[PHOTO] Ten photos from TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival

Early yesterday morning I went to see the Toronto Comic Arts Festival with a friend. We went early, so as to avoid the crowds, but even at 10:30 there were a lot of crowds. There were also a lot of exhibitors: This year, TCAF not only covered three floors of the Toronto Reference Library, it stretched a north a block on Yonge Street to include the Masonic Temple as a venue, as well as other locations scattered the length of Bloor downtown.















I have passed by the Masonic Temple many times, but I had never actually gone inside until yesterday. The space's most recent incarnation as a theatre and performance space are obvious.





One piece of art I quite liked came from Adrian Alphona's sketchbook, at his display at the Masonic Temple, of the first issue of Ms. Marvel. I've seen these pages, of Kamala Khan struggle down streets filled with terrigen mist, before in print. Seeing the delicate ink drawings was something else entirely.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about intermittent fasting as a weight loss method.


• Joe. My. God. notes the Ukrainian victory in Eurovision.


• Language Hat notes one Persian monarch's problems with getting good translators.


• Language Log looks at Singlish, the Singaporean variant of English.


• Marginal Revolution compares tax fraud in Sweden and Italy.


• Neuroskeptic reports on interesting brain scans conducted of someone having a mystic religious experience.


• Window on Eurasia notes one brutal economic prediction for Russia, projecting sustained decline with only major cities resisting.


• Arnold Zwicky looks at homoerotic photos of men dressed as unicorns.

[NEWS] Some Sunday links

• Bloomberg notes a recent improvement in the fragile health of the Thai king, and looks at the iron ore bust precipitated by slowing growth in China.


• The CBC notes how Uber's expansion is hindered by regulation, and observed that a storm in Mexico halved the monarch butterfly population.


• MacLean's considers/u> the prospects for electoral reform in Canada.


• National Geographic reports on the archeological findings off of the coast of Florida.


• The National Post notes how a cat hit from the Fort McMurray fire inside a stove.


• Open Democracy looks at the recent Scottish election, concluding that the country is on a path to independence.

[REVIEW] Purple Rain

I mentioned on the 28th of April that I owned the album Purple Rain, but I hadn't mentioned mentioned that I had was just about to see the movie Purple Rain for the first time. The Kingsway Theatre, out in the west end by the Royal York TTC station, was putting on a special showing--first two shows, then six.



Why not?



My Friday night showing was, alas, not very populated. I was one of five people sitting in the theatre at the 11 o'clock showing, and the only single guy. I have no idea whether the wonderfully restored Kingsway Theatre decided to continue with the full slate of showings planned. (I hope it picked up.)

"Purple Rain - Theatrical Trailer" (Watch on YouTube)

How was the film? The segments of Purple Rain which work the best are the performance scenes. Here, Prince is electrifying. The rest of the film does not work especially well as anything but a framework for these scenes: Few of the major characters are portrayed by competent actors, the script needed some work to become a tighter and more cohesive narrative, and the direction seemed workmanlike. The movie has to rank as a relatively minor pop culture artifact of the 1990s, secondary to the music. Since that's apparently how Prince saw his ventures into film, and how his fans saw it, I can't say that it was a failure on its own terms.

I'm still glad I went--even at its worst, Purple Rain was at least fun. As I mentioned Friday, I'll be going off to the Regal Theatre downtown to see the concert film Sign o the Times. Yes, I will share my impressions with you all.

[REVIEW] Sign o' the Times

I mentioned Friday and in this evening's Purple Rain/a> review, I was planning going off to the Royal Cinema downtown to see the concert film Sign o the Times. The Royal had managed to acquire a copy of this famously rare movie on 35 mm film, and was going to show it to an audience only once.

I did go, of course. Online ticket-buying can make life so easy, as can the TTC (29 Dufferin bus down to College, 506 College streetcar east to Grace).



My raffle ticket, the orange piece of paper, was just one number off from a winner's. Yes, I am considering Purplelectricity party this August. First, I'll need something purple to wear.



After a long line-up and a not-terribly expensive visit to the concession stand--$C 11 for a bag of popcorn, with butter, and a beer is not bad at all by movie theatre standards--I was even able to find a seat in the center, towards the front, just where I like to sit. I was ready for the film.



Sign o' the Times was an amazing experience. This was clear from the start, when Prince opened the concert with a performance of his "Sign o' the Times".

"Sign of the times" (Watch on YouTube)

"Sign o' the Times" is itself an amazing song, touching on the ills of the late 1980s: AIDS, the illegal drug trade, gangs, the Challenger disaster, natural disasters. It mines the same vein of pre-apocalyptic fear as later songs, like "The Future" off of his Batman album. (The below version is somewhat reworked from the original, but still recognizable.)

"Prince - The Future (Melon Rework) [Raw Meat]" (Watch on YouTube)

Prince's performance elevates this song, and others, to the sublime. The best parts of Purple Rain were Prince's performances. A movie comprised almost entirely of his amazing musical and physical performances could hardly fail. Theatrical components were limited to interludes, short sketches sometimes featuring Prince and sometimes not, linked thematically to the songs. Sign o' the Times evokes David Bowie's contemporary Glass Spider.

My Purple Rain audience had only five people, but this audience was packed. More, the audience was participatory, singing the chorus of "Little Red Corvette" along with Prince as he performed a piano of that song, or applauding a brilliant drum solo Sheila E.. It was a fun experience.

Probably my favourite song performance was "U Got the Look, performed with Sheena Easton and integrated into the movie as a dream sequence.

"Prince Featuring Sheena Easton - U Got The Look [Official - Radio Hit]" (Watch on YouTube)

"If I Was Your Girlfriend" was also pretty good.

"Prince- If I was your girlfriend (Original Music Video) Sign O' The Times 1987" (Watch on YouTube)

Sign o' the Times is a superb concert film. More people--Prince fans, others--need to see it. I consider myself lucky to have been one of the mere hundreds to catch this film on the big screen today.