My Feature for Broken Pencil #45 now online here:
http://www.brokenpencil.com/view.php?id=3480
Agree or disagree, I'm fine either way, have a little tizzy if you like, use regional weapons of choice, a slice of 99 cent pizza if need be. I'll watch and maybe grab the crust when you are done.
There are things I am missing about Vancouver. My dear friends that remain, of course, the amazing food: I can't find a panini as good as at La Grotta, noodles as good as at Legendary Noodle, sushi sushi sushi (one good thing about TO is they have Health Board signs posted in all of the restaurant windows, many of their sushi spots say "Conditional Pass" uh oh, sushi with a condition- a condition of the heart?), and amazing coffee especially at Continental Coffee.
I thought that TO might've been slow on trends- even in some art scenes as I've seen art that had some silly faux witchy obsessions with feathers, wood, and crystals all twined together in some post-teen ritual and Royal Art Lodge rip-off knock-offs (here's an idea, give those actual former and present Art Lodgers some money, they need it more)and also blurry party pics of naked girls stumbling around with tattooed bearded guys (man, I thought that look went out in 1996)puking into each others' mouths. However I saw a recent show of Vancouver-based art that showed all of those exact same things.
Toronto is a nice looking city but I find it, err, sexually Conservative. Not as in elected officials but vibe, overall vibe, all pants are zipped to the neck (a new fashion style I cannot literally get into).
My Vancouver pals tell me things are pretty quiet there. I thought the world was watching! I won't be going back soon. But, yeah, there are things I miss. Hope you enjoy the article.
8 comments:
Oh man, I feel this Vancouver/Toronto back-and-forth thing too... it's a toughie. But lately I feel like Toronto has more potential, maybe because of the fact that it's slow on trends - like if you're quick you can sneak in something new before a trend gets here and take it in a whole new direction, and that's kind of exciting. Someday I will think of an example to illustrate this point!
When one is in the thick of something it can be hard to tell. Trying to reflect, I realise that maybe so, perhaps TO does have more opportunities, I do feel closer to things.
An example would be good.
For trends I can only observe and comment on them, I usually just do my own thing and maybe it'll catch on. Sometimes, if it does it can actually be more of a drag than if it doesn't.
Oh Erin, by the way, you are in the fashion industry so trends of course are an important part buuuut I went to a terrible fashion show the other night and I saw some horrifyingly dated urban styles, tacky and banal. Your store was so NOT that, I think that always maintaining a modicum of tastefulness will make one be ahead of the curve!
Aww thanks Robert! I need to hear more about this fashion show, sounds hilarious/terrible (hilarrible?)...
Okey dokes, buuuut ya gotta gimme that promised Example...
The fashion show was full of self-important people which is understood, I've been at events where I been intimately involved in where I felt 'self-important.' Less so now for me tho, but-as an aside- I walked into a spot last nite and the self-defense social mechanism feathers flew up and I put on a bit of a front until I could suss things out and get comfy, the guard left after two minutes when I greeted a coupla folks and smiled and saw it was not a hostile environment: is this an instinctive trait? It wanes the longer I stay in this burg and simultaneously mellow.
Hmm. Anyways.
The fashion show.
It was in a bar called The Lobby. A terrible name for a bar because it implies that you are waiting there for something better. The style was banal yet tacky urban dresses. Dresses with bad backstraps and the like, some caterpillar hoodie dress, clunky shades...
In the audience were Canada's answer to John Legend, Canada's answer to mall-culture Kanye, a fedora, and a plastic surgery disaster. The models strutted on the bartop.
It's totally Toronto's fault if you don't make it in this city.
I say this with bitter sarcasm. Tell your friends.
No no. It's not Toronto's fault. It's Canada's.
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