Culture & Language Connections Montreal will be hosting the first M❤NTREAL Photographic Exhibition. The exhibit opened Oct. 20 and will run until Jan. 11, 2013.
The exhibit features a look at Montreal through the lens of local photographers; a glimpse of Montreal as you’ve never seen it before.
Featured artists include: Angela Auclair, Laura Arwen Berg, Kristofferson Brice, Edmond Chung, Ron Harris, Christopher McMullen, David Nuff, Kyle Ruggles, Darina Velkova, Nadia Zheng.
Beauty and the Breast investigates the devastating reality of living with breast cancer. Winner of the best documentary at last month’s Montreal World Film Festival, Beauty and the Breast opened Oct. 19 at Cineplex Forum.
The film explores and demystifies the disease through the eyes of nine women, painting a poignant and at times comedic portrait of survival. The film looks at every stage of the disease, beginning with diagnosis, following the women through their physical and mental experiences.
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→ Get Animated! at The National Film Office
The sixth edition of Get Animated! — a celebration of the finest and most comedic animation from across the country — arrives in Montreal Oct. 28. The National Film Board of Canada, in collaboration with local partners across Canada, offers free screenings and workshops for audiences of all ages. Highlights include the Genie Award-winning production Romance by Georges Schwizgebel, Edmond Was a Donkey, winner of the Special Jury Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Oedipus, an NFB short by Oscar Nominee Paul Driessen.
Workshops will be offered in English or French, but you must register in advance by calling 514-283-9000. The National Film Office is located at 3155 de la Côte de Liesse. For more information visit nfb.ca/getanimated
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→ Stories We Tell at Cineplex Forum
Players of the children’s game ‘telephone’ will know that a story can change the more people who tell it and the relating of events takes on different shapes based on who’s relating them. Filmmaker Sarah Polley explores this concept in her film Stories We Tell which opened Oct. 19 at Cineplex Forum and which will be shown with French subtitles beginning Oct. 26 at Excentris. Polley interviews members of her family, each person telling his or her version of the family’s mythology, sometimes relating contradictory information. A deeply personal film that explores how a person’s narrative shapes them as individuals and as part of a family, the film played to rave reviews at multiple film festivals.
Before speech, humans communicated through symbols, drawings, and their body movements.
However in this age of words, there is still a lot that can be gained from our previous methods of communicating.
Drawing, using our bodies and making sounds are tools that are useful in expressing what we can’t or don’t know how to express verbally.
These tools are especially useful in therapeutic settings and are employed by creative arts therapists to help patients express their needs, resolve issues or come to terms with trauma.
Therapists can use a number of different media in their sessions, including art, music, drama, and dance. In the case of art therapy, the client is invited to create something in front of the therapist. The therapist and client will look over the image together and reflect on what they have created.
As an image speaks louder than words, it is sometimes easier for people to express their inner world through art. The art created by the client is an opening for dialogue and in some cases, such as traumatic experiences, the issue can be worked out through symbolically using what the client has drawn or painted.
“I’m really into abstract impressionist [art], so I just take the paints and try to blend all the different colors and after I’m done doing that [my therapist] looks at my artwork and says, Rachel* is this what you’re feeling inside?” says Rachel, an art therapy client at CSSS Cavendish.
There is no dictionary of symbols in art therapy, what a person draws is symbolically significant to them and therefore only has meaning in relation to that particular individual.
“The art is a way for them to symbolically explore their issues. After that, we look at the images and see if we can find a solution,” explains Julia L. Olivier, art therapist and president of Expression LaSalle.
Most of the people who take part in art therapy at Expression Lasalle are people who have had to deal with trauma and things that they are ashamed to talk about. It is much easier for them to express it through art or by acting it out with theatre.
“At first, patients will come in contact with a lot of emotions, like anxiety, but after awhile they will feel joy, and remember what is was like to do art when they were children,” says Sarah Brodie, an art therapist at the Montreal Therapy Centre. “You can make links between the shapes on the page and your inner world…it all leads to who we are and where we want to be.”
