sight & sound

Hunting Wabbits in the Byward Market

Written
by
apartment613
on Thursday, September 2, 2010
.
titlecard

Photo courtesy of Jessy Borutski

Post By Andrea Grant

I always sleep through Saturday morning cartoons. In fact, I haven’t seen a good one since the Ottawa Animation Festival last year. Damn adulthood, damn late night parties, damn breakfast smoothies and wheat germ and all that replaced Fruit Loops… zzzzzzz…..

WAKE UP OTTAWA!!! This Saturday September 4, our favourite obscure contemporary art gallery in the Market will be hosting an authentic Saturday morning cartoon experience… at BEDTIME. Backwards but beautiful, La Petite Mort Gallery will host the premiere of Jessica Borutski’s second short animated film entitled “The Good Little Bunny with The Big Bad Teeth.”

I’m sure many of you may have heard about the controversy surrounding Borutski’s work for Warner Bros. An Ottawa animation celebrity of sorts, Borutski has re-invented our beloved Looney Tunes characters – dearest Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, and the Road Runner to name a few – for “The New Looney Tunes Show,” set to premiere on the Cartoon Network this Fall. Changes include less violence overall (for today’s more PC audiences) and a purple Bugs Bunny.

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Weekend roundup: Events and things to do in Ottawa!

Written
by
Karen
on Thursday, September 2, 2010
.
Photo courtesy InOttawa.ca on Flickr.

Photo courtesy InOttawa.ca on Flickr.

Alrighty, folks - for those of you lucky enough to stick around town for the long weekend, you’re in for a few treats.

Yes, the Bytowne Burlesque Revue is happening - and, if you’re in the market for your own burlesque name, check out the ingenious suggestions from fellow readers. If you’re hoping to fit in a last summer festival or two, be sure to schedule in the Serbian Festival happening down on Albion Road. For another festival, all you’ve got to do is look up - waaaaaay up - as the hot air balloons from the Festival de montgolfières de Gatineau float by overhead all weekend long.

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“You are invited to see the Earth turn” - Discovering Foucault’s Pendulum

Written
by
Francois
on Wednesday, September 1, 2010
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Foucault's Pendulum at Carleton.

Foucault's Pendulum at Carleton.

Post by Mokum

The other night I strolled over to the Herzberg Laboratories at Carleton University to spend a few minutes with the Foucault Pendulum. I was looking for a metaphor. If you haven’t seen the Foucault Pendulum at Carleton, it really is that: a five-storey replica of the famous pendulum first conceived of by the 19th century French physicist Léon Foucault. In designing his pendulum, Foucault set out to demonstrate in an easy-to-see experiment that the Earth rotates; in this he succeeded.

How does it work? Like many groundbreaking discoveries, Foucault’s proof was quite simple. All he did was suspend a large pendulum from the ceiling to show that the plane of its motion, with respect to the Earth, rotated slowly clockwise. What does this clockwise motion mean? The simplest – and correct – answer is that it means that the Earth turns.

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Win tickets to the Bytowne Burlesque Revue!

Written
by
apartment613
on Wednesday, September 1, 2010
.
Photo courtesy of Justinvl on flickr

Photo courtesy of Justinvl on flickr

Post by Lauryn Kronick

One can’t help but notice that Ottawa has been getting slightly more sexy and risqué over the past few months. Much of this is thanks to the pleasing, teasing ensemble of Rockalily Burlesque.

On Saturday, September 4, the Bronson Centre (211 Bronson Ave) will be transformed into the largest sultry, deliciously raunchy cabaret venue that Ottawa has seen. Rockalily is bringing us the Bytowne Burlesque Revue, which will feature more than six burlesque troupes and dancers to get us all hot and bothered.

