(dg) magazine

21 jump street: the issue three line-up

2012-03-05T18:55:00.006-05:00

TWENTY-ONE artists // FIVE countries // ONE magazine

AUSTRALIA, ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, NEW YORK CITY, VANCOUVER, TORONTO, HAMILTON and NIAGARA are just a few of the amazing places that the artists of issue three call home :)

check out the amazing issue three line-up:

Sandra ALLAND

Gary BARWIN

Eleanor BENNETT

Eugenia CATROPPA

Jeremy COLANGELO

Matthew DAVIES

Dillon DOUGLAS

Jennifer EMILY

Julie GEMUEND

Dan MANCHEGO-BADIOLA

D. Cole OSSANDON

Dorota PANKOWSKA

Jamison SARTESCHI

Richard TRUHLAR

Jacqueline VALENCIA

Tracy VAN OOSTEN & Victoria JASKI

Bec WONDERS

Liz WORTH

Lisa YOUNG

Katie ZACK

thanks so much again to everyone who shared their work with us this round!

you were all so lovely :)

more details about our contributors will be posted in the next couple weeks!

this issue should be printed and available by the beginning of April--
but, until then, you can PRE-ORDER your copy of issue three here!

we're offering a limited time %20 discount on all pre-orders that are made in the next few weeks!

or, you can even subscribe to the next TWO issues here!

we print a very limited run of the mag, so pre-ordering ensures your copy of dg :)

thank you so much again!

*SAVE THE DATE! April 7th @ 7pm dg celebrates the launch of issue three at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul St., St. Catharines, Ont.)!*

presenting the dg #3 cover!

2012-03-03T02:54:00.000-05:00

issue three cover by the always amazing David O'Connor.

*Dave will be hosting an art show in Hamilton on Friday, March 9th at Hammer City Records (228 James St. N., Hamilton, Ontario) where he'll be showing a lot of new work, and selling hundreds of original drawings! if you're in the area, please check it out and support Dave's awesome work :)

dg is now closed to submissions!

2012-03-02T02:49:00.004-05:00

wow! thank you so much to everyone who shared their work with us!

this round definitely involved some of the toughest decisions we've had to make yet.

I could definitely see dg becoming a triannual magazine in the future-- there was way too much good work to choose from for this issue!

we considered over two hundred and fifty pieces of art and lit for issue three!

we got submissions from everywhere around the world-- Australia, the U.S., Italy, all over the U.K., and all across Canada :)

almost all of our emails have been edited and sent, so we should be announcing our official line-up on Monday!

we're so excited to unleash the issue three beast!

love you all,
dg :)

issue three DEADLINE

2012-02-22T18:38:00.001-05:00

we couldn't be happier or more excited about all the great submissions we've been going through, and all the amazing places that artists have been contacting us from!

don't forget! the deadline for issue three is next WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29th!

the sooner the better, so move your behinds :)

we have a ridiculous amount of cool announcements to make over the next week or two, so stay tuned with us on our facebook page, or twitter!

we're spending the next little while non-stop contacting people, and giving everything a second read! I'm not sure whether that means we'll be available online way more or way less, so I'll just apologize now for either scenario-- hahahaha!

*if you're waiting on an email update or confirmation from dg, expect one over the next couple days :)

also! are you on Last.fm? we just got an account!

you can check out what we're listening to while we read over submissions :)

I wanna know what you're playing too, though-- so friend us here!!

we'll update you all on issue three again soon!

love,

v dg v

Brock U's first annual spoken word competition

2012-02-20T02:50:00.004-05:00

dg could not be more excited about the Brock Student Justice Centre and Turn Around Projects for the Arts' (TAP) collaboration in presenting the first Spoken Word Poetry Competition at Brock ever!

this event goes down on Tuesday, March 20^th at Isaac’s Bar and Grill on the Brock U campus (500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines, Ont.) from 6pm until 9pm.

the competition is open for all Brock students to take part in, but—of course—everyone is invited to come watch and enjoy the night!

tickets are only $2 in advance (through tabling in Mackenzie Chown, or by emailing sjc@busu.net), or $4 at the door! there will be snacks, treats, and refreshments available, as well!

if you’re a Brock student and would like to take part in the competition, you’re encouraged to submit your entries to sjc@busu.net as soon as possible! (the deadline for submissions is March 16^th, 2012.)

one of the many thrilling things about this event is that the competition will be guest judged by acclaimed dub-poet Michael St. George!

all proceeds from the evening will be going to Turn Around Projects for the Arts! ("a not-for-profit organization with the mission to create and maintain integrated arts projects, which promote reciprocal exchange in order to impact and strengthen communities.")

dg cannot wait for this event, and we’ll hopefully have full coverage of it for all those who may not be able to attend! i hope this will eventually be a region wide event, but focus on students is awesome, too :)

make sure you RSVP ON FB :)

v SEE YOU THERE v

call for zine partnerships!

2012-02-10T15:17:00.001-05:00

after featuring Hello Vegan Zine (from Toronto, Ontario) along with each of our issue two orders, we definitely fell in love with the idea of helping to distribute all kinds of zines around the globe with dg!

so, LET'S TEAM UP :)

we can help spread word about your zine/zine distro in all kinds of awesome places! we've shipped across Canada, the U.S. (including Los Angeles and New York City), the UK, and Australia!

HOW IT WORKS: mail any amount of zines you'd like to dg's evil headquarters, (feel free to also send business cards/stickers/buttons,) and when someone orders a copy of dg, we send them your work along with the mag! :)

you can find our shipping address on the contact page of our site,

but please toss us an email with any questions or concerns you might have first!

deadgender.mag@gmail.com

can't wait to feature you!

Rae Spoon invades St. Catharines - by Amanda Roth

2012-01-30T01:17:00.004-05:00

Rae Spoon performs at dg/QAN's night of music and poetry on Thurs., January 26th, 2012.

One by one, guests filtered into the venue, removing hats, hoods and jackets, wiping damp strands of hair from their faces and buzzing in excitement for a night full of poetry, music and a long-anticipated performance by Rae Spoon.

On January 26th, presenters dead gender magazine and Queer Action Niagara did not disappoint as they welcomed four incredibly talented artists to perform an all-ages show at Rise Above Restaurant & Bakery in downtown St. Catharines.

To kick the night off, poet and playwright Shannon Maguire performed a number of her works. Maguire, co-cultivator of AvantGarden, an experimental text and sound based performance series in Toronto, ON, was shortlisted for the 2011 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry for her piece “Fur(l) Parachute”. Her work has appeared in CV2, Gulch: An Assemblage of Poetry and Prose and Nightwood Theatre’s 4x4 Off Road Festival, among other places.

Maguire roused and captivated audience members especially with her performance of the highly satirical poem, “The Fruit Machine”.

After a brief break, local experimental hip-hop artist Le Stack took to the stage with an energetic performance, spitting out lyrics with extreme passion and political prowess. Le Stack’s highly charged lyrics and contagious beats roused guests in preparation for the night of dancing ahead of them.

“Let’s get homophobia and sexism the fuck out of hip hop,” Le Stack exclaimed during one memorable song, rousing a greatly enthusiastic reaction from the audience.

Next to perform was Matt Ossias, a local electronic musician and member of the band Jouissance. Matt provided the audience with an entrancing selection of electronic creations, often leaving his computer to join those dancing in the audience.

Lastly, with people packed into the small, homey venue, and some even lined up outside, the much-anticipated Rae Spoon took the stage for the final performance of the night.

Rae is a transgendered indie/electronic musician from Calgary, AB who has released five full-length solo albums, one of which (superioryouareinferior) was long listed for the Polaris Prize in 2008. They were also nominated for two CBC Radio Bucky Awards in 2010. Currently living in Montreal, Rae has just released their sixth album, I Can’t Keep All Of Our Secrets (2012).

Over the past ten years, Rae has gathered quite an extensive grassroots following, touring throughout Canada as well as internationally. Outside of their work as a performing/recording artist, Rae has also done work on multi-media projects and the composition of instrumental music for films such as the NFB documentary Dead Man directed by Chelsea McMullan (Toronto International Film Festival, 2009).

Rae Spoon has been an increasingly influential figure in the trans community and has brought to light the debate over the use of gendered pronouns and the right for a person to choose their own pronoun. In the spirit of this cause, Rae teamed up with fellow musician and performer Elisha Lim for the duet “Stand By Your Trans”, a love song to the trans community.

For their performance, Rae played songs from a variety of their albums, from their most recent to loveisahunter (2010); songs like “Come On Forest Fire Burn The Disco Down” and “You Can Dance” had the crowd singing along to every word.

Bringing audience members to their feet with their catchy lyrics and enthralling rhythms, Rae brought an infectious energy to the room that soon drew in all audience members. Once finished their performance, Rae was quickly called back to the microphone for an encore.

dead (g)end(er) is now accepting submissions for their third issue, Spring 2012, due February 29, 2012. Queer Action Niagara is hosting a screening of “Genderf*kation: A Gender Emancipation” at 7pm on January 30, 2012 at Brock University, Plaza 308.

it is with great thanks to Amanda Roth that dg is able to present photos from/coverage of last week's Rae Spoon night of music and poetry! please check out Amanda's contact info here if you'd like coverage of your next event! she did an amazing job :)

patches

2012-01-19T02:29:00.008-05:00

Queer Action Niagara and dg will have four awesome patch designs available at the Rae Spoon DANCE PARTY next Thursday :)

all of the patch designs are thanks to Toronto artist Daryl Vocat who's so generously donated his work to the cause!

any suggestions/requests for patch colours are totally welcome! feel free to comment on this post, or throw us an email - deadgender.mag@gmail.com

the patches will be $2 each (or three for $5), and all the proceeds are going towards the performing artists and sponsors :)

(won't be able to make it to the event, but still want a patch?? email us!)

check out the designs:

(nerds<3)

(all rights of these images belong to artist Daryl Vocat!)

upcoming events!

2012-01-17T19:12:00.000-05:00

TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 18th at 8pm, The Hearts Oak Collective presents some cool activist tunes by musicians Mike XVX, Tyler Shipley, and Eric Smith at Rise Above (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ont.). this event is pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $10!

ALL AGES.

this Saturday, January 21st, Fur Free Niagara holds their second protest at Plusche Furs (6380 Fallsview Boulevard, Niagara Falls, Ont.) from 12pm to 4pm.

Fur Free Niagara's first protest at Henry's Furs in St. Catharines was a huge success resulting in the store actually being closed down only days later!

please come on out and help FFN make this demonstration just as successful :)

find the event on facebook!

and next Tuesday, January 24th at 7pm, IndoorShoes Record Label introduces an awesome lineup - The Sadies featuring special guests Souls (ex. Sleep the Season and Sleeper Set Sail) at the Mansion House (5 William Street, St.Catharines)! the show is $12adv. at TicketScene or Rock Universe (237 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines)-- and $15 at the door!

hope to see you at one or all of these!!

and, don't forget, Queer Action Niagara and dg's RAE SPOON DANCE PARTY is next Thursday, the 26th at Rise Above (8pm)!

can't wait :)

the Virus Reading Series presents...

2012-01-10T00:47:00.002-05:00

this Thursday, January 12that 7:30pm, the Virus Reading Series is hosting an evening of some great lit at Sheehan’s Pub (101 St. Paul Street, St. Kitts)!

featured writers include:

Jeremy Colangelo

Thomas Armstrong

and Brian Dedora

hope to see you out for a great night!!

don’t forget to RSVP and share the event on facebook :)

Rae Spoon DANCE PARTY, and poetry reading!

2012-01-02T17:50:00.003-05:00

dead gender is teaming up with Queer Action Niagara to bring you--
a RAE SPOON DANCE PARTY!

join us on Thursday, January 26th at 8pm at Rise Above (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines), and don't forget your dancing shoes :)

we're kicking off the night with some rad poetry by Shannon Maguire and Steve Greenwood, an opening musical performance by Le Stack, and then Rae Spoon will be playing some amazing tunes!

this event is pay what you can--

with a suggested donation of $10 :)

RSVP on facebook!

ahh, so excited :)

hopefully we'll see you all there!

SPREAD THE WORD.

^ Rae Spoon's duet with Elisha Lim ^

'free the detainees' fundraiser!

2011-12-28T15:26:00.003-05:00

the Niagara Migrant Hunger Strikers Support Fund is holding a night of music tonight at Rise Above Restaurant (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines) to help raise money for their future plans!
the event is pay what you can-- no one will be turned away for lack of funds-- and there's a suggested donation of $10!
the music artists will include Matt Sajn, Eric Smith , and Jaimie Godard!

come on out for good tunes, friends, and treats :)

here's the Niagara Migrant Hunger Strikers' story:

"Sergio Puerto, Sandro Philippe, Jesus Galban, Ibrahim Ali Farrah and Victor Moses refugee claimants from Latin America and the Caribbean and Southern Africa have been jailed at the Niagara Detention Centre for between 3 to 6 months. Other then 10 minutes a day in a concrete yard - they have been locked up without community support.

In mid-November, they began water-only hunger strike demanding that their release be expedited and that they be moved to Toronto where they hope their files will be processed quicker. On November 23, Jesus Galban, fell off his bed and was denied medical aid until they ended the hunger strike. Officers from Canada Border Services Agency promised immediate action on their file. Since then Victor Moses has been moved and they have not been informed of his whereabouts.

On December 11, 2011, Sergio Puerto, Sandro Philippe, Jesus Galban and Ibrahim Ali Farrah began a rolling hunger strike.

LIST OF DEMANDS:

- That the inmates be immediately transferred to Toronto where they believe their cases will be quickly expedited and where they all have family and community support.
- That Citizenship and Immigration stop delaying justice by keeping all immigration detainees an unreasonably long time in detention for no reason.
- Immediate medical assistance for: Jesus - had an accident on November 23rd. Fell off a six foot bunk that had no ladder. Back severely injured and no doctor has attended despite repeated requests. Only medication given so far to relieve pain is Tylenol. Sandro also having problems with his back- slipped and fell (water on floor) in mid November. Has still received no medical attention.

Canada Border Services Agency has given endless excuses for holding these men. They claim that they are flight risks, even before some of their refugee claims have been processed. Some are facing deportation because of criminal convictions in Canada and the United States even though they have already served their sentences - a clear example of unjust double punishment. Attempts by community members to act as bonds-people and even put up financial sureties have been rejected.

Faced with lack of information, and continued lies by Canada Border Services Agency, Sergio, Sandro, Jesus and Ibrahim have decided to initiate a hunger strike. It is critical that we support them. Please take a minute to write an email or call Richard Comerford, Regional Director General of CBSA and insist that their demands be met."

the Niagara Migrant Hunger Strikers Support Fund will be organizing actions in St. Catharines, Niagara and Toronto. you can toss them an email at: nmhssn2011@gmail.com

a word from dg...

2011-12-23T17:18:00.000-05:00

we just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who's supported us this year!

2012 is looking great, but 2011 was a blast, and it's all because of you guys :)

we've got some great big plans coming up, and hope we'll get to see everyone soon!

we'll be dropping more info about future events, launches, and other goodies in the new year, but until then - HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY!

stay warm,

stay safe,

have fun :)

love, dg!

ps: submissions are looking awesome! keep 'em coming! deadgender.mag@mail.com

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

2011-12-15T13:37:00.001-05:00

dead (g)end(er) magazine is calling for art+lit submissions for our THIRD ISSUE--
the spring, 2012 issue!
wow! as Yoda would say, 'fly time does, when having fun.'

we do not have a specific theme for this issue!

(other than our usual theme of just pure awesomeness. *wink)

we like the radical,

the hilarious,

the heart-warming,

and the unique!

we like just about any style/form/genre -
we've published mask art, visual poetry, a play, an art exhibit review, and a ton more.
we're always looking to spice things up!

(for a more in-depth look at just what dg likes, you can grab a copy of our latest issue here!)

we'd love to check out your work :)

so, SEND YOUR STUFF ON OVER TO DG!

we accept:
visual art - photography, doodles, sketches, paintings, sculptures, graphic design, make-up art, fashion design, etc.

attach up to five visual pieces! [high resolution jpg. doc's/photos.]

literature - poetry, visual poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, articles, reviews, interviews, essays, novel excerpts, screen-play excerpts, theatre excerpts, song lyrics, etc.

submit up to five poems, or prose no longer than 2000 words! please send writing in the body of your email unless your form will get all messed up!