Sometimes, art therapy can help people discover passions they never would have discovered ordinarily. For example, Olivier had a patient who was a single mother of three children and was dealing with the fact that they were growing up. She had to find out who she was as a person, as an adult without children. Her artwork was filled with jewelry, so Olivier suggested that she should try taking a jewelry-making class.
With drama therapy, patients must act and watch others act in order to solve their problems. This technique, like art therapy, is great for people who have suffered traumas, as well as people who have trouble understanding the problems they are living with; they can understand it better by seeing other people act it out, or by acting it out themselves.
“With drama therapy, you can act out memories or fantasies, and this helps you better understand them,” says Brodie.
Patients will often set goals for themselves on their first session. This becomes the theme that they will explore during their individual or group sessions.
“We try to work on a series of goals that we need to overcome in three years time. So I have three goals that I need to overcome in the next three years. So every week we try to work towards that,” says Rachel. “One of my goals is to be more comfortable in my own skin, another one is to stop being overly stressed.”
According the Canadian Association for Music Therapy: “Music therapy is the skillful use of music and musical elements by an accredited music therapist to promote, maintain, and restore mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Music has nonverbal, creative, structural, and emotional qualities. These are used in the therapeutic relationship to facilitate contact, interaction, self-awareness, learning, self-expression, communication, and personal development.”
Music therapists work mostly with children with special needs or developmental disabilities, hospitals’ patients, and elderly populations. They also work with people who are in comas, or premature babies.
“We once had a little boy who spoke in gibberish. With music therapy he was able to make words by following the rhythm, he started saying short sentences, to say his name,” explains Guylaine Vaillancourt, assistant professor of music therapy at Concordia. Music therapy allowed the little boy to make friends, and Vaillancourt even noticed a change in the boy’s mother, who seemed to realize that her boy was smart.
Vaillancourt told another story of a patient in palliative care who was very tense and who was dealing with a lot of pain. She also had trouble talking about her disease. Vaillancourt played songs that she chose on the piano, songs that meant a lot to her. With the use of instruments and song, the patient became much calmer, and even felt less pain and slept more soundly.
With premature babies, music therapists use techniques like recording the mother’s voice and playing it to the baby. They may also record the mother’s heartbeat and play soft, soothing music for the baby. By playing these sounds, the baby is helped to feel more secure while in the incubator, and this helps the baby gain weight much faster, according to Vaillancourt.
Words are a difficult mode of communication, we can’t always find the right ones to express how we’re feeling, but with the tools used in creative arts therapies there is another avenue to which we can turn.
*The name has been changed due to the personal nature of the topic.
Expression Lasalle is located at 405 Terrasse Newman. The CSSS is part of the CLSC’s network of mental health services, for more information visit www.santemontreal.qc.ca
In collaboration with Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the 14th edition of the International Festival of Films on Art began Sept. 30 and will run until Nov 4. Featuring films that explore art in all its forms, the festival presents the best art films at the Maxwell Cummings Auditorium every Sunday at 2 p.m.
The complete Woody Allen films at Cinema du Parc
Did you run out of space on your hard drive before you could download all 44 films by Woody Allen? Lucky for you, Cinema du Parc will be showing every one of his films from Oct. 2 to Nov 22. Look for classics like Annie Hall, Manhattan and Bananas, as well as his recent wonders Midnight in Paris and To Rome with Love. Allen once said “If my film makes one more person miserable, I’ll feel I’ve done my job.” The ever-sarcastic director has actually been doing the opposite — delving into the realities of life in an endearing and comedic way for over 40 years, and consistently surprising us with his unique brilliance and socially relevant wit. This man is a machine, making at least one film a year since 1965, something that no other writer/director has ever dared to accomplish.
