Eli Roth

Interview: Eli Roth
actor, In­glourious Basterds
[by Norman Wilner]

The last time I saw Eli Roth, he was a lot narrower. The Hostel director and I were on a cult-movies panel back at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. He was downright skinny then, an energetic beanpole.

Not any more. Last year, Roth bulked up considerably to play one of the Nazi-bashing Jewish-American soldiers recruited to strike terror in the heart of the Axis in his buddy Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic, Inglourious Basterds.

Roth’s lost some of the muscle – he says he’s about 186 pounds, down from a shooting weight of 200 – but he’s still pretty big and showing it off in a tight white T-shirt and khakis.

“I like being this weight,” he says. “I want to maintain it. I mean, to be what I was at in the beating scene, I had to eat continually, non-stop. It was a bit much. But this feels comfortable. I wanna be just beefy enough.”

Let’s back up a little and discuss “the beating scene.” Inglourious Basterds features Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz, a character nicknamed “the Bear Jew” for his size, his strength and his passion for crushing Nazi skulls with a baseball bat. And this being a Tarantino picture, the film gives him a good long whack at that last thing.

“That’s what’s great about it,” Roth says. “When you’re killing Nazis, people don’t feel bad.”

Roth tells me that Basterds springs from Tarantino’s fascination with the World War II movies the director watched as a kid, which never really examined the ethnic-cleansing aspect of the war or engaged with the idea of Jewish vengeance.

“I remember he came to my Passover Seder,” Roth says. “He’d been sort of using me to gut-check things, almost like a Jewish technical adviser: ‘How would Jewish people feel about this? Would you ever forgive the Nazis?’ And I was like, ‘No, they tried to exterminate us and they were very successful at it. We would kill every single one of them.’

“If I saw a Nazi today, I’d wanna kill him,” he says. “I really feel that way, as lots of Jews do. People are still really pissed. They’re furious. It’s not only the deaths; it’s that so many people got away with it. Part of the anger of the Jews is that these Nazis just dissolved back into society and were never punished for what they did.”

Roth didn’t expect to land such a prominent part in the movie. He didn’t expect to be in it at all, he says, until Tarantino offered him the part a few days before pre-production began in Berlin.

“I really threw myself into the role,” Roth says. “I said, ‘If I’m gonna be onscreen with Brad Pitt, I have to bring my A-game.’ I knew that what would make the role great was the look in this guy’s eyes. He couldn’t just be a big, strong, hulking guy. You had to look in his face and instantly see that pain, that anger, that frustration, that anguish – that murderous rage and joyous glee. He loves it. Once he gets it out, it’s orgasmic. It’s the most satisfying thing in the world to him.

“But it’s not that he’s a sadist. He knows he’s a strong guy, and he’s fighting on behalf of those little old ladies in the neighbourhood who are losing their relatives. I just thought of my grandparents during that time, how their cousins and fathers and sisters over in Europe just disappeared and were exterminated, and what that must have been like.”

It’s a different kind of cinematic release for Roth, who made his name with gross-out crowd-pleasers like Cabin Fever and the Hostel films. And the audience response has been different, too.

“Let me put it this way,” he says. “I’m used to coming out of a screening of a film I’m involved in and having 19-year-old goth girls come up to me and grab me and go, ‘Oh my god, that was amazing.’ But there were two screenings at the SAG theatre, and the older Jewish women were going crazy. I mean, like, crazy. Valerie Harper came up to me and goes, ‘That was the greatest!’

“I was like, ‘Wow, Rhoda digs the Bear Jew. This is really cool!'"
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Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is part of the group of filmmakers dubbed the Splat Pack, because of their association and their focus on the horror genre. Roth is known for making extremely violent, low-budget horror box office hits.
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Eli Takes the Biscuit
Peaches Geldof’s new boyfriend is a sex-mad freak who boasts about scaring girls into bed with sick horror movies.
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NEW POST
Mad Men

We Mean Business

The Truth About the Wage Gap
An ex-boyfriend once asserted that women were their own worst enemy when it came to money. He asserted that if women would just speak up, they would see the benefit on their checks. He was only half right. [...]

