~*...psyche out...*~

on saturday night i went to the toronto burning man community's decompression party appropriately named "psyche out". i loved this about the om community, and i'm rekognizing that it applies to the burning man community too...the participants do not limit their interaction to the time of year that the festival occurs, and that's a beautiful thing.

the party was held in kensington market at a place called the boat. i had never heard of it before, then again it wasn't a club. it was more of a hall space used for our decompressing pleasure.


photo by taymar

planning my outfit for this party was almost as fun as wearing my outfit. this is what i miss most about the rave scene, the imagination and creativity that went into preparing and planning your night out...the joys of making a costume...the rush of knowing that others will be creatively outfitting their personality too and dancing. people not being afraid to be radically expressive. this burning man community truly embodies the spirit of the burn...radical self expression, creativity, and imagination served up at random in all parts of the world.

i wore my red cross colors jeans with flashing lights hanging from the belt loops. i had no shirt on with my chest painted in glow in the dark body paint. i wore a pair of red angel wings, my red tam for my dreads, and a pair of lightning wire sunglasses that i got in china town for $6. you can find everything in china town, and i found the store that wholesales to those stores. schweet.


photo by firedoll jamie

you know what? as i'm writing this blog, or should i say revisiting this blog entry, i'm really feelin this loss of my camera. i'm feelin naked without one. hell, i can't even post a pikcha of my outfit, and to a fashion whore like me that's a problem (i have a folder of images of my reflektion in the mirror so that i have a pikcha of my outfit from that night). i can't afford the camera i really want so i'm cameraless for right meow, but that doesn't mean my friends and people i roll with (you) don't have digital cameras. so here's what i'm going to do: if you have a camera i'm going to ask for someone else to take a pikcha of you and i (and whomever else might be around and feelin camera whorish ;). then you can email the pik to me and i'll use it here in my blog. i'll give you credit for the shot and link to your homepage each time i share one of your pix. prrrfekt. if i've posted a pik anywhere in my blog that you do not want posted here, please send me an email and i'll remove it immediately. now back to your regular scheduled blog entry...

it was my friend angela's birthday (week), so her and my laurien joined me that saturday night to paint the town red. these two beautiful women had a great time painting my body as we prepp'd for the party by watching the malcolm in the middle episode where they go to burning man. because my body paint had not yet dried, i had to walk to the party wearing only angel wings on top. yah, it got pretty freakin cold. by the time we were half way there, i was like "fuck it, i'm putting on a jacket." the cold isn't so bad when you're dressed for it, but shirtless in november in canada just ain't warm enough *smacks head* i did get quite a few cheers and beeps from passing cars though, more than usual ;)

when we arrived at the boat were greeted by the smiles of beautifully creative people. outside the venue there was a school bus that had flames painted on the side. inside was blacklit and there was a hot tub in the back of the bus. they also had the street sign from the intersection of 4:00 and ego from the playa.


photo by taymar

walking into the venue i was stopped by three burnerz at the door who asked me when i was born. then they proceeded to sing for me the song that was number one according to billboard magazine the day i was born. i can't remember the name of the song, but i was very impressed to see that they knew the song and the words to it. pure playa randnormness.

inside the party was going on full strength. gawd i love this burning man community, they get dressed up to party! maybe dressed up doesn't even come close to describing some of the outfits. so many people radically being themselves. jawsome.

photo by firedoll jamie

my friend lucy had an art installation there that created a tunnel of hanging christmas lights. your journey through the vines of kerstmis lights were made even more of an experience thanks to 3d glasses that you put on. so kewl, and trippy.


photo by taymar


photo by juicy lucy

the party felt like i was at burning man, only inside a venue. the energy, creativity, and the vibe were all being embraced by the toronto burning crew that night.



photos by taymar

i was really happy to be able to spend time with my friend dani. this year was also her first burning man. i had met her at harvest festival. she had come up and asked me if i was at burning man. she was camping with the c4 crew. dani is a pure jedi. like attracts like, or so it seems.


photo by taymar

dani is also the traveler who introduced me to couch surfing international, one of the most brilliant uses of the internet i have come across. sign up and lets vouch for each other! my nick is 'phenormenon' .

after the party, a large group of burnerz then headed up to kensington park where baby g lit off a beautiful selection of fireworks. yah, we were definitely not being quiet or courteous to the people who lived in the neighbourhood, but by the time anyone figured out what was going on and did something about it, we were long gone. its not anarchy, its creativity! perspective is everything.