The Medea Effect at Theatre La Chapelle
Ugo’s mother has forgotten him and now his childhood fear is coming true. The Medea Effect is a roller-coaster ride of emotion, featuring Concordia graduate Emma Tibaldo. The Medea Effect runs Oct. 11 to 20 at Theatre La Chapelle. Tickets and showtimes at talisman-theatre.com
New theatre company inFurnace holds first monthly play reading
On Oct. 9, inFurnace, a new theatre company in Montreal, will hold its first play reading at The Freestanding Room. The reading of Stone Cold Dead Serious is part of the company’s fundraising effort. Admission is by donation so please give generously. Doors open at 7 p.m., space seats 30 so get there early.
The Bacchae at The Centaur Theatre
Scapegoat Carnival Theatre presents The Bacchae a tragic story of the god Dionysus’s return to Thebes. Dionysus, the god of wine and merrymaking has returned to avenge the defamation of his mother’s name. Standing in his way is the young King Pentheus, who denies Dionysus’ authority as a deity, imprisoning anyone who participates in his rites. The Bacchae runs Oct 12-20 at Centaur Theatre 453 St François-Xavier.
Art Exhibit: Cloud Nine at the VAV Gallery
“CLOUD NINE is an exhibition of three artists’ personal explorations into the visual and emotional aspects of the body. The works are beautiful and intriguing, but there exists a sense of foreboding and danger in the images presented. Nevertheless, the artists create their work with a sense of humor; there is a certain comical quality to the characters on the page and on screen.”- Artist group statement.
Featuring work by Concordia students: Amanda Craig, Tiffany April and Yannick ”Ziyang” Yip. Cloud Nine runs until Oct. 12. For more information visit vavgallery.concordia.ca
AUGUST, An Afternoon in the Countryat Centaur Theatre
Centaur Theatre’s inaugural show of its 44th Season, August, An Afternoon in the Country, takes you to the heart of a family drama unfolding in the rural countryside. An evening meant to celebrate the recent engagement of Monique and her boyfriend André quickly unravels as secrets begin to surface and family tensions begin to boil.
August, An Afternoon in the Country runs from Oct. 2 until the 28. For ticket prices and showtimes please visit centaurtheatre.com
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Guys And Dolls at Segal Centre
A broadway classic that gave birth to such memorable songs as “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,”, “Luck Be a Lady,” and “Adelaide’s Lament.” Guys and Dolls has been a favorite of musical lovers for generations. Starting at the Segal Centre on Sept. 30, Guys and Dolls is set in the streets of gritty 1940s-era New York and features gamblers, swindlers and nuns – of all things. Nathan Detroit runs a floating craps game but he’s in need of money – bad – so he bets high-roller Sky Masterson that Sky can’t get Sister Sarah Brown to agree to a date with him. Sky promises Sarah money for her crumbling mission if she goes out with him. She reluctantly agrees, never expecting that she would fall in love.
Guys and Dolls runs from Sept. 30 until Oct. 28. For ticket prices and showtimes please visit segalcentre.org
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Chuck Samuels art exhibit at gallery Occurence
Chuck Samuels has brought two bodies of work, Memory Believes and Movie/Music to gallery Occurence. Memory Believes presents 14 photographs on the theme of memory permutation that were created using Super 8 film and other antiquated images. Movie/Music is a presentation of visual experimentation that uses dated film and video equipment to create ten musical short films done in collaboration with composer and musician Bill Parsons.
Chuck Samuels’ exhibits will be showing at Occurence until Oct. 23.
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Book Release – DEBT SENTENCE: How Canada’s Student Loan System is Failing Young People and the Country by Thomas F. Pawlick
A call to arms over the way post-secondary education is financed in Canada, Pawlick’s indicts the Canadian financial loan system and makes a case for immediate and drastic change.
Available online at Amazon.com, Chapters and Barnes & Noble, Debt Sentence retails for $19.95.