COMMENTS
however, jobs are harder to come by nowadays. what i'm noticing is happening now is that people who do try to negotiate with their employer or threaten to walk have a blemish on their record with HR and the company can just turn around and say "oh well, if you have been talking to someone else, then we'll just let you go anyway without severance" ...the HR blemish turns into an ebola virus.
it's good to know when to say when, and when to walk out. if you don't have a back up plan, or try to play both ends against each other, don't think everyone is going to play nice and magically respect you because of your business savvy and negotiating prowess. all employment is 'at will', and they can and will let you go at their leisure.

The truth is that men just ask more. That doesn't mean sexism doesn't play a role, but women need to think about money more. When I was right out of college I found out that every single guy I knew asked for more money for his first post-college job (including people at government jobs where that isn't an option) and not one of the women I knew did. A lot of guys didn't get the salary raise, but those that did were already in a stronger position for future raises and other jobs.

I asked my boss for a promotion and a raise at my annual review in March. When she said she couldn't due to the economy's effects on our business, I began to look elsewhere. I ended up applying for a transfer to a higher position in a different department at our company in June, and per HR policy, I had to tell my boss. Less than a week later, she offered me a promotion and a 10 percent raise. Even with the economy in its current shape, I think it's important for us all to remember what we're worth and shoot to do better.

I've asked for raises in the past, and I've typically gotten it. That part (for me) is all fine and good. I've also been at jobs where I've discovered that other employees who had the same job title/experience/responsibilities were making more than me. Even if it was just $.50/hr more, it was still enough to be infuriating.

So, if you're a woman, and you want power at work, you need to be forceful, like a man. However, if you ask to be paid like a man, you are deemed too pushy, and it works against you.
*head explodes*
What's that saying? Something about women have to work twice as hard for half the credit? And oh, don't be a bitch.
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Do Women Self Sabotage at Work?
I make 15K less than the man who passed this position on to me. Fif.teen.grand.

And my company keeps pulling this, "we know you deserve a big, HUGE raise... but we can't afffoooorrrrrdddd it right now." Meanwhile they're hiring positions below me and often paying them more (my company is pretty gossipy about salaries).

I think "Pitch Like a Girl" would be a good investment...
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NEW POST
Throat Punch
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VIDEO
...way more fun than it has any right to be.

Dear Diary...

IT SUCKS THAT I CAN'T EVEN AFFORD A NEW BELT.

Recommended Eats

My foodie friend highly recommends the following locales:

Scaramouche
Lobsterlicious
Few restaurants in this city have star power like Scaramouche. The hidden gem on Benvenuto has been serving classic French-inspired cuisine for nearly 30 years, collecting numerous accolades for food and attention to detail. Chef Keith Froggett’s reputation for seasonal ingredients and culinary consistency is unparalleled. Oh, the view of the city skyline in the tiered dining room is also famous. Wait, doesn’t the coconut cream pie also have a reputation? [...]

Whitehouse Meats
Top-notch meat and down-home service are the winning formula here. There’s incredible variety in game meats and birds (venison, ostrich, pheasant, kangaroo and wild boar are just a start). Meats may be conventionally or naturally raised: Top Meadow Farms’ beef (aged at least three to four weeks) and Berkshire pork are examples of the latter. Fresh Quebec duck breast and foie gras are always in stock. [TorontoLife.com]

Cumbrae's

Cumbrae's Naturally Raised Fine Meats
Owner and expert butcher Steven Alexander opened Cumbrae's Naturally Raised Fine Meats eleven years ago after emigrating here from his native Australia. As a third generation butcher, his vision was to create the type of shop he grew up in - a butcher shop that carries high-end meat and poultry raised by specialty farmers. [...]

Gremolata - Cumbrae's TV - Dry Ageing

Black Hoof

If you want a definition of charcuterie, skip the dictionary or Wikipedia, zip up your “fat” pants and head straight to Black Hoof.

