MONDOmagazine

Even this cover is rad.

Miles’ Book

Transhuman #4 (of 4)
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by J.M. Ringuet
Image Comics, 2008 

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed a book called High Rollers and complained about how it was clearly not written as a serial, and that joining the book three issues late made it impossible to follow. Thankfully, I won’t have to make that complaint again with this book. Transhuman worked amazingly as a stand-alone comic and might actually be the most entertaining comic I’ve read since the start of MONDO’s Random Comics of the Week feature.

Truthfully, I shouldn’t really compare the two because they are so different: different genres, different formats, very different styles. They did have one thing in common though — colour that doesn’t know when to pull back. But that’s pretty much my only complaint about this book.

If follows along with an unnamed journalist, and you as the reader are watching the documentary he’s produced about a futuristic world where sickness and old age have been defeated by science (and possibly some super powers). The documentary follows the people who helped make world peace, or human perfection, a possibility through a series of hilarious interviews. Each member of the team — presumably the principle cast in the first three books — gets a little face time, and you get to catch up with where they are now.

For the most part, they’ve ended up as bitter and strange people — demonstrating that even when perfect, humans are still fucked up. It all comes together with an interesting ending that got a laugh out of me, and is fitting of the issue.

If you’re looking to get me something for Christmas, the first three issues of this would be a great gift. It was a delight from beginning to end — buy this comic now.

Isaac’s Book

Oh noes! Not Iron Man!

New Warriors #18
Written by Kevin Grevioux
Pencilled by Casey Jones
Marvel Comics, 2008

They’re getting really close to making a good comic out of New Warriors. I collected the first seven issues or so of this series but had to give up; you couldn’t tell who the characters were. That was partly due to poor art and character design, and partly due to poor dialogue that had all the characters sounding alike and therefore indistinguishable. That was always my biggest concern — if you can’t tell who you’re rooting for, you just don’t care.

The New Warriors were played off at the beginning of the series as a sort of guerrilla, grass-roots superhero team, spray painting their name all over like they were from Jet Grind Radio, which would be awesome except we never got to see them do any superhero-ing OR graffiti-tagging! 

Okay, enough complaining about the past — but it takes a lot to make me drop a book like I dropped this one.

So what do they do right in this issue, you ask? Glad you’re showing interest. Well, for one thing, there are far fewer characters on the team — three or four characters have already been killed off in this series, and that’s cool by me. If they could shave the team down to Night Thrasher, Wondra (formerly Jubilee), Decibel (formerly Chamber, which is awesome), and Renascence (formerly someone I don’t know; she wasn’t part of Generation X, but she was the main character at the beginning of this New Warriors series, so I like her), then that would be perfect. Wait, I think one of the other guys was Beak from Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, so he’s cool to stay too.

The art is far better, because you can actually tell what’s going on: “Oh, he dodged that laser blast. Good to know.”

The overall story is pretty fun, although the dialogue is still pretty indistinct, and most characters just hang around not saying anything. The difficulty of having so many characters is figuring out what all of them should be doing… Oh yes, I believe these high-octane superhero-types would stand around and watch a fight. That runs true to form. I am biased, because the story is about them travelling into the future, and if there’s any way to jazz up a story, it’s by using time travel.

I won’t spoil the switcheroo they pull off in this story, but I will say that before I figured out what was coming, I thought it was just very poorly written, but then it all made sense. Guess the joke was on me that time!

Don’t get me wrong, I know this has sounded pretty negative, but this comic was a big improvement over what had come out before. I still can’t really recommend getting this, but give it another ten issues of development and this’ll probably be a good book to pick up regularly.

Australia, Brazil, Japan: the big, loud countries versus the small, quiet one!

By Leo K. Moncel

Australia Bombed?

G’day mate! Shrimps on the barbie. Whatagwan? Did anyone rush out and see Australia on its Wednesday release date? I checked my calendar and Wednesday wasn’t even American Thanksgiving, so I don’t know what the excuse is for the oddball timing. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman head the cast, and their combined star power and Aussie factor tip just over Mel Gibson’s. Plot-wise all I can grasp is that it has something to do with romance, cattle, and World War II bombings. It’s all an excuse for director Baz Luhrman to create some beautiful shots and some epic atmosphere and hopefully win some dollars. We’ll see.

Go tourism!

Here in Canada we just came down from our little stab at making an epic with Passchendaele. It’s interesting to see how star power is getting Australia a big launch internationally, when I really doubt there was the same level of anticipation over our Passchendaele in Oz, if it even made it there. Paul Gross is simply a domestic star. If you think about it, the only Canadian names big enough to garner international attention and launch a huge film are Mike Meyers and Jim Carrey. If they’d work for scale, maybe we could put together an epic buddy comedy with Austin Powers and a guy who agrees to say “yes” to everything. It would be the worst movie you’d ever seen and make more than every Canadian film put together.

Japanese Movies, Free!

