By Heidy Morales

Cleanflix (From L-R: Co-directors Andrew James & Joshua Ligiari along with Robert Perry and UVU Professor Phil Gordon)

Slowly I’ve recovered from 10 solid days of movie-watching. This year, I managed to see 30 films and screened four others outside of the theatres. Here is my list of the 10 films that stood out for me this year. My taste is a bit varied but I did see more documentaries and midnight madness films this year; hence, I was unable to take in many others I had on my list. In alphabetical order, here they are…

By Matthew Walsh

Image Copyright E. Harper 08

an army of skeletons remain
grey-purple trunks
long and frail
widow’s fingers
saying goodbye

black-grey clouds
washed out ash-tray water
tree branches, like claws
reaching, clutching
their twig-hands almost ashes

the sun behind this scene sets
a sore, pink red wound
still-born egg yolk

at night, the moth eggs open
in the burnt-out bowels of the trees
the sound like tinfoil,
crumpling, between fingers,
wings spread under the moon;
unfolding, revealing alien dress

the girl,
her arm, pale as milk,
marked with veins,
tight, knitted circuitry
pulsing through
flesh, clear as glass

above her, clouds collect,
like grey wool, caught
in a Singer, they aim–
to smother the moon

the road is drowned in
a dark, brackish ether
a yellow bus passes.
the color of banana flavoured cough-syrup.
milky-yellow.

By Lindzrox

The very first DJ-Kicks record I heard was from Bristol-boy Daddy G of Massive Attack fame. I was record shopping with my friend Jess when we started tapping our feet and bopping our heads to the rarity beats and soulful treats we were hearing in the store. It was a mix like we had never heard before, and on this particular track “Rock Steady” (Danny Krivit edit) where we heard the Queen of Soul herself Aretha Franklin. We had practically turned the store aisle into a dance floor and immediately hunted down a sales person and frantically inquired “What the F**K is this? After that, I was hooked on DJ-Kicks.

By Mikhail Saavedra

Palestinian American director Cherien Dabis belongs to a new, talented and energetic group of Arab American independent filmmakers who have both the passion and the creative know-how to produce films that reflect both their experiences in a land that has not always been welcoming.

Prior to “Amreeka” Cherien Dabis was also an accomplished writer and producer, some of her credits include working on The L Word for three seasons. She is graduate of Columbia University’s Masters of Fine Arts film program and besides “Amreeka” her first feature and which is being presented at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival, she has made a variety of shorts including “Make a Wish” (2006). Let us not forget that she was named one of “Ten Directors to Watch” by Variety magazine this year.

I sat down with the charming and passionate Cherien Dabis to get a better sense of what “Amreeka” its all about.

Here is the unedited recording:

By Mikhail Saavedra

Right on the heels of TIFF, we find ourselves immersed in both the beauty and struggles of the Middle East. All this brought forth forcefully and intensely at the hands of a dedicated team of individuals, who while lacking the budget of a juggernaut like TIFF, do bring forth passion and genuine love for film. We are speaking about the crew from the Toronto Palestinian Film Festival (TPFF) who in this their second year are doing the uniquely important job of showcasing the cultural aspirations of a group too often ignored.

Alternavox is only too happy  to both recommend this unique showcase for cinema and to provide some upcoming coverage for it. In the meantime here is an idea of what you should be on the look out for as it should be stated that there is a lot more than merely film!

Enjoy!

If you want to get some more in depth information check out : www.tpff.ca

My yummy little creation for Day 2 below. Also check http://www.smoothieweb.com.

PB and Jelly Smoothie

2 tablespoon         Peanut butter
4 Scoop                   Mango Sorbet
1 cup                        Frozen blueberries
1 cup                        Soy
1/2 cup                   Peach juice

PB and Banana “Sandwich” Smoothie

2 tablespoon          Peanut butter
4 Scoop                    So Good Vanilla Soy Ice Cream
1                                  Banana
1.5 cup                     Soy

By Mikhail Saavedra

The eighth edition of Small World’s signature annual program features another rich mix of new discoveries, returning favourites and local heroes. Because Alternavox has always been a champion of world music we are very excited by this year’s offerings!

By Peter Quincy

Photo credit: Peter Quincy Ng

It’s another one of those cheap and lousy Mondays with the dread of a full work week looming ahead. As I approached Toronto’s infamous Wrongbar at approximately 9:30PM, a handful of around twenty people are waiting outside with still an ample half-an-hour left before doors open. It was a bit odd considering how there were so many people lining up with show tickets still available for sale. The room seemed quite sparse with Toronto’s resident indie DJ Vaneska spinning at the booth and nothing on stage, but a laptop marked with “YES” in fluorescent orange tape belonging to openers Yes Giantess.

The Boston quartet, Yes Giantess finally made it to stage after 10 something playing a roughly six-to-seven song ensemble. Filled with light and fluttery synthesizer and sugary pop vocals Yes Giantess proved a fitting opener for Little Boots on the first date of her North American tour. After they left the stage, a long crowded wait began to stir as the club slowly was filling up with the warmth of human bodies.

