SEE AND BE ZINE...

by Rufus Spaulding, Cub Reporter:

If you find yourselves ambling aimlessly along Queen Street West this coming Sunday, and find that you are five dollars too rich, then why not use said five bucks to checkout Hotel Canzine at the Gladstone Hotel?

(poster by Ethan Rilly)

If you venture upstairs -- and you may as well -- you'll find the fine folks from City of Craft have transformed a run-of-the-mill hotel suite into what insiders are calling the City of Craft General Store. This store within a zine fair within a boutique hotel will feature among its many goodies for sale, things we make. Things like our ever-popular hand-made greeting cards.

(Exhibit A)

Furthermore, Aitor has agreed to show up and scribble out a limit number of his every-bit-as-popular Unflattering Portraits. If this strikes you as a cool thing to do, we suggest securing and appointment.

(Exhibit B)

UNFLATTERING CANZINE
Sunday Movember 1
2:pm - Grant Hallas
3:pm - Ewan Williamson
4:pm - Donnie T. + Mary M.
5:pm - " " " "

To book an appointment, simply click on the comments section at the end of this posting and claim any hour that isn't already claimed. Portraits take about thirty to forty minutes per person (couples, oddly enough, count as two persons) and are done by donation. Pay what you think it's worth.

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TIGHT ARSENAL...

by Heywood McGillycuddy, Chairman:
Shooting for the Company's new movie is slated to begin shortly, and our members have been spending every spare moment at the Bunker and Clubhouse, studying and conducting workshops in a concerted effort to hone their filmmaking skills. This is the Company's first foray into analogue film in a long time.

(photo by Reverend Aitor)

It's been several years since T-Bone and Cotton had their Super 8 equipment stolen at gunpoint one shitty night in Tangier. Since then, our members have grown shamefully accustomed to the much more forgiving medium that is video -- what with its auto focus, instant playback, limitless shooting ratios, and the ability to fix things up in post-production. Mistakes made on video are relatively inexpensive compared to mistakes on film. The latter is far more costly and fragile a commodity, requiring more care and forethought than we'd been investing in our quick and dirty video productions.

The Company's amassed collection of 16mm cameras

And so, our members are putting their all into mastering the new old hardware before shooting begins next week. Our Minister of Acquisitions has outdone herself yet again, almost singlehandedly building the Company's motley collection of donated, borrowed, purchased and otherwise procured equipment into an arsenal to behold.

* * *

A BUNKER CROP...

by Erkuden Sakana, Company Secretary:
A number of things have transpired since the posting of the last Meeting Minutes; some of it worth mentioning.

"And So To Bed" -- Just one of this week's Inductees
by the Misanthrope Specialty Co.

One such happy development has been the gradual return of most of the quarantined members' health. Fevers have subsided, headaches dissipated, lungs cleared and mucus membranes exsiccated. No longer a threat to the public health, these former vomiting retches now walk among you as free men and women once more.

An opening of previously initiated work at last night's congregation proved the recuperated members' time locked away in the Bunker was not spent idly.

Rufus demonstrates that it wasn't all been germs and pigs at the Bunker
(photo by Lydia Caulpepper)

The Bunker, unlike Headquarters or the Clubhouse, respectively, is furnished with neither an internet connection nor television. This left the infirm with little to do between naps other than draw and has subsequently resulted in an impressive stack of completed drawings submissions for their colleagues to elaborate upon.

* * *

TOMO ARIGATO MONSIEUR COURTEMANCHE...

by Erkuden Sakana, Company Secretary:
The Misanthrope Specialty Company has recently made a number of significant acquisitions in Lower Canada; not the least of which is a new place for members to lay their hats and friends when in Montréal.

photo by Reverend Aitor

The new Company branch, overlooking scenic Parc Lafontaine has been tentatively been dubbed "Hindquarters" by the Headquarters staff. Though its christening won't be put to a vote until Sunday's congregation, unofficial consensus indicates the moniker will in all likelihood become official.

* * *

Another interesting addition to the Company assets comes in the form of a most extravagant. housewarming gift from recent ally, Michel Courtemanche.

New additions to the family (photos by Heywood McGillicuddy)

While not quite as advanced as Courtemanche's own Hawk robot butler, having one's coffee brought in via vintage Omnibots does a lot to console one after getting a glimpse of what luxuries one is missing when choosing the life of a cash-strapped Toronto artists over that of a French-Canadian entertainer.

* * *

CANADIAN MISGIVINGS...

by Heywood McGuillicuddy, Chairman:
It is Thanksgiving week-end here in Canada, and so there was no Sunday Service to report about.

