The Perpetual Motion Roadshow was a project I started four years ago and has since sent a hundred people on tour. Three indie artists, usually strangers, would bring their vaudevillian-inspired variety show acts to seven cities in eight days, sharing costs, crashspaces, and camaraderie. Two circuits, both going to Canada and the US, meant that people could tour each month of the year.
Last month, the final tour took place. To be honest, I expected it to finish years ago after I decided to stop coordinating it, but a succession of previous tourmembers took over the coordinating duties and kept it going for two more years.
While it’s fresh, I figure now’s a good time to compile some of the things it’s taught me.
10. Dependency can be a good thing. (more…)
On March 28th 1957, parliament passed the Canada Council act, making today the Canada Council for the Arts’ 
So I’ve recently been really inspired by a couple of hard SF writers in Toronto, 
Mark Slutsky is an old friend and longtime collaborator — we’ve written 
Four pages of our forthcoming graphic novel Therefore Repent! were published in the winter issue of 
On the day I met Helen and Paul, we had just made the long train trip from Montreal to Halifax and I was trying to decide between showering and eating before my book launch — I figured it might be hard to find vegan food in a new city and I didn’t have time for both. Paul, who’d picked us up, ushered us into a cosy kitchen to meet Helen. She offered me some stew, and regretfully — both because I was hungry and because I always felt bad rejecting people’s hospitality — I told her that I was hard to feed: I was vegan.
Asthmatic Kitty, Sufjan Steven’s record label, approached me recently about being a “celebrity judge” for their 
Susan’s birthday is today, and last night she finished off the last academic assignment for her doctorate. That’s only one of the many things she’s pulled off this year — being her husband I might be biased, but I think her 33rd year was pretty amazing.
We wrapped the shoot over a week ago and I’m still reeling with how much fun it was. I’ve been dipping my toe in with making little vids over the past five years, but this gave me the full immersive movie experience. I found it really interesting work that I’m pretty well suited to — it engages my social, logistical and creative nodes and was actually less stressful than I expected.
I was approached by This Magazine to write something for their current 