Friday, August 27, 2010

Body art by Kim Joon

Korean artist Kim Joon takes body art to a whole new level using his subjects as a creative, sprawling, slightly flawed (hey, we’re only human) canvas on which to create hi vibrant, colourful, and dynamic artworks.
Source: Lost At E Minor

Saturday, August 21, 2010

EU seal ban suspended

A European Union ban on seal products was temporarily suspended Thursday, the day before it was set to take effect, because of a legal challenge by Inuit leaders.
The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, representing Canada's 53,000 Inuit, and Inuit in Greenland filed a legal challenge against the EU's ban earlier this year, calling it illegal and immoral.
The Canadian Seal Marketing Group and the Fur Institute of Canada are also involved in the challenge.
Before news of the injunction emerged, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke out against the scheduled ban, saying the federal government is "very strongly in opposition" to it.
Harper said it's "flagrant discrimination" against the Canadian sealing industry, which he described as a sector that employs "hard-working people who are also of modest means."
"It is a disgrace that they're treated this way in some countries based upon no facts or information whatsoever. So, we strongly object to the decision," Harper told reporters at a government announcement in Miramichi, N.B.
Last November, Canada made an official complaint to the World Trade Organization about the European ban. Norway has joined that complaint.
Source: CBC News

Friday, August 20, 2010

Top 6 most indebted countries (and why)

1. Ireland - Debt/GDP: 997%
2. Netherlands - Debt/GDP: 467%
3. United Kingdom - Debt/GDP: 409%
4. Switzerland - Debt/GDP: 273%
5. Portugal - Debt/GDP: 228%
6. Austria - Debt/GDP: 214%
While the U.S. and Canada have large economies, their respective debt-to-GDP ratios are 93% and 62%. The U.S. gets most of the attention because of the size of the numbers that comprise the ratio - $13.5 trillion debt (June 2009) and $14.4 trillion GDP (2009 estimate).
By comparison, China and India have ratios of 7% and 20% respectively. Their economic growth rates have also exceeded the western nations over the past few years, thereby keeping their debt ratios relatively low. If the western nations don't implement policies to reduce their debts, they run the risk of jeopardizing future economic growth and prosperity.
Source: Yahoo

Dumped? Maybe you should take a Tylenol

New research suggests if you’re suffering from a broken heart taking a Tylenol may relieve some of the pain.
Source: Toronto Star

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Coming soon to a gallery near you

Art Gallery of Ontario ... Sept. 1, ... “Julian Schnabel: Art and Film,” ... Shary Boyle’s ... “Flesh and Blood,” ... “At Work,” ... Betty Goodwin, Agnes Martin and Eva Hesse ... photography finalists Leslie Hewitt, Kristan Horton, Josh Brand and Moyra Davey ...

Vancouver artist Stan Douglas’s “Klatsassin” ... Stephen Bulger ...

South African William Kentridge ... “Journey to the Moon” ... Gallery TPW ...

Both open Sept. 7 as part of TIFF’s “Future Projections.” ...

colourful Tim Burton show ... importing from the MoMA in New York, ... Nov. 22 at the Bell Lightbox ...

Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art ... Halifax, David Hoffos ... “Scenes from the House Dream” ... Sept. 10. ...

Albright-Knox Gallery ... Micah Lexier, Fastwurms, Daniel Borins and Jennifer Marman, Reinhard Reitzenstein, James Carl and Kim Adams, ... Sept. 24 ...

Royal Ontario Museum ... ... El Anatsui ... “When I Last Wrote to You About Africa,” ... Oct. 2 ...

Gardiner Museum ... “Breaking Boundaries” ... Shary Boyle ... Brendan Tang ... Carmela Laganse and Marc Courtemanche. Oct. 7. ...

The Power Plant ... Iain Baxter& ... Pae White. Oct. 8. ...

University of Toronto galleries ... “Traffic: Conceptualism in Canada,” ... Sept. 10. ...

Georgia Scherman Projects ... Shaun Gladwell ... on Sept. 8 ...

Hadley + Maxwell ... YYZ Sept. 9 ...

Jessica Bradley Art + Projects ... Nicolas Baier ... Sept. 11 ...

Mira Godard ... Christopher Pratt ... Sept. 18 ...

Oil spills and polaroids ... Edward Burtynsky ... Nicholas Metivier ... Sept. 16 ...

Barbara Edwards Contemporary ... Eric Fischl ... opening Sept. 24 ...

Isabelle Hayeur, Dana Claxton and Val Klassen ... responding to the work of legendary director Werner Herzog ... Evergreen Brickworks ... Sept. 26 ...

Diaz Contemporary ... James Carl and Kim Adams ... Oct. 21. ...

Nuit Blanche thing ... Oct. 2. ...

Sobey Prize in Montreal in November ... Brendan Fernandes ...


Source: Toronto Star


Steven Shearer goes to the Venice Biennale!