(photo by Reverend Aitor)
* * *

Should anyone find themselves wondering the streets of Montréal tonight, ungrateful and without any kin with whom to endure yet another tedious turkey dinner, we welcome you with open legs to our annual Thanks For Nothing potlatch feast.

* * *

LEASE LIKELY TO SUCEED...

by Tallulah Lastname, Interim Secretary:
We enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly in Mount Royal, that most of us extended our stay, wearing out welcomes on sofas all across the Plateau.

Our reluctance to leave town left us wishing we'd never lost our Côte-des-Neiges offices to last summer's shit storm and prompted the vote to find a fresh foothold in the City of Saints.

Not ones to waste any time, our fearless Chairman and Impresario have stayed behind and are presently pounding the cobblestone in search of new digs. It's also been decided the new office will be above ground, out of turds' reach.

* * *

LA POUBELLE PROVINCE...

by Tallulah Lastname, Interim Secretary:
Another Puces Pop, another satisfying trip to the City of Saints.

la poutine de La Banquise, c'est la meilleur
(photo by Heywood McGillicuddy)

While this is chiefly a whirlwind business trip, we did manage to partake in some of the revelry Pop Montréal had to offer.

As is usually the case when carousing here, much of Saturday night was spent elbowing our way up Mont-Royale and down Saint-Laurent, true to the Montréal habit of chasing the rumoured better party. An endeavour made no easier by the fact that none of us are in the habit of sporting cellular telephones. It's asthough every weekend is New Year's Eve here.

"My Stars!" One of this week's inductees.

We did eventually stumble upon Laura Barrett's utterly charming show at Le Cagibi. Miss Barret and her accompanying orchestra managed to delight us all despite the puzzlingly murderous glances of the staff and the venue's strict policy of only selling drinks when accompanied by an overpriced food order. Five bucks for a brownie? Va te faire foutre, connard! It's a good thing they sell beer at the corner store in this town.

Nervertheless: Laura Barret. We recomend her as heartily as one can recommend things to strangers.

* * *

Our new Montréal friend, Michel Courtemanche graciously invited us to hold our Sunday Session at his spacious Mile End studio. Our colleagues still stuck in Toronto overcoming the swine flu were green with envy when we reported that at Monsieur Courtemanche's digs, cocktails are brought in by a robot butler.

Truth be told, it sounds much more exciting than it actually was.

* * *

Not too surprisingly, the themes stirred up by the Company's run-in with pig sickness still linger in much of this week's output. Not just in the pieces we brought along to finish, initiated by those still confined to the bunker, but in many new pieces begun this week.

(photo by Lydia Caulpepper)

Perhaps we, not unlike Picasso, we are going through our "Flu Period." I suspect this phase might stick around atleast as long as the virus does.

* * *

CAMERAS IN ARMS...

by Erkuden Sakana, Company Secretary:
Headquarters has just received word of a most generous surprise, courtesy of our Hollywoodland benefactor.

For those of you not currently subscribed to the Misanthrope Specialty Co.'s Epistolary Service, below is a taste of what you're missing. The following is an excerptfrom the e-mail T-Bone sent this evening.

(photo by T-Bone)

"I'm staying in an ugly little place just outside Rolla, Missouri. Hiked into town for a beer and a couple of tins of beans to cook on the hot plate. When I came to in my room I was greeted by two things I knew weren't there before I left. The ominous stink of fresh bug poison and an equally ominous cardboard box placed in the exact center of the room.

(photo by T-Bone)

"I sat on the lumpy bed for what must've been hours. A tin of beans in my hand, breathing in the insecticide fumes, staring at the plain brown box with no return address or markings of any kind. Ready to smash it into the carpeting at the first sign of sound or movement from within."

And that's all you get from the horse's mouth. Rest assured, the box that had Mr.Bonaparte so perturbed contained not bad news but great news.

(photo by T-Bone)

As it turns out, T-Bone's new friend tracked him down to his motel and had a gift couriered over to further assist the Company in it's motion picture-making endeavors. A vintage Bell and Howell 16mm camera is nothing to sneeze at.

(photo by T-Bone)

The Company wishes to publicly thank Mr. Busey once again for his invaluable allegiance to its cause. Much of what's to come would not be possible without him.

It should also be pointed out that T-Bone would never have gained entrance into Busey's world had it not been for that fateful night that Mr. Van Hest helped him and his comrades interlope their merry way into that L.A. party this past summer. For this he, too, is owed a world of gratitude.

* * *