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Wintermitts live Friday June 1st on Let Them Eat Cake and With Gay Abandon

Join Beansie (Let Them Eat Cake) and Julie (With Gay Abandon) Friday June 1st from 12:00 until 2:00pm for a special joint episode!

They will be joined by Vancouver's own Wintermitts as they promote their new album "Océans" for a live performance and interview. They sing in French and English. They rock out on trumpets and accordions. They waltz when they need to and they’re as absorbing (and comforting!) as you’d hope a winter mitten would be. This is a Friday you don't want to miss!

Wintermitts - Bar L'Absynthe, Saturday, June 2nd at 10:00pm.

May 30th, 2012

Read by: Sarah Deshais

Stories by: Sarah Deshais, Jamie-Lee Gordon, Carlo Spiridigliozzi and Alyssa Tremblay

Produced by: Jamie-Lee Gordon

Human parts in mail from same origin

Two human body parts mailed to different address in Ottawa on Tuesday were from the same point of origin.

According to CBC News the body parts in question were a foot sent to Conservative headquarters and a hand found at a Canada Post terminal.

Police are investigating to determine whether the parts belong to the same person or two different people. Major Crimes Staff Sergeant Bruce Pirt said that it’s possible it was sent as a gruesome message to the party.

It was also believed that this incident in Ottawa was connected to a case in Montreal where police found a human torso in a pile of garbage. They later confirmed the two cases are not related.

Franke James: Environmental Artist

Happy to announce that this Friday, June 1, at 9:20 I'll be interviewing Franke James, a unique and exciting voice in Canadian environmentalism. Franke combines her artwork, with photography and science to create visual essays that illustrate important environmental and social issues. The science in her visual essays is well-researched, the photographs can be devestating and the artwork... cheeky, spirited and fun!

All that is just part of what makes her essays an uplifting experience. These are tough subjects and in someone else's hands this could be a polemic or worse, depressing. However, her  simple, straight-foward story-telling style makes these visual essays rise above the tendentious.

All together, this allows her to tie complex issues together and weave a narrative that can be understood and appreciated by all as in her most recent essay, "What Is Harper Afraid Of?" Wherein she presents the issues related to the Alberta tar-sands, the proposed Enbridge pipeline that threatens a way of life for Canada's indigenous peoples and the eco-systems of the B.C. rainforest and coastline all for the benefit of foreign oil interests and the ideologues now in charge in Ottawa.

Ms. James' credits are long and they include being blacklisted by the democratically challenged Tories: She is also the author of two award-winning books, 'Bothered By My Green Conscience' and 'Dear Office-Politics.'  So go over to her site and get inspired; check out her 17 visual essays and pass them along to your friends, and don't forget to tune in Friday and try not to be surprised when you come away feeling more optimistic about all these issues than you did going in. The story of he blacklisting is below and a terrifc example of her storytelling. Cheers!

May 28th, 2012

Read by: Aisha Samu

Stories by: Audrey Folliot, Aisha Samu, Niki Mohrdar and Gregory Wilson

Produced by: Carlo Spiridigliozzi

Talks stall in CP railway negotiations, back-to-work legislation looming

CP 9595 CN 2238 Roberts Bank BC 2006_0422Canadian pacific railway strikers are facing back to work legislation after talks between the union and CP rail broke down Sunday.

According to the CBC, both sides rejected a proposal made by a government-appointed arbitrator after initially accepting the settlement.

While Labour Minister Lisa Raitt would rather the two sides come to a deal on their own, she is ready to propose back to work legislation.

The impending back to work legislation was announced after members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference walked off the job on May 23.

The chief negotiator for the TCRC stated that CP is stalling because it knows that the back to work law is coming. He further stated that CP’s actions are in bad faith.

The strike could hurt Canada’s economic recovery, with Raitt stating that the stoppage has already cost the Canadian economy over $540 million each week it goes on.

These and other labour issues are expected to be the main topics of discussion in the House of Commons when it resumes Monday.

Quebec students and government to resume talks

Les étudiants en politique / The student in politicsNegotiations between student leaders and the provincial government will resume Monday, as confirmed by Quebec’s university student federation.

Nightly protests have been flooding the streets for the past thirty three days.

Talks between students and the government broke off a month ago, which is what initiated these protests.

Martine Desjardins, the FEUQ president, told CBC News on Sunday that there have been indications the government is ready to compromise on the tuition hike.

Confirmation of the new round of negotations came on the same day as Quebec’s famed festival season officially kicked off.

Many have significant concerns over the impact of the protests on tourism in Montreal.

There have been some mentions on social media about possible student action at some of the events.

But the FEUQ said festival organizers won’t have to worry about major disruptions from their group.

The province’s other two main student groups representing college students and student associations haven’t commented on their plans for the summer.

But even if a resolution is reached between the students and the government, it will take some time for Montreal to rebuild its image because of the media attention the protests are receiving outside Quebec.

