View Larger Map - Note: this map is live – you can interact with it, or click through to larger version

Backgrounder:

BlogTO had a post in late 2011 that asked readers to comment on their favourite intersections. The contributions flowed in and intersections such as Bloor and Bathurst and Queen and Spadina [...]]]>

View Larger Map - Note: this map is live – you can interact with it, or click through to larger version

Backgrounder:

BlogTO had a post in late 2011 that asked readers to comment on their favourite intersections. The contributions flowed in and intersections such as Bloor and Bathurst and Queen and Spadina reigned – see link at end of my post.

My Choice – College - University

Trivia 1: My father worked in the Frost building on the northeast corner when he was in government, and I have a certain fondness for areas throughout the downtown that are connected to memories of being a child and going to his office and elsewhere in the city. Weekend trips around the downtown core which included things like parades, festivals and shopping, fostered an enthusiasm for the city in a young lad who otherwise spent his formative years in the suburbs.

My choice might be a little unusual, but bear with me here. College is without doubt one of the greatest cross-town arteries we have in this city (cue music – “Crosstown Traffic” by Jimi Hendrix). My friend Ian once told me he had an idea for a video or short film which would document the amazing journey of the 506 streetcar as it traverses the long east-west passage from the High Park loop to Main St. station. What a fantastic journey that is, cutting through a variety of amazing neighbourhoods, from Roncesavalles and Little Italy to Kensington and downtown Yonge, to Cabbage Town, Regent Park and over the Don Valley to Chinatown East, Riverdale, and Little India. For the streetcar aficionado it is a superlative trip, especially on a spring or fall day when you catch a quiet mid-morning or afternoon car. University itself is Toronto’s attempt at a classic grand avenue. It ain’t no Champs-Élysées but it is a pretty darn good substitute in a city like Toronto which is a young city that boomed through the twentieth century, alongside the auto and the highway. (University may resemble a mini highway, but when the office workers are out on a sunny day, and students cycle up to U of T, you’ve got a lively enough street life to forget for a moment that there are few cafes or anything permanently resembling a vibrant street life).

Most importantly this intersection is a kind of gateway for me – I have always associated this area with heading to the cooler parts of downtown. West of University you get the arts, design, and entertainment districts, and north of College is the marvelous sprawling University of Toronto campus. In the streetview embedded above you are looking west. The university is on your right. On your immediate left, if you rotate the image, is MaRS – originally a high-profile medical research company and now an incubator for science, technology and social innovation. University Avenue is a crossroads where social meets education meets health meets politics. To the right, out of the frame is the grand Legislature of Ontario. To see it you need to click and move a little further forward and then rotate to the right. As some would posit that Yonge and Bloor is a physical “centre” of Toronto, I’d put forth that University and College is full of broader more interesting convergences (Yonge is perhaps the undisputed commercial heart of Toronto). College-University is an under-appreciated but highly unique intersection, both in the literal and figurative senses of the word.

Trivia 2: Behind the subway entrance on the NE corner is a Firefighter’s memorial with names of dozens of firefighters who lost their lives across the province.
Trivia 3: The U of T building a touch east of the intersection has a plaque to commemorate a Canadian innovator: Sir Frederick Banting (Plaque text reads: “Soldier, surgeon, and scientist, Banting in 1920 became convinced of the existence of a substance now known as Insulin. A laboratory provided by Dr. J.J.R. Macleod of the University of Toronto enabled Banting and Charles H. Best, in 1921, to prepare an active anti-diabetic extract of pancreas, purifed by Dr. J.B. Collip. This was first used successfully on January 11, 1922, by Drs. W. R. Campbell and A.A. Fletcher. Banting shared with Macleod the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1923 and was knighted in 1934. Born near Alliston, Ontario, he died in the crash of a military aircraft in Newfoundland, on February 21, 1941.”).
Trivia 4: Last curious fact is that the station has a very unique grey “curved tile” which gives it a kind of futuristic aura. Queen’s Park is a cool subway station and the park to the north is a great spot for a walk or bike ride.

