The September Cab Post
Beautiful light, giant monsters and architectural wonders
Recap
Hello, peeps! I'm writing the newsletter live from my hotel room, somewhere between Chicoutimi and Jonquière. I’m here for le Salon du Livre du Saguenay and contrary to what you might think, I’m not typing this while sipping on a scotch in a dimly lit suite. I wish my life was this glamorous, though.
This month, I was mostly busy in real life. Busy protesting for affordable housing, starting yoga class and attending my first amateur wrestling night (as an audience member, of course!) It didn't leave much time to draw. Actually, I just… don’t feel like drawing at the moment. I’m working on a new project and my job right now is basically “falling down bottomless Wikipedia holes” and “going to the library”. Is that what people who went to real, serious school did? To keep my creative juices from turning into bitter, frustration kombucha, I took a lot of photos this month. The autumn light is so beautiful that I kept looking out the window, saying to myself “I should go out, I should go out, I should go out…” while rocking back and forth like a completely normal person.
I had a lot of fun at “Livre and Let Livre”, in Pointe-St-Charles, alongside Rich Larson. Every last Friday of the month, the hosts invite sci-fi and genre authors to talk about their work in a very casual, bilingual setting. I really like these kinds of grassroot and community-driven initiatives.; especially if there’s beer involved. It’s fun to go out and meet people outside of convention and book fair contexts.
Announcements
Le Cinéma de l'Horreur by Denis Côté, comes out on October 5th. I had the pleasure of illustrating this wonderful kid’s horror novel earlier this year. We follow Thomas, who discovers an old monster movie poster and starts hearing and feeling terrible things. It’s a tribute to old sci-fi films from the 40s and 50s, set to a theremin soundtrack. La Courte Échelle is having a Halloween launch/party to highlight the new fall releases on October 29, at the Librairie Les Paulines. I'll be there!
That’s it for September! Remember to get your Halloween costume soon. I’m thinking of going as “sexy housing crisis” but I don’t think they sell this at Halloween Spirit.
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Cool stuff
On the screen:
Tampopo, a 1985 Japanese film about a woman who meets a phlegmatic trucker, hell bent on helping her spruce up her crappy ramen shop.
In my ears:
Wright ona Plane: Bathtub city pop, a playlist made by a dude, live from his bathtub.
Everything is alive by Slowdive. It’s already been 6 years since these dream pop giants released their previous album. Perfect moody, melancholic music for fall.
Punk Tactics by Joey Valencia and Brae. What?! Cab recommending RAP?! Just give it a listen and you’ll be transported back in time. (Thanks Phil!)
Billy Talent’s eponymous album came out in September 2003 and it ripped through me with the force of a thousand studded bracelets. Screaming “INTOTHERIVERBELOW!!” is still one of life’s great pleasure.
The Chemical Brothers’ new video for Like a Skipping Stone.
Cool stuff:
Spinning bowls of ramen. I love the internet.
I'm fascinated by miniatures. They’re often good references for drawing comics. Here are some cool miniature scenes of Tokyo and New York.
Cool artists:
Kei Endo draws hotel room plans with details, measurements and elevations, in watercolor, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. She even draws desserts schematics because why the hell not?!
Architect and urban landscape artist Claude Cormier passed away this month. He was known for infusing fun and quirkiness into the places he designed.
“While his peers readily acknowledged his work’s ‘queer sensibility,’ it’s equally important to point out how much Montreal and Quebec’s joie de vivre also influenced his visual choices.” Via Cult MTL
I'm LONG overdue for a rewatch of Tampopo. I first saw it way back in the day on SRC, probably about 4 years after it was released in Japan.
That self-titled album still gives me a rush. I remember seeing "Try Honesty" on Much and being totally riveted.