*prose writers: since we typically only have room to print one or two short stories per issue, sending along some flash fiction-- stories that are no longer than 750-1000 words-- with a longer submission might help your chances of getting into dg :)

due to copyrights, we cannot print fan art, or previously published works.

submissions and inquiries can be sent to: deadgender.mag@gmail.com

(you must include your mailing address with your submission.

biographies are strongly encouraged!)

you can check out our guidelines at any time on the 'submissions' page above.

SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE is FEBRUARY 29th, 2012

poster by David O'Connor <- check out his site!

three things you NEED to know about

2011-12-09T02:58:00.009-05:00

ONE

Still Ships photography has officially hit the web! Niagara region visual artists Tracy Van Oosten and Barsin Aghajan push the boundaries of traditional photography to bring an artistic edge to each wedding and event they cover :)

please check out the Still Ships site and some of their beautiful past work here!
or contact them at info@stillships.com for a personal quote :)

also, here's a wonderful video Still Ships made for newlyweds Victoria and Jordan:

TWO

speaking of awesome Niagara region artists, the band Elk has also powered up their own great site!

Elk's new site helps you keep up-to-date with all their performance announcements, and how working on their latest record has been going :)

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*a tune from the new in-progress Elk record will be included on the IndoorShoes Record Label compilation which you can grab at their one year bash:

THREE

IndoorShoes celebrates their one year anniversary with three days of amazing lineups!

besides Elk's newest record release at the December 27th show, Howler will be performing their LAST SHOW ever at the December 28th show at Mahtay Cafe!

check out the current lineup of IndoorShoes' three day extravaganza! :)

Monday, December 26th, 2011, will feature Bronx Cheerleader, Lambs Become Lions, Waterbodies, Souls, The Bends, and The Kindest Man. (this event starts at 6pm at The Mansion House - 5 William Street, St. Catharines, Ontario - tickets: $8 advanced, $10 at the door.)

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011, will feature Northern Primitive, Elk, The Diry Nil, and Canyon Carvers. (this event starts at 6pm at The Mansion House - 5 Willaim Street, St. Catharines, Ontario - tickets: $8 advanced, $10 at the door.)

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011, will feature Howler (last show), Julianna Riolino, Kaptur, Talk In Blue, and Paul Federici. (this event starts at 6pm at Mahtay Cafe & Lounge - 241 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ontario - tickets: $5)

v see you there!! v

(by the way, info about dg's next call for submissions will be dropped next week!)

upcoming events!

2011-11-30T01:28:00.005-05:00

two great events in the Niagara arts community are set for this Friday, December 2nd:

at Fine Grind Cafe (37 James Street, St. Catharines) at 7pm, the Brock University Creative Writers' Club presents the second lit reading of their school year! the evening will feature poetry, prose, and more from Emma Romme, Jc Brown, Steve Greenwood, Ed Edmonds, Carlos Morales, and Shannon Maguire!

and, over at Rise Above vegan restaurant (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines) at 8pm, the Department of Visual Arts at Brock U and the Radical Info Shop are teaming up to present another 'pARTners for change' art show-- a silent auction of art created by local artists!

half the proceeds made from each piece will go directly to the artist, and the other half will be donated to student scholarships and the community programming put on by the Radical Info Shop!

check out the list of featured artists here :)

v hope to see you downtown on Friday! v

photo of the 'pARTners for change' art show by Seija Bedard for The Brock Press

LIMITED TIME OFFER

2011-11-22T01:23:00.003-05:00

dead gender magazine is teaming up with Toronto, Ontario's Hello Vegan Zine to bring you a sweet deal :)

order your copy of dg's second issue, and you'll get HVZ's first issue-- the 'how-to-guide'-- FREE!

ohhh yeah, dg's already in the holiday spirit :)

also, we really love Hello Vegan Zine - everyone should get the chance to check it out!

HVZ is a really fun and entertaining read for vegans and non-vegans alike!

check out their website and a bit more about them here :)

supplies are extremely limited, so get your copy of dg issue two/free copy of HVZ now!

order below, or on the 'issue archive' page above!

"Information is key, sharing is vital. It's how we create change." - Hello Vegan Zine :)

our new 'links' page!

2011-11-19T02:45:00.002-05:00

have you noticed dg's new page, 'links to cool places'?

we've listed some of our favourite sites around the net, and we hope you'll find them interesting, too :)

we've split the links up into sections like 'cummunity'/Niagara Region links, 'animals'/fun info about veganism, and of course, 'art', 'literature', and 'music'!

please let us know if there's a site we missed, or a site you think we'd like to post about :)

also, there's no shame in a little self-promotion! if you've got a cool site, send us the link!!

deadgender.mag@gmail.com

facebook.com/deadgender

v love, dg v

^ link link link ^

the twelfth annual STRUTT: Wearable Art Show

2011-11-14T18:26:00.000-05:00

THIS SATURDAY, November 19th, 2011 is the STRUTT: Wearable Art Show!

(so soon!)

the event is goin' down at the WS Tyler (225 Ontario Street, St. Catharines).

doors are at 8pm, and the show starts at 9pm :)

tickets are $20 for students/members of the Niagara Artists' Centre

$30 General Admission

$50 VIP Seating

get your tickets now so you don't have to wait in line :)

you can get them at Brock U's Centre for the Arts Box Office! (905-688-5550 x 3257)

or you can order them online here!

v dg will see you there! v

Randy 'Macho Man' Savage art show

2011-11-08T15:26:00.000-05:00

this Saturday, November 12th is the opening reception of 'Savage: Cult of Personality, Pure Media and the art of Macho Madness' - an art show dedicated to Randy 'Macho Man' Savage curated by Nathaniel G. Moore.

the gallery runs from the 12th-15th at the White House Studio (277 Augusta Ave., Toronto), but the opening reception is set to have some special video and musical performances!

artists are to include Nathaniel G. Moore, Sherwin Tjia, Sonja Ahlers, Alaxandra Legget, Vicki Nerino and more!

come by the White House Studio this Saturday at 7pm for some Macho Madness :)

for more info, check out Nathaniel G. Moore's website: Critical Crushes

Steel Bananas - Call for Submissions

2011-11-04T02:33:00.002-04:00

the rad folks at Steel Bananas Art Collective are looking for submissions for their 29th issue!!

*the theme is 'austerity' :)

SB would like pieces that focus on "the globalization of capital markets, neoliberalism, economic turmoil, and subsequent protests gripping several countries across the globe. [They] welcome diverse perspectives, devil's advocates, and in-betweeners." (*from the SB site.)

they're accepting poetry, fiction, non-fiction, visual art, and photography for print and online publication!

the deadline is Tuesday, November 15th!

when you're all set, you can send your work on over to submissions@steelbananas.com

please check out their site for more info, and for more of their awesomeness :)

photo by David Shankbone, "Occupy Wall Street, 2011"

call for fan art submissions!

2011-11-01T02:40:00.005-04:00

DG WANTS YOUR FAN/POP CULTURE ART :)

Sebastián Franchini's Megaman

although we're not able to print art or lit that has to do with certain characters/plots of t.v. shows/movies/etc. for legal reasons, dg would still love to publish these pieces in some way :)

so, we decided to feature a special page on the dg site that would be dedicated exclusively to one of our favourite forms of art: fan art!

every month we'll feature new artists/writers and some of their pop culture inspired works on the Fan Art Page of Fame! :)

*we would LOVE to see some slash fic, as well! ;)

SHOW US WHAT YA GOT!

send no more than three visual pieces (high res. jpg. doc's), or three pieces of lit (no more than 1000 words each/in the body of your email) to deadgender.mag@gmail.com with 'fan art' in the subject line!

please include your name, the titles of the pieces, and the year each was completed! (no previously published works, please!)

*the deadline for the December edition will be November 25th, 2011*

v pop culture ftw v

Fur Free Niagara - first protest

2011-10-28T22:20:00.001-04:00

on Friday, November 25th, 2011, Fur Free Niagara invites you to the first fur-protest of the winter season!

join the crew at Henry Furs (1 King Street, St. Catharines, On.) any time between 12pm-5pm to help hold signs, hand out flyers, and educate the public!

dg will see you there! :)

the dg issue two launch party!

2011-10-25T12:23:00.002-04:00

last Friday, October 21st, we hosted the launch of our second issue! and we had an awesome time :)

the evening featured three poetry readings from issue two contributors, a musical performance by Young Wife, and free vegan treats! (the Rise Above donuts were snatched up like there was no tomorrow, hahaha.)

we kicked off the night with (the imaginary being) Terry Trowbridge who regaled us with stories of the planetary weather patterns of Jupiter and Saturn, topping off his hilarious performance by reading his piece from issue two, "Italian Astronaut Mourns Mother's Death".

Natalie Zina Walschots-- poet/metal head/music reviewer/awesome lady-- then shared some of her supervillain love poetry! judging by the amount of things she's accomplished in such a short time, I'm almost positive Natalie doesn't sleep, hahaha.

after a short break of drinks, snacks, and chats, we headed back to the performing area and listened to some more great work by Mat Laporte-- one of the only attendees who actually dressed up in a Halloween costume: that's how awesome he is! Mat read from issue two, and his book Demons (which was published by the Press he co-runs, Ferno House <- check them out!).

finally, Young Wife capped the evening off with some great tunes!

the night had a pretty wide-ranging audience-- poetry and art lovers, local music buffs, people interested in supporting Niagara businesses, and more! in fact, some folks who came out to see Young Wife ended up falling in love with the poetry aspect of the evening, and approached the readers asking where and how they could get more involved in the lit community of St. Kitts.

so, the dg crew put their heads together, and came up with an idea: a monthly event where lit-art-music-activism can come together! local poetry, bands, visual art, theatre performances, talks on animal rights/queer rights/environmental rights, and a ton more. *tentatively known as the 'spread the word' series - we'll have more information for you in November! :)

thanks so much to everyone who came by on Friday to support! also, thanks to everyone who's ordered a copy of issue two already!

if you weren't able to make it to the launch party, you can pick up your copy of issue two here :)

congratulations once again to our contest winners!

first prize - Natalie Z. Walschots

runner up - Sean M. Cummings

three outstanding pieces by - Mat Laporte, Ian Langohr, Robin Richardson

another great round of contributors! we can't wait for the next one :)

v love, dg v

dg goes live!

2011-10-19T01:37:00.003-04:00

listen in on CFBU 103.7FM today at 5:30pm to catch the folks at Our Word is Our Weapon interview dg!

we'll be discussing the mag's inspirations, beginning trials, and future hopes :)

email Our Words is Our Weapon at ourwordsareweapons@gmail.com

cruelty-free Halloween candy!

2011-10-11T23:06:00.000-04:00

have you been hoping to make your Halloween vegan, but you just don't which kinds of candy to get?
do you not want to risk getting your house TP'd by handing out apples?

dg has been researching a bunch of sites to make your Halloween as easy, and cruelty-free as possible!

here's a list of some vegan candy that kids actually like! (we've bolded our personal favourites, and the ones that are most name-recognizable!)

Airheads Taffy

Allison's Gourmet Vegan Caramels

Annie's Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks

Atkins Peanut Butter bars

Blow Pops

BoomChocoBoom! Ricemilk Bar

Brachs: Fruit Slice, Cinnamon Hard Candy, Root Beer Barrels & Star Brites

Charms: Blow Pops & Pumpkin Flat Pops

Chick-o-Sticks

Chocolove bars: Dark Chocolate, Cherries and Almonds Dark Chocolate, Ginger Dark Chocolate, Orange Peel Dark Chocolate & Raspberry Dark Chocolate

Clif Kid Organic Twisted Fruit

Crispy Cat Candy Bars

Crows

Cracker Jack

Cry Baby Candy

Dem Bones

Dots

Dum-Dums

Endangered Species Dark Chocolate

Endangered Species Dark Chocolate Halloween Bug Bites

Fireballs

Fritos

Go Max Go Bars

Goldenberg's Peanut Chews

Goody Good Stuff Sours

Hubba Bubba Bubblegum

The Humphrey Company Original Popcorn Balls

Jolly Ranchers Hard Candy

Jujubees

Jujyfruits

Lay's chips: Regular, Blue/Yellow Corn, Natural Country Barbecue, Thick Cut Sea Salt, Lay's Stax, Lay's WOW!

Lemonheads

Mamba Sour Fruit Chews

Mary Janes (regular and peanut butter kisses)

Mike and Ike’s

Nabisco: Original Graham Crackers, Ginger Snaps, Cinnamon Cookies, Teddy Grahams (Chocolate and Cinnamon)

Newman's Own Licorice Twists

Panda Soft Licorice

Peanut Chews Original Dark

Pez

Ritz Regular Crackers

Ritz Roasted Vegetable Crackers

Saf-T-Pops

Seitenbacher Gummy Candies

Sjaak's Organic Chocolates

Smarties (U.S. Brand)

Sour Patch Kids (original variety)

Stockley's Cinder Toffee Candy

Sun Chips: Original flavour, Organic Dark

Super Bubble

Surf Sweets Fruity Bears, Gummy Swirls, Sour Worms, and Super Sour Bears

Sweet Tarts

Sweet & Sara Marshmallow Ghosts and Bats

Tostitos: Bite Size/Crispy Rounds, Blue Corn and Regular Restaurant Style, Dipping Strips! Tortilla, Scoops, Multigrain, Natural Blue&Yellow Corn

Trail mix

Tropical Source Mini Chocolate Bags

Twizzlers

VerMints

Zotz

*Skittles are apparently now gelatin-free, but Mars (the Skittles manufacturers’) have been largely involved in harmful and deadly experiments on animals for years. (Mars has openly stated that they test their products on animals.) learn more: www.marscandykills.com

Besides the obvious milk & eggs—here are some ingredients you should watch out for:

Casein (made from milk), Carmine/Natural Red 4 (made from insects - yep), Gelatin (made by boiling animal bones/tendons/skin), Honey (from harvesting bees nests), Lard (pig fat), Pepsin (pigs’ stomachs), Rennet (baby calves’ stomachs), Stearic Acid (animal fat), Cetyl Palmitate (oil from dolphin/whale bodies), Urea (animal urine/fluids—used in some pretzels, ack!), and E 904, E 120, 901, 904, 542!

please email us if you have any questions about other candy brands: deadgender.mag@gmail.com

wondering why you should make your Halloween vegan?
learn more about factory farming on the Farm Sanctuary fact page.
take the Vegan Society's Veg-Pledge today!

HAVE A HAPPY (VEGAN) HALLOWEEN :)

v dg v

Ferno House press - Fall launch

2011-10-05T16:33:00.002-04:00

TOMORROW: Thursday, October 6th, 2011, Ferno House press launches their amazing fall line-up of new chapbook releases at the Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave., Toronto) at 8pm!
Ferno's releasing three poetry collections by three great authors: Black Metal Melody by David Brock, Feel Good! Look Great! Have a Blast! by Spencer Gordon, and Skullambient by Liz Howard!

founded in 2009 by Mat Laporte, Spencer Gordon, and Arnaud Brassard-- now including Patrick Larkin-- Ferno House is much more than a micro-press: they're masters of hand-made design. Ferno's chapbooks are among the most beautifully crafted works that you'll find on the Canadian market today! seriously, they put some 'major' publishing houses to shame. check out their online store!

if you'd like to know more about Ferno, our friends over at Steel Bananas art collective were able to catch up with them last year, and chat a bit: check out the interview here.

Ferno's fall launch is sure to be a hilarious and inspiring night of great lit! there's no cover, but please consider picking up a copy or two of their books and support Ferno!
along with their new fall chapbooks, Ferno will also be selling some of their past works: Dinosaur Porn, Demons, and For Crying Out Loud I and II.

come on by the Supermarket tomorrow night at 8pm :)

RSVP on facebook.

dg will see you there!

more about issue two!