photo by juicy lucy

angie and laurien came back to my place where we crashed out after an amazing night. the toronto burning man crew reminded me that the burning man energy doesn't just flow through the playa, it flows everywhere. its not just in some of us, its in all of us.

normaste

~*...boyz playing with their sticks...*~

last night my boy nick came over with his new snowboard, boots, bindings, and gear. this season will be nick's first season on the slopes as a snowboarder. i helped him buy new gear, and last night helped him put it together. the gear he bought was badass. not necessarily a beginner set up, but he'll get a lot of seasons out of his purchase that's for sure. he bought last year's ride timeless 159. this stick is the most responsive board i have ever ridden. my brother and my friend bobby both bought the 2004 ride timeless. after riding bobby's board, i realized how a board is supposed to respond. it was almost as if it knew what i was about to do before i did it. its one of those boards that doesn't like going slow and shines best at high speeds.



nick also got last year's ride team bindings and this year's burton hail boots. such a slick set up. and they look so hawt together. fashion is such a big part of snowboarding. yes, snowboarding is all about strapping a board to your feet and riding down a mountain, but its the feeling that riding brings out in us that makes us love the sport. the same goes for fashion. its the look good feel better mentality. if you feel you look good, you feel better about yourself. what looks good is different for every person. i'm a fashion whore, so my outfit matching my board and my bindings goes without saying.



hey, you wouldn't buy a car that wasn't the colour you wanted would you?



after setting up nick's board, we pulled out my futon mattress and buckled into our rides for some bouncing action. i really enjoy this exercise. its a great off season way to tune into what its like to be buckled into your board, and get a few bounces in there. but holy crap does it take a lot out of you. a trampoline is way better for bouncing, but alas my room isn't that big. bounces, airs, nose and tail stalls, and balance...all great skills to practice by bouncing on a mattress. a spring mattress is better too for bounce. maybe next time i'll use my bed mattress.



thanks to nick for bringin his camera with him. its been so long since i've had a camera *sob* i really miss takin pix *sob*

later that night i went to my friend bobby and dana's place for their housewarming. they had moved into the apartment upstairs from them, and were having some friends over to break in the new place. nick and i had been drinking the whole time we were playing with our boards, and then after a few drinks at bobby and dana's, i pretty much had the desired effect. by the end of the night, i believe i was a bit annihilated. the bike ride home was a bit wobbly, but i made it home safely. thanks to my friends who encouraged me to wait a bit and drink some water before i jumped on my bike home.

i love my friends. i love snowboarding. i love me.

- normaste \m/^_^\m/

~*...c'est l'halloween...*~

last night wasn't really halloween, but it was dress up time in the city for those of us old enough to go clubbing in costume. gawd i love halloween. it encourages people to outfit their personality in wildly radical and creative ways without fear, or at least with less fear than any other day of the year.

my evening began at fez batik for my friend daniele's birthday. daniele and his wife kimmy have always been an inspiration to me since before i even met them face to face (met on the om mailing list almost six years ago). daniele is my good friend isa's (isa and darryl) older brother. yah, the genes are good in that family.

there are so many life lessons that i have learned from daniele and kimmy, too many to list here. i'll share with you some of the ones that have resonated with me lately. daniele's age was gettin the better of him, and it negatively affected his self esteem (how i cannot figure out cause holy crap he's gorgeous). that changed one day when one of his friends said to him "daniele why are you letting yourself be old?" we are who we chose to be, and over the past year i've seen daniele radiate with his choice to be the brightest light that is within him, regardless of age. it reminds me of the saying "growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional."

another time, daniele told me a story about him and his wife one day when they were making dinner. he told her "kimmy, everything you want out of life go get it." i asked "because she deserves it?" and he said "no, not because she deserves it, but because that's what life is." thank you daniele for being a bright light in life for me to reflekt. happy birthday brother. yes, i surround myself with many jedis.

myself, daniele, and dena last year good friday. and this is his sister isa. can you see the resemblance? ;)

kimmy is the beautiful soul who reminded me that there are an infinite number of ways to right now. thank you kimmy. i took her wise words and made it my own. now i tell people that there are an infinite number of ways to right meow.

yah, i'll say what you're thinkin...i roll with some beautiful people. the people i surround myself with are beautiful souls, and are also very good looking too. they bring it out in me, and i know i bring it out in them.

