Beautiful & Haunting: James Jean (Artist)

 James Jean produces some incredibly stunning paintings, full of imagination and wonder, with such skill that you're immediately immersed in his world the moment you set your eyes on them. I first fell in love with his work when I saw some graphics he had done for Prada, and at that point he hadn't made much of his personal work public as he had for commissioned pieces, but at the time his sketchbooks (which are still on his website) were enough to blow me away. James Jean took a hiatus from commissioned pieces to work on personal projects some time ago and from there blossomed a whole side of his artwork I had never seen before. His sketchbooks have a lot of figure renderings and the like, but his paintings have so much more depth and narrative that you can't help but fall in love with them. I received a copy of his book Kindling, a large book of poster pull-outs of a few of his recent works (which are currently displayed along the entire length of my apartment), and they are mind-blowing. Take a look at some of his work to see for yourself, and I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Gluttony: Saturday's Shopping Excursion for Tea and Fine Foods

These two beauties came from About Cheese on Church street (just south of Wellesley) - one of the best cheese shops in the city. The one on the left is Mapledale 7 year aged cheddar; it crumbles just right and melts amazingly in your mouth. The one on the right is a basic Gouda (soo smooth, and 50% off this month!) that has been smoked by About Cheese's neighbours, the equally-amazing Cumbrae's meat shop (if you are looking for meat in the area, only shop here). Let the Gouda rest after removing it from the fridge so that it gets a little warm and soft.

A stop in Kensington resulted in some stellar soup from one of the independent Organic grocers on Augusta. Cashew carrot ginger soup - heat and serve and love it til the last drop (and only like $3).

 Silver Star Tea from Golden Mint on Yonge at College

This tea was wonderful. It's adorable, to start. Secondly, it's delicious. It's a very light tea (a white tea, to be exact) and once it's brewed, tastes like a smooth, warm hug in your mouth (sounds lame, I know, but if you try it you will agree with me).

These are a couple concoctions from the past week or so that have made my tummy and my tongue very pleased:

 

Sweet Potato Fries (sweet potatoes baked with rosemary, olive oil, smoked paprika and some smoked salt) with my homemade Mayo (mayonnaise with dijon mustard, smoked paprika, smoked salt)

Mini Bagels from Loblaws are incredible! They're basically half as thin as a bagel and have a texture more similar to a flatbread... better for making sandwiches that won't fill me up only a third of the way through; I can actually finish this one.

  On this badboy I've got some prosciutto (ughh, love love love), alfalfa sprouts, spring mix of lettuce, tomato, aged cheddar and pear slices, and a little dijon to spice it up a wee bit. Grilled on both sides to warm it up a bit and it's a pretty amazing sandwich (ALL THE FOOD GROUPS ARE THERE TOO, MOM).

Pride: Tea/Coffee Party Preview

As I'm sure some of you are aware, it's that time of the year again: 'tis the season for my semi-annual Tea and Coffee Party! This winter it will be held on Sunday, December 19th from 1pm - 5pm (drop by anytime). If you're really serious about attending I will give you my new address. This marks the 6th annual Winter Tea/Coffee Party, and the 12th semi-annual Tea/Coffee Party... I'm getting pretty serious about bouquets, TGFOPs and boldness now. This winter's "theme" is INDIA; below is a preview.

From Nectar: Fine Teas on Wellington Street in Ottawa comes a White tea from India: Assam Silver Needle. White and Green teas from India are pretty rare, the majority of tea estates in this region produce Black teas. The leaves are slightly rolled into tubes and the flavour is very subtle, but clear and refreshing (almost like a green tea). It was interesting to watch steep because the leaves were tightly rolled when the water was first poured over top and they floated up on the surface, but as the leaves softened, the air was released and they slowly sank to the bottom of the cup one by one like a little tea ballet.

