Instant Love

Warhol's

Last June the world kind of ran out of Polaroid film. I have a special place in my heart for Polaroids. They are so candid and honest and immediate. A little hobby of mine is purchasing old cameras at flea markets and antique stores. Great in theory but I run into issues when I try to find film for them, which these days, is usually impossible. Ironically, in the case of my 1983 Polaroid Sun 600, Impossible may be the answer.

Polaroids of my parents from the mid '70s. They are about my age here.

First off, let me quickly explain why Polaroid film is unavailable now:

Polaroid made negatives. Every Polaroid has a negative and a positive. The negative material was made in Boston and the equipment they used was decomissioned years ago. Before the equipment was decommissioned, the company produced miles and miles of negative and put it in cold storage. So once that negative was gone (last june), there really wasn't anybody to make more of it.

Enter: SavePolaroid & The Impossible Project. Essentially, one man (Dr. Florian Kaps, Impossible Project founder) purchased the last Polaroid factory, hired some of the staff and is working to produce a new type of Instant Film by early 2010. At this point it is undecided as to whether he will keep the Polaroid name or not.

I find it interesting that we've come so far with digital photography, and live in a world with such advanced technology, but trying to recreate instant film is deemed an "impossible" project.

Perhaps the secret of creating successful instant film died with this guy. 

Or maybe there is just not enough interest/money/materials?

I for one hope Polaroid film comes back, and for less than $100 a pack. 

Watch & Share Fridays

And donate here.

C'est vendredi

Ola amigos y amigas.

It's foreign language Friday. Well, not really, but let's pretend.

I'm thinking about language a lot these days. Being concise is important, and I come from an academic writing background which doesn't exactly translate into pithy ad copy as easily as you might think. There aren't many fifty-dollar words in your average radio spot or print ad. You have to be able to convey a message in just a few words that will reach a lot of people. And of course, the language you use needs to be particular to your target demographic.

It's a lot like being in ethno-linguistics, except that it's market-based. A sentence aimed at teenage girls likely won't resonate with seniors because their cultural contexts are so different. There's a lot of room for play in writing ads, especially with such a talented graphic designer as Cassie.

There's a marriage of text and image that goes into designing communications... even radio spots or picture-only print ads. Image and text evoke each other, and sometimes they overlap and become one another, so "marriage" is actually a very romantic way to think of communication design.

Consider Douglas Coupland's sculpture "Generation X", made of paper and magnolia branch in 2004. This is one of my all-time favourite pieces by one of my all-time favourite sculptor/writers. The author himself masticated (ie.: chewed) his novel and formed it into a wasp's nest around a section of tree branch.

What the what? Something Coupland once told me (yes, personally) is that he wasn't a novelist. He creates, he says, sculptures of books. That statement started me rethinking the way I imagine the meaning of words and how they exist in our lives. New media has changed many things: not the least of which is prevalence of the image above the word and a shift in something called (in the academy, at any rate) visual culture. Our culture is almost entirely visual now. We consume more with our eyes that with any other sense organ, even though our eyesight isn't that great as a species. At one point the oral (or the aural) was the primary form of communication, but since the invention of the printing press (some three centuries ago) culture has shifted to the visual. Functional literacy is higher than ever, but the emphasis is away from text and toward image.

Images are a language all their own. Some days I feel as though I'm at a disadvantage because even though I understand images perfectly well, my "native" language is text. My visual rhetoric, the act of drawing or photographing or illustrating or whathaveyou (if you can imagine those acts as a parallel to speaking or writing) has a distinct accent.

And that's why I let my esteemed colleague, Cassie, do the drawing. She's fluent.

Merci Dieux, c'est le fin de semaine.

Come Visit Us Virtually

Between organizing ad campaigns, developing corporate identities (logos and brands), and creating our own corporate structure, we somehow found time to publish a website. To be more accurate, we found Emeri Schweigert, who then published our website.

Emeri is sort of the fifth Beatle. He's also our favourite freelancer and rockstar.

We're pretty excited about it. Cassie, of course, designed it and yours truly wrote the web copy... no big deal.

Have a gander and tell us what you think!

Meet Kevin.

Here's a new little feature we'll have on the PE blog from time to time...An interview with someone who, we think, does/is doing/is planning on doing something interesting.

First up is your new boyfriend Kevin Suess. 

That's him above. In logo form.

Kevin and I met a few years back when I was scouring KW for new artists to feature in (qatalyst) magazine. He is a darling and extremely talented. So commission something already.

