Qatalyst vs. Catalyst?

So... The "waterloo region" Record and University of Waterloo have come out with a new magazine on UW Innovation and Business Entrepreneurship ...
it's called Catalyst!
Wow!
How "innovative" !

Busy Bees

It's been a crazy couple days.... Starlight on Wed was insane. Congrats Boys! There was a pretty ridiculous afterparty at Qatalyst after the show... It may not have helped that The Dunes announced it in the middle of their set. Oh well. lol. Then on Thursday we had an editorial meeting for May - it's shaping up alright... but i was totally k-o'd.... had pretty much the most useless day ever. Swore i would never drink again... vowed to not stay up past 4 on a weekenight. same old. same old. Then I proceeded to head out to CRASH PARALLEL at Wilf's ... not my kind of tunes, but they are a new Sony BMG band, so Bobby and Eric came down to see the show. ... and of course... i had a beer and broke the first of my many meaningless promises. What did I tell you Cass? Honesty is for suckers. Also met one of the coolest chicks ever... Brigitte. Love her. She's pretty much a highwaisted clone... so the more that I can get of her the better. Saying that... Skeesh and Jogee may be down tonite... YES FRIDAY! Have a good weekend :) H.

scrambled, bacon, brown unbuttered and a coffee

c: "holy longest week ever and it's only tuesday" h: "its wednesday day, cassie" c: "lets go for breakfast now" we just got the proof back (830 am, you come too soon). it looks good. so we just have to resend about half the pages (hey, nobody's perfect) and then we will get it back in our inky paws next week. to celebrate our triumphant completion, we are headed to fredericks for breakfast. i dont actually want to go there, but hilary does, and she wont read this until after we get back, so it will be funny then. highwaisted hates us because we never post pictures so, here is a nice visual for you: that's a bacon and egg bikini. tonight we are going to see this i'll make hilary link to it later, because i can't do it on a mac. does anyone know why? anyways, for those of you too lazy to CTRL C CTRL V, i will tell you what it is. SLOWKING VACUITY AND THE DUNES at starlight in waterloo doors are at 9, and it's the waterloo release of vacuity's new album. you should probably come and have a drink with us. ok, i've got to go eat this bikini off of hilary. ew fuck. i am such a pervert. C.

Joining the CSIS Watch List

Just wanted to let everyone know that the April issue is almost done. Which means that once it's out I'll be going underground to avoid being assassinated by CSIS. Yes, it is THAT controversial. Well, Maybe I am over-reacting....? I guess you'll just have to wait a couple weeks, and then tell me if I'm crazy or not, or you can make me a care-package of canned goods and have it delivered to my secret underground lair. jesus. just as i typed that Cassie put on Beatles. I'm screwed.

Therefore, Harry Potter is Jesus.

Mike says: (11:55:19 AM) you didn't have one toonie or anything cassie says: (11:55:27 AM) no! Mike says: (11:55:34 AM) jesus cass, you're a grown up you can carry some real money as well Mike says: (11:55:46 AM) like how i take the lords name in vain on easter Mike says: (11:55:50 AM) that's the fuckin' tops cassie says: (11:57:17 AM) hahahha yeah that was beautiful. what happened to jesus today? god i should know this. i went to catholic school. is today the day that he came back to life? well.. rose again. i cant believe this conversation... cassie says: (12:00:34 PM) you are obviously researching this Mike says: (12:00:37 PM) yah i think david copperfield and david blain came back in a time machine and rose jesus from the dead and levitated him in the air with their combined magical powers and he ascended to heaven with Europes - The final countdown playing in the back ground Mike says: (12:01:46 PM) like when they wrote the bible they could have made it more believable and left out the part where he floated up to heaven, cause seriously, what is he a fucking wizard Mike says: (12:02:01 PM) does that make harry potter sort of like the bible too cause he was a wizard cassie says: (12:02:14 PM) im putting this on our blog by the way. Mike says: (12:02:45 PM) since when do you have a blog Happy Easter! Caribou was awesome... only caught 4 songs, but it was so much fun. PIPINKOREA.BLOGSPOT.COM the latest post is hilarious. all for now- C.

Studio X III

On Thursday nite, I headed out to Pat Lackenbauer's Studio X Art show at artbar in Centre in the Square. Other than the fact that I -may- have had too much to drink... I think I can speak for everyone that was there and say that it was a great nite. There are pictures (but not on my camera) so I will hunt down one or two today. I think Pat's art is fun and quirky ... and the journals that he publishes are CRAZY. (buy a subscription!) And I think Pat may have sold a few pieces on Thursday - because I was there last nite and a couple of my favs are missing off the walls. haha. You can check out more about Pat here. Highwaisted: here is the view from your door. Thursday nite G also showed up - and after trying to avoid me for the first 25 minutes realized that it was hopeless, so we hung out for a the rest of the nite.. He also ended up being my security team when things got a little sketchy with an unhappy past contributor. jesus. Other cool people that were there on Thursday: Todd Donaldon Guitar Mark Esner on Camera Tom on MC Duties... and pastery alert Bryan, Ali, Deb, Devon, Steph and Beth on the lookout and Gianna - there's no link for her, but she used to work at the gym i went to, so that was nice to catch up with her. lol. She has a 7 month old kid now - let that be an indicator of when i hit the gym last. Super great nite, hope there is a Studio X IIII in the works ;) On another note: Cassie was in Port Elgin all weekend - frequenting the local watering hole, listening to dance music, dreaming of owning a shanty near the beach - but i'm sure she'll blog all about that later today ;) Maybe she'll even tell you about Caribou who she saw before she left?

