Idea Ghetto, GO SHOPPING!

"Who needs more stuff?" Well, those in real need do.

Capital D got wind of this great charity organization and we were off!

The Video speaks for itself, check it out… We had a great time with it and definitely think this is going to be a repeat occurrence!

Sculptomania...

The premise for Sculptomania was simple...get a talented sculptor into the ghetto and have him teach us how to sculpt... Wadé caught the action on camera, otherwise this would have just been another Ghetto Legend. Enter Monty Al-Rubayee into the Ghetto Layer. Monty brought his skills and knowledge, Capital D brought the clay and off we go!

Normally in the layer, we're all too loud to hear over each other, but not this time. A bizzare calm came over the crew and participants... focus is a rare thing, but it worked!

We all pitched in... some really great things came out of the evening. Even Capital D made stuff come to life; JP (the cutie to the left in the above pic) came out with the token morbid creation of the evening - a guy drowning as sharks attack. Top Right pic: Greg suggests an idea to Capital D as he made something that resembled a DNA braid.. Tee-hee!

Half way into the evening, our good friends Nick and Natalie dropped in to visit, and Natalie blew us all away with her hidden talent in sculpture! In no time, she was replicating human body parts! (see below..)

Greg left nothing to waste as he utilized the left-over clay to build his own Inukshuk!

Brian carved this gargoyle to scare away all the nasty spirits from... well, whatever it is they scare spirits away from...

Wadé's Jack-O-Lantern inspired candle holder (just in time for Halloween!)

Upon discovering the coloured clay, Greg diligently went to work on this beautiful Dragonfly!

top 20 yupster toons of 2011...

i have a hard time putting anything into order let alone a top 20 list....let's just say this is a list of songs that i constantly had on my iphone through the year...these songs really made me feel happy and have stayed with me a long time...

first off a canadian band that few know about but that i love love love...its timbre timbre...hard to pick a fave track of CREEP ON CREEPIN ON...but WOMAN is one of the best...and the video rocks too:

Timbre Timbre - Woman

tuneyards were everywhere..this band is amazing to see LIVE...unfortunately i have not seen them...i seem to buy to tickets to see them and then have to give the tickets away since i have to travel for work....the album "whokill" is brilliant...but one track that always stands out for me is POWA:

Tuneyards - Powa

Now this next band, Phantogram, i know little about...all i know is i played this song the most on my iphone...and i listen to alot of music....can't wait to see them LIVE to see if they achieve this atmosphere and feel.....yummy.....the gal is reminscent of CURVE for me...not sure why..hmmm..

Phantogram - Don't Move

this track is a hip hop track..but wait... i don't like hip hop....by mr. don trip....however...those swedes jj...who i think are always brilliant and remixed it such that it's not only good...it's beautiful....

Don Trip - Cheers (jj save our souls remix)

ok if i had to pick one song and say it was my favourite...this would be the one...i am anxiously awaiting his full length album out at the end of january...he could sing the phone book and i'd love it...so talented can't wait for a long player...he does a cover of "nothing compares to you' that's brill.....enjoy this track...

Evan Voytas - Can't let anybody know who you are..
 so another Canadian band that's brilliant is "fucked up" this track 'queen of hearts' is a great song and is clever punk music...the video rocks as well so don't let the yelling scare you....watch the video and this band is punk with intelligence....

fucked up - queen of hearts

gross magic....i was all over this track...it just gets me groovin'....its the flow and ebb of the track...this is what i want all music to do to me....so good...

Gross Magic - Sweetest Touch

i just love this producer...he continually release shit i like....i don't like rap or hip-hop but this guy throws it through his brain and homogenizes it in a way i love...this is from november...but he already has a track this year i'm lovin already...

Star Slinger - Moet & Reese

ok so i am finally excited for a band i'm going to see in a couple of days....HOSPITALITY...they are going to play the Horseshoe....and i love the singles that they have put out...i listened to an earlier version of 'betty wang' which rocked...but this one is more produced....and then they got signed to MERGE records...say no more....LOVE....check out the track....love it...and will give a review of the concert next week....

Hospitality - Betty Wang

ok so i'm not sure i was channeling Simon and Garfunkel...but  i loved this track...the harmony is right on...the voices just send a warm pulse right through me....such a great track...all i know is they are british and might have to use a different name in north america....

the bees - silver line

i've always loved the pains of being pure at heart....and they rocked LIVE...very unassuming..another great concert at the OPERA HOUSE...with my great friend Kevin...

Pains of Being Pure of Heart - My Terrible Friend

with best coast, tennis and all these types of bands that i like but sometimes forget...this song kept creeping up...i always wanted to play this when i had to power something out....not sure i like all of their stuff...but this track rocked the casbah for me...SUMMER CAMP....and what's not to like about that....

Summer Camp - Better off without you

this does the same thing to me that the japandroids does...it makes me shake my head and want to play guitar....this band rocks..i love this song....get found....enjoy

bass drum of death - get found

another great band WU LYF....world unite love you forever......this band is emo core at its best...love love love this album...loved every track...but We Bros brought it....i had tickets to see them LIVE...was deathly ill...damn damn...pick this band up!

WU LYF - We Bros

i have been telling all my friends that they need to own this album....YOUTH LAGOON....its amazing..the guy is 22....he's from IDAHO....anyway...i got most of my friends to listen to them by speeding up the music...here is a remix of DAYDREAM....if you get a chance see them...me and a couple of cool friends did and loved it....

Youth Lagoon - Daydream

m83....nothing more to say...brilliance.....AMAZING.......every track on the album is mesmorizing....here is my fave....

