vitaminwater canada blog

today, we’re in boston heading to roflcon, a celebration of internet culture and the memes that make us laugh. what’s roflcon? visit our friends in the uk to learn more.

or just dive into these videos for a sampler of who’s presenting, and then follow along all day with the livestream.

chad vader

know your meme

charlie the unicorn

more updates to follow, keep an eye on Twitter #roflcon

space is a pretty big concept to wrap your brain around. it’s big. it’s unknown. it’s filled with all kinds of pretty colourful and strange objects. getting to space can also be beautiful. rockets are impressive machines, from a technical standpoint. truthfully though? we like the speed, explosions, fire and sheer scale of a rocket launch. they’re like fireworks on steroids.

this super duper hd video of an apollo rocket launch, in very slow-motion, is just fascinating to watch. there’s two ways you can do it. if you’re in the mood, leave the smarty pants narrator on. he does a great job of explaining the details of a rocket launch, and all the physical forces involved in getting something as enormous as a rocket up into space. if you just want to be mesmerized by smoke, fire and physics, turn the volume down and throw on your favourite song of the moment. we’ve found that this video goes great with spacemen 3, the gorillaz and pink floyd. enjoy the next 8 minutes.

over the last few years being a geek has gone from uncool to very cool. in the past, surfing the web, playing videogames until you pass out and indulging your passion for strange subjects was looked upon as strange. the opposite is true. now the fashion world has finally caught up.

the april issue of elle italia has a big photo spread on geek chic, which they’ve titled ‘urban outfitters‘. model caroline winberg is featured wearing enormous black glasses and a men’s fedora, while she strolls the city streets. in one photo she’s carrying a book, another a newspaper, and in every photo her clothes stray far from the looks most people are used to seeing in the fashion mags. the clothes look almost sloppy, like she just rolled out of the house after a marathon warcraft session, but in a very good way. fred perry shirts, dress shoes and a trenchcoat are a few of the nerdy pieces that take centre stage.

my only complaint? caroline winberg is shown talking on a payphone in one shot. no true geek would ever leave the house without their smart phone of choice.

photographer and visual artist ben heine does something entirely original that he calls “pencil vs. camera”. we’ve never seen anything like this, and imagine you haven’t either. mr. heine creates hyper-realistic pencil drawings, and then photographs them in real-life scenes where they blend together seamlessly. his hands are visible in the photos, holding his pencil drawings in place, which create a funky juxtaposition. the effect is jaw dropping. his subjects include streetscapes, animals and nature scenes, and inject a bit of whimsy into what would otherwise be nice, but somewhat ordinary photographs.

heine often provides the untouched photos and his thoughts and commentary on how and why he created the images. with artwork this unique, it’s special to get a glimpse into the artistic process involved in making these pieces. that’s a rare treat. on to the photos!

we just spent a little time examining the best dressed film characters. which begs the question, who makes the best fictional music? before researching this, two fictional film bands came to mind: the commitments and spinal tap. after a bit of searching they seem to be popular choices. still, there are many, many fictional film bands worthy of your attention.

unreality magazine has a great roundup, and here are a few highlights you should check out especially if you haven’t had the pleasure before.

who can forget the wyld stallions from bill and ted’s excellent adventure? this rendition of “god gave rock n’ roll to you” featuring a robot bill and ted, socrates and death is an instant film song classic.

then there’s the infamous cameo in ‘singles’ starring pearl jam as fictional grunge rockers citizen dick. no music here, but the performance is perfect and will instantly transport you back to mid 90′s seattle.

as noted earlier, the commitments are a show stopping fictional r&b band, who are well worth a long listen. here they are performing “the dark end of the street”. let’s hear about your favorite fictional bands from film and television!

many people consider ‘blonde on blonde’ by bob dylan the greatest rock n’ roll album ever recorded, and others the greatest piece of recorded music period. that’s a conversation for another time. still, it’s extremely difficult not to enjoy listening to this record. you’ve heard “rainy day woman #12 & 35″ (you know, the ‘everybody must get stoned song’) and ‘just like a woman’. even if you don’t recognize the title, you’ll know the song when you hear it.

sean wentz has penned a fascinating article about the recording of ‘blonde on blonde’. what makes this article great is the first person anecdotes of people who were there. it isn’t a boring track listing, or a catalogue of instruments that were used. it’s a bunch of people explaining how this particular piece of music was created. it reads like a great collection of quotes and fun facts. here’s a few of the best to enjoy.

• ‘unknown’ was recorded in fewer than 5 minutes

• musician al kooper, who was in the sessions had this to say: “nobody has ever captured the sound of three a.m. better than that album. Nobody, even Sinatra, gets it as good.