Don’t want something as large and broad as Australia? Looking for international cinema the way it’s meant to be — idiosyncratic? The Japan Foundation had you in mind when they decided to sponsor completely free screenings of contemporary Japanese films at the convenient Bloor Cinema. Tonight, November 28, is Shangri-La, about a newly homeless man who organizes his shantytown to enact revenge against the white-collar crooks who wronged him. Tomorrow, the 29th, what looks to be the highlight of this series — Half a Confession, about a former detective who turns himself in for the murder of his wife, claiming it was an act of euthanasia. But things get complicated when he won’t share the whole story. This film won best picture and best actor at Japan’s 2005 equivalent of the Academy awards, so it’s quite a safe bet for your zero dollars.

Brazil Film Fest Wants You!

If AluCine just got you started on Brazilian movies, go see some more! The Brazil Film Fest kicked off last night with Bossa Nova. The festival has quite a range of films from contemporary to classic, features and docs. One doc that grabbed my attention was The Xavante Strategy, about an isolated indigenous group that creates ambassadors to preserve its culture. Familiar, sure, but like the environment, cultural preservation is an ever-urgent issue. Go watch something and you just might find the next City of God. How awesome would that be, beating every one else to the next City of God? You’d have bragging rights forever.

Got a film event coming up? Anything you’ve seen lately that I should hear about? Send me an email at film(at)mondomagazine.net and we’ll get a lil’ sumthin’ written for ya.

By Diana Poulsen

There’s nothing that annoys me more than when I can’t play my MMO. I love World of Warcraft and why should anything get in the way of playing it?  I’m worse than a smoker jonesing for their next cigarette break, and twice as antsy. Doesn’t Blizz know that I have dailies to do, discoveries to make, and minor inscription research to partake in? Tuesdays are the typical server-down days and I can handle that. Tuesdays are my day to get work done without thinking about WoW. However, it’s when the server is down for extended maintenance that I need to find things to do with my newly acquired time. I’m sure all you MMO players know what I am talking about what do you do when you can’t play? First of all, breathe; it’s going to be okay, the real world doesn’t have to be boring. Here are my suggestions on how to fill your time when your MMO is down.

Watch television. Honestly, I really don’t watch much TV anymore. Which often leads me to watch any channel that has 24 hour news coverage. Avoid G4tech TV or any other gaming show, it will remind you of the MMO you are currently not playing.

Do your real life dailies. Shop for groceries, pick up that something from the convenience store, tidy up or clean out the fridge (it really could use it). Think of the change you’ll find while cleaning up as your quest reward. Killing random animals on the street will not result yield accessories or rupies, though. Just a heads up.

Play other videogames. You probably should finish one of those Final Fantasy-type games that you haven’t bothered with in months, or any other game you ditched when your started playing your precious MMO.

Read a book. Chances are, you can find one about the MMO you play. Even read something entirely unrelated to gaming. Some books are even about real life. But really why would you want to read anything that doesn’t a) help you get better at playing, or b) give you a profound and detailed understanding of the mythology of your MMO?

Go out with a friend. If you are lucky, one of your Real Life friends plays the same MMO as you, and together you can reminisce about all the raiding and questing you aren’t currently partaking in. If you are unlucky, and your real life friends don’t play an MMO, then you might have to talk about one of your other hobbies, whatever that may be. If you think your friend would be interested in your MMO, attempt to get them interested in playing by introducing them to the free trial.

Check out special events at your local arena or fairground. I’ve filled server down time with Gem and Mineral shows and library book sales. It takes the edge off and you get to see this outside world people keep telling you about. It’s satisfying to see real copper ore when you’ve virtually mined it.

Visit your local museums or art galleries. Some of these institutions will let you in for free (or a donation) and there’s nothing better than a free event. Also, art galleries do have occasional Thursday and weekend opening receptions with free food. In every respect, you win: you get to see something interesting and possibly get a free snack. Besides, you might see some cool armour or weapons similar to the ones your character uses. Overall, you’ll feel enriched.

If you have a significant other, spend time with them. Chances are you’ve neglected them and they need some form of intimacy, sexual or otherwise. This time spent with them will make them happier and complain less about the time you spent with your MMO. Tell them to bank up on these hours now, because they will be lean in the coming weeks and years. Hopefully, they’ll stop referring to themselves as an MMO widow(er) at gatherings for a short period of time.

Play another MMO. Both MMOs couldn’t be down at the same time, so this way you’ll have an option to fill your time. However, this may result in never seeing the outside world, or loss of real life friends. Also avoid getting your MMOs mixed up. You don’t want to be talking about how awesome it is being a barbarian when you’re actually a dark elf — talk about embarrassing.

Go Outside. Many of these other suggestions involved going outside, but can you  remember the last time looked the real world sky? It has no bit-mapping issues and the frame rate on the sky is always steady. It’s time for that much needed walk or visit to the park. You’ll be working towards your achievement of “real world explorer” and moving away from “real life shut in.”

Troll your guild forum. Chances are, your other members are just as bored as you are, and now you have someone to send messages to and create weird forum topics with. You’d be surprised at how many pictures of dogs in costumes exist, and it will fill your time in a humorous manner.

Get on vent. You’d be surprised at how many of your fellow guildees retreat to Ventrilo (an internet phone programme) when the server is down. You can all complain about the server together and talk about all those weird posts your started in the forums.

Eventually, the crisis will end and you will get back on your MMO without having any sort of breakdown, causing your friends or significant other to stage an intervention. If a breakdown resulting in an intervention occurs, maybe you really were spending too much time with your MMO. In that case, take this list of things to do and use it to re-engage with the real world.

