qatalust

updata

2009-02-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Hello to all that still check this blog -

As you may have noticed, qatalyst is no longer publishing the magazine or working with any design clients. It's sad... i know... many contributing factors, none of them particularly blogworthy.

Also sad to report that after a couple months of thinking thinking thinking thinking i have decided not to renew the qatalsytmedia and qatalust websites. This also means that i no longer have access to qatalystmedia.com email addresses.

So, if you'd like to email me in regards to qatalyst or any other stuff, you can send it to hilary_abel@hotmail.com. Is that an invitation for copious amounts of evil spam, or what?

I am still thinking whether this blog will be used for some other purpose... but for the meantime, i think it will lie dormant...

signing off for now, hope everyone is well,
H.

Nov 11.

2008-11-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

On a similar, but more serious note. It's Remembrance Day today.

I'm sitting in my cubicle and looked at the clock... 10:59... I listen to what's going on around me... plenty of chatting, typing, gossip... I'm no saint. Believe Me... but I do think that Rememberance Day should serve as two things:

1. A minute to stop and think about people that gave their lives for any thought of freedom.... Both my Grandfathers were in World War 2... from Very Very Very different perspectives. One spent his time in the Canadian Army, stationed on a war ship as a medic, and the other spent the war hiding, running and surviving the Nazis in Poland. His story can be found in the Archives of this important building.

2. A couple minutes to think about the fact that we continue to force young people into the warmachine with thoughts that it is necessary and filled with honour.

Anyways, hope you took a minute.

W stands for ... wow.

2008-11-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

So... saw Oliver Stone's W last nite at the Princess Twin.
Not too busy, but i guess it was a Monday, and the film has been out for a while.

First off, I will say that you basically just walk out of the movie saying "wow"

then a long pause as you reflect on the fact that this idiot of a man ran one of the, arguably THE most powerful country in the world for 2 terms.

and then all you can say is "wow" again.

Interesting that the movie does not de-humanize Geo (as delusional Laura calls him), or make him look like the revengeful monster that I've previously thought him.... it makes him out to be a spoiled little brat that grew up wealthy and protected. He doesn't know about consequences - or the fact that he may not be "qualified" for a position. He only knows that his ego will not allow him to be told No to anything.

And for his sake, I hope that's how people remember him in history - because being the President who started more than 1 thoughtless war, crippled the economy and did nothing to correct the crash course our planet is on - is a nasty obit.

There's a lot more to say about this film - like the way George Senior and Barbara are portrayed... the part that alcoholism and religion play... and the fact that Texas is just played messed....

But you should see the movie yourself.

It's playing at 6:40pm tues, wed and thurs of this week at the Princess Twin - king street Waterloo.

H.

W

2008-11-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hopefully going to see it tonite.
VERY psyched.

H.

President Elect Obama

2008-11-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

the only way to watch a successful democratic process...

wine.
laptop.
boyfriend who agrees with your political views.
amazing. best nite ever.

A more detailed, less emotive post tomorrow morning. stay tuned.

Nov 5 - busy busy busy

2008-11-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Image: Will Gorlitz, Grassfire (detail), 1994, oil on canvas. 97 x 53 cm. Private collection. Image courtesy of the artist.

So if The World According to Monsanto isn't floating your boat for the evening of Wednesday November 5th, you could hit up KW|AG for an Artist Talk with Will Gorlitz of Guelph.

7-9 p.m, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (located in the Centre In The Square)
Admission is Free.

Film Festival at The Gig Theatre

2008-11-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

Did everyone have a lovely weekend?

Mine was.... kind of extreme... but fun.

Recovering from being sick + Drinking + NOT Sleeping + Sillinesss
= needing another week to recover.

Anyways, not to get all preachy on ya first thing on a Monday, but wanted to let everyone know that "The Forerunner Inspire Festival" is this week at The Gig Theatre in Downtown Kitchener. They are showing 3 films that you may be interested in checking out:

The World According to Monsanto, Wed Nov 5th @ 7:15pm
If you don't know who Monsanto is, you should see this film, if you do know who they are... you should still see it.

