In The Pines

A short film

Make sure to view in full screen for full effect.



In The Pines (Short Film) from Shep Films on Vimeo.

Jarek Puczel

An interesting look at intimate distance, with no defined lines.  "Lovers" is a painting that encapsulates intimacy as a shared action, blurring the lines between two entities.

I have been researching this line between intimacy and seperate/blurred entities, and this painting exemplifies that.

Kumi Yamashita

Kumi Yamashita uses household items such as paper and blocks to create sculptures that cast shadows. His work mainly consists of silhouette portraits of people in a gallery setting.  Some works are outdoors, giving a street art vibe.

Visit his website here.

Daughter

The song "Youth" by the band Daughter has very powerful lyrics, and something for everyone.

"We are the reckless,
We are the wild youth
Chasing visions of our futures
One day we'll reveal the truth..."

The music video is done live in a church, which makes for some very interesting acoustics.

Homemade Mushroom Soup

For a special treat, I made my roommate and I some of this creamy mushroom soup.  It didn't last more than an hour because we gobbled up the entire batch!  The recipe for this soup is deceivingly simple, but we will never buy canned mushroom soup again after seeing how easy and delicious this soup is to make.

The recipe is originally from Season With Spice, but the recipe I list has some adjustments.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Chopped Fresh Mushrooms*

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6 Cloves of Garlic (go big or go home)

2 Tbsp of Butter

2 tsp dried thyme

2 Bay leaves

1 Cup Vegetable Stock

1 Tbsp of Flour dissolved in 1 Tbsp Water

Pinch of salt

1/2 Cup Half and Half cream

1/2 Cup 2% Milk

Dash of Nutmeg 

Pepper and fresh cilantro to garnish and to taste

*You can technically use any type of mushroom for this, although I recommend using at least two varieties in this soup.  It will give the mushroom flavour more dimension than if you had only used one.  You could combine a "smokier" mushroom, like a portobello, with a "brighter" one, such as a Button mushroom.  For my soup, I selected half Shiitake mushrooms, half Button mushrooms.  The Shiitake mushrooms gave an earthy, smoky flavour, while the Button mushrooms were soft and bright in contrast.  I prefer smoky, earthy flavours while my roommate prefers lighter ones, so this was the perfect balance for us.

Method:

1.  Heat your oil and melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan, and sautée the garlic on medium heat.

2.  Add in the chopped mushrooms and spices.  Cook until the moisture evaporates from the mushrooms, and the spices begin to toast and smell great (about 5 - 10 minutes, depending on how finely you chopped the mushrooms).

3.  Add in Vegetable Broth and stir until the mixture boils.  Immediately reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add in your diluted flour so the soup thickens, and has that creamy texture.

4.  Season with Nutmeg, Salt, and Pepper, and stir in the Cream and milk.  Once the soup reaches a simmer, take it off the heat and serve it garnished with Pepper and Cilantro.

This soup would be great served with pumpernickel bread, but we just served it with parmesan toasted onto rye bread, and that was delicious as well.

Please let me know if you try this soup! 

Tokyo Police Club

This Canadian band has been a consistent favourite of mine for years now, but I somehow neglect to mention them.
Tokyo Police Club has a pretty great range of song on my favourite album theirs: Champ.  I would recommend it for it's nostalgic lyrics mixed with a quick pace.  One of my favourites off the album is "Breakneck Speed", mostly for its layering, but also for the sound of the singers voice.  He manages a grungy feel which doesn't surface too much in other songs.

Give it a listen:



"Favourite Colour" is a more a more lively interpretation of the band:




Let me know what you think of this band!

How To Be Alone

An older video, but still refreshing to see nonetheless.

Clair De Lune

Light, mesmerizing and orchestral, Flight Facilities and Christine Hoberg remix Clair De Lune in a way that makes the song seem to go on forever... In a good way.

Brunch

My roommate and I very often host meals in our apartment.  Food is something we can enjoy and share with all of our friends, and gives us all a chance to talk and catch up with each other as we enjoy the food.  This past weekend we hosted a delicious brunch with six guests in attendance.  One of the challenges we encountered was how to get the eggs out all at the same time, and hot for everybody.  We came up with the solution of baking the eggs in a muffin tray in the oven, and it worked perfectly! We cracked eggs into a greased muffin tray and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

We also made our brunch an optional pot-luck style.  Our guests contributed bagels, perogies, fruit, juices, and bacon in addition to our eggs, hash browns, apple crumble and tea.  Everybody was full and content by the end of the meal!

How do you share with your loved ones?

Sleepover

Mikky Ekko

The new single from songwriter Mikky Ekko called "Pull me Down" has a pop-feel, but is toned down with a smoother texture of music.

David Burdeny

David Burdenys' Photographic works of Antartica and Greenland are haunting.  Looming forms of icebergs look as if they were crumpled paper placed on tables, even though we know of their weight and scale.  The colours he chooses to implement are also interesting; instead of using blues and whites, he takes on a more monochromatic palette, or incorporates reds and yellows into his whites.  I've never seen winter photography like this before.

To view David's work, visit his website here.

Chris Natrop

I have been looking at artists who utilize literal shadow and light concepts in their work lately.  Chris Natrop's work catches my eye.  I would really like to visit one of his installations.  They seem so ethereal, and layered.  Or maybe I could construct a Natrop-inspired mobile over my bed...

All Photos are taken from Chris' website: http://www.chrisnatrop.com/

Maybe I Should Buy More Stuff...

A short film.

WhoMadeWho "Running Man + The Sun"

Yamantaka/ Sonic Titan

I realize it had been ages since I last posted, but no time for excuses, let's get back into it!

I was at an artist talk done by the lead singer of Yamantaka/ Sonic Titan today about her film work for their music videos.  Yamantaka/ Sonic Titan is a band that is also a collaborative art project based out of Montreal.  They create new instruments for their music, and their own story lines and installations for their band sets.  The lead singer, Ruby Kato Attwood, creates the bands music videos.  She utilizes many different film techniques to create the videos, from stop animation, live action film, and slow motion film, to drawing, painting, and installation-making.  In her presentation, she described that many of the costumes and sets used in their shows are made from found objects or very cheaply sourced materials.  However I think that their work has an almost high brow or rendered look to it, and this information from her presentation makes their work even more interesting to me.

Bandcamp:

Music Video for Hoshi Neko:


I found their work to be refreshing, fun and psychedelic.  Let me know what you think!

The Perishers

I've really been enjoying The Perishers song Nothing Like You and I.
Check it out and let me know what you think.

Coca-Cola Stage 2012

The line up for this years Coca-Cola stage at the Calgary Stampede looks great!  I am most excited about seeing Our Lady Peace, Awolnation, Seether, and Dragonette. It will also be nice to see The Trews and Mother Mother for the third and fifth time.  What parts of this line up look the best to you?

Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf's new photography series about people using the Tokyo transit system evokes the  claustrophobia in me.  I wonder how he managed to get all these close up shots without people noticing in such a crowded place.

All Photos are from Michael Wolf's website.

I Wanna Go

Summer Heart makes perfect summer sounds with their song I Wanna Go.  You can almost feel the heat waves bouncing off of you!




What is your favorite summer song?

Just One Second

What if you only had one second to show something beautiful?  This is the question Montblanc and Leo Burnett ask in their short film challenge.  Artists make a one second film encapsulating something that is beautiful to them.

Check out this compilation, Make sure you view it in full screen for full effect.:



If you only had one second to show something beautiful, what would you show?

Submissions can be sent to Montblanc One Second.