Month: July 2016

I’d Walk 500 Miles (Whyte Avenue Art Walk)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

When I wake up, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who wakes up next to you. When I go out, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who goes along with you. If I sell art, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who sell art right next to you.

Edmonton is well known for it’s festivals and it even hosts events like Nextfest and The Works to help out burgeoning visual artists. These events are fantastic for exposing artwork at a gallery and curatorial level, but what they don’t do is address the part of art making that is ALWAYS on the mind of creative professionals.

How are we gonna get paid?

tumblr_lhioz1cTwk1qheo5ho1_500

Well truth be told, there are ways to achieve these results, but most of them require networking, whether that is through the traditional method of gallery representation, word-of-mouth, developing a virtual gallery online and pursuing networking opportunities through social media, or if you live in Edmonton, there is a special event every summer that serves as both sidewalk gallery and outdoors studio.

The particular festival is called The Whyte Art Walk. Sometimes known as The Art Walk by long-time fans.

With over 40,000 visitors Whyte Avenue becomes quite a sight to behold, catering to your production machine types to your contemporary subversives, Edmonton brings on the best and the brightest to show you a broad range of art. There is definitely something there for all of us.

Now for the hard part.

Unfortunately you just missed The Art Walk this year, as it already took place last weekend from July 8-10, but that doesn’t mean you can’t mark it on your calendar for next year! In 2017 The Art Walk will take place from July 7-9 inclusive, and it will run a 4km walk from 101 street all the way to 108 street and along Whyte avenue. Artists will also spill out into grassy areas like the Dr. Wilbert McIntyre park on 104 street and near The Station on 102 street.

It really is incredible to witness all of the hundreds of artists available to buy from and witness in the act of art making in the Old Strathcona area.

The event is organized by The Paint Spot, as it was cofounded by The Paint Spot and The Old Strathcona Foundation, this annual festival has now been running for over 20 years. And if YOU want to be part of The Art Walk, you should reach out to The Paint Spot team via The Art Walk website.

I hope you take a look dear readers, because The Art Walk isn’t just for you or me, it’s for the local community and a way to connect us all a little bit closer to the arts. But that’s just a theory. Have an excellent weekend and I’ll see you on Sunday for something rather stimulating.

Tim!

Mind Your Own Business (Your Business Plan)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

You ever have someone tell you to mind your own business, dear readers? It’s a fairly common saying in our western culture. It’s supposed to be a direct way of telling others to stop meddling in that which does not concern them.

The expression started out innocently enough.

It came from the Christian bible and in particular from the New Testament. I’ll share the verse with you for reference –

…and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,

1 Thessalonians 4:11

As time passed it slowly entrenched itself into our culture more and more, and even had a place on the first official 1 cent coin of the United States when it was designed in 1787.

By the 1930s a slang version of the phrase came up, which stated “mind your own beeswax.” Author Eric Frank Russell shortened the phrase into Myob!, and various comedians like Kevin Hart and Eddie Murphy have used it in their standup. My personal favourite is, of course, from pop culture.

Will Smith’s Fresh Prince persona has a solid point.You have to stand up for yourself and if it comes to it, tell people to lay off. Now, what does that have to do with today’s Wisdom Wednesday? Well, if you recall there was a time, roughly two months ago, when I wrote about the importance of marketing. And it just so happens that one of the associated points on marketing for a professional was developing a business plan.

Your reason to be, or as they say in french, votre raison d’être.

Writing you business plan may seem stressful at first glance, but it’s not that difficult to do, which is why we will start with the framework of your business plan –

http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/page/2753/

Business plans come in all shapes and sizes, but every business plan needs to consider its audience, the business goals, and especially the mode of delivery. I took this layout directly from the Canada Business Network section of the Government of Canada website, so you know that we’re not messing around on timotheories.

Here are some sections that you could POTENTIALLY include in your plan:

  • Executive summary
  • Business strategy
  • Marketing strategy
  • Operational plan
  • Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis
  • Human resources plan
  • Social responsibility strategy
  • E-business strategy
  • Financial forecasts and other information
  • Business exit strategy
  • Additional resources

But now you’re probably wondering how to get started in filling out those sections. Well, I went to another website to dig up some info on example business plans and get you art makers and art shakers some tips.

And here are a few tips to get you started on your own business plan –

  1. Look at other industries that already do what you do, for inspiration. But you need not worry about looking for a duplicate match. The reality is that even if another business functions similarly to yours, every business has a different location, team, and business strategy governing it. Just like individuals.
  2. Emulate their plans at the first draft, and scour other sources with each revision. Good artists copy ideas, and great artists steal them. I think some guy obsessed with apples said that once. You’ll get over your initial fears, learn something about your business, and potentially gain new ideas.
  3. Remember to write your business plan, avoid the copypasta. Professionals like lawyers and accountants can see through this and because your vision isn’t there, you only hurt your businesses chance of success in the long run.
  4. Like art, the real joy and growth comes from the process. You are creating a business plan. And like any creative pursuit, questions arise and insights are gained. You’ll be forced to answer questions you didn’t know you had, and you can then share your vision with stakeholders and anyone you think should know about it.
  5. Build a better business by using your plan every day. Put it on the wall, and keep it there so that any time you have questions about growth, strategy, and costs, you can stay on target and grow your business the right way.