Questions:

What is your favourite intersection? Is your favourite in your neighbourhood or elsewhere? Feel free to share your ideas (and a soundtrack suggestion is welcome too!).

Links

The BlogTO post that inspired me: http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/11/what_are_the_most_loved_intersections_in_toraonto/

I am an owner of the CS4 Master Suite. I use all kinds of [...]]]> It’s been a while since I purchased any new Adobe products but I am very excited about the possibilities of getting my hands on the range of amazing tools in the newly announced Adobe Creative Suite 6 – and Creative Cloud.

I am an owner of the CS4 Master Suite. I use all kinds of different software for graphics, websites, and audio-video (plus some motion design and design for print). Recently I installed trial versions of 3 Adobe CS5 products: Photoshop, After Effects, and Dreamweaver. I have been working with PS and AE for about a week and I’m liking them both. For the most part I haven’t really explored much of the new features. Photoshop is the everyday go-to tool that is an essential part of my routine. The entire Creative Suite family is something I have extensive experience with though, from capturing video with On Location or doing DVD menus with Encore, to managing websites with Dreamweaver or doing layouts for print docs in InDesign. Let me outline for you some of the new features and some of the buying options with the Adobe CS6 and the newly announced Creative Cloud subscription model. My discussion is focused on the idea that buying the “Master Collection” – all 16 Adobe software titles – makes the most sense. Designers today should be able to work in every area! That being said there are smaller packages of programs – some geared toward traditional aspects such as print and illustration, others focused on websites, apps and new media (video, sound, motion graphics).

Which version of CS to buy? Should you upgrade? Lots of questions. First off, there has never been a better time to invest in Adobe software, as the CS family has shown remarkable advancements with each release. Just talking Photoshop alone, the new content-aware features and 3D abilities are absolutely extraordinary. You are literally getting way more bang for your buck. If you already own CS4 or CS5 you might want to carefully assess the new features by watching some Adobe videos. 95% of the tools and workflow are essentially the same – the core hasn’t changed. There are some sweet little features though that beg for closer inspection.

Features: What’s new in Creative Suite 6? Basically there are some seriously sophisticated tools available in the product line. If you haven’t seen some of the demo videos at Adobe you are going to be blown away. Photoshop has content-aware tools that make airbrushing and cloning almost a thing of the past, and there are features for creating 3D objects (like text), and adding artistic blur to images (tilt-shift effect is one way cool example!). Check the new Photoshop features page for the full scoop. If you are a video or motion graphics pro you might check the new features for After Effects out. I have experimented with the “Warp Stabilizer” tool in After Effects and I can tell you that it is phenomenal. It will take shaky hand-held video and add much smoothness – I’m sure it will become an indispensable tool for low-budget filmmakers who shoot spontaneously without needing some expensive or bulky “steadicam”-type gear. As a video producer I’m stoked on checking out Prelude, a new program which promises to assist with complicated project workflow and file conversion and management.

What is Creative Cloud? Is it a so-called “cloud-based” system? Don’t be mistaken. You are not going to be running apps from Adobe servers, you will be downloading all the software to your machine. You will create an Adobe account and run an app that takes care of the subscription. The software will check with Adobe servers for new versions and to check current license permissions. The cool thing is you can have as much or as little software on your machine as you need at the time. Got an old laptop and don’t want to install 15-20GB of software? Just install what you need for the immediate future, but have the confidence to know you can access all the tools at any time. As a bonus you are also getting access to new subscription-only tools like Adobe Muse (for graphic designers who want to create websites without knowing any code).

Which direction to go? Well, I’m intent on getting access to CS6. Personally I am able to access CS6 using educational pricing which offers remarkable discounts, but the subscription model makes ownership highly affordable. The key here is the Creative Cloud pricing and packages which are highly tempting. At just $50 per month ($600 annually) you can have access to the complete Creative Suite line and you are always using the most recent versions. Educational customers and those who own earlier versions can access the Cloud version of the suite for just $30 per month (based on a 1-year annual subscription).

