The Whirlwind Part 1

I have been so busy lately it is hard to believe. I am going to split my recent adventures into several parts (entries) so I can get it all out and it can all have equal description!

May 3, 2010

The Gladstone

Book Launch for Keith Oatley's Therefore Choose, as part of the Toronto based THIS IS NOT A READING SERIES. This was my first day of classes, and it was a hell of a ride. I got to meet and hang out with a lot of really awesome people, and dive right into what is already a psychotic and epic program! Everyone is so fun and like minded, and I've already gone on a few outings with my little crew of school chums. I honestly can't believe that 2 weeks have gone by! Although that's a half truth -I have been doing so much in this short period of time it feels like I've been here for 2 months!

Anyway, book launch! I found out about it through my program director (Cynthia Good, former president of Penguin Books Canada - she is very rad!). Most of the class went to the event because at orientation we were encouraged to go out of our comfort zone and attend a lot of these kind of things in order to meet people and network. None of us were very sure what so expect with this reading however; the novel is written by one of my program teachers Keith Oatley, who conducts our very fascinating Psychology of Creativity class. The main part about the THIS IS NOT A READING SERIES is simply that - there is no reading involved from the book per se, more a discussion on thematic threads between the author and someone who they have a strong working relationship with. In this case it was Maja Djikic, one of Keith's peers, who posited a lot of psychological questions in regards to the novel. I picked up a copy, and I have yet to read it simply because I have bought so many books since I arrived! I have a huge list to go through.

All in all it was a very interesting event! I'd never been to anything like it - just your regular reading was all I'd encountered. This was just a neat little social event, and at a really interesting venue. It's not exactly in the best part of town, and it has evolved from what was once a ridiculously ill maintained flop house to a major art venue! The ballroom, double bar and performance room are all really well established, and apparently all of the rooms have been designed by a band of super unique artists. If you would like more information about the Gladstone Hotel, check out their website! http://www.gladstonehotel.com/ Also, there is a really awesome documentary I had watched about it before I came here called Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel by Neil Graham and Derrek Roemer. It is very gritty, very moving and very human take on how this ramshackle living space transformed into an accessible art space...but at what cost? Check out this article http://docspace.ca/film/Last_Call_at_the_Gladstone_Hotel for more info, as well as the trailer below which really encompasses the duality that the film embodies.



Tell me what you think about this issue. Though it's been 3 years since this documentary debuted, do you think it is still relevant, especially if you are a Torontonian yourself?