vitaminwater canada blog

remember the club kids? once upon time, there was a group of people who made a living being strange and original. they dressed crazy and had an immeasurable impact on nightlife and dance music all over the world. leigh bowery was an australian performance artist, known for outrageous costumes and even more outrageous stunts. he influenced the fashion industry in a major way, and people like john galliano, definitely took a cue from what bowery was doing.

this clip is from simpler times. i’m a fan of leigh bowery, and you can see his influence in so many people’s work, even 15 years later.

*for a chance to win a signed copy of ‘oddsac’, the new film collaboration between danny perez and animal collective, click here.*

want to score your own copy of ‘oddsac’ on dvd for your collection? it’s simple. just drop us line here in the comments on this post. tell us a story, write us a poem, make up a word game, or create a heartfelt plea. we always love to see your creativity, so grab a focus to get your grey matter whipped into shape and your creative juices flowing, and get cracking!

on friday october 15, 2010 we’ll randomly select one comment from this post, who will receive a signed copy of ‘oddsac’. the only catch is you have to live in canada, so apologies to our friends in the rest of the world.

this is a unique chance to own a classic film in the making. ‘oddsac’ has been shown all over the world, at film festivals like sundance along with music venues and museums from new york city to iceland. if you haven’t had a chance to see it, this is your ticket. thanks to danny’s generosity, we’ll be giving away one super deluxe limited edition of ‘oddsac’, which includes the dvd along with some goodies. the set features a copy of ‘oddsac’ on dvd, along with a 40 page booklet of photos, text and original art. the whole thing is packaged in a beautifully made custom slip case. we’ll also have danny sign the set, to make it a very cool one of a kind collector’s item.

we’re looking forward to reading your comments!

everyone knows the story of terry fox and his marathon of hope. it is one of the greatest stories of perseverance, achievement and overcoming the odds in the history of canada, or anywhere else for that matter. it’s a story that has moved everyone it has touched. one of the people moved by this story is nba star, and b.c. native steve nash.

steve has been a friend of ours here at vitaminwater for a long time, so we were honoured when he asked us to help him celebrate the premier of his documentary about terry fox, into the wind. we worked with steve to throw a fantastic launch party during tiff two weeks ago, to celebrate this inspirational film and the terry fox story. the steve nash house party was a huge hit at tiff. many people had the chance to come out, see the film, meet steve and tip back a vitaminwater toast in his honour. it was an amazing night.

we’re even more excited to let you know that into the wind will be shown several times on tv in the next few days, so everyone will get a chance to see this brilliant documentary. we’re excited because we really think this is a film that everyone should see. if you’re in need of inspiration, motivation, or just like a brilliant story, then into the wind is for you.

you can catch into the wind on tsn wednesday september 29, at 9pm est. this is the night before the national school run day, so be sure to catch it to add a bit of spring into your step the next morning. then september 30, as part of the terry fox national school run day, ctv will be airing the film at 10am and 2pm est. how is that for perfect timing? in case you can’t wait until then, here’s a clip from the film to hold you over and get you amped.

steve nash was generous enough to sit down with lauren during tiff, to ask him about into the wind, and a few other things. we’re really excited to share this exclusive clip with you here! we also have a few more conversations with steve that will be popping up on the vitaminwater canada blog shortly, so stay tuned (you can also pop over to our twitter for up to the minute info)!

please join us this week to watch into the wind. we promise you’ll be glad that you did. you can always drop us a line here in the comments to let us know what you thought of the film. we’ll see you in front of the tv later this week. enjoy and be inspired!

charles burns is an amazing us based illustrator. his drawings have a very distinct, dark and light, black and white look. he has done illustration work for magazines like raw, album art for iggy pop, and ads for coca-cola. though known mostly for his drawings, he has actually made a few short films, which will blow your mind.

*for a chance to win a signed copy of ‘oddsac’, the new film collaboration between danny perez and animal collective, click here.*

hello ottawa! we’ve been criss-crossing the province all summer long to hang out with all of you, and we’re still at it. if you haven’t had the pleasure of running into the ottawa gtv team, consider this post your personal invitation. there is plenty going on this weekend, so why not head out for some fresh air, spin the bottle, good conversation and your favourite variety of vitaminwater? we’ve got a bit of an icebreaker below, to help get the conversation started when you meet the gtv’ers in person. so what are you waiting for?

