Mind the Gap! Catalogue and Website Released

Art exhibitions are nice, but let's suppose you're too cold to see one in person. Or maybe you didn't hear about the exhibition in time. Or perhaps you're not even born yet, and you're planning on someday wondering what kind of art was being made at a given point in time.

That's what exhibition catalogues are for.


Mind the Gap! is an expansive exhibition of contemporary Saskatchewan art curated by Amanda Cachia and Jeff Nye at the Dunlop Art Gallery. The curators traveled all over the province, meeting with artists in communities large and small, all in an effort to bring together a diverse collection of artwork currently being made in Saskatchewan.

The catalogue is a nice addition to the exhibition, as it gives readers a glimpse into the background and intent of the show. Nye's essay explores some of the related themes present in the artists' work. The book also features works of creative non-fiction and poetry by Alice Kuipers, Bonnie Dunlop, Carle Steel, and Matt Hall, commissioned for the catalogue.

The exhibition, which will be touring several Saskatchewan galleries beginning in 2010, also has a website containing much of the content found in the catalogue.

Being that the Dunlop is part of the RPL, I'm sure there is a copy you can read for free. Or, if you're the consumerist-type, there are also copies available for purchase. Just think, non-denominational-winter-gift-giving day is just around the corner!

Finally, for the sake of transparency, I feel I should note that I have a piece in the show. But don't let that deter you! It's a fine exhibition, and a very pretty book, so please check it out.

Prank Shames Environment Minister

Earlier today, news came from Jim Prentice's Twitter account that the environment minister would be announcing bold, new emissions reduction targets. A press release was up on an Environment Canada website and a Wall Street Journal website confirmed the story.

The announcement was reported in many international news outlets.

Problem: it wasn't Jim Prentice's Twitter account. And, it wasn't a real Environment Canada website and it wasn't a real Wall Street Journal website. The announcement, the targets, all of it, were a hoax forcing minister Prentice's office to announce that, no, Canada will not be bringing new, bold targets to Copenhagen. We will be bringing the same lame-ass targets you already know about because we suck.

The merry pranksters remain anonymous but the whole thing seems very Yes Men inspired.

Elizabeth May is calling the stunt, "damn clever." Here's the full story from over at the Globe and Mail. Here's the press release that started all the hullaballoo.

Six In The Morning

1 POOR COUNTRIES WALK OUT OF COPENHAGEN Then walk right on back in. At issue: what rich companies owe the planet for all those years of pollution. (New York Times) I don't get the rich countries' resistence--isn't "you broke it, you bought it" a basic rule of capitalism?

2 CHRISTIAN BIGOTS INSPIRE GAY-BASHING UGANDAN NITWITS And then, the so-called Christians delicately back away from the imminent gay genocide they'll have helped create. Forgive me for not applauding. (Guardian)

3 STOP PICKING ON PANHANDLERS Regina's administration will recommend that the City's tag day bylaw shouldn't be used by police against panhandlers. Couldn't agree more. (CBC)

4 DAMN YOU, LIECHTENSTEIN How could you help wealthy Canadians hide their money so they wouldn't have to pay taxes? Is it because the first three letters of your name spell "lie"?

5 MEANWHILE IN GREAT BRITAIN There's an ongoing inquiry about the Iraq war investigating if prime minister Tony Blair lied and misled Britons into a bogus war they didn't want. (Guardian) Much like the inquiry in the United States about Bush and Cheney and co.'s Iraq war lies. Oh wait, they don't do that kind of thing in America. Republican presidents are allowed to run the country any way they want. Right. I forgot.

6 PRIVATE FITNESS, PUBLIC FACILITY Good, informative article by Joe Couture in the L-P about a fitness trainer whose Fieldhouse boot camps were cancelled by the City. No scandel, not much drama between the two parties but a good case study of an issue: to what extent should private businesses get to use a city facility? (Leader-Post)

12 Days of Christmas: Larceny, Inc.

It's that time of year when there seems to be nothing on TV but the same old Christmas movies that they play every year.

There's nothing wrong with these films - films like It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, any one of the many versions of A Christmas Carol that are out there, A Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn, White Christmas, Babes in Toyland, etc. They just get a little repetitive as they seem to play on every channel.

Over the next twelve days, for those who want to watch something seasonal but off the beaten path, here in no particular order are some alternative choices that while they all having something to do with Christmas, they aren't the normal holiday film.

First up is Larceny, Inc. (1942). The film stars Edward G. Robinson as J. Chalmers 'Pressure' Maxwell - an ex-convict that decides he wants to go straight. While he was in jail, another convict played by Anthony Quinn told Robinson about his plan to tunnel in and rob a bank. Robinson dismisses it because he wants to fly straight. Once out he tries to get a bank loan so he can purchase a dog track in Florida. He's refused so he buys a luggage store that's right next door to the bank. He puts Quinn's plan into action by getting his lackeys to start tunneling into the bank.

There's a problem. It's the Christmas season and although the business that Robinson bought was a dying store, he has inadvertently turned it into a thriving business. And they can't drill if there are customers in the store. Meanwhile it's Christmas Eve and Quinn has gotten word that Robinson has stolen his idea.

The movie was based on the play The Night Before Christmas and this was one of the three gangster comedies that Robinson made with director Lloyd Bacon along with Brother Orchid and A Slight Case of Murder.