after dinner i went to a smaller private halloween party held in a fantasy play space. this place was out of this world. it looked like a regular house outside, but as soon as you walk through the front door you are transported to a different universe. the whole house inside had been converted into a full time fantasy space with six themed play chambers including a victorian boudoir, a class room, an examination room, a transformation salon, a grotto, and a medieval dungeon. i had never ever seen a place like this, yet alone enjoyed it with the most diverse group of people crossing the wonderfully diverse spectrum of races, classes, cultures, genders, ages, sexual orientations, practices, and sexualities. we are blessed to be here in toronto, and events like this remind me of that. we celebrate every colour of the rainbow here in canada.

i left the play party around 3am and headed to a loft party my friends were having. shakin my ass to proper beatz after feasting on flesh was a great way to end my halloween saturday night.

if you ever want to do something fun and different, outfit the creative part of your personality and go out on the town...its even better with friends. it doesn't have to be halloween for you to get dressed up.

normaste \m/^_^\m/

~*...infinite possibilities of consciousness...*~

gawd i love halloween weekend. its the only time of year where everyone gets into the spirit of dressing up their personality. people are encouraged to be creative, and express that creativity through dress up. man is it ever fun.

for the past few years, my friend bev has done my make up for halloween. when it comes down to painting my face, having an artist do the job has always been my first choice. and bev is a talented artist. she has done my makeup and she's even painted my hair. about 5 years ago, i had an idea for a hair style, and bev was the artist to do the job. she ended up taking a bottle of blondissma, and then painting it on my shaved head. that hairstyle was one of my favourites.

two years ago, bev painted on my face what would end up being a style of makeup that i would repeat often. inspired by bladerunner, bev painted a straight red line across my face at halloween. i'm not sure exactly what i was that year, maybe a demon, but it was fun to get dressed up. who says you have to be something for halloween? costumes imply that you are pretending to be something that you are not...but what you pretend to be you are. i outfitted my personality.

this year i decided to rework an old outfit...the secret is to accessorize. i wore a similar outfit to the one i wore to the episode 3 premiere: bondage skirt, red sleeveless top, dark dredi robe. i reinvented the old outfit with makeup, thanks to bev, and red ribbon wrapped down my right arm. inspired by a z!nk magazine photo essay on the cast of characters in cirque du soleil's ka, playing at the mgm grand in las vegas, bev and i took the design further. it took a while to finish the piece of art on my face, but it was well worth it. there's something fascinating about seeing yourself differently, whether it be a new outfit, a new haircut, or makeup on your face. what's more fascinating about makeup is that i am not really aware of the design unless i'm looking in a mirror. its like i forget that i have it on, cause its not staring me in the face. that's when other people become my mirror. how i look is given shape by what i trigger in other people, and their reactions to me remind me that "hey, my face is painted." when i get pix of how my makeup turned out from bev (and anyone who took pix that night), i'll post them on my messageboard (coming very very soon). yah, its tough not having a camera :(

my party destination was the elmocombo on spadina for the lorin bassnectar and wasabi collective jam. lorin plays a unique fusion of hip hop, broken beat, breaks, and psychelic music that he describes as psyhop, freakbeat, and bassalistik majik. whatever you want to call it, i am always impressed by the sounds he creates. i am a big hip hop fan, so hearing a freaky psychedelic perspective on the hip hop sound comforts me.

my krew for the night included my roommate jimmie, his best friend norm, and my boy patrick who came in from london. we arrived at the elmo just after midnight. lorin was playing, and the place was bumpin. lots of people out in costume, and phat beats to shake my ass to. there's something about a hip hop beat that grabs my soul and forces me to dance, and lorin delivered. by the end of the night my feet were sore from dancing so much. i love nights like this. here is the party review on tribe if you're interested.

after the party, my friend laurien and pat came back to my place to chill out. we ended up watching a movie called "what the bleep do we know". its kind of a documentary, story, visual fx fusion of a film that challenges you to rekognize and explore the endless possibilities for altering your everyday reality. imagine getting a bunch or quantum physicists together talking about reality and human consciousness. here's a synopsis from the official site:

WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW?! is a new type of film. It is part documentary, part story, and part elaborate and inspiring visual effects and animations. The protagonist, Amanda, played by Marlee Matlin, finds herself in a fantastic Alice in Wonderland experience when her daily, uninspired life literally begins to unravel, revealing the uncertain world of the quantum field hidden behind what we consider to be our normal, waking reality.



