As I was going through some things tonight, I ran across two posters that I had forgotten that I had. The first one is of Björn Borg as he won the finals at Wimbledon in 1978. This was a pretty famous image in its day. I got it autographed in the 1980s when he made a promotional appearance in Toronto. The poster has been rolled up in a tube since then. I was lucky enough to watch the finals live at Wimbledon in 1988 when another Swede, Stefan Edberg defeated Boris Becker. I’ve been to Wimbledon (twice), the French Open and the US Open. I’ll have to complete the grand slam in Australia soon.
The other championship that I watched was the Whistler World Cup in 1995. Me and some friends traveled there for a weekend to ski and watch the race – but we all know we like to watch it for the wipe outs. We stationed ourselves at a corner where many skiers lost it and sometimes hit and bounce off a snow fence in midair like Spiderman might do. It’s a crazy sport, but it’s fun to watch. I was at Whistler in 2008 for the World Cup race but it was canceled due to fog. Hopefully the weather will cooperate in 2009.
While walking from the curling club to the subway station this evening, a friend mentioned the unattractiveness, incongruity and randomness of the landscape in the area. Just as he mentioned that, I turned and saw these four houses. In this area of the city, East York, there are many such houses with architecture that resemble barns.
However, this was not the real topic of discussion. It was the accessibility of the Toronto transit system. Had we been on a bus, we would not have seen this landscape. However, buses on this street do not run beyond 7:00 p.m. on Sunday evenings. Even on weekdays, it does not run past beyone 10:00 p.m. This seems to strand or marginalize people – especially the elderly or people with limited mobility. The schedule presents even more challenges when the weather is inclement.
The local transit authority, the TTC has an initiative underway, Transit City: Moving Toronto Into The Future.The plan is to extend the transit system into the suburbs. Having such a plan seems counterintuitive when the TTC does not seem to provide adequete transportation within the city.
The lack of transit in this area of East York made it seem neglected and in despair. If proper transit were provided to poorly serviced areas, would the area improve? A hypothetical question that probably will not get answered anytime soon – but should be asked.
It’s been four years in the transformation of the AGO from mild-mannered art gallery to a world class art gallery. This is Frank Gehry’s first major project in Canada. It doesn’t look like it will disappoint anyone. It even looked spectacular during construction. There was a reception tonight but it was a private one. It is scheduled to open to the general public in just over a week. We will see what the critics think then.
My images from the past year. Click on the larger image to advance to the next image.
I recently read some articles about the imperative for businesses to become green. It still seems that being green is still a fad among most people and that short term benefits and cost is a major factor – despite the potential savings over the long term.
Being green has been always been a focus for a small segment of the population because of the inherent desire to consume only when necessary, not be wasteful and ultimately save money. If all consumers had these ideals in mind when consuming, we likely would not be in the predicament we find our planet in today.
Lack of Awareness – people claim they do not have enough information
Negative Perceptions – green products are less effective
Distrust – people do not trust the message of government and business
High Prices – people do not understand the long-term benefits
Low Availability – business do not really want to sell these products
It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg game. However, the Internet is a wealth of knowledge and consumers can find the information with some effort. Consumers must also decide on their own what is right for them rather than wait for the market to decide what is right for them. Otherwise consumers will be at the whim of marketers – the very ones that help put us in the position we find ourselves.
Businesses that take a leadership role in such areas will be rewarded by loyal customers and not have to catch up when the mainstream realizes that being green is better (and essential). Whole Foods Market did this in the 1990s by stocking organic and local produce as well as other environmentally-friendly products. They are now a leader in the grocery business with strong growth by attracting informed customers.
I’ve worked in the retail business for more than 15 years (almost all of my working life) and I’ve seen what attracts customers. In North America, consumers are addicted to cheap stuff – period. We are intent on obtaining the best deal and not necessarily the best value or product. That’s why Wal-Mart is so popular.
Europeans are more concerned with obtaining the best value or product and not necessarily the lowest price. The North American strategy does not retain customers as they will flee once prices are not the lowest. However, the European method retains customers because of the value delivered through a superior product.
Unfortunately, marketers have created this problem because of the short-term pressures. Hopefully they can dig us out of this problem without more consumption. The actual answer is through reduced consumption.
A McKinsey & Company chart that illustrates that perception is very different that what is effective in reality. A surprising point at the first position is driving a more fuel-efficient car; driving less is at the fourth position. However, the biggest and most surprising gap is with eating beef – consuming less is the third most effective action people can take – vegetarians have know this all along.
The first shot where I noticed the difference between my new camera (not the one in the previous post) and my old camera. The above image was captured at dusk, untouched – except for some minor cropping – and at ISO 1600. The higher ISO captures images better in low light conditions – but also produces lots of image noise because the sensor that captures the image is not sensitive enough and the software makes up for that deficiency.
I rarely took shots above ISO 800 on my previous camera because the noise made it look like a snowstorm. Bring on the night!
