 Hi, art lovers! | | |  | Netflix | | | As someone who still dreams of owning every available colour of American Apparel disco pants, I’m a sucker for stories about the “indie sleaze” revival. And there’s one thing — one extremely Toronto thing — that always triggers my nostalgia for the era. It’s not the taste of Sneaky Dee’s nachos or even old Facebook albums of sloppy nights at the Dance Cave. It’s Scott Pilgrim.
Both the original graphic novel and the 2010 Edgar Wright flick (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) perfectly bottled the hipster-dirtbag psychogeography of early aughts Toronto. I actually dug out my old Motorola Razr while working on this email, hoping I’d find some grainy snapshots from when the movie was filming around the Annex neighbourhood. Sadly, my amateur paparazzo snaps of Michael Cera filming at a Pizza Pizza have been lost to time, but there is suddenly a bounty of fresh Scott Pilgrim-related content all over CBC right now. It’s because of the new animated series that’s streaming on Netflix, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, the show is not a beat-for-beat remake — as much as the first episode might dupe you into thinking so. (Find further in-depth spoilers at the link.)
The series reunites the stars from the original movie. (Day 6 got the story behind that casting coup.) And director Edgar Wright is back as well. (He’s an executive producer of the show. Hear him on Q.) If you start bingeing the series this weekend, yes, that totally is Metric covering Sarah McLachlan in Episode 2. And here’s one more detail that might seem obvious all these years later: Scott Pilgrim is kind of a dink. (For more on that, here’s series creator Bryan Lee O’Malley in conversation with CBC News.)
More nostalgic links that you can file under “indie sleaze” and/or “Canadian content”: Nylon is bringing back its print edition (while new forms of girl media are apparently flourishing on Discord). Who’s that wonderful girl? Mona from Nanalan’! CBC’s Nanalan’! (Bah, I wish I could’ve added this shirt to our gift guide!) | | | | | And because we promised you eye candy ... | | | | |  | Yan Zhang | | Land of Silence by Yan Zhang. It’s one of the prize-winning works appearing in the Art Gallery of Mississauga’s annual Juried Show of Visual Arts. See it there through Jan. 14. | | | | |  | Kaley Flowers | | It’s been a minute since CBC Arts last checked in with Kaley Flowers, but I’m loving the stuff she’s been sharing on Instagram lately. Kaley’s still mining digital nostalgia, but her new ceramics have a way more organic feel, like something dredged from a magic swamp. (Related reading: When did illustration get so gross?) | | | | |  | Yvonne Kustec | | Sisters by Yvonne Kustec. She’s showing this piece at Norberg Hall in Calgary as part of the group exhibition Natural Surroundings. | | | | |  | Azza Al Qubaisi | | And finally, an otherworldly photo captured earlier this fall at Forever is Now, a desert exhibition in Egypt. This is Treasures by Emirati artist Azza Al Qubaisi. | | | | |  | Courtesy of the artist | | | | | The Calgary-based artist plans to invest the $100,000 prize in their practice. But first, they’re going to Costco. | | | | |  | Christopher Sherman/Swan Song | | | | | The dance icon wants to empower the next generation of artists. She spoke to CBC Arts about Swan Song, the docuseries that captures her final production for the National Ballet of Canada. (BTW, here’s where to stream it on CBC Gem.) | | | | |  | Warby Parker, BBE, Baggins, Meera Sethi, Kate Austin Designs, Ffembroidery | | | | | | | Cozy robes! Custom sneakers! A personalized portrait … made of pie?! Shop one-of-a-kind gifts inspired by the stories we’ve covered this year. | | |  | Chief Lady Bird | | If geoblocking kept you from watching CBC’s How to Lose Everything earlier this year, good news! It’s now available on YouTube, and you’re looking at a still from Chief Lady Bird’s contribution to the series, a short film called Heart Like a Pow Wow. Watch it here. | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