2011-10-04T00:14:00.001-04:00

as you've probably noticed, we're really freaking excited about our second issue! (and the launch party! which you can check out more about here.)
first, though, I wanted to talk a bit more about what you can expect to find in dg's second round of publishing.

this time we've included contributors from Niagara, Guelph, London, Toronto, Montreal, Colorado (US), and even Santiago (Chile)! the eclectic themes, genres, and media once again range wonderfully to create an issue that completely knocks over the tired/standard definitions of 'art'.

in dg #two, you'll find sea monsters, a ten minute play, a review of Samuel Roy-Bois' art exhibition Polarizer, mask art, astro-art, skull-art, cosmopo, robopo, love poems for supervillains, art that touches on the horrors of the meat industry, and a ton more :)

we've also included a very special cover and back cover by artist David O'Connor!

copies will be available at the launch party for $10,

and you'll be able to pre-order a copy of issue two next week!

but, while you're waiting, feel free to pick up a copy of issue one :)

can't wait to see everyone on the 21st!

v love, dg v

Marineland Animal Defense FUNDRAISER

2011-09-28T19:33:00.000-04:00

please come on out to Strega Cafe (19 King Street, St. Kitts) THIS FRIDAY, September 30th, 2011 any time between 8:30pm-11:30pm to help out Marineland Animal Defense (M.A.D)!

M.A.D's done amazing things over the last few years to raise awareness about the animal cruelty and barbarism going on right now at Marineland (the marine animal unamusement park in Niagara Falls, Ont.). come on by and donate whatever you can to keep M.A.D going!

five bucks or five hundred bucks: it all helps!

donate, hangout, grab a coffee, and take in such great musical talents as Colleen Unrau, Josh Rikkierink, Nic Waterman, and Young Wife!

get M.A.D; get EVEN.

help Marineland Animal Defense on Sept. 30th :)

check out the event page.

check out the M.A.D page.

OUR SECOND LAUNCH PARTY

2011-09-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

to celebrate dg's first birthday, we decided to have an issue two launch party like NO OTHER! :)
on Friday, October 21st at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Kitts), dg proudly presents literary readings / art displays by issue two contributors:

MAT LAPORTE

NATALIE ZINA WALSCHOTS
TERRY TROWBRIDGE

NATHANIEL G. MOORE (with 2009 ReLit Award winner LISA FOAD)

BOB GOODALL

JACLYN GUGELYK
and more!

whoa! and we're not even done!
we're also including a musical performance by ALLIE T. from Young Wife!

free VAMPIRE BITES will be available courtesy of professional make-up artist Victoria Jaski!

(*bites are not make-up.)

and, once again, we’re happy to provide free all-vegan snacks, and delicious doughnuts from Rise Above Bakery :)

this is a donate-what-you-can, licensed event.

PRIZES (IN THE FORM OF KUDOS AND MAYBE CHOCOLATE) FOR ANYONE WHO WEARS THEIR HALLOWEEN COSTUME.

in April, we packed the NAC with more than 80 people; this time, LET’S BREAK THE FIRE CODE.

come on out and enjoy the talents of some of Canada's brightest (and nerdiest) minds.

*ALL PROCEEDS go to the third issue of dg-- our completely independently funded mag!

thank you so much to David O'Connor for providing the amazing cover-art : http://www.deeohsee.com/

v SUPPORT THE HOMEGROWN ARTS v

hope to see everybody there :)

CHECK OUT THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.

upcoming epicness

2011-09-21T13:50:00.001-04:00

where in the world is dg magazine? don't worry -- we're still alive! just extraordinarily busy!

after two straight weeks of living and breathing the issue two design, WE'RE ALL DONE!
we can finally begin dropping hints about/preparing solid details for our launch event :)
(October 21st <- save the date!)
and, on top of it all, dg is in the process of dropping a huge surprise-explosion about an upcoming top-secret thing-a-ma-jig we've been working on! (you didn't see it, but I just winked.)
DETAILS TO COME IN VIRTUAL-FLASH-MOB STYLE AT AN UNSPECIFIED DATE.

anyways! we've been meaning to post details about some really cool culture&community related events coming up in the Niagara Region (and even a few in Toronto)! :)
you'll be able to find dg at most-- if not all-- these amazing upcoming art/activism gatherings:

this Thursday, September 22nd, 2011, the Niagara region-found record company IndoorShoes presents a whopper of a show: The Wooden Sky, One Hundred Dollars, AND Howler -- with special guests, Souls-- all playing at The Mansion House (5 William Street, St. Catharines, Ont.) starting at 7pm! (tickets are $8 in advance, and $10 at the door - you can pick up tickets online here.) what makes this an even more exciting evening is that Howler (also Niagara region-born) will be releasing their great second EP, 'For Your Own Sake' <- check it out! :)

Friday, September 23rd at 7pm, the Grey Borders Reading Series (GBRS) kicks off the first reading of their 2011-12 line-up! the night is set to feature Zorras Multimedia Troup (all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland,) Camille Martin, Aisha Sasha John, and Shannon Maguire! the event is totally free, and takes place at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines). you can learn more about Zorras' Canadian poetry tour here. (another GBRS presented event is listed below on October 1st.)

Saturday, September 24th, the third annual Vegan Superfriends hosts a massive fundraiser for Conflict Gypsy ("an online archive preserving the history of protest movements for animal rights and environmentalism.") and The Sparrow Project. this is an all day event (8am-11pm) taking place at OPIRG, (21 King Street, St. Catharines,) and is set to include vegan food, workshops, films, music, a speaking by Andy Stepanian, (co-founder of The Sparrow Project,) and a lot more! (the event is $10 at the door - first year students get in for FREE.)

if you're in Toronto this Saturday, September 24th between 3pm-6pm, and looking for something fun to do, you can check out the Feminist Art Gallery (FAG) and The Centre for Fucking the Patriarchy's presentation of New York City artists A.L. Steiner and A.K. Burns' 'Community Action Center: The Exhibition(ist)'! the exhibition is located at the FAG (25 Seaforth Ave-- entrance from the alley on Maple Grove-- Toronto). the event's been described as a "feminist-bookstore-cum-sex-shop-man-cave-porn-theater mash-up". AWESOME. you can visit the event page for more info!

next Friday, September 30th, the Marineland Animal Defense Benefit Show goes down at Strega Cafe (19 King Street, St. Catharines) from 8:30pm-11:30pm! Young Wife, Colleen Unrau, Josh Rikkierink, and Nic Waterman will be lending their musical talents to help raise donations for Marineland Animal Defense-- "a campaign of concerned citizens determined to end animal captivity at Marineland."

Saturday, October 1st, the Grey Borders Reading Series-- just a week after their Zorras event listed above-- hosts yet another great line-up: Geof Huth, Angela Szczepaniak, and NF Huth! the event begins at 8pm at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines). the night will also feature the launch of NF Huth's 3 Words (which was published by Gary Barwin's 'serif of nottingham press'). additionally, the night will also be a reception for Laura Woermke's art show "sick secrets" at the Artists' Centre-- beginning at 7pm! once again, the reading is totally free, but please consider donating to keep them going with more events.

dg is so excited that on Thursday, October 6th at 8pm, Ferno House press launches their fall publications! the event takes place at The Supermarket (268 Augusta Ave., Toronto). chapbooks and readings will include: Black Metal Melody from David Brock, Feel Good! Look Great! Have a Blast! from Spencer Gordon, and Skullambient from Liz Howard! (Ferno will also have some of their other publications at the event, as well!) this launch is one-hundred percent free, but you should definitely pick up a couple of their beautiful chapbooks! join Ferno House on their facebook page.

Wednesday, October 12th at 7pm, Grey Borders Books presents the launch of Visions of a Rainbow Bridge: poetry by Carl David Onofrio and paintings by Wayne Corlis! original art from the book will be on display at the launch which will take place at Mahtay Cafe and Lounge (241 St. Paul Street, St Catharines). Hardcover copies of the book will be on sale for $15, and chapbooks for $10.

if you're in Toronto on Wednesday, October 12th at 7pm, you should definitely swing by the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street W.) to check out the launch of Dani Couture's new book Algoma. Couture will be sharing a slide-show about her 'obsession with freighters and her favourite fleet', and also having a live discussion with book blogger Jen Knoch about Algoma! cover is only $5, or free with a purchase of the book! more info can be found on the event page!

just the next day, on Thursday, October 13th at 9pm, the awesome (theremin-playing) Liz Worth launches her new poetry collection, Amphetamine Heart (Guernica Editions, 2011). the event is set to feature readings from Jim Johnstone, and dg issue two contributor, Natalie Zina Walschots, who'll also be conducting a live interview with Liz during the launch! the night-- which is goin' down at Parts & Labour (1566 Queen Street W., Toronto)-- will also include freak-show stunts, movie shorts, and punky musical goodness. the cover for such a great night is only $5, or entrance is free if you pick up a copy of the book! check out the event page!

more October and November events will be announced in the coming few weeks :)

can't wait to see you all at these great events!!

v dg v

GBRS presents Zorras Multimedia Troupe, Shannon Maguire, and more!

2011-09-12T17:29:00.003-04:00

the Grey Borders Reading Series (GBRS) explodes onto the fall poetry scene with their September 23rd event, which is set to feature an exciting and fresh lineup to kick-off their year:
Aisha Sasha John
Camille Martin
Shannon Maguire
and Zorras Multimedia Troupe!

the night begins at 7pm at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines).
(see the event page here!)

GBRS begins another great year of readings!
you can stay up-to-date on future GBRS events by checking out their
blog, twitter, and facebook page!

v

the fierce fifteen - issue two lineup

2011-09-09T16:17:00.002-04:00

after many long nights, and many tough decisions, we're happy to say that the issue two lineup is complete! :)

dead gender proudly received submissions from all over Canada, (Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia,) and the United States (New York, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan)!

we’re so excited to announce that issue two will include a diverse and wide range of art from:

KAYE CHANG

SEAN CUMMINGS

MIKE DIRISIO

SEBASTIAN FRANCHINI

MATTHEW F. GEORGE

BOB GOODALL

JACLYN GUGELYK

IAN LANGOHR

MAT LAPORTE

NATHANIEL G. MOORE

ANTHONY PERRI

R.L. RAYMOND

ROBIN RICHARDSON

TERRY TROWBRIDGE

NATALIE ZINA WALSCHOTS

thank you so much to all those who submitted their art! we couldn’t be happier with the turnout :)

contest winners will be announced in mid-October, and details about the issue two launch party will be set in a couple weeks!

we'd also like to leak the amazing cover for issue two--

designed and created by artist David O'Connor:

v love, dg v

issue two fiasco ends, say officials

2011-09-01T00:42:00.001-04:00

the monster colourfully referred to by media sources as ISSUE TWO-- which has been on the loose from Southern Ontario's travelling sideshow dead (g)end(er) since the end of May-- has been CAPTURED.

after many phone-in tips and exhaustive searches, officials have confirmed the end of the ISSUE TWO fiasco.

the beast became trapped just a few short hours ago when it tried to slither through the tight drain-pipe of a home somewhere in Grimsby. the house owner, who's asked to remain anonymous, had this to say: "it-it had skin like-like yellow concrete... and two great black holes for eyes!... eyes that were trying to eat my soul... an-and luckily I was carrying my pocket-sized mirror with me-- which I knew was the beast's only weakness from the news-- and when I showed it, its reflection, the monster burst into a million shards... scariest moment of my life!"

to the great frustration of investigative officials, the remains of the monster have had to be returned to the owners of the dg sideshow.
exactly how the beast came into the possession of dg in the first place remains unknown. one of the more... eccentric owners of the sideshow-- known only as Cahoots-- had little sensible information to offer at the scene, saying, "the monster was a thing of great evil! its body was to be-- and will be now-- used for the greater good: melted down into works of art!"

officials are in the process of investigating more about the monster's escape this week, and should have more answers for the community by the end of the weekend.

a sketch artist's composite of the monster:

(Source.)

'don't forget your lucky deck.'

2011-08-29T14:42:00.002-04:00

dg has been enduring many nights and many paper-cuts

creating one-hundred customized playing/business cards:

we like to play 'Professional' sometimes, but with a twist :)

we're in the process of designing/ordering more 'practical' everyday business cards,

but we also wanted something that was a bit more hands-on, and a bit more fun :)

Carl Grissom to Jack Napier (The Joker) in Batman (1989):

Image of Don't forget your lucky deck

a submissions call for a Trans/Genderqueer anthology!

2011-08-28T00:41:00.003-04:00

hey, dg, can I ask you somethin' first?... what does 'genderqueer' mean?

ah, good question! being 'genderqueer' means being able to understand that 'gender' is not tied down to the words 'male' and 'female'; that there are as many genders as there are people on the planet.

'genderqueer' can refer to people who identify as both male and female, people who identify as neither male or female, people who identify as their own separate third-gender, etc.

genderqueer can also refer to the recognition that not everyone can so easily fall into the growing abbreviation 'LGBTQ'; that sexuality, like gender, cannot be categorized by a single word-- or letter.

TC Tolbert-- feminist poet, and author of Gephyromania, a forthcoming Ahsahta Press publication-- and Tim Peterson-- curator of the queer-talk series TENDENCIES: Poetics & Practice, and editor of EOAGH: A Journal of the Arts-- are calling for trans(beyond)gender poetry that will be compiled and eventually published as a genderqueer anthology.

(this would be the first ever anthology by genderqueer and trans writers that would focus on a variety of identities and writing styles.)

Tolbert and Peterson write, "Our assumption is that the writing of trans and genderqueer folks has something more than coincidence in common with the experimental, the radical, and the innovative in poetry and poetics (as we idiosyncratically define these categories), and with your help we’d like to manifest that something (or somethings) in a genderqueer multipoetics, a critical mass of trans fabulousness." (Source.)

the anthology will also offer published writers the opportunity to write a 'statement on poetics' (which you can submit along with your poetry). the editors detail, "tell us something about your writing process, writing practice, theory of life, or whatever you like. It might include the relationship of the body and text, or the practice of reading and misreading text and the body, or locations, connections, and divisions of the self amongst text and the self amongst other bodies or…you get the point." (Source.)

this is a very exciting project for trans folks and the genderqueer community at large!

SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE IS NOVEMBER 30th, 2011

you can submit 7-10 pages of poetry, and your prose 'statement on poetics' to trasnanthology@gmail.com

Tolbert and Peterson are set to edit the anthology which will be published in early 2012 by EOAGH Books.

for more info, check out the transanthology website!

(Source.)

genderqueer (jen-der-kweer) v.

the action of kicking stereotypes in the ass.

v GENDER'S DEAD, HAVE YA HEARD? v

dg covers Zine Dream 4 in Toronto...

2011-08-26T19:24:00.001-04:00

this past Sunday, August 21st marked the fourth anniversary of the Toronto underground art fair known as Zine Dream!
this was my first time attending ZD, and having read a description of the event weeks before-- "Zine Dream is an annual small press art fair featuring over 50 vendors of self published books, comics, music, zines, hand made crafts, prints & much more! Featuring music by Fresh Flesh, Skull Bong, Moon Wood and DJ's Laura Mccoy, Val Uher & The Boogie Woogie Mix Tape Library. Plus performances by Kathleen Phillips and Amelia Ehrhardt." (Source.)-- my wild imagination got the better of my excitement for what the fair would be like!
and I was not at all disappointed-- far from it!

I met a ton of cool people, but only had time to really get to know a few of them!
as soon as I stepped into to the Tranzac (just off Bloor Street W. on Brunswick Ave. in Toronto), my eyes dove into the first few tables of neon skulls, cassette tapes, t-shirts, art prints, and my attention was eventually captured by Raymond Biesinger's table of illustration.

His piece, '1919' is a map of Europe in the year 1919 that doubles as a board for the game Risk! (the piece even comes with playing cards!)

one colour on silkscreen. (order it here.)

