FutuRéale Magazine - June 2010 by OMAR MURJI

June a r2010 t s . cvolume u l t u r e2.issue l i v i n16 g

www.futuréale.com

arts . culture . living

Robin Black The Condo Man FAT fashion show Photo spread of Amanda Lew Kee Top 5 summer meals DIY fashion cheats

1916 32

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Note From the Editor

FUTURÉALE

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 16

Acting Editor in Chief Russ Martin

Editor in Chief Shawn Shapiro

Associate Editors Russ Martin Karen Lam Melissa Doyle

Dear FutuRéale Readers, In publishing, like football, hockey, and soccer, it takes a group to score a goal. To close an issue of Futuréale we need our entire masthead, not one star player clutching a cover story. Like our high school gym teacher used to tell us: there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’. Enough tired sports analogies. Truth is we were never great on the field. We were more at home in the dark room, the computer lab, art class, and yes, the library. Still, somehow we learned to work together, teach each other, trade secrets and suggestions.

Junior Editors Dany Pen

Senior Editorial Designer Ravish Rawat

Junior Editorial Designers Dan Ball Mojdeh Ahrabi Patrick Burns Kirsten Parucha Terra Ciolfe Jenn Reid Kevin Baranda Kevin Hamilton Olga Shugurova Kelly Karges Melanie Kusher

Contributing Writers

We brought on new staffers this month who have helped with editing, layout, and photos. New contributors brought fresh perspectives, virgin eyes better edits. Together we made a team to bring to you an offering of fashion, art, food, and MMA style fighting.

Mark Kinash Sian Loyd Marta Maslej Russ Martin Craig Wilkins Lauren Wilton Amanda Harvey Idil Herzi

It may not be a home run, but we’re sure it’s at least a tie.

ONAMAP Marketing Web Team

Webmaster

Online Content Editor Shawn Shapiro

E xecutive D irector

Enjoy. By Russ Martin

Omar Murji Contact FutuRéale at: info@futureale.com www.futureale.com ISSN 1916-3215

Russ Martin

Acting Editor in Chief

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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04 Life in Heels: how high heels became integral to feminine style Amanda Cupido

06 The Condo Man: Howard Youhanan on his superhero broker persona Russ Martin

08 Camille Paglia: Camille Paglia argues education and the demise of the art film Mark Kinash

10 Amanda Lew Kee: Amanda Lew Kee debuts her brand with a dark, season-free collection Gianluca Inglesi

Photo spread of Amanda Lew Kee look

David Pike

12 FAT fashion show: creating a space for conceptual, artistic

fashion Russ Martin

14 FAT art column: the art of Toronto’s Alternative Arts and Fashion Week Marta Maslej

18 Robin Black: Robin Black’s journey from rock star to MMA cage fighter Mark Kinash

20 Film column (summer viewing list): a summer reading list of films Craig Wilkins

22 DIY fashion cheats: how to create a YSL style blouse

Arta Ghanbari

24 Top 5 summer meals: five cheap and healthy summer meals Lindsay Romeo

Cover image: Photograph of Nadine McAdams by David Pike

arts.culture.living

Life in Heels TERESA MEMME OWNS FIVE PAIRS of comfortable, supportive shoes that

she wears everyday. Memme also owns over 30 pairs of heels… just for special occasions. “The way you feel in them is different then when you’re wearing flat shoes,” she says. “I feel more confident and more presentable.” Memme, 55, used to wear heels to work everyday. Now, she experiences pain in her leg due to her foot structure and is forced to wear running shoes. “I’m definitely putting an emphasis on comfort now.” She says she misses wearing heels. Dr. Daryl Hochman, podiatrist, says that wearing heels affects women’s posture and weight bearing. “Your weight is shifted forward and your muscles feel tighter,” he says. Areas that are commonly affected are the lower back and calf muscles. “The problem with heels is when you’re wearing them for several hours,” he says. “If you wear a 4-inch heel to work every day, you’re going to have problems.” Another problem with heels is the structure. Dr. Hochman says that most women have a wide foot and a narrow heel. On the other hand, most high heels have a pointed toe, which isn’t natural. “Pointed-toe shoes give women the most problems,” he says. High heels have been worn for hundreds of years. Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum, says that most people don’t realize that the heel is just an object. “It’s not male or female. It’s a thing we have assigned meaning to.” Semmelhack is also the author of Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe. She says heels were first invented for practical

By Amanda Cupido

reasons. Equestrians would wear them when riding horses in the 1590s. That was mostly men. “Women very quickly followed suit,” she says. By the 1600s men and women wore heels to signify status. The high heel was seen as both a masculine and feminine accessory. During the enlightenment era, masculinity started to develop. Men were expected to be educated and wear simplified outfits. “The first thing they threw away were their high heels,” says Semmelhack. Since then, heels have been associated only with women and more specifically, eroticism. “It [high heel] goes in and out of fashionable dress, but it never goes out of erotic fashion,” says Semmelhack. “It represents female sexuality and desirable femininity.”

“If you wear a 4-inch heel to work every day, you’re going to have problems.” Semmelhack also wears heels to work everyday. “They are such a central part of the female wardrobe,” she says. There are benefits beyond sex appeal to wearing heels. Dr. Hochman says if patients are experiencing heel pain, he will advise for them to get a shoe with a heel. “With a little wedge, the pain is reduced,” he says. “I don’t recommend more than 2-inches.” Dr. Maria Cerruto, a researcher and urologist at Italy’s University of Verona, is a fan of stilettos. She recently contributed to a study published in the journal, European Urology. Dr. Cerruto claims that high heels help to tone and strengthen legs and pelvic muscles. By

wearing high heels, it can reduce the need for pelvic exercise. Dr. Cerruto studied 66 women and found there was up to 15 percent less electrical activity in their pelvic muscles when wearing a moderate heel. Less electrical activity means the muscles were more relaxed. wThis leads to better sex and better health, according to Dr. Cerruto.

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Andrea Lorenzon, 20, loves to wear heels. “I think they can make or break an outfit,” she says. “They are a good finishing touch.”