nicki lumsden comes to us after escaping her depressing gray cubicle at a call center, so she’s very excited to be around all this brightly colored vitaminwater! she made good use of her time there though, being creative and inventing her own yoga pose ‘the eclipse’, while plotting the stories and title for her future autobiography “forever young”. the title may be a repurposed rod stewart lyric, but when it comes to karaoke, “don’t stop believing” because nicki is a journey girl all the way. you better believe in something if you happen to enjoy cliff diving, which she does. nicki told us “it was one of those things that i didn’t think i would have the courage to do. but after a few false attempts, i took a running start, jumped, and shut my eyes. i’ll have to admit it was a pretty amazing feeling, like i was free falling for a brief moment.” now that’s a story. when you run into nicki around ottawa though, she’ll have both feet planted firmly on the ground, with a vitaminwater at the ready to quench your thirst.

stephen istefanos is wet, wild and out of control! which is the way to be when you roll with the gtv, hooking people up with vitaminwater on the fly. he’s living life to the fullest, so he makes sure that everyday brings a situation that ends with, “whoah…that was a close one!” like witnessing david blaine pull some amazing magic in person. it looks like we have another apple fanboy onboard with the gtv though, because he lists his most visited website as macrumors. so, if you happen to be the lucky winer of our iphone 4 blog commenting contest, this is the gent to your new tech up and running. interestingly enough, his favourite karaoke jam is also “don’t stop believing” by journey. i smell a conspiracy (or some heavy duty fans of the sopranos). maybe with a little convincing we can get stephen and nicki to bust out a journey duet? it could happen, if we don’t stop believing.

it’s officially fall, so what better way to kick it off than spending a day at the 147th annual carp fair! head on out to carp road on friday september 24th, to pay the ottawa gtv a visit and enjoy the festivities. there will be rides, music, an antiques exhibition and story time for the wee ones. there will also be an honest-to-goodness strong man competition! how cool is that? we’re wondering if the strong men will grab a go go or an energy before they start pumping iron? all kinds of homemade baked goodies will be on sale for your munching pleasure, and the gtv crew will be on hand with some vitaminwater to help you wash it all down. if something has been going on for 147 years, you know it’s going to be good, so make your plans to head on over to the carp festival.

saturday september 25, you can find nicki and stephen at greenfield’s pub & eatery in ottawa, keeping everyone hydrated at the music for life fundraiser. proceeds from the event will go towards the purchase of a new nuclear medicine camera for the queensway carleton hospital’s nuclear department in the new cancer centre. you can support this great cause, just by seeing some great music, and it’s a really huge, eclectic and fun lineup of musical acts. you’ll have a chance to hear sets by where’s larry?, winston marley, torchlight, apocalypstic, amos the transparent, big newton, moondogs and max 40. you’ll have a chance to dance for a good cause, and don’t be afraid to sweat because the ottawa gtv will be there with all the hydration goodies you could want.

on sunday you’ll also have a second chance to do your good deed for the day at the bike for beats charity ride to fight heart disease. there are several courses that cyclist will be riding, from 25km all the way up to 100km, so there’s a chance for riders of all skills to participate and help out this worthy cause. the gtv gang will be on hand with all the vitaminwater we can carry, because 100km on a bike will make you more than a little thirsty. it’s all going down sunday, across the street from the canadian war museum, so have a heart and join us for some blood, sweat and gears.

we’re looking forward to seeing everyone in person this weekend. there’s nothing like having a good time for a good cause! make your plans and join us ottawa. we’ll see you there!

this is the new ‘kokomo’ video by brooklyn noise rock auteurs the black dice. ff all the “collage-style” videos going around the past couple years. this is the best. i may be a little biased (danny has toured and worked with black dice quite a bit over the years – mike), but this clip is not only made by the band themselves, but captures their zone perfectly. hilarious and lends itself to multiple viewings, plus the track is sick. enjoy.

*for a chance to win a signed copy of ‘oddsac’, the new film collaboration between danny perez and animal collective, click here.*

ok, we can’t deny it any longer. summer is over. now we all know that the approaching winter can be, uh, somewhat rough, especially in certain parts of canada. in olden times, people got ready for winter by stocking up on food an necessities to help them make it through until spring. luckily, we have supermarkets stocked with vitaminwater and other necessities, to save us the trouble. instead, we can concentrate on stocking up on activities to help us pass the time indoors, and between ski runs, when the weather is bad.

we’ve put together a list of games that will make this winter fly by. before you know it, we’ll be telling you to break out your bathing suits and hit the beach again! without further adieu, we present our big official list of indoor fun!

