‘about me’ Category

  1. National Treasure: Nicolas Cage

    July 1, 2016 by lindsay

    IMG_6138In October 2015 my first book came out. The book is about Nicolas Cage and it was published by ECW Press’ Pop Classics series. National Treasure: Nicolas Cage is my investigation into why people like me think Nicolas Cage is the best actor of our time while others think he’s the worst, or that the only way to appreciate him is ironically. I examine his acting style, his choice of roles and his memedom to come to the conclusion that he is an experimental actor in the shape of a Hollywood star.

    Since the release of the book I’ve been honoured to be included in the National Post‘s 2015 top 99 books of the year list (I’m number 86), and to be awarded the gold medal in the Pop Culture category at the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

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    When the book was coming out I was contacted by VICE.com deputy editor Chris Bilton and we met up to talk about our mutual obsession with Nicolas Cage. The result was a short segment for Daily VICE and an interview for VICE.com in which Bilton called me a “Nicolas Cage expert”:

     I was stoked to find out that the latest edition to ECW’s “Pop Classics” series (which already features the impressively argued It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls) was a book about Cage called National Treasure: Nicolas Cage. In the book-length essay, fellow traveller (and fellow Torontonian) Lindsay Gibb endured around 70 of his films to lay out an extended defence of Cage’s brilliance, explaining that he’s essentially an experimental actor, who treats all of his roles—even ones in generic Hollywood failures—as opportunities to push the boundaries of the art of acting.

    I also spoke with Open Book and Metro book columnist Sue Carter about the making of the book and why I think critics are largely wrong about Nic Cage. From the Metro article:

    In the introduction to the book, Gibb writes, “Having to constantly defend something you like can make you love it more fiercely.” She dismisses critics who have an unwavering bias against Cage and his on-screen antics.

    “There are definitely writers who have a certain take on him — he’s a second-rate actor that’s always going to chew the scenery,” she says. “People have their set opinions, and don’t let his performance influence their opinion. They’ve just decided he’s the worst. And then there are people like me. I’ll always find at least a nugget in his not-so-great films, and see something interesting.”

    Thanks to these articles — as well as inclusions in gift guides on TIFF.net, on Canada AM and Digital Journal — I’ve heard from Nicolas Cage fans from other parts of the world. NicCagepedia (a zine from Madrid) contacted me and conducted an interview for their second issue, and American podcasters Joey Lewandowski and Mike Manzi asked me to join them on a couple of episodes of their show #CageClub, which chronologically went through one Cage movie per episode. (I’m now guesting on their new podcast #KeanuClub which does the same with Keanu Reeves’ films.) 

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    If you’re ever in need a Cage expert, you know where to find me.

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  2. Writerly Blog Tour

    August 28, 2014 by lindsay

    Relevant to my interests.

    Relevant to my interests.

    A lot has happened since the last time I posted. I started working full time at OCAD University, heading up a new e-reserves system integration and cataloguing zines(!!). I left my long-held position at Broken Pencil magazine, which I thought would be a very painful process but was actually quite freeing, creatively. I did a number of other fun projects and events, but the biggest thing has been my book deal with ECW Press. I’ve never written a book before, but this October I’ll be completing the first draft of a book about Nicolas Cage.

    I’m back at the blog because I’ve been asked to take part in a “blog tour” where writers share their projects and process with each others’ audiences. Thanks to Suzanne Alyssa Andrew — who I recently reconnected with after working with her at Broken Pencil many years ago — for asking me to join this tour. We recently met up to celebrate and commiserate over the writing process, so it’s fitting that we should share the experience of this blog tour now.

    So here it is, my answers on the Writerly Blog Tour:

    What I’m working on.

    I’m writing my first book; a non-fiction book about the duality of Nicolas Cage. Cage is a divisive actor who audiences seem to love and loathe in almost equal amounts. My book is part of ECW Press’ Pop Classics series which is dedicated to looking closely at elements of pop culture. Other books in the series have and will include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Twin Peaks and the film Showgirls. My book will examine the ways we look at Cage.

    It is at once strange and fitting that I’m now writing a book about Nicolas Cage. I come from a background in writing about film and filmmaking, but I have spent most of my writing career writing about independent arts and culture. So writing about a famous and very mainstream actor like Nicolas Cage is somewhat out of character for me. However, I’ve also been (very publicly) fascinated with Nicolas Cage for years. Since April 2012 (after TIFF’s retrospective of Nicolas Cage’s work ended) I have been running a film club with friends where we watch one Nicolas Cage film each month. Through curating and running this film club I have developed a bit of an obsession with Cage which is reflected online, where my friends have taken to sharing every Nicolas Cage thing they see with me (thank you, it’s helping with my research now!).

