The Immigrant

Immigrant Design has been getting some much needed updating of late, with a couple of older projects finally reformatted for the site...

The Weekend

You know the deal:

Friday - we went out for Korean food for dinner, and then rented the Color Purple... old school, featuring, among others, Oprah Winfrey. Despite that, it is a pretty good story... I hadn't watched it since high-school, and I didn't realize how overly dramatic some of the scenes are (in my opinion, at least)

Saturday was the church annual general meeting. It was a good meeting, but too long.

I sort of hoped to watch the world cup rugby final afterwards, but instead I went in to the office and prepared lecture material for today's classes. Turns out South Africa won the world cup - not that I care about rugby, but it would have been kinda fun to watch.

Sunday was church - afterwards Jeremy and Bradley came over, and we ate sushi from Hosu bistro. That place is killer, btw. Then we stayed up a bit too late for having to get up at 6. Not that people had to get up at 6. Except for me.


Turns out students don't particularly mind if their 3 hour class doesn't go for the full 3 hours (at least, those that mind are pretty quiet about it...) Today we talked about both metal and glass, all in just over an hour.

Hamlet

If you don't listen to This American Life, you haven't heard this episode on prisoners performing Hamlet...

I highly recommend the show (podcast it), and this episode in particular.

Late Update

So - I'm a little late at the old weekend update, but here goes...

On Friday night, Leah was playing a show (of the CD release variety) with the Loitering Heroes. It was at the Tranzac, which is a great place for shows, and the first time that I saw them play with new drummer, Nico (I might end up taking drum lessons from him, once the drums are set up in our apartment!) Some new songs too, which are pretty sweet.
Afterwards, we hung out (sushi, Starbucks) with Bradley. Among other things, we talked about how his thesis is freaking him out, and his plans to take the bus out to California to record with Jason Martin (and Leah and I, if we're up for it).
The rest of the weekend pretty much saw me working on lesson-planning and putting together assignments for Humber kids. Seriously, the rest of the weekend, except for Kevin and Jenn's housewarming, and church.
Yesterday I was at Humber, dispensing quizzes, assignments, and my own precious knowledge! Afterwards I went grocery shopping and made dinner, and then went to bed before my migraine headache kicked in too hard.

And today I am back at the office... and listening to the recently (at lunch) purchased R.E.M. live album(s). So far I am actually pleasantly pleased (I was worried, to be honest). I am hoping (against the odds, I fear) for their new album next year to be HUGE...

I am old.

Long Weekend

Mostly we had a couple of Thanksgiving meals - so we made a few pies.
Also - I ran sound at church, for the first time in a while, since everyone was away for the weekend.

Football

Yesterday after work, some people from the office played soccer against folks from the architecture office that's a floor above ours.

I signed up, expecting a friendly game at Trinity Bellwoods or something. The next thing I knew, I was given a black Umbro team shirt, and told that we were playing here.

The guys from upstairs seemed kinda shocked when we didn't all show up wearing cleats and shin guards, and that our goalie didn't have gloves... and I couldn't help overhearing conversation about where and when there next game was...

Needless to say, we kinda got schooled - although not as badly as I suspected we might be. I learned that my soccer skills are pretty weak - turns out if you don't play for, like, 20 years - you lose most of whatever ability you had (which probably wasn't all that much anyway - 'cause you were 10!) By the second half though, things were getting better - the mostly forgotten soccer area of my brain was starting to wake up (even though my body was perhaps still a little behind.)

Another thing I learned is that, even with the occasional subbing out for breaks on the sidelines, a full-on 90 minute game on a full-on official size field is absolutely killer. In the last few minutes I was fighting off cramps in my calf muscles (and then had to bike home, too!)

Unfortunately, one guy fell during the game and landed nastily. He ended up going to the hospital, 'cause his collarbone was, um, definitely not in a normal position anymore. It sucked - I was talking to him while people were off getting the security folks and looking for someone with a car - and I had no idea what to do or say to help. I haven't heard if it was broken, or just out of place...

Check out these lyrics...

I saw the Devil in the Garden, he was bringing Good News
I saw the Devil in the Garden, he was bringing Good News
He told me I could be in charge and then he brought me a noose
I put it right around my neck, I thought I'd wear it (just loose)

DriveXV

For those interested, Stereogum organized a 15 year anniversary tribute to Automatic for the People... download/read about that junk here.

(In case you didn't hear, they also did a 10 year anniversary tribute to OK Computer a few months back.)




Both bands have albums out in a couple of weeks...

Backwards

It is rainy and grey, so I rode the rocket in to work, rather than my bike. I was listening to Endtroducing, and that, together with the grey, made me want to keep walking, past the office, and down to the Gardiner and the train tracks. Somehow the trash and graffiti and concrete of the 'terrain vague' can be more comforting than the office.