It will be a toss-up as to whether I would buy the Creative Suite edition or subscribe to the Creative Cloud model. Fun to research it and check it all out. It will be even more of a thrill to use it! Look for some examples of it in use in my upcoming music/video project “City Symphony,” coming summer 2012.

Links:

Macworld article – nice overview of CS6 launch and product features

Adobe Creative Cloud – check it, this is the future of software delivery – and the Cloud version has some bonus software

For photography and media enthusiasts it seems like 2011 marked the new era of the super time-lapse video — enabled by using high-end DSLR cameras to take the thousands of frames necessary to produce a high-quality time-lapse video.

I have dabbled in [...]]]>

Timescapes will be released May 2012 on DVD, Blu-ray and HD Download

For photography and media enthusiasts it seems like 2011 marked the new era of the super time-lapse video — enabled by using high-end DSLR cameras to take the thousands of frames necessary to produce a high-quality time-lapse video.

I have dabbled in this format, and indeed I am employing it in my forthcoming video “City Symphony.” It is remarkably compelling. I found some amazing examples of this via some Internet searches and blogs. (Links at end).

There seem to be two general styles – nature and city time-lapses – and they offer astounding glimpses of the wild and the urban as a kind of living breathing thing – slowly evolving as the light and shadow change the scene.

The most remarkable video I have yet seen is by an astronomy photographer named Tom Lowe. A colleague and I shared some links and the video I received was a nature time-lapse with the theme of “Revelation.” I noted the original footage came from a website called “Timescapes” and I checked that out this morning. WOW! It’s is a superlative production in every sense of the word.

You can download the trailers for Tom’s movies in HD at phenomenal resolutions (1080p, 1440p). They are scored by John Stanford and are a treat for those with kick-ass hi-fi electronics. And I do recommend the download – why would you cue up a sometimes shaky Internet stream from Vimeo when you can playback the video from your machine at full res?

Links:

Timescapes by Tom Lowe

Amazing city time-lapse stuff – Toronto (via BlogTO)

City driving video - Tokyo (with London Elektricity soundtrack)

Recently I have begun to think about the importance of DATA. Our lives are increasingly digital. While we use the web there is a plethora of data coursing through the back-end – from APIs in website services to locative applications [...]]]>

Toronto - Visualization of geotagged photos and tweets by Eric Fischer

Recently I have begun to think about the importance of DATA. Our lives are increasingly digital. While we use the web there is a plethora of data coursing through the back-end – from APIs in website services to locative applications in social media. Location-aware services are becoming increasingly common – and people are sharing or posting to websites and social media  from anywhere they happen to be, via their smartphones. A few simple cases in point: photos can be geotagged and uploaded to many different services (Flickr, Picasa, Facebook). Recently I came across data visualizations that totally blew me away. An article in BlogTO, “Toward a map of social media in Toronto,” focuses on data visualization work done by Eric Fischer.

Photographer Eric Fischer published a new image-based survey called “See Something or Say Something.”  The maps are gorgeous and chart the location of Flickr photos (orange dots), tweets (blue dots), and locations from which someone has posted to both services (white dots).

It’s fascinating to think about the major landmarks and neighbourhoods of the city and visualize local social media activity that occurs there. The hotspots in the downtown core are easy to identify – but can you also identify High Park, Pearson International airport and York University? High Park is aflame in orange Flickr spots while York is a torrent of tweets. The white spots in the central area indicate a heavy mix of photos and tweets.

Fascinating stuff. Being able to visualize this kind of data is a modern miracle. And it’s a completely unique and compelling way to “see the city.” Check the links below (Eric Fischer’s work is global and features views of the earth and many different regions and cities).

