The 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival is coming up in a month and I’m happy to have worked with one of the lovely playwrights of this years’ lineup. Francine’s quirky all-Canadian play was given the green light this year and she had given me free reign to capture her play in website format. Wedding Night in Canada is a tale of a bride’s panic-stricken misadventure when her wedding date magically falls on the same day as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ big game to win the Stanley Cup (which, as all Torontonians know but never want to admit, NEVER happens). I loved the challenge of putting together an illustration that mixed both subjects. Being someone who is too clumsy for sports and drew nothing but zombies for her own wedding, I was out of my usual element, which made it interesting. After texting a hockey-playing friend about hockey tape positioning and taking some inspiration from Princess Lasertron bouquets (thank you for letting me use your flower style!) , this is the web design I’ve come up with. I am quite satisfied with it. I can’t wait to see the play this summer!

If you’re in the Toronto area during Fringe, be sure to check out Wedding Night in Canada!

Shadow casting movies for the past year and a half has introduced me to some really awesome and talented people. Three fellow Jurassic Park cast members and now good friends of mine have recently opened a new independent movie theatre in Toronto called the Underground Cinema. They have worked hard to get this theatre up and running and this weekend they finally begin their regular programming. I’ve been commissioned to do some graphic and web design work for them, so I’ve been busy the past couple of weeks working on some layouts.

This the opening week calendar I made for the Underground last night. I grew up watching a lot of Jackie Chan movies and had always wanted him to be my funny ass-kicking uncle, so any excuse to put him on a graphic and I’m totally for it!

If you see any film titles you want to see and you’re in the area, be sure to check out the Underground Cinema! The theatre is conveniently located on Spadina Avenue just north of Queen Street. It’s hidden in the basement of 186 Spadina Ave. (hence “Underground”) in the same building as the Alex Furs store. Just follow the handmade signs! For more information, just check out their website at torontoundergroundcinema.com. The site is under major construction… the new website will be epic, we promise!

I love Joanna Angel. This woman just genuinely loves what she does and I love that she has a sense of humour about the business. Her porn parodies are just wonderful (see: “LA Pink” and “Not Another Porn Movie”). She is also a lot more interesting to look at. As a pierced and tattooed girl, I’m glad to see that porn stars with awesome body mods are making it in the industry. No stereotypical “tramp stamps” of butterflies, tribal and meaningless flash art to see here. Alt porn stars for the win!

While waiting for the paint to dry, I did some doodles on a brand new watercolour sketchbook that I got with my Studio Ghibli beginner’s watercolour kit. The kit seemed like your typical tourist trap souvenir and I’m sure that I spent too much money on it (hey, the bag had an embroidered Studio Ghibli emblem on it! I had to buy it!), but I have to say that the quality of the materials you get is pretty fantastic. I’m going to be using these watercolours for a lot of my work for the upcoming solo show in July. I think this doodle will be available at the show. I really like how it turned out!

Err… vacation I mean.

As you can probably tell from the photo above, I had a blast visiting the motherland. While I’ve lived in Canada for longer, I still call the Philippines my home sweet home. I got to spend a lot of time with my relatives who I have missed so much. I don’t have an army of cousins, aunts and uncles in Toronto, so it was nice to be able to attack restaurants in giant packs again. Hah!

While in Asia, Alex and I also hopped on a plane for a week-long honeymoon in Japan. The week was simply too short. There was just so much to see and so little time. You hear all these tall tales about what Japan is like, and when you actually experience it you’re just simply overwhelmed. Those Japan stories you thought couldn’t possibly be so… they are all true man! Right down to the remote control toilets! It’s the land of the future and I didn’t want to leave.

Alex and I discovered a lot of fun little art treasures in both countries during our visit. We met a lot of really interesting and talented characters and we also got to see some really cool things that have gotten our creative juices flowing again. Yes, this was exactly the vacation we needed. Will get to the specifics in future blog posts!

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I am going to be out of town for a month starting this Thursday, April 8th. In fact, I am going to be out of the freaking continent! I will be in Manila for a few weeks for a long overdue visit to my beloved motherland. I will also be taking a well-needed vacation to popular Filipino beach destination Boracay while I’m there. White sand beaches! Crystal clear waters! Fresh mangoes! Woo!

After visiting family and eating copious amounts of Chicken Joy, I will be going on the real honeymoon with my husband…

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TO FREAKING TOKYO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So. freaking. excited.

While I am away, the Pretty Poopie store will be on hiatus until I get back. I will still be reachable by email if you have any inquiries. I also will not be blogging on this blog. Instead, you can follow mine and my husband Alex’s travel misadventures on our new travel blog: wevebeeneverywhere.tumblr.com.

See you guys in a month!