Press
for NAKED POWER
Halifax
Chronicle Herald, December
21, 2003
Halifax Daily News, December
21, 2003
Winnipeg SUN, December 21, 2003
Ottawa SUN, December 21, 2003
London Free Press, December 21, 2003
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, December 20, 2003
Toronto Star, December 18, 2003
Hamilton Spectator, December 17, 2003
The HILL TIMES,
December 15, 2003
Globe
and Mail,
December 13, 2003
Toronto
Star, December 6, 2003
Ottawa
XPress, Dec. 4, 2003
also
CKLN
RADIO: Saturday Morning Live
interview with host Norman 'Otis' Richmond
December 13, 10:10am
CBC
RADIO ONE: OTTAWA MORNING
interview with host Lucy von Oldenbarenveld
December 9, 7:45am
Bourque
NEWSWATCH
December 5, 2003
Mayor's
dress code perfect fit for calendar
Mark Taylor
The StarPhoenix
Saturday,
December 20, 2003
It lasted
only a day but Mayor Don Atchison's ill-fated shirt-and-tie
policy will live on for at least another year in a 2004 calendar
satirizing political newsmakers.
Coincidentally, the calendar is dubbed Naked Power and none
of the politicians depicted within it are wearing shirts, ties,
or much of anything else.
The calendar is the creation of Jim Miller and Roz Owen, two
Ottawa satirists who thought pin-ups of naked notables like
Paul Martin, Jean Chretien and Ralph Klein would provide a more
'transparent' picture of Canadian politics.
"It's sort of like the emperor's new clothes," Miller
said. "We wanted to expose politicians and we wanted to
do it both literally and by looking at their records."
Of course, the nearly naked renderings aren't authorized in
any way and they don't have to be -- they're cartoons.
Nevertheless, they're tastefully done, except maybe the one
of Stephen Harper holding a cat-o'-nine-tails and wearing nothing
more than a leather wrestling-style singlet.
As for the records Miller speaks of, he and Owen compiled a
year's worth of biting facts Miller said range from "the
sublime to the serious and the silly in between."
That's where Atchison's attempted dress code comes in.
"We'd been scanning the newswire . . . in the process of
researching the almanac portion of this (calendar) and it just
jumped out at us," Miller said of the news The StarPhoenix
broke Nov. 4.
As a result, the Nov. 4 box in the calendar reads "Men's
clothing store owner, Don Atchison, makes shirt and tie dress
code his first regulation as Saskatoon's new mayor. He fails
to see any conflict of interest."
When reached for comment Friday, Atchison wasn't aware the calendar
existed but was relieved to hear he wasn't one of those depicted
in the buff.
"Maybe my figure is only a figure a mother could love,"
his worship joked, adding he still gets teased about his proposed
dress code and isn't bothered one way or the other about a satirical
calendar referring to it.
"As long as people are making light of it, that's all that
matters because it certainly was never (intended) to offend
anyone," Atchison said.
Miller added he wasn't aware Atchison rescinded the rule the
next day, but would make a note of it for the Nov. 5 slot if
another calendar is in the works next year.
The calendar notes other interesting dates, such as the day
the death penalty was abolished in Canada (July 14, 1976), and
the day Parliament made the beaver the official symbol of Canada
(March 24, 1975).
Two darker chapters in Saskatoon's history are also chronicled
in the calendar.
Feb. 1 is noted to remind people of the date in 2000, when an
inquiry was sparked by Darrell Night who revealed Saskatoon
police abandoned him on the outskirts of town where two frozen
bodies had been found in previous years.
Similarly, the calendar marks Dec. 29 as the date in 1990 when
17-year-old Neil Stonechild was found frozen to death in a field
outside Saskatoon.
The description goes on to read "Police foul play is suspected.
It takes 13 years for an inquiry to begin."
The calendar is available at McNally Robinson or through Miller
and Owen's website, www.harrisees.net
Political calendar mixes
'biting humour' with hard facts
By Jim Miller
the HILL TIMES,
December 15, 2003
I was a five year old doing impressions of jowl-shaking John
Deifenbaker speeches. A few years later I remember my amazement
at seeing Robert Stanfield, the new Tory leader, eating
a banana on live-TV convention coverage. From early on I’ve
been an avid observer of the spectacle of politics in Canada.
In my grown-up years, I’ve become an artist showing work
in galleries nationally and internationally. Roz Owen,
my partner in life and satire, is a genie nominated film director.