“I dont recommend more than 2 inches.” Lorenzon says she can see herself wearing high heels every day to work after she finishes school. “I feel pretty comfortable in heels.” If she started feeling pain because of her shoe choices, she says that she would cut back on the amount of heels. But to never wear them again? Lorenzon says that would be impossible. --mk

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n a M o d Con Martin By Russ

HE CALLS HIMSELF THE CONDO MAN. Howard Youhanan, 35, is living the dream: From his window at 15 Fort York Blvd., Toronto is an endless sea of tiny, toy-like buildings surrounded by ant-sized people bustling in all directions. My fingers pressed up against a glass window, I think this must be how Superman feels flying high above Metropolis. That is exactly the feeling Youhanan sells. Youhanan is a real estate broker specializing in Toronto condos. Half his sales are at City

“I can be basically anywhere downtown and people will recognize me.” Place, the cluster of high-rise condos perched on the tip of the Toronto skyline, floating above Harbourfront. He’s lived in two condos and a townhouse in the area and knows just about everything about the neighbourhood. On command, he can list off the pros and cons of living in each nearby building and knows unit numbers by heart. As intimate as he is with the area, Youhanan’s neighbours don’t know him as Howard. To him, he’s the Condo Man. They’ve seen his face plastered on the van he drives from one condo showing to the next, a mobile ad that shows Youhanan in a red, yellow and blue Tshirt with a Superman-style “C” emblazed on the front. Thanks to this gimmick, he’s become a minor celebrity.

“I can be basically anywhere downtown and people will recognize me,” he says, seated at a table near the front of the Sobey’s across the street from his building. “I barely ever get called Howard anymore.” As he talks, Youhanan smiles and waves to store workers and shoppers. When a young woman he knows at a nearby table sneezes, he stops mid-sentence to excuse her. “You get a warm and fuzzy feeling,” he says, “that you’re at home and people know you. It works with my personality. I’m a little bit out there. Real estate is about selling the person—and the Condo Man is a person.” Every superhero has a nemesis, and Youhanan has a few. When asked how fellow brokers and agents view his comic real estate persona, he admits the gimmick has received mixed reviews. “It depends who you ask,” he says. “Most of them are not that happy with me. Some think it’s unprofessional, but I think for the most part that’s just jealousy.” Though he lives and breathes downtown Toronto life, Youhanan’s not a native of the city. He grew up modestly in Montreal, where he says he dreamed of making it in business. “I always wanted to be an entrepreneur but I never really had any money,” he says. He studied science and nutrition at McGill University and later moved to Toronto to study business at York. During the final three months of his MBA, Youhanan realized he didn’t want to work for anyone and began considering self-employment options. FUTURÉALE

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Around that time he took a trip to Club Med. On his flight home Youhanan met a real estate agent who told him he seemed like a fit for the profession. When he got back to Toronto, he enrolled in a four-month program to be certified. Since then Youhanan says he’s been on over 50, 000 showings. In the last five years alone,

“To passing drivers, he might have looked like a hero rushing off to fight crime.” he’s resold over 600 condos. Business is so good, he says, that he can afford a three-day vacation to places like New York, Las Vegas and Florida every two weeks. So he doesn’t miss meetings with potential clients, he keeps the trips short and brings his Blackberry with him, saying his buyers often don’t even know he’s gone. FUTURÉALE

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“I have a very steady business,’ he says, writing off suggestions that Toronto may soon face a real estate bubble. “It almost doesn’t change.” What newspaper reports often miss, Youhanan claims, is that the condo selling is a mi-

cro business, and overarching trends in local and national real estate often don’t affect his hyper-downtown sales. “It’s very easy to foresee what’s coming up in a year and somewhat easy to foresee two years coming up,” he says. Beyond that, it’s almost impossible. “It’s too far away to see. You’ve got to take it day-by-day.” Youhanan can’t project what will happen in Toronto’s condo market in the next decade, or the one after that. By then, he doubts he’ll be selling condos. But until sales dry up, you can find Youhanan in the lobbies of City Place buildings, shaking hands and meeting potential buyers. As our interview ends, Youhanan turns up the street and launches into a run towards the next set of lights. The wind whips his freshly pressed shirt open, revealing the “C” across his chest. To passing drivers, he might have looked like a hero rushing off to fight crime. But they probably just smiled and waved, saying to their passengers: there’s Howard, our friendly neighbourhood Condo Man. --kb

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Teachin’ it old school at the Toronto

Library

AS AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT IN backwater. I just meant its professors were a wars, to Pringle’s bouncy and naive Thelma. FILM STUDIES AT CARLETON UNIVERSITY, cultural backwater.” A crowded full house at The session begins with Pringle throwing

I first encountered the name Camille Paglia during a class discussion on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Paglia, the famous professor of humanities at the University of Arts in Philadelphia, had just published a detailed scene-by-scene analysis on the film and was eager to share her appreciation to the world. But was the world ready for Camille Paglia? Her emphasis on art appreciation as opposed to the current fads of deconstruction and postmodern theory—all the rage among the professorial elites of North American schools seems too foreign and anachronistic now, too 1960s. Now art criticism is all about finding how art revealed hegemony, ideology, patriarchy and a whole batch of other twodollar words ending with “y” that I’ve desperately tried to forget since graduation. Yes, even Toronto’s precious York University has fallen victim to post modernism. “I just want to clarify something,” Paglia shouts. “I never said [in a recent Globe & Mail article] that York University was a cultural

the Toronto Reference Library’s Appel Salon vigorously laughs and applauds in unison. And so begins Paglia’s appearance at the Open House Event, a global gathering of writers and thinkers, sponsored by The Globe and Mail in support of PEN Canada, Frontier College and the Toronto Public Library Foundation. The audience itself is split down the middle between the eager-beaver grad students and some hoity-toity Miss Jean Brodie-comelately Rosedale types. Quite a few seemed overwhelmed when Paglia and Valerie Pringle (former host of Canada AM and the session’s moderator) burst onstage to bemoan the state of education in North America. At first glance, a lecture on education seems yawn-worthy, but not if it’s taught by Paglia and Pringle, who work the crowd into an ecstatic frenzy, like an intellectual Thelma and Louise. Paglia, sporting a green army vest and messy mop of gray hair–looking like her rock-revolutionary role model Keith Richards–plays Louise, the tough survivalist of the gender and culture

out a few low-balls, just to provide the audience with an overview of Paglia’s critique of postmodernism. It’s easy to understand Paglia’s disgust with it all: postmodernism’s emphasis on attacking art strictly through the lens of the present is contrary to Paglia’s transcendent perspective, which is spewed out in motor-mouthed rants full of loose associations that span thousands of years. Paglia’s answer to a question about epidemic diagnoses of attention deficit disorder goes from an examination of video game culture, to a talk on the demise of the extended family, to a well-placed shout-out to Homer’s The Odyssey, and goes back to a critique on the rise of white-collar clerical jobs. “Pushing around papers in a sterile office, surrounded by ugly florescent lights,” Paglia recites in dramatic dystopian fervour, “It’s just awful!” Yes, you may have experienced Paglia before if you’ve read her monthly Salon Magazine column, or read any of her books (Sexual Personae and Break, Blow, Burn to FUTURÉALE