The Boar

This new UW literary magazine "THE|BOAR" launched yesterday. I went to the launch party which was held in the Render Gallery at UW. So i kinda knew this place existed... but had never been there. It is very cool. Big open gallery - very industrial. The exhibit on right now is called Deadener... i think....lol. It's about Youth Culture and Heavy/Death Metal. CRAZY. Lots of blood and Pitbulls. Anyways, The Boar - Congrats to everyone involved. Especially Ashley C... you did an amazing job, can't wait to see your next issue. and Veronika - our intern who was involved with content and design. Especially like the cover artwork and that thing that they put between The Boar... you know The|Boar... what's that thing called Cassie? Anyways, if you see a copy on campus, pick it up.

Stalkee Correspondence

So, "G" just sent me this photo.... with this message: "um, is this a good idea?"

nitro-

a shot of vodka.

HUMP-DAY HUMP

wednesday. what a busy week this has been and it's only HALF over. i bet all your corporate genies are happy friday is a holiday. i'm trying to work extra, extra hard so I can have at least the afternoon off. some cosmic power ALWAYS decides that the magazine must go to press the monday after a long weekend. well, i guess its not so much a cosmic power as much as a printing company. whatever. thats besides the point. (jesus, all this cosmic genie talk, i have just realized, is completely influenced by the fact that i'm listening to Within You Without You off Sgt. Peppers. crazy how much of an ifluence music has...) alright what else. well, yesterday we did a photoshoot. I just got the contact sheets back from the photographer. ammmmmazing. so excited to see it all together. also- tonight, going to see caribou at starlight. should be very, very fun. ..the hour of it i can enjoy anyways. if my digi cam would turn on i would take pictures and share them with you. you'll just have to take my word for it. then, its home to port elgin for easter tomorrow night or friday. i can't wait for summer, when i can do more than go to the bar there. at least in the summer i can go to the beach AND THEN the bar. geez THAT is what i should be taking pictures of. the bar in port elgin. THE bar. there is one. its always HILARIOUS and people dont give a shit there. 40 year old men breaking it down on the dancefloor. another interesting fact about port elgin is that there are quite a few drinks you can order there that you would never find anywhere else. here are some of the recipes, incase you decide you want to take a mental trip there this weekend. BRUCE COUNTY MARTINI (no i am not making this up) 1.5 oz jack daniels 1.5 oz jager or something else disgusting that i cant remember coca cola, regular or diet for the ladies ice serve in a martini glass NITRO (people seriously drink this and it's gross and i think it costs 8 dollars) 1/2 can redbull 1/2smirnoff ice 1/2 a coors light? and a shot of something i beleive. ok, so im going to do some fact checking on that and correct my mistakes in those recipes, so you can REALLY enjoy them. i've obviously never drank either, and whenever i am given a sip of one at the bar and say "EW WTF IS IN THAT" i can never really hold onto that information the next day.... feel free to share any good drink ideas with me, because gin and tonic and spiced rum and diet coke are getting a little bland these days. C.

Tuesday.

Well, It's tuesday... and cassie and magda are at a top secret photo shoot. I wish i was there... but i'm working on finishing up some advertising stuff today. Tonite I'm going to this though: Celebrity Diplomacy in the News Should be pretty awesome... I mean i understand that it's totally lame that people like Bono and Angelina Jolie represent the UN just because they're famous. But really people... if they have the means (money and time) and they have the worlds attention - why not use it for good... instead of fucking evil. We'll see. On a similar note - i've begun stalking a friend of a friend who will remain nameless at this time, but we'll refer to him as "G" and he's going to be there tonite too.... sweet. have a good day, check this post out if you're at work and avoiding doing anything...

Eventful, Uneventful

Well Happy Monday, Blog Readers.... (and our analytics are working now, so we know you're out there) We're just heading into Production for the April issue which ... is shaping up pretty nicely. If you have questions about Social entrepreneurship, The War on Terror or fashion for Spring - we've got you covered. It'll be out on April 3rd. This weekend - Well, Friday we were down at the Boathouse in Victoria Park. If you haven't been there, you pretty much suck. It's a great spot - kind of like hanging out in the cool kid from school's basement when their parents were out of town. Robyn Dell'unto from Hamilton opened up for Vacuity. Check her out. And Vacuity is having their official KDub CD/USB Release on March 26th at the Starlight... just a heads up. If you see their posters around town, stop and have a look... it features a photo of some local dude in the middle east back in the 70s? Pretty awesome. Here it is: Qatalyst hosted a little after hours party on Friday nite after the Boathouse. Which left the office pretty much a disaster... but it was worth it ;) Saturday we visited some friends rented townhouse.... Now I only mention that it's rented because they've constructed a recording studio in their basement that is pretty insane. It has a triple-paned window so you can have some communication with whoever's working the computer - but the whole room, which is about 7 x 7 has a drum kit, some other equipment and is completely covered with dusty rose coloured carpet. Apparently, the room took about a weekend to construct, but if necessary can come down in about 4 hours. lol. landlord precautions. Sunday was uneventful. But included Chinese food. yummm. Have a good week - we'll try to blog throughout production... we have two desks now, so things shouldn't get too bad around here ;) Saying that - this is the first issue that will come out from the new office. Hopefully it's everything you're hoping for. H.