Toronto Dance Theatre presents Dis/(sol/ve)r
November 18-22 at Fleck Dance Theatre

By Leandra de Valois-Franklin

Toronto Dance Theatre is currently celebrating its 40th year as one of the city’s foremost dance institutions. At its helm is the ultra-hip Christopher House, artistic director of the company since 1994 and one of Canada’s leading contemporary choreographers. House, who studied philosophy and political science before delving pointed-foot first into the dance world, is known for integrating academia into his artistic creations. His pieces are often informed by a profound curiosity about travel, science, the visual arts, cinema and literature, and he draws inspiration from subjects ranging from mythology to genetics.

In his latest work, Dis(sol/ve)r, House upholds his reputation as the country’s brainiest choreographer, merging dance and quantum physics in a complex, multi-layered work based on particle theory and probability waves. Its central theme concerns the idea of dissolving — “dissolving lovers, the moment of joy, the comfort of cruelty, rising and falling.” While the superficial structure addresses the nature of love, playing with youthful, whimsical qualities, its internal layer concerns itself with quantum theory, particularly the laws of attraction.

The energetic one-hour work centres around an unusual party setting, with five male and four female performers. Wearing suits and sepia-toned vintage-inspired silhouettes by Phillip Sparks, the stylish dancers with their Queen West haircuts sashay across the stage in unpredictable patterns suggestive of random elementary particles moving through space. Like subatomic particles themselves, it is impossible to know their momentum and position simultaneously.

The choreography ranges from kinetic, kaleidoscopic patterns of moving bodies, to chance encounters of duets as well as solos; at times witty, at times passionate, and even at times violent. A repeated gesture has two dancers about to embrace, when one becomes viscous and dissolves to the floor, leaving the other dancer grasping the air. Each dancer fully embraces their role as a subject within House’s bizarre experiment in organized chaos, despite not always being able to embrace one another.

House is known for involving multidisciplinary aspects in his work, linking film and movement, or collaborating with musicians (like the Hidden Cameras). Dis/(sol/ve)r is kept simple with a traditional relationship of movement to a prerecorded soundtrack provided by his longtime collaborator Phil Strong. The Dora award-winning composer created a bouncy, electronic score, featuring melodies and harmonies in a variety of moods, using an assortment of quirky instruments like the nyckelharpa, the harmonium and the hurdy-gurdy. Very indie indeed.

House is a major force in the Canadian dance community, having acted as resident choreographer for Toronto Dance Theatre since 1981 with a contribution of over fifty works to the company’s repertoire, as well as for other Canadian and international companies. He constantly redefines contemporary dance vocabulary, building choreographic language that is piece-specific, reinventing material that is imaginative and unpredictable. Attending a work like Dis/(sol/ve)r is not a passive experience, as themes are layered with the artistic and scientific, demanding examination on the microscopic, or in this case, subatomic level.

Amitai Marmorstein and Celine Stubel in Legoland.

Legoland
By Jacob Richmond
Directed by Jacob Richmond and Britt Small
Starring Celine Stubel and Amitai Marmorstein
Runs November 18 – December 6 @ Theatre Passe Muraille

By Jessie Davis

When political and social commentary can be made through the exploration of popular music, the results are strikingly impressive. When the commentary is made by puppeteering, interpretive dancing, gangsta rapping tweens, it’s more than impressive — it’s Legoland.

In just one act, the Lamb siblings (played by Celine Stubel and Amitai Marmorstein) take the audience along for the ride as they metamorphose from happy, home-schooled children living peacefully on a Saskatchewan hippie commune into pill-pushing, boarding-school brats who bus it to Orlando, Florida while strung out on Happy Meals TM.

Throughout the play, Penny and Ezra Lamb share unique societal observations as only children can, using dolls, action figures, and kitchen utensils to explore the superficial nature of the outside world they call “Legoland.” Expecting the towns and people from their research — Penny had read Anne of Green Gables in preparation for their trip to the outside — the Lambs are instead faced with the plasticity and vulgarity of the modern world.

Adapting to an unwelcoming environment can be a shock to the system, and imagining the hostility of the current socio-political climate is enough to make even the most strong-hearted individuals weak in the knees. Imagine then, being kept from all of this, sheltered and nurtured all of your life and then being thrust into the real world at the worst possible time: the teen years. Penny and Ezra just can’t seem to adjust; their peers label them freaks (and in Penny’s case, the class “feminazi” lesbian). Their teachers suggest psychiatric help. The psychiatrists prescribe cocktails of pills.

The only thing that keeps Penny going is her love for Johnny Moon, one-fifth of the boy band 7-Up. Her discovery and description of music as universal comforter brings you back to the moment in your formative years when that one song changed your life and made everything make sense, when you could feel the ache of every other human soul who’d ever felt the same way, the commonality of rhythm, melody and lyric.

When the band splits up and Johnny releases a gangsta rap album as “JK-47,” Penny sets off to find him, Ezra in tow, to tell him he’s making a huge mistake. Selling their prescription meds to fuel their trip, the siblings travel by Greyhound from Saskatchewan to Florida, singing and dancing their way through the story of each stop on the route and the toy inside each McMeal along the way. Fry Guy on a fire truck amuses Ezra to no end. In Texas, however, he is mystified by his junior NRA membership.

