In fashion.

Despite my often disheveled outward appearance, I’m actually a big fan of haute couture and fashion in general. I make it a point to check out Toronto Fashion Week every year (out of the country this year, sadly), and follow the New York and Paris fashion shows regularly.

All the talk out of New York Fashion Week over the past few days has been about Francisco Costa’s geometric and Cubist-inspired pieces for Calvin Klein — and rightfully so: the show featured some intriguing and boundary-pushing designs. (The photo directly to the right is my favorite design from the Calvin Klein Spring 2009 collection.)

While I loved the Calvin Klein show, the Anna Sui, Carlos Miele, Lyn Devon, and Rebecca Taylor collections all stood out as favorites for me.

I’ve got a few photos of some of my favorite designs below. I’ve taken the photos from New York Magazine, my favorite place to keep on top of the fashion world. (If anyone from NYMag is reading this and wants me to take the photos down, let me know.)

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He’s a complicated man

I feel as though I should have something deep and stirring to say about the death of Isaac Hayes. After all, his theme to Shaft remains one of my favorite movie scores of all time, and Black Moses has a regular spot on my “must-listen albums” playlist.

But I never knew Isaac Hayes. I never shared a moment with him like I did with Heath Ledger. I have no interesting stories or anecdotes to share that haven’t already been told.

What I do have is the memory of watching Shaft at the age of 12 and singing the theme song at school and having all my friends look at me in confusion. What I do have is the Black Moses album playing while I sit here and have lunch in my apartment. What I can share is this short video that commemorates the passing of a very talented, soulful man.

You see, this cat Hayes is a bad mother—
Shut your mouth!
But I’m talkin’ about Isaac Hayes.

Casting a spell.

Three separate times on the tube today, somebody asked me what I was listening to on my iPod (probably because I tend to laugh out loud).

When I explained to them that I only used my iPod to listen to podcasts, they were perplexed: who doesn’t have music on their iPod?

I don’t.

I do have a lot of podcasts, however, and because they asked me to share my playlist, here’s a quick list of what’s playing in my headphones today:

Tech: CBC Search Engine, CBC Spark, This Week in Tech, net@nite, Macbreak Weekly, commandN.

Sports: Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, Best of Mike and Mike, Football Today, Tirico and Van Pelt.

Film: mamo! *, The /Filmcast, Cinemaslave.

Culture: Do Right!, Indiefeed Performance Poetry, Mahalo Daily, NPR Pop Culture, This American Life.

Humor: Ask a Ninja, Russell Brand, You Look Nice Today.

* mamo! is my favorite podcast of all time. Seriously. If you’re just starting out with it, go back a few episodes and learn more about the dynamic between Matt and Matt — they’re great.

Do you have any favorite podcasts I’m not listening to? Let me know!

John Mayer: Growing Up?

A small observation regarding John Mayer’s lyrics and their evolution.

In his song My Stupid Mouth (released in 2001), Mayer bemoans the fact that he keeps putting his foot in his mouth:

My stupid mouth has got me in trouble — I said too much again. […] I’m never speaking up again.

In 2007, Mayer released Say, where he recommends clearing your mind and expressing yourself:

It’s better to say too much than never to say what you need to say again.

There’s an obvious nod to his previous song in that lyric. An example of John Mayer’s growing maturity as he progresses in age?

All in five lines

Because I’m a geek, I spent a good chunk of the evening reading the top rated limericks on LimerickDB. I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

First, a limerick with a political slant:

Regarding the coming election,
I have carefully weighed my selection,
Mrs. Clinton’s too old
And McCain leaves me cold,
But Obama gives me an erection.

Now, a hat tip to one of the best television shows of the 1990s:

There once was a boy from Eau Claire
Who had given his mother a scare
“I see what you’re doing,”
She said, “and you’re moving
With your auntie and uncle in Bel Air.”

And finally, perhaps one of the best limericks I have ever read:

There once was a man named Bertold
Who drank beer when the weather grew cold
As he reached for his cup…
“NEEEEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP!!!”
Oh, snap! You just got limerickrolled!

If you don’t get it, read this. And then watch the awesome video by Rick Astley.

The soundtrack to my year

They say that smart people take good ideas and reuse them to make something original of their own. In that spirit, I’m taking a fantastic blog post idea by Andy Budd and using it here on Eloquation. It’s fun. In fact, I encourage you all to do the same.

Just like Andy, “I tend to associate specific events in my life with specific songs” and there have been several events this year that have come with their own appropriate theme song. This doesn’t mean that they are my favorite songs, or that I listen to them regularly; all it does mean is that I have come to associate certain parts of my life with certain songs, and this is that list for 2007:

January: “Shut Your Eyes” by Snow Patrol
January was a weird month: I was preparing for my new gig in Europe and was also dealing with a few things on the personal front. Sometimes, I just felt like shutting my eyes and disappearing, but still wanted to be surrounded by the snow around me that kept me calm.