M83 - Splendor

bon iver..bon iver....bon iver...saw him this year....his new album rocked..the whole album rocked...but i think this song is what i listened to most this year from him....so even though its from two years back...don't hate me for it...

Bon Iver - Your love

destroyer rocked the world with the album kaputt...loved it....loved seeing them live at Lee's Palace..even when this 6'7 guy just about fell on us waiting for the band to start...he didn't move at all and had something called 'blood pooling' and just collapsed...i thought jesus the band is good but not that good....or are they....the whole album rocks...but i wanted to put this cover of a new order track they did....so amazingly good....oh and its canadian content...frickn eh'

Destroyer - Leave me

james blake is amazing...his debut album was brilliant....he has an amazing voice....and also has a great sense of sampling and music...loved him....so many songs were good....but i had to pick two...one from his album...the wilhelm scream...but he covered a joni mitchell track that every canadian should own....case of you enjoy....

James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream

James Blake - A Case of You

it's T, C, A and G to you...but to me it spells DNA

You'll most likely notice over the course of time, that I have a fascination with DNA...i love the 4 bases that make up DNA (T, C, A, G)...whenever I see something I can do with these 4 letters I get really excited and my friends just let me go nuts...turns out that BamBamaral told me that American Apparel was selling tees with the letters of the alphabet on them....when i heard this I lept (not ran) to my nearest AA and scared the bejesus out of the sales representative as i explained 17 project ideas (the AA sales rep had that look of  "if my friends could only see what i have to put up with")...i made my way home and the tees sat on my kitchen table for days...looking at me:

then one night out I was out with da' boys...we came home and when we got in the door we decided to take off our shirts cause my place was so hot (Canadian fall had me just putting on my heat that day)...that's when a GHETTO iDEA happened upon us....this is just one of the pics we got...

and this is how iDEA GHETTO rolls....so much fun.....stay tuned....

Nuit Blanche Devereaux

For one sleepless night Toronto is transformed by hundreds of artists for the city's annual sunset-to-sunrise celebration of contemporary art... blah blah blah! That's what the sponsors want you to read... What we found is that many of our friends didn't enjoy the night or were "underwhelmed" in past years. Sure, it's hard to make art appeal to the masses... let alone on a REALLY COLD night.
So, what we did was our own installation! A citizens 'D.I.Y.N.B.' (Do It Yourself Nuit Blanche).

Enter iDea Ghetto - because we can't seem to do anything without our own unique brand of "Ghetto" we called it 'Nuit Blanche Devereaux'.

Our idea was simple... We had a poet and a Flash animation genius in the group and the Man with a plan (Dennis). So while "at the island" one night we hashed out what was bound to be a brilliant idea.
Poetry in motion to coin a phrase. :)
So BamBam's poetry built in to a Flash animation by Wadé (like Sade, but with a W) then projected onto Capital D's loft windows! Easy right?

While D is GREAT at nurturing an idea,  follow through isn't really in his genetic makeup. So Wadé and BamBam took on the task of converting the Ghetto Loft (kinda like the Turtle Layer) windows into a canvas for 'Words Glowing From Darkness' (that's what we called the installation).
Make no mistake, we are all an equal and integral part of each of our inspirations.

The following series of pics show the process and testing involved in getting to the final (and fantastic) end piece.

What seemed to be a simple idea turned out to have it's fair share of obstacles.. Capital D has  permanently installed vinyl artwork of his own DNA sequence placed in each of the three center panels of his loft windows. (see bottom right image) When projecting light from behind this translucent artwork, an image becomes proportionally more blurred than the other six clear glass panels.

The challenge was to block out the DNA sequence, yet still see the final projection as one cohesive message. BamBam and Wadé went to work and measured each window, then covered it with white paper while blocking out completely the DNA vinyl artwork. With the window measurements in hand, Wadé created his animated project in Adobe Flash, accommodating for the center panels not affecting the final layout of the animations.

The projector was set and BamBam's poetry was shown for all of Dundas Street East to see! Lots of folks stopped by and viewed the poetry, and it was great to hear the many compliments! Capital D made a point of inviting those that stopped by to create their own D.I.Y.N.B. next year!

Our good friend Pierre joined us for stepping out to view the 'official' installations around the city, and then headed back to the loft for more laughs and decided it was high time to 'become the art!' So, naturally, we started dancing.. In front of the projector, where else! Do I hear a Shadow puppet installation idea for next year!?
Now, Here is the final animation we projected... you'll get the gist.

About Us

iDEA Ghetto - A gathering of friends who are creative and want to learn to think in innovative new ways. We share cross-disciplinary ideas, explore new technologies and media, showcase creativity and incubate the next generation of ideas at the intersection of technology and culture. We are a core group of 3 individuals who bring in people to help develop ideas and retrain our brains to think and innovate.  We are interested in art, music, technology, science and written/spoken word.



Our Mission
“To inspire, break the mold, and maybe change a little piece of the world (and ourselves) for the better along the way. Idea Ghetto is a forum to bring people together, to promote wonder, incite creativity and spark innovation across disciplines."

Idea Ghetto....da-boys..

Idea Ghetto:  started as a kernel of an idea in the summer of 2011 by the 3 wackjobs in the picture above.  Brian, Wade and Dennis.  Although they can't remember the first couple of meetings, they decided they better start blogging so that they could have a record of what Idea Ghetto about to do...so fasten your seatbelts boys and girls...this promises to be a bumpy ride!   we are developing our mission statement as both IDEA GHETTO and the founders mature....enjoy....