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Marlon Brando: Provocative Genius at Cinema du Parc
From Oct. 5 to 11, Cinema du Parc will be celebrating the life and career of Marlon Brando with the showing of six of his most renowned films; The Wild One, The Godfather, On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, Last Tango in Paris and Apocalypse Now Redux.
Dates and showtimes vary. Please visit cinemaduparc.com for more information.
The Blood Ballet Cabaret’s Classical Show. Press photo.
The Blood Ballet Cabaret’s Classical Show. Press photo.
You won’t need to stand in front of a mirror to invoke Miss Bloody Mary Anne, otherwise known as Kamee Abrahamian, as she will be making an appearance at The Blood Ballet Cabaret’s Classical Show, Oct 7.
Classically trained as a ballet dancer for 14 years, Anne came up with the idea of starting her own burlesque troupe back in May 2010.
“Basically, I hit the ground running. Somebody suggested it to me and I wasn’t sure, they took me to a burlesque show and basically as soon as I saw my first burlesque act ever, I think I realized that I really wanted to do it,” she said.
The Blood Ballet Cabaret combines diverse circus acts such as aerial contortion and fire hooping, with musical performances and burlesque-style acts. As part of their Classical Show on Oct. 7, the performers will be performing their numbers to classical and operatic music. Anne says that this type of music adds an epic dimension to performances. Some of the show will also be accompanied live with music from the Street Meat trio.
“It always ends up being really dramatic and epic and kind of grand,” she said.
Anne has assembled a crew of unique artists, composed of burlesque, circus and musical performers. Some highlights of her troupe are Petit Pandora, a circus artist from the National Circus School in Montreal, whose specialities include contortion, aerial hoop, aerial chains and straps. The Lady Josephine will be familiar to Concordian readers who attended her show Lovers and Other Strangers last month. A seasoned burlesque performer, Lady Josephine is well known for her strong characters, classical dancing and mime abilities.
Seraphina and Fire Phoenix will be bringing the heat to the cool October evening with their respective fire acts, while Fuhrious Nina delivers a touch of comedy with her humorous 1950s style. For Anne’s part, her act will incorporate some of the mythology of her namesake, integrating blood into her storylines and embodying aspects of the legend of Bloody Mary.
A unique blend of erotic entertainment and astonishing feats of human ability, The Blood Ballet Cabaret’s Classical Show has the makings of a truly unique way to spend a Sunday night.
The Classical Show will take place Oct. 7 at Le Belmont, 4483 St. Laurent. Doors open at 20 p.m., tickets are $10.
Guillaume Morissette, a Creative Writing student, co-hosts the reading on Sept. 27. Photo by Megan Joong.
Guillaume Morissette, a Creative Writing student, co-hosts the reading on Sept. 27. Photo by Megan Joong.
“Why aren’t there any readings happening?” asked Concordia student Ashley Opheim in the winter of 2012, “I want to have a reading with all the people my age.” And that’s exactly what she did. Now in its third incarnation, This Is Happening Whether You Like It Or Not, will be hosting an evening of literature and music on Sept. 27 at Silver Door.
Partnering with classmate and longtime friend, Guillaume Morissette, the two creative writing majors came up with the idea to host their own reading last winter.
“The first one was kind of impromptu in the sense that it was much more of an informal event in a friend of ours’ loft, and it kind of turned into a thing of its own volition,” said Morissette.
This is Happening has its roots in events that Morissette hosted in the backyard of his former residence. As a result of their plentiful backyard space, Morissette and his former roommates would organize various functions and one evening they decided to host a casual reading, inviting their friends to share their work, a sort of one-off reading that helped spawn the idea.
The name was invented by Opheim first as a joke because she was organizing the reading without having asked the people she planned on having read if they wanted to do it in the first place. However, the name also insinuates, Opheim explained, “that this is going to happen whether people come or not. Our interest isn’t really in getting tons of people out, it’s about creating a space for people to do these readings. Especially in the context of reading, its a name that makes such a strong claim. You’re so used to having readings that are very polite, like; well, if you want to come . . . you’re not obligated,” added Morissette, “so it’s kind of this flipping of the script on its head.”