• kris kristofferson, who was a janitor in the studio at the time the record was recorded, paints a picture “I saw Dylan sitting out in the studio at the piano, writing all night long by himself. Dark glasses on.”

take a look at this great article, throw on ‘blonde on blonde’ and enjoy a piece of music that sounds as fresh as it was 40 years ago.

we have some filmmaker friends, one of which recently gave us a sneak peek into what may be the coolest documentary to come down the pike in quite some time.’rush: beyond the lighted stage is a documentary about everyone’s favourite prog rock stadium band…rush.

it’s impossible not to love rush. whether you enjoy the songwriting, wild stadium shows or stellar, technical musicianship, rush has got you covered. we don’t need to convince you how great rush is, you know. we’re just here to fill you in on this new documentary. there are interviews with many well known musicians, like billy corgan and kirk hammet all declaring their love for rush. there’s also quite a bit of rare concert footage, both old and modern thrown in as well. still, it may be the photos of a teenaged geddy lee and vintage film of a young alex leifson shredding that push this into classic territory. this is a band that has deserved the documentary treatment for a long time, and this film really does the rush story justice. if you’re close to toronto, you’ll have an opportunity to see the film in a few days at the hot docs festival, which we’ve recently discussed here. rush will also be touring with a new record this summer, so no matter where you are in canada you should be able to see the band and the film somewhere nearby.

there’s no shortage of movie houses in toronto, or really anywhere in canada for that matter. it’s just the opposite for film houses that screen second run, independent and offbeat flicks. there just aren’t enough places to show these non-hollywood films. toronto happens to be in luck and will see the opening of the toronto underground cinema in a few weeks.

more than just a new independent movie house, this is also a story of three friends with a good idea who put in the work and made it happen. alex woodside, charlie lawton, and nigel agnew are three buddies who’ve worked in movie houses before, and decided they wanted to open a theatre of their own to show the kind of quirky films they enjoy themselves. they managed to score a space at 186 spadina, the site of a former chinese language theatre, and have done some work converting it into an indie flick palace. the space is set to open shortly and, before long, torontonians will have another big screen option.

the name ‘underground’ doesn’t just apply to the types of films that will be shown, the space also happens to be located underground, so it’s a literal and figurative play on words. the new theatre hopes to capitalize on toronto’s reputation as a thriving film city, and a place where lots of great cinema is created and screened. this is a pretty hip, up-and-coming part of the city, and a great place for a theatre that’s a little off the beaten path. as with any art form, there is always room for a wider variety of work to get in front of the public, and the toronto underground cinema will be a welcome addition to the city. woodside sums it up best by saying, “there’s a lot of great people in this city who love movies and doing movie-related things and we want to work with them to give them a space to do stuff as well.”

we’re looking forward to catching some films there ourselves in the near future.

piloting a starship is no easy task. from fighting aliens to dodging klingons and keeping a rowdy crew in order, a starship captain needs a cool head and a wide variety of skills. a lot like the traits you find in a successful governor general. it’s these skills that have many people pushing for william shatner to be the next governor general of canada.

facebook, twitter and the wider web are playing host to a movement to get shatner on the ballot for the next set of elections. while shatner himself said he prefers to run for prime minister, he hasn’t turned down the position yet. at the same time he seems less keen to run than his dedicated fans would like. more than 12,000 online supporters are pushing for shatner to run, and the movement is gaining momentum throughout canada. the toronto star explains that he has “a self deprecating sense of humor that should go well with the job.” his humor, good looks in a uniform and leadership skills are all valuable assets for success in a government position.

shatner recently tweeted “i’m being drafted by various groups to run for governor general. would they accept me if i campaign for salmons’ right?” we can’t say for certain, but would take that bet if anyone was giving decent odds.

good question mr. shatner. still, when this many people want you to take canada and “boldly go where no country has gone before,” can you really say no? shatner would just be one in a long line of celebrities that have run for political office. maybe he can solicit some advice from wrestler turned governor jesse ‘the body’ ventura or actor turned governor arnold schwarzenegger?

what do you, the voting public, think about shatner for governor general? i for one give a hearty thumbs up as long as we can all have personal holodecks and spiffy, tight- fitting uniforms in the next few years. leave us a comment and let’s discuss. with any luck the next official government address will begin with “Stardate, 2010…”.

brightkite, the wildly popular location based discovery tool, is about to launch in canada. this is a very good thing. bright kite is a free service, that works with sms text messaging as well as gps location data. it can sound a bit complicated, but it’s actually very simple to use and can make planning an event a painless process.