Biesinger, who's from Montreal, Quebec, told me a bit about himself and the band he plays in called The Famines -- of which he wrote the art book, 'A Visual History of The Famines' :)

as I made my way into the main room of the Tranzac, I found everything from homemade stuffed animals to homemade spices.
I also happened to find the good people of twelveohtwo - a radical D.I.Y zine distributor originally from Edmonton, Alberta which is now based out of Toronto, Ontario.

a photo from twelveohtwo's trip to Montreal for Expozine. (Source.)

although twelveohtwo told me they typically only sell things in-person at zine fairs, they will do mail orders, as well! contact them at to2@gmail.com <- which is also the email you can send zine submissions to twelveohtwo for their consideration - check out their facebook page!

walking around the Tranzac and hearing about the level of work that goes into detailing each and every zine was amazing.
I was particularly blown away by Marta Chudolinska's linocut pieces. (linocut is a design carved out of a block of wood or linoleum.) Marta made ninety different black and white linocut carvings for her book Back + Forth (The Porcupine's Quill, 2009), which you can read more about here! and you can order Back + Forth here :)

a page from Chudolinska's Back + Forth (Source.)

as a person who loudly exclaimed, "I love making new friends," multiple times during Zine Dream, it's not a secret that I like meeting new people; but, ZD also allowed me to meet up with a couple great artists I had always heard about, but never had the opportunity to see in person.

one such writer was Mark Laliberte, the Managing Editor of Carousel (an excitingly hip art and lit magazine from Toronto, Ontario), and author of BRICKBRICKBRICK (BookThug, 2010):

the cover of Mark Laliberte's BRICKBRICKBRICK

BRICKBRICKBRICK is a visual exploration of poetry's outer limits; a reconsideration of the term 'poetic'. Laliberte creates a really stunning series of pieces! you can order it here :)

and if you're interested in learning a bit more about Carousel, you can check out their website, and submissions guidelines.

another great encounter was with the radical indie artist Mark Connery! amazingly, I was able to pick up his latest work, (published only a month or two ago,) Melamine Car Bomb (Half World Books, 2011): "The first in a series of books dedicated to rescuing lost of neglected Canadian Arts."

(Source.)

I'd heard of Connery's art from a couple friends around Southern Ontario, but until picking up Melamine Car Bomb, I didn't realize the full extent of his awesomeness. the book's editor, Marc Bell, writes, "Mark didn't really give a shit if this stuff he was making would sell or if he could make a living at it. He didn't even try to sell, he would just give the books away for free or sometimes stick them or the original drawings under somebody's windshield wipers."

it's always about the art, and never the profit.

I highly recommend you check out Melamine Car Bomb, which you can order here!

I was so impressed by Zine Dream 4 that I exceeded my spending limit by three times, har har, I'm broke! we'll keep you updated on Zine Dream 5, and dg's hopeful involvement :)

some other cool people you might wanna check out:

gillian blekkenhorst (sketches / illustration / typography)
No Fun Press ("an independent publisher based in Toronto, Canada ... [focusing] on hand-crafting quality artist zines and other limited editions for young explorers and creative thinkers.")
Leanne Prain's Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery (which launches on September 27th at Type Books - 883 Queen Street West).
Marta Ryczko (an illustrator, crafter, zinester)

v live long and prosper, zine fans v

tqc #eight-escape - Cosmic Horses

2011-08-23T13:04:00.001-04:00

Always mumbling they are through buckets one sad soul destined for doom.

the q continuum #eight - Bethany Scholl and Julia Prudhomme of Cosmic Horses

from left to right Bethany Scholl and Julia Prudhomme - photo by Barsin Aghajan

dg recently had an exciting opportunity to chat with Bethany Scholl and Julia Prudhomme (the two great minds behind Cosmic Horses - a team exploration of videography/cinematography, photography, multiple forms of visual art, found art, sound art and poetry! no lie, they do it all!).

while I was researching a bit about the artists who were to appear as part of Omar Mosquera's art show, ".cultura, ciudad y campo #1", (which took place at the Niagara Artists' Centre from August 13th-20th,) I happened to stumble upon Cosmic Horses' blog-archive. needless to say, I was blown away. (take a look at their online portfolio here.) not only was the sheer multitude of media used by the duo impressive and admirable, the quality of the work-- in each medium-- was shocking.

I felt a kind of artistic kinship with the work's humble nature and whimsical spirit.

the amount of play with so many different levels of sensory input - colour, lighting, sound, texture, etc. - was overwhelmingly stimulating.
in fact, when I met up with Cosmic Horses, I told the pair about how my own personal 'sum-up' of their work might be something like, 'Dr. Seuss meets Beetlejuice', at which point both Julia and Bethany chimed in excitedly, "... on acid".

the two were ecstatic to have recently found out that a video piece of theirs called 'put on some raspberry chapstick these hands are frosted' (2011) had been published on an admired and exclusive art website, "Lost at E Minor: For Creative People":

'digital and animated video with audio mash-up' (Source.)

the innate psychedelic quality of the duo's art was mind-blowing to me. I asked how they had met each other and decided to form their own art-group.
Bethany described that during their second year Sculpture class at Brock University three years earlier, they'd been grouped together for a nature-themed project: "we had to do an outdoor installation... so we were just spending way too much time out in the woods having fun... we became best friends."
the two told me that their respective work styles rarely ever clash in a negative way. if anything, their differences-- if there are any-- only make their collaborative work all the more well-rounded and layered.

probably my favorite film pieces of Cosmic Horses' are the videos that strategically withhold their typical play with sound or colour, as in the pieces, "Without Colours" (2010),

'digital video and stop motion animation ... audio by Spencer Burton' (Source.)

and, "Whimsical verse to a Vomit" (2011), which plays with the absence of sound.

stop motion animation (Source.)

having read a lot about the level of patience necessary to work with stop motion animation, I was interested in learning a bit more about Cosmic Horses' experiences with the often frustrating video-style.

Cosmic told me that it typically takes them thirty-two frames to get even one second of stop motion film! "but," Julia explained, "the results are completely worth all the work!"

Comic Horses' pure dedication to their field was amazing to hear about! so were their adventures in discovering found art from by-chance places like garage sales, antique shops, Goodwill, or even sidewalks!

the Cosmic Horses' found-art icon 'Cabbage':

Bethany and Julia are soon off to British Columbia to continue their art projects, and gain some inspiration from the new scenery of the Canadian West. (Julia will also be beginning her MA program in Video Art from UBC.) while on their way to B.C., they'll be sending postcards to their friends and families back home in Southern Ontario-- decked out in Cosmic Horses style, of course :)

dg is very excited for the future of this talented art duo! not only are their works genuinely well thought out, creative, and complex, but the two just have actual plain ol' fun with their art-- something many artists and writers forget to do.

if you'd like to find out more about Cosmic Horses or their work, you can check out their blog here :)

v live long, prosper, and HAVE FUN v

"Running with Minnesota" (2011) video installation:

about CH by CH:

Faith is an interstellar girl and Love is a stormy lemons.

All Cosmic Horses eat young, cold waves.

The rainy crystal ball roughly runs the woods.

The small sparkles swiftly hide the wave, play, majestic, and silent.

Scream roughly like a fast Julia.

Julia's talk like rainy Julia's.

All Julia's fight faceless, rainy Julia's.

Bethany the ghost haunts lion, tigers and bears

Flacking Penguins to the spawn

Sometimes you amaze me with your frightening fears

We'll soon see rosy-fingered dawn eating Golden Wonder.

Always mumbling they are through buckets one sad soul destined for doom.

At times like these I find a turtle very handy.

A wanderer emanates velvet bananas.

Called to mind a stampede of our savior's apostles coughing and choking longing to be free shakes her head and whines a little.

dg (re)reads...

2011-08-21T00:15:00.002-04:00

a few of our favourite pieces from Gertrude Stein's poetry collection, Tender Buttons (1914):

PASTRY.
Cutting shade, cool spades and little last beds, make violet, violet when.

A SOUND.
Elephant beaten with candy and little pops and chews all bolts and reckless reckless rats, this is this.

A PETTICOAT.
A light white, a disgrace, an ink spot, a rosy charm.

*order Tender Buttons on BookThug :)

we're puttin' on our game faces...

2011-08-20T01:33:00.004-04:00

^ game face ^

today, dg embarks on a quest through the mysterious land of InDesign for Adobe.
(all the buttons/possibilities frighten me... hahaha)
we're setting up a solid template for the mag layout that we'll be able to use again and again!

we'll probably change up the layout a bit each issue-- to keep our readers on their toes, *wink-- but a template will make the actual layout process a whole lot smoother and faster! (the last issue did not have a template, so the mag took many sleepless days/nights of too-much-coffee-and-online-television to help me through, hahaha.)

the big thing we're looking to improve on this round: the use of space.

while I wanted-- and still want-- to give each work their own distinct space in the mag, I'm learning how I can avoid too much empty space and too much 'clutter'.

a few main things we'll be zeroing in on:

utilising the available space for visual pieces-- I'd like them to take up the whole page-- and reworking the placement of the artist's name/title of the piece.
rethinking our use of text-- lit pieces longer than four pages vs. pieces only a few words long: how do we balance the range of textual works?
adding page numbers... hahaha, I could not for the life of me figure out how to do page numbers last time, but I am determined to have them this time!

our style is going to try to marry underground punk zine with couture fashion mag with 1950s comic book :)

I WILL CONQUER YOU, INDESIGN.

Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals

2011-08-18T01:29:00.004-04:00

Farm Sanctuary (FS)-- founded in 1986-- is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue of neglected and abused farm animals. Farm Sanctuary advocates for animal rights and human compassion, setting out to educate the public about what 'really' goes on the industrialized farms where meat and dairy are produced.
FS writes, "We started out by visiting farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses to document conditions, and we found animals literally left for dead. Hilda, a sheep found on a pile of dead animals behind Lancaster Stockyards, was the first animal to be rescued by Farm Sanctuary. She lived with us for more than a decade, and died of old age." (Source.)
since their start as an all volunteer-based group, Farm Sanctuary has become a full blown organization with a countless number of supporters who have saved thousands of animals by helping to transport them to the FS shelters in New York and California.

FS is in the middle of court cases against several farming companies about the mistreatment of their animals. Farm Sanctuary is fighting for stricter regulations and laws-- since there are barely any-- that will hopefully put an end to cruelty against the animals who have come to be seen as mere commodities.

Farm Sanctuary's site has a whole section detailing a range of current issues in the meat and dairy production industry-- from chickens crammed into pens and stacked on top of each other during egg production to learning about the industry term 'downed animals' (which describes animals who cannot stand on their own due to severe illness or disability). you can read more facts on 'the issues' page of the Farm Sanctuary website.

if you'd like to support FS by donating, you can click here :)

but-- if you'd like to be involved more personally, you can take part in Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals this Fall-- an event that's been with FS since their creation in 1986-- taking place in locations across Canada and the U.S.!
*for our Canadian readers, walks are taking place in Alberta (Calgary - Sept. 17), British Columbia (Vancouver - Oct. 15), and Ontario (Ottawa - Sept. 24, Toronto - Sept. 24, and Niagara - Oct. 1).

for more info, check out the Walk for Farm Animals site,
or the Farm Sanctuary site / facebook page :)

v "A compassionate world begins with you!" v

^ learn a bit more about Farm Sanctuary :) ^

a peak at dg's playlist: Young Wife

2011-08-14T19:22:00.002-04:00

Young Wife plays at The Mansion House in St. Catharines.

from left to right: Ross Miller (bass), Allie T (vocals/guitar), Ben Pokol (drums)

Young Wife-- described as 'psychedelic, grunge, and minimilist'-- is one of the Niagara Region's most promising indie bands.

created / fronted by Allie L. Torrance, and occasionally featuring Benjamin R. Pokol on drums and Ross E. A. Miller on bass, Young Wife's sound is haunting, pensive, and passionate.
smooth listening for good times with pals, or quiet times alone.

you can check out Allie T's tunes on myspace, or visit the band on facebook!

in the meantime, grab a peppermint tea or a good ale, and get ready for toe-tappin' with 'Harvest Dance' :)

*Young Wife will be playing with Beliefs and Cigarettes in Toronto on August 29th at The Piston (937 Bloor Street W.)-- doors open at 9pm / $5 cover!

dg puts the 'ay' in paypal! *wink

2011-08-10T22:29:00.002-04:00

although becoming 'hip with the times' isn't something I'm very interested in doing personally... for the better of dg, we've decided to upgrade into the twenty-first century with a paypal button.
this decision was not made because of the whole 'faster and easier' misconception about the web, as much as we thought paypal would make dg much more accessible to folks outside the Niagara Region :)

thank you so much to everyone who has supported us with kind comments, encouraging letters, and by picking up a copy of the mag. the kindness has been overwhelming!
dg hopes we're doing Southern Ontario proud :)

hellooo, future... err, present:

*we're still accepting snail-mail cheques/money orders, and face-to-face delivery requests :)
you can check out our mailing info on the 'issue archive' page above <- and you can also refer back to the issue archive page for the new paypal button, as well :)

(be comforted in the knowledge that while dead (g)end(er) may be treading the futuristic line, I remain here watching old episodes of the Twilight Zone and listening to my Best of Cher tapes... here's to 'never being with it'.)

v Cahill out v

.cultura, ciudad y campo. #1 - an art show

2011-08-09T13:25:00.000-04:00

dg is stoked to let you know that Omar Mosquera (a.k.a Ramo / Amor)-- one of Southern Ontario's freshest and most exciting young artists-- has put together an art show exploration of 'culture, city and country' opening this Saturday, August 13^th at 7pm at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines).

the show is set to feature works made exclusively by Mosquera, along with pieces created 'in-partnership' and collaboration with such other bright Niagara Region talents as Barsin Aghajan, Simon Cormier, Elyse blair McCreadie, and Bethany Scholl & Julia Prudhomme (the two minds behind the great art site Cosmic Horses).

as if all that wasn't exciting enough, the show's opening reception will also include the musical-goodness likes of Jaimie Godard, Omar Shabbar, and Randi Townsend!

this is a pay-what-you-can event!

support the homegrown arts :)

to learn a bit more about Mosquera's background and beginnings as a young artist, dg highly recommends you check out the well written Brock U Press story on him by Chris Illich, "Art happens, whether you like it or not".

and you can check out some of Omar's work on his site: Ramo de Amor

v dg will see you on the 13th v

lucky #slevin : Orson Welles / The Mercury Theatre on Air

2011-08-06T17:51:00.000-04:00

the q continuum #seven – Radio Art: The Mercury Theatre on Air

because my initial attempt to ‘sum up’ an array of Orson Welles’s artistic endeavours in this mere blog-post grew to seem like more of a disservice to Welles’s genius, I decided to focus specifically on his involvement in Old Time Radio due to his own pulsing interest in the medium… and to satisfy my own selfish interest, as well, hahaha.

there are a serious amount of ‘myths’ surrounding Welles’s childhood—one famous story being that his first words were actually, “I am a genius.”—and the stories were only made more confusing by the fact that Welles never tried to debunk any of them. it is known for sure, though, that Welles actually began directing, acting, rewriting and adapting whole theatrical performances as early as ten years old, beginning with a rendition of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for the boys camp he attended in 1925 (Masters of Cinema, 2011).

to speak of Welles’s love for radio without first introducing his passion for theatre would make this a pretty lacking edition of the qc as his innovations in the dramatic arts would come to effect his involvement in The Mercury Theatre on Air (and, later, his cinematic work).

Welles's interest in theatre even led him to Dublin, Ireland when he was still just a teenager to learn acting and directing under some of the best dramatic minds of the time at the great Gate Theatre and Abbey Theatre.

the hunger to be more than a mere theatre player inspired Welles to return to the United States and begin working for CBS’ radio station by “adapting historical and literary works into serial form” for broadcast (Masters of Cinema, 2011).

Welles as “The Shadow”

in 1936, actor and producer John Houseman offered Welles the chance to join the Federal Theatre Project (FTP)-- "a scheme set up by the Roosevelt administration in order to provide work for unemployed actors during the depression.” (Masters of Cinema, 2011)

Welles’s work for the FTP was abundant, but it came to a controversial end with an attempted staging of The Cradle Will Rock-- a musical written by the Marxist composer Marc Blitzstein (who lived quite an interesting life, if you'd like click his name and read his biography). Because of Blitzstein’s very public political views, the police put a stop to The Cradle's performance in multiple theatres, but this didn’t come close to stopping Welles: The Cradle Will Rock was ‘performed’ (read aloud by Welles, Houseman, Blitzstein, and a few main actors) at a nearby theatre for audiences for weeks to come—gaining Welles his first major public notoriety.

