Anything I Can Do, My Friends Can Do Better

You'd think that being surrounded by such great talent, some of it would rub off on me. Here's a roundup of what some of my friends are up to in culture and online:

Karen Henricks has designed Canada Post's stamp for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It had never occurred to that there are designers for stamps, but it makes perfect sense to me now. Karen — do you get to go to the Games now?

Nikki Stafford has recently returned from giving a keynote address — Don't You Forget about Buffy: Why Joss Whedon's Masterpiece Captivates Us Still — at an academic conference on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As the author of books on Buffy, Angel, Lost, Alias, and Xena, she is passionate about TV and has recently penned a great post defending the study of the idiot box.

Another university friend, Richard Gilmore, is part of the photography exhibit 21 Days of Black Rock City until Aug. 3 in Petaluma, CA. Ricky is a fabulous photographer and often shoots fire-dancers. You can see examples of his work here.

Last, but not least, two of my friends have been named to NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers list. Amber MacArthur of commandN (among other things) and Rachel Sklar, the editor of Huffington Post's Eat the Press have both deservedly made the grade.

Congrats to all of you!

Burning Down the House

Every so often the city reminds you why you live there and Toronto did this for me this past weekend. Following an afternoon of disc golf out on the island and an evening BBQ on the roof of a downtown condo overlooking the skyline, I headed over to my friend Richard Gilmore’s closing party for his Contact exhibition, Ritual Use of Fire.

It was a fun party, interesting people, a few friends and some great photos. But the evening came to life when we were shepherded out into the alleyway for a demonstration. Out we stumbled into the night where some of the firedancers from the exhibit turned on the heat. A couple of dozen of us watch and applauded, drinks in hand, as the dancers lit up the night swirling the fire about their bodies and often just inches from us. Cabbies stopped and stared as passersby gawked. It was a perfect moment.



All photos courtesy of Richard Gilmore.