Links:

Eric Fischer’s “See Something or Say Something” at Flickr

BlogTO article - Toward a map of social media in Toronto

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas…

TED is a cutting-edge conference featuring “ideas worth spreading”

It goes without saying that people want to be entertained, and video may be the ultimate entertainment. The use of [...]]]>

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas…

TED is a cutting-edge conference featuring “ideas worth spreading”

It goes without saying that people want to be entertained, and video may be the ultimate entertainment. The use of video in marketing, and education is also becoming more prevalent. In my workshop, a student recently declared that most of her listening exercises were conducted with video. I feel mostly the same way, and maybe that has to do with the fact that we often source our media from the Internet.  The Internet, with its steady increase in content and bandwidth is an ideal platform for video.

When I conduct my “CALL workshop” – on Educational Technology – I have found that if I ask for “interesting sites” that I get a few predictable responses. In no means do I mean “predictable” as “dull.” But the two sites that are recurring with some frequency as possible teacher/student tools are TED Talks and Prezi. They are both very worthy of your time.

Presentation has come to mean two things: one a series of text and images, presented using tech like PowerPoint, and two, the actual process and art of giving a talk, with the slideshow of images and information playing a major role. the conventional knock against PowerPoint is that it is dull. In my opinion, it is not the technology at fault, but the skills and imagination of those who create them (to be simple we see too many bullets, too much text).

I happened upon some links I can share that bring it all together, and show the synergy between presentations and online video. First off TED Talks which is an amazing wealth of ideas and eloquent people speaking – and a worthy mention as great resource online. And the second, Prezi, has crept up in frequency and my be on the cusp of great things. It just so happens that I found a “talk” and a “Prezi” by TED head Chris Anderson, and it’s a cool reference from Prezi’s own blog to share with you.

Chris Anderson, not to be confused with Wired editor of the same name, is both the TED head, and one of a number of respected presenters who has shared a presentation using a web-based tool. Slideshare is a well known site, and experts such as Garr Reynolds, author of the amazing book “Presentation Zen,” has posted numerous presentations there (Check Presentation Design 411, which starts to really break the fundamentals down around slide 11). You can view Chris Anderson’s Prezi to see some of the format’s potential to be engaging and truly interactive. Watching his Prezi presentation I was reminded of the power of motion graphics tools like Adobe’s After Effects – it’s truly a visually dynamic format – the “camera” perspective pulls away, rotates and zooms in on featured content areas (which would represent slides in a tradtional Powerpoint format). Chris samples some “baby break-dancing” videos and other eclectic international footage to complement the message he has to share, which is that Internet video is changing the way we communicate in an increasingly globalized world.

If you are keen to create a whole new kind of animated Powerpoint, with highly visual transitions and different kinds of embedded media, you should check out Prezi, and Chris Anderson’s Prezi is indeed a true inspiration (see first link below).

Links:

There’s only one link you need that connects you with both Chris Anderson’s Prezi presentation and one of his TED talks:
http://blog.prezi.com/2010/09/16/watch-ted-head-chris-andersons-prezi/

Prezi – “Create game-changingpresentations online.”
http://prezi.com/

A blog article on the features of Prezi – “Finding an alternative to PPT”

http://www.k-international.com/blog/finding-an-alternative-to-powerpoint/

Presentation guru Garr Reynolds wrote about this same topic here
Garr Reynolds’ blog entry on Chris Anderson’s Ted Talk and Prezi

Alternative Online Presentation Tool – Slideshare -” Offers users the ability to upload and share publicly or privately PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios”
http://www.slideshare.net/

Alternative Online Presentation Tool - Google Docs (also create text docs, spreadsheets and more)
https://docs.google.com 

When I was growing up, my mother would take notes about what sports we kids played, how tall we were at certain ages, and what we wanted to be “when we grew up.” My entries say things like: Mike wants to be: an astronaut, a fireman, a baseball player. And variations of [...]]]>

When I was growing up, my mother would take notes about what sports we kids played, how tall we were at certain ages, and what we wanted to be “when we grew up.” My entries say things like: Mike wants to be: an astronaut, a fireman, a baseball player. And variations of those would recur. The one that was always there was the idea of playing in the “big leagues” or as the hockey world call it, “the show.”

