Saturday at TCAF 2012

_{TCAF display at the main entrance of the Toronto Reference Library.
I know. I'm great at taking pictures.}

This year's Toronto Comics Art Festival was great. (I use "was" because I won't be going to the second day, which is today.) When I entered the building yesterday, I realized I may never get used to the overwhelming feeling of tables, people, and art. The whole event gave me a déjà vu feeling, but it still felt comforting and somewhat new.

_{TCAF Artwork hanging near the entrance.}

I arrived at the library around 10:15 AM and took time to check out a few booths. I recognized some of the people and tables from last year. The building was pretty busy at the time already, and there was a line-up to get into the showroom on the second floor. As expected, areas around the table areas became more crowded in a few hours.

_{Saturday around 11 AM on the main floor of TCAF 2012}

_{First floor, 1 PM}

I didn't go to any of the sub-events like signings and workshops. My goal was to buy books. I made a list and I was determined to find everything listed on it! It didn't happen though... not everything on my list was there, but I was happy with what I had at the end of the day nonetheless. *-*

There were more comics that I wanted to get--they looked interesting inside and out--but they will have to wait until I have the resources to get them. Argh! There are too many good stories to get into! Sometimes I find it hard to resist buying them all.

_{Some of the stuff I brought home.}

For me, the most exciting part of the event was getting a copy of Order of Tales by Evan Dahm and getting him to draw himself again.

I'll be needing a 2013 version.

October 23: Canzine Toronto

My friend Siena introduced me to Canzine Toronto by Broken Pencil and asked if I wanted to table with her. Wanting to experience the excitement of a zine fair for years, I answered yes. Siena named our group "Amazingly Good-Looking Cat" and thus began our first experience with a zine fair.

After weeks of preparation, the day finally arrived. The building Canzine was held at looked like a nicely renovated old church. We set up our table in the morning and tended to the table throughout the day. There were three main rooms throughout the building filled with artists at their table and a food bar in the basement.

I noticed I was scaring some people away with my stares, so I asked Siena to hold the front-lines. Siena, you're such an adorable sweetie.

There were many different styles of art from illustrations to crafts and more. I was impressed by the number of people tabling and their artworks too--most looked like they were in their late teens to early thirties (ah, youth). It was a grand mash of styles and colours: simply inspiring.

There were contests and presentations held throughout the day, but I feel like checking them out. I spent most of my time daydreaming and staring into space at the table.

At the end of the day, we quickly packed up our things, put away our chairs, and left. There were still a lot of people shuffling about the building at the time.

Will I ever attend another zine fair? We'll see, we'll see.

Night it up!

     Aside from all the east Asians present, you know you're at an East Asian festival when you walk into a parking lot with tents set up and the strong scent of stinky tofu. Like the Taste of Asia Festival that was held at Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue, Night it up! is an annual East Asian festival where people can have a taste of Asian street food. There are also functions like basketball tournaments and music concerts at these events.

This year, Night it up! was held at the Markham Civic Centre at Highway 7 and Warden Avenue on July 15th and 16th. They closed the parking lot to the civic centre, so people had to park their vehicles at the nearby plaza and neighborhoods.

I visited the festival yesterday around 6 PM and was surprised to see the many lonely finished pineapple drinks sitting around the place. There was even a pokémon card lying in a flower bed!





There were mostly young Asian couples at the time I arrived, but more families walked onto the festival grounds later in the night.

A highlight of my experience at Night it up! was getting to see a bit of smoke coming out of a metal garbage bin. I've seen a wooden garbage can on fire at a cemetery before, but not at a festival. I alerted the fire and emergency services booth and learned that we're suppose to call 9-1-1 in situations where smoke is coming out of a garbage bin. The burned item was taken care of and I continued with my journey around the festival grounds.

What I disliked about the festival was all the garbage people left lying around and the ground becoming blackened. It looked like people treated flower beds as garbage beds and the ground around the tents turned from a light gray to smokey dark gray. Since most of the people who were at the festival were East Asian, I have to say... gosh, are the majority of East Asians who visited the festival ever so filthy.