    I’m still in the process of completing the first draft, but I’m looking forward to working with my editors Jen Knoch and Crissy Calhoun and seeing what it’s like dissecting Nicolas Cage with editors.

    How does my work differ from others in the genre?

    It depends on what genre you think of. If you think of the recent genre of snarky articles about Nicolas Cage, it will differ by not being snarky. I will still be critical, but I’m not going to take easy (and not particularly thoughtful) stabs at the actor for his choice of roles (though I may make fun of his clothes a bit).

    My contribution to Static Zine.

    My contribution to Static Zine.

    Why do I write what I do?

    I’ve never been able to bring myself to write about things that aren’t my passions. So I’m always carving out ways to write about my interests. That usually leads to very narrow choices of places to publish, but I’m much happier writing about zines and Nicolas Cage than I would be writing about finance or fashion. (See a combination of my key interests pictured to the right.)

    How does my writing process work?

    I usually make a schedule and then end up doing the same thing, which is struggling to focus all day and then writing all night. I can’t write during the day, particularly when there are other people around who I could potentially be talking to rather than writing. I’m a night writer. I get my best work done when the world seems to be asleep, my brain has calmed down for the day and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.

    I’ve also learned that I’m good at writing on planes. I’ve done this once (last year, on my way to China) and the result was this article (which I think turned out pretty good). This worked because there’s really nothing to do other than sleep, read or watch movies (wait, those are all my favourite things to do…). So I guess I was motivated to write by the reward of sleeping, reading or watching a movie when I was done. And it was nice not to just do one of those things for the whole 17 hours on board.

    Next up I’m tagging my awesome, prolific friend Natalie Zina Walschots and the conversation starter, Anna Fitzpatrick. I love and admire their work, so I’m really looking forward to visiting their legs of the “tour.”

    Visit previous tour mates: Rebecca Rosenblum * Julia Zarankin * Maria Meindl * Ayelet Tsabari * Angie Abdou * Kathy Para* Theodora Armstrong * Eufemia Fanetti * Janie Chang * Lorna Suzuki * Barbara Lambert * Matilda Magtree * Alice Zorn * Anita Lahey * Pearl Pirie * Julie Paul *Sarah Mian * Steve McOrmond * Susan Gillis * Jason Heroux * Heidi Reimer * Suzanne Alyssa Andrew

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  3. Freedom to Read Week at Dorothy H. Hoover Library

    February 27, 2013 by lindsay

    In solidarity with this week’s Freedom to Read activities, I helped to create a banned book display at the Ontario College of Art and Design University’s Dorothy H. Hoover Library.

    Inspired by the popular “Blind Date with a Book” concept, we wrapped banned or censored titles in craft paper and wrote the reason it was challenged on the outside. Students can check out a mystery book based on keywords such as “foul language,” “sexually explicit” and “insulting to humans.”

    Students who don’t have time to read a book can still participate through our Censorship in Conversation wall. Along with the books, we also wrapped the pillar behind the display with craft paper so that students can contribute by drawing and writing their thoughts and feelings on Intellectual Freedom.

    Click the images below for a better look at the Banned Book display and the accompanying Censorship and Intellectual Freedom book collection.

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  4. The Zine Fair: A Librarian’s Guide to Independent Press

    October 21, 2012 by lindsay

    Canzine is a large zine fair put on every year by Broken Pencil magazine. This Sunday marks the 17th Canzine in Toronto and the seventh Canzine I have co-programmed.

    In order for librarians to get a first-hand view of what is happening in alternative media and what their users are creating local zine fairs, independent book fairs and comic festivals are great opportunities.

    Tomorrow’s Canzine will feature over 170 zine makers and small presses selling their literary and artistic works. Makers come from across Ontario and up from the States to sell their wares and meet other creators.

    Two recent articles on zines, collecting written ephemera and Canzine were in Metro and Xtra.

    Other upcoming zine and small press fairs include Expozine (November 17 & 18, Montreal), Canzine West (November 17, Vancouver), Buffalo Small Press Book Fair (March, Buffalo) and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (May, Toronto).

