Posts tagged with Canada
November 17, 2009 | New Food and Packaging | by Caitlin Zaino |
Throw out that notion of kitschy maple syrup bottles shaped as log cabins. Canadians now have Drip: a fresh, simple design that was handled with purity and thought, reflecting the product within. These luxury-inspired bottles, reminiscent of old school medicine jars, boast copy that echoes Drip’s concept — delicate, straightforward, delicious syrup. The bottles and its sweet contents are both worth heading north for, so bring on the pancakes.
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October 21, 2009 | New Eco | by Nikki Savvides |
Eve and Eryn, two amazing Free Spirit Sphere tree houses, are located in Vancouver, Canada, high up in the canopy of the West Coast rainforest. They are, as their creators describe, ’suspended like pendants from a web of rope’ from the trees. This is a unique way of creating unobtrusive means of living amongst nature. Insulated and set up for one or two people to stay in, these spheres allow people to experience the ‘energy shift’ that occurs ‘once one breaks contact with the ground’. Read more
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August 21, 2009 | Cool Travel | by Gerry Mak |
While a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s in NYC is a transcendent experience, its relatively high price, its enormous proportions, and the hassle of the lines and payment system of the establishment make it a rare treat. If only we all lived in Montreal, home of Schwartz’s, where they serve some of the best smoked meat (the Quebecois equivalent of pastrami) I’ve ever had for only $5.50 Canadian (about US$5) per sandwich or $10.95 and $11.95 for small and large plates respectively.
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July 11, 2009 | New Art | by Gerry Mak 
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Canadian artist Brandon Jan Blommeart’s trash monsters lumber across beautiful landscapes, happily playing with each other as if they had inherited the earth from their human creators. Read more
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July 10, 2009 | New Design | by Ilana Kohn |
Pure graphic simplicity is how Canadian illustrator Raymond Biesinger swings. Employing various textures, typography and found elements throughout his heavily conceptual creations, Beisinger presents a wonderfully consistent body of work.
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July 9, 2009 | New Trends | by Zolton |
I used to edit a free street mag in Australia called STU, so I was impressed when I came across a similarly sized one out of Montreal called SNAP!, which expertly covers fashion, art, music and other creative pursuits with a healthy focus on spotlighting local creatives. We checked in with Hannah Byrne, who along with Shayl Prisk is one of the two founders of the publication, and asked her about the spark behind the launch of SNAP! ‘Initially the spark came when Shayl and I sat down after a long day in our kitchen jobs and decided we wanted to do something different, more creative. Over the course of several months we brainstormed over lattes and pints and talked about exactly what kind of magazine we would want to read and what kind of stories we would want to tell. It was a really exciting time, starting this thing from scratch and deciding where it was going to go’. Read more
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June 29, 2009 | Video | 
by Rachel Ament |
Be warned. Canadian songstress Anjulie’s voice usually stays low-to-the-ground, but sometimes, without warning, it will rise up nasally, and girlishly, giving you attitude. It’s an unlikely sound that seduces you in a chemical way, like a pheromone. It’s adamant about making sure you dance, so that even if you’re standing in line at the grocery store, you’ll still be rotating your hips in the shape of a pentagon. Anjulie’s video for her song Boom takes place where all videos should: in a jungle, after-hours. Read more
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June 19, 2009 | Cool Travel | by Zolton |
I visited Toronto for the first time a couple of weekends back to check out the Luminato Festival and explore the city itself, which is being promoted as a more socially progressive and cultural alternative to other Canadian hotspots such as Montreal and Vancouver. And for good reason. Toronto is a fascinating place on many levels: from the architecture in the city center, which seamlessly combines the ornate majesty of pre-1940 buildings with the glistening facades of more contemporary designs; to the long, straight roads which defines movement though the city and contains an assortment of hidden gems; to the overall cleanliness of the streets and the overwhelming sense that a bustling creative community is doing all it can to foster the careers of others around them. It was an eye-opening experience. I left the city with a feeling that Toronto is very much on the rise, casting aside its wintry persona and thriving on the back of what is clearly a dynamic and exciting creative scene. Photos by Alison Zavos Read more
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January 22, 2009 | New Music | by Gerry Mak |
Canada seems to be the land of amazing ambient metal duos. Montreal has Menace Ruine, and Toronto has Nadja, a formidable couple that churns out huge-sounding, bass and electronics-driven doom that draws your gaze up towards the stars just as old cathedral ceilings humble the faithful and make them think of the Almighty.
