Gadzooks! episode seven

This is a person in your neighbourhood....

THIS IS ROWENA SANTOS (with her new little kitten Minnesing, a.k.a. Neuman)

Rowena comes to us from the western most tip of the No Fly Zone, pushing to the boundaries of Roncesvalles . When we asked her where she grew up, her response was simple. “I haven't,” she said. “And I don't intend to either.”

We then asked her what keeps her busy, and she throws us a casual “Oh . . . I know . . . here's one thing that always keeps me busy . . . Laughing . . . I'm always freaking laughing.”

Born in Toronto Rowena always has a smile for you and is easy going, going, gone… she is, simply put, one of the busiest people we know in the No Fly Zone. She says what keeps her busiest is “not wasting time. The thing is that I see everything as an opportunity for something. It probably pisses off a lot of the people that I double-book with.”

Her 9-5er is working at Imagine Canada helping companies be better corporate citizens, as well as working with nonprofits to find more opportunities and share ideas. As a bit of an exercise buff, she cycles to and from work through the No Fly Zone and says “it satisfies my craving to smell smog . . . I am, after all, a nonsmoker.” She also loves taking her bike up the road to ride the trails in Algonquin Park and even named her new kitten Minnesing after her favourite trail. She also does a fair amount of running, but it has been suggested that she only does it because of the highly reflective outfits and gear.

She says she loves “contributing to the drama of my huge Filipino family.” Which is probably the inspiration and motivation behind her black belt in Muay Thai, and her newest hobby tae kwon do, she said that she broke a board with her bare foot for the first time just last week… so behave.

Rowena feels passionate about directly contributing to building a strong community and volunteers as a tutor for the kids of St. Chris' (Parkdale) after-school program and says, “These kids teach me things I never knew before.” She also volunteers as a Board member for Native Women's Resource Centre and Centre for Global Research and Education on the Environment and Health.

Watch for Rowena as she will be teaching people how to Belly Dance in November in the Roncey area at Bloor Street Boxing Gym.

At least boxing and belly begin with the same letter…

Comedy for fun...

The very first Toronto sketch comedy festival is gearing up to take on the city. ...more

Funny...

One of the funniest guys not on television actually works in television ... more

Hilarious House of Frightenstein...

Sitting in front of a 17-inch Zenith colour set letting your Froot Loops get soggy and your bum get numb is something you treasure now and can never reproduce. Even if you insist on trying ... more

Call for Gadzooks! Writers...

We are currently looking for additional writers & tidbits for our weekly publication. If you think that you have a story that would suit our mandate of ART + NO FLY ZONE please contact our editor. We'd love to hear from you. No, really we would! Just as a little guideline though, because we're a volunteer outfit here we like to have stories in by Monday evenings the week of publication.

Or, if you'd like to put someone's name forward as a "Person in your Neighbourhood", please by all means do so. We love meeting new people. (Unless they are mean.)

Friday, October 28 Rock or Rollers Eden Ants rock out again with Les Six at the Silver Dollar, 486 Spadina Ave , -at- 11pm , for a full-on Halloween Rock 'n' Roll Extravaganza… please join them! To know more edenants.com

Saturday Oct 29 - PANIC - Halloween Retro Party -at- Funhaus - 526 Queen St West 10pm until 4am - Free Before 11pm - $5 after. Mainroom: DJ Lazarus playing the coolest and most haunting retro. Backroom: Retro Goth & Industrial with Human Clone. The club thinks this will easily be Queen Street's best Halloween Party with over 500 retro loving freaks. Costume Contest for best retro costumes with Cash Prizes. djlazarus.com

Sunday, October 30 the Bloor Cinema is celebrating its centenary. The Bloor is throwing a party starting at 4:30 on Sunday. Admission is free. Guests will see a special screening of a documentary short film about the theatre's history, and of course there will cake. Popcorn and other snacks will be sold for the symbolic price of 100 cents each (that's $1 for those of you that are numerically challenged).

Also on Sunday, October 30 broken pencil magazine presents Canzine , Canada 's largest ‘zine fair and festival of alternative culture, at the Gladstone Hotel 1214 Queen St. West (Queen just East of Dufferin). Over 150 ‘zines from across Canada on display and for sale. Just in time for Halloween, a series of crazed performances that showcase the indie-led revival of burlesque, the cover story of the 10th anniversary Fall issue of Broken Pencil launching at Canzine, as well as new performances all day every hour on the hour including Naked Marvin, Quadriplegic 12, Becky Johnston, and Fran Freeman. Hosted by Friendly Rich, Broken Pencil's indie artist in residence and the mastermind behind the Brampton indie Arts Festival.

Monday, October 31 Frightenstein Hallowe'en! ”This Frightenstein Fiend Club Hallowe'en Party is gonna be great! I originally booked this at the Bloor Cinema as a Frightenstein Marathon. However, the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to do it there. As a Frightenstein Fiend, I'd rather be hanging out at a bar talking to my fellow Fiends, drinking beer, and watching the show in a more intimate venue. Plus, $1300 for the Bloor is just too expensive, don't you think? I wanted to make it more of a party, less of a screening, and not have to worry about stupid things like making my $1300 back. So here it is - the first ever Frightenstein Fiend Club Hallowe'en Party!”. Rancho Relaxo 300 College -at- Spadina Doors open at 9 pm sharp! (Costumes strongly encouraged - there will be ghoulish prizes a-plenty!)

The full title of the painting which inspired our magazine title is Homo sapiens, Lepidium sativum and Calliphora vomitoria - a wise man, some cress, and a bluebottle. It is the work of British artist Stuart Pearson Wright.

"At the end of the first sitting, the Prince inspected the work and exclaimed 'godzooks' or 'godzounds', the artist was too alarmed to remember which."