Social and political concerns have been consistently fore-fronted
in our work — but always leavened with humour.
Our collaborative leap into political satire began five years
ago. Fed up with the social decay brought on by the down-sizing
zeal of the Ontario’s Harris government, the spark of an
idea woke me out of my sleep on Halloween, 1998 — "The
Calendar of Harrisees" — a medieval styled book
of days that would chronicle the dark age horrors in Ontario.
Roz got it and we leapt into production making digital woodcut
drawings and compiling facts of the Tory record. Five weeks
later our first calendar was being carried by independent bookstores
across the province. It flew off their shelves.
Since 1998 we’ve published six more satirical tomes, including
3 calendars. We see them as memory tools for citizens —
from amnesiacs to activists. We want people to remember political
events they might rather forget. That’s where biting humour
comes in. It shocks people with laughter to think again. Though
we’ve earned many fans, not all people necessarily agree
with our opinionated work. They are however provoked by it.
We want people to be seriously engaged with politics —
and our contribution is a potent mix of humour and information.
Over the last five years our commitment to producing political
satire has grown.
As the Harris-Eves era in Ontario was coming to an end we shifted
focus. With new leaders, a new party, a new PM and an immanent
election we felt the federal political scene calling out for
our brand of satire. The NAKED POWER title came to me
in a jolt and Roz was once again immediately on board. Nakedness
gave us humour — the artistic license to show leaders in
the buff. It also served as a metaphor for brazen power. We
cover a lot of territory — ranging from the focus-group
controversy over Jack Layton’s moustache to Paul
Martins’ flag-of-convenience shipping news. In addition
to federal leaders, we’ve also given Ralph Klein
the treatment over Kyoto as our December pinup. NAKED POWER
is also an almanac. John A. Macdonald is featured in
July where we mark the official beginning of Canadian relations
with the Métis and Natives. The humorous and the serious
are never far apart. NAKED POWER charts the polarizing
debate over same sex marriage. We also note that on September
19, 2002, seven men charged with public nudity at Toronto’s
Gay Pride parade had their charges dropped — because they
were wearing shoes.
NAKED POWER is available from select independent bookstores
across the country that can be located on our website < www.harrisees.net
> or from 416.536.2892. In Ottawa it can be found at Octopus,
After Stonewall and Mother Tongue.
"a
perfect christmas gift for political junkies"
EXPOSING POWER
Globe and Mail,
December 13, 2003, pg A13
An
enterprising Toronto artist, Jim Miller, has come up with an
innovative calendar for 2004. The Canadian Calendar of Naked
Power features satirical sketches of naked federal politicians
Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien, Peter MacKay, Stephen Harper,
and Jack Layton in various poses and situations. The cover shows
a naked Prime Minister Martin lounging on a Canada Steamship
Lines ship as a beaver swims by. April celebrates the "marriage
of connivance," featuring Tory Leader MacKay and Alliance
Leader Harper getting married. The calendar costs $17.50 and
it's a perfect Christmas gift for a political junkie.
Jane Taber, Ottawa Notebook
CKLN
RADIO: Saturday Morning Live
interview with host
Norman 'Otis' Richmond
December 13, 10:10am
CBC
RADIO ONE: OTTAWA MORNING
interview with host
Lucy von Oldenbarenveld
December 9, 7:45am
POLITICAL
PINUPS
Toronto Star, December 6, 2003, 01:00 AM
Call
it Stupid White Canadian Men. Make that Stupid White Naked Canadian
Men.
Michael Moore is still a fan of the Great White North, as far
as we know, and won't be publishing a diatribe against Canada's
power class anytime soon. So Jim Miller and Roz Owen have taken
up the task, aiming their poison pen at our country's political
leaders past and present in their "2004 Canadian Calendar
of Naked Power." Part political satire, part history
lesson, the text-and-drawings calendar strips Canada's politicians
of their pretensions, their clothes and their dignity. ($17.50;
Find it at indie bookstores or check harrisees.net.)
Mr. June: Paul Martin, twirling a maple leaf while reclining
on a Canada Steamship Lines vessel, gets the cartoon treatment
for his questionable family interest in the company while still
federal finance minister.
Mr. July: Our first PM, John A. MacDonald, is admonished for
having helped set in motion the government's systemic disregard
for aboriginal rights.
Mr. September: An enlightening history of NDP Leader Jack Layton's
facial hair.
