Education in the dumps?

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

("Pupitres", 9/07, MTL, by Ez)

A few old class desks in a dumpster. I drove by this sight one sunny morning. Couldn't let it go without reversing and grabbing a pic.

Write on,

Ez

Fall soon...

("Old Snowy Porsche", 2007, by Ezra)

Fall officially starts this Sunday. I thought I'd put things into perspective by sharing this photo I took last winter.

Stay warm. Prep those snowshoes...

Ez

Speed

SPEED
(A poem by Ez, 9/15/07, MTL)

Traffic and truth
You can't rush either
Love and pain
You can't put those off

Life flies at you
In streams unending
And now you look back
And you are right here

Speed is just you
And gently you rise
Take it all slow
For there is no prize

Life is the gift
For there is no prize
Bring it to me
And look in my eyes

Speed is the rush
The river is shy
Bring it to me
And look in my eyes

The Ez of my eye...

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

("Self Portrait in Alexandra's Eye", 9/07, St-Adolphe, QC)

Here's a cool pic I took in the reflection of my girlfriend Alexandra's eye!

No fancy trick photography, just some cropping to get in close into that detail of the photo.

Have a great weekend!

Ez

A fresh drawing...

(Click pic quick for juicy view)

Lonesome Pine

(c. 2002, St. Adolphe, Ezra)

Sometimes a lonesome pine is a good friend.

Ez

NFB CITIZENShift Blog

I've just been informed that I've been featured on the NFB's CITIZENShift Blog.

You can visit the page here.

Have a great weekend wherever you are and whenever you are too, ye timeless Ez Sezzer.

Ez

Think ahead...

(Click notepad page for juicy view)

Statue Montage

(Click pic for juicy view)
("Statue Montage", Barcelona/Chicago, 2006/2004)

A fresh pix-series for you.

Ezra

Radio Centre-Ville Interview

I was featured this past Saturday in a 25 minute interview on Radio Centre-Ville (102.3FM) in Montreal. The interview was conducted by Leslie Lutsky for his show Jewish Digest.

The interview is about my documentary films and my most recent one, Posthumous Pickle Party about Simcha's Grocery on St-Laurent.

Download the full interview as a podcast here.

Stay tuned for a Posthumous Pickle Party TV date and the official DVD release announcement...

Ez

Bike On

("Red Bike", 1999, MTL, Ezra S.)

I hope everyone's summer is zipping along.

Much love to all,

Ez

Condiments

(Click image for juicy view.)
("All Dressed and Nowhere To Go", 5/06, Toronto)

Ez Sez loves to salute the less celebrated things in life. Today, we pay tribute to condiments.

Hug a ketchup bottle today.

Do laundry tomorrow.

Ez

New Josh Ritter Pre-Release Single!

This was WAY too good to keep to myself.

Courtesy of the discerning ears here at Ez Sez, enjoy a free streaming sample of a brand new track from the soon-to-be-released and soon-to-be-raved-about CD by Josh Ritter called The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Sony/BMG, coming Aug. 21st).

Click here to hear the exhilarating new classic he whipped up called "To The Dogs Or Whoever".

Read Amazon's glowing review of the upcoming CD here. Serious raves for Josh to whom I bring hot Montreal bagels to backstage every time he plays in Montreal. Hopefully he'll be back in town soon... there's a fresh batch ready on St-Viateur according to my sources.

Bon weekend! Bon 2-post-EzSez-kinda-day too! (See the EzQuote below for today's earlier post).

OK, go enjoy the Josh Ritter song already... No sense putting this off any longer...

Ez

UPDATE: Here's a live music video for the song!

Kim Beggs - A Taste of Yukon in Montreal

(Kim Beggs "Singing With Dog", by Karen Loeb)

The sweet-voiced wonder named Kim Beggs pulled in to Shaika Café in NDG last night to play a country-folk set that pretty much melted my heart with northern twang and near-arctic soul.

Kim's from Whitehorse, Yukon, and I first heard her on Michael Enright's The Sunday Edition CBC radio show. He raved about her and then played a song called "Lips Stained Red With Wine" (listen) that captivated me something fierce. So, when the song ended I wrote the Quebec-born, Toronto-raised, Yukon-fortified Beggs an email and told her how great her song was. Later in the day she wrote back thanking me and telling me she'd love to someday play Montreal...

So I hooked her up with a gig at Shaika (thanks to booker and friend Jenny M.) and the day arrived yesterday.

(Kim and Ez, by Alexandra Yanofsky, 8/1/07)

Thanks to all who attended the show! Thanks to Kim who thanked me on stage for hooking her up with Shaika Café. Glad you were able to spend time with us here in Montreal, Kim. A total treat.

Ez

Listen to Kim's 1st CD here.
Listen to her 2nd CD here.
Visit her official web site here.

Ez Sez: If you're gonna sell out... at least be hempy about it!

(Ezra holding Hemp Bliss hempmilk at Pete's Frootique in Halifax, 7/2007, Photo by Alexandra Yanofsky)

Bob Dylan said if he ever advertised for anything it would be for 'ladies undergarments'. 39 years later his music was used for a Victoria's Secret TV ad in which he even appeared personally. People blamed him for selling out. At least he kept his word.

Good news, Ez Sez friends...

I am now sponsored by Manitoba Harvest Hemp Seeds & Oils to be an official spokesperson for their company and products.

Yes, like Bobby, Ez has now sold out too.

(The way I see it... better to do so for a company you love, which makes products you love made from a plant you love than to do so for just any company.)


