Happy Canada Day!
Contributor and visual artist Chris Tompkins has made a sweet, sultry poster advertising today’s events at the Foggy Goggle down on Argyle Street in Halifax. Starting at 4pm you can see hours of live music while swilling your favourite brew. Have a wonderful day and try to take in some music, it makes everything taste sweeter.
Photos by Tom Henheffer
Words by Jason Wilson
Just wanted to preface the pics with some questions for you (I also wanted to clarify that the photographer, Tom did not write these). Why does the marijuana march exist? To what end purpose does it serve? This is not a slight against pot smokers and it isn’t an alignment with those who believe it should be kept illegal. If the march is meant as a public act of defiance against arcane laws that make no sense, has it held any effect? Or is it just a day where everyone and their dog (honestly, there’s one in the pics below) can publicly smoke grass and not get harassed by police? If the latter is true, is that a happy compromise? One day per year out of 365? Is it simply the best option available? Honestly, everyone toking at the marijuana march will likely toke in privacy or semi-privacy the rest of the year anyway so what good is it to have events like this? These events exist because pot is illegal and this is the closest thing to an outcry that happens. But the question remains, are we any closer today than we were yesterday to having the law changed?
The Marijuana March is a global annual event. May 1st, 2010 brought the 11th such event forward. In 2007 it was estimated that more than 20,000 people attended the event in Toronto alone. That total has doubled in 2010 where it is estimated that 40,000 people graced the Toronto festival. According to its website, the Global Marijuana March now includes 183 cities worldwide.
Share your thoughts below in the comments section about the laws surrounding pot and the validity of these events. Are the effective? Is a new approach needed? Should things stay the way they are? Or should punishment become harsher? Click the photos below to see them in all their non-hazy glory.
Hey everyone, Jason here.
I’d be posting our first Unfiltered Smoke podcast right now, however, I am having a difficult time figuring out how to get it on the site. I know how it’s supposed to work but we’ve been having troubles with our media uploading tool. This is why the pictures are all linked to flickr as opposed to being thumbnails that will expand upon clicking.
This week will see (hopefully) the debut of said podcast featuring the likes of Tom Henheffer, Colin Davis and Billy Fong, all of whom have contributed to this site. Also I will be posting the first part of a short story I wrote a year ago, though I still need to re-work some of the later elements. Should be a good week and I hope we get our issues resolved shortly.
an excuse to put my ugly mug at the top of the site by Jason Wilson
Well hello there. The last couple months have seen what some might have expected to be the end of Unfiltered Smoke. This is not exactly the case. Isaac and myself have not at all lost interest but as in with other endeavours life has gotten in the way. I don’t think I need to get into the particulars but we have been working on finishing up our novel we have been writing for over a year together, which has become first priority.
Second, we stopped getting submissions. I do have another photo series from Nick Lamont and that will go up tomorrow or even later tonight but other than that it all stopped at once. Now I’m not blaming anyone, what I expect was that people saw the site was no longer active and thus decided it wouldn’t be in their best interest to submit. We are always open to submissions even if (or perhaps especially) if we appear MIA.
I could have likely updated the site daily or at least regularly with my own pontifications on the world of art but the idea that brought this site to fruition to begin with was that it would be a collective. If it’s only myself or Isaac and I, then it’s nothing more than another blog. While we have blog-like elements I like to think we draw from a slew of media that elevate it above the typical diary-like writings of so many blogs out there. Of course it is so difficult to classify as Deadspin is a sports blog but brings in actual news stories and is more of a comedy routine in most of the posts. It’s opinion based but not in a rambling manner.
At any rate, the internet is a tough nut to crack and yet I still believe we can make this site a success. I’m not talking in financial terms because I certainly am not making money. But I believe we can successfully promote the arts, be it music, writing, drawing, painting, photography or ideas in general. This update has been a long time coming and should have happened before the turn of April.
Brief Criterion Conquest:
Amarcord (1974)
Directed by Federico Fellini
A comedy…in fascist Italy? Well that’s basically what Amarcord is, or it’s at least a very whimsical depiction of what life in Italy during WW2 might have been like. It was loosely based on Fellini’s own experiences as a youngster and shows how adolescence and sexual awakening is difficult in any country. That sort of development doesn’t simply stop because a war is on or someone happens to be brought up on the opposing side. He brought a decidedly human perspective to the fascist reign of Mussolini.