The artist was chosen by a national selection committee comprised of senior contemporary art curators from across Canada and formed by the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), organizer of the Canadian representation for the 2011 Biennale.
Source: View on Canadian Art

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Ontario to allow Mixed Martial Arts events

“This will be province No. 7 of our 10. We’ll continue that process until our provinces and states in North America, indeed countries around the world, recognize MMA as a sport.”
In truth, Ontario’s decision may be less about tapping out, or giving in, to pressure to allow the fighting events, and more about cashing in.
The Ontario government is estimating that a major MMA event could attract as many as 30,000 fans and generate as much as $6 million in local economic activity.
Mixed martial arts fights pit two competitors against each other in a fighting style that typically combines striking, grappling and submission techniques.
But bloody images of fighters going at each other inside a cage until one taps out — gives up — gets knocked out, or time runs out, has been slammed as barbaric by critics.
Source: National Post

Winners and Losers

Ontario's plunge into online gaming is no gamble - the house will win. Not as lucky are the online competition, legal and illegal, and the thousands of Ontario citizens with a gambling problem, though safeguards are promised.
Source: Toronto Star

Push for ‘good’ deaths

Sherwood found good deaths at Canuck Place in south Vancouver, the first free-standing pediatric hospice in North America, where he worked from 1995 to 2001 with chronically ill and dying children. That meant managing their pain, along with their angst, their fears, their questions . . . like what happens next?
“I found if you treat them the way you treat anyone else, then they know they’re not dead yet. There can be a lot of laughs in those final days, even when you’re feeling sadness.”
Sherwood found his strength was dealing with death honestly, taking time to listen and ask the right questions — like how are you feeling, what are you thinking or frightened about?
“Dying isn’t just about the physical stuff, it’s about the heart, the spirit. Most patients will tell you that nobody talks to them about the dying process and what to expect. They’re in a place where they feel so alone.
“I go to those dark places with them. I can’t understand what they’re going through — nobody can die for you — but being able to listen to them means somebody cares.”
Source: Toronto Star

Friday, August 13, 2010

Ben and Jessica Mulroney welcome twins, name one Brian

Ben and Jessica Mulroney have welcomed twin boys — including one who shares the name of former prime minister Brian Mulroney.
Source: Toronto Star

Our ‘world class’ buildings shine, but it’s the work inside that matters

Comparing Toronto to New York ... is just plain silly; no city comes out of that match-up well ... But take it down a notch to, say, Vancouver and Montreal, and you’ve got a real complaint.
Why? Well, for starters, both cities are smaller, less wealthy, less endowed with “world renowned” art venues — love them or hate them, no building in Canada touches the ROM or the AGO’s shiny renos for sheer architectural chutzpah — but are nonetheless much more established on the international art map.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand why this would be. Buildings are just bricks and glass (and titanium). But it’s what happens inside them divines a local culture’s path.
Source: Toronto Star

Canadian officials intercept Tamil ship

The men, women and children on board, who left Sri Lanka in April and have been turned away from docking in at least two other countries, are claiming to be refugees and asking Canada for asylum.
Source: Toronto Star

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Colorado Race Could Reassure Obama and Democrats

Senator Michael Bennet and his family celebrated with a crowd of supporters in Denver on Tuesday.
Source: New York Times

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Woman who faked cancer arrested and charged

A woman who admits she faked having cancer for a charity scam has turned herself in, police say.
A Star investigation revealed that Kirilow shaved her head, plucked her eyebrows and eyelashes to make herself look like a chemotherapy patient. The ruse included attending charity events in her honour, taking cancer research donations from hundreds of people and accepting a flight to Disney World from a legitimate Toronto-based cancer-awareness organization.
Source: Toronto Star

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Humber rock art mystery solved

Riedel waded into the Humber River on Sunday afternoon and balanced rocks for four hours, with a crowd of about 30 watching on shore. He made 30 formations, each within 10 minutes. Some have the look of an inukshuk; another looks remarkably like an egret that visits the river.
Source: Toronto Star

Monday, August 2, 2010

BlackBerry a security risk

Saudi Arabia to join Emirates in blocking RIM’s data network because of potential terrorist use
The decision could prevent hundreds of thousands of users in the Mideast country from accessing email and the web on the handsets starting in October, putting the federation’s reputation as a business-friendly commercial and tourism hub at risk.
BlackBerry data is encrypted and routed overseas, and the measure could be motivated in part by government fears that the messaging system might be exploited by terrorists or other criminals who cannot be monitored by the local authorities.
However, analysts and activists also see it as an attempt to more tightly control the flow of information in the conservative country.
Source: Toronto Star

Couples in India dying in honour killings

Nineteen-year-old Rajni had been a bride for only a few minutes when her husband, Sanjeev, suggested they head for a nearby police station to ask for protection.
It was only a matter of time, Sanjeev reminded his new wife, before her family started to hunt them down.
In February, after she told her family of her plans to marry Sanjeev, a 24-year-old milkman, Rajni's uncle grabbed her around the neck, slapped her, and threatened to kill her.
The couple was a mismatch, Rajni's uncle raged. Her father, after all, has 25 buffalo, wealthy in this lush stretch of India, a checkerboard of rice paddy and sugar cane fields. Sanjeev and his parents, on the other hand, were labourers who made $2 a day.
If she married Sanjeev, her uncle said, Rajni's family would be forced to kill both of them to preserve its honour.
Sanjeev and Rajni are hardly unique. Throughout northern India, young couples are being killed by the thousands in the name of honour and tradition. Some are poisoned, while others are hanged, drowned or beheaded.
In one recent case, a young woman was reportedly lit on fire and burned to death for marrying the wrong man in a village just outside New Delhi.
There are at least 900 so-called “honour killings” a year in the Indian states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, according to a study cited by Human Rights Watch, and there has even been a string of such murders in the country's affluent capital in recent weeks.
Source: Toronto Star

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Transport Canada is not amused

Officials with the federal ministry have banned a series of gag luggage decals that depict realistic images of suitcases stuffed with U.S. greenbacks, bags of cocaine, sex toys and even a bound and gagged flight attendant.
Source: Toronto Star