Houseman and Welles went on to form their own troupe: The Mercury Theatre (1937)-- of which Welles championed fifty plays in two years-- and The Mercury Theatre on Air.

of course, I would be a fool not to mention On Air’s best known radio performance—HG Wells’s The War of the Worlds—but I don’t want take too much away from the entirely brilliant collection of The Mercury Theatre.

if you're not familiar with the War of the Worlds broadcast: Welles adapted the novel into a first-person narrative performance with a news anchor-- mocking a traditional radio news show. as the 'typical' show continued, Welles weaved in 'updates' about an unknown object crashing down from the sky. because of the realism of the acting news anchor's fear / description of the unknown object, listeners who tuned in late actually believed they were listening to the report of an alien landing (causing one of the greatest national panics of all time). after the initial outrage at Welles for having 'tricked' the audience, The Mercury's War of the Worlds would be known as the most clever radio performance in broadcast history.

to learn more - this source offers a good overview of the performance's execution and aftershock: Transparency Now. and you can actually listen to the War of the Worlds broadcast here (about a quarter way down the page)! <- here you can also check out The Mercury's other shows!

after the success of War of the Worlds, Campbell Soup Co. decided to sponsor The Mercury Theatre on Air, providing the producers with enough funds to include major acting stars in their performances (though, Welles only allowed for one star per show, as he did not want to take away from The Mercury's core acting group-- many of whom would later appear in his films). The Mercury then saw such actors as, "Katherine Hepburn, Burgess Meredith, Helen Hayes, Madeleine Carroll, Laurence Olivier, Gertrude Lawrence, Joan Bennett, Lionel Barrymore, and other[s]." (Source.)

producers in Hollywood could not ignore the genius of direction and adaptation Welles had executed for The Mercury Theatre, and would soon call for him to begin his legendary career in film-making; but Welles would always miss his beginnings in radio-- bringing the techniques he perfected for The Mercury along with him to Hollywood.

all during his work in radio, Welles had much respect for both the so-called ‘high’ and ‘low’ art cultures-- not seeming to 'recognize' a difference between the so-divided hierarchy. Welles mixed the likes of Shakespeare, Brontë, and Dickens with "thrillers such as The Phantom Voice, The Bride of Death, The League of Terror and Dracula. In 1937, Welles became the uncredited voice behind the popular radio series, The Shadow, based on an a series of American comic-book stories by Walter Gibson." (Source.)
the same respect would go in the making of his cinematic work-- the film plots often involving men and women of high authority / well-respected positions being mixed up in more 'honest' / 'nitty-gritty' affairs.

besides content, Welles's films and radio shows both incorporated the use of the first-person narrative. Welles often had over-voices in his movies, and his radio shows were nearly always performed from the perspective of an individual or small group. Orson felt first-person narrative was more attention grabbing for radio as it made the listener feel directly involved in the non-visual story; though, even with the visuals of cinema, Welles's narratives offered an extra touch of investment from the audience.

another sound innovation Welles first executed for radio, and would later bring to film, was his use of overlapping dialogue. Welles felt that a good radio show offered a lot of verbal action/aural stimulation.

"[Welles] abandoned the traditional conception of the ‘soundtrack’ (a musical background to fill moments of silence or accompany selected developments in the story) and instead created a soundscape—a combination of music, noises and dialogue that invested the narrative with new depths.” (Masters of Cinema, 2011)

Orson wanted desperately to mimic the way people 'actually' spoke and 'actually' thought in order to better connect with audiences.

though he was known as the ‘boy genius’ or ‘boy wonder’ of performance and direction innovation, it would be Welles's passion and constant drive for a connection with his audience that would centre him out as a great artist :)

a note of hilarity/interest: in his early radio career with The Mercury, Welles discovered that (at the time) one didn’t necessarily need to ‘have an emergency’ to be able to call an ambulance, so-- in order to keep up with his hectic schedule between theatre and radio-- Welles would actually phone an ambulance to take him immediately from one performance to the next!

v live long, prosper, and remember your audience v

I used a few key sources for this edition of the qc, but I'd say the one to definitely check out is the biography, "Masters of Cinema: Orson Welles" by Paolo Mereghetti / published by Phaidon Press on June 1st, 2011 :)
and to listen to The Mercury Theatre on Air's shows, click here!

a Savage art show!

2011-08-04T03:16:00.006-04:00

author Nathaniel G Moore is calling for SUBMISSIONS for an art and literary show called ‘The Last Savage’ in honour and in memoriam of RANDY “MACHO MAN” SAVAGE!

he's accepting poetry, visual art, video, audio, music and more! :)

“Participants are encouraged to draw or write short pieces exploring sentimental or trivial heroes from their childhood ... The reading portion of the night will take the form of a “live” anthology of childhood hero poetry or prose. I’m looking for work that celebrates infantile and juvenile memories. So find your own Randy Savage, write something and get in touch with me about being a part of this show.” (Canada Arts Connect Submissions Call)

the SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE is SEPTEMBER 3rd, 2011

and you can send your work to bowlbrawl@gmail.com!

the show is set to be held in November, 2011, and the venue will be announced soon :)

dg approves this as 100% pure organic COOL.

here's some Savage inspired awesomeness by Moore you should check out :)

Savage (Taddle Creek)

Interview Questions for Randy Savage (Joyland)

Randy Savage's Moustache (an audio piece from Notho)

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

2011-07-26T23:25:00.004-04:00

dg is so excited for our second issue-- especially for the awesome sci-fi/horror theme-- and we'd love for you to get involved, too! :)

send us your most blood-curdling, gut-busting HORROR, SCI-FI, or PARANORMAL art and lit by AUGUST 31st, 2011!
you can send submissions to deadgender.mag@gmail.com

DON'T FORGET ABOUT OUR CASH PRIZES!

$100 – Best Overall - the piece that kicked four asses out of four.

$50 to the Runner Up
and three $20 prizes for outstanding works!

some things we'd love to see: creatures, futurism, slasher, gore, LGBT themes, crypts, space/spaceships, alien-poetry, superheroes, Klingon opera, tarot cards, crystal balls, horoscopes, ghouls, wizards, etc. :)

if you'd like to know more about the guidelines, you can check out the submissions page of our website!

v live long and prosper, fellow g33ks v

2011-07-19T00:44:00.000-04:00

potato stampin' order packages :)

wanna get your hands on a copy or two of dead (g)end(er) issue one?! :)
all you gotta do is fill out the below order statement and send 'er on over to deadgender.mag@gmail.com :)

order form
your name:
quantity (limit 2 mag's per order):
mailing address:
email:
telephone number (home and/or cell):
comments/concerns:

pricing-- $8 each (artists in the issue get their copy for $5!)

*cheques/money orders should be made out to Lindsay Cahill!

for more info, check out the issue archive page <-- :)

tqc #sixisix - Pogo

2011-07-14T01:01:00.008-04:00

the q continuum #six - Pogo/Nick Bertke (1988-prezent)

('88 kids rule.)

based out of Perth, Australia, Nick Bertke-- also known as Pogo-- has been creating tidal-sound-waves all over the globe. Pogo creates electronic music pieces by micro-sampling different films, which means he compiles his work with the distinct sounds, music, lines, words, or even tiny parts of each from a movie, and then mixes ('mashes') those sounds to create a new composition.

dg does not like categorization, or definitive titles, so just to warn our readers, we are going to be sliding Pogo under the heading of 'sound artist' during most of this write up.

what we mean by 'sound artist' is not simply someone who is extraordinarily talented with the creation of music, so much as we mean someone who creates art by focusing on aural stimulation / playing with sound to create an entirely new hearing experience.
(you should know also that Pogo creates his own video mash-ups to go along with his songs, but dg is going to be focusing mainly on his use of sound.)

you might remember our discussion in tqc #three on Dan Deacon, and how complex the phrase 'sound art' can be. while I suggested then that Dan Deacon may be seen by most people as a 'musician', I also suggest now that Pogo may be referred to more commonly as a 'mash-up/electronica artist' as opposed to a sound artist; but, once again, 'sound art' is a layered phrase, and I believe Nick Bertke falls rather smoothly into either category.

how about I show you a Pogo piece, and you can decide for yourself? :)

the following piece is one of Bertke's better known works, compiled from the sounds of the movie Hook (1991):

my choice to first introduce you to Hook is not random at all. not only is Hook an awesome composition inspired by one of my favorite movies of all time, Hook demonstrates the complexity of the phrase 'sound art' while also introducing the complexity of another not-so-unfamiliar concept to artists: copyright infringement-- the two most irritating words a writer or artist can hear.
good artists borrow, great artists get sued by production companies for millions of dollars.

well, guess what happened to Nick Bertke? after the release of the Hook piece on YouTube, Sony Entertainment put so much legal pressure on YouTube that the video soon just 'disappeared' from online existence!

little did the suits at Sony know that nothing goes totally erased on the internet, and just as soon as Hook disappeared, it reappeared from Pogo-fans who uploaded their own versions of the video in protest. (the original Hook video eventually returned-- much to the probable annoyance of Sony Entertainment.)

Pogo has since become a sound art sensation, producing tracks based on the show Dexter, the movies Up! (2009), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), and even Terminator 2 (1991), among several others. Bertke also supposedly has some never-before-seen songs based on Casablanca, Star Wars, and Pulp Fiction! (Source.)

here's another favorite track of mine that blends several Disney movie bits together to create the song 'Bloom':

Bertke's work could definitely be seen as what composer John Oswald first called 'plunderphonics' (the sampling and altering of recorded audio to produce new works). you can read Oswald's article, "Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative" here-- a totally recommended read if you're into learning more about the 'copyright struggles' of plundering music.
Canadian poet Gregory Betts beautifully explains the idea of 'plundering' in his article, "Plunderverse: A Cartographic Manifesto", and while Betts is discussing poetry and literature, I believe he also helps to explain Pogo's musical desires, as well:
"Plunderverse limits its own expression to the source text, but attempts a genuine, divergent expression through the selection, deletion or contortion of it. Plunderverse makes poetry through other people’s words. The constraint is not random, but merely an accelerated variation of the basic fact of language: we already speak in each other’s words. Plunderverse exaggerates the constraints through which we realize and discover our own voice, re-enacting the struggle against influences and cultural histories. It does not try to obscure, bury or overcome influence, but, in fact, celebrates the process by which influences vary into and inform our own voices. It foregrounds the process of language acquisition, reveals the debt of influence and exploits the waste of language." (Source.)

Bertke is using the source 'text' (film/show/song) as inspiration for creating his own unique voice and style.

the last couple years have seen a major evolution in Bertke's work:

"The next project he [Pogo] will engage in takes his concept of fragmented clip sequencing and moves it from the studio to the outside world. He has dubbed it, The World Remix Project. What the project sets out to accomplish is to continue the trend of sampling random bits of sound, but instead of cropping movie clips, he will be recording sounds from a particular culture to compile them in way that should reflect the ethos of that place in the world." (Source.)

The World Remix Project kicked off after Pogo had the idea to create a track based on the sounds of his mother gardening! take a listen to 'Gardyn':

you can watch Nick talk a bit about himself and The World Remix Project here.

Pogo explains, "If I can capture my mother’s personality and passion in the form of a track and video… what’s stopping me from doing that around the world? Perhaps I could capture a day in the life of a family of Inuits in the Arctic, tribes in Africa, temples and monasteries in Tibet…”

Pogo soon kicked off his World Remix Project with the well received Joburg Jam, which remixes the typical sights and sounds of Johannesburg, South Africa!

dg looks very forward to the future World Remix updates, and we'll keep our readers posted, as well!

Pogo is the perfect example of the alternative, unique, original, and homegrown/indie art style dg is so madly in love with :)

if you'd like to know more about Pogo, or listen to more of his songs, you can visit his website, PogoMix, or his YouTube channel, Fagottron :)

we'll leave you with Pogo's best known track, Alice:

v prosper and plunder v

here are some articles that helped me to write this edition of the qc:
Would you like a sample? by ilictronix
Pogo's . . . Plans to Remix the World by Kevin Holmes
Pogo Presents World Remix by Nick Bertke
Plunderverse: A Cartographic Manifesto by Gregory Betts
Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative by John Oswald

dg presents -- ENVRMNT : a night of eco-art and lit

2011-07-01T15:25:00.005-04:00

to celebrate the successful release of dg's first issue, we decided to party in ecological style.

come on out and celebrate the environmental arts and sciences!

come on out and celebrate the greatest artist of all time: Mother Nature :)

the event is goin' down at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Kitts, Ont.) on Friday, July 22nd, 2011.

doors open at 7pm; presentations and readings begin promptly at 7:30 :)

featuring--

enviro-lit readings by:

angela rawlings (via satellite from Iceland)

Adam Dickinson

John Terpstra

Omar Mosquera

Piero Manchego-Badiola

a special presentation on visual environments by Professor J. Keri Cronin!

visual art/video displays by:

Barsin Aghajan

Courtney Michaud

Dan Manchego Badiola

Adrienne Crossman

and more!

indie-environmental group D.I.G will be on-site promoting their cause for building more community gardens, and-- weather pending-- selling some awesome plants :)

recycled screen-paper will also be available thanks very much to artists Mike DiRisio and Vic Mucciarone!

dg will be providing delicious (all-vegan) treats from Rise Above Bakery!

this is a donate-what-you-can, licensed event.

*ALL DONATIONS go directly to the second-issue of dead (g)end(er)!

GO HOMEGROWN

reader bios:

a.rawlings is a Canadian poet and multidisciplinary artist. The recipient of the bpNichol Award for Distinction in Writing (2001), angela has worked with many arts organizations, including The Mercury Press, Lexiconjury Reading Series, Theatre Gargantua, and the TV series Heart of a Poet. She also instructs text and sound workshops for the Toronto Public Library, Learning through the Arts, and Ryerson University.

Working with derek beaulieu and Jason Christie, angela co-edited Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (Mercury, 2005). Her first book, Wide slumber for lepidopterists (Coach House Books, 2006), was featured in The Globe and Mail’s top 100 books of 2006; it went on to receive an Alcuin Award for Design and was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Wide slumber was recently translated from page to stage for Harbourfront Centre’s Hatch: Emerging Performance Projects in Toronto.

angela is currently researching sound, text, and movement, with special emphases on vocal/contact improvisation and acoustic ecology. She lives in Toronto.

Adam Dickinson was born in Bracebridge, Ontario. His poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in a number of literary journals and in anthologies such as Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets, and Post Prairie. He has poems forthcoming in The Echoing Years: An Anthology of Poetry from Canada and Ireland, and in The Shape of Content, an anthology of creative writing in mathematics and science. His first book of poetry, Cartography and Walking, was published by Brick Books in 2002 and was short listed for an Alberta Book Award. The collection that became this book won the 1999 Alfred G. Bailey Prize from the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick for the best unpublished poetry manuscript. His second book of poetry Kingdom, Phylum was published by Brick Books in 2006 and was a finalist for the 2007 Trillium Book Award for Poetry. Adam is currently professor of poetics at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, where he teaches poetry, creative writing, and literary theory. He also co-edits the literary journal PRECIPICe.

John Terpstra has published seven books of poetry, including the CG-nominated Disarmament (2003) and the Bressani Award-winning Forty Days & Forty Nights (1987).
He is also an acclaimed prose author. Falling Into Place (2002) is his creative investigation of the Iroquois Bar, the geological formation that supports one of Canada's busiest transportation corridors.
Most recently he published The Boys, Or, Waiting For the Electrician's Daughter (2005), honouring the lives of the wife's three brothers, each of whom lived with muscular dystrophy until their early twenties. The Book was shortlisted for the Charles Taylor Prize and the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
John Terpstra lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where he works as a writer and cabinetmaker.