Individual dates are informative and Canuck-centric. Celebrate
however you see fit on the anniversary of the day Canada abolished
the death penalty (July 14) or Aline Chrétien fended
off a home intruder (Nov.5).
Miller and Owen had a minor hit in 1999 with the "Calendar
of Harrisees," a chronicle of blunders by ex-premier Mike
Harris. This latest publication will be feted with a launch
party tomorrow at the Rivoli (322 Queen St. W., 2 to 5 p.m.).
The calendar is a standout from the typical puppy dogs pics
and recipes cluttering the racks. …
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ariel Teplitsky
THE
FULL MARTIN
James Sinclair Ottawa XPress, Dec. 4, 2003
A
new pin-up calendar by political satirists Jim Miller and Roz
Owen reveals more than just the bare facts about our newest
crop of Canadian leaders. A timely pulse of Canada's current
political climate, the calendar also has monthly pin-up
illustrations of its most notable components in the buff.
Miller and Owen, who assembled the damning 1999 Calendar of
Harrisees and this year's Trust Me: A Handbook of Tory Contortions,
switched from provincial to federal politics this time for the
2004 Canadian Calendar of Naked Power. An advance copy
of the calendar obtained by X Press showed the Hill's power
players in all their naked glory: January depicts Martin and
Chrétien wrestling nude, while April has a nekkid Peter
McKay wedding an S&M leather thong-sporting Stephen Harper.
"I think the sort of satire will stand out loud and clear,"
said Miller about the revealing illustrations. "We're playing
with the theme of naked power in two or three different ways.
One is the power of the current leaders. Two is instances of
brazen power through the government in Canada over the last
number of years. And thirdly, the fun dimension of the Canadian
politics of nakedness ... the battles over nude beaches and
things of this order."
The nude images are discreet - no genitalia - to save the leaders
some embarrassment. More embarrassing are facts about our PM-to-be's
tax evasion tactics and shady wheeling and dealing with his
former shipping company Canada Steamship Lines. Or his all-too-convenient
backtracking on promises made in the Liberal's 1993 Red Book,
to which he reportedly responded, "Screw the Red Book."
"We do see ourselves as sort of creating memory tools and
we're doing it once again. We see the calendar as an ideal kind
of form for that," Miller said. Included in the calendar
is an almanac of key historical dates, offering a wry and informative
chronicle of the country's evolution. Copies can be found at
Octopus Books and Mother Tongue Books.
JAMES SINCLAIR
Press
for previous work
…If
I could, I’d give you each a copy of the Calendar of Harrisees,
… a Dark Ages catalogue of Harris horrors.
Michele
Landsberg
Toronto Star
review of the 1999 Calendar of Harrisees
…recalls
a number of episodes so timeless they should be perennially
recorded — almost like a statutory holiday — on all
calendars. Some will make you laugh, if they don’t make
you cry.
Jim
Coyle,
Toronto Star
review of the 2001 Calendar of Harrisees
…Harrisees balances useful facts with gallows humour. A
clever and beautifully rendered parody of a medieval book of
days.
R.M.
Vaughn,
THIS MAGAZINE
review of the 1999 Calendar of Harrisees
…sheds some comedic light on our current dark age…
Gordon
Bowness,
XTRA Magazine
review of the 1999 Calendar of Harrisees
…One of the hottest items around Queens Park … a must-have
among opposition staffers…
David
Sieger
Ontario Legislative Highlights
review of the 2002 Calendar of Common Sense
…Highly
Recommended!
Dierdre
Hanna
NOW Magazine
review of the 1999 Calendar of Harrisees
BOOK
CRITICS' PICK
The political scene …gets skewered again by Jim Miller
and Roz Owen in Trust Me: A Handbook Of Tory Contortions.
The authors made their mark with their Calendar Of Harrisees
and Calendar Of Common Sense, which used graphics and info bits
to roast former premier Mike Harris. Now our king of the flip-flop,
Ernie Eves, gets the treatment in a slim but powerful pamphlet
that will spark your mind …"
Susan
G. Cole
Arts Editor NOW Magazine
NEW HANDBOOK BASHES TORY RULE
"In a political zinger launched April 27, two Ontario authors
are arguing the price isn't right. The book, Trust Me: A
Handbook of Tory Contortions, is a damning account of mismanagement
during the Tory reign and warns that "Ontario's premier
contortionist Ernie Eves" is not to be trusted."
James
Sinclair,
Ottawa Xpress Article May 1, 2003
