13 February 2009, early morning
I pulled my jeans out of the freezer this morning. They were cold, but didn’t smell as dank as they did the day before. I put them in the freezer Wednesday night, because I had worn them out in a downpour. Rain is like dirt falling from the sky. Getting jeans you haven’t washed in 5 months wet with rain water isn’t good, especially if you don’t want to wash them for another month. And so they went in the freezer. I bought my Nudies on September 1st of last year. According to my plan, I am due to wash them on March 1st, which is just a few weeks away. (I actually didn’t realize till just now how close I am to reaching the 6 month mark with these jeans.) Wearing jeans for half a year — without washing them — can be kind of gross. With my Julian Red’s I gave up early, ending my experiment a month and a half early. With my Nudies I think I can easily cross the half a year mark.
I’m wearing my Julian Reds today. Since buying my Nudies I hardly wear anything else. (Actually, I literally wear nothing else. I can probably count on my two hands the times I haven’t worn my Nudies since buying them.) These jeans are great. I think Julian Reds are well worth the money if you are looking for some Dry Denim.
[3] Life
10 February 2009, mid-morning
I met Shima at the Design Exchange, where the two of us went to a talk by Architecture for Humanity. The group is doing a four part trilogy (don’t ask) on Toronto’s past, present, and future. It was an interesting talk. (Honestly, anything in the design exchange is going to be enjoyable: that building is awesome.) I learnt how 16th century Spanish law influenced planning in Toronto, about all the things you can find in the Toronto archives, and how the TTC was punched in the crotch back in the 50s and hasn’t really recovered since. It was a good talk, but Shima and I were too hungry to stay for the Q&A.
On our way out we met a fellow from Blansdowne. I thought he knew Shima. Shima thought he knew me. It was only when we started to talk that the two of us realized he knew us through this blog. That’s the power of the Internet, people!
Shima wanted a burger. I had vague memories of a place called Craft Burger opening up in the city. I looked the place up on my iPhone, and yes, there was a place called Craft Burger and it had been successful enough to open up a second location in Toronto. Shima and I went to this new Yonge and Bloor location since it was on our way home. The place was small, clean, and it being late, not too busy. I ordered an organic burger (where the meat comes from the Healthy Butcher), and Shima bought something with avocado and other fancy-ass ingredients. We split some onion rings. We sat down next to a couple with a baby and a toddler. The mom had giant breasts. It was unreal. Our food arrived and so we ate. My God, it was good. Craft Burger is a bit expensive for a burger shop, but I don’t think I’ve had a better burger in the city. People, you need to go there now.
[12] Restaurants and Bars | Toronto
7 February 2009, late afternoon
Battlestar Galactica is one of the best shows on TV. And anyone who doesn’t think so probably hasn’t sat and watched the show. Battllestar is finishing up this season. Clearly, the writers want to go out with a bang. 4 episodes in, and the show has gotten even more dark and depressing. God damn. My heart is beating a little faster.
[4] Television
2 February 2009, late evening
My first camera was a Pentax K1000. I still use it today; it’s at least 10 years old now. I got a Canon S30 near the end of University. Then I went through this phase where I was buying old busted cameras, and during that period I bought a Kiev 35 that got the Ring Virus and died, my light-leaking Electro, and a mysterious Argus / Cosina 35. Then my digital camera broke which was a mixed blessing as it got me to buy my Digital Rebel, which is an excellent camera. Then came the lenses: first a 50mm, then a 17-40mm L, then a 85mm. In between the lenses I was gifted with a Lomography Fisheye from Shima, and a Supersampler from Jana. And then one day I woke up and really wanted a rangefinder. I can’t imagine why, as all the rangefinders I own are old and busted. I found one used on craigslist, and so it came to pass that I now own a Bessa R2A. I bought a new 35mm f/2.5 lens for it. And then I bought a 28mm lens for my Rebel, because it didn’t feel right to ignore my fancy DSLR. And, then, against my better judgement, I bought a Leica M2. Oh hells yes, that felt good. I bought two more lenses for my rangefinders: a Jupiter 3, and a 35mm f/1.7 Ultron. It seemed decadent to own two different 35mm lenses for my rangefinders, so I sold one. And then not too long after, I bought another. I also bought a Vivitar Ultrawide and Slim and an Olympus XA2, for reasons I’m not totally sure I understand. And then I went to Flickr meet up and saw a GRD II and I was in love. So I paid way too much for one of those. To make up for buying that camera, I ended up selling my Olympus XA2, which I never really fell in love with, my Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim, that Argus/Cosina thing I barely ever used, and the Supersampler. Then, for reasons I’m not entirely sure, I bought not one, but two kind of busted Mamiya TLRs. The first was a C33, with a 80mm lens that sometimes didn’t work. The second was a C220, with two lenses in reasonable shape. I still haven’t really taken any photographs of note with the cameras. (One day!) I saw a used Hexannon-M 50mm f/2.0 show up on Craigslist, and thought, “How can I not buy this?” So I did, of course. After thinking own two lenses in the same focal length was decadent, I now have two 35mm lenses and two 50mm lenses for my Leica. And that is a brief history of me and my cameras.
