December 2012
1 post
TWINKLE TUNES
I’ve made some holiday mixes for all y’all! They mostly include 2012 discoveries with a few goldy oldies thrown in. “Surrender to the Dream” may be my favourite track of the year. Solange’s “Losing You” is a stellar pop tune. If you haven’t seen the music video, do yourself a favor and watch it, even if just for the stunning South African...
November 2012
1 post
CARL WAGAN GOES TO MASSMoCA
On a rainy Thursday morning in early November, Caroline, Graham and I buckled into Carl Wagan, a 1988 VW Westfalia campervan that became a mobile project space at the hands of Shannon Gerard and her OCAD U Nano Publishing class. Since June, Carl has been a studio, library, gallery and classroom. The van has value as a fluid, physical space; however, what’s transformative and urgent about...
October 2012
1 post
FLEA FINDS
Dave found these incredible cards at the Junction Flea. I’ve never been, but mark my words, I will be at the last one of the season on Sunday October 14th! I wish I had the whole set of these West Graphic cards from, surprise, surprise, San Francisco; the tag lines are hilarious and the photos are utterly fab-u-lous. Dave gave me the “Get Over Yourself” one, but I still love it!
...
September 2012
4 posts
ANATOMY OF A GROWING SHRINE
My hand delivered copy of TAPPA, TAPPA, TAPPA, a zine project by my brilliant English friends, Amy and Jess // Empty glittery Mexican matchboxes from Courage My Love // Polaroid of Caroline and Bonnie at Grapefruit Moon after our field trip to A Nerd’s World // Collages by Caroline // Postcards from my friends Amanda and Simon // XOXO banner that Caroline bought me in New York // Jade Rude...
FEMINISM IS ABOUT LOVE
** Tavi Gevinson + Lena Dunham **
** Supercute **
Sitting down to write this, I am decidedly paralysed by the overwhelming feelings of gratitude, praise, respect, joy and community that spring forth whenever I try to describe Rookie. I don’t even know where my love for this magazine/movement/project begins. Does is start in grade school with the sleepover club that taught me...
THE EX!
I used to go to “The Ex” every summer with my dad and my little brother, until I had a bad fall in the “fun house” and cut my knee. Since my “injury” I’ve been too scared to go back … until this year. When I went to ”The EX” with my friend Claire on Labour Day weekend, I was thrilled to find that it hasn’t...
LIP SYNC MEMORIES
When I was a kid, it was ALL about clubs. You may remember my fairly recent post on the sleepover club that defined my childhood, for example. Well, what could be better than a sleepover club?! Um, LIP SYNC club — obviously!!
Every Friday morning at 8am, the middle school at Lambton Kingsway Elementary would convene for an obscene and wonderful celebration of pop music, which we somewhat...
August 2012
7 posts
SHEROES ART + MUSIC FESTIVAL // EN MASSE
These pics are from the Sheroes Music Festival, which took place during a Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington market in July. The festival was another fabulous afternoon of art and music making put on by the Whippersnapper team. The parking lot behind El Gordo Fine Foods was an explosion of creativity. A team of some of my favourite local artists (Nicholas Robbins, Alexandra...
FLY GIRLS
My last mix was all boys, so this one is all woman baby!
Some of these tunes I’ve been listening to for years, while others I only discovered recently. Either way, I’m a huge fan of all the ladies on this compilation. There’s some “rude bitches” on this mix and some bad girls drippin swagoo too! Some of these songs are about heart break, others are about breaking...
HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY
Last Monday I spent my birthday on “the island”. Honestly, what could be nicer than spending your birthday with your best friends, swimming in a lake, eating liquorice and ketchup chips, frolicking in the waves, drying in the sun and doubling on bikes? I am so, so, so very lucky that these are my friends, and this was my birthday and this is my life!
Caroline
KENNY DON'T FAKE THE FUNK
This is Kenny. I spotted him from across the street on Spadina. His ghetto blaster was resting on his shoulder (classic) as he walked down the street with some serious bounce. I literally ran after him so that I could photograph him for the blog. When I caught up to him, panting hard, I asked to take his photo and complimented him on his old skool ensemble. As we chatted, I felt like I’d...