After the laughably disturbing meeting of the Lambs and JK-47, Penny explains the intensity of her passion: “love is the closest we can ever get to someone else.  It’s the closest we can ever get to being someone else.” The nature of love is multi-faceted, each shimmering corner sending blinding rays in every direction. Lovers, friends, siblings: no two people will ever love each other in exactly the same way. Penny and Ezra demonstrate this multitude of possibilities for human connection so well because of their inability to connect with others in the outside world. They must be each other’s confidant, rule-maker, nurturer, cheerleader, and voice of reason; they stand behind one another no matter what.

In all its dark humour, Legoland manages to reveal society for the surreal house of mirrors it is, and expose the absurdity of what is considered normal — all in a sing-song, vaudevillian style that bewilders and thoroughly entertains right until the very end.

Deerhunter
Microcastle
Kranky, 2008

By Bryan Hopton

Deerhunter’s third album Microcastle has been available, thanks to an extremely early leak online, for nearly half a year. I’ve had it since I first discovered this leak, and was later the recipient of a very nice promotional copy of the CD for reviewing. It was awfully nice of them to send it so far in advance, because I have listened to this album approximately 20 times, and am still at a loss for words. Even with countless reviews already hitting the Internet, and mountains of feedback piling up on message boards around the world, I’ve yet to find a suitable way to turn “Holy fucking shit, this is awesome” into a full review.

Now, it would be easy to sit there and say “Your reaction makes me think you’re some kind of Deerhunter/Bradford Cox fanboy who would give any of their releases a glowing review.” I say this because people have said this to me. However, I assure you, dear reader, that this is not the case. When Microcastle leaked, it had been barely more than a year since Cryptograms had come out, and I was already forgetting why I had loved that one so much. In addition to tiring of their second LP quickly, I will maintain to this day that Deerhunter’s debut, Turn It Up Faggot, is one of the worst albums I own. Microcastle, however, is a clear and more focused attempt to define “the Deerhunter sound” — that being hazy atmospherics, swells of guitar noise set against a pop background, and a grab-bag of vocal styles.

This music is the most straightforward and accessible that Deerhunter has released to date; it’s their first album to truly bare itself to the listener. Rather than taking their usual stabs at “indie-pop against a noise-rock backdrop”, we’re served the exact opposite: the band have made an indie-pop record that happens to dabble here and there with guitar noise and swells of feedback. The album is neither as stark and confrontational as Turn It Up Faggot, nor is it as hazy and skeletal as Cryptograms. Even comparing it to its predecessors borders on pointlessness.

Everything here feels more personal. Perhaps the departure of guitarist Colin Mee resulted in a more melancholic band, and thus a more subdued album. But, throughout its course, Microcastle plays out like some kind of murky, art-damaged, Beach Boys record (sans the sugar-sweet vocal melodies, of course). Guitarist Lockett Pundt opens things with “Agoraphobia”, in which he repeats the pleading mantra “Cover me, come for me, comfort me”; the rest of Microcastle follows suit. “Calvary Scars” tells the story of a boy’s public crucifixion; “Little Kids” equates age with dying. Deerhunter withdrew into themselves over 2008 only to emerge, baring their souls, toward the year’s end.

Ultimately, this is going to be one of the year’s most debated records. Individuals who endlessly compare it to Cryptograms will find themselves missing out on a release that is alternately emotional, skeletal, and beautiful in its frailty. Those who are quick to dismiss anything Pitchfork slaps a good review onto will be missing out on what is easily one of the year’s best indie-pop albums. And the people who simply don’t know about it need to be informed. Promptly.

Miles’ Book

Robin #180
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Freddie Williams II
DC Comics, 2008

I’ve talked about my love of Tim Drake’s Robin before. Somewhere in my mother’s house resides the first 18 or so issues of Robin. Now, 160 or so issues later, it’s hard to see that kid I loved so much.

This isn’t a horrible comic. It shows Tim in the role he should have, as a junior detective, using his smarts rather than his fists to solve problems — though he still uses his fists a lot on this issue. It’s a plot-driven issue, with Robin putting together a couple clues and trying to gather evidence. This is all good, but there is little in the way of character moments, and what is there seems a little off.

There’s a couple lines that scream, “man who hasn’t seen his teens in a long time trying to write a teenager.” For example, as Robin fights a man in the Red Robin costume, Tim thinks, “And this guys shows up, wearing a costume that ‘Jan Brady’ Robin and current butthead Jason Todd wore during some weird adventure.” For me, there are two big problems with this thought: one, nobody in their teens knows who Jan Brady is, I even kinda forgot; and two, no one has said the word “butthead” without ironic intent in at least eight years.

Williams is an artist who tends to be better at drawing action poses, but he seems to be bored during quiet scenes and will rush his art accordingly. There is also a problem with his action in that it’s all poses and there’s no fluidity between the panels. For example, during the fight with Red Robin the panels go as such:

• Panel one: karate poses
• Panel two: Red Robin has fired a gun, Robin has ducked.
• Panel three: Robin has apparently teleported across the roof next to Red Robin, and is disarming him. Teleportation is not a power that Robin has.

This might also be a case of the writer not giving the artist enough room to execute a proper fight sequence, but either way it robs the reader of any excitement.