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arts.culture.living one of whom threatened to strangle me if I ever mentioned Paglia’s name in her class again. Paglia can’t help but interrupt with a rant about how film education has gone astray. The great film critic Pauline Kael should be taught in film school, not postmodernist nerds like Michel Foucault! But back to my original question, Paglia: “Is there not any film that has come out in the past 10 years that you find relevant? How about anything

name a couple) or listened to her interviewed on the radio. But nothing compares her to see her live in person. Here she’s in her element: in front of the crowd, giving birth to new ideas as she delivers long, digressive but often entertaining responses to any questions lobbed her way, in a rapid-fire manner similar to screwball heroine Katherine Hepburn. Her academic passion seems almost erotic. Forgive her for going off-topic occasionally to point out another idea–she’s simply giving another “learn-gasm.” As the session goes on, Pringle grows more eager to cut Paglia off. There are so many more questions to ask and oh so many more answers, often lasting over ten minutes at a time. I get the opportunity to ambush Paglia with some questions of my own. I mention a eulogy she published in Salon after the death of master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, in which she lamented the death of the art film. I bring up that as a student in “film theory” (a designation she greets with upmost contempt) she provided a fresh point of view to my professors who were mired in postmodernism, FUTURÉALE

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by Quentin Tarantino?” Well, yes and no, she says. Paglia was a big fan of Pulp Fiction, even handing Tarantino a New York Critics’ award personally, but nothing of his piqued her interest after that. “As someone growing up in the 50s, I’m still somewhat of a puritan when it comes to excessive gore. But you’re a child of the present,” she cheers. “Live in it!” I can’t resist the temptation to ambush her again while she’s signing books alongside a very nervous assistant who constantly reminds Paglia they’re running overtime. As she signs my copy of her first landmark epic of cultural history, Sexual Personae, I mention my love of

Pauline Kael. She tells me about a review Kael did of Candace Bergen’s first film The Group. “Oh, I l-o-o-ve Candace Bergen!” I swoon like a drama queen in reply. Paglia’s eyes widen. “Oh you must see it, Mark. Pauline mentions how beautiful Candace looks when...” “Camille, we’ve got to move along!” her assistant protests. I politely thank Paglia for her recommendation and walk away. “Oh Mark, Mark?” I look back to see Paglia calling after me while holding up the line of increasingly impatient fans waiting to get their books signed. “’It’s actually based on a book by Mary McCarthy and – ” “Camille!”, her assistant protests once more. I thank Paglia again and finally depart. I rush home to look up The Group and scour the net to find a copy. It’s surprisingly hard to find. It’s so easy to get caught up with Paglia’s messianic fervour regarding anything

that captures her fancy, even obscure 60s films starring Candace Bergen. I eagerly await the next time Hurricane Paglia hits Toronto again. --rr

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A spike amongst spring flowers

By Gianluca Inglesi

STRUTTING DOWN A CITY BLOCK sporting a spiked headband and leather tights, it’s hard to miss young designer Amanda Lew Kee. The crowd’s rapt attention is nothing new—since she began designing six years ago strangers have been photographing her ensembles and asking her to re-work garments. Breaking out of a four-year stay at Ryerson University’s School of Fashion, Lew Kee is debuting her brand with her innovative all black, leather Fall/Winter 2010 collection. “I chose all black so it’d be timeless, season-less, and genderless,” says Lew Kee. Her label “Amanda Lew Kee” features complete sets of tops, bottoms and jackets, assembled based on how the fabrics work together. “I just got inspired by the shapes of shadows and the movements of

the fabrics, like how some of the leathers are paperweight and drape really well, and then I have the pig skins that are really structured.” This hard-hitting look earned her an upcoming spread in the September issue of Flare and a display at the Bloor Street Holt Renfrew starting in June, but Lew Kee says she’ll hold her excitement for when they happen. “It’s all relevant but there is still so much that I need to do with my brand to make my mark in the industry,” She says. And she‘s been hard at work. “Amanda Lew Kee” will be shown at an exclusive media-only show on May 31 at The Great Hall on Queen Street West, accompanied by a short film that reflects her dark but mesmerizing collection. The showing will be the first time she re-

veals her clothing to the public under her own vision. Lew Kee feels that previous exposure in Ryerson’s annual Mass Exodus fourth year show didn’t fully represent her line. The In Bloom and seasonal themes of the show did not manifest her rugged look of her chiffons, leathers and nylons. In February, Lew Kee’s accessories were picked up by Jacflash boutique and are now available online at AtoZane.com. “Amanda’s jewelry is amazing for many reasons,” says Jaclyn Genovese, owner of Jacflash boutique on Queen Street West. “Her unisex styles make it accessible and appealing for all Jacflash customers. She mixes very fashionforward pieces with more conservative, everyday wear.”

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arts.culture.living Originally her jewelry was made for fun, Lew Kee says, with the scraps and leftovers from her collection. “People just liked them. It’s exciting to go out and see people I don’t know wearing my pieces.” A Toronto native, Lew Kee was very resourceful growing up, often dismembering garments to determine how they were constructed. She’s continually been surprised with what she is capable of. “It came naturally to me,” she says. “I look back at the work I did when I was 16 and what I put in my portfolio to get into Ryerson, and am so shocked at how I even knew how to do those things before being taught.” While in school Lew Kee honed her skills and was told by her classmates that her work was the most distinct of the entire graduating class because it embodied her own style. “People would say that my collection is everything I would wear but can’t buy anywhere.” Lew Kee believes her determination comes largely from the friendships she has fostered.