I never got remotely close, though I captained my team one year in house league, and was always a strong skater. My brothers dabbled in some all-star hockey. Being a stats man I looked it up one time – if you crunch the numbers it is a long shot – something like 1 in 1500 registered minor hockey players will make the NHL. (500,000 kids are registered in Canada in any given year, and about 50% of the NHL, or approximately 300+ players are Canadian).

One classmate from public school who turned into a “phenom” – was Craig Fisher. I watched his career from afar. He grew up not far from me and we played “foot hockey” with a tennis ball in the school yard. I suppose as far back as I can remember he played in elite all-star leagues, and then moved to the next town to play in the “Triple A” league. He ended up playing for an American college and being drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers 56th overall in 1988.

Craig wasn;’t the only kid I knew who grew up to play pro sports. I saw Nigel Wilson, another schoolmate, astound locals on the ball-field, and then go on to a major league baseball career with time spent in both the U.S. and Japan. Craig’s story was more special to me though. I guess hockey is closer to the heart. I’m a slightly fair-weather fan, and though I watch most Leaf games, I save my true enthusiasm these days for cheering Canada in international hockey. I do have a weakness not many might guess, for the interesting stories that go along with the long-road and grind that athletes endure in pursuit of professional careers. thus, I followed Craig from afar, googling him every few years to see where he was at.

Over the years in a handful of searches, I found interesting stats, articles and quotes about Craig. Craig played 12 NHL games for three different teams (Philly, Winnipeg, Florida), and spent his pro career otherwise playing on NHL farm teams in cities like Cape Breton, Indianapolis, Hershey, and Rochester (plus a stint in Germany in Cologne). A coach called him one of the best hockey players to play in the minors in the 1990s. In 1995-96 he scored an astounding 74 goals in 82 games with the IHL Orlando Solar Bears. In 1999, the year a concussion knocked him from the game, he had 23 points in the first 17 games and was pencilled in to be on the Team Canada squad at the All-Star Game. Just before Christmas that year I recall talking with my mother about his accomplishments and then hearing that a concussion had side-lined him. He retired not long after that, and it took him years to fully recover.

Just killing time a few days ago, I decided to google Craig and see what I could find. Not much has been out there for the last 10 years, aside from Rochester Americans fans lamenting the loss of “Fish,” and they called him. I stumbled upon an entry written in an upper NY State paper that discussed a hockey reunion in Rochester that featured the return of “Goal-machine Craig Fisher.” Wow! Really cool! Even nicer was to read that he sounds like he completely recovered and he is still involved in hockey, posted as a an assistant coach with a local Southern Ontario university team.

Craig had a very successful hockey career and I wish him luck in his coaching career. All the best!

Links:

Craig’s stats at the Hockey Database:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1686

Newspaper article about Rochester Americans alumni reunion
http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/kevino/2011/10/11/goal-machine-craig-fisher-joining-alumni-reunion/

If you click “Sports” in the categories you will find other related posts, plus I have written a book review about Canadian coach Dave King ‘s “King of Russia” (links at top).

  On the morning of my birthday, August 22, we were doing our usual breakfast time things when suddenly the TV announced that Jack Layton had passed. What a shock! It hit me like a ton of bricks. It was amazing to witness the coverage on CBC and other channels [...]]]>

Photo by Jackman Chiu

 

On the morning of my birthday, August 22, we were doing our usual breakfast time things when suddenly the TV announced that Jack Layton had passed. What a shock! It hit me like a ton of bricks. It was amazing to witness the coverage on CBC and other channels – it reminded me of the fanfare and mourning that accompanied the death of Pierre Trudeau. One of the amazing things I remember about that was sitting with my mother and watching the train that transported Trudeau and his sons from Ottawa to Montreal, and how amazing it was when the camera captured people standing at railway crossings waving and the sons leaning out windows to engage with the well-wishers.