She is literally plunged into a swirl of chaotic occurrences, while the characters she encounters on this odyssey reveal the deeper, hidden knowledge she doesn't even realize she has asked for. Like every hero, Amanda is thrown into crisis, questioning the fundamental premises of her life – that the reality she has believed in about how men are, how relationships with others should be, and how her emotions are affecting her work isn't reality at all!



As Amanda learns to relax into the experience, she conquers her fears, gains wisdom, and wins the keys to the great secrets of the ages, all in the most entertaining way. She is then no longer the victim of circumstances, but she is on the way to being the creative force in her life. Her life will never be the same.



The fourteen top scientists and mystics interviewed in documentary style serve as a modern day Greek Chorus. In an artful filmic dance, their ideas are woven together as a tapestry of truth. The thoughts and words of one member of the chorus blend into those of the next, adding further emphasis to the film's underlying concept of the interconnectedness of all things.

The chorus members act as hosts who live outside of the story, and from this Olympian view, comment on the actions of the characters below. They are also there to introduce the Great Questions framed by both science and religion, which divides the film into a series of acts. Through the course of the film, the distinction between science and religion becomes increasingly blurred, since we realize that, in essence, both science and religion describe the same phenomena.

The film employs animation to realize the radical knowledge that modern science has unearthed in recent years. Powerful cinematic sequences explore the inner-workings of the human brain. Quirky animation introduces us to the smallest form of consciousness in the body – the cell. Dazzling visuals reinforce the film's message in an exciting, powerful way. Done with humor, precision, and irreverence, these scenes are only part of what makes this film unique in the history of cinema, and a true box-office winner.

i saw this movie in the theater over a year ago. i really enjoyed it. it challenged me to question reality, question everything, and gave no answers to any of those questions. it presents the possibilities of quantum mechanics and turns the mystery into a fun, often hokey, ride...it was as if you were in a waking dream.

pat is in final year of his phd in genetics and laurien toured with the grateful dead for five years. it was such a rush to watch this movie with two doctors from different schools of thought: a geneticist and a healer. if you get the chance, rent this movie.

one of the most memorable parts of the movie for me was the section on the hidden messages in water as seen through the works of masaru emoto. by exposing water to various human vibrational energies and photographing the frozen water molecules using a dark field microscope, masura emoto discovered many fascinating differences in the crystalline structures. read more about the miraculous messages from water here.

the warming reminder from water was triggered in me when i saw the effect the word "thank you" had, and what it looked like frozen and captured on film. it is one of the most powerful words i have ever come across, it changes people. it makes the world a better place when people are polite to each other, especially when you are speaking to them in the language of their heart. i've learned to say "thank you" in almost 50 languages because i live here in toronto, and i have the opportunity to practice being polite in every language of the world. its the feeling of "i appreciate what you do for me" expressed in an infinite number of dialects, yet all tuning into the same energy. infinite possibilities of consciousness. its not just in some of us, it is in everyone.

if "thank you" does that to water, and we are mostly made of water, go see what it can do to people.

thank you for visiting my site. thank you for czechin out my blog. thank you for turning my world upside down and challenging me to think differently. i'm having the best time living out the answer!

namaste - i humbly bow to you honoring the light in you that is the light in me

- phenormenon \m/^_^\m/

~*...yoga and booze...*~

last night i attended a hatha yoga class just around the corner brom my home. my best friend mel was supposed to be teaching it, but when i got there i found out that she was being held up at work, and that her friend emily would be teaching the class. i was disappointed, but that wouldn't stop me from enjoying the class. it was only myself and another woman, yvette, in addition to the instructor emily.

i found the class to be an excellent way to tune into the force...yes, everything comes back to the force for me, or in hindu, prana. there are an infinite number of ways to tune into the living force, and each one is rooted in breathing. "breathe" is the most powerful word you can say to yourself. no matter how screwed up the world is around you, you are better suited to deal with it when there is oxygen going to your brain. cause hey, if you're not breathing you're dead.

i tried to attend mel's yoga class last week with my friend lori. on my way to meet her, she called and cancelled. her reason for cancelling was that she was in the hospital. her dog had bit her and cut right through her upper lip. she was at the emergency room at toronto western waiting to get stitches. seeing as i was right outside the hospital when she called, i decided to stop in and see how she was doing. she sounded like she needed a friend on the phone. when i got there, she was so happy to see me. i could see the joy in her eyes behind her tears. but man did her dog bite her good.

i stayed with lori in the emergency room, and then watched as she got four stitches in her upper lip. i think i was more qweezy than she was when the doctor put the stitches in. it only took three hours in emergency to stitch her up. i'm glad that i was there for her.

after yoga, i rode over to a little bar around the corner of my house called magpie. my friend pen is leaving for the phillipines on monday, so he was having his going away party at magpie. it was great to see so many good people out, and having blanche de chambly on tap helped too. yah, i was kinda hung over today.

i've added the first thirty pages of my very first scrapbook to my scrapbook archive. czech out the book that started it all here!

