Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

A World Stopping Nuit Blanc Installation by Director X By Stephen Weir: Spoiler Alert! Everyone dies, including the Sun, in Director X’s new art installation Life of the Earth and Death of the Sun.  On Saturday night and early Sunday morning, as part of the Nuit Blanche festival, the Ontario Science Centre stayed open to show-off Director X’s latest creation. Set in a large open space inside a lower level   gallery a huge white balloon hangs from the ceiling.   Using large-scale projectors, the orb becomes first a rotating and aging planet Earth and then it is our Sun evolving and eventually dying. Both the Earth and the Sun are shown as if seen from space moving from the past to real time and into a not so great future.   On a near by wall a huge LED display’s     charts the collapse of the sun and show pictures of life on earth from the beginning of time, to now. Throughout the night people trickled into the exhibition space, sitting on on the floor and leanin

King Costume Designer at the Ontario Science Centre to Pick Up His Award Summertime memories of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival Parade may have begun to fade, but for fans of the Caribbean Arts. one memory will never disappear.  Who can forget Heart Beat of the Thrill of Life, the incredible King Costume worn by first time designer Nicholas Guy at the August King and Queen Competition.  It was a two-sided costume that depicted the final battle of angels and demons, where good triumphs over evil.  Guy’s costume won it all that night including the coveted annual Ontario Science Centre Innovation in Mas’ Award. He won both awards on behalf of the Louis Saldenah’s Mas K Camp. On Sunday afternoon at a packed Ontario Science Centre, Nicholas Guy was honoured on stage for the construction of that breathtaking costume.  Guy spoke at length at the ceremony about the costume and the relevance of the Carnival dream! In the audience were members of the Mas K Club, friends and his parents

On Stage and Out in Space – Getting Our Kids To Think Big By Stephen Weir for Caribbean Camera Thursday evening was a special evening for Toronto science geeks … of any age. Over 200 people, many of the children, came out to the Ontario Science Centre to listen to a real Canadian science hero, Dr. Dave Williams. The 66-year old retired astronaut was on stage with Andrew Bedeau and the  Weather Network's  Chris Mei to talk about his experiences in space as part of the Science Centre’s Great Conversations speaker series.   The evening attracted many children who came out with their parents to listen to the astronaut and get a selfie when his hour long talk was over. “ I think that it is a good thing to expose children to science and space travel is something that gets people really excited,” Dave Williams told the Caribbean Camera at the Thursday event.   “Understanding and teaching about the challenges of space inspire (young people) to have BIG dreams.’ Andre

Pop-up Concert at the Canadian Music Week Conference By Stephen Weir Grammy-nominated Panamanian American singer Aloe Blacc was in Toronto last week at the Canadian Music Week conference.    He performed on stage at the Sheraton Centre conference and met with the media. Blacc was here at the request of the US Consulate who were at the music conference to promote the Toronto premier of a new IMAX movie which stars Aloe Blacc.  America’s Musical Journey  opens next month at the Ontario Science Centre and at other museum and science centre IMAX theatres across Canada. The 40-minute large format film follows Blacc as he travels to New Orleans, Chicago, Nashville, Miami, New York and California to explore the roots of American music. It is all about making music and sharing music and how the influence of the greats like Louis Armstrong and Elvis Presley helped shape today’s sounds. Aloe Blacc is best known for his chart-topping “ I Need a Dollar ” and his vocals on Avicii’s “

Anmol Tukrel - photo Ontario Science Centre Blind? There Is An App For That. by Stephen Weir written for Huffington Post On top of my fridge there is a growing pile of spectacles. Reading glasses. Seeing for distance. Prescription sunglasses.   Half glasses. Safety glasses. Sigh. I guess I always knew that loss of vision was all part of the aging process, but it has happened a bit too soon for my liking.   Luckily a remarkable teenager from Markham has come up with an App that will fix all that. I am still a long way away   --I hope -- from needing to use an App created by 17 year old student Anmol Tukrel.   He has created iDentifi that helps a visually impaired person identify objects by using a smartphone. The app uses the phone’s camera and artificial intelligence to provide audio identification of objects, brands, colour, facial expressions, handwriting and text. I caught up to him at the Ontario Science Centre earlier this week while he was being presented wi