Early Adopters on Ello.

Ello is now officially a thing, and they're promising a 'no ads' social media alternative to Facebook. Hardly anything functions on Ello at the moment, but I kind of like the refreshing lo-tech aspect to it; limitations can force creativity and that's cool. Mind you, there have been some not-so-cool murmurings about Ello's business model; as in venture-capital-masquerading-as-indie-makers.

Another incarnation of The Man? We shall see. Ello is certainly appealing to social media's early adopters.

In the meantime, it's really fucking hilarious to watch all the Ello noobs stumbling around in the dark.

It reminds me of when Google+ started...all actors shouting on the stage and no one in the audience.

I'm hopeful. What's your Ello @? Mine is @theanimatedwoman.

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Toilet paper.

I'm on a roll.

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The Montreal Formula - Artist Survival

I did some live-cartooning over at the POP Montreal Symposium yesterday: one of my tweeps, @ItsLilpeanut told me this is called a "sketchnote".

The topic was "The Montreal Formula: How to survive as an artist in Montreal". Co-hosted by ELAN Quebec and POP Montreal, Albert Nerenberg (The Laughologist) moderated seamlessly, with Murray Lightburn (solo artist and The Dears frontman), Krista Muir (aka Lederhosen Lucil) and myself.

A step beyond toonswag, my drawing was projected in real-time from my iPad to a screen for the audience to watch during the session. One becomes a conduit for ideas and pictures, some of which end up in the image. When it was over, I felt strangely buoyant.

Just another artist surviving in Montreal.

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Live-cartooning: The Montreal Formula.

This Sunday, I'm in a panel at the POP Montreal Symposium along with film-maker and Laughologist Albert Nerenberg, Murray Lightburn, solo artist and frontman from The Dears, and composer/musician Krista Muir a composer/musician who moonlights as Lederhosen Lucil. It's called "The Montreal Formula".

What's the secret to a successful artist's career, in any city? 

We're going to explore some of the out-of-the-box things you have to do to survive as an artist in Montreal. And the amusing irony is that I'm going to be doing one of those out-of-the-box things by live-cartooning the discussion as it happens.

Am I nervous? Not really.

Okay, maybe a smidgen. The drawing will unfold on a large screen in front of the audience as I scribble away. It's a little more demanding than my usual toonswag because I have no idea what I will be drawing. What if I space?

Can they tell that I have no idea what I'm doing?

Mostly I'm wondering which tech I should draw on; iPad toonswag-style, iPad Paper 'book' style, or Adobe Flash, where I can really make the pictures come to life. There's something super-engaging and easy about using the iPad in the moment...but the temptation to turn this into an animated video afterwards is welling up in me! With Flash, I can keep my options open.

Either way, I'm deepening my skills, and sharing my creative process live and in person yet again, and that's always fun.

Hope to see you there.

The Montreal Formula is co-hosted by ELAN and POP Montreal
September 21, 1:45 PM
3450 Saint Urbain, Montreal
FREE.

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Rocks.

Sometimes, our best friends abandon us. On the surface, it appears to be because of something superficial, but there are always deeper issues lurking below the rocky surface. These cracks in the foundation of a friendship can go unnoticed for years, but eventually, usually when one of the players evolves, the foundation crumbles.

It's painful. 

We can compromise our integrity and beg them not to go; it won't do any good though. After all, they are only doing what they believe is right for them. We must rise above the waves and move on.  It isn't until calm waters return that we realize our friends never abandoned us: they set us free.

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The double-rainbow bra.

I want a rainbow coloured bra; that way I can say my bra-size is double rainbow.

#whatdoesitmean

Hypnotic! This is better than a Jedi wave. What size bra do you want to wear?

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