It is a sad and profound moment. At 61 Layton was truly just hitting his stride. Could he have been PM? It’s possible. There is a swing going on now in politics – the greens are gaining and young people are seemingly turning to the left. When they interviewed a group of twenty-somethings in a restaurant after the televised leaders debates during the last election, nearly every one of them said “Jack won.” I think it was partly his charisma, and partly a left-leaning wave. There are always waves and times of momentum, and right now Harper is riding his, but times will change, and he will be replaced. Will it be by an NDP, Liberal or Coalition leader? No one can say.

Jack was important to me and I am left very saddened by this turn of events. I remembered how gaunt he looked in his last television appearance but I assumed he was in recovery and going to gain strength and come back fighting. This time also reminds me of my mother’s battle with cancer. She too had ups and downs before she finally lost her battle. Jack represented a genuine force for the common good. He was the champion of what is right, and would engage in battles for the little guy – meaning the urban poor, women, children and seniors. He was particularly vocal on the behalf of seniors and that was an endearing quality. Of course he was a friend to the workers and battled for the environment too.

There is one particularly amazing scene that I have in my mind about Jack and his public persona and public battles. Some would say he had a bit of the grand-stander in him, but I argue that his pedigree, work ethic and talent for speaking just produced the right combination of characteristics to allow him to rise to the fore in many public forums of debate. He was an all-star city councillor and was frequently found at the front lines, at a protest, or discussing among a group at a public debate.  This scene I have in my mind is one found in the documentary “The Mayor of Tent City,” which documents the brief existence of “Tent City” – a shantytown on Toronto’s waterfront that existed around 2000. The movie centres on a charismatic German emigree who the homeless denizens look to for leadership, but also turns the lens on Jack Layton, who is right in the thick of it when the police and bulldozers come calling. Here is what the CBC website report said:

City councillor Jack Layton, who is also running for the leadership of the federal NDP, said the evictions underline the homelessness problem in the city.

“As we’ve been pointing out for years, we need some affordable housing built,” said Layton. “At least at Tent City they’d built themselves a warm place for the winter.”

Jack Layton was a hero to me. It is obvious but can be restated – he was such a powerful figure that people would definitely vote NDP rather than for the local NDP candidate. He was consistently rated higher in polls than Harper or Ignatieff. The only elite politician with his kind of pull is probably Elizabeth May, and she is indeed a fighter as well, but the Greens may take many more years, perhaps decades, before they even get remotely into contention with centre-left parties like the NDP.

Truth be told, up until this summer I didn’t know much about Jack. It was a Maclean’s magazine piece on his life and legacy that really blew me away, and made me feel I understood the confluence of factors that brought him to that pedestal of power where he was but one step away from the PM’s office. Quite a rise, from city council to the highest echelons. Jack came from an elite background in Anglo Montreal, but was quite naturally a true man of the people – down to earth, earnest, vociferous on many issues and fronts, and it is these qualities that mark his legacy and instill powerful memories that will not dim for a long, long while. Rest in peace Jack.

Links:

Photographer Jackman Chiu
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lewolf011/ 

Maclean’s article – a MUST READ – The Life and Time’s of Jack Layton
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/06/17/the-making-of-jack-layton/

Macleans article – Jack Layton’s Amazing Race
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/04/29/jacks-amazing-race/

BlogTO – Hundreds rally to remember Jack Layton
http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/08/hundreds_rally_in_toronto_to_remember_jack_layton/

CBC Article on Toronto’s “Tent City”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2002/09/24/tentcity_eviction020924.html

Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Layton

The movie “The Mayor of Tent City” can be found in the Toronto Public Library.