*more bios to come :)

'hot to eye, cool to tongue' : GBRS + NAC's night of vidpo

2011-06-28T17:00:00.008-04:00

before I begin to break down this lovely evening, I'd like to apologize in advance for having missed the two first readers (Andy Weaver and Erin Knight) due to being caught in a gridlock on the highway! it was so bad that people were getting out of their cars and mingling!

luckily, though, I was able to catch Andy's last poem, which probably would have been my favorite one, since it was a love-poem, and made so many nerdy references (a.k.a the way to Lindsay Cahill's heart).

here's what I did catch:

as I came into the Niagara Artists' Centre (NAC), Andy Weaver was just beginning his nerdy-love-poem (<3), and I was immediately struck by Marinko Jareb's live-video performance projected on a screen behind the reading podium.

as Andy read, Marinko took bits and pieces of what he heard from the poem, and illustrated images to match the content and mood. I thought this added a brilliant new element to the reading atmosphere.

I know some people might be afraid that the live-video could possibly distract from the listening experience, but I didn't find this was the case at all; in fact, the video worked with the poetry to create an entirely new audience-experience-- something beyond poetry and video; something multi-dimensional.

during the break, I was able to get a some information from Marinko on the kinds of tech he had going on at his video-station:

to the top-left is the camera that holds some of Jareb's pre-recorded video; in the centre sits the Edirol V-4 (a 4-channel video mixer) which helps to fade intensity; and finally, off to the top-right corner is Jareb's cherished find: a screen-writer from the late 80s! (Jareb inherited the rare machine on a whim from friends of friends who were about to throw it away! I was so jealous-- it's such an awesome looking tech-piece.)

soon it was time to get back to the poetry! Stan Rogal came up to the podium cracking jokes about the passing traffic outside, and sometimes even about his own poetry! he told us he would mainly be reading from his book Dance, Monster! (Insomniac Press, 2011)-- a title which he freely admitted to 'borrowing' from the jazz song, "Dance You Monster to My Soft Song". As Rogal read such pieces as 'Pastorale', and 'Labyrinth', Marinko Jareb played mixed video clips, and performed live-drawing with the screen-writer:

Marinko's drawing inspired by Rogal's New York Harbour piece

I probably felt most inspired by Rogal's piece about garbage in the New York Harbour (which he said was for Jack Kerouac, to whom he 'still speaks', hahahaha). the reason I like the Harbour poem so much is because of the strength of Rogal's imagery as he portrayed a typically crowded, typically dirty downtown full of the tourists, working people, trash, and decay of the everyday. Rogal's lyrical style was like pop-rockets in your ears-- images bursting in your mind with every word.

Stan Rogal

Penn Kemp, the evening's next and final reader, is London, Ontario's first Poet Laureate, and it is a well deserved title! Kemp's poetry touched on subjects from the potency and destruction of the environment, to the struggles of local farming and community growth. particularly, I was struck by Penn's echo poem 'Fair Trade' (from which the post-title, 'hot to eye, cool to tongue', derives). the poem begins, "I would eat local food only were it not for temptation." and then dives into an exploration of the tension between local food growth and imported items like bananas, chocolate, coffee, etc. Penn describes the 'ruin' of local farmers, ending with, "Given so much, we reach for more / even when over full. Poems break off as the lunch bell rings." (you can read Penn Kemp's 'Fair Trade' poem here!)

Kemp ended her reading with a great participatory sound-poem, in which the audience got to play the part of an air-fan :)

Penn Kemp

I found the night was an overall blast. the video-performance was 'hot to eye', and the poetry was 'cool to tongue' :)

Grey Borders Reading Series (GBRS) curator, Eric Schmaltz, was a warm and inviting host, as always; I can't wait to catch a glimpse at the awesome fall lineup he's been putting together for GBRS! :) you can keep updated on future GBRS events by following their blog, and you can keep updated on Niagara Artists' Centre events by visiting their website!

Eric Schmaltz - GBRS' raddest curator

a couple of hilarious audience members - Cassie Leigh and Eric Augustino

performers Marinko Jareb and Penn Kemp laughing and chatting :)

thanks so much to Eric Schmaltz, the Niagara Artists' Centre, and the Ontario Arts Council for their continued efforts to bring art and lit to Southern Ontario! :)

v go homegrown v

'good poetry for a good cause'

2011-06-23T14:09:00.005-04:00

phafours press is currently calling for poetry submissions on the theme of:
The Value of Air.

the deadline is: August 31st, 2011

(chapbook to be printed for November, 2011)

all proceeds from the sale of the chapbook will be going directly to the Guatemala Stove Project (GSP), to help provide a $200 stove for a Mayan family "to cook and breathe clean air." :)

spearheaded by poet Pearl Pirie, the chapbook is sure to get some big support in the hopes of inspiring a second print-run, and another stove for a second Mayan family!

GSP writes, "[b]ecause the stoves burn more efficiently villagers use only half as many trees for fire wood in an area that is already suffering from deforestation . . . Families who participate also commit labour and resources to a co-operative enterprise with other GSP families in the area. Group initiatives such as a market gardens, egg production, or craft co-ops increase village self sufficiency and strengthen the local autonomy. Best of all, they are sustainable." You can read more about GSP's history and mission here :)

phafours is looking for all kinds of poetry: from lyrical to vispo; from 'universal' to 'experimental'. it's all "good poetry for a good cause." (Source.)

send your Value of Air poetry to submissions@pagehalffull.com by August 31st to help out a Mayan family :) more info can be found on Pearl Pirie's site here!

v live long, prosper, and support self-sustaining communities v

ps: below is a clip of Pearl Pirie catapulting candies into the audience of a Grey Borders' Reading that I was lucky enough to attend last year, hahaha! :)

homegrown update!

2011-06-15T17:46:00.001-04:00

Rise Above-- St. Catharines first and only all-vegan bakery-- will be opening its doors for take-out business on Tuesday, June 21st.

The creator, owner, and visionary of the bakery is the always charming and cool Kyle Paton.

Kyle started off his business an order-only bakery, catering Southern Ontario events with his lunches and dinners, selling items at the St. Catharines Farmers' Market every Saturday, and hosting a special monthly dinner by reservation.

Rise Above is now proud to offer take-out service for their treats, weekly dinners by reservation (on Wednesday evenings), and will still be providing delicious treats for sale at the St. Kitts Market on Saturdays between 8am-3pm (91 King Street).

Rise Above will be open from Monday-Saturday between 11am-7pm.

You can check out their menu, (the 'haystacks' and cinnamon sugar doughnuts are so frikkin' good), and send an emailed order to riseabovebakery@gmail.com by filling out the form here.

To contact Kyle by phone: (905) 324-9078

You can keep updated on the dates and times of the Wednesday dinners by visiting the Rise Above website, or joining the facebook page!

and, if you're in the Niagara region, don't forget to visit Rise Above at the Farmers' Market on Saturdays :)

*Fun fact: Rise Above provided the treats at dg's first issue launch party in April. The snacks were completely gone in only an hour! They're just that good!

go homegrown!

captivity kills: Marineland Animal Defense

2011-06-11T19:53:00.002-04:00

Niagara Falls, Canada, is home to plenty of gross, overly-priced, worn-out attractions, but none takes the cake quite like Marineland.

this marine 'attraction' charges (before tax) $41.95 PER ADULT (which they consider 10 years old and over) and $34.95 PER CHILD for about five or so 'rides'-- all terrible; but besides the total waste of your money, Marineland is a total waste of your conscience:

the owner of Marineland, John Holer, has made his living off caging both marine and land animals such as whales, seals, belugas, dolphins, bears, deer, etc., not taking proper care of them, and then making the animals perform silly tricks for our supposed 'amusement'.

well, Mr. Holer... we're not amused.

(oh, by the way, as a side-note: did you know John Holer recently evicted everyone living on his Stanley Avenue trailer park land-- with barely any notice-- just so that he can build a Marineland maintenance building? the eviction cost people their money, homes, and in one case, a resident's life. you can read more about that on the Welland Tribune.)

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) "and Zoocheck have supported their submissions to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans with an abundance of scientific and technological information about the biological and behavioural deficiencies of captivity for cetaceans, with specific concerns about Marineland's facility.
Whales are highly social animals that develop strong family bonds and travel vast distances, including diving deep into the water. CFHS does not believe it is possible to create a captive environment that could adequately meet their biological and behavioural needs." (Source.)

if you'd like to learn more about the stats and exact numbers of animal deaths at Marineland, click here!

so, what can we do about it? we can join Marineland Animal Defense (M.A.D) :)
M.A.D is "a campaign of concerned citizens determined to end animal captivity at Marineland." Their goals are to: "End breeding programs at Marineland. End plans for expansion of animal captivity. Remove captive animals to Sanctuary sites. Hold Marineland and John Holer accountable for various abuses, human and non human." (Source.)

M.A.D has been holding protests against Marineland every couple weekends of the 2011 summer, in the hopes of ending the animal cruelty that goes on there.

all are welcome to the protest demonstrations! whole families of animal lovers-- even little tykes-- have flocked to protest Holer and his park.

you can make your own signs, or feel free to borrow one of M.A.D's!

some of my personal favorite sign slogans:

"You have nicer things to do."

"Whales belong in the ocean."

and "PLEASE DON'T SUPPORT CRUELTY."

you can find free parking for the demonstrations in Dufferin Islands Park, right across the street from the main gate of Marineland (7657 Portage Road, Niagara Falls, Ont.).

the demos usually begin at noon, but you can keep up-to-date on specific times by visiting the M.A.D tumblr, or joining their facebook group! (the facebook page is also good for finding rides from the surrounding cities into the Falls!)

not in the area, but still want to help? to find out more about making a donation, you can contact M.A.D through marinelandanimaldefense@gmail.com :)

HELP MAKE 2011 THE LAST YEAR AN ANIMAL WILL EVER HAVE TO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF JOHN HOLER AGAIN.

v live long, prosper, and be kind to animals v

mambo numba five: Street Art

2011-06-08T19:46:00.047-04:00

the q continuum #5: Street Art (prehistoric - present)

(created by Banksy in London, UK.)

before I dive right into some of my research findings on street art, I feel we should attempt to define some of the other terms that are often confused with this artistic phenomenon:

firstly, I'd like to establish that vandalism tends to be seen as the mere destruction of property (e.g. kicking over a neighbor's mailbox)-- the intention being only senseless damage.

graffiti-- coming from the Italian word graffito: to scratch, carve or chip into-- is more 'artistic', and much more interesting from a socio-anthropological standpoint in comparison to vandalism. (although, vandalism can be pretty complex and intriguing when performed out of political activism.)

graffiti is largely public-- located on the sides of trains, on building walls, sidewalks, etc. the common tools being spray paint or chalk.

street art has become the larger, sort of 'more professional' form of graffiti-- introducing repetitively used/quickly recognizable stencils, and a multiplicity of paint colours to their work. to give you more of an idea about what I mean by 'more professional': some entire cities, or even countries, have come to embrace street art as a national sign of artistic talent, and host nation-wide contests to encourage artists. (if you're interested in learning about any such programs, you might wanna check out the Street Artists Program, or the NYC Street Artists.)

*I'd like to point out that none of these definitions are rock-solid, and each one has more than just a slight tendency to blend into the others. if you decide to continue researching the topic, you'll often see different sources referring to one as another and vice versa.

evolving over centuries as cave paintings, the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and even some acts of vandalism, street art has now come to represent an entirely new movement.

depending on the cultural and political acceptance of the style, street art pieces tend to range from practically unnoticeable, to absolutely enormous:

(created by Narc in Montreal, Canada)

so, when did street art really explode into popularity?

well, I would probably have to take you back to late 1970s/early 80s Brooklyn, New York, when troubled (but brilliant) neo-expressionist artist Jean-Michel Biscuit teamed up with friend Al Diaz to create the first 'well known' graffiti group, SAMO©. (the name originating from Diaz's and Basquiat's high-school comic strip.) (Source.)

the reason I must mention Basquiat is because he has also become known as the inspiration for UK born artist, Banksy, (beginning in the early 90s,) who took the aspect of street art and graffiti to the next level. Banksy's pieces are dark-humoured, politically driven, and often of striking design.

Though, he does have a lighter side as well:

("This looks a bit like an elephant.")

Banksy 'glamorized' street art, if you will; though, many of his fans claim he's 'sold-out' a bit since his earlier graffiti career by now accepting cash payment for his street pieces. "Banksy’s signature stencils of kissing coppers, flower-chucking terrorists and mischievous rats found on doorways and side streets have become so sought-after that they are being chipped out of walls and sold for ludicrous sums." (Source - a recommended read if you're into learning a bit more about street art's historical evolution.)
Besides street art, it might be of interest to mention that Banksy has also gained some attention for his film, Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010), which was nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards in 2011.
the film centres itself around French street artist, (and 'rubickcubist',) Invader, who uses the classic video game Space Invaders as inspiration for most his work!
if you're into cubism/80s video games/just generally freaking cool art, you should-- nay, HAVE TO-- check out photos from Invader's exhibit at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York City here.

although street art has been embraced by many larger metropolitan cities, (Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal amongst the most popular Canadian spots,) i feel smaller towns would also benefit from the movement's creativity and originality.

Before I conclude with some cool examples of other up-and-coming Canadian and international street artists, I'd like to recognize the use of the pseudonym. in my research, I rarely ever encountered an arist who used her/his 'birth name', which might at first imply a sort of fear of legal persecution or punishment, but i believe the pseudonyms act more like the superhero alter-ego-- the artist is able to create an entirely new persona/public character free from the boundaries of her/his 'everyday' identity.

Ollio & Ekta, Gothenburg, Sweden:

Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Greece:

Eine, London, UK:

"Eine is in love with typography. Over a few years he has transformed Hoxton into a giant sentence..." (Source.)

Eduardo Relero, Spain:

Indigo, Vancouver, Canada:

I know most people have been guided away from wikipedia, but the article on street art is actually really well researched, and informative! you can check it out here.
I also found Web Urbanist really helpful with some of the history of street art!

To learn more about/see more street art, check out:

Fat Cap - Canada

Time Out - London

and Unurth!

v live long and prosper, art fans v

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS no. 2! say WHA?!

2011-05-31T11:54:00.000-04:00

dead (g)end(er) is calling for art+lit submissions for our SECOND ISSUE set to be printed in October, 2011!
but this time, we're not just lookin' for any old regular art and lit...
this time, we're getting out our garlic necklaces, tin foil hats, and EVP recorders, because we're looking for:

PARANORMAL
SCIENCE FICTION
HORROR
[ahhhhhhh!!]

have any work that's creepily crawly? fantastically freaky? or, horrifically hilarious?
do you support alliteration?
THAN SEND YOUR STUFF ON OVER TO DG!

dead (g)end(er) accepts:
visual art - photography, doodles, sketches, paintings, sculptures, graphic design, etc.

attach up to five visual pieces! [high resolution jpg. doc's/photos :)]

literature - poetry, short-fiction, articles, essays, novel excerpts, screen-play excerpts, theatre excerpts, song lyrics, etc.

submit up to five poems, or prose no longer than 2500 words! please send writing in the body of your email unless your form will get all messed up!

*unfortunately, due to (stupid) copyrights, we cannot print fan-art, or previously published works!

submissions can be sent to: deadgender.mag@gmail.com
(biographies/obituaries are encouraged!)

SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE is AUGUST 31st, 2011

dead (g)end(er) is once again holding a COVER ART CONTEST. creators of works being considered for the cover will be informed immediately for discussion.

PRIZES – yep, you could win one of five pretty sweet cash prizes:

$100 – Best Overall - the piece that kicked four asses out of four.
$50 to the Runner Up
and three $20 prizes for outstanding works!

winners will be announced on October 14th, 2011, along with the publication of the magazine :)

CHECK OUT OUR POSTER:

artwork provided by the brilliant David O'Connor.

v show dg whachya got! v

stepping stones Nigeria

2011-05-27T13:54:00.002-04:00

The issue of children's rights in Africa has been gaining major international attention and concern these last few years. The biggest inspiration for this focus is the continually growing and aggressive organization Stepping Stones Nigeria (officially established in 2005). SSN is a charity dedicated to bringing justice and safety to the children of Nigeria, offering chances for a better education, and helping to stop child-trafficking.