Last night we went to see Douglas Coupland read from his new book. It was the first time I have ever been to a reading, and it was pretty neat. I will say that I preferred the times when he was just talking about stuff, in between chunks of the Gum Thief (which I haven't read, but probably will once the winter forces me onto the subway every day). Afterwards people lined up for him to sign their copies of his books.

I also went to Humber and taught a class on Flooring. It was very exciting, and afterwards people lined up and I signed copies of their Interior Detailing textbooks.

On Sunday, I was going to play drums at church. After setting up the whole kit, I discovered that the kick pedal was missing - turns out it was left out last week and the folks at St Andrew's locked it up for us. So I didn't play drums.

On Saturday I spent the day putting together Powerpoint slides for my lecture on Flooring. That evening, one of Leah's friends from highschool came over to visit. After dinner in Koreatown, we strolled around the Nuit Blanche festivities. This mostly meant walking through frustratingly dense crowds, and seeing almost nothing of the exhibits. Basically we went for a long walk. It was good.

On Friday, Leah went to the Rivoli to sing backup for everybody's favourite country duo. I went to a long church meeting at the pastors' house.

I <3 Processing

(nerd post warning)

I wrote my first Processing script last Friday...
I don't know if I will have the time to learn how to use it, but the 3D engine makes me want to try.

For example, I could never do this in Flash...

Cellulose + Science -> Fuel + Water

There is a pretty interesting article over in Wired about the efforts of various researchers to find a cost-effective way of converting cellulose to usable fuel.
Could this be the future?



I propose a car with four stomachs.

Weekend

Friday afternoon - The office had their big grand opening... the CEO showed up, as did king-of-town, David Miller. That night we watched the Departed (all the stars, but I didn't care for it).

Saturday - we went grocery shopping, and then trekked up to the old hood to see the ArtStarts art house. They basically took an old beat-up house which is scheduled for demolition, and painted it up. There is a giant octopus-beast with his tentacles wrapped around the thing, and pretty hilarious quotes everywhere. There was also a band playing covers of everything from Dylan to the Beastie Boys, and a massive tire sized bowl of donuts.

Later we went to see Basia Bulat at the Music Gallery, after randomly reading the article in Now. It was pretty good, although we were both expecting a more polished band... instead there was a definite this-is-one-of-our-first-shows-ever kinda vibe. It was fun.

Sunday - I stepped outside to Salvation Army church in the morning (787 Dovercourt... we're at 781) - it turns out the pastors' family spent a lot of time in South Africa. They were disappointed to discover that I am not much of a rugby fan. Church featured uniforms and a brass band, and a lot of older folks, mostly... but is was pretty cool.
Church at night featured no uniforms, Leah and Anne, and a lot of kids, mostly...
Afterwards we went to Jonathan Bluks & Co's place.

talk20

A while back Zellyn sent me a link about Pecha Kucha; 20 powerpoint slides, 20 seconds per slide, 6 mins and 40 seconds of presentation, total.

Yesterday I found out about talk20 - it was free, it was at the Drake... so I decided to check it out.

Turns out it was really cool. There were presentations from a number of groups whose work I had already seen online (thanks to core77 and archinect)... as well as a bunch of others. The work ranged from spatial design to furniture to glitch-art to fixtures to urban exploration to landscape to straight-up hipster-art.

If you haven't seen this guys site yet, check out some sweet pics of the sewers of Toronto (and other places)...
These guys were funny.
And this site is something I need to check out when I have some time (since I ran my first ever Processing script yesterday).

Here are links to all of the participants... all in all it was pretty inspiring.

There is another round coming up Nov 1, if anyone wants to go with me...

Some links

Check out these cool mini-planet pics...

AND...

This bike is the jam!

Weekend Summary

Rehearsal on Friday night... Leah, Bradley and I ran through the songs for church. Went to bed too late.
Saturday... I ran around town and bought some pants and shoes. On Saturday night, we watched God Grew Tired of Us, which I highly recommend. The movie documents some Sudanese refugees (the lost boys of Sudan) as they move to the US... It is pretty amazing.
Sunday... laundry and church.

Nothing

I don't have anything to say here these days.
Here is a neat post from a blog, about why we write...
It reminds me of my scribble.nu days (almost 8 years ago?!) - when my online presence was creative and energetic and personal. Is it possible to recreate/discover an environment that is as creatively inspiring as that one was?

Last night I went to the Welobike fundraiser. Like all events, it didn't really get going until after my bedtime. I rode a bike and lit up an LED screen. And then I rode a bike home... as the bands were taking to the stage.