"a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"

namaste

- something like a phenormenon

~*...becoming a dreadlock...*~

wow. these blog entries really take a long time for me to write, and because they take so long i don't update my blog that often. hell, i haven't even finished my burning man blog yet and i've been home over a month. so i'm going to try to update my blog more frequently, just not as detailed. my forum will be up soon, so you can tell me if you prefer these blog entries thick and juicy or short and sweet.

my friend genny arrived last night from wisconsin with her boyfriend jason and were staying at my place. i haven't seen genny since harvest festival last year.

it was so good to see her, and finally meet the man in her life. i met genny five years ago through the om community. its been a while since i've mentioned an om connection eh? five years ago, 11 omies, including genevieve and i, met up in vancouver and drove to bc kootenays to attend the shambalah festival. it was the beginning of many magical friendships for me.

today, i took genny and jason to kensington market. it was jason's first time in canada, so it was fun to take him to the most multicultural neighbourhood in the world. we stopped off at the roacharama and smoked a fattie at the hotbox cafe. yah, things are different up here in canada. pay your taxes, bundle up, and keep your stick on the ice eh?

we then met up with turtle and my friend lori for some happy hour dim sum at sky dragon in china town. this restaurant, at the corner of dundas and spadina on the top floor of the dragon center mall, was recommended to me by dreadmaster drew, the locktician responsible for my head of dreadlocks. it seems drew and dreadlocks would be theme for the next few daze. you'd think the dreadmaster would be an old jamaican with grey dreadlocks...but when i got my locks done on my bday last year, i was surprised to see that drew was a middle aged trini bwoy with a jerry curl.

after dim sum we headed back to my place where the process of turning genny into a dreadlock began. genny's very cute friend (also named jason) hooked up with us and was instrumental in the genny transformation. jason had recently got his dreadlocks twisted up by dreadmaster drew. they were nice, new, and short. junior dread ;) with instructions from dreadhead headquarters the two jason's and i began to transform the golden hair of miss genevieve into golden locks.

anyone who has dreadlocks knows the pain you have to go through to get your hair knotted up. backcombing your hair is a very painful process. but it is part of the transformation. you will never forget the pain you feel, or the experience. and every day that you look at your locks you are reminded that a story has been twisted up in each one.

i must give dreadmaster drew the props he deserves. he uses a special twisting/knotting method that he developed over the past 20 years of dreading hair. his locks are tight and most importantly he uses NO WAX! as we learned dreading genny's hair, backcombing alone does not make the lock tight. you need something to hold the dread together so that it locks up, thus wax. three daze later, genny's hair was finally ready to have the wax applied to it. yah, it took three days to backcomb all of her hair. at times she was in so much pain the backcombing had to stop. but in the end, daam she looked hawt. i realized why the wax was necessary to hold the lock together, and was pleasantly reminded why i chose drew to do my locks. the wax never leaves your hair, and makes your hair feel waxy.

then its time to start taking care of you hair. contrary to popular belief, dreads take a hell of a lot of work to lock up and require a lot of attention. but it is all worth it imho. welcome to the world of being a natty dread genny. i would post pikchaz, but my camera is still hosed :( so i'll leave you with an older pik of genny and i from five years ago, before we were dreadz ;)
- natty norm (=D)----

~*...emma jane...and i see old people...*~

i had brunch today at the richtree market, the former marché at bce place. my friends tiia and dan had just returned home from belgium and my friend sarah was visiting from pennsylvania with her husband gary and their 15 week old baby daughter emma jane. this year has been a year of babies for me, well, for some of my very close friends. the last time i saw sarah was in may when she was home for her baby shower. its so cute seeing small girlz pregnant...little girl, big belly, and boobs too ;)

there's no doubt that emma jane looks just like her daddy. she also seems to enjoy dreadlocks, as i soon found out...