Stepping Stones Nigeria has also helped to shed light on the disturbing concept of 'child-witches' in many parts of Africa. Children are being blamed-- cast-out as 'witches'-- for particular family issues such as poverty, divorce, death, or purely due to superstitious beliefs. Child-witches are then abandoned, tortured, or killed by the community, or even their own families.
"In recent times, it is thought children have become the target for initiation by the elderly 'witches' as it is believed that they are more susceptible to their spells and are quicker in action." (Source.)
(You can learn more about child-witches in Nigeria on In Depth Africa.)
Stepping Stones Nigeria is fighting to end the superstition and impending harm of the so-called 'child-witches'.

If you'd like to help SSN with their amazing cause, you can learn more about becoming a volunteer on the 'Get Involved' page of their website, or you can donate to the SSN by clicking here.

In the Niagara region, and wondering how you can help?
Tomorrow, Saturday, May 28th at 8pm, some amazing local music talents are banding together to raise funds for SSN at Strega Cafe (19 King Street, St. Catharines, Ont.).

The night is set to include:

Jaimie Godard, Eric Smith, Grey Kingdom, Send Christians, and the dg favorite, Young Wife!

v dg will see you there! v

the future of dg

2011-05-16T19:56:00.000-04:00

so, the first issue of the magazine is printed and for sale-- what now, dg? :)
will there be an issue two?

HELL YES, THERE WILL BE!
the next issue is set for October, 2011!
the call-for-submissions and theme announcement will be made on Tuesday, May 31st :)

*also, I'd like to update everyone on the progress of dead (g)end(er)'s second print-run! the lot should be arriving by next week, and then I'll mail out the ordered copies immediately :)

finally, you may have noticed that the dg site now has a few new pages above: an 'about us', where you can learn a bit more about some of dg's interests; the 'issue archive', where you can order copies of dead (g)end(er); and lastly, 'the q continuum', where you'll find all of our past and future awesome research articles :)

the dg hiatus and my little vacation have come to an end, and I'm ready to get right back at it, so feel free to send me an email with questions, or just to chat :) deadgender.mag@gmail.com

thanks so much,
lindsay cahill

v live long and prosper v

issue one order form :)

2011-04-15T13:18:00.002-04:00

the second print run of dead (g)end(er)'s first issue is being prepared! and if you'd like to get your hands on a copy or two, I've set up the below order statement :)

step one) copy the below order form into an email
step two) fill it out!
step three) send it on over to deadgender.mag@gmail.com :)

*live in Canada? the shipping's on us!!

order form
your name:
quantity (limit 3 mag's per order):
mailing address:
email:
telephone number (home and/or cell):
comments/concerns:

*once you've sent your order, I'll be emailing you back within a day to give you the date for when we expect to receive the next batch :)

pricing-- $8 each (artists in dg get their copy for $5 !)

cheques/money orders should be made out to Lindsay Cahill :)
(if you'd like to arrange a face-to-face delivery, that's totally cool too!)
once your payment's been confirmed, your copy of dg will be on its way immediately! :)

if you have any initial concerns or inquiries about your order, please contact me, Lindsay Cahill, at: deadgender.mag@gmail.com, or lindsay_cahill@hotmail.com

thanks again to everyone for helping us SELL OUT our first print run at the dg launch last week! :)

love,
lindsay

dg launch!

2011-03-28T23:54:00.000-04:00

Rise Above bakery-- the first and only vegan bakery in St. Catharines-- will be providing some delicious treats for the dead (g)end(er) launch event on April 7th :)
make sure you get to the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Kitts) right around 7pm to snag one of the freshly baked goodies courtesy of dg!! :)
and please check out the Rise Above website here! they have a ton of cool info on what they sell, and when they have a setup at Market Square (the corner of King and James Street)!

for our straight-edge friends, designated drivers, or just anyone not in the mood to drink alcohol this evening, dg will also be providing coffee (thanks to Terry and Gina Cahill)!

I'm hoping to have updates on the availability and pricing of the journal itself by this Thursday!

thank you so much for your support! I'm counting down the days until April 7th :)

see you there<3

The Incongruous Quarterly

2011-03-26T12:59:00.003-04:00

The Incongruous Quarterly has awesomely been on a mission to 'publish the unpublishable'. (meaning, "[writing that may be] too long or too short, too weird, too conventional, ahead of (or behind) the times, genreless, plotless, subjectless, easily pigeonholed or impossible to define." (Source.)
this is exactly the kind of non-categorical, boundariless brilliance I hope comes from all lit/art mags eventually.

I'd like to spread word about the The Incongruous's CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for their Spring 2011 issue-- the DEADLINE is MARCH 31st. The theme for this particular issue is SCIENCE (a word I feel should probably always be capitalized and bolded for effect).

NOTE: they are not looking for sci-fi* they are looking for fiction and poetry about science! (whether this be physics, biology, chemistry, etc.)
(Submissions for short-fiction are lagging behind the poetry, so hurry up with those short-pieces!!)

The Incongruous has two amazing guest-editors for this issue: Jon Paul Fiorentino, editor of Matrix magazine; and Elizabeth Bachinsky, author of the poetry books Curio (BookThug, 2005), and God of Missed Connections (Nightwood Edition, 2009).

you can send fiction submissions to: incongruousfiction@gmail.com
poetry to: incongruouspoetry@gmail.com
or general questions to: incongruousquarterly@gmail.com

FIRST, though, I would recommend you take a look at the detailed call for submissions on their website here (scroll down to see their submissions guidelines).

can't wait to see all the literary goodness! :)

v live long and prosper v

updates and launch announcements!

2011-03-23T13:11:00.002-04:00

my apologies for the extreme lack of posts these last weeks-- the submissions and layout process was just way too much fun to focus on anything else!
I wanted to take a serious moment to thank all the contributors, and everyone who has supported this magazine. it is literally so heart-warming the amount of encouragement I've received from artists in the journal, and artists outside the journal. you are all such lovely people, and this zine would not exist without you!

and, with that, I am pleased to present the dg lineup! (hi, dg lineup!)

Jade Alyssa

Adrienne Crossman

Vickie Fagan

Duncan Allosaur Griffiths

Cassie Leigh

Daniel Manchego-Badiola

Courtney Michaud

philip a. miletic

Emi Morimoto

Karlee Morse

Alex Nevin

Eric Schmaltz

Steph-Marie Szenasi

Stephanie Tingzon

Helen Tran

Shane Turner

Tracy Van Oosten

some of Ontario's greatest emerging talents!

I'd also like to spread word about the LAUNCH EVENT for our first issue which is taking place Thursday, April 7th at the Niagara Artists' Centre (354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ontario).
doors are set to open at 7pm, and the presentations and readings will begin promptly at 7:30.

featuring--
art displays, and video presentations by:
Karlee Morse
Adrienne Crossman
Daniel Manchego-Badiola
Courtney Michaud

literary readings by:
Steph-Marie Szenasi
philip a. miletic
Stephanie Tingzon
Jade Alyssa
Eric Schmaltz
Helen Tran
and *Special Guest* (o0o0o)

(more readers will be announced in the coming weeks!)

this is a donate-what-you-can, licensed event. (please support the Niagara Artists' Centre, they have been very good to us through this whole process!)

*ALL PROCEEDS from drink sales will be going to the Japanese Red Cross Society and Animal Refuge Kansai

WINNERS OF THE CASH-PRIZE CONTEST WILL BE ANNOUNCED DURING THE BREAK!

thank you so much to Tracy Van Oosten for providing the beautiful cover-photo :)

GO HOMEGROWN.

check out our flyer!

(Source for flyer photo.)

the q continuum numero cuatro

2011-02-25T20:39:00.020-05:00

tqc #four: Kate Beaton

Hello and welcome to the fourth instalment of the q continuum! The name's Piero Manchego-Badiola and I will be giving our fearless leader a break this week in order to talk to you fine specimens about Canadian comic artist Kate Beaton and her webcomic series, Hark! a Vagrant. Kate Beaton has been drawi--what's that? Not too sure what webcomics really are?…Comics on the web? But it is so much more than that, and webcomics have such an interesting upbringing! Lets take a quick look into the short history of this young, and thriving, internet-dependent, artistic genre, yeah?

Emerging as early as the mid-1980's, the style and format of many webcomics ranges from the more traditional 3-4 panel size gag-strips found in the 'funnies' section of your local newspaper, to the page layout style of manga, comic books and graphic novels, although some artists practice wide-ranging forms. The mid/late 90's saw a large emergence of webcomic activity, Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan, Argon Zark! and Penny Arcade, to name but a few. Most webcomics are updated a couple of times a week, but some sites update as often as every day to as little as once every couple of weeks. The malleable format and style of webcomics also open doors to many experimental methods of storytelling and grant the creator artistic freedom in how they want to present their art. The term 'infinite canvas', coined by Scott McCloud, an influential pioneer in the world of webcomics, refers to how artists 'are free to spread out in any direction indefinitely with their comics', rather than remaining confined to normal print dimensions. Scott McCloud mentions how, 'today, most webcomics are short gag strips and most long-form comics are page-by-page formats that look a lot like their paper counterparts…but with the advent of multi-touch displays, increased bandwidth, and increasingly efficient javascript engines on the way, we may yet see these issues resurface in the coming years.' (2009) It becomes abundantly clear that webcomics have the innovative potential to further evolve as an art form, constantly reinventing a genre which moves beyond simply making you chuckle. If you want to learn more about webcomics, or comics in general, check out McCloud's 'Understanding Comics' (1993) and 'Reinventing Comics' (2000), or peruse his informative website for a creative and interesting explanation of comics and their emergence in a digital environment.

Back to Beaton…Kate originates from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and has steadily grown a reputation in the Canadian webcomic community. After working in a maritime museum in Victoria, she met Emily Horne of a softer world and was encouraged by many of her friends to post her growing stack of comics online. In 2007 she uploaded them through her livejournal and her online site, slowly gaining a devoted following with her comical depictions of historical events,

literary figures,

and some comics that only Canadians can fully appreciate:

As I have pointed out, Beaton's work is varied and does an excellent job of blending history with contemporary culture, serious events with humorous dialogue. I will even go so far as to say that she makes learning about history FUN, presenting it in an engaging manner which prompts one to look further and perform research on a historical military figure, or learn more about a iconic expedition to the North Pole. Beaton's Gorey Covers, Teen Comics, Nancy Drew, MS Paint and Younger Self are other eclectic examples of her work, popping up in between her more history-based comics throughout the years. Her myriad collection of influences cannot be summed up into any definite terms, but it is clear that some elements of her maritime childhood and Canadian identity show through her work, as seen in this heart-warming example.

Beaton's work has been nominated for several awards, including the Harvey Award in 2010 and the Joe Shuster Awards in 2009 and 2010. Beaton's self-published 'History Comics' won the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent and in June 2009 she released a book titled, 'Never Learn Anything From History' (which I own a signed copy of..!). Her work has also been profiled and showcased in various magazine publications, including The New Yorker. (Before you link off and start clicking through her archives section, keep reading a bit more to find out about some interesting webcomic-related stuff.)

I would also like to point out how, in many cases, webcomic artists have formed together to create online/offline communities in which they support each other and develop together. One that comes to mind is TopatoCo. Although this is a link to their online store, they list every single webcomic artist in collaboration with the company and provide links to their webcomic, small blog posts along with selling some pretty choice webcomic-related merchandise. There are many artist/fan based communities which revolve around forums, fan sections and blogs as well--some even serve as suggestions for the outcome of the storyline, if there is one. Sometimes, when artists are too busy attending conventions or are feeling quite sick, other webcomic artists pitch in by producing guest strips ensuring that readers stay content; It is the close-knit sense of community and artistic passion which really shows how, for many of these webcomic artists, it isn't about the money, but about the shared love of the webcomic as an art form. Unfortunately, the webcomic industry is a difficult business to keep up with and I have seen many webcomics come and go due to financial issues, pursuing other projects and time constraints, so donations are always a terrific way of supporting your favourite webcomic, which you read for free in case you forgot.

Lastly, Toronto holds a bi-annual event called TCAF (The Toronto Comic Arts Festival), which 'exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. We seek to promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them'. Since it's first event in 2003, TCAF has been hosted in various areas around Toronto such as Honest Ed's and the Victoria College Building on the UofT campus, but has currently found a comfortable home at the Toronto Reference Library. Admission is free, you can go and chat with your favourite comic artist (Kate Beaton will be attending as well…!) and with over 10,500 attendees accounted for at last year's event, that number is expected to grow due to the increasing popularity of webcomics, and comics, in general.

Some really, REALLY, good (and diverse) webcomic suggestions you might want to check out:

http://www.pbfcomics.com/

http://www.multiplexcomic.com/

http://www.picturesforsadchildren.com/

http://www.qwantz.com

http://www.creasedcomics.com/

Thanks for sticking around and look forward to the fifth instalment of the q continuum on March 11th!

upcoming homegrown events!

2011-02-20T16:11:00.002-05:00

in art:

Duncan Allosaur Griffiths has (awesomely) set up a variety night of art-entertainment for Friday, March 4th at Fine Grind Cafe (37 James Street, St. Catharines, Ontario). The event-- set to begin at 8pm-- will include poetry, story-telling, comedy, theatre, and some ambient tunes! The evening is also acting as a fundraiser for a theatrical event Griffiths will be holding this summer, so donations are kindly encouraged!
SUPPORT HOMEGROWN ARTS.
(Just a reminder that Fine Grind Cafe is a cash-only venue-- forget your plastic!)
Come all ye beatniks! Bring your bongos; it's sure to be a grand ol' time :)

*Duncan is the co-creator of Words Radio, which you can tune in to hear on Tuesdays from 3-3:30 on 103.7 FM*

The Niagara Artists' Centre (NAC) in conjunction with the Grey Borders Reading Series (GBRS) has put together the art/lit exhibit of a lifetime! 'The Bird is the Word' event will explore the fine line between 'visual art' and 'poetry', localizing several of Canada's most beloved artists and their pieces right in your own backyard! With a media mixture of all sorts (sculpture, video, onsite installation, etc.), the highly anticipated event will feature the works of derek beaulieu, bill bissett, Judith Copithorne, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Marinko Jareb, Travis Kirton, Kelly Mark, Steve McCaffery, a.rawlings, Laurel Woodcock, Hallie Siegel & Matthew Donovan & Gregory Betts. (Holy moly!!)
The exhibit will be on display from March 9th until June 4th, 2011; and the opening reception takes place at the NAC (354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ont.) March 11th at 7pm: along with readings by a few of the writers, there will be a musical performance by Gary Barwin.
This is going the be the cat's pyjamas! The event is free, but the NAC would appreciate any donations you could possibly make to support them! :)

in lit:

dead (g)end(er) would like to take a moment to thank the president of the Brock University Creative Writer's Club, Phil Miletic, for setting up and hosting a beautiful poetry reading given by angela rawlings! A few Brock students who had attended a workshop run by rawlings earlier in the day also gave a reading of some of their own sound-poetry: a brilliant time! Thanks so much to Phil for putting the event on; it was lovely!

And of course, I must mention, the deadline for dead (g)end(er) magazine is MARCH FIRST!! GET MOVING ON THOSE SUBMISSIONS! (Writers, I'm looking at you, the visual artists are kicking your buttz!)

in music:

There are some spectacular shows coming up next week at the Mansion House (5 William Street, St. Catharines, Ont.): Northern Primitive, Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, and guests on February 21st ($7 adv/$10 door); Great Bloomers, Huron, Howler and guests on February 22nd ($7 adv/$10 door); Lambs Become Lions, Young Wife, Ben Somer, and guests on February 24th ($8 adv/$10 door). Each show begins at 7pm!