Pick of the Day: Boundless: Sublime Maelstrom

Born in Regina (she's the sister of Regina-based filmmaker Mark Wihak), Marian Wihak is a graduate of the University of Regina where she studied theatre design. For some time now, she's worked as a designer in film, TV and theatre based largely in Toronto. When not so engaged, she also finds time to paint. This exhibition of large-scale oil paintings, which is on at the Art Gallery of Regina until January 23, was inspired by time Wihak spent recently working on a film in Saskatchewan.

Because of the chilly weather, we didn't have many thunder storms in the province this past summer. But we all realize the immense power of nature and the suddenness with which a storm can brew up when the right combination of heat and humidity are in their air. Quite apart from their value as dramatic skyscapes showing massive clouds and storm systems, Wihak says, "the paintings in this series are expansive, stylized representations that are as much metaphors for spiritual longing as they are portraits of a magnificent geography."

To that extent, the paintings remind me of Taoist-type paintings which, through the scale of the natural features that the artist depicts in comparison to the human viewer, are meant to convey the relative fragility of our existence in a vast and often imperious universe. To put you in the mood to see the show, here's the trailer for the 2000 disaster flick The Perfect Storm. (YouTube)

Sunday Morning 'Toon: Climate Change Edition

Have to say, I've always been skeptical of the whole "cap & trade" idea. Back in the 2008 election, when everyone from Jack Layton to Stephen Harper was prattling about how hard to understand the Green Shift was with its carbon tax, I kept wanting to say, "Okay, smart guy, how'll one of those cap & trade schemes you're offering as an alternative work?" None of the candidates came to my door in 2008, so never got to ask that. And the mainstream media never bothered to ask them about it either. The election seemed to be so much about tearing down the Green Shift regardless of the merits of what it was proposing.

Well, congratulations, guys. Mission accomplished.

Anyway, the people who made the Story of Stuff animation, have put together a new video called the Story of Cap and Trade. They do a pretty good job of explaining how the system works. And they do an excellent job of highlighting the serious problems with cap and trade. (I find the tone of the narration a little irritating, though.) Turns out -- surprise, surprise -- cap and trade is awfully complicated and some really nasty problems can be hidden in the fine print. And it looks like cap and trade is just another scam by financiers to make a pile of bucks without providing much in the way of benefit to society.

Not being an expert on such things, I can't say if any of the cap and trade schemes proposed for Canada are as corrupt as the one examined in this animation. But this makes me pretty damn skeptical that any cap and trade system could be the magic solution to our carbon problems.



I still can't help but think that taxation is the easiest way to put a fair price on carbon. I wouldn't even demand it be a revenue-neutral sort of deal. Pity that idea's been pretty much scuttled in this country... at the federal level, at least.

Pick of the Day: A Christmas Surprise

I had originally intended to feature the Stereos gig at the Distrikt tonight with The Midway State, Artist Life and The Envy as pick-of-the-day. But that fell through. Checking the headliners out on-line, it's just as well, as they do exude a bit of a poseur vibe. To begin with, they're from Edmonton. So why is that one dude with the tats sporting a Chicago Bulls jersey? Big fan of the NBA? Or just searching for that ever elusive punk/hip hop street cred?

If you were keen to see them though, don't sweat it, as Stereos will be backing up Hedley at Brandt Centre on March 30. Today though, especially if you're a parent, or you can arrange to borrow some kids for the afternoon, you might want to drop by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum for a holiday celebration. In addition to cider and goodies, there'll be musical entertainment courtesy of the the Regina Community Orchestra, Cadence and Eddie & the Shone-delles. There'll also be a screening of the movie Prancer, along with an opportunity to check out the museum's various galleries and displays.

Overall, sounds like a great way to spend the afternoon. There's no charge, but the RSM will be collecting donations on behalf of the Regina Humane Society.

Saturday Morning 'Toon: Climate Change Edition

A little animation on how the climate tipping point works.

Pick of the Day: Bright Star

Directed by Jane Campion (The Piano), this biopic details a brief love affair between British poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his neighbour Fanny Brawne (Abby Cornish). Considering Keats, a leading figure along with Byron and Shelley of the Romantic period who was born in central London in 1795, died at age 25 (likely from tuberculosis in Rome) pretty much everything about his life would qualify as brief. In Campion's film, we see him through the eyes of the pragmatic Fanny -- a dressmaker who defied convention to fall in love with the penniless poet. Author of such classic works as Ode to a Nightengale and Ode on a Grecian Urn, Keats, in his short life, epitomized the romantic ideal of the impoverished artist. That ideal still operates, of course. Pretty much the only reason we have art in our money-grubbing society is because a small segment of the population, similar to Keats in his day, is willing to sacrifice virtually everything -- their financial well-being, their social standing, even their health, in order to create. If you see this film, please keep that in mind. Here's the trailer. (YouTube)

Toronto Mayor Accepts Fossil Award

Canada took home two Fossil of the Day awards in Copenhagen today, taking the first and second prize for promoting inaction on climate change. This means we've six in total now, more than any other nation -- we're even decisively out ahead of the Ukraine. (Er... yay?)

We scored our twofer first thanks to a declaration from our cheif negotiator that Canada's carbon emission reduction target of minus 3% over 1990 level is "science based" (real scientists say developed countries should be shooting for minus 25 to 40% over 1990 levels), and second for our environment minister saying that the Kyoto Protocol should not be extended and something new put in place.

Toronto mayor, David Miller was on hand to collect our "prize", saying that, like most Canadians, he's ashamed of our government's appalling record on climate change.