UNDER THE SEA @ ALEXANDRA PARK POOL
This summer, Caroline and I spent every Friday at Alexandra Park pool as part of our OCAD U Student Gallery SUMMER CAMP program. These poolside days are largely indecipherable, defined by little beyond the simple joy hanging out with OCAD U friends and observing the pool’s regular cast of funny families, sun worshippers, hot hipster and teen groups. That all being said, there is one...
FLOWERS OF TORONTO, MOSTLY ROSES
Caroline
SOUND IN MOTION BEACH PARTY
Just a few days after I lamented the state of Toronto’s electronic music scene on our blog, my prayers were answered when a friend connected me to a small but growing organization called StudioFeed. StudioFeed is a Toronto music collective made up of artists, producers, DJ’s, promoters, labels, venues and anyone else who supports independent music and wants to be part of the...
July 2012
4 posts
BOM >> YYZ
Back in March, local artist-wonder Rajni Perera stopped by the OCAD U Student Gallery to drop-off Legs 2 (2012), a small, jewel-toned painting that she’d made specially for mine and Caroline’s Electric Circus exhibition project. Her use of vibrant pinks and bold patterns inspired a colour love-in, and prompted us to lament the lack of bright, rich colours our daily lives. Rajni then...
SEX ON THE BEACH
Neighbouring Queen West galleries Erin Stump Projects and Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects have unwittingly teamed up to bring us the perfect summer mix: tropical colour gradients and beautiful boys.
‘Tropical Contact High’ is an immersive, collaborative installation by Susy Oliveria and Lauren Hall. The duo has literally set the stage for this exhibition by...
BEACH TIMES
Sometimes what’s great about Toronto is the ease at which one can escape it. What’s better than jumping on to the ferry and leaving the cars, smog and streetcars behind for a day or evening on the Island? Frisbee, snacks, sand, beers, cold lake water and boats.
Caroline
NEW TRADITIONS
On Saturday, June 30, The Good headed to Whippersnapper’s New Traditions festival on Toronto Island. Our day began with a rendezvous at Dundas and Spadina, where the heat of the city was dense and loud. After darting our bikes between lines of stalled, spewing cars and riding through a string of concrete parking-lots as possible, we arrived at the ferry docks to find a...
June 2012
7 posts
PAINTING THE CITY WITH PRIDE
Toronto’s all rainbows this weekend. HAPPY PRIDE!!!
Caroline
INSPIRED BY ROOKIE // MADE AT MIDNIGHT
The pramble to the following essay is this: I’m currently completely obsessed with ROOKIE, an inspired new magazine for teenaged girls. Seriously, if you’re not checking in with them three times daily, then you don’t know what you’re missing. Tavi Gevinson of Style Rookie fame is leading an amazing team of writers, artists and editors on this project, which seeks to...
BIKE BIENNALE BONANZA
The Bike Biennale was a success! Few of our wares were actually sold, which is a shame when one considers that we’d accidentally and fortuitously coincided with the massive Trinity Bellwoods Yard Sale. That being said, we all had tons of fun, looked great and ate heaps of quality ice cream! Thank you to the brilliant Amy Pettifer for inspiring the event; and thank you to Take To The Sea,...
JUDGE THESE BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS
I’ve got a thing for vintage books, especially ones with cheesy covers, fabulous retro fonts, and irresistibly enticing tag lines like “Nothing would stand in her way - not her friends, her children, her church - not even death itself!” I started collecting these beautiful yellowed books full of romance and murder, tragedy and lust at a book market in Bangkok and...
A week from Saturday, on June 16, Caroline and I are hosting a Bike Biennale! What’s that, you ask? Well, it all began in England with my brilliant friend, Amy Pettifer. Amy and I I met as Stewards for the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2009. Soon thereafter she coordinated a Bicycle Biennale event in the UK, which was meant to be a community level, grassroots version of the...
MIX "TAPES" FOR MA' SUPA-DUPA FLY SISTAH!
For months Vanessa has been asking me to make her a hip hop mix. I’ve been into the hop for a long time now, so the task of making a single definitive mix was, well, impossible. I needed a focus, so I chose to make a three part mix of a lot of the hip hop that got me obsessed with the genre in the first place.
My love for hip hop happened early on. It was the summer of 1995 and I...
