This is what rich people should do with their money. Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin megacorp, is trying to save the world from global warming by contributing 100% of the profits from his airline and rail companies to fight the Good Fight.
Melanie just told me about Jesus Camp, a frightening new documentary about the Christian indoctrination in America. The trailer is quite scary and I'm bent on going when it opens next weekend. Who wants come?
Anyone Interested? I'm sure BikeShare might be able to help the non-wheeled, but interested parties :-).
If only the Israelis and Hezbollah would listen to these people.
Image via The Dominion, via This Modern World via Aftenposten, from the New York Times.
Colin and Bill have been reporting a bunch of neat stuff either on their blogs or directly to me lately and so I thought I'd share some of them here.
I had my first experience with the Toronto Fringe Festival this year. Thanks to Stephen who found a show that fit my schedule, and to Jessica for coming along so I wouldn't be a 3rd wheel, I had a wonderful time.
Having never been to The Fringe before, I had no idea what to expect. Obscurity, has always meant "cheap and not very good" in my eyes, but I was only half right. The show was written by three people and performed by two -- with no props to speak of. One man and one woman, each taking turns playing different roles (including switching places as Jesus) as our hero travels the world looking for his dad. The show was ripe with puns and really, really funny inside jokes... and there were puppets!
Absolutely highlarious and increadibly blasphemous... The best combination :-) It's got one more show here in Toronto and then it will make it's way across the country on its way to Vancouver. Showtimes and more information can be found here.
I was talking to Kevin from New Mind Space about their upcoming gig, Flight of Fancy and he asked me to spread the word 'cause they need "as many people as possible... at least a thousand" for it to work. The party's going to be big, essentially a progression through town to a secret destination and cool stuff happening at the end (I'm not allowed to reveal the details, but it'll be very cool)
And so here's the plug I promised for the big party this Friday. Show up if you can, bring pretty clothes, instruments, or just yourselves. It should be quite exciting.
This Friday: July 7th, we invite you to join us for a massive, mobile celebration in Toronto.
Think roving soundsystems, packed subway cars, outrageous costumes, bold marching bands and a healthy dose of joie de vivre in the heat of the summer.
This is your night.
Meet us downtown at 7 sharp. Dress wild. Bring a token or a Metropass.
THE LOCATIONMeet us in Queen's Park at 7:00 PM. We will meet by the centre statue of King Edward VII.
The highlight of this past weekend was, without question, New Mind Space's Bubble Battle. Kevin and Lori are bloody geniuses when it comes to organising urban fun in this city and this time through was a great example of that. When Melanie and I got there at 2:30 things were just starting, a measly 10people had shown up and were preparing their bubble toys... by 3pm, there was well over 400 members of the soap-wielding masses and we were all spewing stuff into the air.
With bubbles flying everywhere, Melanie got right into the fray and we coated ourselves good in spent soapy ammunition. I frequently gave away my little bubble machinegun to little kids while I wandered through the crowd with my camera (you should see the lens... it needs serious cleaning). I, along with about a hundred others spent a great deal of time shooting blindly at the sky and at friends and neighbours hoping to get some pretty shots. This one on the right though has got to be my favourite. She loved this stuff.
Hey Stephen, I wanna see what kind of shots you got. You have a flickr account or something?
For my own pictures of the event, you can drop in on my imager, and to see what other people got (this was done in various cities all across Canada and the United States), you can check out New Mind Space's list or justSearch flickr for "bubblebattle".
As fate would have it, my birthday fell on Pride here in Toronto this year, and so Paula and I ventured out to Yonge & Bloor to see the show... It wasn't great this year (not as outrageous as last year) but still generally enjoyable. I even saw Corinne in the show, which was pretty cool.
Anyway, I took a great many pictures, sifted out the bad ones and placed everything that was left here for those who are interested.