With the exception of Marc Thuet, who brought snob appeal to cold cuts, few boîtes have been as genuine about the goings on at their deli counter. A duck confit sandwich ($13), on a crispy demi-pain stuffed with a massive amount of pulled bird and sour-cherry compote, crackles with each aorta-clogging mouthful while rivulets of liquefied duck run down your hands. (Can we say wrist-licking good?) A cassoulet ($16) of butter-soft white beans blended with pulled duck, Toulouse sausage and a giant slab of disintegratingly tender pork belly, will make you consider additional life insurance coverage. [...]

Cold Cuts Get Hot
Baloney! And smoked salmon, and duck confit and head cheese jerky: such is charcuterie, the hottest resto trend around. [...]

Famed and Acclaimed Charcuterie Heaven!
The Black Hoof began with an ad on craigslist. Jennifer Agg, the former owner of Colbalt, was on the search for a chef to partner with in hopes to open a charcuterie bar. Grant Van Gameren was on hiatus from Lucien, where he was a sous-chef, working alongside his mentor Scot Woods – whom he met while employed at Canoe. [...]

Martini Boys review
Warning: This place is not for vegetarians. Black Hoof is, however, a carnivore’s dream. A bastion of the old-school. Kind of romantic, for a certain kind of eater. [...]

COMMENTS
Great young chef. Unfortunately he has a teamed up with a horrible young partner.
Starting with the good. The food is outstanding with flavours that are sure to please the palate and at a very reasonable price. If you appreciate a great charcuterie plate you will love it here. If your like me though and you want it all, then you just might be sadly disappointed. Disappointed by the fact that the chef has certainly done his part, the hard part, but the easy part, comparitively, the front of the house has totally missed the mark. This place has all the makings for a great hole in the wall restaurant with a hip atmosphere but comes up way short. My disappointment lies in two areas. One is with the wine list. Horrible. Absolutley horrible. No consideration has been given to how to match the wines with the flavourful and delicate foods carefully served. Why, because there is no understanding of this concept. I see this all too often in restaurants in Toronto. Young wine buyers with inexperienced palates buying only wines that they like. Oh well.
The service, not bad, cool but efficient, unless you have the unfortunate experience of having to deal with the front of house partner. Wow. She is definitely in the wrong business! Clearly she has no concept of hospitality. I was embarrassed at the way she spoke to one of the people in our party. My message to her is we patronise you so don't partronise us. People frequent your restaurant because your partner is talented not you!
And while I'm at it I might as well ad this. I work hard for my money as many of us do, and I like to go out for dinner and when we do we usually spend a lot of money. A Thank You On the way out would be appreciative. The only thing you or your staff were thankful for was that we gave up the table.

Way over-hyped.
Food was mediocre, nothing particularly exciting or unique.
Washrooms were filthy, dining area wasn't terribly neat or clean.
Most of all though, the service spoiled the whole experience. Since when is it appropriate to dish out attitude with dinner?
I was with a party of 4 that was made to wait over 2 hours for a table that never came. Our expectations were mis-managed from the get-go as we were told time and time again that a table would be "coming up shortly".
We spent a small fortune on mediocre cocktails, bread, olives and meat. None of it was the least bit extraordinary and when we left we were all starving.
The owner Jen appears to still be stuck in her Cobalt days and believes an establishment can survive simply because it's cool & trendy.
Cobalt died soon after the martini trend did, I can't help but wonder what will happen to Black Hoof when the current popularity of charcuterie ends.
The only upside to the night was discovering The Burger Shoppe on Ossington and the fact that their kitchen is open 'til 11. Great service, great atmosphere and decent burgers (at least when you and three friends are irate and starving).

I will give you 4 stars as your foods are outstanding. However, I feel it is wrong to use horse meat for 2 reasons.
One, because a horse is a companion animal- like a dog to many people.
And two, all the drugs and products used to worm horses and treat horses, have warnings on the labels that the products are NOT to be used on any livestock for humans to eat.
I realize your country slaughters horses and sells the meat overseas...however things like steriods, wormers, Bute and all the many other drugs commonly used on horses are dangerous to people.
So your restaurant should really not feed horses to people.