Toxic Trespass, Thursday Nov 6th @ 7:15pm A film about the connection between our environment and health issues. Apparently has a focus on Windsor, Sarnia area - but is relevant across the world.

Taking Root, Friday Nov 7th @ 7:15pm How planting trees can change a nation - this is a film about the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai.

Each film asks for a $5/per person donation to attend.

Alternatively, you could try to get to another showing of the flick we saw Saturday nite at the princess original: Sukiyaki Western Django Directed by Takashi Miike, and an appearance by Quentin Tarantino.
Here's the description:

Maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike re-teams with longtime writing partner Masa Nakamura (Andromedia, The Bird People of China) for this Western inspired by Sergio Corbucci's violent 1966 classic Django. It's been hundreds of years since the Battle of Dannoura, yet the Genji and Heiki clans are still feuding. In this poor mountain town, there is rumored to be a great hidden treasure. Genji gang leader Yoshitsune is sure that his white-clad warriors will find the treasure first, but Kiyomori and his red-clothed Heike gang aren't about to walk away empty-handed. When a mysterious lone gunman with an incredibly fast trigger finger rolls into town, everyone wonders which gang he will join. As betrayal, deception, and cold-blooded murder become commonplace, the silence of this once-quiet mountain town will be broken by the piercing echo of gunfire and the air will become dense with the smell of death.

JAPANESE WESTERN. INSANE.

Guess who i'm being for halloween??

2008-10-31T08:07:00.000-07:00

It would appear that dressing up as Mrs. Palin will also require some house redecorating: Maybe my other half would consider going as her other half?

It would just require a goatee, a bad haircut, a semi automatic weapon and a flourescent Ski-doo jacket.

See ya'll later on... instead of candy, we'll be handing out flash frozen pieces of meat we acquired while aerial hunting.

(all photos courtesy of google images)

Kill me.

2008-10-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

I have been sick for like 3 days now with this killer headcold/sinus/horribleness.

I feel like i need to have a lobotomy to relieve the pressure in my head.

At the Red Brick Cafe in Guelph

2008-10-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

An Exhibition of Photographs by Dean Palmer

October 27.08 - November 23.08

Closing party Nov 22 7 - 8:30

Two friends...

2008-10-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

play in the band Black Hat Brigade...
(all photos by Pete Nema)

they are lovely boys, and received a pretty sweet review by Mr. Pete Nema, for their recent show with Oh No Forest Fires CD Release.
(Thanks to Kevbot as well for the musical introduction)

You can read it here.

Now, i know that this show was over a week ago, and I am soooo behind the ball. But coming out of reclusion is a tricky and lengthy endeavour.

Anyways Magazine fans... there seems to be a speckle of hope on the horizon... and although there seems to be an announcement of a magazine closure every two days... soon there may be an actual Qatalyst Magazine Website up and running.

Many fingers remain crossed.

H.

Warhol is taking over downtown... this is just the beginning

2008-10-20T06:22:00.001-07:00

Just to hammer home my previous posts point:

2008-10-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

check THIS out.

Qatalyst for President

2008-09-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Did you know that both Obama and McCain have Stores on their websites?
They do.

pretty interesting stuff to,
like this diane von furstenberg bag on Obama's site. Alternatively,
if you wanted to support young children having access to handguns, and the destruction of multiculturalism, you could sport this stuff from McCain's site: Wow. When will Canadian Politics be this commercialized, i mean glamourous, i mean exciting.

Nataliedee.com genius

2008-09-25T06:32:00.000-07:00

Oh Alana -
thank you for sending me a nataliedee comic the other day. Amazing.

Think Big... you gas guzzling...

2008-09-23T11:25:00.001-07:00

Thank you to Glenn for tipping me off onto this amazing site:
betterplace.com
There are rumours that they will be rolling out another program (currently they are based in Israel and Denmark) in Canada... specifically, in a smaller area surrounding Toronto.

Pray it is KW.

H.

Save bitch.

2008-09-17T05:53:00.001-07:00

Thanks To Ms.SCD who passed along this link to a bitch magazine item.

Sadly, bitch magazine is encountering money issues as an independent, reader funded magazine. So horrible.