It might seem like I totally hate this comic — I really don’t. It’s an average comic, but this character is deserving of so much more. I’ve read that they are going to cancel this series in February; I won’t be surprised if there’s a new number one in March. There’s a lot of potential here, and I hope DC knows it.

Isaac’s Book

Deadpool #4
Written by Daniel Way
Pencilled by Carlo Barberi and Paco Medina
Marvel Comics, 2008

The premise for this adventure is that Deadpool, in need of some money (aren’t we all?) gets a job from this guy Zeke (whom he hates, because Zeke is a scumbag) to kill this plastic surgeon that creates zombies out of his patients, including Zeke’s wife.

While there’s a number of pretty funny stuff in this comic, here’s what really got me: Deadpool is slinking into the community of potential zombies on his way to complete his job, when the local constabulary (really, you won’t just write police?) suddenly surround Deadpool, brandishing all manner of firearms and one guy yells out “Aim only for the body!”

Now if you actually think it through, he means aim for the body as opposed to the head; it’s the equivalent of “take the zombie alive!” But I didn’t think about that, to me it was just a man yelling the most obvious statement possible. And I find that hilarious. I will proudly be among the crowd who laughs at one of the few things not really meant as a joke.

The second thing I greatly enjoyed also takes a little explanation. The art in the book is just okay, it gets the job done, nothing to write home about, and the last five pages are done by Paco Medina, and it actually gets a bit more on the bland side. So a classic hunchback Igor-type guy shows up, suggesting that Deadpool wants the plastic surgery treatment, on account of Deadpool having that face of his (for those that don’t know, it’s disfigured). This is great since it means Deadpool is that much closer to his target, but he’s also pretty excited to see a real hunchback, so Deadpool hunches over and says to the guy “Go like this an’ say: ‘it’s pronounced , ‘Eye-Gaw””

The following panel (lacking any real expression on the hunchbacks part, again, the art, bland, remember I said that?) is just a close up on the hunchback saying “Plastic surgery will only change your outer self, you know. Inside, you will still be a horrible person.”

I found that hilarious, partly because the art was weak there.

One place the art is not weak is the cover by Jason Pearson – it’s as if Deadpool was around during the time of brown suit Wolverine over in Marvel Comics Presents (he may have been chronologically, but I’m just saying it’s a similar style to the comic series itself, particularly the stories starring Wolverine. Remember Marvel Comics Presents is an anthology book). It’s also as if Rob Liefeld were good at art. Truly, the stuff of Bizarro universes.

Deadpool is a pretty crazy guy (he sure does love his exploding chair), so excuse me if I indulge my own crazy side a bit and have a ton of fun with this comic.

This weekend, slum it, dog, with this international array plus Toronto-based titan

Slumdog an Unlikely Winner

If there’s a “dog” you want to catch this weekend, I doubt it’s Disney’s Bolt (opening today, if you do), but rather Slumdog Millionaire. The picture, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting), was released last weekend but was the “underdog” to box office Goliath Quantum of Solace. The joke made by host Jian Ghomeshi on CBC Radio’s Q earlier this week was that the only people who saw Slumdog were those who couldn’t get into Bond. This prompted guest Cameron Bailey (co-director of TIFF) to retort that if Slumdog viewers were watching their second choice, they undoubtedly had a better experience than bored Bond audiences. Moreover, added Bailey, Slumdog viewers will be feeling pretty smug during Oscar season when the film’s critical acclaim crosses over into mainstream attention.

Slumdog Millionaire got nothing but positive reviews and buzz during TIFF and ended up walking away with the much sought after People’s Choice Award. Not just that, but it was the only other picture apart from The Wrestler to grab a major distribution contract during the festival. TIFF 2008, tainted by recession fears, was widely considered a drought for big buys. Still, Fox Searchlight picked up Slumdog for wide release when the film itself had only been hoping for DVD distribution to target South Asian communities in North America and the U.K.

The story, quite loosely, revolves around an 18-year-old orphan from the Mumbai slums who ends up on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He wins a great sum of money but is promptly arrested by police who suspect him of cheating. After all, how could a street kid from a supposedly “lower caste” be so knowledgeable? A series of flashbacks into the boy’s life depict the moments he learned the information needed to answer the trivia. There’s some love and some loss. The consensus is that the film has brilliant energy and captures the atmosphere and character of the Mumbai slums remarkably. I may have to follow my advice here and watch this film. Could you tell I hadn’t seen it? I was one of the tools that Cameron Bailey was dissing.

AluCine Kicks Off

If you’re way downtown, have a look at AluCine, taking place at the National Film Board (150 John St). The AluCine Latin Media Festival kicked off its ninth year last night with an opening gala. The festival, which specializes in showcasing up-and-coming Latin American short films, is running two to three programs of shorts every day from now until Saturday, November 29th. Programs are grouped around country (Cuba, Brazil, etc.), identity (LGBT), or production mode (experimental, animated). Give it a shot, because it’s easy to fit into your schedule and it’s dirt cheap. $6 regular, $4 for students. That’s less than that plasticky sub you ate for lunch.