Currently, Opheim and Morissette select readers based on people they know, writers whom they trust. However, with the increasing number of events, they are planning on casting a wider net and looking for people outside of their own cluster to read.
“Right now, we are showcasing a lot of Concordia people, but it would be interesting to showcase people from McGill, people that aren’t in school or don’t necessarily have a strong writer profile, but they have something to contribute,” said Morissette.
As their events become more formal and more planned, they are hoping to have a mix of both emerging and established writers so that people can have the opportunity to hear new voices and also go see someone they are already familiar with. For their Sept. 27 reading they will be featuring internet celebrity Steve Roggenbuck, who will also be broadcasting the reading live on his Spreecast page. Tune in at http://www.spreecast.com/events/jurassicpark3.
Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by Marcello Di Cintio
Marcello Di Cintio’s ambitious work of non-fiction attempts to blend travel and reporting in an effort to answer the question: “what does it mean to live against a wall?” He examines cultures where people are divided by the presence of a wall and seeks to discover how or if these structures influence those they separate.
Walls: Travels Along the Barricades is available from Chapters Indigo and Amazon.ca and retails at $29.95.
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The Pilot Reading Series at Sparrow
Co-sponsored by Writers Read Concordia and Matrix Magazine, the monthly reading series features writers from Concordia and around the globe. This month’s event will feature readings from Hildebrand Pam Dick, Candice Maddy, Simon Wake, Michael Nardone and derek beaulieu.
The Pilot takes place Sept. 30, beginning at 8 p.m. at Sparrow, 5322 boul. Saint Laurent. Entrance is free.
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Sympathies Sympathiques at VAV Gallery Sympathies Sympathiques is an art exhibition featuring five artists from Concordia’s Fine Arts department. Combining textile arts, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, the pieces work in harmony through their appearance and dark monochromatic frame.
The exhibit is being held at VAV Gallery from Sept. 17- 28
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The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The town of Pagford is a town at war; children at war with their parents, the rich at war with the poor, teachers at war with their students, wives at war with their husbands. When town councilman Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly the campaign for his seat is the catalyst for the biggest war of all.
The much anticipated new, adult novel from acclaimed Harry Potter writer, J.K. Rowling will be released this Thursday to the delight of her fans.
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The Theresa Foundation’s 3rd Annual Benefit Concert
An evening of music, theatre and poetry to raise money to help support the Grandmothers of Mnjale Village in Milawi ‘s effort to raise children who have been orphaned by AIDS. There will be tons of performers such as;: Dave Gossage, Bud Rice and Senja Sargeant, Burton Street Singers, The Good Buddies, Ann Lambert and Laura Mitchell, Vishesh Abeyratne and Jonathan Bosco, Isaac Abracen and Kyla Smith
The event will take place at Westmount Park Church, 305 Landsdowne (corner de Maisonneuve). Doors open at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, show begins at 8 p.m. Suggested donation is $20 general and $10 students and seniors.
The Mirror is back with a vengeance. Photo by Madelayne Hajek.
The Montreal Mirror is back with a vengeance. Photo by Madelayne Hajek.
“I was pretty disappointed. That’s where I found out about all the concerts I went to,” said Concordia student, Jon Harding about the Montreal Mirror closing its doors back in June. Luckily for Jon and other students in Montreal, the editors of the news and arts website Cult MTL have come to the rescue.
If you were on campus last Friday, you may have been handed a copy of Cult MTL’s Student Survival Guide. A website that formed after the demise of the Montreal Mirror, Cult MTL released its first print edition, a special for students on everything they need to know to survive in Montreal, on Sept. 7.
