Have you ever pondered Plant life and psychology? Not me, until now. Turns out that plants do register emotions such as pain, not like we do of course... but somehow they DO!
The Phytophilous Initiative is an inter-disciplinary art project by Liz Solo and Jesse H. Walker. As one part of The Phyto Initiative, the team has built their own working polygraph machine. Polygraph machines are used to measure stress in plants, apparently they give off the same type of registered level as a human does when they are telling lies. And that green pea that you squished felt the same level as well! There is hope though, because Aspirin has shown to block that same pain in plants and vegetables as they do for us.
The series of Phyto experiments has been continuing for well past a year, and as part of a latest installment in the series, will be shown at the Eastern Edge Gallery next month. "The show opens on June 25th and runs until July 30. You can expect to see some installations experiments demonstrating we used in our attempts to communicate with plant-life, documentation and photographs from our experiments and observations and related site specific installations and performances around the downtown," remarks Liz.
Sounds to me like a great exhibition for not only fans of Liz and her creative work, as well as, botanists, and just about anyone with a sense of curiosity. You can also follow along on the PhytoBlog or on fb under Phytophilous-Initiative. A fascinating subject indeed!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Move over Hollywood the Nickel Independent Film Festival is in year 11!
When most people hear Independent Film Festival, there is a general misconception of low budget, low standards. Not so though, low budget means just that, you pull out all the stops to create quality work for as little money as you can, quite a few of them done by mostly volunteers quite often. With the event beginning with a promo for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador music, featuring various local artists as well as, Chris Kirby's 'Don't You Ever Forget About Me' I knew I was in for a treat indeed!
The Nickel Independent Film Festival Retrospective, '11 Years, 11 Films, 11 Bucks', was hosted by the multi-faceted Ruth Lawrence and Roger Maunder. Maunder as curator and founder of NIFF since 2001, he took on the task of choosing the 11 films to showcase this event. NIFF features art by people for the love of storytelling. It was quite the task with hundreds of films to chose from. As the evenings host, Maunder also starred in Colleen Power's film 'Ugly Telling Lies' the hilarious tale of a spouse fed up with her man being out all night long and finding a way to keep track of him, and Colleen with an email inbox full of product requests!
Lois Brown's Sweet Pickle staring Ruth Lawrence was certainly that! With it's light hearted humorous story of a girl from the Bay who heads in to Bidgood's Store to shop for produce, after all, the little bit that she gets for herself is the 'special treat at the bottom of the jar' a piece of cauliflower.
Yes!Yes!Yes! By Jordan Canning featured the now ultra happening Newfoundland band, Hey Rosetta! A story of an older gentleman's life that reminds us of just how quickly time can pass by and that if we don't work to change things, the pattern will repeat itself. A video that is no more relevant at any other time than now when we are at an all time high of economic hardships throughout the entire world.
'Colic' by Noel Harris brings us the tale of a couple of parents dealing with a baby with colic. Was that a `'sigh' if so, you've been there too! In Harris words ' 'Colic', at it's essence it is about love, staged upon a lighthearted snippet of family life.' It starts as a typical story of how the dad deals with him night in and night out, and ends in the neatest twist that will leave you giggling.
The viewing on the big screen of 'Evelyn The Evil Dead Girl', probably one of my favorite short films of all time, produced by our own Brad Peyton, who comes from Gander. Meeting up with some friends in the arts, and viewing a couple of faves on the big screen. Such as 'Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl', a film I first saw on tv back in the early 2000's and until tonight didn't even realize was a product of a Newfoundlander! His most recent project includes the teen sensation, Vanessa Hudgsens, Dwayne Johnson and Sir Michael Caine.
'Even Now' by Liz 'Solo' Pickard, is a classic for Lizband fans, such as myself, and gave us a look back nearly 10 years ago at a song she still kills on stage, but these days as a member of the Black Bags!
It was almost like a game to try to name as many cameo's as you could through the evening, we caught, Allan Hawco, Jody Richardson and Geraldine Hollett in film. As was the LSPU theatre, with guests for the evening including newly elected MP Ryan Cleary, and the multi-talented Andy Jones and Robert (Bob) Joy.
Aptly, proceeding the evenings event, I caught up with Robert 'Bob' Joy of CSI:NY, who is back home in St. John's, for a run of the Edward Riche production 'Hail'. He'd enjoyed the evening and the variety of films that were presented in his 'favorite city in the world '(St John's).
Maunder was pleased with the turnout and was anticipating that he selected a broad enough range to satisfy all genres, which he did. The evening served as a wonderful ramp up to the Nickel Film Festival which starts on June 21, for more information, you can hit up the link at the bottom. I will post as many shorts on here for you guys to take a gander at.
Serendipity is..... seeing your favorite short film on the big screen when you least expect it!