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“I’ve really learned who my friends are going through these past few years and you need [the support of] good friends to get far in the industry. Oh and family too, you can’t forget them,” she says. After a hectic summer promoting her brand, Lew Kee hopes to move to New York, London, or Paris. “Moving away I’ll get to see what else is out there, and there is still so much I have to learn.” Aspiring to have a worldwide label, Lew Kee knows the industry too well to set expectations, and instead will take on opportunities as they present themselves. “Amanda is not afraid of doing something different or taking risks,” says Genovese, whose boutique holds high-end brands like Bustle and Shades of Greige. “She really knows the business side of fashion and has established herself as a brand and lifestyle that everyone seems to be captivated by.” Above all else Lew Kee is infatuated with her art and enjoys the pressure, short deadlines

and stress that come with it. “It’s what I feed off of,” she says. While she appreciates her successes so far, Lew Kee creates to please herself first, before worrying about how others will respond. She is anxious to see what will become of her career over the next few years. Until she has that answer, Amanda Lew Kee will strive to distinguish herself from the masses. “I used to wear black lipstick long ago,” she says. “Now that everyone wears black, I wear blue.” --rr

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FAT

fashion show

AT FAT THE MODELS MOVE, there are no stiff shoulders, straight leg steps, or dead eye-stares. Instead they cartwheel down the catwalk, blow kisses at the cameras, crawl on all-fours, leap frog over each other, swing tennis rackets, and drag the next girl forward with hooks piercing the skin. “We want people to have fun with fashion and to play with fashion and push the boundaries,” explains Vanja Vasic, director and founder of Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion week (FAT). “It should be joyous and whimsical.” Vasic, who founded the festival five years ago, explains she launched FAT to create a space for conceptual, artistic fashion, separate from the mainstream, commercial collections shown at the well-established LG Fashion Week. “I felt there wasn’t a venue for the more experimental side of fashion,” she says. 12

Vasic wants attendees to leave FAT with a feeling or emotion, not thinking, “Oh, pretty dresses.” Her vision and festival have grown over the years, developing into a well-attended and respected event that is in direct opposition of Canada’s tradition of conservative design. “We’re a fairly young country and we’ve got some confidence issues. We go in a more of a safe route,” Vasic says, explaining she wants to encourage designers to push boundaries and create fashion as art. “Designers in Europe see themselves as artists. I don’ think they necessarily do in Canada,” she says. FAT has served as a launching pad for several young designers, including Heidi Ackerman, who showed an extension of her Ryerson Mass Exodus graduation collection two years ago. Ackerman has show each year since and her collection this year, a play on the Russian Constructivism movement, was one of the most critically acclaimed shows at FAT.

By Russ Martin

“It’s a really unique and awesome concept,” Ackerman says of FAT. “There’s not that many festivals where young designers have a chance to show their work.” Ackerman took an exchange to Sydney, Australia’s University of Technology during her third year in Ryerson’s fashion program, which she says opened her eyes to a more artistic, conceptual way of creating clothing, a perspective in synch with Vasic’s vision. That point of view was further reinforced in Brussels the summer following Ackerman’s graduation, when she took classes at L’École de la Cambre, a school for architecture and visual arts. La Cambre focused on the concept behind fashion as well as re-inventing traditional silhouettes, which Ackerman says helped her develop her own aesthetic. Part of what makes FAT different from other festivals and fashion events is its interdisciplinary nature. In between fashion FUTURÉALE

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shows bands play on a nearby stage, and art and photography exhibits are installed on-site. Performance art pieces on the runway blend into the fashion shows, as both experiment with theatrics as well as aesthetics. The opportunity to combine fashion and dance was part of what attracted Lauren Weisz to FAT. Weisz, a contemporary dance choreographer, presented a piece inspired by the work of legendary fashion photographer Helmut Newton. Contemporary dance, Weisz says, is more about the aesthetic and emotion of movement than the athletic routines of So You Think You Can Dance. “It’s not all about how high I can kick my leg,” Weisz says. “It’s about presence. At FAT you can play with that.” Weisz attended and modeled in the first FAT event and says the atmosphere is different

from other fashion events. “FAT, because it has ‘art’ and ‘alternative’, has a community attached that isn’t about how thin you are or being

Quistini says. “I think it’s changed and serves everybody now.” “I find it refreshing,” Quistini says. “It brings fashion, art, and music together and showcases the underground scene.” Quistini, who showed an Alice in Wonderland inspired collection constructed in PVC materials, says FAT offers her label a PR push, but is also a creative outlet. Though the festival has changed and grown, Quistini says it has maintained its underground sensibility and continues to steer away from mainstream fashion. “I think it’s still alternative,” she says. “It will always be alternative.” --rr

“FAT, because it has ‘art’ and ‘alternative’, has a community attached that isn’t about how thin you are or being perfect,” she says. “It’s a parade of different colours, perspectives, and attitudes.”

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perfect,” she says. “It’s a parade of different colours, perspectives, and attitudes.” Marisa Quistini, the designer behind the label Fashion Whore, which also showed this year, has watched the festival grow over the past five years. “Before it was the gothic people who came out and maybe their friends,”

the room

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dressıng

PROJECT TORONTO’S ALTERNATIVE ARTS AND FASHION WEEK (FAT), held

each April, was built around the ways in which fashion reflects aspects of the human experience. Subdivided into four distinct themes—longing, lust, rage, and joy—FAT not only produces a cohesive representation of our city’s alternative fashion scene, but also the art scene at large. Behind the elaborate catwalk and its parade of models, designers, dancers, and vocalists, the work of nine artists combined to form The Dressing Room Project. This collection of installations is presented backstage, in seven separate rooms, each a distinct chamber locking away its own images, ideas, and interpretations. The exhibit contains a diverse mix of people and work. Emerging artists work alongside established ones, local and international, all from very colourful artistic backgrounds.

Vessna Perunovich, FAT’s artistic director, emphasizes the eclectic nature of the works displayed. “There is a strong interdisciplinary aspect to this project,” she explains. “I am particularly interested in exploring the unchartered territory where different media overlap.” The event, bearing the ‘alternative’ label, has obvious intentions to push boundaries and celebrate the innovative and unconventional. But backstage, Perunovich creates an environment where art collides with fashion to also exert a more pronounced effect on the viewer. “To merge the two is to make them more powerful,” she asserts. By this power of association, The Dressing Room Project makes for an effective addition to the show. One of the artists Perunovich discusses is Janieta Eyre, a photographer who has not worked with installations before. When

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lej s a a r ta M

asked what prompted her to invite Eyre as a contributor, she states, “I thought she had potential and I wanted to see her ideas reinterpreted in a different format.” Indeed, the uncanny and dreamlike characteristics of Eyre’s photography are translated into the installation. But creating and depicting fashion ultimately becomes the point of connection between Eyre and The Dressing Room Project. “I’m always interested in fashion and costume, and I make costumes for most of my photos,” Eyre says. For the installation, Eyre uses photographs from her newest series entitled, The Mute Book, named after the alchemical text, Mutus Liber. “Mutus Liber is a book composed strictly of images and hieroglyphs, thought to contain a cosmic truth or meaning,” she explains. The installation room is bright orange, displaying a compilation of large, framed photographs,