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November 7, 2008 | New Music | 
by Francis Andrews |
Pink Mountaintops — a wry Canadian duo — are getting some pretty steady exposure on my stereo at the moment, and lots of others judging by their steady rise up the rock echelons. They’ve got that skaggy swagger and well-worked male/female vocal arrangements, particularly on Tourist in my Town, that drew so many people to Velvet Undergound and the other psych-stoner rock bands of that era, and the production is similarly lo-fi. Their 2004 eponymous debut album barely sold until frontman Stephen McBean released the debut album of his other band, Black Mountain, and news filtered out of this little gem. Listen to the song, Rock and Roll Fantasy.
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June 4, 2008 | New Products | by Zolton |
We love the look of new, free Montreal-based street magazine, SNAP!, an arts and lifestyle publication which focuses on all that exciting work that is conceived, created and marketed in Montreal by artists, creative minds and young entrepreneurs. Read more
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June 1, 2008 | New Art | by Derrick Stembridge |
Indonesian-Canadian artist and illustrator Tessar Lo has already been making waves in the magazine and gallery circuit. His paintings, combining Asian elements with themes of dreams, nature and human concepts, have an almost mystical aura which clearly resonates with his fans.
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May 14, 2008 | New Art | by Lintcoat |
James White is a mixed-media artist and graphic designer living in Nova Scotia, Canada. Read more
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May 12, 2008 | New Illustration | by Zolton |
Canadian illustrator Michael Wandelmaier creates moody and atmospheric work which burns deeply in your inner-most conscience. Read more
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April 6, 2008 | New Music | by Zolton |
I stumbled across the Hello, Blue Roses track, My Shadow Falls, the other week and it set my ears alight, this subtle but beautiful song and its cascading melodic line which will at once ingrain yourself in your inner-ear iPod and then disappear out the other end, leaving only the sweetest of memories. Read more
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High-school student Yu Jie Wu uses repeated images in his photographs to explore motion and the passage of time. The aggregated photos become mosaics of sorts, with as much compositional and textural appeal as they do conceptual. Read more
I came across the Dongzhong cave school, which is situated in a Miao village within the Ziyun county, while watching a fascinating BBC documentary series about China the other night. The school, which was built in 1984 and caters for just under 200 students, is considered to be ‘a teaching branch for nearby resident units’. It looks stunning in its ornate beauty, and it must be one hell of a stimulating environment in which to learn. Read more
Too sweet for words, these beautiful hoop earrings by Sydney-based designer Carmel Taylor are a real touch of origami for your ears.
Firekites, from small town Australia (Newcastle to be exact), are my new musical obsession, and have been since early yesterday when their song Autumn Story randomly burst into my headphones and latched itself deep into my inner ear iPod. I wish they’d been around when I last lived in Sydney; it would have been well worth the two hour drive north to see them play. The whole album (The Bowery) is beautiful, but this song especially rings out with poignancy. I love the subtle sound of the fingers sliding across the guitar frets, the gently whispered vocals, which hint at secrets and cheeky serenades, and the sense of soulful introspection that tangles itself elegantly amongst its minor chord tapestry.
DJ Spooky — That Subliminal Kid — is just about the deepest crate digger around, trawling the barrels of long-lost record stores for choice vinyl to spin in his wickedly dubby sets. He gave us the inside word last week on his eight favourite songs right now via our sister website, My Secret Playlist. This is what he had to say about Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Panic in Babylon: ‘If there’s anything that the twenty-first century has told us, it’s that dub is the real original hip-hop. Lee Scratch even had to make it clear in 1965 by adding “Scratch” to his middle name. Take that, Grandmaster Flash!’ Read the rest of DJ Spooky’s Secret Playlist.
Having originally sprung from the Shaky Isles (otherwise known as New Zealand), I can appreciate the humour in the New Zealand cartoon series, Bro Town, the first homegrown animated series to screen during local prime time. It’s simply brilliant, a real play on the ‘thuck’ accent and small town ways of our Kiwi brethren.
Wow! So whilst Australia is quickly becoming known for its Ed Banger-styled modular stream of music, there is a little known Brisbane artist called Yeo Choong who is just insanely talented. His music is full of summer fun and Kanye West-Phoenix influences. Take my word on it, this is going to be Australia’s next answer to Sam Sparro, Mika or even Jamie Lidel, and he is only 21 years-old.
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WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Creative advertising packaging
Despite the intentions of many, it’s not so often that advertising — as an industry — truly thinks outside the box. Yet, when executed well, clever eye-catching advertising actually works. It does. As these examples will attest to. Read more
Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Karen Caldicott’s clay head models
British born, New York-based model maker Karen Caldicott has been making clay heads for all major US publications over the last decade. Read more
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
From afar, Jesus stares serenely at those surrounding you. But up close, Islamic crescents cluster together in abstract patterns. Created by fashion label, the-affair, this tee is printed on beautifully soft American Apparel in a limited edition of 200. Purchase now. Read more
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