Regarding horse slaughter...yes. Many horses are still alive when they are mutilated.The captivebolt used by many slaughter houses is designed for cattle. Not a longer necked animal that is swinging is head around trying to escape.
Second, this seems to be USA's dirty little secret....no one inspects these horses, attend an auction sometime and see what you are eating. I was a Standardbred trainer...my horses had everything from fly spray, to Lasix, hormones, steroids and not to mention one of the topicals we use is Furazone/Furacin which explicitedly warns to use gloves when applying because it is a carcinogen to humans. All of the products carry heavy warnings not for use in animals intended for slaughter. Then there are pleasure horses,they use fly sprays and we all use deworming medicine. When horses go to auction, they are usually heavily sedated and have had alot of Bute to get them thru the ring.
Greed is motivating horse slaughter. People are paying top dollar for horse meat and no one,including the USDA is going to interfere.
There is a cute little saying that the killbuyers here love to chant..."from stable to table in 7 days". Egads,that is not enough time for an aspirin to leave the body let alone steroids. We use Celestone which is a liquid powder and dissolves slowly over a period of three months.
Bon Apetite!

Chowhound review
Even Martin Picard puts some - darned good - vegetable dishes on his menu. No disrespect to pristine visions, but all that salt and fat kinda hammers the ol' taste buds to death after awhile.

COMMENT
He mentioned on his blog about the salad issue. When it was on the menu, nobody ordered it and they ended up having to bin a lot of greens.

Lai Wah Heen
Lai Wah Heen is located inside the Metropolitan Hotel behind City Hall. The exquisitely crafted dishes will make you understand what 'fantastiche' tastes like. Alongside the traditional standards, specialty dishes include abalone & shrimp mousse coiled with fine Taiwanese vermicelli and wok-seared crepe with spicy smoked salmon.

COMMENT
Lai Wah Heen is super awesome, but it's not quite the average dim sum place. You should mention that the majority of dim sum regulars don't usually go anywhere this expensive. Everyone who does dim sum knows Lai Wah Heen, but rarely goes because it does happen to be extremely expensive in comparison to the average dim sum restaurant. This more of a once a year dining out experience unless you always expect to eat with a silver spoon. I do have to admit however, it is always a memorable experience when going. Remember to dress appropriately at Lai Wah Heen, it is sort of an unwritten rule
[blogTO.com]

Senses
Harry Wu, who already has two excellent restaurants - Lai Wah Heen and Hemispheres - is the man behind this venture at his SoHo Metropolitan Hotel. The Senses brand now encompasses a bakery, cafes, and a gourmet food emporium, but this is the granddaddy of them all. Dining here is an experience for -- what else? -- all the senses. The serene sandy tones are serious eye candy, the background music soothes, and velvety banquettes rub you the right way. Get revved up for starters like the salad of seared tuna, cucumber, nashi pear, and avocado, or the lobster and scallops layered with Osetra caviar and spicy mayonnaise. The main-dish triple-seared beef tenderloin with Stilton-and-miso tart and foie gras sauce is beautifully executed. The apple crumble with cardamom ice cream is a fantastic finish. Service is extremely well informed and professional. [Frommers.com]

Toronto Life review

Canoe

Martini Boys review
You want Canadian cuisine at its finest without the beavers, hockey or Lumberjack references but are sick of Tim Hortons turkey bacon club. On the menu at Canoe: Refined Canadiana. [...]

COMMENTS
Thoroughly unimpressed. Although the atmosphere and service was acceptable, the food was mediocre at best. The flavour combinations were misguided, the textures were off and some items were so salty, all subtleties were masked. I had difficulty finishing an entree as the salt was so overwhelming. It was as if a novice chef was experimenting with creative combinations without considering any sort of balance. The dessert, however, seemed to hit the mark the appetizer and entree were aiming for and missed. Temperatures, flavours and textures were perfectly paired with novel ingredients. Bacon and toffee were combined for a surprisingly excellent experience. In summary, the concept of a Canadian-themed, well-serviced restaurant is appealing, but the food significantly fell short. The service manager should research other more moderately priced restaurants (like Gramercy Tavern in NYC) for service standards and the food should be more carefully seasoned, paired and cooked. Excellent dessert, though!

