You know how we’ve all wanted to meet more people in our dream industry? Whether it be potential collaborators to expand our personal networks, or to just talk shop. If you’re into cinema, this event is for you. In support of an ambitious film being shot this summer, we’re promoting a ‘Scorsese’ titled event. Let’s face it, filmmaking is expensive and what better way to fund raise than by hosting a killer night out, plus it’s a good way to kick start to your summer.

DETAILS:

“The Colour of Money” Fundraiser
Friday, May 28th
Schank’s North
Doors at 6:30 PM
Tickets ~ $10

PURCHASE TICKETS @ http://thecolourofmoney.myevent.com/

Entrance to the event allows you to indulge in the appetizer buffet, compete for unique prizes, enter the bar-wide 50/50 draw – and the best part – a photo shoot with you and another person posing as Vince and Eddie from The Color of Money’s iconic shoot.

Get your tickets early as we’re hoping to sell out all one-hundred fifty!

Allo allo! And thank you all for your continued support during those droughts we sometimes experience here at the Carbon/Nation/SplashFantastic HQ!

This was linked off my Twitter account the other day, and in the spirit of superiffic 3D music videos which melt our minds, I decided it was worth posting. Oh, and it’s a beautiful song, too.

Tah-tah for now!

Last year approximately 40,000+ brave souls headed for the black rock desert to participate in the annual cultural spectacle known as Burning Man. Each year a unique theme is chosen to help guide artists, musicians, performers and on-lookers in crafting a week long festival of original experience. Not quite a music festival, not quite an open-air arts event, not quite an alternative living celebration yet somehow this event has organically grown to encompass all of this and more.

For those of who haven’t been or perhaps those who have and want an interesting perspective away from the playa; might we suggest you attend a showing of Dust and Illusions: A History of Burning Man. This documentary by Oliver Bonin offers insight into this annual gathering which often defies definition. This doc is independently produced and with that is seeking support to cover the expense of bringing a film such as this to you the good public. You can show a little love by attending a screening in your area or make a donation online (right side).

Here’s a few Canadian dates for you:

Jan. 28th, 2010 – Calgary, AB
Feb. 3rd, 2010 – Toronto, ON
Feb. 4th, 2010 – Montreal, QU

See you out there!

I was recently introduced to this simple but incredibly engaging concept by a friend studying visual / cultural anthropology. Though not particularly new I still felt it worth sharing for those like myself that haven’t seen it yet. The premise as stated by the website is this:

Go to a place. Ask fifty people the same question. Film their responses.

Now take this concept, work some skillful editing and set to beautiful music. Voila! A very human piece of film. The questions and the locations yield responses which are wise, witty, silly, sad and everything in between. I suggest you checkout the locations currently featured on their website: London – UK,  Brooklyn – NY, New York – NY, New Orleans – LA. If you can believe it I’ve actually been sort of saving them up for when I need a little reconnection with the world at large.

Take ALEWHIF

I like to inhale chocolate as much as the next person, but to actually “inhale” (quotes & suggested air quotes) is an entirely different story. Taking this literal approach to inhaling food is a new product from Le Lelaboratoire called LeWhif.

Le Whif is a new way of eating chocolate – by breathing it! Imagine, chocolate without the calories. Be the first to try inhaled chocolate in one of four flavors: mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate, and plain chocolate.

Le Whif seems to cover the spectrum of great design, from beautiful packaging to almost extreme product innovation.  Obviously the right choice of food was an important choice in experimenting with the way people consume, and I’m sure that  chocolate trumped a variety of delicious ideas….such as steak perhaps.  Though this all sounds a little outrageous and even seemingly pretentious (see it’s debut at Cannes on the Le Whif world tour), I am curious enough to order and try this product… if it does transpire, I’ll let you know how it goes.

I like when we happen upon artists that are still keepin’ it real in Canada.  To be honest I’m not entirely sure what the phrase “keepin’ it real” means, but I’m sure Jonathan Bergeron is indeed doing just that.  Bergeron was born, raised and continues to reside in beautiful Montreal (Chuck go find this man!).  He has also been known to go under the artist moniker of Johnny Crap, which would explain the title of his blog johnnycrap.blogspot.com. Okay, that was me not-so-subtly suggesting you go pay him a visit.  I know I’m a bit of sucker for the Calvera / Day of the Dead imagery but there’s something special here. Case in point: the picture above was created for a Beastie Boys tribute show held at Gallery1988 in LA back in January. If you happen to be in Montreal might I suggest you visit yves laroche gallery, as you may be lucky enough to find some of Mr. Bergeron’s work to see in actual-reality land.