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  5. My New Jobs

    August 31, 2012 by lindsay

    This fall I will be starting two new jobs that combine my interests in art, comics and libraries.

    First, I am very excited to be starting a job at The Beguiling and Little Island Comics as a Library Services Coordinator. The Beguiling is a 25-year-old comic shop in Toronto that focuses on underground and avant-garde work while also carrying a wide variety of superhero, manga and mainstream comics. Its library services department sells comics and graphic novels to libraries and my job will be to manage customer accounts for school and public libraries, advise librarians as to what comics will work for their patrons and be a resource and advocate for comics as a key component of contemporary library collections. Library services is based out of The Beguiling’s kids comic store, Little Island Comics, and there I will also share books with kids and help out with special events such as author in-stores and comic workshops. While I’m already enthusiastic about graphic novels, in this position I will be learning a lot more about kids comics, manga and comic collection development.

    I will also be back at OCADU’s Dorothy H. Hoover Library, helping students to find research materials and, I hope, sharing books and zines with them through the reading club I started last year. OCADU has just joined the Ask a Librarian program, so once a week I will be online answering questions while I help people at the library’s reference desk.

    Alternative media in libraries is one of my main interests. I feel very lucky that through both of these positions I will have the opportunity to share comics, zines and art with librarians, kids and students.

     

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  6. A Library Tourist – the humble beginnings

    August 17, 2012 by lindsay

    In the spring of 2001, I was living in Melbourne, Australia, studying journalism at RMIT University. When my boyfriend (now husband) came to visit me, one of the first places I took him was the State Library of Victoria — a large, stately library across from the university’s campus.

    Within only a few months of living in another country, the library had become a familiar place I liked to visit. Even now it is central to my memories of Melbourne, and not just for its book borrowing, event offering and indoor space providing functions.

    Protest marches were a weekly occurrence amongst the crowd I ran with, and the large lawn outside of the library was a prime location for us to gather and make some announcements before moving along to protest globalization outside of the Nike store (seriously, the Nike protests happened every Friday) or to make posters before we marched all around the city with a police escort to celebrate International Women’s Day.

    According to the history of the library on the library’s website: “When the Library opened in 1856 a picket fence surrounded the lawn… [and] Library visitors entered the grounds through a gate on Swanston Street before climbing the stairs to the wooden front door that is still the main entrance.” In 1939 the fence was removed and the lawn is an open space accessible to all visitors.

    The library covers a whole city block on Swanston Street from Little Lonsdale to La Trobe Streets, and is made up of 23 buildings. When I was there it was neighboured by a large skate park managed by the YMCA. The skate park was another key memory for me because there weren’t very many skate parks back home in Toronto and I was impressed at the large scale of the park and felt it was a symbol that Melbourne was trying to give public space to its youth. Today the skate park is gone and has been replaced by a shopping/apartment complex. The one Australian contact I kept in touch with when I moved back to Canada tells me that the complex is called QV (short for Queen Victoria) because it was formerly the site of the Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital.

    One of the most striking aspects of the library, that still sticks in my mind, was a piece of art on the street out front. The art depicted a corner of a library building sticking out of the sidewalk which I always called “The Sinking Library.” Created by Dutch artist Petrus Spronk and entitled “Architectural Fragment,” the piece was commissioned for the Swanston Street Walk Public Art Project in 1992 and is actually meant to depict the library rising out of the ground, like an unearthed archeological find.

    I suppose I wasn’t really a tourist in Melbourne. I was a newcomer trying to find my bearings in a new city. And the library helped me to feel at home.

     

     

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  7. My Feliciter Debut

    August 2, 2012 by lindsay

    For the past week I have been on a trip through New Brunswick and P.E.I. checking out the beautiful scenery, delicious seafood and various neighbourhood libraries. Upon my return to Toronto I noticed that a digital version of the Canadian Library Association’s Feliciter was released featuring a few articles I wrote during my time as a Student to CLA for the CLA conference in Ottawa this June.

    This is the first electronic-only edition of the magazine. A double page spread of conference attendees in this issue includes a photo of me and two of my fellow Students to CLA (Jessica Thorlakson from the University of Alberta and Kathryn Alexander from Université de Montréal) as well as a great photo of Andrea Siemens (children’s librarian for Cambridge Libraries and Galleries) using puppets to explain why librarian’s values are not outdated. Click here to view the digital edition.

    Stay tuned for a report on my experience as a library tourist in New Brunswick.

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