Tough Economic Times! Our New Address! The Love Letter Show! And More!!! It’s [February] Of the Month

[1] We Have A New Address
Hello people who send us creepy letters and promotional companies that send us crappy CDs. Over the holidays ION has relocated to a lovely new office in a charmingly cruddy area of town. Our new address is Suite 303, 505 Hamilton Street. Vancouver, BC V6B 2R1. Update your mailing list and send us office-warming gifts. Nothing under $100 in value please.

[2] Tough Economic Times Tips
Have you heard the economy is in the shitter? It is apparently. 2009 is all about saving money wherever you can. Every month we’ll give you some great and fashionable ways to save money as you’re probably about to lose your job. Our first tip of 2009 is to rock a flask of delicious liquor with you wherever you go. Your friends may mock you hitting a flask but they’ll have one the following week because not only is it an awesome look, this will help you save money in two ways. Firstly, you’ll be spending less money on booze. Secondly, it will keep you out of nightclubs that charge the most for alcohol when your flask is empty because they have metal detectors. You could always use a leather tear-shaped bota bag, but those are tough to hide in your pocket.

[3] GAME—Prince of Persia
The Prince is back. Rich with gold and riding a donkey in the desert, a sandstorm blows him into a canyon. There he unwittingly stumbles into a battle of good versus evil where he has to heal a tree of life. Didn’t all this happen on a Peter Gabriel album? Jump, hop, climb, swing and stab your way through exquisite landscapes in a massive open world. The Prince has a new look this time round as the game uses a fun new illustrative art style. He also has a new magical girlfriend named Elika who saves your ass with magic when your ass inevitably falls into a pit. One of the best games of 2008.

[4] ART SHOW—The Love Letters Show
There are going to be a lot of pissed-off former lovers come this February, The Love Letters Show will be presented by grace-gallery at 1898 Main street in Vancouver in conjunction with Queen & Shaw, a newly opened gallery in Toronto at 107 Shaw Street. The show will consist of love letters that have been squirreled away in shoe boxes for years. The end result of this show will likely be you drunkenly looking up all your exes on Facebook and friending them. Don’t do it!
www.grace-gallery.com
www.queenandshaw.com

[5] DVD—Sukiyaki Western Django
Takashi Miike is insane. Not just for the content of his films and that he never takes off his sunglasses, but also for the ridiculous rate at which he cranks them. By the time you’ve finished reading this magazine, Miike will have already made three new movies. Sukiyaki is Miike’s take on the Spaghetti Western genre (however they’re called Macaroni Westerns in Japan, seriously). Watch a bunch of way too pretty Japanese cowboys who don’t speak English attempt to deliver all their lines in English between over-the-top sword and gunplay. There’s even a fun cameo from Quentin Tarantino. If you’re a real keener, you should rent the original Django before viewing. Watch out for the surprise in the coffin.

[6] DVD—Man On Wire
Impossible, entirely. Inspiring, without a doubt. 2008 documentary Man on the Wire directed by James Marsh outlines the artistic display of high wire rope walker Philippe Petit’s passionate dream to walk on a high-wire strung between the two World Trade center towers. Filled with the gumption of a criminal about to perform a legendary bank heist, Petit gathers together a team of friends, family and misfits that are inspired by the challenge. Through various successful attempts at rigging high wires to structures around the world and meticulous observation of the WTC inside and out, the team perfects the strategy of their ultimate day of imaginative fruition. Witnessed by unsuspecting bystanders in the WTC and on the busy morning streets of NYC on August 7, 1974, this single act of defiance and art changed lives around the world for planting the seed that once in awhile, the impossible can happen.

[7] PET—Water He will steal your soul, your heart and your ankles all in one fell swoop. This kitten is a relentless snacker and attacker, yet was caught here in a vulnerable act of relaxation. Perhaps it’s because his name is Water (the vet thinks it is Walter, which is more ridiculous) or perhaps it’s because three seconds after this picture was taken he threw an upside down peace sign at the camera. Whatever it may be, this kitty rocks. We smell a LOLcat post in the near future for this frisky feline. Send pictures of your cute critters to pet@ionmagazine.ca to have them immortalized in print.

[8] I Am Unlimited Marc Ecko is at the forefront of promoting soical activism through the arts. The company is utilizing Marc Ecko Watches as a platform to showcase individuals and projects from around the world that are personally changing the lives of global communities. These individuals will be highlighted in 30- second viral commercials with the tagline “I AM UNLIMITED.” Ecko distributors will be encouraged to highlight activists and artists from their areas for future “I AM UNLIMITED” video spots. The entirety of these video presentations will be shown in Spain in 2009. The first installment in the series features the Canadian social activist Gavin Sheppard and his organization The Remix Project, which encourages youths to get involved in urban arts.
www.marceckotime.ca
www.theremixproject.blogspot.com