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hanging garments, and clusters of phrases and formulas scrawled on its walls. There are two self-portraits. In one, Eyre sits awkwardly on the arm of a chair. In another, a book is sprawled in her lap as equations crowd the blackboard

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behind her. A sense of splitting is a recurrent image in the installation. In the photographs, the image of the figure is divided into two mismatched halves. A broken line runs down the middle of the back wall. Even the garments displayed appear as halves of different dresses, stitched together. A characteristic feature of Eyre’s photography is her work with copies and sets; there is often a doubling or tripling of the same figure. In The Mute Book however, she makes a distinct change: “It is again a series about twins,” she says. “But this time, the double is one person.” The splitting occurs on a conceptual level as well, where a photographed reality juxtaposes physical reality. The clothing that Eyre wears in the portraits is physically displayed in the room, as though taken from the image and transposed into the installation. The equations from the photos are also written on the walls. “These,” she explains, “are algebraic formulas for form.” In the past, when working with repetitive imagery, Eyre has been unwilling to reveal which is the true image, and which is the duplicate, playing with notions of identity. In the installation, this becomes obvious; however

the concept of time is what complicates the notion of identity. The photograph is presently a copy, but also a past reality. In any case, Eyre’s fusion of dual identities into one image forms a parallel to the concept behind The Dressing Room Project: the marrying of art and fashion in an attempt to enrich both. Another interesting combination of art and fashion comes from Cameron Wilson and emerging, international artist, Franco Berti, who, like Eyre, works predominantly with photography. Tucked away at the end of the hall, their installation is hidden behind a heavy curtain. It is a dark room, cluttered with antique furniture. Lamps are slung over curved, rococo hooks. A faded, antique rug with busy designs crowds the floor. What make this installation eerie are the characters that inhabit this mysterious setting. The female figure occupies a central space. She is a vibrating structure, draped in white sheets and dangling crystals. Her legs protrude from underneath, in a casual, cross legged pose as though completely oblivious to the giant covering that consumes the rest of her body. The male counterpart stands nearby, clothed in a dark, domineering

arts.culture.living suit. He is headless, armless, a strange stump that spins mechanically. The installation is entitled Phashiom and it is indeed a setting where fashion, and the phantoms of the past and the present collide. The main concepts, Berti says, are, “History, memory and tragedy.” The two artists play with the notion of mystery; stepping into the room feels like bearing witness to a change or transformation taking place. “There is a sense of something happening,” Berti says. “It is ominous and frightening.” However, speaking with Berti, Wilson and Natasha Ardill, who assisted with the work, other, more profound concepts are revealed. Berti discusses his use of personal as well as collective, cultural memory. In the installation, the artist presents antique pieces that he found in shops and borrowed from friends. These objects form part of a historical and collective consciousness but there is also evidence of the personal. Berti proudly showcases a hat he brought from Italy, which he wore at his own wedding. This dual nature of memory also extends to the Phashiom’s figures. “The man,” Berti says, “is the masculine figure. He is a grandfather, my grandfather.” As Berti continues describing him however, this figure takes on a larger meaning. Through various symbolic details, he moves into the archetypal grandfather figure, manifesting in history as the fascist or European dictator. Berti explains how this archetypal man exerts his phallic power: “The details on his suit convey overt signs of power; a belt, a gold chain, bells and a hint of the swastika visible from his front pocket.” Berti also points out the importance of shape in the installation. Indeed, the male stands erect over a trembling, circular female figure, confined by her flowing white covers and lace. Despite these obvious differences in power relations, the figures find themselves in the same predicament. They are nameless and faceless. In this tragic encounter, both are utterly caught in a hopeless, benign movement with no chance of escape.

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arts.culture.living Berti and Wilson’s installation lands in a spiritual dimension. “I borrow from ideas in esoteric traditions,” Berti explains. “These are not concrete symbols,” Wilson adds. “Rather, they are part of an aesthetic code, a symbolic representation.” Berti continues Wilson’s thought. “According to these traditions, male and female components exist in one, they are both present in the individual.” And what he and Wilson do so effectively is extrapolate these interconnected presences. Ultimately, they are conveyed in relation to their individualized characteristics in this single, terrifying, apocalyptic vision. Another important work in The Dressing Room Project is Zorica Vasic’s ‘The Pump Room’, which mimics a backstage dressing room. Upon entering, there is a sense of confusion and hesitation. The viewer is unsure if they are indeed observing an installation piece or if they have interrupted a private massage. The main feature of the room is a massage table, but there are also images of calming waterfalls and cosmetic products. Exercise balls of varying sizes linger to the side, and music plays softly in the background. The atmosphere is lush, intimate and enclosed. Vasic identifies her inspiration for ‘The Pump Room’ as ancient Roman thermal baths. “This was a setting where people went to get well and exercise, but also to socialize with strangers. They exchanged opinions politics and sought personal and astrological advice.” Vasic reproduces this sense of physical and spiritual wellbeing in her installation. As viewers interact with one another in ‘The Pump Room’, they are at the same time engaging with the work itself. Pieces like Vasic’s also play with theatrics. What is normally performed as a mundane, repetitive task, she presents as an artistic performance. Vasic’s hired masseuse, who viewers forget is an actor in this elaborate display, and even wears a costume. “For him, I adopted a nautical theme,” Vasic says, as she coyly produces a cropped, white and navy suit FUTURÉALE

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from the dresser to show. “I wanted him to play the alluring, homosexual sailor.” By rendering a service to her viewers, Vasic also makes a bold statement about the purpose of the artist in society, who functions, in part, as a service provider as well. Of Vasic’s installation, Vessna Perunovich says, “I enjoy the interactive, playful element of these exhibitions. It empowers the audience