[3] Photography
To this day I remember when I was in eighth grade and my father first explained to me that there was a man named Alan Greenspan who ran a government agency that watched with an eagle eye for the day when there might be an insufficient number of unemployed people. If too many people had jobs, he was supposed to swoop in, tighten the money supply, and make sure some people lost their jobs. Otherwise, wages might get too high!
— Matthew Yglesias, Monetary Policy is Policy; The Fed is a Government Agency (via RC3)
28 January 2009, late at night
Today I learned how to set up borders on the easel, and spent some more time trying to sort out printing. It didn’t seem as productive a day as last week. I was making lots of silly mistakes this time. It took far too many tries to get this print to turn out. I need to be a lot more methodical when i’m in the darkroom. I have way too many test strips that are obviously lying to me. I need to remember to stop the lens down when i’m down focusing. I probably did that twice, noticed once. I need to remember to turn off the focus light before putting my paper down. I only did that once. Printing in the darkroom is fun, despite these set backs.
Photography
28 January 2009, mid-morning
Shima and I watched The Darjeeling Limited last night. (Well, I watched it, she would occasionally look up from her knitting to see what was going on.) The film is the latest work by Wes Anderson, and something I had been meaning to see for some time now. I’m a big fan of Anderson’s films. The Darjeeling Limited is about three estranged brothers who are reunited in India in order to travel on spiritual journey organized by the oldest of the three. The movie covers similar themes to Anderson’s other works: estranged families, loss, death, dysfunctional love, etc. The problem I had with the film is that at times it feels like a parody of Anderson’s earlier movies. The movie is sad in the quiet way all of Anderson’s movies are sad, but the movie just didn’t have the same weight his other movies carry: it felt too light. Regardless, it is still an enjoyable film. There are lots of great moments and scenes in the film. The soundtrack is great, as usual. Visually the movie is beautiful. I look forward to whatever Anderson comes up with next.
The official The Darjeeling Limited web site.
Update: I forgot! The film also features British Tamil actress Amara Karan. (Who’s real name is apparently Karunakaran.) She’s quite charming in the movie.
[3] Movies
26 January 2009, evening time
Club Paradise is one of two strip clubs in my neighbourhood, the other being the House of Lancaster. While the House of Lancaster is just a strip club, I consider Club Paradise a landmark. Two things about the club standout in my mind. First, it shares a wall with an evangelical church. That’s an awkward living arrangement. Besides that, it is also home to this brilliant large neon sign of a girl bending over. It’s a surprisingly explicit sign and, as one could imagine, not a popular sight in the neighbourhood. The sign has been off for a few weeks now. Apparently the owner is caving to residents requests to take the sign down. By spring it may not be here at all. I think i’m the only person in Blansdowne that’s going to miss the sign. I liked looking out my window and seeing it. Club Paradise is a pretty ugly building when you take away its sign.
Update: The lights are back on! And there are new signs.
Update Sept 26th 2013: The sign was taken down, and replaced with an incredibly boring picture of a ladies lips. It is the worst.
