Author Archive

Everyone has their classic routes. You might walk up and down 17th Ave each day on the way to work. When you want that change of scenery, you’ll take 16th or Cameron Ave instead, but eventually even that gets played out. To really switch it up, try taking the alley. There are all kinds of goodies in there, like this life size Robin Williams “Good Morning Vietnam!” display, east of 10th St in Kensington. It’s been there for years and it’s guaranteed to brighten your trek no matter where you’re heading.

High res desktop HERE

A classic Clive Friend photo of my favorite city. From “CANADA FROM THE AIR”.

hi-res HERE

A few words with Brittany Baxter, co-producer (along with Josephine Anderson) about “The Sticking Place”, the first Calgary-based interactive documentary.

Trailer at www.thestickingplacefilm.ca/kickstarter

CIA: Let us begin… Three sentences, “The Sticking Place”, go…

Brittany Baxter: It’s an online interactive documentary experience about the journey of Calgary-based wrestler, Leah Callahan as she tries to make it onto the 2012 Canadian Olympic team. We started following her story after she lost at Nationals last March in a really close match to the 10 time National champ, Ohenewa Akuffo. Leah’s had the last 8 months to prepare to face this same wrestler at the upcoming Olympic Qualifiers, which are one week away!

CIA: Would this make it the first-ever interactive doc based out of Calgary?

BB: Yes – It’s def the first interactive doc of this kind to come out of Calgs – Very cool new way of telling stories and bringing together a ton of awesome media formats (animation, video VHS home videos, motion graphics, audio, soundscape, collages…) Also, it’s really not so much a sports story but rather a story about what it means to have an all-consuming passion and to follow it – the kinds of sacrifices you have to make, the kind of support system you need to have, the kind of will power that it takes to keep on doing it even when you hate it.

The site will be flash based, which makes it possible for us to  be really creative with how we present the video/audio- viewers can have a lot of fun clicking around the site, activating hidden cues that will pop open videos, audio clips, etc. and allow every user’s experience to be unique.

CIA: A video game/documentary? Sounds like a candy bar with veggies in it, Calgary veggies.

BB: Hahaha. Well who doesn’t like reading another person’s journal or peeking through their email inbox? Or seeing a personal video message from an old best friend, it’s a very voyeuristic experience.

CIA: Journal entries? Anything juicy?

BB: Hmmmm… Don’t want to give away the juicy details… So many juicy juicy details…

CIA: We don’t have to worry about spoiler alerts here because this is still in the works, when will “The Sticking Place” launch?

BB: We are hoping to launch it in June/July around the time that Olympic hype is reving up and everyone who is cool wants to experience it in a different kind of way instead of through the eyes of CBC, etc.

This will be a really amazing way to get into the head and heart of what life is actually like for an Olympic athlete – it’s like tweeting with Ashton Kutcher.

CIA: This is also a Calgary-first from a funding stand point. The first Calgary related project to be seen on Kickstarter, pre-tell.

BB: A quick google search has told me that this won’t be the first Calgarian Kickstarter-funded project, but it will be the coolest. It’s hard to get on Kickstarter. First you have to have a great proj, then you have to have an American resident who is willing to vouch for the proj. We were lucky enough to have both.

Crowdfunding is an awesome grassroots way to get industry classified “niche” projects up and off the ground running. You can directly engage the people who will be watching your project, invite them to actually invest in the project to make it happen and bring them along with you for the whole journey, start to finish.

CIA: If our CIA readers want to see a sneak peek of Calgary’s first interactive documentary, where do they go?

BB: They head the hell over to our kickstarter page www.thestickingplacefilm.ca/kickstarter. We also have a blog where we have been telling all and facebook + twitter of course.

CIA: Before we cut over to the clip do you want to set it up (à la late night show guest)?

BB: Which clip are we cutting over to?