Along with other local favourites, the Sexual Overtones (including the Puff Sisters and Muffin Tops), and welcoming out-of-town beauties Boudoir Rouge from Hamilton, Toronto’s Starlight Burlesque and Fiona Flauntit and the divine Miss Sarah Diva from Halifax, this is by far Ottawa’s biggest burlesque extravaganza to date, Rockalily’s Miss Helvetica Bold says.

“This is going to be huge – nothing like this has ever been done in Ottawa before. It’s a collaborative brainchild that will hopefully be more attractive to the mainstream audience,” she adds.

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Better know a neighbourhood: Beechwood/New Edinburgh

Written
by
apartment613
on Tuesday, August 31, 2010
.
All photos courtesy of fieldtripp on Flickr.

All photos courtesy of fieldtripp on Flickr.

Better know a Neighborhood is Apartment613’s knockoff homage to Stephen Colbert’s famed Better Know a  District. Our goal is simple: find and write about interesting parts of the city. For the first part of this not-so-innovative series, we headed to West Wellington Village (or Hintonburg, we’re never quite sure). For our encore we went to the oasis of hipness nestled on the border of deepest, darkest Vanier.

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The Ottawa River Summit: Local Leaders Dive In

Written
by
Katie
on Monday, August 30, 2010
.
Courtesy of Wagboy on flickr

Courtesy of Wagboy on flickr

Post by Andrea Grant

Despite this city’s conservative reputation, we at Apt613 know that many of you love the occasional skinny dip and seadoo ride. Heck, we’ve even seen the more riotous ones among you out on the water riding stand-up paddleboards or cruising on inflatable “Capri islands.” But amidst all this wild and wonderful wetness, few of us are aware of the serious risks facing the freshwater fun we hold so dear – specifically, the health of the Ottawa River watershed.

This past Friday, local leaders gathered in Gatineau to discuss just that: the risks facing the Ottawa River watershed and how we can work together to protect it. Government leaders, first nations representatives, and water experts shared information about the challenges they saw facing the watershed, from sewage overflow to wetland destruction to 62 pound Asian Carp invading and destroying local ecosystems. At risk is not only our leisurely loveliness, but also wildlife health, drinking water quality, and our local tourism industries.

Whoa, back up, you say. What’s a watershed? 62 pound carp?! And why wasn’t I invited to the Summit? Chill, dear readers. Apt613 attended the Ottawa River Summit and collected all the tools you need to learn about what’s going on, and how you can get involved, right in this post.

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Release your inner firefly at Lumière

Written
by
apartment613
on Monday, August 30, 2010
.
Photo courtesy the Lumière Festival website.

Photo courtesy the Lumière Festival website.

Post by Ashley.

The glory days of summer are winding down. Sweaters, back-to-school signage and cooler evenings abound. So before it disappears completely, be sure to make time for one last summer festival. Easily my favourite event of the summer, I vote you go to the Lumière Festival.

Hosted annually by the Crichton Cultural Community Centre, Lumière is a celebration of both visual and performance art. The shining star of the event will be “The Evening of Light” on September 4th, when New Edinburgh Park will be set alight by displays from visual artists. While you tip-toe through the lanterns, various performance artists (fire spinners! stilt walkers! theatre groups! bands!) will be both stationed in and wandering through the park.

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Guys in Caves: The art of defence at the Diefenbunker

Written
by
diane
on Sunday, August 29, 2010
.
Inferno. Courtesy of the artist.

Inferno. Courtesy of the artist.

I’m sitting in the studio of multi-media artist Edwin Janzen in the Visual Arts Department at the University of Ottawa. Currently completing a Master’s in Fine Arts degree, Janzen has invited me into his workspace to talk about his thesis exhibition, Guys in Caves, currently on view at the Diefenbunker.

Surrounded by piles of video and audio equipment (and resisting the urge to play with the remote-control helicopter sitting in the corner), we spend some time talking about the Diefenbunker as an exhibition space and the militarization of art, language, and culture - from the Cold War to present day.

D: Thanks for having me here, Edwin. First off, I’d love to know how you landed the Diefenbunker as a site for your show, Guys in Caves. How did that come about?

