "a left-wing conspiracy." Rob, Rob, Rob. You used city property for your own purposes and then, after the Integrity Commissioner called you on it, participated in the Council discussion and vote that determined you didn't have to pay from your own pocket. And your excuse was you hadn't read the conflict of interest guidelines. Conspiracy has nothing to do with it. You screwed yourself.

• Finally, to "un-Grinch" Christmas, $2 million of toys and goods stolen from the Salvation Army have been recovered.

Then he kissed me

'Tis when the lark goes soaring
And the bee is at the bud,
When lightly dancing zephyrs
Sing over field and flood;
When all sweet things in nature
Seem joyfully achime -
'Tis then I wake my darling,
For it is kissing time!

---

Eugene Field 1850 - 1895
From Kissing Time

Look in a mirror

I never thought I would post about Justin Bieber, one of the most irritating girl singers I have ever heard, but I can't let this pass.

This is how he dressed to receive his Diamond Jubilee award from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

According to Bieber's tweet:

"The pic of me and the Prime Minister was taken in a room in the arena where i was performing at that day. I walked straight from my meet and greet to him, if you 'Hayley' expect me to have a change of clothes let a loan a suit at that specific time that’s crazy, It wasn’t like it was like I was going into his environment we were at a hockey arena. Wow am i ever white trash hayley peterson lol."

I usually try to be kind, even when I don't want to be, but just one word - twat. Beebs, dress for the occasion! Did you have to wear that mishmash to meet and greet? Of course not. You chose it while you could have easily chosen something that would have been suitable for both events. Yes, Beebs, despite what you say you could have even had a change of clothes. Arenas have changing rooms, you know. There's no need to look like a reject from the cast of "Hee Haw." You have the money to pay to have someone think about these things for you even if you can't. White trash? Don't set your sights too high.

Oh, while I'm at it and because I hate that Twitter makes people lazy, "let alone" not "let a loan."

And the winner is . . .

The Toronto Argonauts bested the Calgary Stampeders 35 to 22 to win the 2012 Grey Cup. It was a good enough game, but it was never close. The Argos were able to put it all together while the Stamps - not so much. Confused play and penalties did them in. That's not meant as an excuse to take away from the Argos performance.

Player of the game was the Argos RB Chad Kackert with 20 carries for 133 yards and 8 catches for 62.

The Argonauts who have been around since 1873 with the same name and in the same city and who are one of the oldest pro sports teams in North America have now won a record 16 Grey Cups. Perhaps it's fitting that they should take the 100th one.

You swing for a different team

Bear with the poor quality; it looks to be videoed directly from the TV. Danny is the underused gay character in the MTV series. Perhaps with the departure of Colton Haynes and the resultant gap in the story line, we may see more of him next year.

Tyler Hoechlin (Derek or Miquel here), Dylan O'Brien (Stiles) and Keahu Kahuanui (Danny) - Teen Wolf

Gimme some of that ol' time . . .

Living with cats

From 9 Chickweed Lane

Pic of the day

Charles Demuth (1883 - 1935)

O to have my life henceforth a poem of new joys!
To dance, clap hands, exult, shout, skip, leap, roll on, float on,
To be a sailor of the world, bound for all ports,
A ship itself, (see indeed these sails I spread to the sun and air,)
A swift and swelling ship, full of rich words—full of joys.

---

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Poem of Joys

"Demuth was not a flaming queen, in fact he was rather a discreet gay, but if he could not place his deepest sexual predilections in the open, he could still make art from them. Seen from our distance, that of a pornocratic culture so drenched in genital imagery that sly hints about forbidden sex hardly compel attention, the skill with which he did this might seem almost quaint."

The complete article is here

Pic of the day

The 100th Grey Cup

The Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders will face off in the 100th Grey Cup November 25, 2012 in Toronto. The first Grey Cup was played December 10, 1909 in Toronto and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues defeated the Parkdale Canoe Club with 3,800 fans in attendance. For many years, university teams participated and the event wasn't professional.

There were no games between 1916 - 1918 because of WWI. Apparent disinterest and a rules conflict meant no game in 1919, but otherwise there has been a game each year. Some of the more colourfully named clubs participating included the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers, the St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy and the Winnipeg Tammany Tigers. Although it's a Canadian game, the Canadian Football League briefly expanded into the U.S. in 1992 – 1996 and the Cup was won in 1995 by the Baltimore Stallions, who became the only team outside of Canada to do so.

And being Canadian, there are some differences to its U.S. cousin. Centre field is the 55 yard line with two 50 yard lines on either side, thus making the field longer. At 65 yards, it is also wider than the U.S. version. There are 12 players, not 11. There are numerous other differences that make scoring and playing the Canadian game unlike the U.S. one, but the other major one is that there are 3 downs, not 4. We may be polite, but after all, there's no need to give your opponent an extra chance to score on you.

Frank Dombrowski (left) of the United States and Captain W. Drinkwater of Canada, rival captains of the teams playing in the Canada-United States football game at White City Stadium, London, England February 14, 1944. (Source: Library and Archives Canada)

We sometimes take things for granted

"In his last blog entry, activist Sattar Beheshti wrote that Iranian authorities had given him an ultimatum: Either stop posting his 'big mouth' attacks against the ruling system or tell his mother that she will soon be in mourning.

"'We will tear down your cruel cage,' Beheshti typed on Oct. 29 before signing off.

"A day later he was arrested. Within a week, his family had collected his body. They began calls for an investigation that have been echoed by Washington, European allies and rights groups."

Full story at CBC.ca

Torchwood

From Torchwood Gifs

Pic of the day

A centre of stillness

We all have within us a centre of stillness surrounded by silence.

---

Dag Hammarskjold 1905 - 1961

We all love a man in uniform (or out of it)

I praise the dance, for it frees people
from the heaviness of matter and binds the isolated to community.
I praise the dance, which demands everything:
health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.
Dance is a transformation of space, of time, of people,
who are in constant danger of becoming all brain, will, or feeling.
Dancing demands a whole person,
one who is firmly anchored in the center of his life,
who is not obsessed by lust for people and things
and the demon of isolation in his own ego.
Dancing demands a freed person,
one who vibrates with the equipoise of all his powers.
I praise the dance.
O man, learn to dance,
or else the angels in heaven will not know what to do with you

---

Saint Augustine (354 - 430)