May 2012
8 posts
THE CN TOWER APPEARS IN ROOKIE
Toronto-based photographer Petra Collins’ latest photo shoot for ROOKIE (obsessed), I Know Where My Friends Are Now, is set against the city’s skyline. There are also some awesome shots taken inside of Canada’s own Dollarama. Way to represent, Petra.
Vanessa
QUEEN STREET IS DEAD
Read “this place sucks” written in the dust that’s settled on an empty storefront window in the lower level of an ugly condo development on Queen Street West. See our sticker on the left.
This past weekend, Caroline and I rolled out our first phase of our Queen Street West sticker campaign, which was sparked by the recent openings of both Loblaws and CB2 on Queen Street,...
FORTNIGHT AND HONEST ED'S
This spring, I caved and bought myself a (very expensive) Toronto-made Fortnight bra. It may seem like I’m revealing too much by writing about my underwear; but this bra is magical and I need to tell everyone about it. If I change the underlife of one woman, it’ll be worth the overexposure.
I didn’t want to make this purchase online, so I headed with resolve to Fortnight...
BALLET BOB
Ballet used to be a big part of my life. From four to seventeen, I danced two to three nights per week at the very least. I spent most of my dancing days at the Pia Bouman School of Creative Movement in Parkdale; but when I decided to get moving again, I switched it up and enrolled in a class at the National Ballet School on Jarvis Street.
My teacher, Robert McCollum, known affectionately...
NIGHT LIFE ENVY
I saw Modeselektor for the first time in Japan three years ago. My plane touched down in Osaka, a place completely foreign to me, and I commuted directly to a Radiohead concert. It was my first time seeing the band live, and so I was too distracted and impatient to give a shit about the opener, Modeselektor. My indifference was shaken as soon as the lights grew dim, the crowd began to cheer,...
MINNA GILLIGAN LOVE
With the next to nothing that’s currently in my chequing account, I’ve literally just opted to buy art instead of food; but what could feed me more than this collage wonder (above) by Melbourne based artist Minna Gilligan?! I mean, LOOK AT IT!!
I wrote a love letter to Minna this past week after having looked longingly at her collages online for months. Of course, when one writes...
GEM OF A WEEKEND
This past weekend was one of those wonderful Toronto weekends that is the stuff of blog dreams. I began Saturday morning early and ambitiously, with a jog. The grass was wet green, the dogs were out and the light was a dreamy golden blue. I boosted my endorphin high with a post-shower hit of caffeine from White Squirrel. I really think that heaven can’t be too far from sunning in Trinity...
ALL THAT GLITTERS
Brendan Geroge Ko, Blackhole II (2010-12) // Among the Fields of Crystal (2010-12)
Sandy Plotnikoff, Foils on Cinefoil (2011)
Carly Waito, Bornite (2009) // Bornite Coated Halcocite (2011)
Sam Mogelonsky and Bruno Billio, Mirrored Room With Shiny Spinning Things for Come Up To My Room (2012)
Vanessa
April 2012
10 posts
SWEET SURPRISES
Well aren’t these lil’ tear drops just the sweetest? The sprayed sentiments above are a perfect example of graffiti’s potential to surprise, delight and improve city life for everyone. I found them on my way to work, in an alleyway off McCaul street. They make me smile each time I pass them.
Caroline
THE WRITINGS ON THE WALL
I happen to like tags. In fact, I actually prefer to walk down a heavily tagged alleyway than I do a clean, sterile street. For me, graffiti is part of what living in a city is all about. It gives a city its pulse, and it’s integral to the unique character of a neighbourhood. Sure, some tags are offensive and stupid (few people like to find a big Fuck You written on their fence); but...
GOOD ARTISTS: BLOOD OF THE YOUNG // REILLY HODGSON...
Who are you? I’m Reilly Hodgson. I make pictures and I also publish books and other editions using other people’s pictures. // What is on your ipod/bookshelf? Trap music and hardcore. Zines and early 00’s screamo records. // Where do you seek inspiration? ”The wrong side of the tracks” // When did you start creating? I used to draw awful comic books and sonic the...