It’s like a carnival and features many dream sequences that further the idea that many people of the time may have ignored that the war was going on or recognized it but tried to distance it by going on with their lives. Otherwise, what could you do? Of course, there are moments of weight that include an interrogation of the main boy’s father who is suspected of working against the government. This corresponds with a political rally where characters you’ve grown fond of show their undying support for Mussolini who history has proven was one of the worst tyrants imaginable…or at least that’s what the history books tell us. Perhaps for these people at least in Italy it wasn’t so bad. The film allows the viewer to imagine a different perspective or an alternate view of the war. It doesn’t mean you have to all of a sudden pump your fist in support of Mussolini, far from it. I’m rambling…it’s been a couple months since I actually watched it. Either way it is a fantastic film that everyone should give a watch. Then you’ll know what I mean…or you’ll think I’m insane or way off base with my interpretation. Such is the folly of criticism.
Army of Shadows (1969)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
On an opposite, perhaps more traditional take on the Second World War, Melville’s dark and depressing tale of underground rebels fighting against the Nazi’s is possibly one of my now favourite movies set in war times. It doesn’t rely on a ton of bells and whistles and instead focuses entirely on the quiet nature before and after violence. The choice these people had was to fight back through espionage or die in camps. Unfortunately, betrayal was not as uncommon as the resistance hoped for as some members saw an opportunity to help their family by providing information.
Guilt, paranoia, desperation and desire to be free are all powerful themes and when mixed together the way Melville does here is incredible. I’ve seen his film Le Samourai and was blown away, especially when I found out it was a huge influence on Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog.
I skipped down the list by a long shot and I figure any time I add another it will not be in chronological order. Just saying.
So yes, we will have periodic updates that are certainly more regular than they have been the last little while. Please send new submissions if you like, we will put them up. Thank you for your readership!
Unfiltered Smoke’s good buddy Craig Layton (whose webshow “Craigness!” you can find at this very site) has a new website dedicated to all things “Craigness!”. Get an inside look at the man, the myth, the jacket. If you’re a fan of his show, we urge you to take a gander. The site includes all of the archived “Craigness!” episodes, behind the scenes photos and Craig’s own personal blog.
Don’t be a fink, click the link!
Hey Everyone, We’re always working hard to improve our site and make it more user friendly. So now that we’re closing in on 100 entries, we’ve decided to add a Contributors page to make site navigation a little easier. You can still search older articles through the category pages, but if you’re looking for a particular author, artist, musician or photographer you can now search all their work in the handy Contributors page! It’s up top there, next to Home, About and Contact.
Thanks to everyone who’s contributed so far, we’ve got a lot of great material to share in the coming weeks, including a cavalcade of top ten retrospectives of the last 10 years.
-IT
Hey readers,
This past week has been swamped in general and the copy I have to post is in limbo at the moment. I have several pieces almost ready to go but nothing finished just yet. Apologies for the less than regular updates.
Now for the requests. It’s always a good time to remind anyone and everyone that if you have a piece/article/artwork/etc. you would like to share, email me at ratedargh@gmail.com. We are open to your ideas and submissions so don’t be shy. Just do it!
by Jason Wilson
We all watch television. Even if you don’t get cable or you avoid it like the plague, you watch clips or you download shows or you wait for DVD. For whatever reason, it wasn’t until the last decade or so where shows started to develop longer more consistent story arcs with regularity. Of course there have always been exceptions, but shows like Law and Order where nothing evolves from episode to episode have more or less been the norm.
Stations like HBO have helped pave the way for more in depth drama and comedy that breathes greater life into the show. The Sopranos and The Wire among others had season long and series long arcs creating a greater connection between the stories, characters therein and the audience watching. Comedies like Arrested Development (I know it was on Fox) and Curb Your Enthusiasm even rely on in jokes from previous episodes and references to earlier mishaps. The ongoing story is what makes television intriguing.
What I’d like to do with Unfiltered Smoke in regards to television is provide weekly reviews of shows we follow. It would have been nice to have started at the beginning of the fall season but I think it’s fine if we jump in now in the middle and nearly end of the first run of shows.
If you follow a show out there religiously and would like to provide a weekly commentary please let me know and we’ll post it. As of next week I’ll be reviewing the remaining episodes of HBO’s new show Bored to Death which I have become enamored with. The January season also sees the return of LOST on ABC, which I plan on doing but if someone else would like to instead I am open to the idea.