February: “Way Back Into Love” by Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett
The highlight of February was definitely my trip to Montreal, where I got to hang out with some of my favorite people, play in the snow, sing karaoke in a mall, and watch Music & Lyrics on Valentine’s Day.

March: “One Word” by Elliott Yamin
I’ll admit it, I was a little addicted to American Idol earlier this year. I promise I’ll do better to fight my Idol addiction in 2008, but with the WGA strike going on, it might be tough to find alternatives.

April: “French Tattoo” by The Fugitives
In April, I saw The Fugitives perform, I met a lovely French woman while I was in Brussels, and was in a very artistic mood. And I slept in a lot.

May: “Fragile Wind” by Nitin Sawhney
My grandmother was diagnosed with gastric cancer in May and subsequently spent over 14 weeks in the hospital following her surgery, reminding me just how fragile life can be, but how strong my grandmother really is.

June: “Here (In Your Arms)” by Hellogoodbye
I’m not going to say much about June, because it was a special month, and the person that made it special knows who they are and what they did. So thanks. That’s all.

July: “Extraordinary” by Mandy Moore
July was a month was my month of exploration: I tried new activities, and I actually excelled at several of them. I launched new projects, I took on new work, I lost eight pounds. I felt unstoppable.

August: “Umbrella” by Rihanna
I think I heard the words “ella ella eh eh” more than the word “hello” in August. Some things just stick in your head — and in the head of the collective consciousness — and never really become dislodged.

September: “Anyone Else But You” by The Moldy Peaches
The highlight of every September is clearly the Toronto International Film Festival. There, I had the chance to see the phenomenal film Juno — which also had a fantastic soundtrack — and make some new friends.

October: “Julia” by Taken by Trees
I traveled to Halifax in October for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and not only got to meet some of the best poets in the entire country, but had the chance to eat lobster and brave a rainstorm with an amazing friend. Thanks for letting me crash at your place!

November: “Get It On Tonite” by Montell Jordan
I had the chance to travel to Uganda with one of the nicest people I have ever met, and many an evening this month were spent partying and dancing in the Pearl of Africa.

December: “I Made A Resolution” by Sea Wolf
December is a month of resolution-making. For me, December has also been a month where I have been reevaluating a few of my career, relationship, and life choices.

So that’s my list. Funny enough, they were all easy choices except for August. I really struggled with August, mainly because I don’t remember most of it for some reason.

Not sure what the list says about me other than the fact that I love cheesy love songs. Going through this exercise was a great way to recollect some of the high points and low points of the year, and I highly recommend you all do it as well. Thanks again to Andy for the inspiration.

A wrap-up of the 2007 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word

By the time you read this, I’ll be on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic (yay for post scheduling) flying to Europe for work, but don’t hold that against me: I’ve been doing a lot of flying recently.

A few weeks ago, I flew out to Halifax, Nova Scotia in order to attend the 2007 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. Most of you are aware of the love I have for the performance poetry scene here in Toronto, so it was my distinct pleasure to accompany the two Toronto teams to Halifax in order to watch them compete in the National Slam Poetry Championship as part of the festival.

I wrote extensively on blogTO about and during the festival, so if you’re looking for some insight as to what happened out in Halifax, here are a few posts to check out:

• Poet Profile: LEVIATHAN
• Poet Profile: Truth Is…
• Poet Profile: Dwayne Morgan
• Poet Profile: Tomy Bewick
• Poet Profile: White Noise Machine
• Poet Profile: Boonaa
• CFSW07: It All Starts Tomorrow
• CFSW07: Round One
• CFSW07: Round Two
• CFSW07: The Finals

To be honest, I’m not much of a photographer and I wasn’t carrying a video camera with me, so the photos and video you see on blogTO are not of the best quality. Luckily, there were professionals at the festival who managed to grab some fantastic videos at the festival, as well as tons of poets and spectators who have uploaded a ton of photos from the festival onto Facebook. A quick FB or Google search should help you find some good stuff.

My favorite poem of the entire festival was a second-round piece by Radar from Victoria, and unTV.ca managed to grab video of the performance. Just search for Radar and CFSW when you’re at their site.

Not surprisingly, her performance garnered the largest and most enthusiastic standing ovation of the entire festival; you don’t have to agree with what she said in order to appreciate her lyrical mastery.

In case I didn’t say it already: Halifax won the National Slam Championship. And if this post piqued your interest in spoken word even just a little, drop me a line and I’ll get you connected with the people that run the slam scene in your city — and hopefully I’ll see you at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Calgary next year.

The Celebrity Persona at BCE Place

Anyone whose daily commute takes them through the BCE Place Galleria in the Financial District has undoubtedly had the opportunity to see the wonderful photo exhibition, The Celebrity Persona, presented by Ryerson University as part of Contact 2007.

Presenting digital reproductions of photos in Ryerson’s Black Star Historical Black & White Photography Collection, The Celebrity Persona showcases images of famous icons throughout history that are unmediated and natural. In a society where celebrity is ‘constructed’ through premeditated photo-ops and unquestioned airbrushing, the exhibit is refreshing in the way it captures celebrities in an unprocessed and genuine manner.

