Lo, I emerge from the swirling vapours of the Blogosphere once more to offer updates on the life of a queer gal in Canada. I know, my posting has been fickle as of late—the new round of reasons are two-fold:
- I landed an internship at a Toronto-based publishing house! I am two weeks into a three-month gig as I write this, and DAMN—time, she flies. I admit, I am quite low on the totem pole at the house (re: mail-room queen and coffee bitch), but I get to sit in on all our marketing/publicity/sales meetings, I get to attend our massive sales conference on Monday, I am making connections in the industry, AND I am getting loaded down with free books. Sweet, indeed.
- Moffatt's airport crashed two weeks ago. As in, all Internet connections were severed for three of our tech-based gadgets (my laptop included, raahraahraah…). Our only working computer in the interim was our central hub—the computer located in our very public living room. Needless to say, I haven't been able to log a great deal of queer-based Internet hours for quite some time. BUT NO LONGER!
So, there. About three weeks in a nutshell. Odd how life rushes in all of a sudden, hmm? I have transformed into an average, though highly literate, train commuter who now has that precious foothold in a world I've dreamt of since I was a young'un. Here's hoping I can make the most of the experience while I am safe within our publishing house's embrace…
BUT ON TO WEEKEND FUN!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
TCAF TCAF TCAF TCAF!!
I attended the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in 2010 and had a blast perusing the wares of self-published artists, webcomic creators, and other graphic delight-ors. I was raring to get in on 2011's action and, as the skies would have it, we were gifted with gorgeous weather for the adventures ahead…
Ah, but all was not to be.
I arrived at noon which might have been the most hectic time to get there. I like smaller crowds. I like moving with care around vendors' tables. I like arriving at expos and festivals at the first morning light, when the artists are alert, spunky, and optimistic.
I arrived when all that ended, it would appear.
Also, vendor layouts proved problematic this time around—on the ground floor, one press had an entire line of tables set up for their artists, right? At the far right hand side of these tables, the press set up their most popular artist to sign autographs, sell books, talk to patrons, etc. Makes sense to place the heaviest hitter for the house at the main doors to the Toronto Reference Library, of course. However, as a result, the only place for fans to line-up for this creator extended in front of the other artists' tables. So, about seven to ten artists represented by this press were effectively blocked off from the public by a wall of fanboys. Not cool.
Also, on the second floor where most of the webcomic artists set up, TCAF opted to place Kate Beaton in the centre of the room. For those readers not familiar with the wonder of Kate Beaton, I suggest you check out Hark! A Vagrant right now. For those readers who do know of her staggering greatness and her nerd-centric comics, you will understand why it is not productive to place her in the middle of a room of vendors. In 2010, she had a corner table where a large queue of nerds could wait without blocking the tables of other artists. In 2011, fans were able to block vendors on both sides of the aisle. What the heck, folks. I was getting flashbacks to the sharp elbows of FanExpo 2010, here…
Now before I get other people decrying me for these critiques of TCAF, I do offer massive points for their inclusion of Prism Comics, a non-profit American group that promotes LGBT comics and creators.
I don't recall stumbling across or hearing about a queer-centric table at past TCAF events—for the most part, graphic novels with queer elements were dispersed throughout the crowd of vendors (which still occurred this year, of course). But still, it was a treat to browse through Prism's dedicated collection and to see that rainbow burst from a single table. Xtra! had a great article on Thursday discussing the evolution of queer comics and the trouble with censorship—and just how fantastic it is to know queer comics are both recognized and celebrated at this year's festival. Brilliant stuff, if I do say so myself.
***
I spent all of one hour at the event—the vendors I'd looked forward to visiting had no new material (??), and the crowds were making it difficult to reach tables in the first place. Again, I chalk it all down to the time I arrived there. In 2010, I was there about an hour and a half earlier and I had no trouble navigating the area.
As a consolation, I opted to revel in the warmth and walk over to my favourite little Japanese shop in Toronto—Sanko!
The Advocate and I discovered this gem on our Toronto adventure weekend in 2010, and I make as many excuses as possible to visit this place when I am idle and strolling through the city. I admit, Sanko is a far trek from all the areas I tend to inhabit in Toronto. I feel I am on a pilgrimage whenever I head over there, which just goes to prove how much I love the spot. Since I spent zero cash at TCAF, I used those funds to purchase a wicked expensive pack of green tea infused with sakura (aka. cherry blossoms) in addition to two onigiri and a bottle of iced jasmine green tea. Since we are at the end of the sakura season, the pack of loose leaf tea was a score on my part. Bah, I should have gone earlier and loaded up. Paf. I will have to make a note on my calendar for next year.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
And here we are at another Mother's Day. Plans this morning consist of A) buying an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (because the maternal parental has been mentioning it all week for some odd reason), and B) sending the paternal parental to a smoked meat location to pick up lunch (and a veggie sandwich for me to graze upon). We're having the grandparents over as well, so it'll be a multigenerational affair.Actually, this Mother's Day comes with a new dynamic—the Sister is, at most, about five weeks away from having her baby. Imagine that, we are mere weeks from adding a new birthday to the calendar in our home. Our plans this afternoon involve working on the first part of baby's first birthday gift. We're going to make a movie, Moffatt-style, that documents the time before the baby arrives. I need to preface this project a touch—we tend to make strange films in our house. It more or less started with my 2008 graduation, in which the Sister filmed bizarre clips of my commencement, and the Brother edited it into an even more bizarre plot line. We have a strange sense of humour in our house, so I'm sure this child will ask us, "What on Earth were you all smoking when you made this video for me?!"
Anyway, this first part will include interviews with the grandparents (soon to be great-grandparents), my parentals (soon to be grandparentals), me and the Brother (soon to be aunt and uncle), and the expectant parents (the Sister and the Brother-in-Law). My siblings and I have only a handful of videos from our childhood—there's one from the days before the Brother arrived, and then we each have one video documenting our fifth birthdays. But yes, our plan is to let the baby know what we were all thinking about before it entered the scene and to offer it a glimpse into the excitement we are all feeling. Ah, it should be a good project, I tell you.
On that note, I am off to run my errands and to get prepped for our lunch. I hope the world is treating you well, dear reader, and I look forward to posting more content through this rebooted airport connection—YAAY!