There was an area where people left paintings. It was refreshing, but I couldn't help noticing the two or three paintings of sad or frustrated looking black children with a desert-like background. I felt a great sense of sadness and disappointment while looking at those two or three paintings. I mean, they're great paintings (though the brush work was a bit sloppy in my opinion) that seem to promote awareness of famine experienced by black people in Africa (?), but does it target the real issue? I mean the real issue where climate change has a direct effect with famine and poverty around the world, but many of the booths at the festival are releasing clouds of C02 (and other compounds) into the air, most people are driving to the festival, and a lot of food is being wasted in the garbage bins and the ground. ... I guess it does target the issue in a way.

Here's one of the sillier paintings displayed.


I'm still trying to decipher its meaning...

In conclusion, Night it up! was stinky tofu. Seriously, I'm still trying to get the smell of stinky tofu off of me.



Images can be found in the Asian Festivals
around Toronto photo album:

Asian Festivals around Toronto

Canada Day

I usually stay at home on Canada Day (July 1^st), but this year a group of friends and I were interested in the Guinness World Record layer cake challenge at a festival that was held at Harbourfront Centre.

_{The cake in the afternoon}
We took the public transit to Harbourfront and noticed that there were a lot of people out on Canada day in downtown Toronto. Some of the information booths at Harbourfront were giving away free Canada flag pins and paper flags, so we grabbed a few of those. After checking out the cake's progress, we walked around the area for a few hours.



Later in the day we went back to see the cake. Some of it was sprawled on the floor while the rest of it was being given out for free. We grabbed a small piece of the cake and ate a bit of it. It didn't taste good: there was no taste!



We were curious as to whether they broke a record or not. According to an article on the festival's website, they did.

Saturday at TCAF 2011

I think I understand what a comic festival is. It's an overwhelmingly large art market with not only artwork, but also a lot of comics, meeting with comic artists, and panels. The biggest difference I noticed between TCAF and an anime convention is that less than 5% of the attendants were cosplaying.

When I entered the Toronto Reference Library to check out the Toronto Comics Art Festival, I was overwhelmed by the number of tables, people, and space. There were so many interesting tables set up, I didn't know where to start looking at stuff. There were two floors of tables too! (It didn't take up the whole library floor, but the atrium and a large open hall.) I've been to the Toronto Reference Library before, but construction and the mass amount of people in it make it look so much smaller and crowded. It was almost as crowded as the dealer's room at anime conventions later in the afternoon.

_{Saturday noon @ Floor 1 of TCAF 2011}
There were mostly North American and Internet-linked comics found at TCAF. Many of the artists I met traveled to Toronto just for TCAF. There were people from the U.S. and even the United Kingdom!

What surprised me was that I actually bought a lot more goods at the festival than I ever have at an anime convention. There was a great variety of comics and art styles in from different cultures. I encountered a few French comic books that I've always thought I'd never see in real life unless I traveled or ordered them off the Internet.

_{What I brought home. It's not much, but I am very happy with them.}
Conclusion: must go to the next TCAF and ohmygosh I shook hands with Usamaru Furuya! I think his wife and child were there too because a gorgeous Asian lady with a baby hanging by her chest was recording him signing books for his fans with a video camcorder. :')

The Toronto Comics Art Festival 2011

Okay, so TCAF. My friend Lorena invited me to the event, but I have never been to it before. I mean--I've heard of it a few times, but I never remembered to go. I am getting most of my information from their website and so far, the event sounds exciting.

I've tagged this event as a convention, but apparently the Toronto Comics Art Festival is not a convention. According to the website, it is a festival and is unconventional. I will have to experience the event to understand the whole meaning behind that.

TCAF will be held at:

the Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada

May 7th to 8th, 2011

Admission is free.

There will be guests from a variety of comic book genres and styles, including Natsume Ono (the artist behind the manga Ristorante Paradiso) and Darwyn Cooke (darwyncooke.blogspot.com). Sweet, right?

I'm really looking forward to this event.

Website: http://torontocomics.com


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