it was really great to hang with my university krew again, which is where i first met sarah. we lived together second year with brennan, rick, jaqui, meredith, and michelle. that year i burned my room down (left a candle burning and it torched my room). aah, but that's another story. wow that year was epic. i've kept in contact with everyone from that house except for rick, who had a baby boy six years ago, and meredith. i have no idea where she has disappeared to, and neither do most of my friends. hey meredith, if you're reading this...well, it'd be because i ran into you and gave you one of my cards or you magically were brought here from some other fascinating means. if that's the case, email me. stranger things have happened.

my friend ron, also from university, was in town with an electronic psychedelic dance duo that he books for called infected mushroom. they were playing at the guvernment that night. ron showed up at the richtree for a late brunch. it was good to see him too.

later that night i helped turtle enter the dirty thirties down at the raq n waq pool hall and lounge. there was an excellent turnout of people there to show love for the one like red turtle. i'm surprised he was still standing at the end of the night. happy birthday turtle. big up youself turtle. burning man krew.

i ended up at someone's house after the raq n waq. i didn't know who he was, but was invited there by a girl. it turns out most of the people there were from newfoundland. some were living here, others were visiting. i had a great time interacting with some fascinating people who gave me an excellent window into the east coast way of seeing the world. the last guy i spoke with truly challenged me. after watching me interact with all of his friends, he believed that he had me "figured out". no, seriously...those words came out of his mouth. he was quite confident that he knew me, knew what i was about, and that whatever game i was playing on his friends that made them feel so comfortable about themselves when they were around me would not work on him. i enjoy challenges like that. they remind me that every part of my personality is given new shape with the people i interact with. it was interesting when he let me know that he thinks that i believe i am better than everyone else, just by watching me interact with his friends. i asked him if i was doing anything to make him feel uncomfortable, and he said "no, you're not bothering me." i told him i was glad i could bring out the parts of his personality that don't bother him. then i asked him if he ever heard me say that i was better than anyone else to any of his friends. when he told me no, i asked him what other signals, cues, movements, or actions did i display that made him think that i thought i was better than anyone else. cause i know, and he knows, that those words never came out of my mouth. so it must have been some other form of communication that he picked up on that triggered the part of his personality that makes him feel better than everyone else which he then projected on me. he didn't really have an answer. maybe its how i walk, how i interact with others, maybe its the confidence that i have in myself that i wear on my sleeve that triggers the "i'm better than you" part of their personality. hey, if people got a problem with me before they even get my name, i'm good with filtering them out of my life. in the end, we had a great conversation and he reminded me about the power in the word "and"...it connects.

east coast reprazent!

- the dreadlock phenormenon \m/^_^\m/

~*...mariko mori...*~

i was planning on staying in tonight, work on my site and play some video games. that was until my friend kiki sent me an email about a special guest lecturer at ryerson polytechnic university. held at the new centre for computing and engineering (right across the street from isa and darryl's place), the kodak lecture series was proud to present japanese artist mariko mori. what kind of artist is she? well, its hard to describe. from video, to photographs, to sculpture, she goes beyond categories. you've probably seen her work before, but if you haven't here are a few examples.
mirror of water, 1997-1998



entropy of love, 1997-1998

pure land, 1997-1998

burning desire. 1996-1998

here is the description of mariko mori from the kodak lecture series:

005 Venice Biennale sensation Mariko Mori speaks in Toronto as part of the Kodak Lecture Series

Toronto – The Kodak Lecture Series is pleased to announce that New York-based, Japanese artist Mariko Mori will present a talk about her work on Friday, October 7, at 7:30 pm at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Born in Tokyo in 1967, Mariko Mori is an artist, a former fashion model and student of fashion design whose category-defying work –she has been described as a cross between a geisha girl and Gidget– has catapulted her to the top of the global art scene. Her highly stylized installations, videos, and photographs synthesize a myriad of connected influences from popular culture, science fiction, and Eastern spiritual practice. Mori's personal sense of spectacle and spirituality are often clad in a consumer culture slickness which creates an artistic vision capable of eliciting both ambivalence and enchantment.

Wave-UFO, the sensation of this year's Venice Biennale, is a stunning and novel three-person immersive environment that combines real-time computer graphics and brainwave sensory technology. Shaped like an extruded teardrop, Wave UFO is a 34 x 17-foot pod in which participants recline to watch a mesmerizing, electric display of colour, sound and motion projected on the domed ceiling above. Electrodes attached to each viewer gather brainwave data, which is transformed into visual imagery in real-time and projected onto the screen. This instant biofeedback thus incorporates the experience of watching the projection as well as the interaction between the viewers themselves.