If you have money, give them some.
Why you?
Because as my friend SV justified buying me lunch the other day, "My pile is bigger than yours". Words of wisdom she received from a wealthy relative.

Good Luck Bitch,
H.

In other News....

2008-09-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.
Put down the devices people.

Panic Attack

2008-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

So.... not sure who else has been reading the news lately. But jesus. this whole financial situation is looking bad.

I mean, not for me... i have no money, so the stock market crashing just means i'd have to liquidate my 5 things and live in some unnamed bus with 7 other people.... it could even be a nice break from this everyday shit... but for people like our parents - sheeesh... the rest of their lives rest on investments and savings and assets. It's fucking disturbing.

I'm not for protecting the uncritical thinkers of our population, but when MSN has an article like THIS on their mainpage... who knows what kind of panic common people are going to fly into? This article ran in The Wall Street Journal.

I guess I'm just of the thinking, that any potential crisis that would affect the majority of North America/the World is a time for some responsible journalism - not a chance to increase click-through rates and charge more for ads.

But that might be the reason I'm currently posting on a blog instead of printing a magazine.

Let's just all pray that this shit turns around until 2012.

Jerky what you can Jerky.

2008-09-12T10:30:00.001-07:00

At lunch with Stalkee today, he was talking about a little snack he brought back from Japan last week. Essentially, it’s Squid Jerky.

Which led me to comment “Well, you jerky what you can jerky, right?”
Seemed like a legitimate comment to me. I mean, in North America, we turn meat that we have a lot of, into a jerky snack commodity.
Beef, Pork…. Is there chicken jerky?
Why wouldn't it be the same in other parts of the world?

Anyways, the point is… ever tried a seafood jerky?

Post a comment.

Fired Up.

2008-09-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, I was checking out this new News Aggregator that's been put out by Business Week Magazine... wow, how corporate. And I stumbled across THIS article, about my favourite of North American publications, GOOD magazine.
For those of you who think socially (in the make it better, not get popular sense) this mag is pretty much the non-denominational bible. It supports tons of Non-Profits, promotes advertising from mostly responsible companies, allows subscribers to select which charity they would like their subscription to support and is constantly seeking out news that is interesting, inspiring and unique. Holy, that's not a bad review, huh?

Anyways, this article slags the owner and founder of GOOD for being a rich kid, who's having a hard time keeping his vision alive... and has hired some industry expert to help improve revenue sustainability... I think that's a nice way of saying that he doesn't want to sink any more money into the company, although he will if he has to.

The article is interesting... and completely biased, but it's been on my mind all day. I guess my questions are:
If you are rich, do you have to be obsessed with money, and making more of it? Why does society brand you as a heartless, moralless, exploitative fuck if you have money? The guy's spending his trustfund on bringing underpublicizied news to the socially aware population of North America. Sheeeesh.

Anyone care to share their thoughts?
Or maybe this is only interesting to me, i don't know.

H.

To do list

2008-09-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ever just decide that you need to come up with 1 good idea?

I mean, that's not a lot.

I'm not saying it has to be an idea that will be patented and make 500 million dollars, and you'll be cruising around with the trumps on some yacht checking out the Cannes film festival and not TIFF.... but just 1 simple original idea.

Anyways, that's on my to do list today.
- send email to Megan
- deposit cheque at the bank
- finish lameass powerpoint presentation
- come up with 1 good idea

How hard can it be?

I challenge you to come up with 1 good, original idea in the next 24 hours. You don't have to tell me what it is, but see if you can deliver under pressure. I dare you.

In other news, I'm going to be posting an article that I'm a bit stirred up about. Gimme a sec.

H.

Jay Spectre

2008-09-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

So Saturday nite q headed down to Toronto to see highwaisted, the vacuity boys at the El Mo, and Jay Spectre at the Horseshoe. Such a good nite.

Unfortunately missed the Jay Spectre set, but picked up their new disc and haven't listened to anything else since.
To get a copy of Jay Spectre disc, email me... and I will put you in touch. It's $10, great lyrics, huge instrumental,and the artwork kicks. Love that the lyrics are printed on the back of a fold out mini-poster.