Drop me a line and we’ll figure something out.
Jason
So as you might have noticed, the front page is a bit different today. Some of the articles are fairly lengthy as you’d know from checking out the site. We figured that we’d try posting the articles with an excerpt on the main page and then you’d click the link to read the rest of the story or entry or what have you. We’ll be tweaking it here and there and feel free to send any and all suggestions.
by Jason Wilson
Through my time at journalism school I learned plenty, which I’m sure is the point. One thing I learned that didn’t have anything to do with the practical nature of reporting or the form a story takes or how to come up with ideas or subjects or interviews is that I want to stay true to myself. This may seem like a no-brainer, and maybe I’m overly critical of the industry I so dutifully desired to venture into, but I didn’t want to compromise and so far I don’t think I have.
Specifically, I could have taken internship positions at a BNI publication like the Gleaner or the Telegraph (for those unfamiliar with New Brunswick newspapers, I apologize) but I didn’t. I instead took a reporting gig at the Carleton FreePress, an independent weekly paper where I was free to essentially do as I pleased as long as I had enough copy to fill up the damn paper come Monday morning (at the latest). For every beauty pageant or otherwise uninteresting (to me at least) event I wrote about what books mattered to individual people, the revitalised vinyl side of the record industry and local plays written by local playwrights.
My editor Bob Rupert gave me responsibility and didn’t hold my hand but at the same time didn’t dictate what I could and couldn’t do. For example, I wrote consecutive negative film reviews. One of the managers of the movie theatre, who knows our publisher fairly well, showed up and requested I not be allowed to write any more reviews. He feared my negativity would effect (or is it affect…damn) business. Both Bob and our publisher Ken Langdon stood by me and encouraged me to write further and maintain my honesty regardless.
Onto the matter in the headline. Oh how my professors would cringe at this. I didn’t get to the point in the first paragraph, hell I didn’t get to the point int he first THREE paragraphs. Big no-no for those counting at home (cliche alert!). The reason I started Unfiltered Smoke in the first place was to keep things on my own terms. And while I wouldn’t argue that the website has been a house of journalism, it has at least been a house of different perspectives. Sure, some of the articles certainly wouldn’t be a hit with certain crowds but that’s exactly the point. The writers and contributors here do not compromise and I want to finally bring this aspect to the audio side of things in an Unfiltered Smoke podcast or radio show (yes! I finally made it to the point of this article!).
I’d be lying if I said I am not inspired and influenced in this idea by This American Life. It is easily the best radio program I have ever listened to and I thank my former professor Philip Lee for showing it to the class. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it tells stories of slices of Americana in several acts in an hour-long show. While it airs weekly, the amount of work one show requires makes it impossible for a new show to debut every single week. The show has aired since 1995 and is still going strong for WBEZ Chicago and Public Radio International.
Host Ira Glass is fantastic. He is rarely the center of attention but he bleeds the stories together with ease, as he should as he’s been doing this for decades. Just check out the show so I can stop short of heaping too much praise on the show because it’s only part of the point here.
I want to do a similar thing with Unfiltered Smoke Radio. While it may not be weekly, hell, depending on the amount of work involved we may be lucky if the thing airs monthly, but I want to do what I can to accomplish what matters most to me in journalism. Tell people’s stories. Or in some cases, get them to tell their own.
The fear is that radio doesn’t have the same impact it once did, at least not on a grand scale. While I am infatuated personally with radio shows like This American Life, Ideas, Definitely Not the Opera and Wire Tap, I can’t say the same for many others. The people I know might even be in the same group as I am so I don’t even know how the masses look at radio. It may be some arcane device that serves little purpose but damn it, I love it so I’m going to do it even if it’s doomed to fail.
The first show, the process which hasn’t even begun beyond the conceptual stages, will focus on the medium of radio itself. As I pontificated about the validity of the medium I realized that I’m just so unsure so I’d like to talk with people who work in the industry as well as people who listen to radio and even to those who don’t in order to figure out what it all means. A portion of the show will also be dedicated to the history of radio; where it began, where it went and even where it’s going now.
Ideally I’d interview Ira Glass as he is one of the main reasons, if not the catalyst, that I’m ploughing ahead with the show. So stay tuned, hopefully this is going to fly.