Upon a request to accomodate our entire party -- thus needing a single additional chair -- the manager made the comment:
"We don't do that... That's not what we're about here."
I need to point out that this was on a Tuesday, and we were seated in the corner by the kitchen bar, probably due to the fact that we are largely in our thirties and I guess are assumed to be small spenders.
Needless to say, my dining experience continued at 50 stories below at Bymark. I don't need that kind of attitude on a Tuesday.
Is there a service rating below 1?

My Vegan Adventures
Can random eateries prepare a meal without a trace of animal products?

Japango
Japango is like a beacon along the desolate stretch of Dundas between Bay and University. On this stretch, there is no shortage of grimy restaurants with misspelt signs, but Japango is an exception with its surprisingly authentic atmosphere and impeccably fresh sushi. [...]

COMMENTS
You want cheap Japanese (but not sushi), go to Manpuku. You want a reasonable 'izakaya', go to Ema-tei. You want sushi, damn the cost, go to Sushi Kaji (below). Hiro's fine too, but been coasting on the Bay Street crowd too long.
Thank God I'm going to Japan on a trip in a few weeks.

I hate to recommend Japanese food in Toronto to anyone from Vancouver (much less Japan). I've eaten much better for less in Vancouver than the norm in Toronto, and since the Japanese economy has nose-dived for a few decades now, good sushi is half the cost in Tokyo than Toronto, too.
That said, if you're jonesing in Toronto, and can take the $100 - $150 hit, get a spot at Kaji's counter. Not just from my gaijin-mouth, but my wife agrees.

I highly recommend the black sesame ice cream. Scrumptious!

Japango? are you kidding?...Mediocrity at it's finest.

I wonder why sushi restaurants are not required to list mercury content levels of the various fish they serve? Considering that tuna and mackerel are dangerously high in mercury while other fish (depending on the source) can be perfectly safe, it seems like important information, doesn't it?
Also, I hope we're not secretly eating dolphin, labeled as tuna, as happens in Japan.

Richmond, BC is near a large body of water called the Pacific ocean. Toronto is near a polluted lake. You can't compare. It's like me saying, "why are the baguettes so much better in Paris than in Toronto?"

You call those tiny rolls that are mostly rice 'california roll' that you paid 18.99 for?!?!?!?!??!?!
Boy sounds like you've never had real good sushi.
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RELATED
Sushi Kaji
Chef-owner Mitsuhiro Kaji’s peerless command of classic Japanese cuisine combined with well-structured creativity is evident in every morsel of food on his epic omakase menus ($80, $100 or $120). On this night, it all starts with an ethereal, sweet squid cake robed in tender napa cabbage and set in a pool of richly flavoured dashi broth. Snow crab legs and a silky Japanese crab risotto are set off by grilled sea bream topped with sweet nori paste. Kaji juxtaposes delicate and intense flavours and textures in the sashimi and sushi courses, which might be the best in Canada. Outstanding sashimi includes barely charred slices of ocean trout on mitsuba (a Japanese herb), and tender octopus graced with fresh sansho leaves. For sushi, a seasoned sea eel and rice mixture, bound beautifully in a bamboo leaf, is paired with loosely formed squares of rice topped with warm freshwater eel. Everything is cut and assembled by a true master’s hand. Excellent sakes are offered along with Japanese beer and shochu. Service is nimble and alert. [TorontoLife.com]

Photoset

Sushi Kaji: An Omakase Odyssey
Our bellies were treated to a parade of Japanese delights - presented in the photos after the jump - and we left with the happy impression that, despite the economy, many chefs still choose to eat out and support one another's craft. [...]