Highwaisted reports the 'Shoe was packed... and Mr.Oliver seemed happy with the night, so all is good.

and yes, my glasses are perscription.

Pics credit of Ms. Highwaisted herself.

phone call last nite...

2008-09-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

(caller) : Hello, may i speak to Mrs. Hilary A-Bell?

(me): Hello.

(caller) : Hello, i'm calling behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada.

LONG PAUSE.

(me) : Mmhmmm......

(caller) : uhmmm.....

(me) : yes?

(caller) : I'm just calling to ask you to consider voting for Mr. So-and-so, the Conservative Party Candidate in your area.

(me) : Ah, no i will not be considering my area's Conservative candidate.

(caller) : ah, ok. i understand. have a good nite.

(me) : ok.

- Watch out people, they're on the prowl.

H.

Back to school....?

2008-09-04T06:00:00.001-07:00

So, as some of you may know.... I entered into a temporary corporate cashgrab back a couple weeks ago. I'm not proud of it, but hey, you gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

The one of the many obvious downsides to the committment, is that it requires me to be at a certain place every weekday by 9am. And this...requires me to commute through the city with the masses. I'll also preface this story with 2 facts:
1. I drive a volkswagen beetle... it has a broken door sensor and pretty much beeps constantly - confused that the door may be ajar.
B. It is a 2003 Beetle, but it has a TAPE DECK. NO CD player... so i have a weird rigged up system of an adapter cable to a 1994 Discman. Seriously, it's ridiculous. The dashboard is like 4 ft deep... you'd think they could have put the CD player in!

What I'm trying to illustrate here, is that I am not in ideal conditions during my travel. Some even find that beeping "irritating".

Since I started, I didn't really notice any serious traffic issues. Now, it has been said that I drive "as if in a parade" as in, leisurely, i rarely speed and I almost always take the scenic route. This does not mean i go 20 in a 60 zone. It means I go 60, not 80.It's basically an 11 minute drive that can be dragged out into 20 minutes if i'm feeling anti-establishment and want to stumble in a couple minutes late, but all in all, it's been a painless drive.

Until today.

What the fuck people? It's like the angry switch was turned on this morning with those of you coming back to school and work this week. I mean, I know you still wish you were on holidays, but you're not. So stop taking it out on all us peaceful drivers on the road in the morning. Seriously. It ain't cool.

Today, 2 things happened to make me realize that it is no longer summer:
The first, i went to the gas station to put some fuel in the car, and it was EXTREMELY busy. Understandable. It's not the most logically designed layout, it accomodate 8 pumps (3 which were out of service) and a poorly staffed Tim Horton's drivethrough. So yeah, stupid to go there, but I was definitely OUT OF GAS. So I'm there, waiting in line to get one of the 5 functional pumps, and totally get blocked in... it's ok though. Me and the guy at the pump in front of me have a visual understanding that he will pull to the side... I'll take his pump, he'll leave, some other car will move up to wait for my pump.
ok. crisis averted.

No. As the guy pulls out from the pump, the SUV with gramma, daughter and baby grandaughter (who has tons of room to BACK OUT OF her pump, and out to the driveway) pulls through the pump and wants me to back up.... appparently into the 3 cars deep behind me. Anyways, i motion for her to move forward and get this... SHE GIVES ME THE FINGER. I actually laugh. visibly. and she leaves her middle finger up, while she makes a sorry attempt to put the Suburban into reverse. UN-Believable. She finally gets it reversed, and puts it into Drive and she has 2 baby on board signs hanging in the back window. Seriously people. Why can you have a licence... and continue to raise children in this world if you are that volatile. The middle finger? At 8am? Because i wouldn't BACK UP????
The next two incidents involved the expressway... and people obviously too busy texting on their mobile devices to watch that traffic is SLOWING.DOWN. You know that bad feeling when you see someone speeding towards you when you are deadstopped. Yeah.

Anyways, i got here safe and sound and am now being productive under the glowing florescent lights.

Well, enough about that, You all have a lovely day, and if you live in the KW area - please write your local MP re: LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT OPTIONS. For my safety, and yours ;)