The Nickel Independent Film Festival Retrospective, '11 Years, 11 Films, 11 Bucks', was hosted by the multi-faceted Ruth Lawrence and Roger Maunder. Maunder as curator and founder of NIFF since 2001, he took on the task of choosing the 11 films to showcase this event. NIFF features art by people for the love of storytelling. It was quite the task with hundreds of films to chose from. As the evenings host, Maunder also starred in Colleen Power's film 'Ugly Telling Lies' the hilarious tale of a spouse fed up with her man being out all night long and finding a way to keep track of him, and Colleen with an email inbox full of product requests!
Lois Brown's Sweet Pickle staring Ruth Lawrence was certainly that! With it's light hearted humorous story of a girl from the Bay who heads in to Bidgood's Store to shop for produce, after all, the little bit that she gets for herself is the 'special treat at the bottom of the jar' a piece of cauliflower.
Yes!Yes!Yes! By Jordan Canning featured the now ultra happening Newfoundland band, Hey Rosetta! A story of an older gentleman's life that reminds us of just how quickly time can pass by and that if we don't work to change things, the pattern will repeat itself. A video that is no more relevant at any other time than now when we are at an all time high of economic hardships throughout the entire world.
'Colic' by Noel Harris brings us the tale of a couple of parents dealing with a baby with colic. Was that a `'sigh' if so, you've been there too! In Harris words ' 'Colic', at it's essence it is about love, staged upon a lighthearted snippet of family life.' It starts as a typical story of how the dad deals with him night in and night out, and ends in the neatest twist that will leave you giggling.
The viewing on the big screen of 'Evelyn The Evil Dead Girl', probably one of my favorite short films of all time, produced by our own Brad Peyton, who comes from Gander. Meeting up with some friends in the arts, and viewing a couple of faves on the big screen. Such as 'Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl', a film I first saw on tv back in the early 2000's and until tonight didn't even realize was a product of a Newfoundlander! His most recent project includes the teen sensation, Vanessa Hudgsens, Dwayne Johnson and Sir Michael Caine.
'Even Now' by Liz 'Solo' Pickard, is a classic for Lizband fans, such as myself, and gave us a look back nearly 10 years ago at a song she still kills on stage, but these days as a member of the Black Bags!
It was almost like a game to try to name as many cameo's as you could through the evening, we caught, Allan Hawco, Jody Richardson and Geraldine Hollett in film. As was the LSPU theatre, with guests for the evening including newly elected MP Ryan Cleary, and the multi-talented Andy Jones and Robert (Bob) Joy.
Aptly, proceeding the evenings event, I caught up with Robert 'Bob' Joy of CSI:NY, who is back home in St. John's, for a run of the Edward Riche production 'Hail'. He'd enjoyed the evening and the variety of films that were presented in his 'favorite city in the world '(St John's).
Maunder was pleased with the turnout and was anticipating that he selected a broad enough range to satisfy all genres, which he did. The evening served as a wonderful ramp up to the Nickel Film Festival which starts on June 21, for more information, you can hit up the link at the bottom. I will post as many shorts on here for you guys to take a gander at.
Serendipity is..... seeing your favorite short film on the big screen when you least expect it!
Totally random nights are the best!
Ever have one of those nights where you get the chance to get out and on the go, but there's no one around? Well, apparently Monday is Funday Monday, yes indeed!
It's a great night to get together with your friends, like us, hang out, play some pool and enjoy the drink specials that you will find at most of the bars in Downtown, St John's, Newfoundland, that is. A few of the fave's were closed, which was a shame because some local live music would have topped off the night!
The free Pool at Bar None, and the super chill atmosphere is as addictive as a great episode of Dexter.
If you know where to look you can always find a time downtown.
As the designated driver for the night.
It didn't even bother me one bit at all!
I've been meaning to start this blog for quite a while and tonight after having one of those totally awesome run into your buds kind of evening, I thought no better time to start!
Another sweet reminder of how Serendipity works if you just open your mind.
Props to my girl Liz Solo, for your inspiration, your words of wisdom, and of course... your music!
It's a great night to get together with your friends, like us, hang out, play some pool and enjoy the drink specials that you will find at most of the bars in Downtown, St John's, Newfoundland, that is. A few of the fave's were closed, which was a shame because some local live music would have topped off the night!
The free Pool at Bar None, and the super chill atmosphere is as addictive as a great episode of Dexter.
If you know where to look you can always find a time downtown.
As the designated driver for the night.
It didn't even bother me one bit at all!
I've been meaning to start this blog for quite a while and tonight after having one of those totally awesome run into your buds kind of evening, I thought no better time to start!
Another sweet reminder of how Serendipity works if you just open your mind.
Props to my girl Liz Solo, for your inspiration, your words of wisdom, and of course... your music!
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