halloween | timotheories

It’s Mr. Dressup, Stay Classy (Halloween)

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

When most people think of Halloween, they think of trick or treating, costumes parties, parades, bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, pranks, haunted houses, lots of monster related activities, and in my case, horror movie marathons as a teenager.

But the thing is that Halloween has history reaching back almost two thousand years. Many believe that it originated with the ancient festival of Samhain, something the Celts practiced every November 1st to help ward off ghosts and other spirits. They would dress up in costumes and light bonfires to achieve the proper ritual.

It wasn’t until the eighth century or so that the Catholic Church decided to change November 1st into a day to honour saints, effectively known as All Saints Day, and it even took on some of the elements of Samhain. Which, a lot of Christian holidays have been prone to do. Incorporate a pagan holiday into its fold, to help the people digest the practice better. But that’s something I could spend more than a whole post unto itself on, so we’ll move on, for now.

With that change over, the preceding night became All Hallows Eve and it was celebrated as such until the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

All Hallows Eve-olution

With the puritanical element introduced, the theology of All Hallows Eve was redefined and the ghosts came to represent evil spirits. After all, many Protestants believe that there was no purgatory, only Heaven and Hell, thusly spirits were demons and incredibly threatening.

As people immigrated to North America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Irish and Scottish peoples brought their version of Halloween with them, watering it down and assimilating it into the mainstream of secular holidays.

Because of this practice, people focused instead on the symbols and rituals as acts of entertainment, maintaining the elements of fear and acknowledgment of the unknown. When the age of adulthood shifted from 13 to 18, more observances shifted towards children and their development, and thus costuming, craft, and activities became a celebration for them.

Let’s be clear for a second, my dear sweet treats, costuming eventually became the focal point and with that shift towards creativity, the tone of the event shifted to one of creativity and inclusion. It’s kind of amazing when you think about it. Out of the unknown and fear developed an event that celebrates the supernatural.

Which is why you probably shouldn’t dress in racist attire. Yeah, that’s right you thought this was gonna be a informative post, but I twisted it around on ya.

I’m not going to wax a ton of poetic on this but consider avoiding the following before you decided to embark on a party or three this weekend.

Turning a racial stereotype into a costume
Hyper-sexualization of women and hyper-sexualization of male genitals
Mockery of a group of people or individuals

There is absolutely no reason to offend or induce harm on others during this holidays, no one wins when you do it, and in fact it reduces individuals into debased identities which they are forced to accept or react violently against. It’s super uncool and perpetuate the flaws of culture without helping us to move forward. But that’s just a theory after all.

Enjoy your weekend friends, and I’ll be back on Sunday with something rather stimulating.

Tim!

Setting The Mood (timotheories October 2016)

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

I work for the largest national furniture retailer in North America, as my day job. Now I don’t work directly in a store, but the corporate office which effectively operates in service of the 200+ stores that comprise the retail fleet. I’ve had the distinction to work in a few areas of the business, but predominantly in the marketing department. And this is including, but not limited to print, broadcast, in-store signage, media buying, the online catalogue, and now photography.

I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting what the needs of the business are, and where the executive team is headed when it comes to major decisions. After all, my major strengths have always laid with project management, communication, negotiation, and creative problem solving.

Which means that I’m confident about how to set the mood in most settings, whether one-on-one or group orchestrated.

As you know, that means when it comes to timotheories, it’s important to me to build relationships with my local community, get involved in events that effect my city, and turn attention towards our burgeoning creative minds.

With that said, October is shaping up amazingly well. Let’s block off that disclaimer, first though.

*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.

timotheories summarized – October

Stimulating Sundays – (10/02) Cross Talk Ep. 10, (10/09) Cross Talk Ep. 11, (10/16) Megan Warkentin interview preview, (10/23) Megan Warkentin interview, (10/30) Just ‘n Time Games Ep. 1
Melodic Mondays – (10/03) Every Time I Die, (10/10) Bon Iver, (10/17) Green Day, (10/24) Kate Tempest, (10/31) Michael Jackson
Theatrical Tuesdays – (10/04) The Shallows, (10/11) Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, (10/18) Ghostbusters, (10/25) Cafe Society
Wisdom Wednesdays – (10/05) Bryan Lee O’Malley, (10/12) Exercise, (10/19) Posterconsumers.com, (10/26) Lucien X. Polastron
Timely Thursday – (10/06) timotheories October, (10/13) Thanksgiving, (10/20) 11 O’Clock Number pt. 2, (10/27) Halloween

Can’t believe it, but I only get to write out the phrase all killer, no filler only two more times. But it really is. If you can’t tell, I’m ramping up on the number of Cross Talk episodes released each month AND we’re finally going to see the first ever Just ‘n Time Games episode at the end of the month, so stay tuned for that!