[9] Bloor and Lansdowne
25 January 2009, early evening
Goldie made a CD called Saturnz Return many years ago. It’s a double album. The first CD in this double album is comprised, essentially, of a single song, Mother, which is one hour long. I’m not sure i’ve ever sat through the entire song. At an hour long Mother probably needs to be listened to the way you might sit and listen to a symphony. I think Matt actually made playing the track a theme for one of his Transient Orange nights. The song is very ambient for the first 20 minutes or so, and then kind of picks up around the half hour mark, and then slows down a little bit by the end. Each time I listen to it, I end up hearing something new. Goldie is good.
[2] Music
21 January 2009, late at night
I decided to take some B&W printing classes at ImageWorks, since that’s where Shima bought me darkroom time, and since I haven’t actually printed a print all by myself before. (When I joined the yearbook there were several people who had been there for a while who knew how to develop and print. Photographers like me who joined late never really had to develop or print their own stuff.) The first class was an intro to using the darkroom. My classmates and I — there were three of us — learned how to use the enlarger, how to fix contrast with filters, how to do test strips, and finally how to actually print. The last step is the easiest, since ImageWorks has a machine to process your exposed negative. The way you normally do it is with a bunch of trays with chemicals in them. It’s probably a bit messier, and the process is much slower. The problem with the machine is you don’t get to see your image form in the developer, which is definitely cool. Still, having dry prints in minutes is hard to beat. Next week I think i’ll try and print photos that are a bit more exciting.
[3] Photography
20 January 2009, lunch time
I have high expectations for Obama, so high, i’m not sure he can even meet them. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way. Today I hope he gives a kick ass speech. I want him to follow that up by jumping off stage, finding Bush, and knocking him out. And then he should say, “it’s Obama time!”
Update: He didn’t do what I wanted, but it was still all kinds of awesome.
[2] Current Events
17 January 2009, late morning
Fumio Funakoshi is on Facebook. Of note to you, the reader, would be this post from last year, entitled, Facebook Sucks Yo. Follow that by reading, God Damn Fucking Facebook. And then we come to today. I sign up for all sorts of stupid stuff on the Internet. Why not Facebook? I will just have to hate myself a little bit more. I need to take a shower.
[14] Life
16 January 2009, late morning
I left for work at 9:00 today. I thought leaving during rush-hour proper would be stupid since subways were not running on Bloor. Waiting was probably a good idea, but my guess that by 9:00 things would be OK was way off. I sat in Dale’s drinking a coffee for about 45 minutes, after realizing that a) the subway wasn’t going to start soon and b) shuttle buses weren’t going to empty any time soon. Buses East and West were totally packed by the time they got to Bloor and Lansdowne (Blansdowne). At 10 I hopped on a bus, which, while still quite busy, didn’t have people falling out the front door. The trip to Keele (where subway service had resumed) was uneventful, till you reached the station. Keele was a zoo. I can only imagine how bad it was earlier in the morning. Once I got to Keele, and got on a train heading West, the my trip was a lot less interesting. The train was empty, but running quite slow. My beloved 191 had stopped its rush hour service hours ago, so I took the slow but reliable Kipling and Dixon buses to make it in to work — 3 hours late.
[4] Life | Toronto
15 January 2009, late evening
It’s pitch black on Bloor right now. For some strange reason my building still has power. The walk home was both creepy, and crossing the street was a little scary. The subways run during a minor blackout apparently. I was impressed. I can see sirens down the road. I wonder if people are taking advantage of the dark. If it wasn’t so god damn cold, I might have a picture to remember this by. Instead, i’ll have to use my imagination the next time I read this post.
Update: Well Laurence wanted photos, so one of the city can be seen below. There are a few more on my Flickr right now page.