RAJ PATEL, I LOVE YOU.

We just went to see raj patel (author of stuffed and starved) speak tonight. It was hosted by wordsworth in waterloo, and there was such a good turn out. He's sooooo funny and entertaining and informative. I just wanted to get a quick little blog up about that before hilary got home so she will laugh and be in a good mood before bed. I love him, he's mine. ps. not to spoil anything but you MAY be able to read a lil something about him in April's issue.... ;) C.

let's pick a model

Well ... that's what Cassie said when i asked what i should blog about today. i guess that means she doesn't know. But then I remembered, that we saw this cool feature in PRINT magazine yesterday (we may work for a magazine, but we are pretty much obsessed with about 6 other magazines. The coolest thing ever would be to talk to someone from one of those 6 magazines, and maybe interview them for ours, thus catapulting qatalyst into a new realm of coolness and success) anyways, PRINT magazine: This feature was done by some 27 year old designer Holly Gressley from Brooklyn NY. It was called "Get your Broke Ass out of Debt" and showed how much money young people spend on things.... and how much money you could save not buying them - and then you could buy other better things. (because we all know buying things is the key to happiness, like beers on st.patrick's day). Some examples were: a years worth of cigarettes = a trip to london england. a year of pedicures/manicures = a male escort for 5 hours, a years worth of starbucks grande skim lattes = down payment on a honda civic hybrid. a years worth of tanning = a screenwriting class. here it is, quality's shit, sorry: But on the screenwriting class? What's up with this whole Quarterlife thing. If you get it, post a comment and explain it to me. Seems like My so-called life for twenty-somethings... and we all know how that ended up... with Claire Danes appearing in The Family Stone, and Jared Leto getting the snot beaten out of him by Edward Norton. Anyways, that's it. Why couldn't you have just told me what to write about cassie? instead, we got this. H.

don't go getting all sentimental

but i just wanted to say a little something. The nicest thing in the world is when people around you seem to get you. Don't you think? I think most people just go around thinking they are completely misunderstood or that others just don't GET what they're putting out there. I definitely feel that way sometimes... especially when I go off talking about "the magazine needing a soul" or "the house has a thing about it" what the fuck does that mean to most people? seriously? But then, something wicked happens - and someone that you totally love just says... "no, i get it. I get what you're saying. Ok, so maybe i don't totally get WHAT you're saying, but I know that you feel really strongly about it - and I don't think you're crazy for thinking it." Ramble much? Maybe instead of being all self deprecating all the time, and wallowing in the thoughts that we are alone - we should just try to connect to someone. i don't mean through facebook. Anyways, this is just a shout out to Chelsea. Thanks muffin. H.

six things . . .

We've been tagged in this little phenom ( by highwaisted) which asks us to state 6 random/quirky/interesting facts about ourselves (or in this case the magazine), and then, in turn, tag 3 other people to do the same. 1. our favourite colour is 85% K. 2. we have a secret dream of hosting friday afternoon parties at our office once summer comes.. live music..beer...food... bbq, and people will just know to swing by after work....tentatively starting June 6th. spread the word... 3. sometimes, just sometimes, we get excited about the possibility of not losing money on an issue. but we've only felt that excitment once. 4. this is what our screen savers look like right now: Hilary's: Mine: 5. magazines that we think other people should read: frankie, orange life, good. 6. each month we try to pick one song that ALWAYS seems to be on the radio and it becomes a theme song for that issue. It's usually a really bad song, that we wouldn't listen to otherwise. Here are some of the past songs we've completed issues to: Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs, Give It To Me - Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, anyways.. you get the picture. So. there are 6 somewhat interesting, or not so interesting things. I guess now we'll pass it on to these people: lifeinthecatacombs, jon johnson, pippy.

The Newbie...

Hey Everyone! This is my first time actually writing a blog so here it goes. My name is Megan and I am the newest member of Qatalyst. I'm actually currently doing a co-op for my advertising program at Conestoga College for my advertising program. Today was my first day and it was really cool to meet a client and be able to sit and see how a meeting is held. My other 2 co-workers or boses are awesome! They made me feel welcome and didnt hesitate with giving me lots of work to do which is great. I have a feeling I'm going to learn alot here, and I am new at all this so I will keep you updated with the things I am upto at Qatalyst. -M