ALSO, Monday, March 14th is the set day for the CD RELEASE of the evermore talented local band Elk!! They'll be putting on a show with some guests starting at 7pm that night at the Mansion House, where you can pick up a copy of their new album :)
It's $8 advanced and $10 at the door! DON'T MISS IT!
The release of the CD is supported by the locally owned and run Indoorshoes Record Label <- click to check out more about them and their awesome mission.

better see you at one or all of these events:
GO HOMEGROWN.

the q continuum #three

2011-02-11T20:44:00.126-05:00

tqc #three: Dan Deacon (au.xxviii.lxxxi - forever)

"Hi. I'm Dan Deacon. Before moving to Baltimore I went to college and grad school at the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase. For the past four years I have been touring a collection of pieces for voice, electronics and audience. In my spare time I enjoying booking shows at various weird places in Baltimore. I'm looking forward to touring less and finishing up a series of pieces for large ensemble. The future surrounds us. Let us begin." (Source.)

While some would categorize Dan Deacon under the more general heading of 'musician,' I and many of his other fans recognize him as more of a 'sound artist'.
Infamous for his interactive shows-- creating giant dance circles with his audience, and even having friends dressed in masks running through the crowd-- Dan is an innovator of the performing arts.
His work has been slotted into countless genres: underground, indie, experimental-folk, electronica, polka-punk, etc. -- but let's just dub him 'awesome,' shall we?... And I will try to prove why in the next few moments.
If it is possible to take the Fauvism art movement's exploding use of colour and brush-stroke, mix it with the sounds and vibrancy of a 1980s video arcade, and pair those along side the precision of ear and mind possessed by Milton Babbitt-- translate all this into music, and you get: the style of Dan Deacon.
He is 'electicism' in full form-- limitless in his music and performance.

Let's take a look at a bit of his musical evolution since his first albums Meetle Mice and Silly Hat versus Egale Hat (released on the same date in 2002 by Standard Oil Records). Before we go right into one of Dan's songs, though, I'd like to first introduce you a tad more to Milton Babbitt-- an infamous composer, having written scores for twelve piece orchestras, and being one of the first artists to begin using the Synthesizer to create music.
You don't have to listen to the entire second-half of his 'Ensembles for Syntesizer' piece (1964), the first minute-and-a-half or so will give all the insight you'll need:

Now, below is one of Dan Deacon's first songs, 'Never Do That (Mars)' (2002), where we can immediately see just what effect the sound experimentalists of the fifties and sixties had on Dan and his music:

Four years away from 'Never Do That (Mars)', Dan's technique takes a jump from the more minimalistic, to the more complex with the addition of more instruments and even lyrics. (A good example being the song 'Splish Splash' from Acorn Master released by Psych-o-Path Records in 2006.)
It is with Deacon's next record, Spiderman of the Rings, released by Carpark Records in 2007, that Dan's style explodes full-force. Although 'Pink Batman' is my favorite song from Spiderman of the Rings, I feel as if 'Crystal Cat' can better illustrate in sound and visual effects how far Deacon has come with his music:

I also wanted to show you 'Crystal Cat' as it introduces the name Jimmy Joe Roche (the director of the music video). Roche, a video-artist and filmmaker, has collaborated with Deacon on several projects-- one of the largest being the film-piece Ultimate Reality. "The simple source material [of Ultimate Reality] (entirely derived from various Schwarzenegger films) quickly builds up, through endless mirroring, layering, chopping, and re-touching, into a kaleidoscopic tapestry of kitsch." (Source: A highly recommended read if you're interested in learning more about the project.)
Roche and Deacon are also both members of Wham City: "... a group of independent artists linked by the bonds of friendship. We join forces to collaborate, we disperse to collaborate with others . . . We have no set group aesthetic, focus, or member roster. Our work as individuals represents us alone . . . We make art shows, theater performances, music shows, festivals, books, computer networks, fashion shows, email lists, etc. . . . Our goal is to create and support an artistic community while honoring our individual voices . . ." (Source: their website has A LOT of awesome projects to see and people to learn about!)

Deacon, having had a bit of time to work on some personal projects (his last album Bromst was released in 2008), is teaming together with L.E.M.U.R: the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (... I kid you not). The sound artist group L.E.M.U.R has created "computer-controlled mechanized acoustic musical instruments which can perform music by and with human musicians . . . [Examples being the] slide-guitar-like GuitarBots, assorted percussive ModBots, XyloBots, water-based HydroBots, fire-based PyroBots, the Indonesian-inspired GamelaTron and others." (Source.)
WICKED. You can check out one of their installations here.
I salivate just imagining what kind of awesomeness will come of Deacon's experimentation with the L.E.M.U.R bots! You can check out more about L.E.M.U.R, and actually donate to help out their mission on their website.

Dan Deacon helps to push the creative boundaries of sound and visual art by mixing, questioning, blurring, and reinventing every form of media imaginable, or yet to be imagined :)

(You can see my favorite Dan Deacon song and video, 'Paddling Ghost', from the Bromst album here.)

Deacon's website is pretty good at keeping you up-to-date, so if you were into anything you read above, you might wanna check it out: http://www.dandeacon.com/

Stay tuned for the fourth edition of the q continuum series on Friday, February 25th! dead (g)end(er)'s own Piero Manchego-Badiola will be taking a look at the independently run webcomic series Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton.
　

see you in the future!

stop motion animation: a tribute

2011-02-07T22:58:00.001-05:00

The following short was envisioned and created by Paul Berry, (who also worked on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach with Tim Burton,) Colin Batty, and Ian Mackinnon.
Stop motion animation is one of the most difficult, and time consuming forms of film to put together; calling for high attention to detail, and an even higher endurance for frustration-- but the artistic results are well worth the effort.

Paul Berry's The Sandman (nominated for Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards in 1992):

OH MY GOSH ONE MONTH CAN YOU BELIEVE IT

2011-02-01T13:39:00.002-05:00

the deadline for submissions is MARCH FIRST!
holy heck, time flies when you're having progressive fun!

a few important things to say:

1) don't worry yourself if your email is sent after midnight-- we will be accepting submissions all day March 1st as well! any submissions later than that though, unfortunately, cannot be accepted!

2) we've been approached several times with questions regarding bios-- some people seem just a bit anxious about writing a bio for themselves (as we requested on our posters for your submission). basically, all we're looking for is a little introduction to who you are, where you're from, if you've been published anywhere else, or if your art has been on display anywhere. don't worry if you have never been 'published'-- achievement goes much deeper than credits to your name: are you working on any cool projects? do you go to school, and what are you taking? what did you eat for breakfast? it's all good! :)
feel free to be silly. feel free to be deadly serious. just keep it brief :)
or heck, be mysterioso and don't send a bio! *be warned that if you don't send one, we may write a mock one for you!

here is an example bio of mine for you to work with:
Lindsay Cahill works and writes from the cozy corner of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Her writing has been featured in lapse, on ditch, and at home. The artists who have inspired her include Gertrude Stein, Tim Burton, and Matt Groening... And, oh yes, she really hates yo-yos. (100 points to the person who gets that reference.)

3) if you would like to be published under a specific name (i.e. all lower case, all upper case, just your first name, just your last name, just a nickname, etc.), make sure to put that name in your bio :)

4) for zee writers: send your poems or short fiction in the body of your email unless your form will get all messed up!
visual artists: send attachments of high resolution jpg format photos :)

and just in case you're newer to dg, here is a recap of what we are about / looking for:

we like anything and everything that pushes / questions / rips apart / slaps around / pokes fun of / gets in a car and runs over / bullies the boundaries. from the boundaries of academia, or the art world, to the boundaries of day-to-day social interaction: screw categorization.

we're accepting:

visual art - photography, doodles, sketches, paintings, sculptures, graphic design, etc. (high-res photos of the non-digital work, please!) - submit up to 5 visual pieces
literature - poetry, short-fiction, articles, essays, novel excerpts, screen-play excerpts, theatre excerpts, song lyrics, etc. - submit up to six poems, or prose no longer than 2500 words

send your submissions to deadgender.mag@gmail.com :)

and, HEY! don't forget about the CASH PRIZES: three $20 prizes for outstanding pieces, $50 to the Best Runner-Up, and $100 for the piece/artist who "rocked our sox" (as the kids say)!
winners will be announced on April 1st , 2011 (a.i.xi), along with the publication of the magazine :)

LOVE, big mama.

the q continuum #two

2011-01-28T18:32:00.005-05:00

*WARNING: I feel inclined to post a DISCLAIMER before this particular edition of dead (g)end(er)'s continuum series, as the content is sexually explicit (for artistic and socio-political reasons, but still). Some people may be offended by the images below, but I believe the work brings a necessarily blunt approach to sexuality in art and society.

tqc #2: Tom of Finland (may.viii.xx - n.vii.xci)

My apologies for tqc's not having been posted last Friday. It was a bit of a hectic week for all of us, but we're back at it today with a look at quite an interesting Finish artist! From the Universality of Gene Roddenberry, we spin a complete 180 degrees to the obscure and marginalized works of Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland.

The next few topics of tqc are set to discuss the contemporary eclecticism of some online comics, music, and animation; but before jumping so deep into such present-day examples of progressivity, I wanted to step back and give homage to the artist who continues to make a dent in art and social politics:
Tom of Finland's works, receiving more artistic recognition since his death in 1991 than possibly ever in his lifetime, are-- at their most basic definition-- illustrations of overly masculinised subjects depicted more often than not during varying homosexual encounters.

Note how the males illustrated are exaggerated in all respects: their muscles and genitalia bulging through the seams of their clothing, their hair thick and wild.
I think the aspect of abundance is important to understand when looking at Tom's work, as he uses the theme so often. Laaksonen actually began his art career in the advertising industry (Source), learning what appeals to the eye of the buyer: pleasure in quantity and over-consumption-- 'bigger is better'.
Touko's art is a representation of pleasure, or perhaps more so 'ecstasy'; but what interests me is: what is Finland's purpose in creating such explicit images? Is it simply that after years spent hiding his sexual orientation, he then relishes in depicting his deepest homosexual fantasies? Or is there more socio-political commentary to Finland's work than meets the eye? Many people actually agree there is no other motivation than the prior; and although my opinion leans towards the latter, the motivation behind Tom's work is probably both, and more.
What particularly drives me to believe there is more behind Laaksonen's work are the drawings in which he focuses on men of authority. Finland tends to centre his work upon 'the working-man', the laborers he encountered in his rural hometown (construction workers, farmers, etc.); but several of his pieces also feature men of high military rank:

As Tom fought in World War Two, he takes influence from the sexual experiences he had during that time, but, interestingly, he created several pieces illustrating men in Nazi uniforms performing acts of homosexuality (these pieces were later hidden due to their controversy in the United States). (Source)
It is my belief that Tom's work is commenting upon his contemporary society's understanding of 'masculinity' (still relevant even in today's Western world).
Whether Touko was aware of the larger effects of his work or not, what his art manages to do is take a social paradigm like 'gender' and shove it back in its own face-- masculinity 'screwing itself,' if you will. Yes, his work is explicit and at times pornographic, but I refuse to believe that Laaksonen was merely creating a fantasy world for himself through his art.
Touko brings into question both the specific homosexual stereotypes and the view of masculinity in general. His once marginalized work has now broken through into the contemporary art world. This year Turko, Finland will be exhibiting the majority of Laaksonen's work-- besides the pieces that are on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Laaksonen has become known for creating his own comic series called 'Kake' that features a few of his favorite characters from his artwork.
Well kown punk-designer Vivienne Westwood even designd a t-shirt using one of Finland's drawings during the late 1970s:

Laaksonen's artwork should not be seen as pornographic, but artistic. We are in an age that is ready to move beyond the boundaries and walls built and handed down from our grandparents' generation.
With artists like Tom of Finland, educational, social and artistic boundaries are coming to a dead end. :)

You can see some more of Tom's work here. :)

*stay tuned for next week's edition of tqc which will take you into the dazzling neon world of the music industry's own Dan Deacon!

ps: What's with the first two subjects of tqc having both passed away in 1991? Coincidence?... Maybe. Government conspiracy?... Definitely.

clips from the Royal Society of Art's "Animate" series...

2011-01-20T01:45:00.005-05:00

OPIRG's presentation of the RSA's Animate series was a brilliant time-- not only were the clips intriguing, but those present at the event were able to have some brief discussions (and, at times, debates) on the arguments being illustrated in each segment. As soon as I got home Tuesday night, I ran to the computer to check out the parts of the series we unfortunately did not have time to watch. I've posted a few of my favorites (the first two of which were featured at the OPIRG event).

I honestly couldn't even guess how often I've had discussions about the evermore failing education system currently dominating the West. The following RSA clip puts my view into better words than I could ever hope to do on my own:

'The Empathic Civilisation' was quite interesting-- and happened to be the clip to get the largest reaction out of the viewers at OPIRG Tuesday:

Lastly, 'The Secret Powers of Time' was not shown at the meeting, but struck me just as the other clips did:

I hope you enjoyed watching these as much as I did! :) It's so great for visual learners. If you want to learn more about the series, you can visit the RSA blogpage!

say hello to the dg poster! ah!!

2011-01-19T01:04:00.002-05:00

created by the spectacular graphic design artist Demetra Xanthi Peppas :)

you can check out some of her other work (and contact info) on her website here!

you rule, Demetra!!

*homegrown events and updates

2011-01-18T00:22:00.005-05:00

After a bit of a break for the holidays and the start up of school, the local art and lit world is back up and running at full force!

in art...

Brock University's OPIRG (Ontario Public Interest Research Group), is an off-campus info-centre dedicated to the spread of social activism not only to Brock students, but to the community at large. It's located on 10 Summer Street, St. Catharines, Ontario, and features a free weekly documentary on Tuesdays! :) Tonight (January 18th), OPIRG is playing pieces from the Royal Society of Arts' Animate: a series of shorts using animation to explain complex theories. It looks pretty darn interesting actually! It starts at 8pm, and you can see a summary of the documentary on the facebook event page.
To learn more about the info-centre, you can visit their website ! If you've got any questions, you can email the group at opirginfoshop@gmail.com

in lit...

The Grey Borders Reading Series (GBRS) NUMBER FIVE is finally here! This edition is taking place at Pan Cafe (120 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, Ont.) on Thursday, January 20th at 7pm! Numero cinco features a pretty sweet line-up of poets and playwrights including Beatriz Hausner, Kemeny Babineau, and the founder of One Little Goat Theatre Company, Adam Seelig. The GBRS is always an awesome time-- co-ordinator Eric Schmaltz maintains an intimate and down-to-earth environment throughout the events, making it easy to approach the poets, and have a good time. :)
You can check out more about Grey Borders and their events on their blogspot.

The Brock University Creative Writers' Club (BUCWC) presents the first of their 2011 reading series' this Friday, January 21st at 7pm!! The reading is taking place at the always laid-back Fine Grind (37 James Street, St. Catharines, Ont.), which is a cash-only venue! Some of the readers include Ed Edmonds (co-creator of Words Radio Station), Helen Tran, Robert Dimmers, Matt Currie, Steven Greenwood, Jacob Hounsell, and Lindsay Cahill.
There's going to a 50/50 draw too! I was pretty jealous when I missed out on the last one, I could've won thirty bucks! Gah, but that money is MINE this time... okay... maybe it can be yours too, BRING YOUR LOONIES.
If you've got any questions, you can email the president of the BUCWC, Phil Miletic, at pm07iv@brocku.ca, and you can keep updated on BUCWC events/submission deadlines on their tumblr page.

Words Radio (103.7 FM)-- the literary-based radio station-- was founded by Ed Edmonds and Duncan Allosaur Griffiths. The station not only brings you the newest of the literary news, but also sets out to revive the old classics of the poetic universe. (Words Radio features creative writers from the area as well, so if you're interested in appearing on the show, contact Ed and Duncan at wordswordswords@hotmail.ca) The show airs every Tuesday from 3-3:30pm (or you can listen to the episode archive online at wordsradio.tumblr.com).

in music...

As has been proven by our multiple posts about their events, local band Elk is definitely a dead (g)end(er) favourite, so we thought it was only appropriate to spread word about their latest update: Elk, along with Indoorshoes Record Label, are pleased to announce the sneak-peak of their upcoming album, Balm Beach, set to come out on February 17th, 2011. You can listen to the new release here. The new song, 'Sheldon', implies yet another wicked album from the band! Also, if you're interested, you can read an awesome blog-post on Quick Before it Melts that promotes Elk and their distinctly unique sound. :)

GO HOMEGROWN.