Top Ten Most Expensive Restaurants
Birthday Fun
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RELATED
Top Ten New Restaurants 2009
The year’s best launches turned their backs on glamour and glitz in favour of honest food and easygoing ambience. When the economy plunged, they looked like prescient geniuses.
chef Jean-Charles Dupoire__Loire

Top Ten Restaurants 2009
These are the places of proven and consistent quality that set the city’s fine-dining standard: the stars in our gastronomical firmament.
Splendido, the torchbearer of Toronto’s fine-dining scene, unfailingly delivers impeccable service and luxurious food

North 44°’s haute take on comfort food has a devoted uptown following
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NEW
Queen West's New Playground for the Senses
Since the recent opening of the ultra stylish Nadège, French pastries in the city just got edgier...

Conviction Restaurant

chef Marc Thuet

Conviction Restaurant

Owner Staffs Conviction Restaurant with Ex-Cons
[TorontoSun.com - May 09]

According to a recent front page of the Vancouver Province, Devon Sims is one of the top-10 car thieves wanted in British Columbia.

But right now, the 25-year-old former drug addict and criminal can be found in a chef's smock preparing steak tartar for diners at Conviction, a King St. W. restaurant that opened over the weekend to give ex-cons a second chance.

"It's like going to the zoo, let's go see the criminals," the affable redhead says with a smile. "Then they'll taste the food and have it be great and they'll be coming back."

The bold experiment is being cooked up by celebrity bad boy chef Marc Thuet and his wife -- and the restaurant's owner -- Biana Zorich. With every challenge and crisis documented by a film crew for an upcoming reality show on Citytv, the couple has spent the last few months interviewing 84 former criminals, choosing 24 for the project and then whittling them down to seven servers and six kitchen cooks to work alongside their regular staff in time for Saturday night's public opening.

But while they may be big hearted, not every kind of criminal was invited to apply.

"I couldn't have murderers, rapists or child molesters," explains Zorich, 33, as her husband nods at her side. "We're parents, as well. We couldn't give people like that a second chance. But most of these guys are just lost people who needed a straight road."

Adds Thuet: "If you put on a CV that you were in prison, nobody calls you back. It's a very tough go. They are fantastic people with great hearts."

All except for one, that is. On their first day of shooting, one of the 24 threatened to kill Zorich for making a remark about his hair. "I had security for two weeks here," she says with a shrug. "I've been threatened before when I worked as a bartender and that was by regular people."

HIS OWN ISSUES
The 45-year-old Thuet has battled his own drug issues and says his past helped him connect with these ex-cons.

"Everybody has their demons. Definitely, I had mine. I was dealing with addiction for 25 years," says Thuet, who coincidentally marked his fourth year of sobriety on the night Conviction opened. "I'm like a warden, but a nice one. I told them, 'If you want to learn, there's a lot I can teach you. If you don't, you can get the hell out.' "

Hours before opening, the couple's restaurant, formerly called Bite Me!, is in controlled chaos, with new ovens just being installed, the wood floor being washed and Zorich still in curlers. A sense of nervousness and excitement fills the air.

"I'm hoping customers are not going to be judgmental and take this new concept and open their hearts to it," Zorich says.

"People are always going to think they belong to the loser part of society," Thuet says of his felon staff. "We're not here to change people. What I care about is helping these guys."

Guys like Sims. The career criminal has been in and out of jail for boosting dozens of cars, yanking ATMs out of buildings and trafficking in drugs. He had started to turn his life around but went off track again when his fiance and baby daughter were killed last year by a drunk driver in Vernon. What ensued was a month-long crime spree so out of control that even he knew it had to end. "It was fun times but it was crazy s---. I'm glad it's in the past. I talked to my five-year-old daughter and she put it into perspective. I lost one child, I don't have to lose another."

One January morning he picked up his brother Brad Lambert, a fellow partner in crime and drugs, and together they drove their stolen Hyundai Elantra across the country to find a new life. It took them nine days to get here, with the first few spent in painful withdrawal as Sims detoxed from his $1,000-a-day drug habit.

"I've been clean for four months," he says proudly.

They found out about Conviction while staying in an Oshawa shelter and with his past experience as a jailhouse cook, Sims made the cut as a chef, while his brother is working for the first time as a server -- though he'll be wearing long sleeves to cover all his prison tattoos.