Vinyl Wednesday: Harry Belafonte At Carnegie Hall, the Complete Concert

 

This is one of my all-time favourite albums, and I was lucky enough to have found it on vinyl a couple of years ago in a little shop on Wellesley just at Yonge. It's in extremely good condition (as it should be, I threw down $19 bones for it!). The double record set comes as a full live recording from his performance at Carnegie Hall on April 19th and 20th of 1959.

The inside cover gives a great look into brief moments of the concert, in black and white photographs as well as an illustrative rendering done in purple. It starts with some recording notes on how they were able to get the recording at such a performance and with Belafonte's permission (it was actually a Benefit Concert for The New Lincoln School on April 19th and Wiltwyck School on April 20th).

I tried to pick which songs are my favourite to showcase in this post, but it's honestly too difficult since it's such a fantastic collection of songs and his live performance gives each of them such life and character. The real treat, however, is the very last recording, Matilda, in an uncut extended version... pure velvet.

Track Listing:
(Side 1)
Act I - Moods of the American Negro
Introduction
Darlin' Cora
Sylvie
Cotton Fields
John Henry
Take My Mother Home

(Side 2)
The Marching Saints

Act II - In the Caribbean
Day O
Jamaica Farewell
Man Piaba
All My Trails

(Side 3)
Mama Look a Boo Boo
Come Back Liza
Man Smart (Woman Smarter)

Act III - Round the World
Hava Nageela
Danny Boy
Merci Bon Dieu

(Side 4)
Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma
Shenandoah
Matilda


Here is a recording of Matilda I found on YouTube.... it's nothing compared to the live version on the album!!!

Lust: My Love for Short Films

Over the past few years I've found that some of the best, and most enjoyable, pieces of art and story are in the form of a short film. It's such a versatile medium that allows an artist to create something tangible, with collaboration of other artists, and costing very little compared to a feature-length film. I've posted a few of my favourites that I've been able to find, animated and live action.

Your Lucky Day from Dan on Vimeo.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Wait For Me (3 Minute Documentary) from Red Light Films on Vimeo.

Das Rad (my favourite short of all time)

Evelyn: The Cutest Little Dead Girl (kind of shitty quality, also used to love this one when I was in highschool)

Bus 44

The Black Hole

Spider from Qoob TV on Vimeo.

Envy: You Wish You Saw Billy Connolly Live

Last night my mother and her boyfriend took me to see Billy Connolly live at Massey Hall. This guy is hilarious, I really love his stand-up that I've caught on the Internet. His live show last night was also quite funny, but he has aged a bit and was basically just spewing anecdotes for two hours. However, they were incredibly funny and his interpretation of Canada (TREE-O-RAMA) really hit the nail on the head. The best part of his act was the point at which he was describing the funniest thing he had ever heard. After spending a good 10 minutes building up to the joke, he finally gets to the good part: at a talent contest, his good mate was the MC and was interviewing the contestants before they performed. One special act was comprised of a young boy and his uncle, who happened to be in a wheelchair and was missing both his legs. The MC asked the boy, "So, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to your uncle?" The boy answers, "He was a window installer for many years, and one day as he was lifting a sheet of glass to place in the frame, a gust of wind came and knocked it out of his hands, letting it crash into his lap and consequently severing his legs." The MC, trying to move on, says "Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Um, so what is it you're doing for us today?" "We're singers" "What have you called yourselves then?" The punch line: "Simon and Half-Uncle!"

 I used to only catch glimpses of the man when I was a kid on bits of TV that my dad was watching, or in some random roles in a wide variety of movies, like Boondock Saints, Muppet Treasure Island, White Oleander, the Last Samurai and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I also have to say that this man has a wonderfully quirky sense of style (definitely my kind of man)... his outfit last night consisted of a black t-shirt that was incredibly long only in the back, paired with black-and-white striped pants and what seemed to be a pair of Doc Martens with extremely high/thick soles. Hot!

 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Boondock Saints

Here is a clip from his stand-up quick a few years ago; MASTURBATION, and what to do if you get caught (not safe for work)...