Anderson and Slavica Panic, the installation is literally a make-up room. Walls are composed of mirrors and an array of lipstick is scattered on their ledges. Viewers are invited to draw on its surface. In both cases, the audience is made explicitly aware of their presence in the installation itself. Their image, either filled with bright, pink scribbles or fragmented by shadows, is a reminder of their importance. The viewer becomes a part of the work, even if only for the moment that his or her reflection lingers in the mirror. The Dressing Room Project at FAT added another dimension to the concept of fashion, beyond the work of the designers or the performance of the models. FAT brought together different media, alternate realities, ghosts of the past and visions of the future. Viewers were prompted to consider notions of identity, time, and passion and their relation to art and fashion. Above all, the success of the show lay in its ability to remind us of who we are, as a collective. We are people who long, lust, rage, and take pleasure in the things we love and ultimately, we are here to exist and make meaningful dents in the conceptual net of notions and ideas that surround us. --rr

to make its own mark, to become an active participant rather than a passive viewer.” Indeed, in many of the installations, viewers are invited to touch and manipulate the works. They are stimulated in a tactile way in contrast to the conventional gallery experience that is dominated visually. The overwhelming presence of mirrors in The Dressing Room Project has this exact effect, alongside complementing other themes of image and identity. In Paul Aloisi’s ‘Outer Self ’, mirrors reflect an elaborate installation of jagged, metal bars on the ceiling, all interconnected like a giant, mechanical cobweb, immersing the walls in a series of shadows. In ‘Hello Gorgeous’, by David

arts.culture.living

BLACK IN THE MIDDLE OF TORONTO’S QUEEN WEST DISTRICT, a tattooed

and bespectacled Robin Black sits in a Starbucks, managing deals for a couple mixed martial arts jocks on his mobile. At first glance, this mix of Queen West culture, corporate branding, and macho cage fighter mojo might seem to be at odds, but not in Robin Black’s world. Looking quite different from the androgynous, eyeliner-clad glam rocker he once was, as lead singer of the Intergalactic Rock Stars, Black now comes off as the ultimate kickass cage fighting fanboy. Imagine a mixture of Garth from Wayne’s World and Quentin Tarantino, with a tiny streak of blue hair. Black is nothing if not proud of his fanboy roots. Growing up in small town Pinawa, Manitoba, Robin idolized both martial arts badasses like Bruce Lee and glam rockstars like Alice Cooper. He recalls with intense nostalgia how his parents drove him more than an hour each way to martial arts lessons. It’s easy to see why his parents would get so swept up in Black’s passions. He relates his driven approach to life like an evangelical preacher. “I always believe you can accomplish whatever you want in life, if you put your mind to it,” he says with a manic gleam in his eye. But this isn’t simply some sugary afterschool message: before he became a professional cage fighter Black had plenty of setbacks.

By Mark Kinash

As Robin Black the musician, he struggled to get noticed within the Canadian music scene. Maybe he set his sights too high—why a glam intergalactic rock star? “There was nobody on the scene doing that kind of music,” he says. Sure, lipstick metal queens like Lee Aaron, Sass Jordan, and Alannah Myles were rocking the high road easy in the Great White North, but there were no men. Who would be the Canadian answer to Bret Michaels, Vince Neil, or David Lee Roth? That’s where Black came in. “I wanted to create a niche for myself,” he says. But Canadian radio brushed his band aside because dudes that strut onstage in tight pants and makeup didn’t fit in with a culture obsessed with modest folk-rockers like The Tragically Hip. Male-fronted glam-rock bands just seemed soooo Spinal Tap. Black earned his entrepreneurial stripes during this climb to the top. “The days when a hot new musician could immediately have an agent and a manager lined up for him are over,” he says. So when the radio wouldn’t play his songs, Black looked to MuchMusic. After his flamboyant videos for “So Sick of You” and “Some Of You Boys” became hits, Black became the bitchy but constructive SimonCowell-in-eyeliner panellist on MuchMusic’s VJ Search. The mention of his role on the show makes him grin from ear to ear. “I would jump

at the chance to do something like that again,” he says. “I really studied everything those kids did. It was awesome.” Around this time, Black decided to give up the excessively indulgent rock ’n’ roll lifestyle to train as a mixed martial arts cage fighter. His days of guzzling beer into the early morning were quickly replaced with intensive training sessions. Black says getting back into shape was difficult, but not nearly as hard as making a living while training. His solution was to use his contacts at MuchMusic, landing a deal for a television special showcasing Black’s training as a cage fighter. Black came up with the concept, wrote the pitch, and produced the series himself. The result was Robin Black: Cage Fighter, which aired in 2007. He admits that the MuchMusic execs wanted to push the idea of a rock star in makeup fighting in a cage, but Black shrugs it off. To him the transition from rock star to cage fighter seems natural. Cage fighting is just something else he wanted to do. FUTURÉALE

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What bothers Black is the accusation he had his MMA-star status handed to him because of TV contacts. In both music and MMA, Black has had his share of haters, but he shrugs them off, too. He recalls a show in Sudbury when he was heckled by a patron screaming, “You suck!” Black, unfazed, responded, “You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. But how do I know that you don’t suck?” And that’s what cage fighting is all about: You think you’re better than me? Then bring it! I ask if the rush of fighting in a cage is different from standing onstage. Black admits that he’ll always love the rush of strutting his stuff onstage in front of a crowd, but says cage fighting is a completely different kind of feeling. Unlike recording a record and waiting for a critical and fan reaction that is kind of beyond control, the onus of fighting in a cage is on the fighter. It’s their move: punch by punch, kick by kick, second by second. Was it scary getting into the ring the first time? Of course, he says. “If someone hits you FUTURÉALE

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hard enough, you might go home terrified and never want to fight again,” he says. “But if you come back and get hit again and again, after a while it doesn’t seem so scary.” I ask if this is the same speech he gives new recruits at the Xtreme Couture gym in Toronto, where Black puts his talent for promotion to use. He’s been the PR man for Xtreme since its inception, manages a few fighters, and acts as a commentator for the sport on The Score Network. Over time, he’s won a few matches and silenced some of the cynics who thought a dude who looked like a lady onstage couldn’t be taken seriously in the cage. After talking about Black’s influences, which include Poison, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper and The New York Dolls, I couldn’t resist the urge to ask him about Nickelback, a Canadian band that, like Black’s Intergalactic Rock Stars, had trouble getting noticed in their home turf, but eventually went on to achieve worldwide fame. At first Black gives them only

a passing nod, saying that he’s a fan of their song “Photograph.” But later in the conversation, he reverts back to the band. Picture this, he asks: Nickelback—one of the most critically abused bands on the planet—causing a pimply kid to write trash about them on the internet from his parents’ basement. Meanwhile, Chad and his band are flying on a private jet, drinking champagne without a second thought to insults. Yes, Black’s learned that sometimes living well is the best revenge against one’s critics— but then so is kicking a little ass. And he’s training hard for his next round. --rr

arts.culture.living

SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVIN’ IS EASY: A SUMMER VIEWING LIST ONCE UPON A TIME summer meant