**bloons**

i once had a co-worker who or more or less lost his job because of his addiction to bloons. bloons is a relaxing strategy where you play a cute monkey, who likes nothing more than taking the air out of balloons with his bow and arrow. the baloons are lined up in devilish configurations, so you need to figure out how to pop as many as possible with each arrow. there are dozens of levels, and while it’s simple to play, it’s extremely challenging to rack up a high score.

**plants vs. zombies**

a few months ago i was trapped in city island airport in toronto, and no planes were moving because of a windstorm. after my 800th bag of free almonds, i was getting a bit stir crazy, when a friend suggested i try playing plants vs. zombies. the next few hours flew past in the blink of an eye. pvz is a ‘tower defense’ type game. the idea is to use various plants like peashooters, pumpkins and watermelon catapults to defend your lawn from marauding zombies. what makes this such a fantastic game is the cartoony, often hilarious animations of the plants and the undead. the first time you see a group of zombies break out into a thriller style dance routine, you’ll be hooked. remember, we don’t want zombies on our lawn!

**super mario crossover**

this one is dedicated to our faithful readers and twitter followers. we mentioned super mario crossover a few months back here on the blog, and on our twitter feed, and so many of you mentioned how much you loved this game, we had to include it here. everyone knows super mario bros., right? this takes the classic nes game, and allows you to play as other classic nintendo characters. link from zelda, samus from metroid, mega man, simon belmont and a bunch of other characters are available for your mushroom stomping pleasure. this is a game you can play over and over again, because each character has unique attributes that change the game play, and make every level seem new, no matter how often you’ve played it.

**online scrabble**

playing games solo is a lot of fun, but can anything beat the feeling of giving your friends a good drubbing, and the bragging rights that come with that? there are thousands of multi-player games floating around, but we love scrabble. first off, nearly everyone knows the rules of scrabble, so it’s an even playing field. second, scrabble is a word game, so you can lay claim to your intellectual superiority when you win. this isn’t a video game, it’s an *intellectual challenge…* ok, it is a great way to spend some downtime with your friends who are up for a litte friendly competetion, and the multi-player version works great.

**minecraft**

minecraft is a really new game, so this is your chance to get in on the ground floor and be the first kid on your block to build a giant virtual rollercoaster! this is a very free-form game experience, so it’s what you make of it, which is what makes it so much fun and so very addicting. you can build things like homes, landscapes, statues and of, course mines. you can grow things, you can build things, and you can chase skeletons and bad guys. the world map is enormous, and it’s randomly generated, so the game is always changing. minecraft can be played alone, or with friends, depending on the mood your in. after a few play sessions ourselves, we think minecraft is going to be a huge hit. don’t say we didn’t warn you – it is uber addictive!

so what do you think? is this going to help you pass the time the next few months? what else should we add to this list? you can always drop us a comment and share, or challenge us to a scrabble match, present your newest minecraft creation or your high score in bloons.

is tiff over already?

wow that was fast. our heads our still spinning a bit from a whirlwind of a week. the films. the parties. the stars. the endless bottles of energy and formula 50 to keep rolling late into the night and get an early start the next day. it definitely felt like hollywood landed in toronto for a few days. we had such an amazing time hosting all of you at the backyard. thank you so much for coming out. we hope you had as much fun hanging out, as we did hosting you.

our twitter posse was in full effect all week long. your tweets helped get the word out about the vitaminwater tiff backyard, and it was very cool to see your pictures and get up to the second updates about what was going on. you also kept us filled in on what was happening all over town, so we didn’t miss a beat.

we’re also very flattered. some of you not only came out to pay us a visit, you also took pictures, wrote about your good times and shared them with your friends and reading audience. for that, we can’t thank you enough. it means a lot to the entire vitaminwater family that you enjoyed our backyard enough to share it with the world.

to start off, ‘thank-you’ to the national post! you selected our vitaminwater chandelier as the ‘best light fixture at tiff’. awesome. we’re happy you noticed and enjoyed it. we think it’s pretty amazing as well.

we’d like to send a special thanks to techvibes, hip urban girl, the national post, the globe and mail, the star and zimbio for the excellent stories and photos, about your time with vitaminwater during tiff. cheers!

a lot of of you were also impressed with steve nash’s terry fox film, “into the wind“. we were too. we love having steve nash as a partner, and it was really our pleasure to host the premiere party for this outstanding film. it’s a well told tale of what is truly a one-of-a-kind, amazing story. both eye weekly and the comet were on hand at the premier party to share the love with everyone who couldn’t make it out that night. if you get a chance to see “into the wind”, we highly recommend you take it. it’s brilliant.