CIA: This is getting too “late show”, the guest doesn’t know the clip? Classic. The one on the Kickstarter page…

BB: Haha, well there are three. The first one you will see is a glimpse into the silly minds of the filmmakers- get ready to see double? It’s three minutes long, so if people want only a shorter hit, then they can scroll to suplex and get some shivers. They can also scroll to portrait and feel the epic passion of what it’s like to be Leah.

CIA: Before we close, an interactive doc… How do you premier it? Maybe at one of Calgary’s internet cafes? Bevs? Red carpet? 100kbps?

BB: Hahaha. That would be awesome. This is just a crazy dream at this point but we were thinking of trying to get a dual meet organized- the most exciting wrestling to watch, and have a big like, um, boxing night (what are they called at Casinos when its a really big deal and all the rich people go to see the fight, even the casino owners?) something like that, sell tickets, have the website set up at a few different computers while the meet is going on, something high energy, something Monster might sponsor, hint hint.

CIA: Or a Calgary based energy drink… Beano?

One Liner: a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter.

We had a few words with artist and curator Austin Taylor during the setup for “The One-Liner” show.

HERE’S A BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO
watch?v=b8EUg-zRyQg

The show is ONE NIGHT ONLY on
Thursday October 27th 2011 7:30 to 11:00
Art Spot, 1040 14TH AVE SW

Next time you’re in kensington, walking up 10th street, take a dip off the beaten path and check out this huge bird village. 8th street and 1st avenue NW. Just a couple of blocks away from your go-to side walk. Check this side-street gem the next time you’re in K-town for a coffee.

It’s time for scarfs, beanies, sweaters and, as usual, nice bikes.

Check out Calgary’s new bike fashion blog calgarycyclechic.com

Get kitted and outfitted for your next ride, make sure your bike is looking fresh and check the site out to see if you’ve made the cut.

Starting this Friday, there will be a week of bike events here in Calgary.

The online calender at cyclepalooza.ca allows anyone to host an event or browse though to see which ones they’d like to attend. Events range from ICE CREAM RIDES to BIKE PROMS, SCULPTURE TOURS to BICYCLE WATER FIGHTS and FULL MOON RIDES to NERD RACES, the list goes on.

The events will run from June 17 – June 26.

Squeeze in a ride or an event during your Sled Island shows.

Check the calender frequently, people are adding new events daily . Add yours, who’s hosting the Tour De (pizza) Slice?

Portland’s doing it. Vancouver too. Edmonton, ya they’re down.

Who wouldn’t be hyped on a bike week, FULL of biking events.

Bikeapalooza is Calgary’s first week long, bike event extravaganza. All citizens and visitors are invited to join by organizing and participating in bike events.

Take a look at what Portland’s doing,

www.shift2bikes.org/cal/viewpp2009.php

Calgary’s Bikeapalooza events could range from “Bicycle Tea Dances” to “Bunny Hop Contests” to “Tall Bike Builders Workshops” to “Late Night Neighborhood Cruises” or come check out the Calgary’s premier of “The Bike Heist“, it’s up to you.

I’m thinking I might host a “Bicycle Double Tour”. Dust off your pegs!

Bikeapalooza is penciled in for late June, the 19-26.

Come to the meeting to brainstorm events and post onto the schedule and meet some Bikeapalooza enthusiasts.

The meeting is at BikeBike (1501 17 Avenue Southwest), Thursday February 3rd at 630pm.

More info at the BikeBike blog post and the Bikapalooza facebook page.

The 25th Anniversary High Performance Rodeo is happening through the month the January.

The Brian Eno Illustrated Talk on Thursday was amazing.

There will be much more awesomeness throughout the month including L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres Performs Tom Waits from January 20 – 22 at Theatre Junction Grand.

Go to the High Performance Rodeo calender and check out the other events this month.

Truely a chunk of film history here in Calgary. This is the very spot (bar on the left) that John Candy assisted Doug E. Doug with his chin-ups in the 1993 classic Cool Runnings.

Feel free to take them for a test drive or stare at them in awe.

They’re still set up downtown at BJ’s Gym (602 7 Avenue SE).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy-M9JV_gdI&feature=related (2:02)