I'd been eating Manitoba Harvest's tasty hemp food products for years and then one day I noticed a link on their web site featuring a number of "Hemp-Fuelled Athletes", athletes eating hemp foods for their health. On a whim, I contacted the company and asked them if they'd ever entertain the idea of a "Hemp-Fuelled Filmmaker". They loved the idea and signed me up!

As the company's first Hemp-Fuelled Filmmaker (and likely the world's first too), I'll be eating lots of hemp, talking it up (as I've always done) to friends and family and even making the odd appearance at company events here and there.

(Hemp growing to 15-20 feet tall in a Canadian field)

The reason I'm such a fan of hemp (I eat it every day, wear almost exclusively hemp clothes, use many hemp oil based beauty products and have my business cards printed on hemp paper) is because hemp is simply the most versatile naturally-grown material you're ever likely to find. Thank you Mother Nature for this.


Hemp, the non-psychoactive version of marijuana, has been used by mankind for thousands of years, is grown pesticide-free (compare that to cotton crops which use between 25-50% of all pesticides used in the USA), its fibres are longer and stronger than any other naturally-grown fibre and it can be used from everything from food to fuel to paper to plastic (yes, hemp plastic now exists) to car parts to fabric to beauty products and on and on.


The U.S. government, which banned it during the reefer madness scare in the 1930s, even ran a Hemp For Victory campaign during the Second World War and used massive amounts of hemp fabric and ropes for uniforms and ships.

The three founders of Manitoba Harvest (a company co-owned by the farmers who grow the seeds for the company's products) were actually the spearheaders of the push to get the Government of Canada to reinstate hemp as a legal crop in 1998. Hemp is now perfectly legal to grow, eat and use in Canada even though our friends in the States still cannot grow it legally to this day.

I'm extremely proud to now be representing these delicious and nutritious products from a company I really believe in.

Look for them at your local health food store and at other fine stores in your neighbourhood or order them online at the Manitoba Harvest web site.

All my best to you all. In health and hempiness!

Ez

P.S. In case you were wondering... Ez Eats: Hempmilk in his breakfast cereal, hemp seeds on salads and sandwiches, a tablespoon of hemp oil in his OJ and yes, hemp seed butter on his toasted bagels. He loves the high protein it offers (higher by mass than beef, fish or eggs), the smooth skin it gives him and the omega essential fatty acid he and every other human needs to survive. He loves the fresh, nutty taste too!

Read about Ez in the latest Manitoba Harvest Newsletter
Read Ez's Hemp Facts
Read about Ezra's Hemp For The Homeless project
Take a tour of a real hemp field!

(Hemp cookies with Manitoba Harvest hemp seeds distributed to homeless shelters and homeless individuals as part of the Hemp For The Homeless initiative in 2007)

Ezra interviewed on CJAD - Now online

On Tuesday, July 24th, I was a guest on Peter Anthony Holder's radio show Holder Tonight on Montreal's CJAD 800AM.

On the show I talked about my latest projects, my career, influences and lots of other cool things.

Here's the link to listen to the full 25 minute interview. Enjoy!

Ez

ArtPad!

My scanner's out on loan so I'm not able to scan any pix from my collection. (You may have noticed the dearth of pix at EzSez recently...)

So, I thought to myself: "There should be a place online, like a sandbox, where people can go make drawings and then send them to friends."

So I Googled "online drawing" and behold...

http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?jluxs7lh3y0

Visit the above ArtPad link to watch the EzSez.com drawing I made come to life in an animated movie!!! It's pretty cool, I must say. (You can even adjust the speed by dragging the fast/slow slider once there.)

Thanks, ArtPad! Thanks, Google!

Thanks unto you for visiting EzSez again,

Ez

P.S. scanner coming home soon in case you're not a fan of online painting animations.

Hello - Test

This is a test of the Ez Sez Blog.

If you are able to read this you are able to read this.

That concludes the test of this system.

Regular Ez Sez programming resumes tomorrow or so.

Ez

Thank You

Simple note to say thanks for dropping by.

Today will be a good day at least in many ways, if not all.

Ez

Rusty gears

(click for juicy view)
("Rusty Gears", 7/07, Halifax)

Ez Sez: Givin' you the gears since 2006

Mirror ball

("Mirror Ball", Halifax, 7/07)

A shot from my recent trip to Halifax. What a place!

Ez

I know it's summer but...

(6/7/07, MTL, Ezra S.)

I know it's already summer but I couldn't let this one get away without sharing it here with you, dear Ez Sez reader.

Ez

Earthly Time

This poem was inspired by the birth of Elan Kunin and Lisa Rubin's daughter last night. I wrote it after getting the call from an ecstatic Elan at the hospital.

Ez Sez: Happy 'Jackpot Day'*

*I call today Jackpot Day cuz it's 7/7/7. Hope you have a great one.

Ez

Canadian Jewish News Article

(Click for full size article)

A very nice article about me, my projects and my career just appeared in this week's Canadian Jewish News.

Thanks to the article's author Heather Solomon for calling the Ez Sez site an "endlessly fascinating blog".

Enjoy the article!

Ez

Happy travels

(Click image for juicy view)
(Photos from the series "Wing Shots" and "Shoes On A Wire")

Dear Ez Sez Reader,

Are you off on a trip soon? Wishing you a safe one and a fun one.

Summer best from Ez Sez to you. Thanks for checking back in whether you're at home, work, or at the beach.

Lots more on tap for you here at the site. Drop in again whenever you like.

Ez

Hummingbird

(Hummingbird photo by Ez)

HUMMINGBIRD
(by Zsolty diPietro Mbibmbobm-Yaoushzski)

Not a drumming bird
Not a strumming bird
The summer heard...
A hummingbird