we’re especially psyched that so many people in our online community had the chance to come out to the backyard, cut a rug, throw down at the ping pong table, defeat their frenemies in giant chess, have a drink and check out the space. then you made us feel all warm and squishy inside with all the nice things you had to say about us. we’ve always considered ourselves part of the blogging community (being obsessive bloggers ourselves), and our fellow bloggers really showed us some love. we heard from lainey gossip, toronto is fashion, a cool fansite for actress marion cotillard, carly anne,casey stewart, social self canada, laisietu, the toronto girl chronicles and she does the city. woot woot!

in case you missed any of the week long tiff blow-by-blow, you can relive the glitz and glamour with our tiff recap. we also have some great photos of celebs, twitter friends, party goers and the now famous vitaminwater chandelier over on our vitaminwater flickr page. thank you one and all for all your party spirit and kind words. we can’t wait until next year.

you may not know the name danny perez, but i bet you know his work. if you’re a fan of animal collective, panda bear or the black dice you’ve seen his visual art live at their shows, on the web or in theaters. danny is going to be joining us here on the vitaminwater blog over the next few weeks, to share his thoughts on film, music, art and where these things are headed in the future. i had a chance to sit down with danny this week, and pick his brain about his past work, his new projects and what makes this truly original artist tick.

danny perez makes films, but don’t call him a filmmaker. to him, the term is just too limiting, and if you’re familiar with his work, you’ll know exactly why. one look at any of his flicks and you’ll see this is a man who comes from the future. there’s no one else creating anything else like this.

his most recent project, ‘oddsac‘, is a musical and film collaboration with his longtime partners animal collective. ‘oddsac’ has been in the making for more than 3 years. it combines an original musical score by animal collective, along with analog special affects and a massive amount of specially created digital effects. the result is stunning and unique, and audiences have been responding enthusiastically. ‘oddsac’ has been screened at festivals, including sundance, and theaters in several countries, and there are plans for some big special events involving the film.

danny explained that the film will be shown at the cph:dox festival in copenhagen. for this festival, they’re planning to re-mix the film. perez explained, “oddsac combines many disciplines: lighting photo, makeup, sounds, and multimedia. this is a truly 21st century way of looking at a film. the ability to mutate it into different formats, in a physical, visceral way is unique for a film. not many films can be remixed this way.” they are planning to show this re-mixed version at the national gallery with a 3 room installation, reformatted, with remixed material on a 4 wall, floor to ceiling projection. this method of projection, along with the re-tweaked video and re-mixed sound, will create an entire new viewing experience for the audience.

danny is no stranger to mutation either. for part of the 50th anniversary of the guggenheim museum, in new york city, danny along with animal collective, was invited to create an installation that took over the museum. named ‘transverse temporal gyrus’, this site-specific performance “transformed the museum’s rotunda into a kinetic, psychedelic environment. transverse temporal gyrus featured original recorded music composed specifically for the work, along with video projections, costumes, and props, rendering the band members and performers into intense, visual abstractions.”

fans of panda bear (1/4 of the animal collective crew), who have seen his live shows, will have witnessed danny’s original video work. for all the panda bear performances, danny creates projections, which play behind panda bear during the entire show. these projectons include a live video mix, random clips he creates,
abstract color patterns, manipulated found material and digital collages. for the newest panda bear record, ‘tomboy’, perez has created an entire new set of original video material to accompany the music. some lucky fans got a sneak peak at this work, at a recent show on nyc’s governor’s island. keep an eye out for upcoming panda bear shows worldwide, and don’t miss your chance to see danny do his thing live and in person.

besides the upcoming panda bear shows, danny perez has been keeping very busy. he has an upcoming public art show in manhattan. though he can’t reveal all the details yet, he did tell me it involves massive projections on the sides of several manhattan buildings, and will bring his video art into a place where public and private meet. he also has plans in the works for art basel: miami, which involve a pool party experience. again, he’s keeping the details under wraps, but attendees can expect to walk into a fully immersive experience that combines original film, costumed actors, special effects, lighting, music and even unique drinks. it sounds appropriately outrageous for the art basel crowd.

after discussing his own work, i was curious to find out what an artist like this consumes himself. i asked danny to throw out a list of some of the favourite media he’s been enjoying himself lately. here’s what he shared.