Of course it only follows that I would leave off with a teaser on the vinyl front. Word from the good people of Clutter Magazine is that Big Shot Toy Works is working Chris Ryniak and Jonathan Bergeron to create some lovely new vinyl toy creations. Details are sparse at the moment but keep your peepers peeled for this one! Enough talk & more pictures (after said jump).

I think its safe to say that we all need a little happiness right now (is it ever not that time?).  Through my early morning interweb meanderings, I came across something that just might do the trick.  Enter Mr. Charles Spearin; founding member of Broken Social Scene and Do Make Say Think.  Spearin and his bandmates have always had knack for experimental musical arrangements and now he’s applied that knowledge in crafting The Happiness Project.  This conceptual album is based on the natural rhythm and musical nature of our everyday speech.  Spearin asked those close to him (ie. his neighbours) to speak on the subject of happiness.  Having recorded these open interviews he went back and re-envisioned them with complimentary musical elements.  Perhaps I’ll let the man himself explain:

Meaning seems to be our hunger but we should still try to taste our food. I wanted to see if I could blur the line between speaking and singing – life and art? – and write music based on these accidental melodies. So I had some musician friends play, as close as they could, these neighbourhood melodies on different instruments (Mrs. Morris on the tenor saxophone, Marisa on the harp, my daughter Ondine on the violin, etc.) and then I arranged them as though they were songs.

This album was just released in February, so I’m a little behind in hearing about this.  Regardless, it sounds like it might be worth a listen for the concept alone.  Even if you don’t checkout the album, I hope you at least press play on the promo video above.  It makes my insides smile.

Visit the official website for more.  (There even seems to be hints of a live show.)

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

The only thing screwed up about these time lapse tilt-shift videos is that they’re real. It’s quite the amazing technique, and in this case coupled with such gorgeous cinematography. The only thing I wish for is to have Keith compose a video to one of my songs. Someday… Someday…

The 60’s were sure a grüvin’ time. Nope, I wasn’t alive in the 60’s, nor the 70’s, but I sure do miss them in a I-need-a-time-machine kind of way.

The sad thing is, I don’t think the monorails employed in ‘67 are still around anymore. In fact, there isn’t too much remaining from those days. Even the sphere’s lost it’s charm, now converted into a bio museum. At least we have great archival footage to live and remember it by.

Here’s a short film shot around Alberta to lighten your day. Hopefully it does the trick to put you in the right mood. Also, check out Brett’s other film Up In Flight.

Directed by Brett Ferster
Music by David Martin & Connor Ferster

EvolutionStarring a Young Jerry Seinfeld

I’m feeling a little ranty this aft’ and right now the only cure, as I can see it, is to drop some keyboard bombs.  Set targets to Dragonball: Evolution.  Ah, Hollywood… does this even count as Hollywood?  Maybe some sort of backward suburb, anxiously awaiting the arrival of its very own Woolco mini mall, little realizing that that flag-ship of low low prices has long since sailed but they continue in wait and choose to pass the time by sifting through the memories of my childhood for gems which can be recreated in LIVE ACTION.

Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh considering I haven’t actually seen this film (in the traditional sense).  So take this pre-judgement with whatever grain of salt you like on your fries.  Now, what I have seen is plenty of trailers and photos… y’know to get me revved up.  From what I can gather we have what sort of looks like the bastard child of Mortal Combat the Movie and a three-legged Llama (minus the sweet techno track).

Now I wasn’t a super-saiyan fan of the Dragonball series, but I did enjoy a little taste of it from time to time.  How can you not give it at least a bit of love?  You take the ancient asian mythology of the Monkey King and mutate it with aliens, fighting and power-ups.  Seems all good.  Then a live action movie is made.  I’m not saying this is always a bad thing but sometimes that Hollywood suburb we discussed earlier gets their mitts on it and misses the point.

Somehow, I think the chemistry of youth transforms these cartoons and comics with the passage of time to create epic personalized mythologies that can be nearly impossible to faithfully recreate.  In the end I will probably still watch this one, so really all my ranting is mostly just for show.

I’m sorry, next time I swear I’ll blog about something without the long winded venom on my tongue.

As a kid, I could watch a flick over and over again, no matter how bad it was (chalk up 30 some-odd sit-throughs of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York). These days though, it’s rare that I’ll watch something I could repeat view again and again. In the case of The American Astronaut, it could be the spectacular comedic timing on Director/Writer/Actor Cory McAbee’s part, the black & white space-cowboy musical motif, or the complete disregard for typical cultural conventions we’ve built up over the years that keeps me so entertained. I’m not sure what does it for me exactly, but the mixture of those has me more than intrigued.