Documentary Titan Shatters Cinematheque

Get tickets now, because on Monday at seven, Canadian documentary legend Allan King is going to present a screening of his classic film A Married Couple at the Cinematheque. (Go early, see the new AGO, it’s incredible!) King, now 78, defied cultural rules about what was showable with his 1956 debut documentary Skid Row about homelessness and addiction. Warrendale, his 1967 doc on a treatment centre for disturbed children, has the distinction of being the most heartbreaking documentary I have ever seen. A Married Couple followed in 1969 and is another of his pioneering achievements. While ostensibly following the life of a married couple, the film raises all kinds of questions about how people behave when they are “being themselves” onscreen. King was opening up these debates three decades before reality TV tried its best to make these questions inane. This is an opportunity to see one of documentary film’s real groundbreakers in person. I say, take it.

Whatever you do this weekend, enjoy yourself. If you catch something great, let me know. If you’re hip to an upcoming film event, send me an email and I’ll write about it provided it’s not some old pervert showing smutty cartoons and bragging about how he did LSD. (Sorry, Torontonian reference only.)

What’s your film related event? Reach me at film(at)mondomagazine.net

Tolerance has its limits, and one of them is 2:30 a.m.

By Jenny Bundock

Here’s a shocker, I’m the type of person who pretty much must live alone (in quite the rad looking apartment too). But besides the occasional cat companion, and visits from friends and boyfriends, I spend much of my time solo during the week. Mostly I occupy myself working on crushing grad-school deadlines, which seem oh-so ominous these days, and reading, so I can meet those deadlines with some intelligence and poise (if I am lucky). That being said, when someone has the ability to impact my life in my home, with little or no regard for the person on the other side of the plaster, I get seriously irked.

I am not saying that I am quiet as a mouse every minute of every day, nor would I expect anyone else to be, but at 2:00 a.m. I think it’s reasonable to think people won’t spend their Sunday night kicking-it-up-a-notch when likely everyone in the seven other apartments this house is split into has a place to be tomorrow.

Take two weeks ago — I believe it was a Sunday, or possibly a Tuesday — as an example. I got in from Toronto around midnight, exhausted, and needing to get some sleep before my class the next morning. As I am brushing my teeth, I notice that I can hear the Dixie Chicks. Odd. I don’t recall even being able to hear the people in the other apartment speak or their radio before — but I assume this is a weird occurrence that has more to do with me being unobservant in the bathroom previously, than with an inconsiderate person in the next place currently. I was dead wrong. About 60 seconds later I realized that I could in fact hear the Dixie Chicks in every room of my home.

I decided, hey, you know, they are probably writing a paper or something, and listening to the radio to keep the energy level up. I can get on board with that. I will try to sleep despite my searing hatred for country music, and be a good neighbour. This is easier to plan to do than actually do, especially when you hear country covers of two to three R&B songs, and then a HANSON cover (I swear to you, I wouldn’t dare make a thing like that up). After not being able to sleep for an hour, and it now being quarter to two, I decided to give a little tap on the wall, to alert them that I was still lying awake. No response. I waited another 15 minutes, and tapped again. No dice.

After getting up, trying to find something I could take, like a Tylenol PM or drowsy anything, and returning to the bed empty handed at 2:30, I really let the wall have it. Again, not even the slightest fluctuation in volume. I was not the only one. Between 2:30 and 3:00 the person above me, and the person above them, stomped vigorously on the floor, to no avail. The fifth and final time I banged on the wall, at 3:30 a.m., they actually turned the music up! Because I guess all of us sleepers were really harshing their ability to enjoy the sweet-ass blaring radio all night.

I ended up sleeping through my 7:00 a.m. alarm, because I had only JUST fallen asleep, and missed my class. It was pretty rotten, I felt like an asshole, and probably missed a bunch of useful info, like where the Graduate Department gold is buried, or what sustainability really is — and for what? Hanson covers with twangy guitars, and a lot of guys who are really proud that they were born in the country, to their mamas, and grew up to date girls with names like Mandy, who like to drink whiskey? Good trade!

So whoever you are, in apartment 2 — consider this: I have a paper to write in a few weeks. I also LOVE Dillinger Escape Plan and judging by your taste in music, I can bet that you like them, oh, about as much as I like Toby Keith. You may not realize it but you’ve got a date with a double-kick. Don’t worry, I’ll put the speakers against your wall so you don’t miss a minute of it.

The Alpha Review

By Andrew Uys

I’ve heard that trade paperbacks — a run of comic issues collected into a graphic novel — are all the rage today. But which ones are worth your time? This column aims to put the spotlight on the spectacular trades — at least according to this writer. And just for fun, we will start with the letter “A,” and each subsequent review will follow with the next letter of the alphabet. While you might object to my taste or my opinion, I hope that this column will help save you time and money when you are next buying a trade paperback, as well as effort in alphabetizing.

Madame Mirage has a bundunkadunk

M is for Madame Mirage
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Kenneth Rocafort
Top Cow, 2008

Madame Mirage collects the six issues of the mini-series that came out over the past year.  A largely unknown book, it was a personal favourite of mine when originally published.  Unfortunately, the back issues are a little difficult to find, but the recently released TPB is a second chance to read this great comic. 