- Jason
by Jason Wilson
As 2009 crawls to an end we will be entering the second decade of the new millennium. Here at Unfiltered Smoke, I want to take a look back on the best from film, music, sports and television in a series from different perspectives and different people. I will be counting down the top 100 movies from the decade starting in January (taking the time between now and then to catch up).
This is where you, the readers and fellow contributors come in.
I am looking for individuals to volunteer to tackle the other media in their own way. It doesn’t have to be a countdown or a list with a piece around it. I want you to think critically and fondly on the decade and write about what worked and maybe a bit about what didn’t for you.
If you listened to a lot of great new music since 2000, let me know and we’ll figure out what you can write. Same for television junkies and sports fanatics. This could be a great collaborative project and if more than one person wants to focus on the same topic, as long as you both take different approaches, this would be fine.
Email me at ratedargh@gmail.com with 2000 retrospective in the subject line and we’ll start a dialogue. I look forward to hearing from you.
We’ve decided to unleash the first episode of “Craigness” a day early because of this exciting NEWS!:
Craig Layton has recently partnered with the fine folks over at www.haligonia.ca to have “CRAIGNESS!” cover the Atlantic Film Festival! His coverage will be featured right here at Unfiltered Smoke, including an exclusive interview with the TRAILER PARK BOYS for their new movie “Countdown to Liquor Day”! Stay tuned to Unfiltered Smoke in the coming days for Craig’s unique Film Festival Coverage and his guaranteed to be fantastic interview with the Trailer Park Boys.
I told you it was exciting news.
Craig’s guest on the first installment of “Craigness!” is Jule Malet-Veale, an amazingly talented and hardworking professional photographer. She was born in Oakville, Ontario, spending half of her life in Ontario and Vancouver Island, B.C.
She studied English literature with the goal of becoming a writer. Along the way she travelled parts of Europe, worked in various industries and discovered a passion for photography.
“Photography opened a new expressive world to me, It allowed me to say what I felt in one single Image. I could see the power that words and photography could have when united together.”
Now she lives in Halifax, N.S., where she takes pictures for a living, offering many years experience in publishing and communication arts, weddings, corporate events, portraiture and more. She has shot 12 covers for the Halifax News-zine The Coast and is the official photographer for the Atlantic Film Festival.
“With passion and uniqueness, I strive to capture the beauty of the moment. A moment that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.”
The Crew of CRAIGNESS!
Exec Producer – Laura Nurse
Producer – Hank White
MUA- Vicki Martin
Location/Stills Photographer – Josh Boyter
DOP – Herb D’Entremont
A couple of days ago I told you about the study in awesomeness that is “Craigness!”. Today I come bearing fruit. Here is the promo for the first episode of “Craigness!”. If you like art, mirth, and things that kick ass, I suggest you visit Unfiltered Smoke this Friday and check out the first episode.
Craig’s Guest is Professional Photographer Jule Malet-Veale who will be involved in the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax. The festival starts Thursday Sept 17.
-IT
This week is going to be an exciting one here at Unfiltered Smoke. As always we’ll be making with the regular updates. We have a combustible cavalcade of inspired, entertaining and thought provoking artwork for your convenient consumption. But what makes this week extra special is that Unfiltered Smoke will be premiering its first exclusive video series: “Craigness!”
I heard that Craig Layton character is a bad mother…
- *shut your mouth!*
But I’m only talkin’ bout Craig
- *I can dig it!*
Host Craig Layton invites you to grasp his hand (or pant leg) firmly, take a deep breath, and jump headfirst into the depths of arts and entertainment. Join Craig as he explores Halifax’s world of fashion, film and music. Through imaginative interview scenarios and a wickedly warped sense of humour, Craig shows you the real face of Hali-Weird as only he can. It’s no-holds-barred, it’s totally fucked up and it’s only on Unfiltered Smoke.
First episode drops Friday Sept 18th right here on this very site.
-IT
He's a complicated man and no one understands him but his woman.
That’s right. Unfiltered Smoke is on twitter. While I always thought it seemed like a silly application, and I do still think this, it is useful in networking…I guess. I was reluctant but I joined anyway just to get added exposure. If RSS feeds or coming to this site everyday to check for updates isn’t your thing, follow the site on twitter at www.twitter.com/unfilteredsmoke. Huzzah, after all it’s not so bad being trendy.