U.N. Security Council meets to discuss Syrian massacre

مجزرة تفتناز Taftanaz Massacre

According to the Montreal Gazette, the U.N. Security Council met on Sunday after their six-week-old plan to cease violence in the Syrian town of Houla failed when at least 108 people were killed.

The Syrian government and rebels are blaming each other for this tragedy.

Images of limp, lifeless and bloodied bodies have now spread internationally, trigging shock and outrage. Both Western and Arabic states blame the government for these deaths.

However, Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alexander Pankin does not believe suggestions that the government was behind the massacre, saying that most victims were killed with knives or shot at a point-blank range.

Mark Lyall Grant, British Ambassador, disagrees. Grants believes that it is quite clear that the massacre was caused by heavy bombardment by government artillery and tanks.

Russia as well as China do no agree with the Security Councils resolutions and have asked for tougher action towards the ongoing violence in Syria.

Security Council diplomats hope to reach a conclusion as to who the massacre was caused by, although Russia and the Western powers are at a complete disagreement.

Head of the U.N. observer mission, General Robert Mood, has stated that he has spent all of Saturday and Sunday collecting information on the events of the massacre to finally reach a conclusion.

The use of artillery, which is only accessible by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, has been confirmed by Mood.

However, Mood did not say how all the victims died. 

Flickr photo by: FreedomHouse

MoCCAfest: Day Two

On Sunday we woke up raring to go. When we got to the fest, I set to accruing interviews and tackling the middle rows. The sheer amount of talent and product was almost off-putting. Not only was it awesome comic overload, but practising the self discipline to not buy was hard. “Oh gosh, this is really good. I love it, but I really can't spend anymore money. Do you have a card... ok, I must own this, where is the nearest bank machine?” I had this conversation with myself at least four times (And yes, now that I am back, I've been living on Kraft Dinner for the past week. Damn you comics! Soon I will live in a van, made out of comics, down by the river.) Anyways there were so many things that I purchased on Sunday I figure the best way to present them is to organize them into themes.

So the first category was one I was trying to avoid all con but found myself unable to abstain from: the cute girl comics. I don't know if it's because of Scott Pilgrim, or just that more girls are doing comics, or that the European style is starting to look a little manga-ish, but there is a glut of these things. Sophie Goldstein did these adorable mini comics, one about a dopey owl and the other about Wally the Waffle Iron. Ellen T. Crenshaw introduced me to the hourly comic (for those auto-bio comics that don't go into enough of the artists life minutia). The hourly comic theme was continued in Lucy Knisley's book Make Yourself Happy. Lucy has a super clean, almost animated art style that's real tight, sorta Herge-ish, but the content of the book was typical. Sometimes I wonder if auto-bio comics have taken over for traditional letters, mostly because Make Yourself Happy felt like an update from a long lost cousin in Kazakhstan who doesn't have the internet. The highlight for me, though, was the comic recipes in the back. There was one for Chai tea (my fave!) and one for pickling pickles. I know I can easily get these recipes online, but somehow I'd rather follow along in Lucy's book. I think she's onto something and I hope she does more. The last of the cute girl comics that I bought was Liz Prince's Alone Forever. Initially I resisted Ms Prince's work as it always seemed like a Jeffery Brown knock off (an artist whose work I don't really enjoy), but after reading Alone Forever, it's my favourite of the cute girl comic crew. Prince has a definite charm to her drawing and writing. I certainly found Prince's trials and tribulations easier to relate to than Knisley’s. While both have this indie/hipster/bohemian/nerd vibe, Knisley comes across as one of those put together chicks up in the Plateau, where as I know Prince would reside in my hood, Parc Ex. Knisley's book was an enjoyable read, but Prince's made me laugh out loud many a time. You can now consider me one of the Prince legion.

The second category I call the Super Glossies. Again, there were so many of these, I had no idea who to choose from. My theory is that you have all these kids getting out of cartooning school and, colour being cheaper these days, they really feel the need to dazzle you with not only their style but the whole package, too. So the first full colour, high-end paper stock books I bought were two by John Seven and Jana Christy. John writes, Jana illustrates and magic happens. Initially I was taken in with their Happy Punk Paper Doll set. Done in full retro-looking water colour with such whimsy and excellent fashion sense, it was a total must have. But there was another book on the table, Dog & Cat. Oh brother, enough with the cute animal comics, thought I. But I read the first page, and that one gag alone made me burst out laughing. Seven's sly humour had caught me. Dog and Cat are sitting at a table playing cards. D: Let’s go somewhere different on our walk. C: How about Japan? D: Let me rephrase the question. Sly and sold! In the fall of this year they are releasing three kids books, and the one I'm really looking forward to is A Rule is to Break: A Child's Guide to Anarchy. Speaking of cute animals, Doreen M Marts has really cornered the market on that. Her Animal Shorts sketchbook looks ready for the Golden Book treatment. It's fully coloured with the kind of colours kids gravitate too, and full of cute bunnies, bears and Mart's dog Baxter Blue Cheese. I was sort of flummoxed as to why Marts was there. I mean, she could be one of the top children's book illustrators, yeah, her art is that good. I demand that Marts start working on a book about the sweetest pirate to sail the high seas, Captain Baxter Blue Cheese. I bequeath that idea to you Ms Marts, now get to work, your fans are waiting (although a book about Baxter on twitter works too, I guess). The last of the amazing glossies that we should all be watching on Nickelodeon already was a tasty tour de force called Tiny Kitten Teeth. Illustrated by Becky Dreistat and written by Frank Gibson, there are no words to describe how awesome this book is. If Mary Blair and John Kricfalusi had a love child that could draw, you would have Tiny Kitten Teeth. All I'm going to say is look at the art below and tell me I'm wrong.