And the music! Oh, the music. To myself, it’s strange how rare it is to hear melodies that challenge my mind. Take the tune ‘Hey Boy Hey Boy’ in the bathroom scene above. For the most part, the vocal melody is repeated over and over, while each ‘verse’ adds another section of lyrics to the beginning; creating one helluva mouthful. Make sure to give that clip your attention until at least 2 minutes in for possibly the most wonderful dance portrayal to ever grace film.

Looking forward to seeing Cory’s new film Stingray Sam (trailer). Also, check out the short Billy Nayer right now. on the TubeYou.

Calgary Underground Film Fest Poster Artwork by Matt Luckhurst

This April 14th – 19th we are so very lucky to once again have CUFF (Calgary Underground Film Fest) grace the city of Calgary. CUFF clocks in at 7 years young and like some sort of interstellar-rocket-train continues to gain momentum. So what can we expect from this years multi-format, genre-bending showcase? As per usual we have a selection of feature length and short films covering the beautiful, weird and wonderful. I thought I would offer a few of my picks for this years festival but after looking at the full line-up you really can’t go wrong with any of these cinematic gems.

Died Young, Stayed Pretty – 112 Mins – Awesome – Saturday, April 19th @ The Uptown

Take a trip into the primarily underground world of indie gig poster creation and collection. Iranian born and Canadian raised documentarian Eileen Yaghoobian introduces us to the diverse cavalcade of individuals involved in this unique scene. This film was recently featured at this years SXSW and received the official selection from the 2008 Montreal World Film Fest. Having caught a sneak preview of this flick I can say this you will be surprised at how engaging and entertaining the world of Gig Posters can really be.  All this and you have interviews with heavy hitters like oh Frank Kozik and Calgary’s own Clay Hayes from GigPosters.com.

TOKYO! – 95 Mins – Narrative – Saturday, April 18th @ The Plaza

Do we shape our cities or do our cities shape us?  TOKYO! tackles this enduring question through 3 distinct stories about Japan’s metropolitan mecca.  We have Bong Joon-Ho, Leos Carax and Michel Gondry each presenting their unique directorial vision.  We here at the Splash have been waiting on this one for a while and I’m told this is the Canadian premier.  This film also just happened to receive the official selection at Cannes 2008.  Peep the trailer and tell me you aren’t a little excited.  Oh and what’s that… is that Canada’s own Tokyo Police Club providing music for the trailer?  I think it is!

BAG – 9 Mins – Short Film – Tuesday April 14th @ The Plaza

BAGImage from memelodia.blogspot.com

If gig posters aren’t for you perhaps may I suggest you checkout the Plaza on Tuesday instead for something a little more local. BAG is a short film about a man’s obsession with a garbage bag. Okay the details are a might trim but this film comes from Calgary’s own Jay Woolley. You may remember Mr. Woolley from such amazing bands as The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir and Hot Awesome. If that gives you any indication then you know it’ll be top drawer. Also, this one plays along side Momma’s Man. That’s two-for-one yo!

We may have a bit of a bias around these parts for the classic way of doing things. Recalling a line uttered yesterday about how the 50’s until the late 70’s was the best era for design aesthetic & style in the last century. My current project’s first album is planned to be released on vinyl and digital only, in hopes that the compact disc will go the way of the Dodo bird. So, when I showed this video to the vocalist of our group I wasn’t surprised by her remarks: “Amazing. I’m so happy this is still being done in the modern day. That’s surreal.”

Check out the vid yourself to see how the ‘magic’ goes down. Thanks to @bretto and the BBC.

The Last UnicornChildhood Regression, Here I Come!

Don’t look at me like that! This was a serious topic of discussion in our work environment today.  Maybe it was the previous references to Playmobil, Floppy Diskettes or possibly Men at Work… I don’t really know. What I do know is that the beast of nostalgia (Nostalgior!) has dug its bedazzled claws into our mental space and insists on regurgitating its hypercolour memories all over our contemporary floor.

Did you happen to catch this early 80’s animated flick?  I was surprised that NONE of my hard working (read: hard drinking) team had!?  I was an ill-tyke at the time enjoying some Superchannel and remember watching The Last Unicorn more times than I would like to admit. I wept tears at the plight of our lead unicorn, I wet pants at the sight of the freakin’ red bull and yes I sung song during the credits.

Speaking of credits this movie boasts a soundtrack by America. AMERICA!  As well for vocal talents we have Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Christopher Lee and Angela Lansbury (Whodunnit Ang? You did… You did!).