Set in a world of high-technology, corporate super-humans, and criminal organizations, it stars Madame Mirage, an illusionist set on bringing down the evil organization that robbed her of her family.  There is far more to the character than it seems as first, and both the back story and plot revelations explaining her powers are well thought-out, and wonderfully done.  Mix a great storyline with stunning pencils that convey the grittiness of the world, yet include touches of cheesecake art, and you have a great comic.

Created and written by Paul Dini, Madame Mirage is both the story of a woman bent on revenge, and a finely-layered series of plots that, as each is peeled back, make the starting premise so much more enjoyable.  Most famous for his work on the Batman and Superman Animated Series, Dini has said that the title character was inspired by his wife.  Certainly, the depth of writing reflects a deep passion for the character.  Kenneth Rocafort’s pencils are what initially drew me to the series.  Rocafort has done work for Top Cow before, penciling Hunter-Killer, and is now working on Broken Trinity.  It’s Rocafort’s pencils that make you believe in Madame Mirage’s “magic”, and the panel layouts on each page are easy to read, yet incredibly dynamic and forceful.  He also brings a little cheesecake to his women, penciling these stunningly sexy heroes and villains.  Madame Mirage works both as a book and as a character because of Rocafort’s art.

The Madame Mirage TPB collects the run in its entirety, though there are rumors of the team doing a second six-issue mini-arc.  What really makes the book work, apart from compelling characters, well-layered plots, and fantastic art, is that the story seems grounded in the “real world.”  The idea behind the heroes is that they are “created” through technology and bio-engineering, whereas the backbone of the plot is an exploration of what corporations would do if they had access to this technology.  In a way, this is our world, shunted a dozen years into the future.  The only other book I can compare it to, in this regard, is War Heroes by Mark Millar and Tony Harris.  Pick up a copy of Madame Mirage; between the story and the art, you are bound to enjoy it.

Welcome to a slightly new television section dealing exclusively with seasons past: The Seasonal Retrospective. Here you’ll find anything and everything from any station we have access to. We are particularly in love with the BBC and CBC and maybe a little bit of CBS when they’re funny and never Fox because we find them kind of repulsive. We’d be into Al Jazeera too, but they don’t typically run endearing sitcoms with well-rounded narratives.

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So Close To Postal: The Men of Said Mad Variety

Seasonal Retrospective: Mad Men, Season Two

By Jayvibha Vaidya

It’s always nice after several dull years on the dating scene to suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, meet someone who truly fascinates you. Discovering Mad Men is a bit like that. Not only is it visually stunning — the smoke-filled rooms, the dapper suits, the body-hugging dresses — it also possesses some of the most interesting, brilliant, and flawed characters currently gracing the tube.

Mad Men revolves around an enigmatic lead, Don Draper (Jon Hamm of The Sarah Silverman Show, Gilmore Girls). The show witnesses his climb to the top tier of an advertising agency in the 1960s when cocktail hour was at ten in the morning and bedding the clientele often followed the first handshake. Scraping under this shiny edifice reveals Dick Whitman, a shattered man fleeing from his past and losing control of his seemingly picture-perfect marriage, with his sanity soon to follow. Surrounding him are equally flawed, yet resilient characters, making this series consistently intense and intriguing.

Other characters like boozer Roger Sterling (John Slattery), closet-case Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt), and the requisite homophobe Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton). There’s also Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), who harbours as much interest in the approval of his superiors as he does his shotgun.

The Women and Men (both nuts, we suspect)

The female characters are equally as compelling. Complex, damaged, and attempting the perennial break from the heavy social confines that the era had to offer. One of the first scenes of the show is the confident, curvy hips of Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) sashaying through the offices of Sterling Cooper explaining the way of the office, and the world, to wide-eyed Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss). The line, “Of course, if you really make the right moves, you’ll be out in the country and won’t have to work at all,” not only sums up the mentality of the times, but also the tension between the two characters, mirroring and opposing each other’s sentiments. The bottom line is, as always, to feel valued and noticed in the world of men.

Don Draper’s blonde, Barbie-doll wife Betty starts to slowly unravel in the second season upon the discovery of Don’s infidelity. One particularly memorable scene shows her character, armed with an indiscretion of her own as revenge, calmly eating a cold piece of chicken in a dark kitchen in contemplation. One can’t help but shiver at the things people to do each other when they’ve been so scorned.

Early sixties America was in the throes of rampant civil rights violations, the rise of feminism, and had a new, young president who offered hope and change. Mad Men takes us into a microcosm of that world and shows us the lives of the people who were affected by these changes. The dichotomy of subtlety and blatant stereotypes are at once repulsive and compelling. This is excellent television. A perfect date goes from two hours to six before you know it, and these characters catch your attention and have you asking when you can see them next.

Amy Belanger

By Amy Borkwood

Amy Belanger is a multi-talented artist, working with everything from embroidery to jewellery to printmaking. She lives and works in Halifax, but you can find her work all over Toronto: necklaces at Heart On Your Sleeve, “Canadian Ragdolls” at the Souvenir Shop, or online at Toronto-based goodEGG Industries. We chatted recently about her work and practice, and what has been inspiring her lately.

MONDO: Can you tell me a bit about your background in the arts? I know you went to school at NSCAD, and the first time I saw your work was at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition this summer. Can you tell me a little more about you and your work?