In addition to pertinent and helpful information, the guide also boasts hotspot recommendations by local celebrities; Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire, Nadia G of Bitchin Kitchen, Jessica Paré from Mad Men, Jay Baruchel from Tropic Thunder and many more.
However with a run of only 10,000 copies and select distribution, Cult MTL’s Student Survival Guide is a far cry from replacing its predecessor the Montreal Mirror, of whom Cult MTL’s editors derive.
“We’re using the tradition of The Mirror, the guides they would put out were very useful for people, people really loved the supplements, so we thought that it would be a good idea to keep that tradition going. In terms of the website, we are covering similar beats but we’re doing it in a different way. Just the way you present things on a website, of course, is different and the fact that it’s daily changes everything,” said Lorraine Carpenter, Cult MTL’s music editor during an interview on CTV News which aired Sept. 12.
Cultmtl.com was first launched only three weeks after the Mirror closed its doors. The site provides up-to-date news, which has been deemed ‘alternative’, music and art listings, and a section on culture which covers stories on art in general. Montreal Mirror fans will be glad to find column favourites such as Rantline and Sasha’s Sex Column reincarnated on the site, as well as the same extensive and navigable listings of concerts in and around the Montreal area.
Although available solely online, Cult MTL has helped fill some of the void left by the Mirror’s disappearance.
In a note on the WTF section of their webpage, Cult MTL editors express their goal with the site and their dedication to their readers:
“We all worked at the Montreal Mirror, either in editorial or as freelancers or both. Our aim is to serve Montreal as we used to, but with a fresh format and voice. We will deliver daily coverage of the city, from news to culture to event listings and recommendations for things to do, see and hear. Because there’s never a shortage of stuff to do, just a shortage of savvy voices to steer you to the best of it.”
The print edition of Cult MTL’s Student Survival Guide is available at select locations around campus. For more information visit their website at cultmontreal.com
→Where the Blood Mixes at Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavallee.
Christine, a child of residential school survivors, was removed from her home at a young age. Now she must try to reconnect with her family and community as they try to move forward from the social injustice done to them. With a diverse cast featuring Alarey Alsip as Christine, Charles Bender as “Mooch”, Eric Hausknost as George, Jeremy Proulx as Floyd, and Emilee Veluz as June and with music by Dumisizwe Vuyo Bhembe, Where the Blood Mixes promises to be a thorough, thought-provoking, and hopefully healing piece of theatre.
Where the Blood Mixes runs Sept. 13 to 30.
Wednesday to Saturday 8:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Matinee 2:00 p.m.
Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavallée
3819 av Calixa-Lavallée (parc Lafontaine)
Box Office: 514 848 0238
Adults: $24, Seniors: $20, Students: $12
Special 2 for 1 pricing: Wednesday evenings and Saturday matinees
→Ne meurs pas tout de suite on nous regarde at Tangente
A twist on the traditional story of Adam and Eve, this dance takes place in a weird post-apocalyptic world, where L and M are possibly the last two human beings left on earth. With carefree oblivion they reinvent chaos and flirt with kinesthetic existentialism. A beautiful piece and a must see for lovers of dance.
Sept 20, 21, 22 at 6:30 p.m.
Sept 23 at 4 p.m. Studio Hydro-Québec – Monument-National
Regular tickets $20, Student Discount $16.
→Richard III by Metachroma Theatre
“Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York.” – Richard III
One of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedies, the story of Richard III is both horrific and captivating. Ever the outsider, Richard struggles to win the monarchy, foregoing all consequences and committing terrible deeds. A psychological journey of a man shunned from society for his deformed appearance, Richard III is a play of schemes, tyranny and evil. Complete with Concordian veterans Jamie Robinson, Quincy Armorer, Jimmy Blais and director Joel Miller, this inaugural piece, with the generous support of The Segal Centre for the Performing Arts, is sure to entertain.
Richard III runs from Sept. 19 to 30 at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts Studio, 5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd.