Life | Bloor and Lansdowne
15 January 2009, lunch time
I watched Slumdog Millionaire with Shima on Sunday night. It was one of those movies everyone I knew wanted to watch, which usually means no one ends up watching it. The movie is very good, though I’m not sure it’s as superlative as all the reviews make it out to be. The story is as follows: a boy from the slums of Mumbai ends up on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and ends up answering question after question; no one believes he could possibly know the answers, so he is taken by the police and interrogated; during the interrogation, we learn about his life, and how he knew the answers to each question asked of him. I’ve heard the film described as a cross between a Bollywood movie and a Capra film, and that sounds about right. It is also a little bit like a Dickens novel, with all the poverty and outlandish plot twists. The actors do a great job with their parts (Anil Kapoor as the condescending host of the show is great to watch, and I think Irrfan Khan is the coolest guy ever). The movie has some great shots, and some really great chase scenes. A.R. Rahman scores the movie, and this is yet another plus for the film. Though cheesy at times, this movie has too much going for it not to see.
The official Slumdog Millionaire web site.
[2] Movies
Israel will never turn armed might into strategic security. If need be, it could win a war against all its enemies combined. But if it wants peace it must face the decision it has avoided for 40 years: withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories. Military victories and land grabs are futile. Security will come only with political resolution.
— Some valedictory reflections offered by Ehud Olmert, Israel’s outgoing prime minister, when he announced his resignation last September. (The peace has been lost to Israel’s military victories)
8 January 2009, the wee hours
The Machetes fucking rock. I said as much last time I saw them. They have just gotten better with time. I’ll have to say more tomorrow.
Tomorrow: I met Tyler, Andrea and Grant at the Drake last night to catch the Machetes EP release party. The Drake was the White like Barrie — that always weirds me out a little bit. I sat by the front and drank a beer, watched a dude do ‘punk’ magic, and then the girls were on stage. They played a short set which, as I said last night, fucking rocked. Nice. They remind me a little bit of Elastica. And they sang a slower song which was reminiscent of Hole. I’m not sure that’s particularly descriptive. Thankfully you can just listen to their music on Myspace. The drummer — who can also sing — played a set with another 2-person band she’s in, Romo Roto. It was all percussion and singing. Also good; very different. And their was a dude juggling machetes! And the girls played a second set! Talk about action packed.
Still Tomorrow: The Machetes EP is very enjoyable. If you go to their MySpace page Ace and Black Leather are particularly good. Only problem is that the CD sounds a bit too clean compared to how messy and raw the live show is. I guess that’s true of most bands though.
[1] Music | Life
1 January 2009, terribly early in the morning
Another year, another party. We made Turkey this time. And by we I mean Patrick. The wine from the wedding is finally all gone. It only took us half a year to finish. As with last year, I finished the night playing Settlers. It was a close game. Shima is in Barrie. This is the first New Years we haven’t been together in quite some time. Hopefully 2009 begins with a new member of the Renolison clan.
Life
29 December 2008, early morning
My friends and I watched JCVD on Saturday night. The film is a fictional look at the life of Jean Claude Van Damme, and stars the actor playing himself. The story line jumps around a little bit, but the bulk of the film takes place during a hostage situation in which the cops think Van Damme has snapped and is robbing a post office. Van Damme is amazing in the film: I didn’t realize he could act. The film is really good and lived up to all the hype I had heard about it. It’s surprisingly avant-garde for a Van Damme flick, and a very interesting bit of cinema. I can’t say I’ve seen a film like it before. You should definitely watch this movie.
(This weekend was all about movies. I don’t remember the last time I watched so many in such a short period of time. I also watched Bottle Rockets and the first half of Chungking Express.)
The official JCVD web site.
Movies
29 December 2008, early morning
I watched Taken with my brother and his friends late Friday night. Taken was ridiculous in both good and bad ways, but mostly good. The film stars Liam Nielson as a bad-ass retired special-ops type guy — this is good. His daughter who runs really funny goes to Paris with her friend and the two of them are kidnapped. His daughter is played by Shanon from Lost, who can’t play a 17 year old to save her life — this is bad. Famke Janssen plays his ex-wife — oh hells yes. Nielson needs to go track his daughter down, killing and maiming all the human traffickers, their accomplices, and really anyone else who is slightly uncooperative — all kinds of good. So while the general plot line is a bit silly, Taken is well worth watching for all the ass kicking.
The official Taken web site.