Amy Belanger: Well, I could go back as far as decorating pumpkins at my birthday parties and feeling like I had an exceptional talent over my five-year-old companions.  Soon after those youthful days I was in university for environmental resource studies. I had some great experiences in high school, and after that I travelled and worked on farms. Ultimately, this changed my perspective. I became and remain interested in working as part of a community. There are thoughts that a person is educated to improve herself and therefore become a valued citizen in society; or, conversely, that she can be educated in a community- and society-oriented way to make for a better individual. Both are important. Community involves food, culture, music, and arts. This is where I thrive as an individual…and why I decided to pursue art.  I studied textiles at Sheridan College and at NSCAD University in Halifax.  I am living in Halifax particularly because there is such an active group of people working for community efforts, at the amazing farmers’ market, on independent projects, and in the scattered little galleries across town.

MONDO: I’ve seen your gorgeous hand-embroidered black-on-white pieces, and your jewellery is all over Toronto. You’ve noted that you’re now working on silkscreened posters and postcards.  Can you tell me about all these different projects? What draws you to each new medium? And how is it that you’ve got such diverse, incredible skills?

AB: I was talking with my friend Jordan MacDonald about the work he was doing in ceramics and at the time he was being secretive about his project. I said “Are you not ready to show us your work because you’re too far from finished? Are you still in the development stages?” His reply was that he tries to always be in the development stages. I like that. That’s the best way I can attempt to explain why I enjoy working with a variety of materials and subjects. They all influence the other, the last, or the next. The posters and postcards involve silkscreening images that have been compiled in my sketchbooks. While working on the embroidery pieces that you saw at the Outdoor show, I started collecting sentences or things I would hear on the street, and writing them down as a way to reactivate my mind in the midst of all the time-consuming stitching. This collection turned into something like found-word poetry, I guess. It’s still something I’m playing with — in the developing stages, so to speak. The jewellery you mentioned…are necklaces made from broken tea cups and saucers. Similarly, they started out as a diversion project, using the glass studio at Sheridan to figure out how to make the pendants, while I was in my final year studying textiles.

MONDO: Your embroidered works are just stunning — they were by far the best work I saw at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. What inspired them, and what’s the process of the work?

AB: I have had a lot of time to think about what these pieces mean to me, but I still find this a difficult question to answer. I started filling up pages of my sketchbook with lines and mark-making. This felt foreign and exciting because, although these marks are familiar, they are less distinguishable or relatable to our everyday experiences. The connection to landscapes was from looking out the window of the plane. The fields and rivers made up similar patterns. It was interesting to talk to people at the Outdoor show during this time because people, instead of having personal connections [to the work], made many references to traditional craft and art: Inuit stone carving, Maori tattoos or tribal tattoos, Japanese landscapes, Indian traditional quilting and henna to name a few. The use of line is so prevalent in traditional work. It is a different kind of expression that escapes the physical reality in some way, like matter being broken up into molecules and atoms. I also enjoyed pretending I was a Mayan weaver or visiting an African tribe. The intricacies, simplicity, and universal quality are sometimes devalued or lost in our culture. I found these works so exhausting, but at the same time they are calming and reassuring. There is more to see than what is tangible, decipherable, and right in front of us — and although it’s always in-process, this is what these pieces are about for me at the moment.

MONDO: Why textiles?  How were you originally drawn to that medium?

AB: I was working at a summer art program for kids called ArtsKool (good name) after my first year at university for environmental resource studies. I worked for my high-school art teacher, and it was her and a friend and co-worker that convinced me to check out the Craft and Design program at Sheridan College. I think there was less than a month left before fall classes started so I took the first two studios available, which were textiles and ceramics. I really had no idea what they entailed, but I fell in love with textiles immediately! The splashes of colour all over the walls in the mixing room and sinks, the patterns layered all over the drop cloths, the versatility of the material, and their origins and history.  Yes, love! Prior to this, my experience with textiles came from an interest in fashion and cultural dress. I used to make a lot of my own clothes and always enjoyed hunting through second-hand stores for interesting finds and fabrics.

MONDO: I’m really interested in your community involvement. Do you consider yourself to be part of an art community, a craft community?  How do you combine working as an individual on your own projects with being a member of a specific community?

AB: I am often so inspired by the talent and great work in this little city. A few weeks ago, there was an event called Nocturne, an evening art event. It was fantastic. These are the events that I get most excited about and would be strong in any city. There was so much collaboration: from the event organizers, the individual galleries and participating artists, to the public transportation (free — with art and music en route). Every gallery was full and just walking down the street would take you to another installation, performance, or music in the street.

My involvement thus far includes attending events and being enthusiastic and participating in local crafty fairs. I would definitely love to be more involved in these events — which might involve showing my work here in Halifax. Currently I’m bartering, silkscreening for a local artist, Michelle St. Onge, in exchange for a beautiful textile space. It’s a great opportunity and definitely makes me feel like I’m a part of this craft and art community.

MONDO: Whose work are you influenced by?  Which local (Halifax) artists are you interested in right now?

AB: These people are all fantastic: Chris Foster, Lydia K, Laura Dawe, David Harper, Picnicface (comedy team).

MONDO: Are there any other mediums you’re interested in trying out?

AB: All other mediums! I would really like to build a house (cob or straw or wood) actually!