Sims admits he's never heard of half the ingredients he's now using, but he's a quick study and has been under far more pressure in a prison kitchen than he imagines he'll ever face in a high-end one. "When you're cooking for 450 inmates, it has to be on time and it has to taste good or," he says with a grin, "you're going to have a riot."

He's hoping he and the restaurant will be here long after the TV documentary ends. He can see a future now and he's promised his daughter that he will bring her out to live with him very soon.

"At first I thought this was just a publicity stunt, but Chef and Biana, they're the real deal. They genuinely care," Sim says before heading back into the kitchen. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime, I'm totally stoked. To have someone trust you, it makes you want to do good for them."

His mentor chef insists diners have no need to hide their steak knives. "Don't be scared," he says of his parolees. "We're giving them a second chance. Open your hearts and do the same."
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Petite Thuet
The 800 square-ft boite across from Summerhill LCBO (how convenient) that is reminiscent of Parisian boulangeries/patisseries.
These were the pastries on display the afternoon I stopped by. I wanted a croissant. [flickr.com]

New location at 1 King St. W.

Review
Cozy bakery-cafés are a dime a dozen in the east and west ends, but they are hard to come by in the downtown core—until now. Chef Marc Thuet, one of Toronto’s favourite French imports, brings his signature baked goods to the business crowd at King and Yonge. A rustic oasis with leather armchairs and pantry shelves lined with preserves, soups and bread, Petite Thuet is a welcome contrast to the hubbub that surrounds it.
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NEW POST
Eat a Fat Rabbit
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LINKS
Little Dudes
In a Jam

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Stormtroopers
Die, Stormtrooper, Die

"Maybe it's Another Drill."

(Maybe He Won't Notice.)

Storm Crowd

Spezify

Spezify: iPhone
-->iSmashPhone
-->35 Best iPhone Apps

Spezify Sets New Boundaries for Visual Search?
Spezify, another newcomer to the search space, is also attempting to re-draw the medium. Its innovative interface incorporates a scrollable mosaic of text snippets, videos and images to provide a well-rounded set of search results, with content pulled through APIs from Yahoo!, eBay, MSN, Amazon and Twitter. Admittedly, not all the results will be relevant - but as a graphical representation of search results, it is arresting. [...]

News articles, Wikipedia pages and information from Answers.com are also incorporated, as are items from Amazon and eBay. Perhaps most significantly, Spezify also incorporates Twitter posts, facilitating real-time search results that Google has, so far, stopped short of providing until it can figure out a way to filter irrelevant results. And while some of the tweets returned by Spezify aren't particularly informative, many are...

Speaking about the launch of the search site, which is based in Sweden, co-founder Per Persson said: "Web search has looked more or less the same since 1994. We were missing a place generating an instant and appealing overview of a certain subject, regardless of media. In addition to finding the expected, Spezify gives you new associations and lets you discover things you didn't know was out there." [...]

...there's a distinct novelty value that's sure to appeal to anyone who appreciates the colourful cheeriness of graphical illustration. In particular, its bias towards images, videos and tweets makes it useful for people heavily involved in or influenced by social media.

Ultimately, while Spezify may not be the most relevant search engine out there, it's certainly showing the industry that's it's time to think and do things differently. After all, the type of information people are searching for is changing by the week - it makes sense that the way they search for it may be changing just as fast.
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Opera!
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NY Style

Delias Lacie Eyelet dress__$44.50__Delias

Fab Dresses for Around $50
NY Style

Chocolate Pudding

Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding

Local Crafts

Two Spoons__glass, enamel, wood & metal__Mark Thompson

East Rose__glass, enamel & metal__St. James the Less Church, Eganville ON

I have been self-employed as a glass artist since 1991 during which time I have undertaken many large scale ecclesiastic, corporate and private architectural commissions; I have also produced a steady stream of studio works which have been included in several gallery group shows. I supplement my artwork with the conservation and restoration of stained glass windows.

Untitled__glass__Maciej Dyszkiewicz

With my two latest series, I am trying to come to terms with problems of modern society. The positive and negative impact of people on nature. The belief in human postive trends.

