N.E.R.D.'s N.3.R.D

The Neptunes: Chad and Pharrell in the Studio, Miami

Everyone thought they were done. Leaving the game after 2 albums to pursue individual endeavors. I thought it was all over with P's solo record. But Pharrell, Chad and Shay are back as N-E-R-D with their third record N.3.R.D.

Big news indeed. These guys are one of the best bands to come out after the new millennium. They have been consistent over the years with their one-of-a-kind sound. Imagine funky rock with hip hop, blues and soul influence... Now imagine that, but from outer space!

N.3.R.D. is expected for Spring of this year, but until then, check out their now classic, In Search Of... and Fly or Die.

West Queen West Gallery Hop

Saturday night, I found myself at The Social on WQW and decided to take time out from partying to check out the galleries found on the street. The stretch of Queen West from Bathurst to the Gladstone is known to be Toronto's premier art district, even housing The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. The great thing about the WQW galleries is that they are store fronts, meaning they are always open! Past a certain time however, the doors are closed but you can still look inside and have a clear view the art. Some even keep their spotlights on as to illuminate the pieces all night long.

Galerie Lausberg, 880 Queen St W

The street itself is a living art gallery, and as you pass numerous galleries on your stroll. The artists are not limited to a particular medium either, as there are sculptures, paintings, and use of very non-traditional items as materials. I was able to snap a few pictures of what I saw.

Maria Gabankova and Mary Catherine Newcomb, 1174 Queen St W

Angell Gallery, 890 Queen St W

The galleries on WQW are free, so you are encouraged to gallery hop and there is much to see for all your tastes. Go here to check out all the galleries WQW has to offer.
Engine Gallery, 1112 Queen St W

Heywire Guild & Gallery

For those of you who don't like DeviantArt, there is another artist community on the web called Heywire. Pieces are divided in galleries and there's something for everyone from Architecture to Typography.

It's not as smooth as DeviantArt but it has categories making it easy to find what you like.

INVADER!

French street artist Invader (famous for his Space Invaders) is known for his pixelated style using mosaic. Invader creates artwork from various mediums, including Rubik's cubes, sneakers and stickers. On the eighties theme for today, here's a work in progress using Rubik's cubes.

Interesting Solar Solutions

The Sanyo Solar Ark

It doesn't go in water, but this solar energy collecting building (yes, you can go inside of this thing) consists of over 5,000 solar panels and provides over 500,000 kWh of energy per year. The Solar Ark is considered one of the best examples of building integrated photovoltaic design to date.


SolarReserve

A big limitation to solar power is its inability to generate electricity at night or during cloudy days. SolarReserve attempts to address this drawback by capturing solar energy in molten salt. I'm no scientist, so I suggest you read how this can be done here. But this new solar program will attempt produce up to 500 megawatts of peak power which is comparable to what a coal power plant can produce only with no greenhouse gas emissions. Yummy.

Yoshitaka Amano

As you can see, I am captivated by Yoshitaka Amano.

Amano is a Japanese artist who is known for his illustrations and character design in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. He has played a crucial role in the creation and aesthetic basis of some of the most well known franchises. Read more about him here.

New American Paintings

If one would ever question painting's validity in the diverse world of contemporary art, they should check out New American Paintings' cataloge. It is considered an art competition as a jury reviews over five thousand American artists annually and are categorized by region: North-eastern, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Midwestern, Western, and Pacific Coast - with subject matter varying based on location.

The artists selected are provided free space in the publication based on their artistic merit and have a chance to be noticed by a wider audience of collectors. It comes out six times a year but offers an insight to the artist and their work through written rationales of their work. It is a great way to stay current on emerging painters of this age, a field which doesn't get much attention in this contemporary period (more focused on photo-based work, installations, video, digital work and drawing). New American Paintings show that the art of painting is still alive and well and co-exist within the realm of Contemporary art.

Why I'm Mad

Sucks that my first entry of '08 has to be a negative one, because this year has been pretty good so far! Also sucks that I have to start my first entry of the year with the word 'sucks.' But there are few things rubbing me the wrong way as of late. I will use this opportunity to vent.

1. Dell

Right now, I'm using my desktop PC instead of my laptop because of it's recent crash. It crashed on December 26th and it is still out of commission. I've spoke to Dell a dozen times but it's still not fixed. These people tell me they will call me back to help me some more but they never do!! I can't call another person because they don't know what the issue is or what has been done so far!

2. Photos on my mobile

Related to the computer issue, is my cellphone (which doubles as a camera) and how it cannot connect through USB to upload my files. I came on originally to update with photos I took last night but the USB is not working on it!


3. The Amazing Spider-Man: One More Day & Brand New Day

After the events in Civil War involving Spider-Man, a whole can of problems opened up. Peter Parker unmasked himself to the world, didn't he think this would compromise his life? The result was, him being sued by the Daily Bugle for all those photos he's taken of his alter ego for years, and Aunt May getting shot. So, in order to save her, he makes a deal with Mephisto (the Marvel equivalent of the devil) to erase everything that has happened and start again. This would cost him his wife, Mary Jane, but now Peter is 30, living with his now healthy Aunt May. They retconned the retcon and now Spidey is back the way was since the late sixties. Pretty lame. I guess they see all the mistakes they've made with Spider-Man these past few decades and erased all of it, taking the character back to his basics. They already have Ultimate Spider-Man for that. Now he's a 30 year old slacker living with his Aunt. I thought Spidey was ruined before... This makes it so much worse.

4. DHL Express

So I ended up buying those Andy Warhol x Levis jeans because I found my size on the internet. Buying them was easy, but receiving them is a whole other story. This courier DHL delivered it to my house twice but I couldn't receive it because I wasn't home and went to work early. Now I have to wait 5 days to pick it up at their head office which is in the middle of nowhere!!! Ugh! All this for a pair of pants. They could have tried again on Monday! Geez!


5. Uffie

Some genius scheduled Uffie (w/ Steve Aoki) for a Sunday night at the Tattoo Rock Parlour in Toronto. It'd be cool to go to for sure, because when will you get to see Uffie pop her glock in town ever? Why would anyone schedule a show on a Sunday. Maybe I'm Lame (yes, with a capital 'L') for not going out on a Sunday night, but isn't that normal?

6. Sleeping

I seem to be missing out on life because I can't wake up in the morning. I don't like waking up, so what! Is that a sign of a depressed person? I don't feel depressed! I just don't look forward to the long commutes to school so early in the morning. It's too cold! It's too dark! And my bed is so warm and nice.

Pointless, I know, but I need to get something on here until I can get my camera working!