→Perpetually Becoming at Maison culturelle et communautaire de Montréal-Nord
An art exhibition that travels through time, Perpetually Becoming, the first solo exhibition for Montreal North artist and Concordia graduate Adriana Coluccio, displays “unfettered spaces and lost recollections in constant motion across eras while past and present are intertwined on the canvas,”according to the show’s press release. Coluccio is fascinated by the juxtaposition of old and new media, transferring from one form to another and exploring the dimension at the edge of creation or collapse. Her work is sure to fascinate all audiences.
Perpetually Becoming will be at the Maison culturelle et communautaire de Montréal- Nord from Sept. 13 to Oct. 14, 2012.
Hours: Tuesday – Friday 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday – Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Photographer Sydney Pine explores Phil Allard and Justin Duchesneau’s installation Forêt, as part of the Festival International Les Escales Improbables de Montreal, an interactive art festival running from September 2 to 14 at locations in and around Montreal.
See the photo gallery below to learn more about this installation.
Forêt is meditation space made of 650 pieces of recycled wooden pallets.
Not normally self-supportable, the pallets are made to support themselves in this piece and filter light as though they were tree branches and had returned to their birth form.
The space suggests a natural sanctuary at the center of the urban landscape.
The many pieces come together like a puzzle to form a gigantic structure.
“We conceived a space which bears itself with the idea of support. The light is filtered as through natural tree branches.” – wrote Phil Allard and Justin Duchesneau.
The installation draws inspiration from the buildings surrounding it but is set apart by its unique construction.
The ‘freshman fifteen’ is the colloquial term for the unfortunately common occurrence of weight gain during your first year at university. It is usually caused by academic and social stress, increase in the consumption of alcohol and the sudden freedom of being able to eat whatever, whenever, without parental intervention. And yes, it can happen to you.
But never fear, literature is here! The following are several books to help you cope with stress, eating healthy, staying healthy and finding time to exercise during a busy school day.
1. I’m freaking out! Nobody can escape stress, especially when papers are due, exams are looming and your hangover has kept you in bed until noon. Nonetheless stress is manageable and if you’re looking for tips and tricks to keep you from pulling your hair out, then Stress Management For Dummies by Allen Elkin is your go-to guide. Touted as being “better than a psychiatrist” by reviewers on Amazon.com, this book is full of tips and techniques for deflating your stress. It’s also light on the wallet; Chapters Indigo is currently offering the trade paperback for $3.99 on their website.
2. Food is everywhere and lots and lots to drink! Montreal is brimming with great places to eat and drink and many are open all night long. So how do you fill your stomach without filling out your waistline? I recommend David Zinczenko’s best selling book Eat This, Not That! 2013: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution. “It’s like a cookbook, grocery list, and takeout menu drawer rolled into one book,” say Amazon.com reviewers. Packed full of nutritional information and tips for making food choices, this book is an essential guide to eating with pleasure, without the weight gain.
3. But I have no time to exercise! School, work, study, social life, sleep, there’s just so much to do and so little time. How in the world do you expect me to go to the gym with all this going on? Well, do you have 15 minutes? Quick Fit by Richard Bradley provides fifteen minute, no-sweat workouts that you can fit in anywhere, anytime. “The simple instructions, clear illustrations, motivational plan and convincing testaments from DOT (Department of Transportation) personnel who have adopted the routine should inspire readers, whether they be habitually sluggish or simply sorely pressed for time,” wrote Publishers Weekly in their 2003 online review.*
4. Funny but true, it’s all in the poo! There is nothing more crippling to your academic year than being sick. However, there is doctorless way to check up on your health and its sitting in your toilet (hopefully). Did you know that the shape, texture, color, size and the way your poo floats can tell you a lot about the state of your health? It’s true and if you want to know what your poo can do for you, you’ll need the ultimate guide. What’s Your Poo Telling You by Anish Sheth and Josh Richman. Lisa Susan on Goodreads.com says; “This book was quite interesting and unusual! While it was humorous, it also has a serious side that tells the reader exactly why your stool looks the way it does. It contains numerous interesting stool trivia. Once you’ve read this book you, too, will be looking at your poo in a whole new way for the rest of your life.”