Little Boots’ performance was hit with slow setup with the crew slowly placing a keyboard here and there generating cheers from the fans before leaving them to stagnate again. Fortunately enough it was good enough for Vaneska to keep flipping records going through Kid Sister, La Roux and Passion Pit to name a few tracks. Eventually Victoria Hesketh’s (Little Boots) tenori-on made it to the stage flashing Little Boots across its LED screen generating a few camera flashes. However it would be roughly twenty minutes later at 11:35PM before Victoria would finally be spotted moving through the crowd onto the stage.

As the fans roar with applause as Victoria hits the stage, I get a feeling as why she was named after Caligula or rather Little Boots. As I stood in awe of how utterly adorable the miniature Little Boots is dressed in a silky black dress with bedazzled with 80s geometric designs and a rather showy set of black leather knee-length roman sandals. With the finally equipment in place, Victoria grabbed her stylophone and the room suddenly turned silent with the backing track croaking “bump yep, bump yep yep” and a cowbell to accompany. Suddenly the synths join in and Victoria grabbing her faulty stylophone dances to the melody before kicking off a sped-up, more aggressive version of” Meddle” complete with live percussion. With the crowd literally on their feet, Victoria carried on with “Earthquake” and “Click” with crowd participation at unmeasurably high levels singing along to every word that came out of her mouth.

By the time “New in Town” hit the microphone, Little Boots exclaimed that this was her first time and Toronto and was worried about the reception that she would receive on the first leg of her Illuminations Tour. There was no doubt at all that she could definitely feel the energy, as many of these fans waited a long time to see British pop princess Victoria Hasketh. Even resident DJ and Wrongbar club owner Nasty Nav waited two years alone to book this act. With anticipation high, the show was already halfway through and Victoria played on her with scientifically correct “Mathematics” and “Symmetry” as she lightly pranced around the stage.

Although Philip Oakey of the Human League was not there to provide the vocals to “Symmetry” as in the record “Hands”, the male band members all chipped in to fill in the void in male vocals; a decent and respectable improvisation. The unreleased track “Magical” highly reminiscent of Anita Ward’s “Ring my Bell” followed before getting to closer “Remedy”. Although Victoria at the end complained about the malfunction of her Tenori-on, no one seemed to really notice and she said for her last song that she wanted everyone to join in. As she said I want you to all sing “Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” the fans cheered and she laughingly chastised the fans saying “I didn’t say Woo!”.

As Little Boots finished with a fine closer, waving her arms and pushing away slowly as she sung she walked off stage only to turn around less than a minute later returning with classy synth-rich cover of Freddie Mercury’s “Love Kills”. Finally she ended off with “Stuck on Repeat” where she clapped along with the tambourine while thrusting her palm into the air. The percussion started drumming faster and Little Boots started slapping the air as if she was hitting the cymbals and as soon as the synths died down Victoria said thank you and quickly left the stage.

With fans tired yet excited from what was a memorable and energetic performance from Blackpool’s Little Boots, an overwhelming majority quickly dissipated as the work week was raging by. Although they had work to go to the next morning, the two-year wait for Victoria Hesketh was well worth the wait.

Photo Credit: Peter Quincy Ng

SETLIST:

MEDDLE
EARTHQUAKE
CLICK
NEW IN TOWN
MATHEMATICS
SYMMETRY
MAGICAL
REMEDY
LOVE KILLS
STUCK ON REPEAT

Here is some video for you:

I decided not to pout over a possible week of  bad liquid food, since, after all, I was already regretting not having complete anesthetization for my wisdom teeth extraction. As a squeamish little person, being fully conscious for the pulling, yanking, and crunching (not to mention, the blood) was a little like being in your own bad horror flick, and I rewarded myself with a week of food adventure, trying out new recipes and boldly going where no liquid-diet fiend had gone before.

Welcome to the chronicles of my chew-free meals!

By Mikhail Saavedra

Because we like art and we like people breaking their routines at least for one night, we are thrilled to cover the experience of Nuit Blanche in depth. For that particular purpose we have selected Alexandra (Alita) González’s independent project NITE LITE which Alita describes as this:

“NITE-LITE is a free-standing light installation which uses re-purposed materials and water bottles, stained and lit to act as ‘pixels’, which create visuals as well as awareness to the environmental issues surrounding plastics and BPA. Some ‘visual facts’ that will be shared by NITE-LITE are directly connected to the effects that water bottles are having on our environment, such as their lack of bio-degradability in landfills and the harmful BPA chemical that they release and its damaging effects. The images/messages are intended to be engaging and a starting point for dialogue.”

We will bring you an in-depth interview that we hope tells you more about what this particular exhibit is all about and just how someone gets to be on Nuit Blanche. Stay tuned for more information towards the end of the month!

For more info check both:
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/
http://www.nitelites.ca/