Norah's Boots__crystal__Kasia Czarnota

In my sculptures, I am working from a melding of factual memory and childhood fantasy. From jumping in puddles to hiding in grandmother’s raspberry bushes and flower gardens, I am inspired by the tiny little moments that make up a day in a child’s life and the interpretations of the new things that have been encountered from a child’s perspective.

Shift__elm wood__John Glendinning

My previous and current work has dealt with, in varying degrees and directions, surface transition and the visual relationship between adjacent components. A feature is that I reveal the structural connections as organic forms which has created a fragmented aspect to my work. I aim to create the appearance that components grow out of one another rather than appearing conveniently stuck together. These features are inspired by my experiences with my natural surroundings.

Rocking Vessel #2__glass & steel__Brad Turner

Rocking Vessel #2__detail

My body of work does not represent one single concept or goal, but rather grows in many directions, reflecting the variances of my life. As an artist and a craftsperson, I value conceptual originality, diversity, and clean design. I feel the distinctions between functional object and sculptural expression are blurred, and that merit is to be found in either endeavor. I recognize the need for well-made objects.

If I may narrow the pursuit of my work to one definable notion, it is the responsible use of material. Glass is a medium that constantly asserts its being. It is a very unique material that should be used and taken advantage of as such. My work seeks to elevate its characteristics, whether it is the rare combination of strength and fragility, the unmistakable relationship with light and optics, or its storied roots in vessel-making and functional design.

Stylobate series - Reticello__David Thai

Glass is the medium that best reflects my innermost feelings. When approaching glass in its fluid state, I am deeply moved by the metamorphosis from a molten state to the solidified shape of my design.

One unique feature of my work is the use of silver foil on the surface of the blown glass; this silver foil is specially ordered from Japan.

Play, Pause Record interlocking ring__silver resin__Danielle Crampsie

Play, Pause, Record ring (apart)

Danielle Crampsie uses jewellery as a social indicator to communicate ideas relevant to today’s society. Her pieces explore the symbols and values of contemporary culture. Using jewellery as a means of communication she gives the wearer a voice and thus a starting point to establish a relationship with the viewer. Her pieces act as an interface between us and technology, they draw on traditions of the past to record the history of today.

Budding necklace__nylon & glass__Lily Yung

In my jewellery, I use non-precious and readily available materials and through design and fabrication techniques transform them into provocative, precious and beautiful body ornaments. My design elements are drawn from nature but the final shapes are usually more abstract or geometric in form and shape. My work tend towards exaggerated size for jewellery as the materials used are often lightweight.

Vanishing Glacier__glass__Jerre Davidson

The Ontario landscape pulls at my senses and evokes a multitude of different emotions. Every relationship has a specific tempo. It could be slow and sensuous like the waves lapping the shore or harsh and staccato like an up thrusting rock formation. With my work I seek to share my sense of place in the natural environment and the contradictory properties of glass are what make it such a wonderful medium.

Heaven & Earth__glass__David James

Nebula__crystal

David James creates luminous sculptures cast in glass and bold exterior works carved in stone that often incorporate stainless steel. His works juxtapose rough textures with smooth sensuous surfaces. In glass, he exploits the transparent interior, a wonderful fourth dimension unique to the material, to reveal vibrant interiors with diaphanous veils.

Diptych - Twigs__wood & straw__Jessica Beauchemin

I strive to explore fine woodworking, to develop a personal approach that will enhance the riches and nuances of the matter. I shape solid woods and veneers in symbiosis with other natural materials such as mother-of-pearls, stones, metals and fibres. Hair ornaments are the medium through which I explore.

Breaking Through__sandblasted glass__Pattie Walker

Making art is about making contact. I strive to create art pieces and environments that will animate and energize space. And connect viewers to the radiant force of light.

Sketch (leaves)__glass__Cali Balles

Wine stopper__glass & brass

I am fascinated by form. I find the repeating patterns of both urban and living forms to be equally captivating and am compelled to explore the interaction between them. I work almost exclusively in clear glass so that the focus on form and process predominates.

Ontario Crafts Council - portfolio
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