There were two things that resonated with me while experiencing the exhibit: the first, obviously, was the raw nature of the photographs. While all the photos were well-taken and professionally crafted, there was a sense of genuineness and unpretentiousness that permeated from the exhibit. Instead of standard biographical excerpts about each celebrity, the blurbs that accompanied the photos reflected the content of the photo itself and told me a bit about the personality of each of the pictured icons.

The second thing that piqued my interest was how the exhibit dealt with the concept of celebrity itself. Instead of simply putting forward photos of the Lindsay Lohans and Paris Hiltons of the time, the exhibit meshed together scientists, politicians, actors, singers, royalty, inventors, dancers, painters, and authors from various time periods over the past century. Names like Janis Joplin and Erno Rubik sat next to Ernest Hemingway and Jacques Cousteau, making the conception of celebrity one that is fluid and diverse; The Celebrity Persona not only recognizes the difficulty in identifying what exactly makes a famous person, but forces the viewer to consider the question as well.

Next time you’re heading for a quick dinner at Richtree Market Restaurant or just passing through the district to visit your bank, be sure to check out the exhibit.

The Celebrity Persona
Allen Lambert Galleria at BCE Place
181 Bay Street, Toronto
April 30 - May 25, 2007
Daily 8AM - 10PM

Judging a Paper by its Cover

A recent post on Torontoist about the The Art of Dose, where they feature a interview with former Editor-In-Chief of Dose Pema Hegan. For those of you who have been tracking my various blogs for a long time, you know how enamored I was of Dose’s design — not only their covers, but their page layouts and their graphics — and how sad I was that the print version of the newspaper had to be discontinued. I have tried to continue visiting the Dose website, but the effect is completely different: I didn’t pick up Dose everyday for the content, but for the fantastic aesthetic presence it had, a sensibility that isn’t adequately conveyed on the website.

Speaking about cover design to Torontoist editor Marc Lostracco, Hegan said:

We believed the cover was our single biggest opportunity to introduce new readers to Dose. It needed to reach out to people walking past the box, and that is hard to do with a busy front page full of stories. We thought the best approach was to focus on a single issue/idea and find a smart and visually interesting way to communicate it.

Hegan gets it right: while more and more newspapers are trying to crowd more and more stories onto their front pages, Dose realized that people’s attention spans don’t have the time to digest all that text. Instead, people want a front page that speaks to them, that speaks to the issues that are on their mind, and that appeals to their visual tastes.

Of course, great cover design needs to be backed up by great content, and that may have been the cause of Dose’s demise. One newspaper I have been following quite regularly (other than The Guardian, The Toronto Star, and The New York Times, of course) has been the The Independent out in the UK. Ever since they ran that absolutely stunning infographic about a Middle East ceasefire last year, I’ve been completely enthralled by the way they present cutting news and pressing information on their front pages. Unlike Dose, however, The Independent has done a great job of marrying fantastic design with insightful content inside the newspaper. While it may not have the journalistic cachet as a paper like The Guardian, for example, The Independent still stands out as a premier newspaper available in the United Kingdom because of the issues it addresses, but mainly because of of the way it stands out in the newsstands by its design.

I’ve written about cover design before on this weblog, but most of my insight on the topic has been limited to the crafting of book covers. While I will admit that good cover design might be a bit more important for books which don’t have serial subscribers in order to buoy their sales, it is undeniable that periodicals need to embrace the importance of front page design in a world where people don’t have time to examine before they make the decision to purchase. Malcolm Gladwell said it in Blink, and he was absolutely correct: the decision to pick up that newspaper or that magazine is made in your first glance. And while it is clear that some publishers realize this and put the necessary resources into styling their covers, I have yet to see any kind of periodical achieve the kind of brilliance that George Lois created for Esquire in the 1960s.

I put a quick message up on Twitter yesterday asking for suggestions of other newspapers that have great cover design, and here’s a quick list of a few that were recommended to me: Chicago Sun-Times, Hamilton Spectator, Houston Chronicle, Publico Lisboa and Rocky Mountain News. I haven’t been following all those papers regularly, so I can’t vouch for their quality, but if you’re interested in seeing what kinds of newspapers my Twitter friends like to read, check out their websites or search for them at the Newseum.

And of course, you can’t forget the excellent sites Newsdesigner and Best Front Design. They say everything I’ve said here with examples, every day.

A Constructed Image of Toronto

blogTO is a media partner of the Contact Photography Festival this year, and will be featuring exclusive coverage of the festival on the blogTO @ Contact 2007 page. In addition, they are hosting a Flickr gallery where members can show their “Constructed Image of Toronto.”

Along with the online presence, blogTO has also organized an exhibit at Brassai for the whole month of May, featuring some of the best photobloggers in the city. The opening party for the exhibit at Brassai will be held in conjunction with the opening reception for the festival this Friday night. I definitely hope to see many of you there.

Also, if some of you may have noticed, that’s a photo of mine there in the promotional postcard above!