Pre-Internet
Update on Emma-Lee
April 3, 2013
When you start here, as the singer Emma-Lee did back in the early noughties …
… and end up here, on the billboard at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto:
You know the reversal in the music industry is complete. I wrote about Emma-Lee’s rise to prominence — starting on My Space, then YouTube — in this profile last December. At the time, she was on a cross-country tour with Jesse Cook. Now she’s back on the road with Peter Katz, hitting venues across Canada. Katz most recently performed with The Swell Season, the legendary Garth Hudson, from The Band, as well as with members of Levon Helm’s band.
Hot off the press
April 2, 2013
My latest profile from Applied Arts Magazine. Scroll to the end for the PDF.
Here’s the PDF: AACE Student – Petra Cuschieri.
Reverse decision
April 1, 2013
This is a riot. And the mic was on.
“Canadians love things that aren’t practical or useful, like pennies, the metric system and bilingualism. It’s just part of who we are.” — Jim Flaherty, finance minister (announcing that the Canadian government is reinstating the penny, effective immediately).
Postscript: Yup, they got me hook, line and sinker. Only on April Fool’s could a politician make such a correct observation about Canada, then pretend it’s a joke. I wanted to believe the Google Nose gag too. I’m so sad that one is not true. Click and sniff is the final frontier in computing.
New additions
March 12, 2013
Photo: Ryan Faubert, Design: Alison Garwood-Jones
I’ve upgraded my blog and website. Here’s a rundown of the changes:
1. I added a throw to my new fiction site called Drop Cap (enter through the parachute, top left)
2. I’ve reorganized my drawings on a separate site called iArt (enter through the Etch-A-Sketch, top left).
3. I’ve trumpeted these additions on my home page with three new fancy tags. I’m not the only one who likes those vintage office tags.
And in case you’re wondering about the art above, I was inspired by old record covers from the early 1960s — in particular, The Supremes and some old comedy recordings by Elaine May and Mike Nichols. Here I tried to replicate the quality of the photography fifty years ago on pulpy LP sleeves (grainy black and white). I also got that sixties look by adding false eyelashes, courtesy of Photoshop (I already had the pixie). To finish, I added a few signature graphic touches of the era: round stickers with serrated edges, the Bewitched sparkly text and the oval WordPress symbol I invented to look like the old labels for Capitol Records and Mercury Records.
There is nothing “High Fidelity” about this website, but I like Nick Hornby, so in it went.
Finally, I’d like to thank my friend, Graham Scott, for turning all of my website ideas from the last three years into HTML reality. Nice work, Graham!
Good work
March 8, 2013
I love Betsy Bauer’s Google Doodle today celebrating International Women’s Day.
Bauer has only been with Google six weeks. But, as Rebecca Jarvis of CBS This Morning noted, this opportunity is typical of Google where good work trumps hierarchy.
Here is Betsy’s first Doodle posted on February 5th in honour of Mary Leakey’s 100th birthday.
And this is what she said about it on her blog:
“Today we celebrate the life and work of anthropologist/archaeologist Mary Leakey. In this Doodle, I wanted to highlight Leakey’s work in the most charming way possible. I began by focusing on her discovery of the fossilized Proconsul skull, but ultimately decided to depict a scene of her excavation of the Laetoli footprints. As a fun touch, I included her pet dalmatians, whom are often included in old photographs of Leakey.”
Such talent!
Extra! Extra!
March 2, 2013
The paper I associate with postwar Paris, chocolate brioches dipped in milky coffee, and a certain soignée presentation of self is changing its name.
The International Herald Tribune is to become The International New York Times. I suppose it makes sense. It was always the global edition of the Grey Lady. But still …
Will the new name fit on the T-shirt?
La beauté
February 17, 2013
Good design in women is a human obsession.
A phenomenon distinct from the individual.
Beauty alters rooms.
It changes behaviour
And creates a sense of urgency
In everyone.
For the woman, beauty affects how she plans her life,
Both when she has it
And when she doesn’t.
Either way, society doesn’t let her forget it.
Beautiful women who brush off its significance
Are either coy,
Or in denial.
Maybe that’s because they know attraction and violence breathe the same air.
Being on top of the pecking order comes with a different set of responsibilities and expectations.
People question when beauty is hidden away — i.e. if it stays in on a Saturday night,
Or earns a Ph.D.
Somehow, it’s abandoning its responsibilities to others
To be seen
And admired.
We chastise and sometimes dismiss women
For being obsessed over the very things we can’t take our eyes off:
Their hair, their breasts, their tiny hands,
Their brain when they express profundity through those lips and animated eyes.
Beautiful women get used to being the eye of the storm,
And are incensed when they’re not.
Finally, when the storm clouds clear
And beauty’s draw has diminished,
And when those who would have her are fading too,
Life goes on.
Still, good design in women, like our love of high-end cars and chairs,
Continues to preoccupy us.
Handing over the reins is built into the system.
Conceding gracefully is not.
Acknowledging life’s cycle is the ultimate gift you give yourself
And others.
Peace on earth,
And good will to women,
And men.
Mobile blinders
February 12, 2013
Photo by Jordan Taler with Brushes drawing by Alison Garwood-Jones
Newsstand sales of magazines and gum are both down. There’s a connection
David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, is calling it “the mobile blinder effect.” Talking to the Financial Times, he said that people waiting in line at the grocery store and the newsstand are staring at their phone screens during this key impulse purchasing window, rather than looking at the magazine racks and candy spreads. The latest reports show gum sales in the US are down by 2.7 percent (or $3.5 billion) while sales of consumer magazines dropped almost 10 percent (8.2%) in the second half of 2012.
Adding more screaming headlines to the newsstand and more flavours of gum, like Eclipse Polar Ice and Extra Dessert Delights, are not bringing readers or chewers back. In the case of the gum, the dizzying explosion of flavours over the past few years actually cannibalized sales rather than attracting new consumers. “We’ve made shopping for gum very complicated,” Casey Keller, president of the North America division of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. told The Wall Street Journal. “We have 50 different varieties of gum in a convenience store, and that’s just Wrigley.”
Gum makers, including Wrigley’s, are considering a return to the classic flavours (remember mint?) and re-marketing gum as a “concentration aid” — something that will help video game addicts, students studying for exams and other high-strung types focus on the task at hand. They also want to make the packs small enough (6 pieces per) to fit into a smart phone pocket and cheaper than the cost of downloading an iTune (i.e. less than $1). Last year, the average price of a pack of gum in the US shot up to $1.58, whereas the average download was .99¢.
Magazines are also playing with pricing, offering cheap digital downloads. Whether they can make the consumer stop and stare, or care, is the current challenge. My pal Kat Tancock put it best. Commenting on this story on D.B. Scott’s Canadian Magazines blog, she said:
“Competing in a busier space just means magazines have to prove their value rather than just taking advantage of impulse buys. Frankly, if bored shoppers are the only reason a magazine can keep going, it probably isn’t that good a magazine. Instead of trying to protect the old, dead business model, let’s work on creating great magazines that people really want to read.”
Otherwise, magazines could all come polywrapped with a pack of gum inside to help keep readers focused on the contents. I dunno, I’m chewing on it.
