Scanner Photos

Ryan Hill (www.horriblepain.com) has transformed his old scanner into a camera of sorts. Here are four photos he took of me the other day. They have not been retouched on the computer at all ... I love this kind of bizarre portraiture. I especially like the way we destroyed my face with light in the first one.

by Ryan Hill 

by Ryan Hill 

by Ryan Hill 

by Ryan Hill 

New Chapbooks

The Martian Press (my chapbook publishing company) is going to launch two new titles. They are:

"The Road to Power by Barbara Berger" by Aaron Mauro

"oppidum" by Norah Bowman

The event is going to take place at Mondragon on Thursday, August 18, at 7pm. Be there or awaken one day, in Kafkaesque fashion, as a square bug of some sort.

There will be readings by the real live authors and books will be available for $5 each. Admission is of course free. Also, just for coming, because I like you, I am going to give everyone in attendance a free advance (like, almost a year in advance) copy of another chapbook I am doing, "Seven Letters from the Churches of the Prairies" by Jonathan Ball (me). It may also be my last chance to see some of you before I leave the city for Calgary to do my PhD.

It'll be fun, games, and fair trade coffee. Mondragon is in the Exchange at 91 Albert St. in case you don't know.

a found poem?

from www.msn.com today:



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a great Orwell article

a great informal essay by George Orwell: "Why I Write". my favourite excerpt:

"Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money."

i had a few seconds of nostalgia today when i found this photo of me singing in my old old band, MHTA (Mars Has The Advantage). they passed. 

Patrick Friesen interview

my CV2 interview with poet Patrick Friesen is out now. check out the "Poetics of Space" issue (vol. 27, issue 3). also poetry by my friend Jessica Woolford (who won 2nd place in the poetics of space contest) & an interview with & poetry from fellow winnipegger Chandra Mayor (www.chandramayor.com)

Gimli Film Festival 2005

Well, the festival went well, all things considered, though I lost my cell phone on the beach (I have some leads though, should get it back next week). I didn't have time to keep doing my updates. I am in Northwestern Ontario at the moment & on a slow Internet connection.

The final day was fun, lots of people packed in for the Winnipeg Film Group shorts. The only damper came when Daniel Eskin's wonderful film The Salt Pillar crapped out on me, the screening copy's sound went screwy so I couldn't really show the film. My apologies to Daniel Eskin, whom I will email when I am back in town & able to email (no contact info here with me). I was very disappointed since Dan is a friend of mine & his film is one of my favourite films to be made in Winnipeg in a long while.

After the screening my friend Patrick & I went to a great restaurant called the Beach Boy where I got a stellar pickerel dinner & ate it on the beach while watching a film. It was good but distracting when the Icelandic Festival started shooting off fireworks over Lake Winnipeg, nearby. After that we went to Matthew's cabin for the afterparty which was fun. I would have liked to stay longer but my girlfriend was waiting for me & I was missing her, I don't get to see her often because she lives in Saskatchewan & didn't want to stay out too late since she was down for a visit.

Matthew set fire to a stuffed beaver which I took some photos of, will upload such things at a later date. I also recorded the tale of the burning stuffed beaver which was quite interesting, on my newish digital camera.

Barely had time to catch my breath before leaving the city with my girlfriend & visiting with her family & then coming home to visit with mine. I will be back into town next week. Then I have a scant three weeks to pack & do all my preparations to move. Well, wish me luck. I'm off to sleep & more adventures in the lovely land near Lake of the Woods.