Louis-Philippe Côté, Transpolitique, 2009. Oil on linen.
Jana Sterbak, Artist as Combustible, 1986. Color photograph.
Have you ever gone to an art gallery or exhibition and while viewing the art wondered, “What am I supposed to think about this?” Or perhaps you viewed the art, interpreted its meaning and wished to share your thoughts with others. If so, the exhibition Interactions at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery is the place you’re meant to be.
Conceptualized with the aim to expose the gap between art and the public, the exhibit combines contemporary art pieces with verbal and written interpretations by people of the public and art domain. The exhibit is set up so that each piece of art is accompanied by a written response to the piece as well as video response from among the thirty people who participated in this project. What this does is allow a gallery visitor to not only experience the contemporary art on display for themselves, but to also experience the art through the interpretations of others. It is an opportunity to hear what others think, some of whom work in the field, and thereby deepen the experience of the piece.
The exhibition at the entrance of the gallery will at first set some to puzzling. Displayed on a flat screen television is a thirty-two minute video of people watching the film Six Colorful Inside Jobs by John Baldessari. The piece is called You Are the Work, by Alana Riley and it serves to provoke the question, ‘What are they thinking?’
Watching the video of these people, who in turn are watching a film, we want to know what they think. Do they like it? It is akin to standing next to someone in a gallery as you both observe the same piece of art. You find yourself wondering what that person thinks of the piece, how they might interpret it, whether your interpretation is different, but like You Are the Work, you can’t know without asking. Luckily, curator Mélanie Rainville has done the asking for us.
The artwork in this exhibition spans a range of medium from sound and video installations to performance art, photography, painting and graphite. All of the sound and video installations are striking, playing on your visual and auditory senses to transport you into the artwork and to not only view it, but experience it as well.
To Be Continued by Sharif Waked is a video designed to resemble those made by terrorists wherein victims are made to recite a script before being executed. However, instead of propaganda, the victim, played by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, begins to read from the story A Thousand and One Nights. The film is in Arabic with English subtitles and as the Arabic words fill your ears, your eyes scan the English translation as you are drawn into the narrative by Bakri’s piercing blue eyes.
However, it is not so much the recitation that is important, although it is incredibly beautiful to listen to, but rather the parallel between the plight of Scheherazade in A Thousand and One Nights, who staves off execution by telling the king stories and that of Palestinian prisoners reciting their final words.
Louis-Philippe Côté, Transpolitique, 2009. Oil on linen.
The three paintings by Louis-Philippe Côté, Ton rêve d’anarchie, Égérie, and Transpolitique (L’abattoir virtuel comme machine de guerre) are the only painted pieces in the exhibit. Visually stunning and thought provoking, these three pieces immediately grab the eye upon entering. The video responses to this piece are interesting to listen to, but the written response left something to be desired. Dominique Sirois-Rouleau’s interpretation is highly academic and likely to make the average gallery visitor crossed eyed, but it served the purpose of a scholastic interpretation of contemporary art, ensuring that both the casual art observer and the professional were represented.
The written response that was perhaps the most interesting, was the poem Monologues by Denise Desautels, translated into English by Simon Brown, which was written in response to John Massey’s piece Three Eyes. The poem attributes a dialogue to the artwork, taking a different approach to interpreting the piece. The poem was beautifully written and could stand alone, but together with Massey’s work it serves to enhances one’s experience of his artwork.
Interactions can be viewed at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, located on the first floor of Concordia’s LB building at 1400 Blvd. De Maisonneuve. For more information please visit their website at www.ellengallery.concordia.ca