All of it comes down to this, if you mind your business, people will mind their own and you’ll get a innumerable amount of monkeys off of your back. But that’s just a theory.

Tim!

Ermahgerd Mershed Perderders (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Mashups can be fun, if you take the right mix of levity and appreciation for each facet, then you can make it work in your favour. Whether it is a song, a movie, a comic book, a video game, it doesn’t matter, as long you know your source material and come at it with fun, research, and actual passion, it’ll get through.

But when you dial it in, just for the property rights, then your mashup will suck. Period.

 

 

 

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (2014)

Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Bella Heathcote, Lena Headey, Charles Dance, Sally Phillips, Matt Smith
Director: Burr Steers
released on blu-ray May 31, 2016
***** 5/10

P&P&Z

IMDB: 5.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 42%, Audience Score 47%
The Guardian: **/*****

Burr Steers is an American screenwriter, director, and sometimes actor. He has been involved in a few Tarantino movies as an actor, and has directed film like Igby Goes Down, 17 Again, and Charlie St. Cloud. Which is why I find it interesting that he decided to direct Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, henceforth known as PPZ in the rest of my review.

And I just might have an addiction to silly movie premises. I bought Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Wolfcop, and now PPZ mostly because I liked the idea of a good mashup, but the reality is that often these horror movie crossovers don’t pull the trigger, and leave you with powder in hand, so-to-speak.

Which is where PPZ ultimately ends up, and in the final third of the movie too.

Now, I have to decide if it is even worthwhile to explain the premise of the movie to you, given that it’s a mashup of an established and well known book with some zombie thrills.

So I’ve decided to sum it up rather easily for you, zombies are injected throughout the story in small portions, but it is not until Elizabeth spends some private time with Wickham, and before the reveal that he used Darcy’s family money and tried to squander it via eloping with Darcy’s sister that we see the story twist. But this is because this is a parody of Pride and Prejudice, and Wickham is also secretly a zombie himself, wanting to have treaty with the humans and set up a high position for himself and his fellow zombies who live off of animal parts.

Inevitably the movie ends up with Wickham on the side of bad, capturing Lydia, and Darcy coming in to the save the day. Then Elizabeth confesses her love for Darcy and there is a double wedding. Neat and tidy, and in line with the original.

The truth is that the story feels muddy, and the mythology is interesting but also confused and in some ways forced upon us. There will be gaps without zombies, and then the zombies come back in but with tremendous effort on the part of the characters to justify the zombies place in their world.

Pros: Despite or because of the premise, the movie is full of cheese and fun, poking at the action genre and gender roles, both within the source material and in action films. And if you’re a horror fan it’ll make the original material less boring for you.

Cons: It never feels like it’s confident in what it is trying to sell us. The movie starts off interestingly enough, but the action grows stale and the twist is not alluring enough.

Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes

Points of Interest: Natalie Portman was originally cast as Elizabeth Bennet but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. All of the Bennet sisters did their own stunts for the movie.

The opening sequence promises us that the Georgian period we know so well is in fact one of nightmares. With the rich learning Eastern disciplines in combat so that they might fight off the zombie terror. But the problem is that we never get to see them sweat or earn their abilities, and so the combat immediately feels contrived. That and the already mentioned mythology make it a fun popcorn movie, but not much else.

PPZ is not the worst mashup I have ever come across, but it’s not the best either. It middles about and hopes to get away with it, on the premise that teenagers and fans of the ridiculous will take it in. You have to decide yourself it this movie was made out of pride or prejudice, but I’m pretty confident that it wasn’t made for zombies. But that’s just a theory.

Tim!

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (Magic!, Primary Colours review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I don’t like the police, but I do like The Police. A British new wave reggae rock band that were fairly active between the mid 70s to mid 80s. I blame it on the way that our traffic laws are set up in Canada.

Actually I have no reason to hate the police. I just wanted to make a reference that transitioned well in to today’s album review.

 

 

 

Magic! – Primary Colours
released July 1, 2016
****** 6/10

MAGIC-Primary-Colours-2016-2480x2480

Magic! are a Canadian reggae fusion band out of Toronto. Yeah for Canadian content! Headed by Nasri Atweh (vocals and guitar), Mark Pellizzer (guitar), Ben Spivak (bass), and Alex Tanas (drums), Magic! have been active since 2012, and released their debut studio effort Don’t Kill The Magic in 2014. Primary Colours is their second series in the music scene.