Movies
29 December 2008, early morning
Wall-E was great. I’m sure you have all read review telling you as much. I think it is by far Pixar’s best movie. The movie is about a robot cleaning up waste in a post-garbage-driven-apocalypse. He meets (and falls in love with) a robot sent in a probe who is looking for signs of life on the planet. The film was surprisingly human and touching for a (computer) animated movie. The fact that they manage to convey so much emotion with so little dialogue is really quite amazing. I could gush about this film for ages.
The official Wall-E web site.
[1] Movies
22 December 2008, late at night
Who’d have thought I’d manage to maintain my 3-year-old weight for all these years. 1983 was the first and last time I have been in Sri Lanka. My cousin Chithuroobi is the girl in the photograph. This is one of my favourite photographs.
We were visiting Sri Lanka. I left with my family a few weeks before the riots. My dad had planned to move back to Sri Lanka, but has said he could feel the tension in the air. My cousin and her family were in Sri Lanka during the riots. She lives in Australia now.
[3] Life
19 December 2008, early morning
My wedding ring is so tight I never take it off. I’ve probably taken it off a handful of times since getting married. Yesterday was one of those days. And now i’m at work, typing, and I realize I don’t have a ring on my hand. Without the ring i’m just a skinny brown dude. With the ring, there is that mystery, “what exactly makes this guy attractive?” How am I supposed to hit on women now?
[4] Life
17 December 2008, early morning
I finished reading Anathem yesterday. I think i’m done with that cruel mistress that is Neal Stephensen. Cryptonomicon was so great. I can’t recommend the book enough, it’s so interesting and entertaining. The Baroque Cycle pissed me off to no end, but I feel strangely nostalgic for it now. I think it is one of those series that grows on you after you’ve finished reading it — mostly because you forget a lot of the tedium. Anathem just wasn’t that good.
To start with, all the made-up words get distracting and seem a bit silly. (If you are going to make up words for cars and cell phones, but not for shoes, what’s the point?) Eventually you figure out what everything means, and you can get back to enjoying the book. Or trying to anyway. The world the story takes place in is interesting. You could write a really good book set in this world: Anathem wasn’t that book. There are lots of interesting ideas in the book, but as is often the case with the Baroque Cycle, their presentation borders on tedious. And, I can’t believe i’m typing this, but the ending feels rushed. The book is 1000 pages long! All of this I could forgive if not for the most glaring issue with the book: it reads like teen fiction. Stephensen is writing for the audience he knows he already has in the bag. The book is all nerdy science geek guy gets the hot but also nerdy science girl chick, and is helped by his good at everything friend, his nerdy martial arts friend, his super nerd friend who obviously has Aspenger’s, his hot engineer sister, his nerdy… well you get the idea. If Twilight is Vampire fiction for Emo kids, then Anathem is a science fiction romp for the Slashdot crowd. (Actually, god damn, the book was panned by at least one dude at Slashdot. The comments are a bit of a mixed bag.) If you are looking for something to read this winter, pick up Cryptonomicon.
Comics and Books
15 December 2008, early evening
7:23 PM: Over the last little while, I would see the occasional message on my twitter feed informing me so-and-so would be attending #hohoto at the Mod Club. I didn’t bother getting tickets, because I couldn’t even image the thing would sell out. Nerds at a club: how does that sell out? Of course, it does. #hohoto seems to have become some sort of nerdapolooza here in Toronto. I don’t know what the tech community equivalent of a scenester is, but I suspect I’m going to meet a whole bunch tonight.
I’m off to meet Laurence now. It’ll be interesting to see how the night plays out. If it’s anything like any other tech event I’ve been too, it’ll be a lot of dudes and awkward conversation.
8:51 AM: #hohoto was definitely a big success. The organizers managed to raise over $25,000 for the food bank. According to Mayor Miller, this makes the group one of the top 5 donors to the food bank. (This is all the more impressive when you factor in the fact that they did this all in 2 weeks.) As a party I think it also worked well. I underestimated just how many PR and Marketing people would show up. So, to my surprise, it wasn’t just a bunch of dudes and awkward conversation. People were drinking, a few people were dancing, and a lot of people were schmoozing. I saw a lot of my friends, and they played Stevie Wonder, so I had a great time.
Life | Toronto
