Public art as a public service

Jason Shelowitz, a graphic designer and artist from New York, has started a public art campaign that draws attention to people's bad manners and horrible etiquette on the New York subway system.
He has created a series of posters that look like official transit posters and he has posted them around the New York subway lines.
The posters' messages are about anything from people clipping their nails or eating messy food to playing loud music or simply littering while riding public transit.
"The messages are barbed and to the point," writes Debra Black in today's Toronto Star article about Shelowitz's art campaign.
Check out an image gallery of Shelowitz's posters here.


I wish a public art campaign of that nature could happen here.
It's really terrifying the amount of gross and ill-mannered things I see people do- smoking on the subway train, clipping fingernails on the streetcar and leaving piles of garbage under seats.

I don't treat the system like crap because I don't want it to look like crap. Yes, people are employed to clean up the streetcars, trains and buses. But that doesn't mean I want it to look and feel like a garbage dump before they get a chance to do their job.

It's really disgusting how people will treat their surroundings when they think that someone else will clean up after them.


Photo Credit: Toronto Star Article

not4me

If you've taken the subway any time in the last three months, you probably will have noticed ads put out by the Canadian government that are encouraging youths to say no to drugs and instead spend their time roaming about a new website: not4me.ca

Recently, there was an article (which I am still desperately searching for but can't seem to find- I swear it exists) that I read online that pointed out that many alcohol ads warning against binge drinking only made the viewers want to binge drink.

I think that these recent advertisements about not4me.ca have been having a similar effect.
I really want to know if these advertisements are doing their job or if they are causing the opposite of what they intend. Are they intriguing or deterring?

They show photos of drugs- a marijuana is shown in one ad and a few tablets of colourful pills (presumably E or some other kind of upper) are shown in another.

Personally, the advertisements make me want to know more about the drugs.
The photos are intriguing.
They don't make me want to say no. They make me want to find out more.
This reaction is the complete opposite of the advertisements' intended reaction.

Solely looking at the website, it's a pretty hilarious website. The advice is so... well, it would not work.
They whole site just reeks of staunchy old people who are trying their best to be politically correct and seem as if they're doing something to make a difference.
Not to mention the testimonies in the "Share Your Story" section seem completely fake. I would go so far as to say that they are fake. I really don't think any kid who has gone through school system could be that naive and ignorant. Kids talk. Kids know. And by the time you're in grade 10, you can't pretend not to know.

Although, the site does have some really great picture-puzzles you can re-create if you'd like. I always love to spend my time putting together puzzles that feature a giant pile of weed. Fun!

But, again, this is just my opinion.

It snowed. Finally!

"When the snow falls, you almost believe the world is clean again."
- Jeanette Winterson

Vancouver is having Olympic-appropriate-weather performance issues, and Toronto has Vancouver's weather. But who in the world has Toronto's weather?

Washington, I suppose.

NFB's Screening Room: Leading the Way for Canadian Content (re-posted from school blog)

The National Film Board of Canada's Screening Room launched last year, making Canadian films accessible to the world. But it's only a small portion of an already minute amount of Canadian content available on the web.

Michael Geist wrote about NFB in his article NFB Unreels Online Smash Hits.
"The NFB may never replace YouTube in the minds of most when it comes to Internet video," Geist wrote, "but a series of innovations have highlighted the benefits of an open distribution model and the potential for Canadian content to reach a global audience online."

Having a Canadian website, available to the entire world, showing intelligent, well-made and creative Canadian videos is great.

"There's a lack of Canadian content," says Willow Knoblauch, formerly the head of managing live videos on BlogTV.ca (now only available in the United States as blogtv.com).

Videos posted on sites like YouTube, MySpaceTV and BlogTV are often unintelligent or uploaded illegally by "excitable 14 year olds".

But YouTube and other user-generated-content sites can still include intelligent, innovative material. "For people that actually use it for what they're supposed to, it's a stepping stone to launch themselves into what they really want to do," says Knoblauch. That could be anything from acting to short films, animation or production. "It's a good platform for creative people."

So far, NFB's Screening Room seems like the best Canadian video site out there. Knoblauch thinks its a huge step in the right direction. "It's guaranteed, original, Canadian content."

American-Style News

From Adam Giambrone's university-aged side dish and his confession of multiple inappropriate relationships to Col. Russell Williams of The Canadian Forces being charged with two murders, Canadians have really gotten a taste of American-style news.

And the papers, broadcasters and bloggers have been eating it up.

It's tantalizing gossip full of stories about other women and the potential of a serial murderer.
It's almost a reflection the sensationalized-style news stories that appear often south of the boarder.

[Just to be clear, these things are not good. They're horrible, especially the women who were murdered. I hope for their families' sake that the police get to the bottom of this case.]

But my gosh they sure are keeping us all entertained.