I notice recently that I’ve been cropping some of my images to a square or 4×5 format. I find that the 3×2 format of 35mm and D-SLR cameras don’t always work for what I’m shooting. I never used to crop my photos because I was framing the subject to fit in the camera viewfinder but it did not work when I viewed it on paper or on the screen.
However, I noticed that when I cropped some of them, it gave them a new life and changed the perspective of the photo. I’m sure I learned why in school, but my brain is like a sieve and I usually forget such minute technical details. I normally would shoot, process the levels and then post – maybe I could not be bothered to crop photos before.
Now that I think about it, why isn’t all film/digital in a more square format? Lenses are round and if film is not, there’s a lot of wasted space. I will guess that it started with some film manufacturing executive fitting into the manufacturing process or something like that. I’m going to a camera show on the weekend so I’m sure some people can let me in on the secret.
Enough talk, here are some pictures. Two of my favorite images, one square, one 4×5. Ironically, both from NY – maybe that’s what changed. Click on either image to jump to my flickr set.
Slideshows of the sets; click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
I wasn’t exactly sure what a hipster was until recently when I visited New York City. I found out through a free newspaper that they live in Williamsburg, an area of Brooklyn just over the river from Manhattan. Apparently they aren’t well liked by some because they over-pay for Goodwill fashion, drive out good-value restaurants, hang at dive bars and drive up housing prices, especially lofts!
Elise Thompson, an editor for the LA blog LAist defines hipsters as people wearing “expensive ‘alternative’ fashion[s]“, going to the “latest, coolest, hippest bar…[and] listen[ing] to the latest, coolest, hippest band.”
People are starting to emulate them in other cities – including Toronto as seen here in gbalogh’s (a flickr contact) photo stream.
Hopefully we won’t need to reinforce our doors to keep them out in Toronto – and hopefully they won’t invade Sneaky Dee’s!
Here’s a funny video of hipsters in action in Brooklyn.
At the beginning of August I followed through on my promise to attend Slideluck Potshow XII in New York following the event in Toronto in May. SLPS was held in Brooklyn – specifcally Williamsburg a trendy area of Brooklyn – just over the river from Manhattan. It was held NY-style. There were about 1000 attendees, a giant potluck to match, a DJ, festivities, beer and wine vendors and, last but not least, a slide show of photography, video and art on a giant screen.
The wading pool before the show – or maybe this is the show.
The food – lots of it!
The after parties went until dawn…
This was also my first visit to NYC in ten years. It was such a good trip that it spurred me to go back in August – it will be a total of three times by the end of August. The final trip of August – if all goes as planned – will have me doing approximately the same things as ten years ago – a Yankee/Jay game and attending the US Open tennis tournament. I wonder how it will be the second time around.
My flickr set from SLPS XII, click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
In the early 80s, Keith Haring‘s art was primarily in public spaces in New York. Since he died in 1990, not much of it is left in public spaces. There is a tribute on Houston Avenue at Bowery Street in the lower east side that was created earlier this year.
He started his public art in the subway in the early 1980s. His art was not only graffiti, but carried a social message. He had other works such as Crack is Whack, which still exists today – in the renamed, Crack is Whack Playground in Harlem, as well as other works in some private buildings including one that was recently uncovered in a condo building in Tribeca.
According to The Villager, the Haring installation on Houston was tagged in July. Had I been in New York two weeks earlier, it would have looked different. However, it still unmistakably is a Haring and is now more of a collaborative work. It is also accessible to all and not locked up in a museum, art gallery or private collection.
It was actually the first thing that I purchased on eBay to give it a try. But I ended up with a paint by number set that I would not ever paint. I enjoyed them as a kid, but do not have the time nor patience to do one now. After several months with the paint by number set kicking around, I got the idea to enlarge it and hang it on my wall as art. I found that many people did not know what it was when they looked at it. Some thought it was a topographic map.
I made some others and matched some pencil crayons instead of paint so people that visit could fill in the spaces themselves. It has been by my door since 2001 and the result is interesting. Some did not know the meaning of the numbers – on the canvas or on the pencils and used any colour anywhere – hence the blue fur.
Some do not consider this art; but what is art really? According to the wiki page, Leonardo da Vinci might have invented paint by numbers but a fellow from a paint company commercialized it in the 1950s. It is probably considered pop or folk art; the Smithsonian had a PBN exhibit in 2001.
It had developed into quite a fad. Perhaps art wasn’t getting to the masses in that time. Older PBN sets feature works by famous artists whereas newer ones are generic paintings – animals, landscapes, clowns (eek!), etc. When I was bidding for my PBN set, I bid on some others, such as an unpainted da Vinci. In the end it went for over US$200 – which was a lot in 2001!
This PBN will be complete in a few weeks and be returned to its original place over my couch. I wonder what I will fill the space by the door with next.
My PBN set from Flickr. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.
Batcave, Culture, Design, Environment, France, Pack Rat, Stuff, Television, Toronto day by day, Travel, Whistler | Garry November 21, 2008 | 
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