NEON IS HOT THIS SUMMER
In case you haven’t figured it out already, Vanessa and I are obsessed with neon. I think my infatuation for florescents probably has something to do with the fact that they were all the rage when I started to care about clothing and music circa ‘93. I blossomed into adolescence in the era of Bodyglove bathers, Jem & the Holograms, 90210, fanny packs, Skip-Its and...
WE'RE STUCK IN THE NINETIES
Tonight Caroline and I are hosting an ELECTRIC CIRCUS dance party; and so naturally we got to thinking about our golden age, the nineties. Nostalgia led us to our personal archives of nothing books and grade school agendas. Below are some memory lane highlights (!!)
Vanessa
WHAT'S OLD IS NEW AGAIN
Pictured here are two greeting cards that I’ve received recently: above is an e-valentine that Caroline crafted cleverly on Photoshop, which I love because it puts me right where I belong (next to Paul Newman); and below is an antique postcard that my friend Amanda gave me for my birthday in March. Amanda spotted this hand-coloured, embossed birthday beauty at the recent Toronto Postcard...
TWINSIES
A few weeks ago, I accompanied Caroline on her mission to Bateman’s Bicycle Company. She was considering buying a new bike; but I was only flirting with the idea myself, and I simply thought it would be fun to join her on a test ride around the neighbourhood. It was one of those balmy March days, after all. We left our bags with Robert (read: Mr. Bateman, the establishment’s super...
MAGAZINE DAZE
I know we don’t usually re-blog; but today was one of those days spent stuck between the pages of an expensive magazine, and I feel compelled to share my discoveries with the world. I picked up TANK on College Street this morning, not worrying that its cost was going to mean eating peanut butter as a meal substitute for the latter part of April. I was seduced by the spread sampled below,...
CROWNS OF LOVE
As my nearest and dearest know, I’m obsessed with Toronto (obviously), crowns (deep background), crafts (who isn’t?), florals (duh!) and Tavi Gevinson (goddess); so when Toronto-based Petra Collins posted her DIY Crown of Love project on ROOKIE this past winter, I mobilized. Caroline, Chloe, Isabel and myself spent a Saturday evening drinking hot-toddies, eating candy, listening to...
March 2012
10 posts
MORE NEON LOVE
Some photos from the opening of ELECTRIC CIRCUS: FOR THE LOVE OF NEON at the OCAD U Student Gallery. From top to bottom: The talented Brianna Lowe hanging out (very casually) next to her psychedelic, nineties inspired print, Some Call It Love (2012); another shot of Orest Tataryn’s wonderful Flowers (2012); Vivian Rosas and Kaley McKean looking lovely in front of Christine teBogt’s...
OREST TATARYN: NEON WIZARD
Caroline and I first saw Orest Tataryn’s neon work at MADE, a boutique on Dundas Street West that showcases the maker’s design objects. After working with Orest as part of Do Design, we dared to ask if he’d partner with us on a neon-themed exhibition project that we were working on for the OCAD U Student Gallery. Orest learned glass blowing and neon fabrication at OCA,...
This past couple of weeks has been all about zines! So naturally I’ve revisited my own slowly advancing, never-ending zine project, which began as an offshoot of The Sketchbook Project. Here’s the latest.
Vanessa
OCAD U ZINE FAIR
Honestly, working at the OCAD U Student Gallery may be the best job in the world. Not only do I spend every day with my bestest friend EVER, Ms. Vanessa Nicholas, but I am also meeting and working with some of this city’s finest, coolest, most artistic, kooky and talented artists and makers.
Vanessa and I spent March 1 at the 4th Annual OCAD U Zine Fair, selling copies of our...
MYSTERY FILM FROM ART MET
Speaking of mystery photos (see previous post), here’s a sample of what I found on a roll of undeveloped film that I purchased at Art Metropole in the summertime. Developing a stranger’s film is one part voyeurism and one part blind date as you are looking into another life whilst also wanting to love your new photographs. The strange thing is, these photos look like I could...
DO DESIGN 2012
Starting in the fall, Caroline and I worked in partnership with Shaun and Julie of MADE to coordinate the second annual Do Design, an alternative design showcase that places locally made furniture and objects in storefronts along Dundas Street West. The event took place in conjuction with IDS and Toronto’s design week at the end of January. Organizing over twenty five installations was a...