Tonight I will be playing the drums, practicing for church on Sunday. It's been a while since thumping on them tubs... I hope it works out.

Oh - and I had coffee this morning with somebody I went to Georgia Tech with. She is in town for a wedding, and I swear I haven't seen or talked to her in maybe 8 years. It was really good - like having my mind shoved through space and time. I miss people and places but I don't even know it.

In the News

A couple of articles for your reading pleasure...
Welobike gets some love from the Star.
And the Global Warming Chess Team gets props in Now.

Crazy Weekend Update

It was indeed a crazy weekend.

Friday was Leah's birthday. 3-0!. It was also Lisa's last day staying with us, and the end of a 5 night run of house guests. And it was also Dylan's welcome back to Toronto party. Crazy, busy, fun times.

On Saturday, I headed down to the islands for the Virgin music festival. I had signed up to volunteer with Global Inheritance - I am on their email list and was happy to see they were coming to Toronto. I didn't really know what I was in for, other than it involved human global warming chess. I spent the morning helping to finish the giant chess-boards, and then went on to help with the final touches (emergency measures!) on assembling a giant wind-turbine costume (and pretty much covering my hands in spray-insulation and spray-paint).

Just before the first game started, I was assigned the role of playing a solar panel - this is pretty much like a bishop, in traditional chess, but with a sandwich board of solar panels, a mask and a bright orange wig...
AND woman's American Apparel GOLD TIGHTS.

After a quick run to the washroom to change into my leggings, I was ready to do battle against the forces of pollution and destruction. We managed to draw a decent crowd, but we lost the two first games, with major havoc wreaked by the black queen (a factory, with smoke billowing from her chimney). The final game of the evening was an epic battle, with Hugh of the Wildbirds leading us to our first victory of the day!!

It was RIDICULOUS. And lots of fun. I got more than a few 'nice tights' comments, and a number of requests for pictures.

After about 7, we were free to roam the festival grounds. I saw most of Mute Math's set, with Felicity and Marty (MM's biggest fans). After that, I saw the first two songs of Bjork's set, which was AMAZING! I then left to go and catch the ferry, and heard another couple of songs on my way there. It was magical riding towards downtown on the ferry, on a clear cool night, with Bjork and her 12 piece brass section soundtracking the whole thing.

I left before the end in order to book it up to the Concord, to see Jessica play. The set included a couple of guest appearances... Leah on flute and backup vocals, for a couple of songs (including a Feist cover), and a crazy, not-altogether-sober lady who requested to get on the mic for a minute... and proceeded to bust out some not-all-that-bad-sounding freestyles (although the actual words were mostly incomprehensible). Jessica and the band were pretty freaking awesome - it is crazy watching jazz musicians who are so good they can kill, without even putting forth any effort.

On Sunday I frantically tried to prepare for Monday's classes at Humber. I had to give two lectures, and had not managed to even get my hands on the textbook yet. It was stressful, to say the least. Church was good, although I was feeling pretty burnt. Pat prayed for me in the back, which was cool. I managed to slip my volunteer bracelet off, and gave it to Leah... so she skipped out early to go and watch the Killers and the Smashing Pumpkins (who totally blew her mind, by the way). I went home and threw together a presentation on Sustainable Practices.

I couldn't sleep. Leah came home at 1 or something. I think I fell asleep around 2. I woke up at 5 yesterday and trekked out to Humber for an 8 oclock lecture. The rest of the day was spent scrambling to prepare for a 2.30 lecture on Residential Framing... hectic. I got home, exhausted. Leah had made a delicious dinner, and then we watched the Goonies...

And that was the weekend...

Extra Long Weekend Update

Leah's brother Matt, and his girfriend, Darcy, stayed with us this weekend. They are moving to Winnipeg, and stopped in TO for a couple of days.

So... we all went to Canada's Wonderland on Monday. We had close to perfect weather, and hit up a number of rollercoasters and waterslides. Aside from Leah kinda hurting her neck on what must be the jerkiest old wooden rollercoaster anywhere, we had a good time. I haven't really been to any amusement park type places since the proliferation of the unusual-position-ride - so riding Top Gun (the seats are suspended, with your legs hanging over nothing) and Tomb Raider (suspended on your belly - like Superman) was pretty rad.

On Tuesday, I took the day off, and we roamed around Queen Street and the Eaton Centre.

Other highlights of the weekend included:

Visiting the Pastoral Residence, to help paint.
Having (Dr!) Lisa around town, and in the neighbourhood, and coming over to eat!
Doing a whole lot of grocery shopping and laundry.

and, having Dylan back in town... even though we haven't seen him yet.