E: It was a fortuitous string of events. I was TAing for a museum studies course where the professor invited local curators and directors of various institutions to come and give talks to the students. One of the speakers was Alexandra Badzak, who used to be the director at the Diefenbunker and now she’s director of the Ottawa Art Gallery. I asked her whether the Diefenbunker might be available to have an art show and she came for a studio visit, was intrigued by the work, and agreed to hold it there. The work has since changed a lot since what I had initially showed her, but many of the themes are still the same.

D: For someone who hasn’t seen your work how would you describe it?

E: In terms of the media that I’m using - it’s all over the place. There are video and audio components, an olfactory component, neon signage and plastic signage (door-name plates). There are four installations in this exhibition that cross over these different media.

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Local kayakers take adventures to the web

Written
by
apartment613
on Saturday, August 28, 2010
.
http://www.vimeo.com/12622767

By Aneka Rao

Last November, Mike McKay and Mike Kobzik decided to throw a party. Both avid paddlers, they’d recently started filming their kayaking trips and wanted to share the videos with friends and family. But as they started to plan the party, word spread through the Ottawa white water community. More and more people wanted to come, local companies called wanting to be sponsors and people started donating door prizes. Eventually, the small get-together turned into a movie-screening and fundraising event for the Ottawa Riverkeeper. Says McKay, “It ended up being a lot bigger than we thought. We held it at the Corner Bar down in the Glebe and it was probably the busiest night they’d ever had. It was jammed, people couldn’t move. It was crazy.”

Inspired by this success, McKay and Kobzik formed Five 2 Nine Productions and, from their already shot footage, created a whitewater-kayaking documentary called Just Like You Imagined. They realized that film was a great way to take their love of paddling to another level: to showcase the sport, get others excited about kayaking and educate a broader audience about water issues in Ottawa and around the world.

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The Love Machine says it’s time for Sweater Weather! Win their new CD.

Written
by
Samantha
on Friday, August 27, 2010
.
Photo by Jamie Kronick, courtesy of The Love Machine.

Photo by Jamie Kronick, courtesy of The Love Machine.

So you may see Justin Bieber wearing a Love Machine t-shirt in the future, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking out their new album, Sweater Weather. Ottawa indie rockers The Love Machine have been together since 2004, and have played enough local shows that you, or your mom, should have heard of them by now. The band that released their first album some five years ago would probably have a hard time recognizing their new music. Allan Gauthier, guitarist and vocalist explains, “We just grew up.” It’s been three years since the last record and having that time to perfect the songs allowed them to transform their hooky pop-melodies into more mature rock anthems akin to Kings of Leon or Thrice.

Old fans won’t feel alienated however; three songs have been re-recorded to be included on the latest album (including ‘Squirrels,’ and ‘A little Cursive in all of us’). They will notice a huge difference in vocals and the moody and dark take of the sound. ‘The album is essentially about the last three years of our lives. We’ve all dealt with deaths, break-ups, etc. It’s not like I’m writing a diary, writing about life is the easiest thing I know.” Gauthier adds, “We just love being together and playing.’’

Unique to The Love Machine is that the guys all write as a collective force and that means that sometimes songs can take up to a year to complete, like ‘Be a Path’ (check spooky video here). What they are are perfectionists, feeling out and adding to the 15 new songs in live and jam settings under careful guidance of Jonathan Chandler from Amos the Transparent. ‘Those guys have been like big brothers to us,’ says Gauthier, saying that it was them that introduced them to their label 45 Records (an independent based out of Toronto).

The Love Machine are headlining the i(heart)music Festival on Saturday, August 28th at Mavericks. Apt613 hooks you up! We’re Ggiving away one copy of The Love Machine’s new album! Tell us your favourite Love Machine song by emailing editors@apt613.ca Contest ends this Sunday. Winners will be contacted by email.

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