Mariko Mori was educated at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo and the Chelsea College of Art in London and participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. She has had solo exhibitions and installations at Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Prada Foundation in Milan, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Deitch Projects.
she spent most of her lecture discussing wave ufo. wow, what an incredible piece of interactive art generated by the brainwaves of the three participants. i couldn't help but think to myself that a wave ufo would probably be something i would come across on the playa at burning man...if this piece of art could survive the desert. i wonder if she's ever been to burning man. the fusion of media and technologies with art, creativity, and the imagination make wave ufo almost impossible to fully describe. the software that runs the wave ufo is just as fascinating. it analyzes and visualizes brain activity and then projects it inside the ufo in real time. pure neo-tokyo art from a jedi who rekognizes that everything in the universe is one.

the free lecture was packed. i was so glad kiki sent me the email about the lecture last minute. mariko mori is a whacked out little japanese anime artist radically expressing herself. czech out these projection captures of three people's brainwaves interacting within the wave ufo.

here are a few reviews of mariko mori's work at the tokyo museum of art and in japan's metropolis magazine.

thanks kiki for the heads up. you made my friday night way more enjoyable than i had planned.

- normurai

~*...being a queen...serenity...*~

today darlene and i were treated like the queens that we are. we went to the shiatsu academy of tokyo on danforth and got a shiatsu massage. the word shiatsu means thumb and finger pressure and involves the practitioner applying pressure with their fingers or palms on a pattern of points all over the body.

because we were being treated by second year shiatsu students, the rate for an hour of shiatsu massage was only $30 (taxes included). it felt great to get a massage. i haven't had a one hour massage since, well, i've never had a one hour massage before. it was rejuvinating. and its great to be girly with darlene. she's such a great balance between tom boy and girly girl. she skateboards, snowboards, and surfs, and can spend hours in a makeup store.

last tuesday, darlene and i went and got our ears candled at pop design hairs studio and spa. neither darlene or i had ever had our earz candled, so it was a new experience for us. they didn't use regular candles, rather a hollow beeswax candle. its supposed to clean out the toxins inside of you, remove bacteria, and contribute to overall wellness. combined with some essential oils and a little face and neck massage, the experience wasn't really that rejuvinating. you could hear the candle causing a sort of vaccuum in your ear as it burned, but there was no real change in my well being after. unlike a massage where you feel relaxed after, the after effects of an ear candling was a bit harder to define...and it cost $5 more than our shiatsu massage. i'd more reccommend the massage over an ear candling. but it was dar dar and normie norm day to be queens at the spa. i wonder what we're going to do next tuesday.

i met up with some friends at the paramount theater later to see joss whedon's first feature film, serenity. based off of the short lived television series "firefly", serenity is the name of a firefly class starship. joss whedon is known for writing and producing the television series buffy and angel. his humour and whit is brilliant. my friend bev lent me first (and only) season of firefly on dvd so i could prepare for the movie. this telelvision show is brilliant. the characters are like space cowboys, hell they even talk like cowboys. the humour is pure buffy/angel style whit. the stories are well done, and interesting. what i really enjoy about whedon's view of the future is that its not all about laser blasters and futuristic vehicles. of course they are there, but that doesn't mean a good pistol or a shotgun is ever going to be thrown aside for new technology. kinda like how star wars balanced out the ways and weapons of old with the future by having blaster rifles and lightsabers.

i could go on and on about how brilliant this telelvision series is, just rent it and find out for yourself. as for serenity, it is the new star wars. fast paced, action packed, likeable and believeable characters, clever, and humour that is not catered to children. and it looks like the peeps over at rotten tomatos agree...serenity is fresh. not to mention the very attractive cast of the serenity is more than easy on the eyes *drool*

czech out the official serenity website here.

after the movie, our krew headed over to the bishop and belcher pub on queen street. this place has been a staple on the queen street strip for decades, and its home on queen west is about to come to an end. their 20yr lease is up, and management is more than tripling their rent. so in a few weeks they'll be relocating to the top of the gaybourhood at church and bloor. i have many fond memories of the bishop and belcher. it will be missed. at least i was able to order one last big belch before the pub closes :)

- normie norm (=D)----