music wise, he recently had a chance to see ariel pink perform, and gives a big thumbs up to this freak folk rocker. though they aren’t ‘new’ danny has been grooving on tunes by the uk’s merry pranksters, the klf. he especially likes the ‘chillout’ lp (which i’ll second as being amazing). he’s also become a fan of prince rama, the brooklyn based psych rock trio.

despite creating work that tends towards the experimental, danny perez is not shamed to enjoy some good old fashioned schlock. he gave high marks to ‘pirahna 3d‘, and explained it was a great, gross, cheesy horror flick. he told me it was “the best summer movie, gratuitous, maximum carnage, really enjoyable even though it is geared towards teens.” another recommendation is ‘house‘, a japanese horror thriller just released by criterion on dvd. danny told me it was very a-typical for a japanese horror flick, just scary enough to be a lot of fun, and features “girls in haunted house, primitive video effects and a people eating piano.” sounds like a good time to me!

i hope this interview is a good introduction to danny perez, but you’ll have a chance to get to know him a lot better over the next few weeks. he’ll be stopping by the vitaminwater canada blog to share some posts with you, so stay tuned. in the meantime, drop by his website or scoop up a copy of the deluxe, beautifully packaged ‘oddsac‘, just released on dvd and see for yourself what all the hype is about. if you have any questions for danny, about his work and what he’s up to, feel free to drop a line in the comments.

*for a chance to win a signed copy of ‘oddsac’, the new film collaboration between danny perez and animal collective, click here.*

hey halifax, it may be september, but there is still more of summer left to celebrate! we’ve had a fantastic time this summer, and we’ve been from one end of halifax to the other, meeting all of you. it’s been one huge adventure keeping all of you hydrated! you’re one thirsty bunch. so who are the intrepid gtv’ers up to a hydration task of herculean proportions? alison and kyle, of course!

kyle hewey has a lot to say to about halifax, the place he calls home. his biggest pet peeve is the weather, but he’s not alone in feeling that. he’s also had a few close calls with speeding trucks, but he explained to us that’s just par for the course here. the sometimes harsh storms and crazy drivers are a small price to pay for all the good things that come along with living in halifax. like the ultra fresh lobsters! kyle has been hitting up google looking for creative ways to cook the tasty crustaceans, and succeeded. you know what goes along perfect with a lobster cookout? how about a classic sea shanty, like “barret’s privateers”, which is one of kyle’s favourite tunes to sing (or chant) and one we’ve actually mentioned here on the blog before. he claims the worst job he’s had is cleaning hotel rooms, because people are so gross. he’s also called 1-800-jerry, the jerry springer line, so might that not be grosser? we’ll let you make the call. either way this is a man who loves halifax, and likes nothing more than spreading the vitaminwater love throughout his home locale.

anna cottreau loves facebook and lululemon, but has spent some time researching the vancouver aquarium. how can you combine those three interests? maybe documenting your visit to the aquarium, dressed in workout clothes on fb? that’s one adventure anna is up for. one she isn’t up for? karaoke. she’s given us fair warning to keep her away from a microphone! her lack of singing skills though is eclipsed by the awesome volunteer work she has done. anna has helped build homes for hurricane victims in louisiana and mississippi, and volunteered as a nurse’s aide in tatamagouche, ns. how cool is it? we’re lucky to have her spreading the word about vitaminwater in halifax, so she’ll have some more interesting stories to tell.

normally, the gtv teams run around to hit as many different events and spots as they can in one weekend, that way they can meet as many of you as possible. this weekend it’s a little bit different. the team will be hydrating fredericton for the first time this summer at the harvest jazz and blues festival is so huge, we realize people aren’t going to be anywhere else, so we’ll be hanging out there all weekend long. with musical legends like kermit ruffins and the barbecue swingers, the derek trucks & susan tedeschi band and ross neilsen & the sufferin’ bastards set to play, it’s going to be a party. there are hundreds of musicians in the lineup, on a bunch of different stages. whether you’re into classic electric blues, swingin’ cajun, free jazz or foot stomping calypso, there is definitely going to be something to get your feet moving. with all that spicy music to get you dancing, and spicy food to keep your mouth watering, you’re definitely going to be thirsty!

that’s where we come in! look for kyle and alison friday september 17th and saturday september 18th, all over the harvest jazz and blues festival. you can find them both days on queen street, king street, york street, brunswick street and on main street. just look for the for the two people having the best time at the festival, and head on over for a chat and a swig of vitaminwater.

we’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the festival this weekend. don’t be shy, come up and say ‘hello’, and add some vitaminwater to your weekend plans. let’s make the most of this amazing summer, and send it out with a bang!