no more teachers, no more books. Later on it was all about cruising through town with the windows rolled down and Janis Joplin on the radio. Now it’s about escaping to the lake for holidays and running off to the multi-plex to soak in the air conditioning and veg in front of whatever mind numbing blockbuster Hollywood is shouting about. What hasn’t changed over the years is the summer reading list. I never actually had a teacher give me one of these when I was a kid, but I heard about them in a movie (go figure) and thought it sounded super cool. So, for the last twenty years I’ve read the novels of S.E. Hinton, H.G. Wells, Jane Austen, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. This year I’m tackling Shirley Jackson. No matter how easy the livin’ gets, by summer’s end I’ll have one more great writer’s library on file. This year I’ve decided to write a summer reading list for films. God forbid I give up “Iron Man 2”, “Sex and the City 2”, or my ultimate guilty pleasure, “Step Up 3D”. But, like everything in life, a little balance goes a long way. For what its worth, here’s my summer reading list of film: The summer blockbuster seasons began on May 7 with “Iron Man”. Though early reports were not good, I hit up the multi-plex on opening weekend. But, if you’re nervous about crowds or want something with a little more substance, then “Mother and Child” just might be for you. I got a chance to see this wonderful little film last week and absolutely loved it. Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives) with a dream cast that includes Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Samuel L. Jackson,

“Mother and Child” is the story of a woman (Bening) who hasn’t been able to forget the baby (Watts) she put up for adoption when she was fourteen. It’s a sad movie, but grabs you from the very first scene and holds you with perfect acting and a strong script. I highly recommend it. Also out on May 7 is “The Trotsky”, which won the Audience Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. It’s a Canadian feature, filmed in Montreal and starring Montreal native Jay Baruchel. “The Trotsky” is the story of a young man who believes he is the reincarnation of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and sets out to relive his life, this time as a high school student. Baruchel is having a very good year, already having starred in “How to Train Your Dragon” and “She’s Out of My League”. This should stretch his acting abilities a little and prove he’s more than just a good “teen actor”. May 28 is “Sex and the City 2” day, but if you don’t intend to be “Carried Away”, your options are slim pickings. “Shrek Forever After” is in its second week, as is “MacGruber”, and there’s always “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”. The movie I’m really excited about is Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Micmacs”. Jeunet’s “Delicatessen” was one of 1991’s best films, but you’ll likely know him best as the writer-director of “Amelie”. “Micmacs” is a fantastical story about a man hit by a stray bullet who enlists the help of misfit junkyard dealers to take revenge on the weapons manufactures he feels are responsible. It’s sure to be quirky and fun. June begins with an Irish folktale from Neil Jordan. The nineties were a great decade for Jordan. From “The Crying Game” through “Interview with the Vampire” to “End of the

BY CRAIG WILKINS

Affair” it seemed like he couldn’t lose. He’s still making interesting movies, like “The Good Thief ” and “The Brave One”, but his days of box office glory seem to be receding into the past. “Ondine”, the story of an Irish fisherman (Colin Farrell) who finds a woman in his nets who may or may not be a mermaid, likely won’t attract a lot of attention in America. Still, FUTURÉALE

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with a great director, good word of mouth from overseas, and a story that feels like a classic folk tale, this should be a great Sunday afternoon movie. I don’t normally get excited about documentaries, but “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” is supposed to be a lot of fun. And since it’s up against “The A-Team” and “The Karate Kid”, both absolutely hideous looking movies, I think June 11 will be my Joan Rivers weekend. For those of you not interested in Joan, there is another film about an Ozark mountain girl who sets off to find her drug dealing father. Written and directed by Debra Granik, the woman behind “Down to the Bone”, Vera Farmiga’s breakout indie film, “Winter’s Bone” won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize as well as the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. It may not play in Toronto, but if it does, my advice, go first weekend, it may not get a second, and this could be the summer’s hidden gem. Independent Spirit Award darling Lisa Cholodenko (“Cavedweller”, “Laurel Canyon”, “High Art”) is back on July 9 with “The Kids are Alright”. The two teenaged children of a lesbian couple seek out their sperm donor father. It has a great cast with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as the couple, Mark Ruffalo as the father, and “Alice in Wonderland’s” Mia Wasikowska as one of the children. This was a crowd favourite at Sundance. Last summer one of my favourite movies was “Humpday”, which won Lynn Shelton this spring’s John Cassevettes award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Mark Duplass was FUTURÉALE

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one of the stars of that film and a big name on then indie scene. He and his brother Jay made a huge splash with the 2008 no-budget “Baghead”. Using mostly unknowns and a script that was largely improvised they created a film that inspired and launched first time film makers every time it was shown. This July they bring that same spirit to their movie “Cyrus”, this time with big names stars; Catherine Keener, John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and, Jonah Hill. There is a lot buzz about this July 9 release, which might catapult the Duplasses into the mainstream and become this years “40 Year Old Virgin”. The last weekend of July brings an old fashioned American folk tale. “Get Low” is the story of a hermit (Robert Duvall) from the backwoods of Tennessee who decides to throw his own funeral, while still alive. He’s the meanest man alive, but wasn’t always, and from the trailer you get the idea that either he wants to set the record straight and tell his story, which should be a doozey, or he’s bringing people together to settle an old score in one final grand act. Either way, I absolutely can’t wait for it. I watched “Mao’s Last Dancer” on my recent flight to and from Melbourne. I desperately wanted to see this Bruce Beresford movie, if only because “Silent Fall”, “Black Robe”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, and “Tender Mercies” are four of the greatest movies ever made and part of the reason I turned to film. Having heard this is a return to form for Beresford and knowing a little of the story—a

young Chinese boy taken from home at a young age to be a classical dancer for the Communist propaganda machine, who then defects to America and becomes the center of a huge international incident—I have been excited about this movie for nearly a year now. I must have started and stopped “Mao’s Last Dancer” a half dozen times on the flight, each time knowing that this is the sort of film that MUST be seen on the big screen. On August 6 it is finally released in North America. August 27 is the last weekend of the summer movie schedule and I’ve decided to make it a fun, indie weekend. No deep thinking or melodrama. The “Centurion” is the latest film from one of my favourite young directors, Neil Marshall (“Doomsday”, “The Descent”, “Dog Soldiers”). A Roman legion is massacred by Picts and the remaining seven survivors must rescue their general and fight their way back to safety. If you’re familiar with Marshall’s work than you know the movie will be a perfect combination of high tension and great acting. Michael Fassbender (“Inglorious Basterds”, “Hunger”) and Olga Kurylenko(“Quantum of Solace”) star. This summer holds so many indie gems just waiting to be discovered, and I know I’ve probably skipped over one or two of the ones you’re looking most forward to, and likely a couple I’ll rave about later. I intend to post a review on our website each and every week and look forward to hearing from you. So, what Independent films are on your radar? What’s on your summer reading list? --jr

arts.culture.living

DESIGN IT

YOURSELF DIY CULTURE HITS THE MAINSTREAM THOUGH IT ORIGINATED IN THE DIY culture changed recycling into creative The recession has played a major role in LATE 1960S IN THE UK, Do It Yourself recycling. People are now adopting this popularizing DIY as people try to cut costs.

