“Chan pa he chan ho!”

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Leona

I was just musing over how incredibly annoying ads are these days… and then Heineken’s ‘The Date’ concept burst onto the scene. (Well, OK… ‘my awareness’. It’s been on ‘the scene’ for a good while already).

It’s AWESOME.

It takes some kind of bollywood-meets-bond, meets circus, meets date-movie memeplex and manages to create something immersive and engaging from it all. The joins between the borrowed ideas are seamless, and the cross-cultural slant is just a breath of fresh air. The two characters at the center of the action move the world’s tiniest story forward, from one moment to the next, and the miniature plot unfolds within the tight temporal constraints yet nothing feels squeezed at all (in fact, the shorter edits of the ad work even better). So we accept this gorgeous epic, compactified as it is in every possible dimension and yet remaining as engaging as any well-made marathon flick… Continue reading →

for some reason this just cracked me up…

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Leona

…I’m hoping you can’t make this shit up, as the saying goes.

The part where I finally broke down and cried with laughter was the bit about the rat. omg… stitches!

Think of Uganda and think of… breaking?

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Leona

Having surveyed the African contingent to this arena, it seems the Ugandans are (the most?) well-established. What I like most about their style is that it is the most balanced portfolio so far of dance and power moves. Hell, even their battles seem friendly, and way more of the breakers here will smile or laugh while performing. On the whole, just perusing the youtube vids, they seem a bit more determined to have fun along the way. At this point what they might be a bit behind on is choreography / performance design for group projects, but that is always a later development in any art form, regardless of where it is found.

It bears mentioning that the reason breaking has taken off in Uganda is because of ‘The Breakdance Project’. Rather than having me waffle on about it, here it is straight from the horse’s mouth:

Ken Swift on the roots of uprocking / b-boying

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Leona

Ladies of Hip-Hop…

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Leona

So over at Anattitude magazine, they’ve covered an exhibition of (the history of) women in hip-hop, and I was curious about the lady with the fro’ hovering near the “1978″ label.

Youtube being the bottomless vault of awesomeness that it is, I have managed to track her down. You have to hear Tanya “sweet tee” Winley… (audio after the jump)… Continue reading →

Nuit Blanche 2010 – Video

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Leona

Today I finally took the trouble to learn how to use my dormant youtube account for what it’s intended: upload videos. I figure I’d rather have a folder in the sky than eat up diskspace (and bandwidth) on my own webserver… I think I would bump up against the limits in my hosting deal eventually. Videos after the jump. Continue reading →

My first Pow-Wow

Posted on August 21, 2008 by Leona

While visiting the Bruce Peninsula with some friends of ours, I noticed that the annual Neyaashiingmiing Traditional Pow Wow was taking place at Cape Croker (or more specifically, Chippewas of Nawash unceded First Nation – Reserve #27. I have been wanting to visit First Nations people on their own ground for the longest time and so this was an opportunity not to be missed!

While it’s a celebratory get-together it is also a sacred gathering, and it is one of those things that straddles the boundary between wanting to be open to everyone while maintaining a sense of private tradition. It can’t be an easy balancing act…

Continue reading →