This falls into a suite (sweet?) of animated 80’s movies that, though each different, boasted similar qualities in animation style and overall tone.  To this list I would say we have:

• The Last Unicorn
• The Secret of Nimh
• Transformers: The Movie

There’s probably a few more to add to the list. Heavy Metal? Rock & Rule? Hmmm, help me out here people, don’t leave me hanging.

Upon further reflection, could this tale be an allusion for original cultures (the unicorn) struggling against the ruling power’s (King Lir) push to drive them into the melting pot of contemporary society (the ocean), and the ever present fear of becoming the last of their kind? That may be a stretch. I’ll have to watch it again, or, perhaps they’ll produce a live action version someday (currently in the works).

In the meantime, bring on the waterworks…

Sita Sings The BluesBy Nina Paley

Last night I sat down in front of ol’ man laptop in search of audio-visual entertainment and feasted my peepers (jeepers!) on something beautiful.  This beauty came by the name of Sita Sings The Blues.  Okay where to begin… there’s just too much cool going on here.  Everyone, breathe. Find your calm place and we are ready to begin.

Sita Sings the Blues takes us through what the poster dubs as the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.  I’m inclined to agree.  Artist, animator and director (WHAT?!) Nina Paley gives us an animated re-telling of the Ramayana, an ancient Hindu tale of love, trust, betrayal, justice and… well it covers a lot of allegorical ground.  To boil it down you have the beautiful Sita and the trials she experiences with her main squeeze Rama.

Now this on its own would make for a stellar watch (like with your eyes, not the time keeper) but the awesome keeps on coming.  First off Sita expresses her emotional state through dirty thirties era blues songs.  And through some alternating animation styles, as well as references to contemporary relationships you have here a story designed specifically to amaze.

Now I am just about to wrap this post up but there’s one last thing. IT’S ULTRA-FREE! I say ultra because this feature length film is not only offered for free download in numerous formats but it is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.  This basically translates into a do-whatever-you-want-with-it license.  Share, distribute, profit-from, remix and… well anything.  Checkout the official site to read Nina Paley’s thoughtful post on her reasoning behind this choice.  This also got me learning about the Free Culture movement, but that’s for another post.

PontypoolThe New Measure of Awesome

For those feeling that the zombie genre has been done to death (ha! too easy) I say nay! Hark, a new contender enters the ring and offers a true heavy weight film experience. And guess what kids… its Canadian! I’m speaking of Pontypool by Mr. Bruce MacDonald. I had the opportunity to peep this lil’ number last night at the Uptown Theatre preview.

Okay, now calling this your standard smash n’ slash zombie flick is an incredible disservice. What we have here is a clever thriller with hints of zombie. The film takes you into the broadcast booth of a radio station in the small town of Pontypool, Ontrario. Once you’re there, you experience almost the entirety of the violent and infectious breakout from inside, through the eyes of the three person morning show team.

I hesitate to say much more but I will say that if you’re looking for hordes of zombie extras you are out of luck. What you lose in gore you gain in suspense and impact. All in all this is masterful film making. The writing takes a dose of wit, a dash of cheese and a few heaping cups of badass soliloquy to create an entrée that I insist you feast on.

Bruce MacDonald is the same man who produced such true Canadian classics as Hard Core Logo, Highway 61 and Dance Me Outside. So you know he’s got mad cred.

Tyler Stout is an incredible artist and illustrator whose work stands out due to the attention to detail and his choice of colour palettes (among other things).  His choice of subject matter definitely has pop appeal but somehow I would feel okay having Corey Haim/Feldman on my wall.  Tyler’s prints are available for purchase and at ridiculously low prices, which explains why they sell out so quickly.  Go to them now, they’re calling you » www.tstout.com

Honorable mention goes to the Bladerunner Poster – currently sold out :*(

This award winning film details various memories from veterans of 1982’s First Lebanon War. The plot follows around Folman as he attempts to reveal memories of a massacre, which have since been exiled to the deepest recesses of his mind.

I’m sure I’m not the first to compare this flick to Waking Life, as the technique used to bring each still to life is similar to rotoscoping. Turns out Waltz With Bashir wasn’t created by filming first and tracing second but instead drawn first, then animated using a combo of Flash and classic techniques. As the film drew onwards, I began to sense a strange connection with Waking Life as far as the pacing and conversation is handled throughout the film.

Gorgeous animation and great use of colour helps to create vividly moving scenes. With a spectacularly haunting, yet effective ending (which I won’t ruin for you here).

For more, check out the trailer or the promo site.