(DIY) culture has become exceedingly popular in the past two decades in film, music, art, and most recently fashion. The free festival movement in the UK spread DIY culture throughout protest camps and into the punk scene supporting the anti-disciplinary politics of the 1960s. However it was the 1990s that turned the lifestyle into an international ideology with the birth of rave culture. As it reached North America through technological advancements and an increase in technological ownerships—consumers suddenly had computers, cable, and the internet—DIY culture progressed from a costsaving activity to a political one, and became a way of life which stood against the mainstream trends of mass production and waste.

culture in order to save money, customize goods, and reduce dependence on corporate mass production. “With a certain age comes a greater need to be an individual in the sense of being different

DIY has been heavily promoted in fashion magazines as an alternate way for the average person to dress on-trend without spending a lot of money. DIY projects range in difficulty. Some projects, such as adding a bow to a shirt or cutting an old pair of jeans into shorts, are simple enough, but others can require more equipment, time, and skill. “Not everyone is capable of doing these DIY projects because not everyone has the time and not everyone can sew,” says, Daniela Gysler, the blogger behind the Toronto-based fashion blog My Fashion Eyes. One of the most common projects is turning a large, men’s dress shirt into a dress. This DIY project has been reinvented with the addition of ruffles, studs, bows, and straps. Dress shirt dresses appeared in several spring/

“People turn to DIY projects to personalize their style and stand out.”

from others, so people turn to DIY projects to personalize their style and stand out,” explains Meshada Morris, a writer for the Torontobased online magazine Contra. DIY culture sparked outside of mainstream society, but has slowly become mainstream again. DIY projects can be found frequently in home décor, music, and fashion magazines.

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arts.culture.living summer 2010 collections by designers such as Joseph Mimran for Joe Fresh, Hannah MacGibbon for Chloe, Jonny Johansson for Acne, and Alexander Wang. For this project, instead of adding ruffles and cutting the shirt into a halter dress, the focus is on the sleeves. One of the biggest reoccurring trends over the past two years has been the comeback of shoulder pads, but this time exaggerated into bold, architectural designs that can go inches off the arm. All that’s required is a large, men’s dress shirt, 50 inches of satin-finish ribbon, a pair of scissors and a sewing machine. The first step is to cut about nine inches from the ends of both sleeves closest to the hands. Cut the plackets from the previously cut pieces, then sew the plackets to the ends

of the remainder of the sleeves. Since the diameter of the placket is less than that of the sleeve, folding as much as half a centimeter of the fabric of the sleeve underneath the placket while sewing them together will give volume

“It doesn’t take endless cash to be fashionable, only creativity.” and shape to the fabric. The sleeves are meant to end just above the elbow in order to bunch up enough fabric to puff out. To hold the shape of sleeve, sew three inches below the end of the shoulders on the sleeves to the seam where the sleeve begins.

Make sure to only sew a centimeter across, just enough to hold up the fabric. After putting on the shirt, take the satinfinish ribbon and either tie it into a bow around the waist or tie it around the neck under the collars similar to a bow tie. Bows have especially been popular in recent collections by Marc Jacobs, Alber Elbaz for Lavin, Dolce and Gabbana, and Yves Saint Laurent. This DIY project can be either worn as a dress (paired with ankle-length leggings or nylon) or a shirt. Instead of spending thousands on a blouse, the finished product of this project looks almost identical to those part of the Yves Saint Laurent fall/winter 2010 collection. It doesn’t take endless cash to be fashionable, only creativity. --jr

How to create a YSL style blouse

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Five Cheap and Healthy Summer Meals

Summer is finally here and along with hot weather comes seasonal food. Here are some summer meals that are healthy and affordable.

( 1. Cool off with a cold cantaloupe soup

A soup best served cold, for those hot summer days. All you need is one cleaned, and diced cantaloupe, one cup of orange juice, one tablespoon of lime juice, and one forth teaspoon of cinnamon. In a blender, mix the cantaloupe and half a cup of orange juice. Combine all of the ingredients into a bowl, and stir. This is best served once it has been covered, and in the fridge for about an hour. A tip: add some mint to the soup.

( 2. Five-minute tropical energy smoothie for two.

This is a delicious way to mix fresh fruit and protein to give you energy. A single serving is packed with nutrients such as vitamin C, folate, manganese, and iodine. You will need tahini, which is a paste made out of sesame seeds and can be found in natural food stores, or food stores that sell Middle Eastern foods. Tahini adds texture to the smoothie, and nutrition. You will need one medium ripe banana, one cup of low-fat plain yogurt, one to one and a half cups of pineapple juice, and one medium papaya. Mix the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth, and serve.

( 3. Get Kids Involved with Fruit Tacos

Ever host a children’s party? Whether it’s a niece, nephew, cousin, or child, you will want the kids to do something interactive to keep them busy. Here’s a healthy choice. You will need fresh fruit, two to three tablespoons of orange juice, yogurt, sliced and chopped nuts, and taco shells. Place taco shells on an aluminum lined baking sheet. Leave the shells in the oven at 325 degrees for five to seven minutes, making them crunchy. Mix the orange juice with the cut up fruit to keep the fruit fresh and moist. Fill up the taco shells with your favourite fruits, flavoured yogurt, and sprinkle on some nuts.

4 . S a t i s f y s w e e t and tangy tastes with a m a n d a r i n a n d b e e t salad.

Oranges have a tangy, sour taste while beets are sweet, making the perfect pair for a salad. You need one can of un-drained mandarin oranges, half a cup of Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing, one package of ready-to-serve mixed salad greens, and one can of drained beets cut into slivers, half a cup of slivered almonds, and half a cup of sliced red onions. Drain the oranges until there is only about two tablespoons of liquid remaining, then mix this liquid with the salad dressing. Toss all ingredients in a bowl, and dress lightly.

( 5. Chickpea Dip

This filling snack is good for any occasion. You need one can of drained chickpeas, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, one tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoons of chopped onions, and half a teaspoon of salt. Mash the chickpeas, add oil and lemon juice, and stir. Add the chopped onions and salt. This healthy snack can be spread on anything you please, from crackers, and bread, to pita, and even celery. --kb FUTURÉALE

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