The last category is what my eyes were really peeled for throughout the con: comics that challenge, comics that do something new and innovative. Two comics that just blew me away were, interestingly enough, both done by women. When I saw Susie Oh's book Roots, my jaw dropped and I had to buy more. Roots is images juxtaposed with text so it's not really a comic, but I treasure it none the less. The story is about a girl whose father is the keeper of all nature. The girl becomes jealous of her father’s occupation with his work and tears every plant and shoot up. The result of her destructive tantrum is the death of her father. It's haunting in words but also with images. Done in a heavy ink with a style reminiscent of bible illustrations of the 70's, Roots is a gorgeous work of art. The other book of Oh's I bought was called Dryads and it was more of a sketchbook with a poem on vellum in the middle of the book, yet it was just as gripping. Oh, Oh, you dazzle me so. The other artist didn't even have a table at the fest. She was just wandering around handing out copies and I managed to catch a glimpse as she handed one off to Tom Devlin of Drawn & Quarterly. I literally had to chase after and pounce on Keren Katz to see her work. The book was called Before the Dark Gate. The melange of images made it hard to tell where one story ended and the other began, but her artistic chaos just made it even more appealing. Done all in pencil crayon and pencil, you would think it would come across as garish, but not so. There is so much detail and so much to see, its a joy for your eyes to travel the page. There is no panel structure and perspective is totally wonky, faces appear grotesque, but the cornucopia of images oozes life and makes Katz's book an absolute pleasure to look at.

Some miscellaneous things that have no category: Mo Willems was there! He's the creator behind the animated series Sheep in the City. I'm familiar with him because I read his book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus twice a week at work. He was there doing sketches and I couldn't resist; finally something the ladies at work would actually be impressed by. Alisa Stern was also there selling these adorable teeny tiny robots. They were made out of clay, sculpey and wire, and were super retro cool. Lastly, while chilling at the table with friends, Yen Yen Woo introduced herself to us. Woo has created an interactive, online comic that can also teach you Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Entitled Dim Sum Warriors, it's about the growing discord amongst four dim sum clans. (Fried Kung Academy, Baked Kung Sisterhood, etc. You get the idea). It's for all ages and I was really excited about the language learning component. This is literally an audio, visual, cerebral, touchable, interact-able and readable comic. The future is here now, baby.

There were also panels all throughout Sunday, like Graphic Novels for Young Adults with Derek Kirk Kim, Raina Telgemier and others; and Memoir Comics with Peter Kuper, Derf and others. Outsider musician Daniel Johnston was being interviewed because his first graphic novel, Space Ducks, has come out. There were also panels on the French comic book scene and the UK comic book scene. All in all, an informative series throughout the weekend.

Lastly, one of the great things about festivals of this calibre is that many of the publishers are premiering books or have giant glossy catalogues full of comics to come. Leela Corman debuted her new book, Unterzakhn. Jessica Abel has a new book coming out in 2013 called Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars. Abrams Comic Arts were giving away hefty previews of The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song. Written by Frank M. Young and illustrated by David Lasky, it's all about June Carter Cash's family pedigree, which turns out to be American Folk/Country music royalty. The NBM catalogue was an absolute drool-fest, with way too many new comics I want/need to mention. Pantheon was handing out cool nihilistic looking Archie buttons to promote the next Charles Burns book, book 2 of X'ed Out. Idiots Books was a publishing company I had never heard of, but they were savvy enough to offer a subscription to get six books a year. All illustrated by Robbi Behr and written by Matthew Swanson, these books look very appealing in their variety. They made me think of Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children.

A fun time was had by all and I still have a pile of comics I haven't finished reading. I obtained other neat things like toys, magnets, bookmarks and posters with stellar art that I could tell you all about, but really, the best thing to do is just go. New York is not so far; take the Magic Bus, get a room on the Upper West side at the Jazz Hostel and you are aces. I know comics have become quite popular and glitzy these days, but there is still a bastion of believers that are doing their best to create beautiful works of art, accompanied by excellent storytelling. It is not to be missed. Walking back to our hotel, I snagged a poster taped to a pole: Les Thugs, a new comic posted every Wednesday. We were far from the Armouries, but we were still feeling the graphic art love.

-Robin F hosts the Onomatopoeia Show every Sunday from 3-4pm

News May 25th 2012

Read and Produced by Erica Bridgeman

Stories written by Carlo Spiridigliozzi and Danny Aubry

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