Known for their single Rude, which went to number one in numerous countries (read: seven), Magic! takes inspiration from The Police and Bob Marley. In case you have no idea what Rude sounds like, I’ll drop some lyrics down for you –

I’m gonna marry that girl, marry her anyway. Marry that girl, yeah, no matter what you say.

Or better yet, I’ll link you to the song itself.

Now, when it comes to Primary Colours, I think it’s pretty obvious that Magic! know how to please the masses. They are setting up singles and knocking them across the park like nobody’s business. Precision, bangin’ drums, catchy hooks, and the occasional appropriate cameo makes this a summer album worth at least a few spins in your music player.

This all hinges on the idea that Magic! are experts when it comes to good times and smooth tunes. Its hard to single out one song in particular that encapsulates this, but Red Dress does oddly mimic Rude and how! The number of trumpets, saxophones, and general horniness is enough to make you skank across the dance floor. And maybe to the toilet bowl.

On the positive side Atweh has a clean and likeable voice and his range carries us through several highs and lows of the album. I would say for sure that the title track, Primary Colours, Gloria, and Lay You Down Easy are some of my favourite songs on this record.

But no matter your taste for reggae fusion, you’ll have a good time listening to the whole thing and you’ll definitely enjoy the production value, because as I hinted at previously, the band is made up of professional songwriters who have all written singles for other famous acts. This now reminds me of my R.City review. But I don’t want to get derailed, so let’s sum up.

This fab four are always writing, and are a production house in terms of material. What that means for us is that the tone of Primary Colours is consistent and enjoyable no matter if they are singing about cuckolds, God or anthems. I’d give these a foundational grade for a sophmore effort.

 

 

 

I also am not a fan of Bob Marley, but I blame that particularly on the over-commercialization of his image in colleges and smokeshops. That and an association with cannabis as integral to his Rastafari faith. It became less about the music and more about a message.

Now, Magic! do have a message, but because they are still forging their path, it’s a non-issue, enchanting even.

Tim!

So Fresh and So Clean (timotheories July 2016)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I cannot believe that we’ve already gone through half of 2016, dear readers, so much has happened and so much has changed.

I feel like Jay-Z in Change Clothes. You know I stay fresh to death, I’m gonna bring art through the mess of pop culture and to the top of the internet. So lets go.

jayz16

You know what that means, I’m going to bring the hammer down and talk the month of July on timotheories. We’ve had a post about fairness in art, and some wisdom about research via the website Snopes. But what else is on the menu for the rest of the month?

I’ll get to that sweet sweet schedule, but first, I need to share my disclaimer. That old chestnut.

*Disclaimer* As always, every week I purchase an album and movie one week ahead of the actual review release and while I have the best intentions, I don’t always get what I want… so if you follow me on instagram (@timotheories) you can actually see what’s coming.

Great! Now we can get into the thick of it. And of course I’ve included the week of July 3-9 as a reference point, even though we’ve already had a great review of White Chapel and Ex_Machina:

Stimulating Sundays – (07/03) Fairness in Art, (07/10) Mystery Interview ???, (07/17) Cross Talk Ep. 7, (07/24) Comic Books, (07/31) Brad Fehr interview
Melodic Mondays – (07/04) White Chapel, (07/11) Magic!, (07/18) The Avalanches, (07/25) Good Charlotte
Theatrical Tuesdays – (07/05) Ex_Machina, (07/12) Pride & Predjudice & Zombies, (07/19) Everybody Wants Some!!, (07/26) Whiplash
Wisdom Wednesdays – (07/06) Snopes, (07/13) Your Business Plan, (07/20) Syndication, (07/27) Your Image
Timely Thursday – (07/07) timotheories July, (07/14) Art Walk, (07/21) Taste of Edmonton, (07/28) K-Days

The year of all killer, no filler continues friends! Can you believe that I have something special in store for you this month too? I’m going to share an international artist interview with you for the first time ever!

 

AND this month’s Cross Talk features a guest appearance from an action movie expert in the form of a gentleman. And I know I sound like a broken record but you really won’t want to miss it.

20040607_6_remotes

Lastly let’s go over a really cool interview I’ll be sharing with an artist who is conscious of everything; he makes intuition seem like Mickey Mouse cartoons. Brad Fehr. That’s all you’ll get on this interview for now, but it’ll be cerebral at the very least.

And now we’ve covered it all, my friends. Or have we?

Sorry one more thing, I’m still working on the table top games videos, so stay tuned for more on that front. For realz.

And those are all of the theories I can come up with for now friends. Please leave some comments, to let us know what you want to see in coming months and subscribe to the blog too!

Tim!