And I can’t believe I have to write this for the third time, but Megan Warkentin will finally get to see the spotlight this month, and because I feel bad, she’ll get a preview interview too!

Wondering what we’re going to talk about on Cross Talk? Well episode 10 was The Global Film market, but episode 11 is a little bit different. We’ll get a bit more intimate and talk about what someone’s taste in film says about their personality.

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! Have a fantastic long weekend to my Canadians, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Tim!

Let’s Make This Night Last Forever (Goodbye Wunderbar)

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Tim Kuefler

I WAS going to post about something fun today dear readers. But that’s not in the books anymore.

Nope.

Only sadness.

I learned something really sad and now I am really sad myself, and so I’ve decided to write about this timely event instead. Mere hours ago I found out that my favourite bar in all of Edmonton is closing in the next two days. Thanks to Vueweekly and The Gateway for filling me in. And on Halloween of all days. If you already knew this information, please let me how you’ve managed to keep yourself composed after the initial shock wore off, okay?

I’m in serious need of emotional support and I could use a hug or two dozen.

The NEW Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus is closing it’s doors. And yes, that’s not a misquote, two days from now Wunderbar is closed. Just writing that sends chills down my spine. Especially after amazing music venues like The Artery and The Pawn Shop have shut down so very recently as well.

I have so many good memories of that place too…

Now I’ve been going to Wunderbar for years myself, which explains all of the memories. See I was a patron back in my university going days, well before it was acquired in 2010 by Craig Martell, Levi Christensen and Chris Janke.

This was the bar that allowed to cut my teeth on import and unconventional tasting beers. It was also the bar that I first thought about how to make a business for myself by both writing about the arts and participating in them. It was the place where one of my friends threw up in their Christmas tree, it was also the place where I saw some really weird art house adult themed videos on old format projectors. And did I mention it was the place where I learned about and tasted my first das boot? Just kidding, I mean a bierstiefel (beer boot).

Turns out that they just don’t receive enough repeat business for the small venue, which only holds about 85 people. I had heard about this problem previously, and there have already been a few attempts in our community to rejuvenate the business. And interestingly enough, the crowdfunding did work, enough money was raised to keep Wunderbar open longer than originally anticipated, but the bar is closing all the same. I imagine it has a lot to do with how the business was managed and the challenges it constantly faced which prevented it from breaking even.

If you are curious about what those challenges were you can read about in more detail via this Edmonton Journal article from the summer that I’ve linked to.

Let’s get super real for a minute.

The hole is going to be there in my heart for a while I imagine. You see, this isn’t the first bar I’ve lost to the hard and unforgiving nature of Edmonton’s bar scene. There have been a few casualties along the way.

Remember New City? Yeah, that club that moved locations a few times? I used to go there all the time too, back when it was downtown. But it eventually got swallowed alive by our harsh winters and our need for the new and novel. Just like the Sidetrack Cafe, and apparently others. Check out this article by Gigcity.ca for a post that fleshes that idea out a bit more.

Having said that, I think it might be a blessing in disguise (groans will come sentences later) that we always get new locations and new venues for music because one that is getting some more exposure is Studio 96. Studio 96 used to be a church by the name of St. Stephen’s, converted into a venue and saved from demolition and is one that might be worth checking out.

I don’t know if Studio 96 or others will ever replace Wunderbar for me, but I will leave you with this idea – If you’ve watched How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) ever, which ended its series run last year, than you may have seen the episode where Ted has a dialogue with Klaus, a man whom he had been in competition with for Victoria’s affections. When Klaus reveals that Victoria is wunderbar, but not lebenslangerschicksalsschatz.

Now, Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz, is not a real German word, but it represents the idea of an instantaneous attraction and something which is not earned but felt. Now I’ve not been to Studio 96 yet, so I can’t see if it gives me the feels, but Wunderbar was my Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz. And so I will rename it thusly in my heart and raise my glass high whenever I think of her.

In case you were wondering how I’ll be spending the rest of my Thursday night, I think I’ll have a drink with an old friend. Maybe share some war stories and come up with some new theories.

Tim!