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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
Digital Media Tree this blog's archive OVVLvverk Lorna Mills: Artworks / Persona Volare / contact Sally McKay: GIFS / cv and contact |
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Whoo-hoo! Art-blogger Tyler Green has visited Toronto and deemed, thanks to a show the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario), of all places, that "Canadians are not prudes." Read all about it here.
The Monday Report, CBC's somewhat lacklustre answer to The Daily Show, nevertheless had a great spot today spoofing those sanctimonious 'no pirating' ads with average guys who work in the movie business going on about their down-to-earth jobs. Unfortunately it's not on the website. Some of the best lines:
Charlie Nesman makes bad movies.
"I make a lot of sequels."
"What kind of movies do I like? I like a movie about...a monkey...that gets special powers...and has to play a sport. That's the kind of movie I like."
"I don't know why anyone would steal a movie...unless its to avoid listening to this ad that you have to see before every single movie, and you've just paid 11 dollars and then you still have to sit and listen to me whining and telling you you're a thief, nevermind the 9 dollars you just spent on popcorn."
I don't understand why people aren't madly raving about Splinter Cell the way they did about Tomb Raider (okay there's less boobs, but is that really so important to the game?). The environments are various and interesting, the graphics are gorgeous and the gameplay is smooth and engaging. The avatar is blank enough for ease of identification, yet sexy and sleek and he moves with a nice awkward grace. When I started the level on the oil rig, the place (graphic above) took my breath away. The blowing clouds, the ominous thick black water, the moon and stars, the oil rig itself in the distance. I spent quite awhile wandering around just looking, not quite ready yet to throw myself into the action. In a similar game moment, my friend Jim Munroe told me that he often playes Grand Theft Auto just wandering around looking at stuff. I knew he did this as a video project, but didn't understand why he would stray from the tasks of the game while playing on his own. Then the other day I was in the middle of a GTA mission down by the waterfront and I noticed how nice the sky was looking. So I stopped what I was doing to watch the sunrise. It looked damn pretty, a glowing ball rising over the water, the sky turning soft shades of pink and blue, and it was well worth taking the time out. These experiences of great rendering are much more complete and intense than I ever expected in my lifetime. It's disconcerting, for an old gal like me, to find my relaxed, internal thoughts straying towards such constructed, visual environments.
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The OAAG just sent around some startling numbers about money spent on art and culture in Ontario:
Ontarians spent $8.6 billion on cultural goods and services in 2001, four times more than the $2.2 billion spent on culture in Ontario by all levels of government in 1999-2000, the most recent year available. Ontario residents spent $830 million dollars on art works and events and $170 million dollars on admissions to museums and and heritage-related activities. In terms of municipal regions, the cultural spending of Ottawa residents ranks first among 13 municipal regions in Canada ($1027 per person). In Ottawa, $80 million was spent on art works and events and $55 million on art supplies and musical instruments (as compared with $41 million on movie theatre admissions). Toronto ranks ninth in per capita consumer cultural spending among the 13 municipal regions ($731 per person). In Toronto, total cultural spending by consumers was $3.4 billion in 2001, including $350 million on art works and events and $130 million on art supplies and musical instruments.The research was done by Hill Strategies Research Inc. and pdf files of the full report are available at their website here.