PE:  Hi, who are you? Name, Age, Employment if any (blame the recession), Claim to Fame. 

KS: a) My name is Kevin Suess. Hello! 
b) I'm 23 and I'm an illustrator / graphic designer / musician. 
c) I make incredible grilled cheese sandwiches. 

PE:  Are you native to this area?
KS: I've lived in K-W for 23 years which coincidentally, is my whole life.

PE:  What do you do art wise and what are your favourite medias to work in? Creatively.
KS: I suppose I experiment in many styles and themes in art making. I paint and pour and sketch and ink, sometimes overly tidily, sometimes disasterously messily. I use mostly oil, acrylic and charcoal but lately I've been considering getting into encaustic and the mess it will most definitely entail. 

PE: What are your favourite things in/about KW?
KS: I'm crazy about the Boathouse in Victoria Park. I've only played there once but it was amazing. It's a great venue. Artistically, I like that less established artists and musicians like myself are given chances and opportunities to show their talents. Maybe it's not the area, i could just be luck with people I've had the opportunity to meet... but local publications and venues in the past have been very kind and welcoming to me.

PE: If you could have one super power, what would it be?
KS: The ability to accurately generate any statistic I could possibly conceive. How many times have I listened to the blue album in my life? 107. Hmm, no shit. Is that lame? Okay... invisibility. 

PE: As a representative of all the 20somethings in Waterloo, I'm curious to know where you see KW in 15 years?
KS:  In 15 years I see K-W as being essentially the same. Maybe ALL businesses will have automatic doors. Actually, I see K-W as becoming even more of a full on arts community, I think it's already on it's way.

PE: Shamelessly plug your band.

KS: I play in a band with four other awesome gents. Our name is Trap Tiger and we play oddly catchy indie-ish pop? We can't agree on what we are but we jump, shout, clap, dance and sing our little hearts out. You can visit us online at myspace.com/traptiger or visit us in person at one of our shows. We're at the Starlight on the 1st of October. Was that shameless enough? 

For more information on Kevboto, email him here: robotdancefight@hotmail.com. 

Kevin's artwork will be donning the walls of Jane Bond beginning this fall. Details TBD.

the gem of dt K dot

Last night after work Cassie and I tottled down to Queen Street for the open house at the Queen Street Conservatory. We've decided it's probably the new gem of Downtown Kitchener.

Here's why:

a) Heritage Building with some of the coolest office space on the main floor.
b) The bathrooms have marble stalls
c) The second and third floors are converted into large dance studios, the uppermost with hip-hop artwork (ie. grafitti) dressing the walls
d) Huge, street-facing windows that make you feel like you're actually in a NYC dance academy
e) Enthusiastic community leaders and industry pros are all over the place and super-excited about the dance and vocal programs offered there (right now!)

The building was formerly the Royal Conservatory of Music, but had been a few things before that and one or two since. If you missed the open house (catered by Vincenzo's, who are moving soon to Allen St. in case you weren't aware) it's probably because you hadn't heard about it. But don't worry, you can still support dance and vocal studies in this community by visiting their website and letting them know how absolutely desperate you are to take modern dance classes. 

That's what Cassie did.

Lunch Review 002

Where: Duke St. Muse Cafe, Duke Street, Kitchener

What: Pesto Monterey Veggie Sandwich Toasted on Multigrain & Citrus Pine Nut Salad 

Price: Sandwich - $4.35   Salad - $3.25

(sorry for the horrible photos. all we have in the office today is my mac photobooth. real professional)

The Duke Street Muse is a huge office fave here at PE. Everything is so fresh and the service is always excellent. They have their full menu online (link above), take out takes less than 10 minutes if you call ahead, and the owner is always waiting for you with a smile.  I usually order the mexican black bean burrito ($3bucks!) but today I wanted something lighter...And I

 gotta say, this sandwich is amazing. Fresh mulitgrain bread, basil pesto, tomatoes, lettuce and Monterey cheese (Soy Cheese is also available if you lean Vegan).

The salad is also great, but a little too much vinaigrette . Mixed greens, raisins, pine nuts and cucumber, with grated carrot. Nice (but a little eager) citrusy light dressing. 

Don't want to stop eating. 

Also- Kudos to Duke St. Muse for accepting the Downtown Card which gave me 10% off my lunch. Steal.

Total Rating: 4.75/5 ( coulda been perfect but it came in styrofoam )